Archives August 2020

On Friday I got busy working on the new list which included two carryover items from the prior week.  I knocked both of those items out.  The first was to install a new pump in the recently refurbished pond.  The new kit includes a new pump, an enhanced filtration box and a fountain attachment to add some visual and audible flair to the feature.  The second item was installing a wireless charging upgrade for my Tesla.  I ordered this accessory way back in early May but it only showed up about a week ago.  The pad integrates with another accessory, a USB hub that I bought from the same company about 6 months ago.  It was annoying to have to wait so long but the end result was what I wanted, integrated wireless charging that looks like it came from the factory.

On Saturday I made my second trip to Home Depot in as many days.  Both trips ironically included grabbing more sand and sod.  This is a result of rather oppressive rain that we have gotten during the last week which has flooded parts of the property that were not elevated several months ago.  I now have dumped somewhere around 2000 pounds of additional sand in the chicken run which seems to at least gotten it to a level where standing water no longer pools in there.  I can’t do anything about the sand absorbing the moisture but at least the hens won’t be standing in water if they choose to hang in there.

The sod again was to address some standing water on the sides and front of the coop.  The birds drive me crazy as they are very lazy when it comes to their drinking water.  We have four clean drinking sources in their area but they insist on drinking disgusting, dirty, bacteria riddled ground water if it is right in front of them.  I have been throwing sod in as many of those spots as possible but I keep finding more.

By the time Deb came over for a visit late Saturday afternoon I had pretty much all list items crossed off except mowing the property which was not going to happen because it was just too damn wet.  If I still had the old Craftsman mower I might not mind plowing through the mucky areas but I was not about to do that to my nice new Husqvarna.  I will mow once we get a couple days in a row without significant precipitation.

On Sunday morning after tending to the chickens I installed another Ring camera in their area on the back of the coop.  The wide angle of the Ring camera covers nearly double the field of view of my shitty DVR cameras.  My intent is to just use Ring devices for surveillance out there eventually.  I have the front and back chicken yard covered so far.  If I added three more I would be able to monitor it all.

Late Sunday morning I headed out for a quick ride where the focus was talking about some recent news in the EUC community.  I published the video as a premiere in YouTube.  Basically what that means is you schedule the video to be released at a certain time and subscribers to your channel get the notification.  Then when that time comes a live chat is part of the video UI which allows the creator to interact with the viewers.  Premieres have been around for awhile but I don’t utilize them much.  I probably should rethink that because the video got a big surge in initial views from doing it this way.

Another change I have made is adding “Chapters” to my videos.  Many people are too ADD nowadays to be able to sit through a 20 minute video.  With chapters the video timeline is broken into segments based on timestamps.  I think that helps with viewership as well since people can just view whatever parts interests them.

Cindy was working more on her green thumb this weekend.  She was busy working on her huge collection of plants that have been collected over the last 6 months or so.  She was especially excited that some of the poinciana seeds I brought home from work sprouted.  Poinciana is one of Cindy’s favorite trees so she is hoping to be able to nurture the seedlings into the real thing.

Katie and DJ came over Sunday afternoon to hang out.  Babysitting DJ has now elevated to an entirely new level.  He can basically run at this point so he needs to be monitored/chased down at all times to keep him from getting into trouble.  If you turn your attention elsewhere for even 5 seconds he could be gone in a flash.

I don’t have another three day weekend again until Labor Day, I miss them already.

I have been getting lousy sleep for pretty much the entire time my left knee has been injured.  If I change position in my sleep the little jolt of pain always wakes me up.  Once that happens it’s a dice roll if I will be able to fall back asleep quickly or lay there awake for an hour or more.  I have felt pretty exhausted most evenings as a result.  This morning after the alarm went off I fell back asleep for nearly another half hour, meaning my prep to leave for work was a mad scramble.

The rate of recovery of my left knee has truly been at a snail like pace.  I’m now closing in on the two month mark since the injury started and only recently can I walk sort of without a noticeable limp.  Any sort of side to side force on the joint will instantly wake the pain back up but I can go straight ahead at least.  I plan to keep up what I have been doing which is stretching, low impact cardio and hanging around upside down.

