Small Talk: The Welcome Mat

[Netfoot]

[Netfoot]

The Delta Vortex was assembled by an elderly gent and he did a fair job, but when it came to programming his radio, he decided to take the easy way out. The aircraft has three surfaces and he set them up as a pair of ailerons outboard, and the center surface as an elevator. But (as we all told him repeatedly) that central surface is too small for elevator. Your have to set it up as two outer elevons and mix the center surface for extra elevator.

None of that makes sense to you, probably. Sufficient to say that he programmed the control surfaces (generally and incorrectly referred to as "flaps" by the public) wrong, in such a way that he would not have enough up/down control of the model. 

This is a big beast, with a 56" wingspan in the Delta configuration. Up it went, and he spent the next 10 minutes crapping his pants and trying to get it back on the ground in one piece. He finally brought it down and it hit the ground with a wallop! He took it home and never brought it back to the club. 

Personally, I think he was too embarrassed to admit he didn't know how to set up elevons with an extra elevator mixed in. But we're a club of friends! He only had to ask anybody for assistance and nobody would have refused him!

Any way, a couple years later I bought it from him for a couple hundred bucks. In the interim, both strakes from underneath and the right hand fin/rudder had fallen off and one of the strakes had actually gotten lost. And he'd taken the engine out. 

I bought it intending to fix it up and fly it but the years passed by and I never got a round tuit. So on Sunday, I took it to the club and showed it to the lads, asking who would like to have it? FOC, providing you out put it back in the year air, not take it home and sit on it like I did.

Three days later, Austin msg'd me to say the machine was ready fir for a test flight! The rest you know. It's flying with a .61 which is the least powerful engine in the recommended range and could use a bit more power... But she is flying!

For more photos and silly videos, you can look at this album. You will occasionally hear a noisy puppy who insisted on joining the party (more in a moment) and he even puts in a cameo appearance or two. Ahem! There might also be the odd expletive uttered at moments of stress...

Since I was assisting Austin on the flight line, and since a .61 spinning an 11x7 prop would make mincemeat of a puppy, Mo was restrained in a lead while we did taxi tests, and performed the takeoff run. But it wasn't long before he arrived in the thick of things without his collar!

He hadn't pulled his head out, he'd bust the clasp! So for the remainder of the afternoon he was underfoot. 

In one of the videos, the motor shuts down. So with the Delta hurtling back to the strip, needing to land right where we were standing, I commit the YouTube faux pas. I stopped filming the action as I concentrated. In getting an own-way dog off the strip before the Delta landed on us! So instead of a video of a beautifully executed dead-stick landing, you get to watch my feet and part of my butt (I think). C'est la vie!

Lunch was the remainder of the penne from last night, but I did something a little different for dinner. I had sausages (because I forgot to defrost a steak or something else), carrots boiled, potatoes baked and topped with red butter, a nuked plantain, and what some fool might call a salad but was simply diced cucumber and tomato topped with cayenne mayo. When the sausages came out if of the pan, I mandolinned a small onion into the hot oil, and when they were nice and soft I deglazed the pan with water and a drop of vinegar, added chicken flavoured gravy crystals (chicken sausages) and when it was ready I poured some on top of the potatoes (melting the red butter) and the rest over the sausages. 

Too many years of cooking with one burner has accustomed me to one-pot cooking, so it's nice now that I have the big stove, to be able to prepare separate dishes and assemble a meal that way instead.

When I threw the carrots in the boiling water a lot more escaped the bag than I'd planned for, So l had more carrots than I wanted. Yet, funnily enough, when I was getting down to the last few bites of the meal, I realized I'd run out of carrots!

I have scraped together the $45 I need for the PT/INR which I skipped a few weeks ago. I will contact Dr. Kristi and arrange to have it done. I don't think you are supposed to take warfarin without periodic testing of blood viscosity...

Mo has refused to come to bed. I thought if I went in, he would follow a few minutes later. It's been almost an hour, so I will have to go back out and coax him inside so I can lock the door!

Edited June 2, 2022 by Netfoot

[Spunkygal]

I wonder if when you have to restrain Mo for his safety, perhaps using a harness clipped to the lead so that he can’t bust out? In general, I’ve used harnesses for my pups for better control (no matter their size or weight) and so they couldn’t bust out of their collars. 

I love cukes and tomatoes together. I buy the English cukes that have almost no seeds. And the only two things I like about summertime are the amazing tomatoes and peaches! 

Now back to watching the Jubilee! I adore all this pomp and circumstance stuff. 

[Browncoat]

I will second the harness recommendation!

[dbklmt]

12 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

I will second the harness recommendation!

