Is Fall on the Way?

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It’s 7 o’clock on Saturday morning and I’ve just returned from a walk (a couple of miles, I think).  This is not an unusual event – I take a walk almost every morning – but, for the second day in a row, it was not a horrible experience for me, temperature-wise.  Yesterday morning and this morning were both the beneficiaries of, I assume, the storm that’s currently wafting around the southland (Hermine?).  Light breeze, temperature in the low 70s.  Really nice.  I should mention that I also have the window to my deck open in front of me, so I’m still benefitting from the breeze, and the cats seem to be loving it.

Strike that.  I just had to close the window because one of the feral cats just came up on the deck and started messing with Chamberlain’s head.

So it’s a long Labor Day weekend, made longer by the fact that I took Thursday and yesterday off several months ago with the intent at the time of driving up to East Lansing, MI, to shoot the Furman/Michigan State game, which occurred last night.  For various reasons – expense of renting equipment, a dearth of desire to drive for 24 hours in a 72-hour span, and Jenny’s vacation to Peru – I didn’t go.  I did watch the game on the Big10 network, however.  The Furman guys acquitted themselves well, holding one of last year’s FBS semi-finalists to 28 points and getting 13 of their own marks on the scoreboard.  The official point spread was set at 42.5, which was patently ridiculous for a number of reasons. Were I a betting man, I would’ve put the house on Furman and the points.  Be that as it may, for a team that went 4-7 a year ago to lose by only 15 to the team that won the Big 10 during the same period ain’t bad at all.  Perhaps – just perhaps – there is reason to hope for good things in Greenville this year.

As I said, Jenny’s in Peru – at least I think it’s Peru – and I’ve been tasked with taking care of her cats and, at some point, going out to dinner with Herb, who’s been feeling all of his 83 years recently, what with having to deal with Andi in assisted living (still recovering from her leg surgery), deciding what he’s going to do with himself and their house, and (I would assume) still working 40 hours a week.   I also need to bring him some packages that Jenny had sent to my house and, if I can figure out how, to borrow (read: take forever) his extension ladder.

I need the latter (the ladder – get it?) because I noticed during the day of the great tree massacre that I have a tree growing in one of my gutters.  Wish I could say that I’m joking about that, but I’m not.  There’s literally a small pine growing in the gutter over the back door, and I don’t have a ladder tall enough to get up there and clean the gutters – and I’m not getting on the roof.  Don’t remember exactly when I became deathly afraid of heights, but I did.  And I am.  And me no go on roof.   I took out my pole saw a few days ago and tried the classic “knock that sucker down” approach to the gutter-tree, but all I managed to do was knock some dirt on myself.  So an extension ladder is the next step.

If I can’t do that, well…me go on roof.  I’ve had a full life.  It’s been nice knowing you.  Somebody take care of my cats – and get my clock fixed.  Sorry, Dad.  Quincy’s clock needs to go to the shop again.  4 times in 150+ years….I guess that’s not bad.

So the picture up there is what my back yard looked like on the day after the tree guys left.  It’s a panorama, which explains things like the shape of the yard and the fact that the bird-feeder pole looks funny, but the things to notice are the large stump near the fence on the left, the fact that my shed is actually visible, and the lack of privet on the right.  The south forty, behind the white fence, will be the next area to get mauled by my tree peeps.  That’ll cost me another $2,300, but all except one of the trees back there (a large Oak) will be gone.  Once that’s done, I’ll have the fence back there replaced (it’s in bad shape), and will then decide what to do with it.  Either a garden (doubtful) or some new grass.  For the last couple of years, I’ve basically abandoned that area because nothing except trees will grow there.  I’d love to be able to get it sodded and maybe put in a swing, for which the frame is already there.

I can hear you all thinking, “Man.  That yard looks like shit.  He spent how much on that?”   And, for now, you’re all right.  It does look crappy.  Largely because of the tree, which is now gone, and the limbs on the Beech tree in the center, also gone.  Nothing could grow there.  Now, hopefully, grass can.  If that photo doesn’t open (I don’t think it does), you can get a better view from the one below.

After the trees came down

After the trees came down

Today, I think, I might start to reclaim Scott’s old room (which also served as a recovery ward for Chamberlain when he broke his leg) and turn it back into a home office – which is what I had nearly completed when Scott first moved in 6 years ago.  I’ll have one decent expense for that project: since I got the new laptop, I’ll need to get a new docking station for it.  Other than that, though, it should just be some sweat equity.

Might help me lose some weight.

