DWSmith

I was walking through Costco yesterday and got a food sample.  The young lady in charge of distributing the samples asked me if anything was on the end of the chain on my overalls bib.  I said I had a watch on it.  She had to have a look at it so I showed it to her and a guy friend of hers that was chatting with her when I walked up.  They acted blown away by it!

I carry an ~80 year old Hamilton railroad pocket watch made to be a salesman's display watch.  It's in pristine condition.

Anyone else carry a wind-up pocket watch or wrist watch?

I'm very sorry for your loss.

My little beagle Sophie had to be put to sleep July 28, 2021.  I still mourn.

I got Angus from a nearby shelter in early November 2021.  He truly is the best dog I've ever had and I've had dogs almost all of my life.  No dog can replace Sophie but no dog will ever be able to replace Angus either.  Angus will probably be my last dog anyway.

Give it some time and you'll know when you're ready for another dog.

On 7/10/2023 at 7:08 PM, Capt Bob LeMay said:

If you have the info... what size genny for the whole house, your cost (then), and rough size of house?  I'm guessing my figure of 10k is woefully out of date.  This from a guy who's re-powering his work skiff -and my cost is only twice what I'm used  to paying to re-power (lucky me...).

22kw, about 2,300 sq ft, $10,000.

I wonder if those bison each have a well calibrated range finder to measure that 25 yard distance?

I was driving my family through Lone Elk Park near St. Louis.  We were in the bison area when some young guys in the car ahead of us stopped several car lengths from us, rolled their windows down, and began taunting a bison that was standing along side their car.  I expected things to get bad but fortunately the bison just faced them and bumped their big car with its head.  That big old car almost scooted sideways on the pavement.  Those guys took off and the bison stood there looking at us.  We waited him out and he meandered off into the timber before I began driving.  Bison are not to be messed with.

This morning I shot a raccoon in my pajamas.  How he got in my pajamas I'll never know.  😁

He broke into the chicken coop and killed the rooster. The German Shepherd Dog treed him when my wife took the dogs out. That's one way for me to get moving at 5:00 am.

Have some repairs to do today.  Fun...

We have a Generac standby generator to power the whole house.  It's been installed for several years and has only been needed once for an 8 or 9 hour stretch.  It runs off of our 500 gallon LP tank.  We live in the country and I wouldn't want to be without my Generac.

A little after we moved here 16 years ago our power went out for 3 1/2 days during the winter at temperatures not very far below freezing.  No Generac was installed here yet.  Our LP fireplace was our only source of heat in the house.  I used a deep cycle battery and an inverter to keep the cell phones charged, run a radio and small TV occasionally, run a laptop occasionally, and run a table lamp with a CFL occasionally.   I put clean garbage bags in two trash cans and emptied our refrigerator and freezer into them while keeping them on the porch on the north side of the house.   Food I didn't want frozen was kept in coolers in the garage. I cooked on a camp stove in the basement with a fire extinguisher handy and kept the stove near the door just in case.  We survived fine but some homes in the area were without power for 2 weeks.  Would never want to do that without a generator.

I've always loved to write code so the high points in my career are when doing software development.

When companies started ditching their contractors (I was one) I hired on with a good paying company in the area doing a job a wasn't crazy about but earning good pay.  I thought I'd put in a year or two and transfer into a software development group.  Nope!  My manager wouldn't let me go.

I had a good team lead and managers get moved around so much I just stuck it out.

Twenty years later I was still in the same dead end position, still making good money, the manager was long gone, and my team lead had been let go.  Bummer.

I really had planned to work until I toppled over.  As I said above in my first post the management was confused, disorganized, and as a group appeared to have ADHD.  Time to go.

If I had been at a mentally stable company doing the type of work I loved doing in the past I'd still be working.

OMG 62?!?!?!

Yep, 2 is my limit.

If they were White Castle sliders I could maybe eat 10 but that would be pushing it and become uncomfortable.  I'll stick to 4.

As I've stated here, too many times I'm sure, I retired in late January.  A significant change I've noticed in myself is the improved ability to concentrate.  I'm actually able to read books again and enjoy them.

These aren't just light reading but they're not too heavy either for example a couple of Stephen Hawking books I never completed in the past.

I had recognized for years that the company I was working for was an ADHD corporation with a massive group of unfocused, disorganized managers that couldn't manage their ways out of wet paper bags and it was taking a toll on me.  I'm so glad to be out of that dump.

Anyone else notice significant changes in themselves after they retired?

Thanks all and Happy 4th of July to everyone here! 👍

I'm staying inside out of the heat today and cleaning up my office/hobby room.  Tomorrow we should get more rain and cooler temperatures.

It's noon and 83°F, bright sun, and humid.

Went outside around 7:00 am to beat the heat and had a problem with my pull-behind lawn sprayer.  I knew I was doing something wrong but it took a little while to figure it out.  I haven't used that thing in ages.