And I'll third it!!!

[Notabug]

39 minutes ago, dbklmt said:

And I'll third it!!!

Fourth!  Works really well in keeping a wiggly pup under control.

[Spunkygal]

Oooh! New emojis to play with it! Cool! 

[Netfoot]

I'm fine with the idea of a harness, but I'd rather not buy one (or his griwn-up collar) until I am confident Mo has arrived at something like his adult size.

Mo will be 9½ months old tomorrow, and Buddy was 13 months old when I ordered his collar:

If we can get to a year and he isn't outgrowing his homebrew collars every month then I will look into ordering his adult collar, and maybe a harness as well.

I still miss that rogue Buddy, and think of him every day. Mo comforts me when I feel sad about it.

5 hours ago, Spunkygal said:

Oooh! New emojis to play with it! Cool! 

I'm never too sure which one to select, so I generally don't use them very often. More of them to pick and choose between will only confuse me worse than ever. Even when the only choices are thumbs-up and thumbs-down, I will deliberate for ages and end up choosing neither. I think I am the only person on the internet that has this problem...

[Netfoot]

I ate several sandwiches for lunch, filled with tuna, grated onion and grated cucumber plus mayo and spices. Mo got a bite of each sandwich, plus the remaining tuna spread when I was replete. And despite having been fed three meals of his own today, he was very angry when I didn't have any dinner to share with him. 

After the sandwich pig-out, I figured I'd skip dinner, and you've heard this story before. Now, I'm hungry, and regret skipping the meal. At the time I said to myself "Maybe I should eat some of those baby carrots, just to stop my belly sticking to my backbone later! " But I didn't. I really need to find something that is cheap to buy, low on carbs, can be stored for long periods, easily prepared, and not so tasty that I find myself eating it deliberately. Something that when ever I feel like skipping a meal, I can eat a little of that instead. I thought of cereal, but I generally like cereal (Grape Nuts, not so much the busted up candy bars so many cereals seem to be). But the problem is the milk. I love milk, and if I buy six liters, I will drink it all by end of day. So the next evening when I feel like skipping dinner, I can't eat the cereal, because there is no milk. I use evaporated milk for my tea/coffee but that stuff doesn't taste right on cereal nor in a glass, diluted and iced. Besides, cereal is carby, isn't it?

Got to go to the pharmacy tomorrow, because I need more warfarin. I'd get a couple other things I'm low on, but the pharmacy won't cooperate. If they issue a prescription for 30 days, you can't get a repeat until only 4 days remain out of the 30. So I will run out of warfarin this weekend (which is 3 days long), but the other stuff I will have to wait until next Tuesday to collect. It's a PITA but not too bad seeing as next Tuesday will be Book-Tent day anyway. And I'm trying to arrange to get the PT/INR done on Tuesday as well.

Today was uneventful, except a guy bought something I had up for sale. He got a good deal and I got rid of something I wasn't using. Annoyingly, he did call around 10 in the morning, and said he'd be over shortly, but didn't arrive until nearly 4 in the afternoon.

Why do people do that? I might have had things to do elsewhere and had to stay at home waiting for someone who arrives 5-6 hours late! Fortunately this was not the case - I was planning to stay at home all day anyway. But he didn't know that, did he?

I'm done waiting, the breadfruit gets cooked tomorrow. I will make it an ingredient of a new pot of stoup. (Stew/Soup. Thanks, Rachael Ray!) I will include sweet and English potatoes, belly pumpkin, cucumber, plantain, white cabbage, baby carrots, onion, channa and some type of meat. I have some very old salt kine soaking overnight which will hopefully be edible as a result, and when I go to the pharmacy, I will possibly pick up some chicken as well. And any other veggies that catch my eye. I have no pak choy, so hopefully they will have some. There may very well be dumplings as well. I just wish I didn't have to go out in the morning (pharmacy/grocery but also the bank to deposit the cash from the sale, as well).

Mo is in his crate but he is not asleep.

He is waiting for the lights to go off so he can sneak out and snuggle up in the dark. As far as I'm concerned, he could come and snuggle right now! But that is not his way.

ETA: The reason I wish I didn't have to go out in the morning is because I will have to wait to start on the stoup until after I get back, and it prolly won't be ready in time for lunch.

Edited June 3, 2022 by Netfoot

[chitowngirl]

7 hours ago, Netfoot said:

I really need to find something that is cheap to buy, low on carbs, can be stored for long periods, easily prepared, and not so tasty that I find myself eating it deliberately. Something that when ever I feel like skipping a meal, I can eat a little of that instead.

Maybe dried fruits and/or nuts?

