I’m missing sailing, but here are a few new knot tying ideas

Posted By on September 20, 2020

CoiledLineHangerMost people who enjoy sailing and undertake the sport/activity as a hobby, also enjoy learning how to handle the many sheets and lines (ropes) that are used aboard a sailboat. I’ve been sailing off and on my entire life and find myself relying on a few knots that I’m confident about. Oh, I also enjoy learning new and better knots and line handling techniques, but they all take practice.

Here are a couple from 101knots.com I’m adding to my “want-to-use-more” list … and it is going to take a little discipline to shift away from my old ways.

TautLineHitchButterfly_KnotInstructions

Paintied the hinges and door hardware for the pool changing room

Posted By on September 19, 2020

PoolhousePaintedHingesIt has taken me most of the second half of the summer, but I’m finally finishing the poolhouse changing room … more work than I thought. The damage done by Katelyn’s “late” pet rabbit Pumpy Umpy was significant enough to require lower drywall (greenboard) and all new casing and baseboard trim. Part of my slowdown was the heat of the summer use … but most of it was me just moving from project to project.

This past week I worked on the rusted hinges and screws. Each brass-look hinge was taken off, wire brushed, then cleaned up on my Scotch-Brite wheel. After some Zine-Chromate priming, I added a couple thin coats of Rustoleum brand white gloss paint and did the same for all the once brass looking screw heads. This is a slow process and my wife asked me, “why didn’t you just buy new?” My answer, because they won’t fit the doors and frames.

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Tech Friday: A new feature update for my Fitbit Versa

Posted By on September 18, 2020

FitbitSpO2200916_mAfter a recent update from Fitbit, my Versa watch is now tracking my SpO2 level when I sleep. Unsure what to make of it, I asked my doctor-daughter Katelyn what it means: “looks good, no sleep apnea.” (Fitbit devices measure this while sleeping, since they are usually the lowest)

After a little reading on SpO2 levels, it is not exactly what I was thinking. SpO2 is also known as oxygen saturation. It is a measure of the amount of oxygen-carrying hemoglobin in the blood relative to the amount of hemoglobin not carrying oxygen. If it  low, the blood will not function as efficiently which is know as “Hypoxemia.”

Hypoxemia is determined by measuring the oxygen level in a blood sample taken from an artery (arterial blood gas). It can also be estimated by measuring the oxygen saturation of your blood using a pulse oximeter — a small device that clips to your finger.

Normal arterial oxygen is approximately 75 to 100 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Values under 60 mm Hg usually indicate the need for supplemental oxygen. Normal pulse oximeter readings usually range from 95 to 100 percent. Values under 90 percent are considered low.

MayoClinic

Our granddaughter Ellerie has her first tooth … and big eyes!

Posted By on September 17, 2020

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Filler post: Shade Sail Stick Insects and a couple idea photos

Posted By on September 16, 2020

StickInsect_mWhile brushing a few leaves off the new shade sails, this little guy caught my eye. It is amazing how different Stick Insects can change colors to fit their surroundings.

Actually this blog post is just a mid-week filler post and a collection of a few photos that I thought were interesting or at least somewhat creative ideas. I particularly like the sign for the classroom … bring back a little tough love discipline.

StoveTopHeatDefuserPowerStripplusCords_m

Top left: Stove top heat diffuser – Top right: Basket for power strip and cords

Bottom left: Power post pulling (go slow!) – Bottom right: Classroom Reality Check

RedneckPostPuller_aniRealityCheck

Photos of a few new hardwood trees from my brother’s nursery

Posted By on September 15, 2020

NewTreesRearHouse200914

It has been eleven years since we last purchased a few trees from my brother Ron’s retirement avocation – a nursery dedicated to NativeOhioPlants. He started planting trees years before so after he retired from the Air Force in 2018, it was a natural to make it a part time business. It’s not too big or lucrative and doesn’t stop him from traveling (like COVID19), but it is far better than watching TV and turning into grumpy old man (he’s younger than me!) I don’t think either of us will ever be bored.

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Another Jimmy Buffett 2020 stay-at-home video memory

Posted By on September 14, 2020

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Apple iOS 13.7: Opt-in to COVID19 exposure notifications?

Posted By on September 13, 2020

Update_iOS13.7I downloaded and installed the new Apple iOS 13.7 update, but hesitated since I regularly prefer blocking location services information. Both Apple and Google announced the “tracking” in April 2020, but as expected, it was met with reservation.