I have my second three day weekend ahead of me starting tomorrow.  I expect the blueprint to be similar as last weekend although I hope to have fewer list items to chew through this time around.  In a couple more weeks it’s already Labor Day which seems just inconceivable.  I say it often but each time I do it’s only more so true, the passage of time as you age feels like it increases at an exponential rate.

Six years ago on this date my mom passed away, speaking of time passing so quickly.  It’s hard to imagine that painful and life altering event happened over 2000 sunrise and sunsets ago.  To be quite honest, I try to not think about the days leading up to her death much as that time holds some of the darkest moments of my life.  I instead try to think of memorable and fun experiences as well as wondering what Mom would think of how my life has turned out up until this point.

Due to the onslaught of rain this week the chicken run which is filled with sand has been partially submerged.  I already had dumped 500 pounds of sand in there to try to alleviate the issue but last night I grabbed another 500 pounds.  Throwing 500 pounds of sand in the run actually equates to me lifting 2000 pounds as I have to hoist the 50 pound bags a total of four times, once from the shelf to a cart, cart to the truck, truck to the wheelbarrow, and then finally wheelbarrow to ground.  It was enough effort that I came in from the yard sweated through my t-shirt.  I am hoping my efforts hold up to the H2O but I wouldn’t be surprised if I haul another load back there soon.

I saw one of my Facebook friends was posting a barrage of videos of his face transposed onto various famous people.  The effect looked surprisingly real and was done with an app called “Reface”.  The ability of the app to merge your face onto the head of others rather seamlessly in the span of a few seconds was both fascinating and a bit terrifying at the same time.  It demonstrates just how easy it is with modern tech to create “deep fakes” which when used maliciously, can be a tool leveraged for fraud.  I avoided thinking about the murky uses for this app and instead had my face thrown onto a dozen or more people with rather hilarious results.

Yesterday Joe Biden formally announced Kamela Harris as his VP pick, a selection that had been rumored for awhile.  I think she will do a good job of energizing a segment of the voting population as the first female black/asian vice presidential candidate in history.  I can only hope the end result is overcoming the cult of Trump that has dug themselves into the fabric of America like a tick.  Each stupid thing Donald says or does only hardens the resolve of his acolytes which gave up critical thinking long, long ago.

My drive home last night was one of the least fun in recent memory.  As I headed east I drove into a wall of pitch black clouds.  As I continued I entered into solid sheets of rain, close lightning strikes everywhere and even some hail that made a distinct sound as it impacted the glass roof of the Tesla.  Since the Tesla is an electric vehicle with a massive battery that runs along the entire bottom of the car I do my best to make sure to be cautious about the instant lakes that can pop up on roadways with poor drainage.  Despite whatever water precautions Tesla engineers put into the battery pack I just don’t feel comfortable submerging it in any situation.

When I arrived home the property was soaked although our raised areas are still holding up well.  The chicken run was totally flooded.  I plan to buy another 500 pounds of sand after work to again attempt to raise the ground level in there although past attempts to do the same always seem fruitless.  I did take a couple cinder blocks and a tire and put them in the run temporarily so the hens had something else to stand on besides mucky sand.

I had a rocky relationship with my ex-ex-mother-in-law (first marriage)  She was always trying to inject herself into situations that I had with my first wife, offering opinions and commentary that was not solicited or welcomed.  However when we had issues regarding money and spending she suggested a system that she used which I actually latched onto and still practice today, a budget book.

The system is decidedly low tech for someone like me who typically surrounds himself with as much technology as possible but it has worked for me for going on three decades. If you know me, you know I generally stick with what works.  I typically have one bill paying session per week.  During that session I pull out my budget book which is simply a binder with dividers for my different budget categories, which there are 8 or 9 of.  I have ledger sheets that I print to hold the entries.  When I get paid I have set amounts from my check that go into each category.  Typically I will allocate slightly more to each budget item than needed so I slowly accumulate an excess.

I go into my credit union web site and record any transaction that hit my account for the week into my check book and the budget book.  Any bills that get paid via bill pay also get recorded both in the check book and budget book.  After all transactions are written into the check book and budget book I add up all the categories in the budget book to make sure they add up to what I show in the check book, my rough form of auditing.  It normally matches the first time but once in awhile I need to go back in to find some error I made along the way.