[Netfoot]

11 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Maybe dried fruits and/or nuts?

Not a bad idea. I will go investigate this next time I am in the grocery. I know they sell dried apricots...

Didn't find any pak choy but there was this:

I was sorely tempted but I resisted and bought two of the plantains in the background instead.

[Netfoot]

Stoup! 

The dried out salt kine that I left soaking for 18 hours became soft again, and I cut it into. Small strips. These went into some stock along with carrots and sweet potatoes. After that was going, in went English potatoes and  breadfruit. 

The fruit was halved and quartered.

I discovered that the flesh was a little riper than I'd thought! Maybe should have cooked it yesterday? Or I could have waited two more days until it was really soft, and mashed it into cou-cou.

The national dish of Barbados is cou-cou and flying fish. But that is corn-meal cou-cou (ugh!) not breadfruit cou-cou which I'm not overly fond of but can enjoy if it's properly prepared.

Anyway, one quarter was then segmented, peeled, had the heart cut out, and cut into bite sized bits before being added to the soup. 

Last in was belly pumpkin and plantain. A taste test and a sprinkle more salt, no spices whatsoever, and five more minutes on a slow simmer, and I had a bowl for dinner about 7 PM. I enjoyed it so much I had another bowl for dinner around 11 PM.

Edited June 4, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Woke up this morning and could not find my glasses. Since my expensive, progressive ground trifocal specs fell apart, I've been making do with two pairs of reading glasses. One has a focal length of about a foot or so, for reading in bed. They hang on a loop of cord over my bed and never move. The other pair have a focal length of about three feet, for using the computer. I wear them all day, and when I switch to the other specs at night, they hang on their own loop of cord over the bed. 

This morning, the day glasses weren't hanging where they should be. I searched all morning, grumpily blaming that well known purloiner of people's property, Molasses. It wasn't until 2 PM (while I was eating lunch) that I realized I might have left them hanging in the shower. So true, there they were. But I didn't apologize to Mo, because by 2 PM he had actually stolen 1) an artificial loofah out of the shower, 2) the stainless scouring pad again, 3) a laundry brush that I actually use for scrubbing potatoes, 4) a mouse trap with a dead mouse in it, 5) a 240 volt electrical wall docket that I was going to install, 6) a scrubbed potato that was intended for the soup, and 7) one of my Crocs.

Went I to see Dr. Kristi this morning. Well, not actually, but to see Clauder to make an appointment for my PT/INR for next week Tuesday. I did see Dr. K. but only briefly as she dealt with another patient. And while Clauder usually does the phlebotomy, but sometimes Dr. K. does it herself, which I'm always happy about. Dr. K. is magic with a needle. I never used to worry about needle sticks until I had the skin grafts. I got so many stitches and jabs (we stopped counting around 5,000 stitches) I decided that was enough for one lifetime and have begrudged every needle since. I actually still have scars on my feet from where they drove in spikes to pump me full of saline. Three bags per foot, simultaneously! One shift, they gave me 10 liters, because it was running out faster than they could pump it in.  So when I have to get stuck, I am grateful when the practitioner can do it without me noticing Clauder is pretty good but Dr. K. is magic.

Mo is eating a plastic bottle. I won't think of it as theft #8 because I'd have given it to him if he'd asked...

I went digging out an old model from the graveyard, to see if it could be resurrected. I found everything... except the wings. I suspect they are going to be required if this is ever to fly again. I will search again tomorrow.

I'll also add some more breadfruit to the stoup and a bunch of dumplings, too!

Meanwhile I'm going to see what's happening on the planet Pern...

[Netfoot]

Just typed a very long message, and the crappy mobile editor ate it. Thankfully, it was just more of my usual rambling rubbish, so you won't miss it.  Because I'm not giving any thought to retyping it!

Then the crappy mobile editor ate this message, which was short enough for me to retype.

[Netfoot]

I've been falling asleep at my desk all morning. Austin has a hangover. Reports are for heavy wind at the flying field. The weather looks poor, with grey clouds to the east. Soup and sandwiches for lunch followed by a tummy ache. And now, rain has begun to fall at my house. I mixed a large lime squash, got a bottle of top-up water and retired to bed. Puppy just ran in all rain sprinkled, to jump into bed and began his dry-off routine. Ooof! He did one of his strange, sideways falls directly onto the "Speedo department." Tried to steal the water bottle. Ooof! Again?!?? Now he's run outside and is barking at something. Probably the clouds. I'm taking a nap. Great breeze, but rain blowing in the window. Will he come back and want to dry out again?