Most users are naïve to the amount of personal data requested by apps and operation systems on devices, but enough users are hyperaware, especially after the attention being given to TikTok and China regarding online and device privacy. 

.. the OS-powered contact tracing system is designed to inform someone when they may have been in contact with another person later diagnosed with COVID-19, primarily through a complex BLE Beacon protocol. Support for the protocol was first added to iOS in May with the release of iOS 13.5. But at the time, any given state needed to have an app developed by a public health agency that used the API. Now, though, states can simply provide Apple and Google with the necessary information and the auto-generated software framework will take care of the rest.

TheVerge.com

BMW X5 35d diesel fill-up for $1.39/gal with Kroger fuel points

Posted By on September 12, 2020

Diesel200908With a few miles of driving this week (nothing like my years of back and forth to NE Ohio) … I kept an eye out for anomalies in diesel fuel price. prices. It just so happened that Sidney and Wapakoneta prices were a bit lower than either Toledo or home in Cincinnati, so I planned my stop accordingly.

For diesel fuel users, it is a bit more challenging to find lower prices along Interstate 75, unless you can find diesel where trucks do not have access. I seems like most truck stops are 30-50 cents higher than the auto-only stations?

Anyway, with Brenda being a front line worker throughout the COVID19 pandemic (pharmacist at Kroger), she was awarded additional Kroger fuel points – Nice! So I opted to fill at the Sidney, Ohio Kroger with 70 cent per gallon discount … making it $1.39 when I filled 19 gallons in the BMW X5 35d. Also, logged a decent 23.2 mpg on this trip.

The 19th Anniversary of 9/11 and thoughts on our current path

Posted By on September 11, 2020

TwinTowerBeams_WeWillNeverForget

It seems like yesterday, but it was 19 years ago that the US was attacked by our own commercial airliners taken over by radical Islamic terrorists and orchestrated by Osama bin Laden. These evil men following a twisted ideology attempted to trigger an all out war between Muslims and who they perceived as the enemies of Islam with their 9/11 attack on NYC, Washington DC and thwarted attempt on the Capitol of United Flight 93 brought down by passengers in SW Pennsylvania.

(if you don’t read my commentary, DO skip below and read Alyssa Ahlgren’s article)

The “hatred” charismatic leaders are able to instill in followers is something we’ve seen throughout history and the ability to Remembering911brainwash people is part of our human condition. Although most Americans sense we have a better handle on terrorist organizations and cells, our sleepy attitude towards threats dissipates over time and “likely” will open the door for another eventual attack (yes, depressing, but it is our human history).

Reflecting on this has me thinking about ALL threats to our country and our citizens. Currently, most of  us can see the political unrest primarily within our borders, but as the world grows smaller .. everything seems far more interconnected than in the past. Some think it is only a racial thing or a handful of ANTIFA agitators … or a reaction President Trump. I’m not sure it is that isolated or disconnected? 

Those who dislike our country, really disagree with our successful model of competitive capitalism and the freedom to work harder/smarter, ability to own property or build a business free from an oppressive government. Their view is not one of government protecting and serving the people so they can freely compete, but where people in government dictate their desires on the people.

OneWorldTrade_USAToday

Just as with those who build networks of terror, current groups within the US (often with help from abroad and sadly the Democratic Party) are slowly infiltrating the “hearts and minds” of many in the next generation and teaching them that America is and unfair or even a bad country. They highlight the wrongs of our past rather than teach the progress made in overcoming and improving. Too many young people are poisoned with hating success or those who pulling oneself up by their bootstraps … believing we live in an unfair country. Instead, just as in every failed state where Marxism has been tried, they concluded that it will work here (if they are even thinkers?) Just as with the ideology used to turn Muslims into Islamic terrorists, American-hating radicals on the left are using their influence in the education system. Marxist thinkers (even founders of BLM) are turning students into pawns, and in some cases anarchist criminals, that want to completely change, if not destroy, America as we know it.

I read this the other day … and have been thinking about it. There is no question, 26 year old Alyssa Ahlgren gets it in her passed around social networked article.

My Generation Is Blind to the Prosperity Around Us!

I’m sitting in a small coffee shop near Nokomis (Florida) trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines AlyssaAhlgreenof presidential candidates calling for policies to "fix" the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around.

I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook’s, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we’ve become completely blind to it.

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Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog