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Terri9630 said:
At the hospital with the Kid, again...
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Update on your young one, please! When you have time, of course.

Sunday was a regular Church and walk dogs day, for me.
Yesterday, after walking, was take Oreo to vet for 6 months nail clip and 3 year rabies shot day. We started drugging him Sunday night as usual. Finished Monday morning and he was very loopy. When we got to doc, he went ballistic attacking anyone trying to get near him. Bit the assistant before the vet got into room (didn't draw blood but I saw a mark). He weighs 39 pounds now. We finally had to leave him and let them knock him out. When we got back to get him, he could barely walk, but it still took 3 of the workers at vet to get him in the car. They were wearing long armed leather gloves. He seems ok today, but yikes! He is just too much for me and DH trying to help with the midline in his arm and barely able to breathe. Dog came from the shelter and we have tried our best with him. Not sure how much longer we can do this. I am so glad it is over for 6 or 7 months.
Then I had a doc appt. in the afternoon for possible kidney stone. Have a CT scan set for middle of August.

Today should be much calmer. Will walk first.
Vote in local primary.
Walk dogs.
Do laundry.
Try to regain sense of calmness!
 
Husband's got a doc appt today, and daughter may or may not be starting the drive back to Austin today. She did a zoom job interview yesterday and was offered the job, but not sure about it yet. So I have no idea what today will bring....except I still have alot, alot, alot of green beans, peaches, cucumbers, and tomatoes to do something with. And pumpkins are ready...need to bring those in.
 
Yesterday I went to town and picked up some lumber. In the afternoon we had a big thunderstorm with heavy rain. It was nice seeing the rain. Had a cigar on the back deck and watched the rain come down. The sun is just now coming up and it's 45 degs.
The other day I gave my 7 year old grandson a machete. He's been out chopping trees down trees with it everyday, wants to be a logger. Now I have take the tractor out and pull all the stumps. Most of these trees are probably 20' tall or less.
 
We had the animals in the barn yesterday afternoon and overnight because of "severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches" but didn't even get rain. All we got was some wind. So we put them all back out today and cleaned the barn. Trimmed goat hoof this morning also. 8 done, 60 to go.....it's and ongoing process
Making tomato sauce for lasagna at the moment with some of the extra ripe ones. Everything is growing like crazy in the garden right now.
I dug up some potatoes this morning also, but I keep cutting them in half with the shovel.
Supposed to have company coming for lunch Thursday and debating when I should clean. If I clean today, it will probably be dirty again by Thursday, but I also don't want to run out of time and not clean at all. Pearl, want to come help me???? I really don't like cleaning. I do it, but I don't like it. I actually would rather trim goat hoofs, or even pull weeds
 
Usual routine, already spent several hours knocking out tasks, time to take a break... cloud cover is keeping the outside temp lower than expected, I think we're gonna have cooler temps for the next few days (upper 90s). A welcome break from the triple-digit BS, I assure you... this has been a rough summer, lol. I've been reading those Robert B. Parker novels lately, and enjoying them too, ol' Robert B. tells a pretty good story, and I like Westerns for their elemental simplicity... good guys have trouble with bad guys, good guys shoot bad guys, no more goldurned trouble, lol. ;)

This might be a good day to make those Pina Coladas, I'll see how I feel later... in this run of hot weather we've had, it's easier to just grab a cold beer, lol. I'm not even drinking that much beer, it has just been too goldurned hot! I'll drink a few, then I'll eat, and once I've eaten I'm done drinking, aye? At my age, I don't like drinking on a full stomach... when I was young, I could power down plates of food and keep on partying, but those days are over, lol. My metabolism has slowed down, and my system can't process food & drink the way it used to process 'em. No worries... :cool:

P.S. Haven't seen the hawk since Sunday, maybe the youngster was just passin' through... 🦅
 
We've been without power since 6pm last night. I am giving my emergency power backups a workout. Currently running 2 refrigerators, 2 battery chargers, and a small AC unit. The little solar array is currently operating at its design point. I think I could use an additional 600 watts to cover all the basics. I could definitely use about 800Ah of battery capacity.
 
Neb said:
The Princess has standing instructions to buy math engineering and science books she finds at yard sales.