Nekkid dog! I have not remade the collar since he broke it. I was hoping I would be able to use homemade collars until it was time to buy his adult collar but he is breaking the small snap-buckles now. I have a bigger one I could try but it takes an extra, matching buckle to set up the jig and I don't have another. I will try it by hand. I will have to research a wider weave as well because the buckle is wider. If I have no success, I will bite the bullet and buy Mo a collar!

Hope for better weather for tomorrow.

[Netfoot]

No breakfast (as usual), no lunch either. Off to the club two hours earlier than usual!

So early, I left without taking my midday meds, and I left the pillbox on my desk. Fortunately, I carry an emergency set of lunchtime meds in a little canister on my keyring. So whenever my phone reminds me to take meds at 2:00 and I'm far from home, I take what's in the canister, and refill it from the pillbox when I get back.

The DV flew again. Flew well and successfully performed the basics: loops, rolls, a hammerhead stall, etc, but not the near VTOL landing by making an approach with a high angle of attack. Remember Concord and the "droop snoot?" A Supermarine Spitfire didn't fly because it's ailerons were malfunctioning, Ian arrived with his Skybolt but it too was glitching, do he left it on the ground. Kevin showed up with a new (to him; bought from Wayne) glider he had just been testing at the cliff (it was certainly windy enough) and after some carburetor drama, maidened his new Sonic (one of five imported by me and resold at cost to the guys to help promote the hobby). The traditional bottle of rum for the bar when a plane is maidened was conspicuously absent.

Mouse had a blast, because not only were there several of his friends there to spend time with, there were also four ladies present; a wife, a daughter, a girlfriend and a young woman who apparently knows me but who I swear I don't remember ever meeting before. And not only that, but there was a stranger who spotted the models from the main road, braved the 350 meter track to come and see some of the action, and brought two kiddies with him! Mo was gaa-gaa! (Buddy loved kiddies too!)

Ian arrived with his Skybolt, but ended up with a Skybolt and a daughter to take home, with room in the car for only one. I said "It's a pity you don't know someone with a van..." So she went home with him and I followed with the Skybolt. Dropped it off at his house, then home for a dinner of spaghetti with the simplest sauce I could make in a hurry because I was hungry!

The best score of the afternoon were these:

Austin days says his trees are bearing and he has so many he doesn't know what to do with them, so a number were presented to each of us. I will be trying to control myself because I could sit down and eat them all and call it lunch! All these from one tree, and he has four or five varieties, including the wonderful Julie.

I also extracted the promise of a yellow-fleshed breadfruit from him. As soon as his tree bears. Which might be as far off as Christmas, but hopefully not.

PT/INR tomorrow. Bank to get a few bucks from the drive thru ATM so I can top up my phone. Hardware store so I can buy some bolts for my Bobcat aeroplane which I wrote an extensive post about but you never read because the editor ate the post. Also plumbers putty to see if I can get the drip-catching bucket out of the bathroom, and to look at collars for Monster.

Then, the Book-tent ladies, some groceries and the meds they refused to give me last week (must check whether I need a new prescription from Dr. Kristi) and finally, back home to have seven mangoes the remaining spaghetti with mediocre sauce for lunch.

The Sandman calleth...

Edited June 7, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Well, the Sandman may have called, but I lay in bed staring at the ceiling until broad daylight, then I got up and went for my blood test. Bank. Hardware store. Grocery. Pharmacy.

That's when it hit me. In the pharmacy waiting for my meds to be dispensed. I suddenly couldn't keep my eyes open. I had to lock my knees and prop up on some shelving to prevent myself from falling down. I was cross-eyed with fatigue.

Came home, put away the shopping, fed Mo, ate the remainder of the mediocre spaghetti. It's 2:30 PM. Now I am going to crash out, because if I don't, I will fall down. 

But I'm going to eat two mangoes first!

Edited June 7, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

I've noticed Mo chewing on a dried up mango seed for the last week or so. No idea where he got it, unless a passerby was eating a mango, and threw the seed over our wall. So, I figured "Why not?" And gave him the two seeds from my postprandial mangoes. He is now a mango-addled fool! Begging for more, and there are no more, unless I bust open another mango, which I won't be doing until after dinner, at the earliest. 

Now, the window is open, music is low, the fan is on and a cool breeze is gusting through the window. This bed feels sweet! Going to shut my eyes....

[Netfoot]

Got a solid 4 hours before someone decided it was time to start howling in my ear while simultaneously trying to turn me over by pulling on my arm with his claws.

Dinner was a bit of a disaster. Well, I shouldn't say that! I ate and enjoyed every bite of it. 