Once those two numbers match the budget book gets closed up and all of the entries are then also added into Quicken 2011 where I also record all credit card transactions.  Quicken is great for giving me a quick way to research past transactions as well as get snapshots of my current financial situation.  It may seem odd to most people that I record each transaction in a minimum of three different locations but it has been a system that keeps me in tune with what my financial thermometer is reading at all times.  I don’t have a ton of things to thank my ex mother-in-law for but this is definitely one of them.

The to do list I created for my first of two consecutive three day weekends was substantial, once again crossing into double digit territory.  There were a couple uncompleted items from the prior list that got added to this one.  List items are only removed once accomplished never any other way.  On Friday I tried to get some normal Saturday items out of the way like weeding the property.  I took Sadie and Elsa for a long errand run mid-morning which probably totaled more than 50 miles of driving.  They both just love hanging out in the back of the Tacoma since the rear seat is covered in two dog beds.

During the afternoon, despite it being the absolutely hottest and most miserable part of the day, I grabbed my weed whacker and trimmed up the property.  I no longer have the luxury of pushing off grass chores a week without a major penalty.  During this part of the year the grass grows like weeds, requiring weekly attention, at a minimum.  After weed whacking I was a sweaty mess.  I jumped in the pool to cool off.  I also gave Sadie her first of several “splashy splash” sessions of the weekend.

The way splashy splash has worked up until the last few months of Sadie’s life is I jump in the pool and go side to side as Sadie would run back and forth.  When she got to me I would splash her with huge amounts of water and then I would go to the other side where we repeat the process.  She used to run around the pool endlessly as she finds this ritual fun.  Well during the strictest 2-3 months of quarantine lock down Sadie put on a considerable amount of weight and started having some serious struggles with her mobility.  During a vet visit they said Sadie has the beginnings of hip dysplasia which is a pretty common ailment in older dogs which causes weakness and pain in the rear legs.  So anyway, the end result was when we did splashy splash this weekend Sadie walked slowly from side to side.  She still liked getting splashed but it made me a bit sad to see how much she has slowed down.

So even though I had worked all day I wanted to get some formal cardio in.  I had been wanting to try Cindy’s new Echelon cycle for awhile so I grabbed my bike shoes and had at it.  I only did a 20 minute class but that was enough to get me panting.  My biggest issue was I didn’t have a good frame of reference as far as what resistance level I should be using.  As a result I think I had it cranked higher than would be ideal for someone starting out.  It’s a low impact but high exertion cardio workout that will help me keep my endurance up now that I have sworn off of running due to my f’d left knee.

Saturday I wasted little time before I dug into more of the list.  I needed to mow the property but before doing so there were two things I needed to get done with the new tractor, change the oil and install a sun shade.  I have about 10 hours on the mower which is actually a couple hours more than they recommend waiting to do the initial oil change.  The first oil change always occurs early due to new engine break in.  The process for changing the oil on the Husqvrana was very similar to what I used to do on my Craftsman mower, I just had to remove one face panel first to access the oil fill and drain locations.  Of course I did not waste the opportunity to make a how to video on it.

I immediately followed up with installing the universal sun shade.  It turns out it wasn’t quite universal enough as I had to drill two holes into the seat base of the mower to get the brackets to fit.  It all worked out well.  I like the design of this shade more than what was on the Craftsman.  It can be removed in 10 seconds if need be and if you inadvertently hit something with the shade the frame will fold backwards on it’s hinge instead of bending the frame.  You can see the process here.

Cindy helped me with some indoor list items as I continued outside mowing the property which took a couple hours.  It turned out my timing was fortunate as later in the day we got smashed with rain which left the property a soggy mess.  I also got to spend some time in between chores hanging out with DJ as Katie brought him over which is always a fun time.  I spent some time in the hobby room getting one of my Prusa printers going again which was another list item.

Sunday after tending to the chickens, paying my bills, and going on a DD run with the dogs I wanted to get out briefly on my MSX.  Last week I had someone suggest that I “race” my Skydio 2 drone which has a rated top speed of 36mph.  The only EUC I have that can eclipse that is my Gotway MSX which some people ride as fast as 45mph.  Despite the temps already well into the 90s I donned my upper body armor for the ride to up my safety level, just in case.  Luckily I didn’t need it.