The end of an era…and one of those days

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So the last straw came for me around this time last week, when I opened the Kindle app on my phone, planning to read a bit during my lunch at Dairy Queen (healthy, I know).

I was unable to get to my library.

Being bored, I pulled up my email instead, and found a message from Amazon, announcing that they would no longer offer Kindle for Windows Phone, as of the day before.  This came during a week when Microsoft had announced updates to several of their apps for Android and iPhone – but not for Windows Phone, so I was already ticked off.  See, the thing is, Windows Phone is without question – at least to me – the most solid, attractive, easy-to-use, secure, and intuitive phone OS on the market.  And it integrates seamlessly with all of my other devices – my car, my computers, my cloud accounts, everything.

But I still can’t get basic apps for it, like Wemo for my Belkin devices (lights, thermostat, etc.) or Capital One banking or Kroger coupons…on and on and on.  In spite of the phone’s superiority, nobody will write software for it.

So I finally took the plunge and “upgraded” my phone to an Android.  I also got – briefly – a Samsung Gear S2 smart watch with the phone.  Took that back after two days, as it couldn’t hold a candle to my Microsoft Band 2, and I saw no reason to spend an extra $10/month for something that I’d almost never use.

So I’m on android now.  I don’t like it.  I really don’t.  It won’t do simple things, like read me my text messages in the car or notify me when I’ve got new emails.  But at least I can lower the temp in my house when I’m at work and I can keep track of my finances.  And, with enough messing around, I can connect to my Microsoft Office account and be able to view some essential work documents from anywhere (this, by the way, was much easier to do on my Windows Phone).

I continue to hope that, someday, Microsoft will allow any apps to run on top of its phone software – or that businesses will wake up and figure out that the $50K they spend on hiring a Windows developer will pay off when they pick up 5 million new customers.  Until then, though, I guess I’m stuck with using this phone that looks like it was designed by a kindergarten class on meth.

In other news, I’m having a very large tree taken down in my back yard this morning.  Additionally, the crew doing that is cutting down a bunch of privet (the bane of my existence since I bought the house), trimming a large beech tree in the yard, and leveling my deck (which has been slowly tilting over the last several years).  This is not cheap – $2,200 – but it should really open up my back yard, let some grass grow, and maybe encourage me to spend more time sprucing it up and hanging out on the deck.

I had planned to be at the office while all this was taking place, and was on my way there this morning (after going for coffee), when my high-temp idiot light started flashing at me.  Since it had done this very briefly on my way home from a band board meeting last night, I pulled a U-turn and headed to my mechanic, which was about two miles from where I was at the time.

By the time I arrived at the mechanic, every light on my dashboard – and I do mean EVERY light – was either flashing or burning non-stop.  Check Engine.  Hill Climber. Brake. Traction Control.  Heat. Headlamps.  Even the cruise control indicator was flashing at me.

I was, to put it mildly, a bit freaked.  Also a bit ticked off, because, you know, when every light is flashing at you, it’s not going to be a $5 repair.

It’s not.  Need a new radiator and a new thermostat.  For good measure, I also had a nail in one tire and I’m due for an oil change.  When all is said and done, the mechanic will be into me for just over a grand.

That’s on top of the $2,200 for the tree guys.

Happy friggin’ Wednesday.

On the plus side, I had to walk home (a bit over 2 miles) from the mechanic, and I’ll have to walk back this afternoon.  So, in addition to my regular morning walk, I should get 7 miles or so in exercise today.

And, hopefully, I’ll have a cleaned-up backyard.  As I sit on my couch writing this (I took a vacation day to deal with the car), I’m being serenaded by multiple chain saws.

 

What happened?

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The last week was kind of a blur.

Monday and Tuesday were okay, but I had to do an upgrade late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning, and then I ran trivia Thursday night.  Between Wednesday morning and Friday night, therefore, I think I got about 6 hours of sleep.  And I’m not as young as I used to be.  Pretty sure I was in bed by 7:00 on Friday and I got another 5-hour nap yesterday afternoon.  Feeling a bit better today.

After literally three years of trying to get the television feeds at the call center fixed/upgraded, I managed to do so some day last week (I’m guessing that it was Thursday, but I honestly don’t remember).  The problem was that the account was setup around 5 years ago by someone who left the company 3 years ago, and nobody knew any of the account information – ergo, we couldn’t get anything done.  As it happened, I was searching through my intranet forums for something (I don’t remember what), and I stumbled across a post I’d made about three years ago with the subject line, “Avalon Ridge U-Verse Account Information.”  Imagine that.  I’d never thought to look in my own notes.