It started out as a piece of chicken, pan-fried, with a plantain and a cubed tomato and cucumber "salad". The salad was fine, except I estimated wrong, and there was slightly too much cucumber and slightly not enough tomato for the result to be nicely balanced. The plantains were very ripe and the riper they are the less time they should spend on the nuke-box. I put mine in for 2½ minutes which turned out to be a little too long. The resulting plantain was rather soft, although it tasted perfectly fine. 

Then I decided to fry some breadfruit slices. I cut four slices about ⅜” to ½” thick, removing the skin and core, and put them into the pan with the chicken. Where it went a bit wrong was I had started with the small pan for one chicken breast, and there wasn't a lot of room for the breadfruit. Anyhow, the fruit turned nicely brown and crispy on the outside and soft but cooked in the inside. But this took longer than expected. By the time it occurred to me to take the chicken out and leave the fruit to cook a bit more, the chicken was a little overcooked. It still tasted fine, but was a little overcooked.

So the meal was a slightly unbalanced "salad", a slightly soft plantain, a slightly overcooked chicken breast and some lovely fried breadfruit! As I said, I ate and enjoyed every bite, but I would have preferred it without the slightly this and slightly that.

But dessert was fantastic!

[Netfoot]

Photo of Mo polishing his nuts. 

But actually, I post this so you can see I have got  him a store bought collar. It is basic black, with only a pattern in the weave if of the nylon to pass for decoration. But it has a buckle that will take him -- Ooof! -- a while to break and a D-ring he won't destroy too easily. Least ways I hope so, but you never know what you're going to get when you're dealing with this boy.

Did nothing all day except watch movies and YT videos. Actually, I did spend some time reading the documentation for the Telegram API, and playing with an implementation of the API in Perl. Telegram us is an app for your phone very similar to WhatsApp.

I'm a WhatsApp user and our club has a group that we chat on to exchange jokes, post photos, check who is going flying and where (Cliff? Club?) And that sort of thing. But there are a couple of things about WhatsApp I never was too happy about. First, it is a part of the Fecesbook family. And second and more important, there is no API and WhatsApp have sworn they will never release one.

For those who don't understand, I will explain: when you want a message sent via WhatsApp, you have to type it in to your phone (or computer) and press send. There is no other way. So if you wanted your home computer to WhatsApp you to say that someone just opened your back door and send you a photo or short video of the back door taken at the time the intrusion was detected... you're out of luck. With Telegram, you can write a program to compose messages containing text, images, video, audio, etc, and send them to a Telegram Chat to which all members of the household are subscribed. 

There are other things the app can do that (as far as I know) WhatsApp can't like:

1) Scheduled messages that are stored until the scheduled time before being delivered.

2) Protected messages that prevent content from being forwarded or saved.

3) Self-erasing messages that automatically delete a specified time after being opened.

I've only been playing with it a couple days and so far it seems at least as capable as WhatsApp, and possibly more, if the other features I've read about are legit. 

Certainly, it will allow us to detect intruders at the club and Telegram the membership should that occur. It could also send photos of the sky, windspeed numbers, rain-gauge readings and so forth.

If any of you use or have used Telegram and have anything good or bad to say, please do speak your peace!

So that, movies and YouTube have occupied my entire day. I broke for lunch (cheese, cucumber and tomato sandwiches) and again for dinner (cheese, cucumber and tomato on crackers) and later to take Mo for his pre-bedtime stroll through the garden. 

Funny thing how we hardly see crapauds any more!  Ever since I collyfoxed a fix to the dripping overflow pipe from the toilet, the permanent damp spot outside has dried up! And so have the supply of bloated, warty crapauds. All we get now are the Pretty Dicks, and usually only when it rains. (There was one outside s a couple nights ago singing "Me! Me! Me pretty..." over and over again and I couldn't stop listening for him to complete the phrase. Normally I hardly hear them but you notice what is not the usual, I expect. They can spend all night going "Me! Me! Me! Me! ...' but when they start on the rest of the phrase, you expect them to finish it! Visitors to the island be like "How do you stand the noise?" and me saying "Noise? What noise?"

Tomorrow, I will fry some more breadfruit and eat it with... What? Sausage? Corned beef? Actually, I have a small package of chicken chunks that need eating. I can fry them with onion,  garlic and red butter, boil some carrots to go alongside, and maybe another two-ingredient "salad" or beans cooked with sweet corn or something.

Yesterday at the Book-tent, one if the ladies gave me an electric training collar. The box actually contains two collars, identical except for colour and the transmitter has a switch to allow you to select collar #1 or collar #2 for the case where you have two dogs, I suppose.

