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  • Animal Issues and Birthday Party

    TGIF BTW. So the morning started out early when Sandy informed me that our racoon trap was doing double duty and was acting as a possum trap. Cute little guy but not very friendly.

    So we let him go and sent him on his way. Then, on my way to the gym, I ran over a squirrel… I was not happy about it but he was suicidal so there wasn’t anything I could have done. And when a 4 ton truck rolls over your head it’s pretty instant. But on my way home I saw that a buzzard was having a fresh meal on me. Circle of life yada yada…

    Then the evenings entertainment was Hanna’s birthday at Park Place. Always good to catch up and hang out with the extended family.

    We finished off the evening by stopping to visit mom and Ron before Sandy takes off for the new job tomorrow. Long day but lots of fun.

  • Endless Entertainment

    While I love all animals, I’m currently living with two cats. The dogs will come when I have property. In any case I was sitting in my office and I hear a din from the kitchen, I heard Sandy say something to the cats and then some crashing. As I got up to see what the issue was, a blur blew by my legs on the way into the bedroom, Sandy was trying to catch her breath from laughing and I realized the cat had gotten tangled up in a bag and was blindly running through the house.

    She finally came to rest on the cat tree where we were finally able to cut the bag away from her and freed here from the most traumatic experience of her life. It’s okay Sammy, we still love you:)

  • Computer Upgrade Time

    My development rig lost 16GB of ram, it’s so super rare for RAM to go bad but after moving all the 8 DIMMS around, I figured out which pair is causing the issue. So it’s time to replace a couple of DIMMs to get back to 64GB and while I’m at it, let’s go ahead and put in a TPM chip so we’re ready for Windows 11 and (while the patient is open) let’s upgrade the hard drive to a 2TB Samsung PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD

    We live in an amazing time that these just show up the next day. I’ve installed the RAM and I found out they now apparently have LEDs on the memory, I have no idea why but at least they modules are the same as the others. More unneeded lights sigh…

    Digging out the Windows 10 Pro installation media and will start clean over the weekend so when Monday comes there will be a bunch of re-installations but should be screaming fast.

  • Keep Apples from Browning

    In the vein of healthier eating, apples are kind of a holy grail. Relatively inexpensive, they last forever in the fridge, super tasty and are rumored to keep doctors away. But once cut the clock is running at a screaming pace. And while the browning doesn’t impact the taste, presentation is everything.

    I ran across this site researching the issue and seems they researched and tested the issue so all I had to do was try their recommendation to see if it addressed the need and super happy to say it’s amazing. This opens up apple slices and fruit dip as a dish that can be brought to picnics and gatherings. Here’s the best for my reference:

    Apple Treatment Method: Salt Water

    For this method, I followed these instructions for the best way to keep apple slices from browning and dissolved 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt per cup of room-temperature tap water, soaked the apples in the solution for five minutes, and then rinsed them in a colander under running tap water.

    Just like the honey-treated apples, these slices didn’t get a hint of browning after 12 hours at room temperature, and did not taste at all like salt. Along with the honey-treated apples, I stored the salt-treated apples in the fridge overnight, and the bagged slices were still perfectly crisp and intact. (The plated slices had shriveled a bit, just like the honey apples.) This is my personal favorite method for preventing apple browning, and the one I’ll be using in the future.

  • Independence Day (from car payments)

    I wrote about it a while back but today, I finally sent the 31k payoff check and depending on how slow the post office is, I own the truck!!! And to celebrate that (not really) Sandy and Shelly took it to Erie, PA. This means the first time the truck is out of state under my ownership and I’m not even in it. Sigh…

    But the good part is she’ll be bringing the extra tank back adding an extra 50 gallons to the capacity giving a total of ~80 gallons and around 800 miles hauling the RV. Part of me really wants to put in a true transfer tank and I could get a 100 gallon for about 1k, but I already own this one and the pump makes sense if I’m going to use it to fill up equipment at a job site.

    And with Sandy and the truck in PA, I’m left to my own devices for the 4th of July, lord help us all:)

  • Looking for Property

    I’ve begun looking for property. This is a rather daunting task. The old saying that it’s all about location, location, location is rather true. But my needs are simple. I want to find something in Erie or surrounding location that I can put a Bardominium on with a studio and garage.
    The premise to this property is northern storage for the RV/Truck with a studio apartment setup. Ideally in the middle of nowhere but, I can see doing this in town also if the property and tax rate presents itself.

    While I do want property in the middle of nowhere, I think that is better served in WV, KY, VA because that’s away from everything. While the north property will be around family and friends and for summering to be away from this ungodly heat…

    This is the barndo concept I’m thinking of:

  • Rough News Week

    • Some horror out of Ohio where a dad killed his three sons.
    • Russia now has it’s mercenary faction gunning for the military.
    • Bunch of people drown trying to get from Africa to Europe.
    • The Titanic claimed another group of rich people.

    It’s the last one that has me and the rest of the world captivated as death and destruction is so ubiquitous for the most part, but it’s so much more interesting when it happens to people that have it all. We got to see what 250k will buy you for a trip to the Titanic wreck site, and hubris punished with instantaneous death.

    My take-away on it is this: If you have a billion dollars, you have to employ someone who is in charge of making sure you stay alive. This should (ideally) be someone who can either A) speak legally on your behalf or B) have prescribing capabilities, in either case it’s rather imperative that your conversation with them be protected and completely candid. I’ll keep that in mind when I make my first million…

  • Summer is Back, with Vengeance

    It was actually a really nice spring in Texas, there was ample rain and the temperatures were mostly moderate. That would appear to be over and coinciding with the calendar solstice, the heat is on. And its not just the heat, it’s the humidity, the fox affiliate called it disrespectful humidity, that about covers it.

    I am happy to say that the new windows are allowing the HVAC system to hold it’s own against the heat.

  • Paying off the Truck

    So as I was peeking at finances this weekend one account actually grew to more than a loan account meaning I’m paying off the truck this week. I would be paying it off today but it’s a federal holiday. So tomorrow I’ll head over to BOA and end my 8-month relationship with them. Nothing against them but they’re nothing special either so I don’t see any need for their services beyond possible future loan services.

    With the truck paid off the search for land can begin in earnest as they’ll now be cash available for the purchase, and the truck that will haul the RV and equipment and materials is acquired and paid for. Once I get the spare tank on the truck, I’ll also have a way to haul diesel, efficiently, to the job site. Also more than doubling the range for trips. This means I can start looking for a backhoe too.

    In other news, I’m hauling Sandy and Shelly to the airport today where they are flying off to Mexico to hang out with Valerie for a couple of weeks. Meaning I’m left to my own devices, lord help us:) Actually I’m going to geek out and program the rest of the reporting warehouse integration. Finished up the table creates yesterday and now I just need to program the scripts to tie it all together.

  • Happy Fathers Day

    It’s fathers day today. Oddly enough if my math is right the last time I saw my dad awake and alive was 10 years ago. My sister and I met him at his house for fathers day lupper (lunch/supper). We had filet and we had to go get a pan to cook it in at Wal-mart on Beach street. That’s where I took his last picture, I need to figure out where that is now that I think of it. I remember I bought corn holders on that trip also, still have those as well as the pan.

    I wish I had known my father better, not that there’s anything that can be done about it but I always thought that that things may have been slightly better had we been closer and I had been able to learn from him. Oh well, if there does turn out to be an afterlife I’ll definitely look him up. Until then, hope I did you proud dad, you checked out before I actually got the hang of life but I didn’t do too bad:)