Long story short, I called support, gave the information, and by the next day all of our set-top boxes had been replaced, and we got two new wireless ones to put in the break room.

Maybe people will leave the floor televisions alone now that there are two that they can control.  I’m not hopeful, but that was the plan.

I think I’ve decided not to film the football team this year.  The decision is still somewhat up in the air, but realized that I’m starting to feel the wear and tear after doing it for the last 16 years.  The first game is at Michigan State, and I was kind of dreading quick up-and-back jaunt anyway, but I got swayed to just call it off since Jenny’s going to be out of town and Herb has his hands full with Andi.  It’s kind of a relief to have an excuse not to make the trip, and the more I think about the rest of the games, the less excited I am about getting up every Saturday and driving a minimum of 3 hours to stand in either blistering sun or a downpour.

Not to mention that I lost nearly two grand on equipment rentals last season because everybody and their mother has their own DSLR cameras now, so nobody’s buying my shots.  So yeah… I might just stay home and either watch the games on television (everything’s on ESPN3 these days) or not pay attention at all.

On the vacation front, I’m still planning to take a couple of days off on the week before Labor Day, and I’ve got the first week of October off (going back to Lake Superior), but I have 8.5 days yet to schedule and my boss is leaning on me to get them on the calendar.  I have no idea when I want to take them or what I’ll do.  I’m really kind of comfortable just hanging at the house and I hate taking vacation days to do that.  If I don’t use them, however, they’re lost forever.  So maybe Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks?  No idea.

If you’re reading this and have a suggestion, I’m all ears.

The picture for this entry is of the GBB at the Great American Brass Band Festival (Danville, KY) four or five years ago.  We were invited to play, and we got Brett Baker, trombone player from the world-famous Black Dyke Band, to hang out with us for a week and play some solos.  Great guy, and a good time.

Hot

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Having completed two weeks since returning from Ahmic, I suppose it’s time to regale the world with what I’ve done since.

In a word: Sweat.

It’s sooooo friggin’ hot in Georgia.  It’s no wonder that this state consistently ranks at or near the bottom when it comes to education.  Everyone’s brain is fried.  I’m not exactly certain how, but I’ve managed to keep my walking streak alive (sorry, Dianne – I don’t run).  Even at 5:30 in the morning, however, it’s hot.  And in the afternoon?  My car’s thermometer was reading 101 yesterday, as I was driving.

Other than sweating, I’ve been easing back into work garbage.  “Easing” may not be the best word.  “Hitting the ground running” doesn’t really do it justice, either.  It was more like, “I was thrown out of a moving car” when I got back to work.  I’m not sure how so few people can screw up so many things in such a short amount of time, but they did.  I came up for air somewhere around last Friday.  This weekend, I’ve mainly been writing updates to older programs (per requests), although today I got side-swiped by a new offering which is supposed to roll out to the public next week.  The call center isn’t prepared to handle it, so I’ve got 4 days to get 100+ workstations configured.

Tonight marks my return to hosting a trivia game after taking a few weeks off.  I normally spend Thursday afternoons thinking up questions, but I’m just going with database leftovers tonight.  No energy (or time) to think up questions and research answers.  I’ll throw in a couple of “Current Events” offerings, but I’ve got plenty of questions in the DB that have never been used.

This weekend, I think I’ve got plans to go see something with Jenny.  A play, I think.  Wait!  I know it’s a play.  It’s a Dunwoody Community Theater play.  And I don’t know which one.  Sorry, Jen.  It’ll come to me.

Next weekend, I think Brett and I are going to hike up Stratton Bald in NC.  I hope it’s cool.  Or raining.  Or that I have lots of bourbon.

That picture up there is just one of Chamberlain and me relaxing one day last week.  It might look like it’s been photoshopped, but we’re really and truly melting.

Shout-out to Cleveland!  One more day of GOPcon.  You can survive this!

Canadian Wrap

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So I’m back in the ATL now.

Cy’s pain turned out to be a tweaked muscle, and it should be fine.

On Tuesday, Cy and Jamie and I took a trip to Parry Sound to sell (and buy) some books, then did a bit of souvenir shopping and picked up groceries.  Got back to the camp in time for them to sit on the dock and me to take another nap on the farmhouse porch.  Renny made BBQ for dinner, which was excellent, and we finished out the night with a game of Oh Hell – I lost.  Again.