I did 5 or 6 high speed runs in the mostly abandoned streets across Immokalee Road.  The roads are straight as an arrow which was good but they aren’t necessarily very flat.  There are small undulations that become very large if you hit them when going 30+ mph.  The best speed I got to was 36-37MPH which was plenty fast for me.  I feel very comfortable rolling at 25MPH on my wheels, that level of comfort vanishes going 35MPH.

Later in the afternoon I knocked out a couple more list items but there were two things that did not get completed.  I will be trying to either knock them out after work during the week or they will get tacked on to next weekends list.  The list is a silent taskmaster that keeps me moving.

I forgot to mention that my Prusa MK3S returned from it’s second trip to and back from the Czech Republic for repairs Tuesday.  I was happy to see they did find and fix problems with both the filament sensor and heated bed.  Since that printer returned I was now officially out of top bench real estate.  Last night I lowered the bottom shelf as much as possible to give more clearance for bigger printers.  After doing so I was able to slide my Anycubic Mega X down there with room for up to two more printers.  It’s a good thing because I have a Creality CR6-SE that will be showing up in a month or so.  I also have another Prusa Mini on back order that I hope to get before Halloween.

Cindy picked up Sadie yesterday.  Most of last night both dogs were glued to our sides because of the intense storms that came through.  At 4AM I had an unwelcome alarm clock, the sound of Sadie getting ready to barf.  All of a sudden my left knee pain disappeared and I shot out of bed like a ninja, pushing Sadie towards a hard surface before she let loose.  It turned out that she kept it down mostly but Cindy and I were already wide awake.  I took both dogs outside as a precaution before returning to bed.  I awoke at 6AM very much wishing I had another hour or two before the alarm went off.

The last couple nights the intense knee pain while laying in bed has subsided mostly which is good news.  Maybe the hanging upside down is helping, who knows.

I have a three day weekend the next two weeks as I have taken off consecutive Fridays to use up the remainder of my vacation days prior to my calendar rollover.  I have already been adding to last weekends uncompleted list items to give me plenty to keep busy with over the upcoming three days.

Today is my niece Caroline’s 16th birthday.  It seems unfathomable that she is now old enough to drive.  The acceleration of the passage of time as you age is amazing.

I was thinking the other day about how reality has changed since Covid 19 became commonplace in our daily lives.  All around the world you have seen varying reactions to the restrictions, closures and outright bans that have occurred as a result.  Some people seem absolutely enraged by the idea of not being able to freely do whatever they feel like doing, regardless of circumstance or repercussions.  Others are 180 degrees in the opposite direction, cowering in fear of the virus and continuing to live a life in isolation as much as possible.

Cindy and I were not living a life that included tons of social interactions prior to the pandemic so the impact has been moderate.  For me the biggest things I miss are being able to freely head out for a dinner/movie date without hesitation.  The disappearance of events that include large groups of people is a bit of a bummer as well.  Things like Supercon, that Cindy and I have attended multiple times will be off the menu for who knows how long.

The other impact for me personally is the ability of Covid 19 to disrupt professional sports, especially the only one I actually care about, NFL football. The only other restriction I feel sad about is travel related, specifically cruises.  I had a lot of fun with Cindy doing our quick cruise for her 50th birthday, so much so that we almost did another one for my birthday in December.  I can’t even see a timeline where going on a cruise will be feasible in the near future.

Like everyone I look forward to the day that these things are once again on the menu but I think the new normal is going to fundamentally change the way we interact with the world for good.

For many years now I have had various complaints physically about injuries and illness as I have aged.  Aches and pains would come and go but for the most part they  were short lived and I still had the core functionality to do basic strength moves like squat, dead lift, and bench press while keeping up more or less with running as well.  I would hear and see people in my age range that were in much worse condition than I was complaining about not being in shape and then rattling off a long list of excuses for that being so.  For the most part I dismissed the excuses as a veil for a lack of motivation as despite my mostly minor issues there always has been a confidence in my body to hold up to what I have asked it to do.  That confidence is fading, quickly.