Anyway, I got 'er done!  I sprayed the weeds.  I'll hit them again next week.

It's nice to be retired and have the time and energy to get caught up on stuff like this.

Life is good!

What's your weather like on this first day of summer?

Thanks guys!

When I bought my new HMH Spartan vise J. Stockard gave me a $50 gift card. Sweet!

I used it yesterday to get, of all things, some lead wire and threads that they just got in (they have been out of stock for so long).  I also got an HMH Profile Plate.

Not sure about the HMH Profile Plate.  Any of you have one?  What do you think?

We invited the kids and grandkids down for Father's Day (yesterday) so I cooked the meats on the smoker in the shed before they arrived.

This morning I had to get a sack full of unrelated trash from the shed to set out for trash day.

There's just something special about the smell of hickory smoke at 7:00 am the day after a smoke!

Life is good!

I feel for anyone with eye issues.

In college I was getting burned out so I took off a semester and worked at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis.  I was a male nurse assistant which was a fancy name for 'orderly'.  I transported folks from their hospital room to the ENT and Neurosurgery Operating Room floor for surgery and back to their room after recovery.

I got to see eye patients before their laser photocoagulation when they got bleeders from diabetes.  Others had scleral buckling to repair their eye when they had torn the white of their eyeball.  And there were other types of surgeries.

I was the guinea pig in front of a bunch of people to demonstrate a rollover retina table to hold the patient while fixing detached retinas.  Got flipped over with my face down and body at an incline with feet higher than my head.  Fun.

Anyway, it was interesting but I was glad to get back to school after that.

I have been doing eye drops for a few years to treat my glaucoma.  Pressures are stable but still a bit high in my left eye.  On my last visit the doctor mentioned 'surgery' but said it was really using a laser for blowing pigment cells out of blocked channels in the eye so the pressures can revert to normal.  Sounds like a permanent fix but it usually isn't.  He insisted it's no big deal and I believe him.

Good luck to all!

That's beautiful work Steeldrifter!

Uh, and you too there Poopdeck!  1800'??? Wow, you really miniaturized that one.  😁

This book helped me:

Retired in January.  Had major surgery in February.  Turned 69 years old 15 days ago.  Busier than I've ever been in my life.  I'm glad I don't live in town.  Our hobby farm keeps us busy and it's going to get busier.  Not sure how I kept up with as much as I did while I was still working.  Now I'm playing catch-up and implementing projects that have been on hold for years.

I have some easily managed hypertension but I'm successfully dieting so those morning pills may go away in a few more months.

Started exercising again after I recovered from my surgery.  Feeling better every day.

Bryon, congratulations on your lifestyle changes and catching that aneurysm.

I've done Atkins and it's one of the healthier diets, IMHO, to jump start your weight loss but it's not intended for long term.  I'd suggest that once you get close to your goal start switching from very low carb over to just lower carb with plenty of vegetables but limited fruits.  Dr. Fuhrman has a good, healthy diet that one can stay on forever.  He helps you develop good eating habits.  He's on PBS during pledge drives all the time so maybe you've seen him.

Also, Weight Watchers has a list of free, no point foods that is good to keep handy.

You sound like all of us in that we know what to do but we just need to do it and stick with it.  Good luck!!!

Thanks guys!  👍

I'm definitely not an audiophile but I'd like a decent pair of headphones in the $75 to maybe $150 range with a fairly flat response and decent comfort.  I've been looking at the Audio Technica ATH M40X, Sony 7506, and the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro.  I want something with a low enough impedance (less than 40 ohms) so that my phone, MP3 player, Desktop PC, etc. can drive them.

What do you guys use/recommend?

Thanks.

I was pushing the  wheel chair my wife's great aunt was in to get her to her gate.  Airport security wanted to confiscate my Victorinox Swiss Army Tinker pocket knife and not give it back after I dropped her off for her flight.  I wasn't flying.  Ridiculous!!! A little pocket knife.

I think the rules have changed since then but that was crazy.

Thanks!

This morning I started wondering about using a seat to raise me up a bit. I think both of you have good ideas.

I'll work from that angle.

Thanks guys! 

8 hours ago, niveker said:

Now you know where the goalposts are. You'll get there, you have a good attitude. 

What did you catch?

An 8" bluegill but not on the fly rod unfortunately.

I think my main problem with the Jon boat is the lack of flexibility in my hip joints.  I had absolutely no issues 2 seasons ago but now they're too tight so I'll have to do some stretching to see if that loosens them up again.  Simply sitting on the seat is literally a pain because it's so low to the floor of the boat.  I'll get there!

Almost a total failure but I did catch 1 fish.  I'll try the boat again in another month.  Until then I'll fish from the bank while sitting in a chair using a spinning outfit.

Now a bass boat with higher seating would have worked great but I don't have access to one.  It's a good thing you guys talked me out of a kayak a while back.

Sitting in a chair on a dock with no one around would work better for fly fishing.

It was worth a try ... sort of.