The transmitter has three main buttons. The first just causes the collar to beep quietly. Loud enough for the doggie to hear it easily but not to be heard at any distance. Button #2 causes the collar to buzz, like a phone on vibrate. Button #3 is the one that actually zaps the doggie. There is a level/strength setting on the unit and it goes from 1 to 16. 

Of course, I tried it on myself. At level 1 it was a tiny tingle I could hardly feel. At 6 it gave me quite an unpleasant zap! I'd hate to find out what it's like at level 16!

The idea of zapping Mo is an unpleasant one. But I want to start him wearing it for short periods so he won't think anything of it when I put him to wear it at the club. The idea is to give him a beep, buzz and zap when he approaches any aeroplane with the engine running. Hopefully, I can train him to stay away from whirling propellers. And by doing the three in sequence, I hope he will quickly realize that the beep and buzz are a warning to be heeded, before that zap can come along.

Buddy learned about propellers by being hit by one. Fortunately a small, electric-powered one that had already been switched off and was spinning down naturally. It still gave him a small scar for life and sincere appreciation for the dangers. I'm hoping the zap-collar is equally effective, and won't leave any scars. I still hate the idea though.

Edited June 9, 2022 by Netfoot

[andidante]

I have been meaning to ask you Netfoot, what is red butter? I have not heard of that before. 

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, andidante said:

I have been meaning to ask you Netfoot, what is red butter? I have not heard of that before. 

I'm not sure what it is exactly. It describes itself as a "spread." Technically, it's probably a type of margarine of some sort. Here is a photo of the stuff I'm using now, but I frequently buy a different brand, if I see it on the shelf:

It doesn't show in this photo very well, but it has a noticably red/orange colour and hence the name. Other brands can be/are even redder.  The ingredients sound like a chemistry lab.

It's quite salty; some call it salt butter but I think red butter is more usual. Or just "butter" to the despicable poor people (like me) who use the stuff, often eschewing EVOO entirely! But seeing as I have actually tasted real butter, I am compelled to mark the distinction by using the full title of "red butter" for this product. Very common in use around here. I use it for cooking as it brings a particularly local flavour to the party. The delicious taste of interesterified vegetable fats, apocarotenal, and beta carotene, the last of which probably responsible for the colour as much as the taste!!

I wouldn't use it to make sandwiches. 

[andidante]

Thank you for the explanation!! Much appreciated. 😀

[Netfoot]

So, I cooked chicken chunks in garlicy red butter and olive oil, and in a separate pan, I fried the sliced breadfruit. One of the slices, I experimentally left the skin on to see if it would be edible - and it was. But it was tougher than the inner flesh of the fruit. I'd say the thinner the slice the more acceptable it would be to leave the skin on. I was slicing between. ⅜” & ½” thick, and the slice I left the skin on was on the thinner side of that spectrum. So, thin slices or peel the breadfruit. I'm thinking to try thicker slices next time. In the order of 1" perhaps. Usually I boil thick slices, but maybe par-boil and then brown in hot oil? Anyway, the lunch was good, chicken,breadfruit and a "salad". 

Dinner was cheese, egg and cucumber sandwiches. Nothing more to be said.

Ripped apart the back of my chair, late this afternoon. Mo was very alarmed. The back of the chair is a  curved plywood surface, padded with foam and covered with some sort of coarse fabric. The fabric had started to break down, the foam was hanging out of the holes, and the whole thing was making my back itch. So I removed the back (six countersunk machine screws, one of which vanished during the process) and using a sharp knife, a pair of vice-grips and a prybar, I got the fabric & foam off, and dumped it in the bin. It was all held together by a thousand staples which had to be pried up and disposed of.

I went through this exact process 10 years ago with the seat of the chair, to discover that the core of the seat was a thin piece of plywood that was quite flimsy and had already started to fail. I had to laminate five pieces of thin ply to make a new seat, and the sheets had to be bent into a curve while laminating, so the new seat would fit the shape of the fixing lugs on the chair. And my butt. Ended up with a sturdy piece of plywood almost an inch thick and I've been sitting on it comfortably ever since, without benefit of cushion, foam or upholstery of any kind.

The back of the chair proved, this afternoon, to contain a very ugly piece of plywood. But, it's sturdy and strong, and perfectly capable of supporting my back for years to come. I popped it back on for this evening and will remove it for some sanding tomorrow. Yes, I did locate the missing screw.

What did I do with that sanding machine?

[Netfoot]

Not yet midnight, and in bed already! Had a good shower, and only partially dried off, so the fan and the window are making me feel cool and sweet!