Ben
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I grab every one I can find, history too. they will be gold one day! :clapping:
 
sonya123 said:
We had the animals in the barn yesterday afternoon and overnight because of "severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches" but didn't even get rain. All we got was some wind. So we put them all back out today and cleaned the barn. Trimmed goat hoof this morning also. 8 done, 60 to go.....it's and ongoing process
Making tomato sauce for lasagna at the moment with some of the extra ripe ones. Everything is growing like crazy in the garden right now.
I dug up some potatoes this morning also, but I keep cutting them in half with the shovel.
Supposed to have company coming for lunch Thursday and debating when I should clean. If I clean today, it will probably be dirty again by Thursday, but I also don't want to run out of time and not clean at all. Pearl, want to come help me???? I really don't like cleaning. I do it, but I don't like it. I actually would rather trim goat hoofs, or even pull weeds
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A Roomba is an automatic vacuum! I'd rather trim hooves too, but if I were closer to you I would come help you clean. I don't clean my house enough because I clean everyone else's☹️! I ended up home early today, doing laundry and some cleaning here!!
 
Pearl said:
I know someone who LOST their Roomba! It went out their apartment door into the hallway never to return🤔👻🥺
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I'm sorry (well not really), but I think it's funny if you got a robot to vacuum for you, and your floor is so bad the robot runs away 😂
 
LadyLocust said:
I'm sorry (well not really), but I think it's funny if you got a robot to vacuum for you, and your floor is so bad the robot runs away 😂
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Roombas have a sensor to monitor how much they are sucking up. They love dirt and will do a little robot dance when they find a dirty spot.

The Princess also has two mopping robots that she runs in the kitchen. It is funny watching when ahe sets all 3 robots running at the same time. I call them her pets. Can't beat a pet that cleans up behind you rather than the other way around.

The high end Roombas can be programed to run at a specified time and will empty their hopper at the base station.

Ben
 
Farm chores, picked two buckets of tomatoes and also squash and peppers. Took husband in to infectious disease doc appt, then to lunch, then to pulmonology appt, then back home for his infusion. Daughter is still here and will run some errands for us later. It's a pain making sure we're home on time for the infusion. Doc extended him for another week beyond this week, so it's part of our life for awhile to come. Takeout barbeque for dinner tonight so no cooking.
 
Woke up around 3am because my brother was cooking something in the air fryer and I smelled something burning. He was reusing parchment paper that had some kind of soy sauce mix he made on it and the sauce on the paper was burning-- but not setting anything on fire. Went back to sleep. Woke up around 8:30 and it was already too hot to do anything outside.

Went to the post office to pick up packages. The one that arrived there on the 2nd is still missing. I'll let the seller know. Went to Walmart to grab RX and get curbside order. Met my friend there and got him some food to cook.

On the way home it was 105°F. Way too hot for me. It felt hotter than usual. Got groceries in and am cooling off.
 
I just realized how lazy I've been lately. I'm down to my last bottle of hot sauce, out of ketchup and haven't smoked anything for quite awhile. I've heard of other people that have been making hot sauce and jerky. I have several bags of cut up habanaro, ghost, Carolina Reaper and other mystery peppers in the freezer. I think I'll take out 3 or 4 pounds of peppers tomorrow and put them in the smoker. And make a batch of my famous (to me anyway) smoked hot pepper sauce.
We're having perfect weather here, high temp of 70 degs after a low of 45.
 
Well after 30 hours in the dark our power is now restored. My emergency plans went okay, not perfect but okay.
Positives:
The battery bank for the O2 machine lasted for 14 hours (design target was 12)
The big battery bank was able to keep the AC in the bedroom running the whole time.
The big battery bank was able to operate the CPAP machine over night.
The Solar Panels were able to fully charge the big battery bank, run the little AC, run 3 refrigerators and power the Charger for the O2 Machine's battery bank: (only from 10AM till 5PM)
None of the freezers got above 20F.. :) no food loss.
Negatives:
I was not able to run everything mentioned above and run the O2 machine, I am about 500 watts short.
I did not have sufficient Battery backups to run the refrigerators over night.
I did not have a battery backup for the sump pump (it didn't flood) but it could have.
The backup for the network router was not sufficient to make it through the night, no wifi calling...
I did not have a low wattage cooking solution ready for the wife, I was able to use a small microwave, but she wanted to bake...
We ended up using almost a full bottle of O2 in the 11 hours after the O2 machine battery bank ran out.
I had to take a day off from work to keep everything working and the wife comfortable.

All in all I think it was a good learning experience...

Urban
 
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UrbanHunter said:
Well after 25 hours in the dark our power is now restored. My emergency plans went okay, not perfect but okay.
Positives:
The battery bank for the O2 machine lasted for 14 hours (design target was 12)
The big battery bank was able to keep the AC in the bedroom running the whole time.
The big battery bank was able to operate the CPAP machine over night.
The Solar Panels were able to fully charge the big battery bank, run the little AC, run 3 refrigerators and power the Charger for the O2 Machine's battery bank: (only from 10AM till 5PM)
None of the freezers got above 20F.. :) no food loss.
Negatives:
I was not able to run everything mentioned above and run the O2 machine, I am about 500 watts short.
I did not have sufficient Battery backups to run the refrigerators over night.
I did not have a battery backup for the sump pump (it didn't flood) but it could have.
The backup for the network router was not sufficient to make it through the night, no wifi calling...
I did not have a low wattage cooking solution ready for the wife, I was able to use a small microwave, but she wanted to bake...
We ended up using almost a full bottle of O2 in the 11 hours after the O2 machine battery bank ran out.
I had to take a day off from work to keep everything working and the wife comfortable.

All in all I think it was a good learning experience...

Urban
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Last Grid Down, I learned the UPS for the router and Modem ran two hours, but SPECTRUM went down the instant the grid did.

Now I know :)
 
UrbanHunter said:
Well after 25 hours in the dark our power is now restored. My emergency plans went okay, not perfect but okay.

All in all I think it was a good learning experience...

Urban
Click to expand...

It's good to stress test your gear. Annoying, but... only way to be sure. Glad the lights are on again!
 
Today we are back to having a "Normal" day. Woke up a 03:30 and decided to do the dishes, sorted laundry and get ready for work. After thinking a little more about the events of Monday Night and Tuesday, The only things I think I need to buy are a low wattage toaster oven and 2 batteries.

At the hunting club they are writing "procedures" for the different tasks that everyone does to provide a guide for future staff and volunteers. I think that I need to make an emergency procedures guide book for here at the house, being able to know where everything is, how to hook things up, and what to monitor would be useful in an emergency. I think it would be easier to read it in the light before moving into the dark abyss (basement) to do the work knowing exactly what needs to be done.

********

After my July 30th medical scare (kidney infection, BP 170/95, A1C in the double digits (meter #s ~ 180) I have been trying to make some positive changes and been closely monitoring my BP and sugar numbers very closely (3 times a day).

I have been backing away from the "prepared" foods that were spiking my sugar and discovered some hidden things that were pushing it up in the process. I have reduced my diet coke (DC) habit a lot (I was at about 5 12 packs a week), down to about 5 DCs per week (I found that filling the DC bottles with cold water is helping me break my DC habit). Today is the first day that I have had a craving for a DC.

Foods that have ended up on my "bad" list include bread, rice, sweet-n-sour anything, chips, any candy, and potatoes... I am still tracking what I eat in a log with my BP and sugar #s so I can readily see what pushes things up.

I am trying to exercise 3 times a day for 10 minutes, 5 minutes on the exercise bike, and 5 minutes on the floor. So far my BP numbers have come down about 30, my sugar numbers have come down about 50, and my weight has come down 8 lbs. Things are a long ways from under control but I am hoping to be at a reasonable state by my next Dr's appointment in September.

The only down side that I can see is that now my pants keep wanting to fall down, have to go back to suspenders ;)
 
More vehicle irritation. My Yukon did not pass inspection. I was sure it would, couldn't think of any problems. Ball joints, $1000....
I just want to cry. We keep switching repair shops and end up with no better results. I thought I could trust this Chevy dealer. They are busy enough, I would think they wouldn't try to do things not necessary. It was driving just fine, I would think with defective ball joints the wheels would wobble or something
Plus the cost of this is ridiculous but I have neither the time nor motivation to drive it to 3 more different repair shops and spend 3 weeks getting a better price, or a passed inspection only to end up with the same result. NOW I wished we still lived in Florida ....( no inspections) for the first time since we left!!!

Cleaning the house today. It didn't get done yesterday. I spent half the day on the phone yesterday seems like, everyone called including my brother who I talked to for a few hours. They are having the same problems we are having ( lots of vehicle problems and new ones cost too much) . At least he can fix things himself, but his are getting so old they are no longer fixable.
 
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