On Wednesday, I hit the road for home.  Took the western route and crossed back into the States at Sault St. Marie, then continued on a beautiful drive down through Michigan and Ohio, stopping for the night in Lima.  Got up early yesterday and completed the trip, arriving home at around 4:30.

I’ve managed to pick up a pretty bad head/chest cold (probably got it from Jamie, who was feeling bad last weekend), and I’m currently sitting in bed wondering whether or not I’ve got the strength to go grocery shopping.  My food here consists of a loaf of bread and 15 pieces of cheese.

So yeah.  I should go shopping.

Independence Day!

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If all goes as it usually goes, my house will be bombarded by the neighbor’s fireworks for much of today and I’ll worry that it’s going to start on fire.

This year, however, I’ll be worrying from the cozy environs of Ahmic Lake, and I’ll check with Jenny tomorrow (assuming that she hasn’t called me first) to find out if I’ve got a house to go back to.

Slept in the boathouse last night (like a rock), and woke up after 7:30 this morning.  Sleeping that late – plus the nap that I got on the porch yesterday – is finally starting to give me some of my energy back, as evidenced by the 14 miles that I walked yesterday.  I don’t even like to ponder what my sleep debt is like by the time I get to each vacation.  Probably about 7 years.

Cy had to head to the hospital in Huntsville this morning.  Hopefully nothing serious, but she’s got a pain in her neck (not “T”).  Probably a pinched nerve or something.  Here’s hoping those socialist Canadian doctors can take care of her.  No doubt, she’ll have to wait 17 weeks to be seen.  At least according to my oh-so-knowledgeable-in-the-ways-of-Canadian-healthcare buddies back home.

Had a swim after my walk this morning and the water is quite brisk.  It’s supposed to be pretty hot this week, though, so that might be a really good thing.

Perfection continues

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Dianne took off for home early this morning.  Since we had an overloaded camp last night (sleeping-wise), I slept in the car – and was very comfortable, thanks very much.  Woke up at around 5:30.  Dianne had plans to leave at 6:00, so I got up and took a short walk.

Kind of weird being on the road that early, and I had visions of running into a bear.  Didn’t happen, fortunately.

After Trude left, the rest of the crew had some breakfast, and then Karl, Rennie, and Jamie took off to play golf.  Don, Julie, and Lynn went to town to buy stuff for dinner (pork chops, I think), and to refill a propane tank.  Not sure if Cy went with them or not.  Diane took a nap, I believe, and I went for another walk after jumping in the lake.

Had a nice long nap on the farmhouse porch this afternoon and dreamt that I was playing in the barn at the Shoreham house.  It was beautifully windy on the porch.  Such good napping weather.

Woke up at around 3:30 and….took another walk.  I’m coming up on 13 miles for the day as I type this.

Finished the walk and moved the comforter, quilt, and pillow out of my car and back to the boathouse (I borrowed them last night), where I’ll be sleeping for the remainder of my time here.  Probably leaving on Wednesday so that I can chill at home for a couple of days before having to go back to work.

The weather today, as noted in the title, has been perfect.  Temps in the mid-70s, sunny, nice breeze coming off the lake.

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My deer fly stopper

The flies have been kind of annoying on Thompson and Langford, but I’ve modified a fly net to work really nicely with a ball cap, and it keeps the little buggers away from my head.  Not the height of fashion, but I don’t really care.  At least I’m not being driven insane by deer flies.

Souvenir hunting…and the group grows

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Awoke early this morning to a brilliant sunshine.  I thought it was about noon.  Turned out to be 6:00 AM.  Since Karl and Diane are due to arrive this afternoon – and to displace me from my little cottage – I stripped the bed and went for a walk.  Got back in time to have coffee with the rest of the group, which then dispersed to the four winds.  “T” and Rennie went into town to get lumber to rebuild a staircase.  Julie, Cy, Jamie, Di, and Lynn went to the farmers market, I think.  I finished cleaning out the cottage, fell in the lake, and then set out for Parry Sound in my continuing quest to find good souvenirs for the few folks to whom I’d promised something, as well as to replace the Tilly hat that I lost when my car burned down a few years ago.

Managed to find plenty of stuff for the folks back home and get the replacement hat, so I’ll call that a success.

Arriving back at the camp, I took another walk, then fell in the lake again.  Saw a deer during the walk.  If you’re sharp-eyed, you can see it in the picture above.

Now, while we wait for Karl and Dianne to get here, we’re having drinks and watching people make dinner.  Hamburgers tonight!