I moved Mo's crate and he complained, so I dragged it back.he leapt into it... and it completely collapsed, throwing him out, and showering him with a dozen books that I had temporarily placed on top of it. I've put it back upright and collected all the books, but I can't find Mo anywhere. And the door is locked, so he must be hiding in the fridge!

Got some music playing - old music like me. Lionel Richie and the Commodores, Dire Straights, Barry White, Neil Young (back when he wrote protest songs about Nixon & the Tin Soldiers, and hadn't yet sided with The Man, thrown a hissy and demand his catalogue be taken off Spotify), The Hollies, Joe Cocker (at Woodstock), Floyd, Andrew Gold...

The off-timer is set for 90 minutes.

So, I finished the last of the breadfruit at lunch. 😕 Damned good thing I bought another one Tuesday, then. Right? 😀

Austin says he will have more mangoes for me on Sunday. These are nice. They resemble a strain that is very juicy and tasty, but extremely fibrous and stringy. My mum told me not to eat those in the normal way. She said I should squeeze them up, bite a little hole at one end and suck out the juice. But although they look very similar, the ones from Austin have sweet, firm flesh with no stringiness at all.

Baby still has not come out of hiding. He is ignoring all my calls and whistles.  I will wake up in the night and feel a warm fuzzy against my back. Or be awoken by him falling sideways onto some delicate part of my anatomy...

[luv2lurk]

15 hours ago, andidante said:

I have been meaning to ask you Netfoot, what is red butter? I have not heard of that before. 

Thank you for asking this @andidante I had been wondering the same thing and tried Googling to no avail. Margarine, yuck. Remember that from when I was a kid. Personally I use only butter and never on a sandwich - cheese and mayo are enough.

Occasionally maybe butter when making an omelette if I fry onions first. Sometimes butter on steamed veggies, but actually I prefer sesame oil. Then mostly I use a small amount of olive oil to fry something else, but I always keep the heat med/low which is easy to do on a gas stove.

So, mostly butter gets used for baking ;-)

[Netfoot]

Again, in bed before midnight.

Last night, after the collapsing crate incident, Mo fled the bedroom, and never returned. He slept out by the front door, where he often lies during the day, to catch a nap.

(Taken earlier today.)

Tonight, he was still hesitant about returning to the bedroom. He did eventually wander in, but he took one look at the crate and departed. I am trying to attract him back into the bedroom (if not the crate), but so far, no luck.

Working on the computer all morning, I wondered about my broadband plan. I checked the vendor's website and they have four plans for domestic customers. My monthly bill is more than #1 and less that #2. Plan #1 is for 100/50 down/up, whereas plan #2 is 125/60.

So, I called 'em up. I explained, and asked the agent to check and tell me what plan I was signed up for. They told me I was signed up for #2. Why then, am I paying $15 less than that plan required? Because for some inexplicable reason, they are giving me a $15 dollar discount every month.

Well, that's nice, especially since the difference between #1 & #2 is only $16 so I'm only paying $1 more for $2 than what I'd pay for #1. 

So as I'm talking to the agent, I notice a "Speed Test" button and I press it. My speed tests out to only 80/40. Yes, the quoted speeds are maximum speeds, but none the less I wouldn't expect it to be as low as 80 when 125 is the promise. I mentioned this to the agent. They agreed and they said they were sending someone around to fix the problem!

So right after lunch (cheese, tomato & cucumber sarnies), a guy turns up and can't find anything wrong with my fibre router. In the process he manages to reset my wifi configuration, changing my SSID, password and wipe out my  DHCP reservations. Not to mention rip my gigabit switch off the wall and damage a Cat-5 patch cord. But since he can't find any fault, he calls the office, and checks with them. In fact I am not a plan #2 customer, I am a plan #1 customer after all! Which would make a speed test result of 80 much more reasonable.

So the guy packs up and leaves me to completely redo my wifi setup on the router, and to wonder: if I am indeed a plan #1 customer why, instead of a $15 discount, am I actually paying $1 more than the stated price?

Mo was such a wild ma during the technician's visit, I had to put him on the lead. From which he escaped three times by pulling his head out if the new collar. And as I'm adjusting the collar after each escape, Mo is assaulting the phone guy, jumping up and begging for cuddles. I finally slung him in the car and locked him in there until the guy had left!

Let me go out and see if I can persuade him to come to bed... No. He's wagging his tail but he ain't moving.

Saturday forecast is for strong winds, average 19 gusts to 28 MPH, which is definite gliding weather. Plenty of cloud cover also predicted but zero precipitation. Sunday? Stronger winds, averaging 21 and gusting to 28 MPH with almost no cloud and again, zero precipitation. So it looks like the cliff may be the venue of choice this weekend! But the other guys will decide.

