Unconventional

Yes unconventional would be the way I would describe my 2024 Thanksgiving. As predicted I spent the majority of it working on my fence. I spent between five and six hours reinforcing 10 sections of the fence which completed the back fence line which was the worst part. I still have to do both sides which adds up to another 20+ sections but I will knock it out over the winter. I also live streamed about 45 minutes of the process, for no good reason at all.

My Thanksgiving meal consisted of half of a Wawa tuna sub and some warm ups. Yes it was minimalist, unconventional and a little bit sad but to be honest, I didn’t really care. I did absolutely nothing that would be a staple of prior Thanksgivings outside of calling my family. There was no feast, no Macy’s parade and not even any football watched.

So I seemed to try to counter balance the work heavy Thanksgiving by having a pretty lazy Black Friday. I did a decent amount of online Christmas shopping but not a whole lot else. All it takes is one day like that to make me feel like a lazy bum, not a feeling I enjoy.

On Saturday I played pickleball with Sue. We did not win a single game. Granted we played some decent teams but it still doesn’t feel good. My play and mobility continue to be impacted by my IT band related pain and I am beyond tired of it.

Unlike Friday I did try to be a bit more productive. I washed my Tesla which was beyond dirty. I cleaned up my workbench in the garage which was looking like a dumping ground. I also took Elsa to the Greenway to walk which was the first time she has ever been there. At the onset she was very nervous being plopped into a new environment but she seemed to enjoy it after a short while. I would like to take her there more often. It sucks right now because my IT band will initiate a limp after not a whole lot of walking for me.

I added on a small piece to my extravagant exterior Christmas decorations, setting my mailbox light to red to compliment the green lights on the house. Hey, it’s better than nothing.

On Sunday I got around to throwing together some various footage I had to make a half assed review of the Selkirk Labs 007 paddle I bought. This paddle is stupid expensive at $333 so the question is, is it worth that much money. My simple answer is, no.

Ever since I moved into my house I have been wanting to address an annoying issue with the circuit that controls the light by the mailbox. Evidently the photo electric cell that controls it was defective, causing the light to be on randomly during the day. Instead of fixing the source of the problem I tried addressing the symptoms by putting a smart bulb out there that I could use to keep the bulb off even if the circuit had power. For whatever reason I finally decided to address the source instead.

At Home Depot I found a replacement photo electric cell. Doing the work was not fun as getting into that corner with my painful leg/knee was very uncomfortable. I also had issues getting the new cell installed because it was physically larger than what it was replacing making it very difficult to get into the housing. I moved the wiring out of the way as much as possible and was finally able to catch threads on the screws while applying substantial force against the plate. The circuit now works perfectly. The part cost a little over $20. I’m not sure why finding the motivation to do it was so expensive.

I went to Tacos and Tequila to watch another 4:25 Eagles game, this time against the Ravens. You may recall several weeks prior I did the same thing and wound up being sick in the parking lot from margarita overload. I had one and a half margaritas this time, they didn’t even taste all that appealing, perhaps PTSD from the last time.

The Eagles had another impressive win, beating the Ravens at Baltimore. Most of the game was very close but as has been the pattern recently the Eagles pulled away later in the game. I can only hope the good times keep on rolling.

What hasn’t been a good time is Elsa’s UTI. While she was on the antibiotics it seemed to have gotten better but a couple days after ending the 7 day supply she started to have accidents around the house again. I am taking her back to the vet today to hopefully have a more extensive work up. I feel bad for her as well as bad for the things she is having accidents on. Once she is officially cured I am going to have a lot of deep cleaning to do.