Between the shoulder injury that was rolled up by the left knee injury with a side order of lower back crunching noises, I have lost confidence in my body to do the things I once could ask it to do.  The ironic thing is these injuries all came around when gyms were closed for Covid.  I went back to basics by doing hundreds of push ups and running the parking garage which ironically seem to be what brought these injuries about.

I ordered and started using some inversion boots, hoping that allowing gravity to decompress my joints might have some benefits.  I have only done it a couple times thus far but I plan to keep it as part of my evening mini-workout I do most days.  I have spent the majority of my adult life with a focus on health and fitness.  Up until the last couple years the reward has been minimal health issues and an ability to still do a lot of the same things that I have always done. Coming to grips with the idea that that reality is starting to change isn’t something that sits well with me.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not raising the white flag.  I’ll never give up.  Each day at the gym I still work hard.  The difference is now what doesn’t currently hurt is becoming a consideration for every workout.

Friday after work I stopped at Home Depot to get another 250 pounds of sand for the chicken run and 20 pieces of sod to bolster areas in the front of their yard that had become muddy.  The sand helped raise some low areas of the run which got mucky during the rain storms last week.  I laid the stuff down as soon as I got home, obscuring my original plan to get on Cindy’s Echelon bike for some cardio.

So when I was married to Ali I used to always write a list of what I wanted to get accomplished every weekend.  She absolutely hated that I did that.  Cindy actually likes lists but I stopped doing them a couple years ago at least.  I think at the time the thought process was it would be a way for me to not work so hard on the weekends, we all saw how that has worked out.  I just work hard without the list.

But this weekend the list was back and it was long with double digit items on it.  On Saturday Cindy had Census work to do so that left me to tackle the list head on.  I worked from 7:30AM til about 7PM with minimal breaks in between.  I even wound up doing something not on the list, fixing the chicken playground area. Months ago there was a mini-tornado that spun up in just the right spot to flip the hinged roof up and over.  In the process it damaged the roof panels, ripped up one of the 2×4’s and did some other damage.  I had haphazardly thrown it back together afterwards but it looked like shit.

At Home Depot I got some replacement roof panels.  When I got home I took off the bent up panels and removed the damaged part of the frame.  Rebuilding the roof took maybe an hour, leaving the chickens with a pristine playground once again. This time I added a 2×4 “stop” to prevent the roof from flipping all the way over in high winds, in theory.

Doing the repair left me with all of the old and slightly damaged panels.  I used two of them along the two long edges of the playground, this would block the view of a predator if the hens were in there.  Two more of the panels went on the back of the run again to obstruct view but also provide rain protection.  The final panel got hung on the back corner of the fence, a few inches off the ground, once again to obstruct view of the chicken yard from the rear property line.

I then hopped on the new tractor and mowed the rear half of the property, the first time I did that with the Husqvarna.  So far I am really digging the tractor, I just need to get the sunshade on it so I am not melting quite so much. After I got done outside I had an even longer list of things to do inside.  I cleaned bathrooms, counters, and steam cleaned the floors among other tasks.  When I finally stopped working around 7PM I was tired but felt like I accomplished a lot.

So my left knee had been making very slow improvement over the last couple weeks.  It didn’t feel awful doing all that work Saturday but when it came to go to bed I had a very odd problem.  If I laid in my normal position on my back with legs elevated on a pillow my left knee was absolutely killing me.  The only relief I got was rolling onto my side which is a position I do not sleep soundly in.  The end result was a miserable night of sleep where I would keep waking up when I rolled onto my back.  I keep referring to it as knee pain but if I am being accurate it is a radiating pain that moves up and down the left leg. It sucks.

Despite the horrible night of sleep I hit the ground running Sunday.  After paying bills I got out on my MSX for a little bit to talk about the whirlwind of EUC based activity that recently happened with me, selling two wheels and sending my V11 back for repair.

I also did a video just showing the Skydio 2 footage from the ride.

During the afternoon I continued assaulting the list.  One item on there was to finally do a video review of the new tractor.  Tractor videos on my channel have been surprisingly popular.

During the evening I got one of my four printers that are out of order back up and printing, I obviously have more to do there.  Last nights sleep was much like Saturday with radiating pain on my back and fragmented sleep that left me exhausted and bleary eyed today.  At least I only have a four day work week to contend with.