Dinner tonight was pasta I put half of a large package of macaroni to boil. Then I diced up a large onion, and set it to brown in a wide pan. I added the remaining chicken chunks, but I cut them smaller, maybe each chunk cut into three pieces. When these started to pick up some colour, I added a tablespoon of flour and stirred it around as I let it cook for a short while, before adding a tin of diced tomatoes and some spices. Basil, garlic and cayenne. The flour was a sort of roux made in situ. And as the pasta went into the colander to drain, I added about 4 oz. of evaporated milk to the sauce. I did this with some trepidation. I never tried it before, and I was afraid it might have a deleterious effect on the flavour. Evap does have a noticable flavour, after all.

I needn't have worried. The sauce tasted just fine and the meal hit the spot. There is enough left back for a light lunch tomorrow, but I admit I was tempted to eat it just before coming to bed. 

Mo baby still won't come to bed. Do I guess I'll turn out the lights and check him in the morning.

[Netfoot]

Woke up in the wee hours to find a puppy snuggling up next to me. Joy! He is such a sweetie! And with all the fuzzies, he is a pretty good snuggler, too!

Munched down the remainder of the macaroni for lunch. Now, although it's only just gone 4 PM, I'm thinking about skipping dinner. But we know how that is going to end! So, what can I eat that is light enough and low-carb enough that I won't feel bloated at bedtime, yet won't feel hungry at midnight?

Eggs?  What about scrambled eggs? What do I have that could go into eggs? I think there's a tomato left, and some New Zealand cheddar. Onion. maybe have a few sausages on the side. Or forget the sausages and just have the eggs. Yeah, maybe.

[Spunkygal]

I’m going to sound oh so naughty, but never forget the sausages! 😉 

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, Spunkygal said:

I’m going to sound oh so naughty, but never forget the sausages! 😉 

LOL!

Ok, sausages are back on the menu!

Baby's wriggly tail.

[Netfoot]

Dinner turned out quite well! I put 5 Brown'n'Serve sausages to cook in a small pan, and while heating some oil in a larger pan. Brat the eggs (3) in a bowl with some milk and a sprinkle of salt. Couldn't find the black pepper for some reason.

With the sausages looking good, I poured the egg into the other pan and mandolined some onion on top. Dice half a tomato and sprinkled that on, and finally grated a piece of NZ cheddar on as well. While I was waiting for that to all be perfect, I got my plate, and Mo's bowl.

One of the sausages went into his bowl, and the remainder onto my plate. When it was time to plate the eggs, they had turned themselves into a beautiful omelette, with runny cheese and egg plus the onion and tomato on the inside, but a firm, properly cooked outside with patches of brown on the pale yellow.

So, my scrambled eggs turned out to be an omelette, or more correctly, all my scrambled eggs start as an omelette but rarely end up that way. Tonight was the occasional exception to that rule. Mo got about 3" off the end in his bowl, and I got the remainder on my plate. 

With a tiny amount of Sriracha on the sausages, I enjoyed the meal very much and so too, apparently, did Mo. I should do omlettes ➡️ scrambled egg more often. But it would be better if I had a range if things to add so they were not all the same. Sweet peppers, mushrooms, even ham or bacon. But I can't afford that stuff.

What would have been a great addition to tonight's dinner would have been some sliced of toast or even fried bread. But, I didn't want carbs, I'm out of sliced bread anyhow, plus after vanquishing four mice, I'm not sure that patched up old toaster of mine is safe to use any more!

Also, in hindsight, I realized that a cuppa tea might have been better than a glass of iced water. A couple hours after the meal, I went into the kitchen, put two bags in my cup-with-no-handle and set the kettle to boil. Promptly forgot entirely, and only remembered as I was coming to bed. Guess I'll have that cuppa in the morning. 

Trying to lock up the house and go off to bed. Actually I am in bed, right now! But Mo won't come into the house. He really does like to live up to the nocturnal nature suggested by his coat! I'll end here and go see if he wants to come in now. If not, I will have to lock him out, because my eyes are going offline, so I can't wait much longer.

Good ghod! It's nearly 2 AM!

[Netfoot]

Awoken in the middle of the night, to find a puppy laying on my chest. He vociferously demanded hugs and cuddles, and when he got them he reciprocated in like manner. We got comfy and dozed off together. I woke alone, and went to brew tht cup of tea I forgot to brew last night.

For lunch, I cooked up some corned beef with onion and diced tomatoes. Spiced with basil, garlic and red pepper flakes, I left it simmering on low, and boiled some mini carrots and some peeled potatoes. I normally don't peel spuds but this particular batch have skins like a rhinoceros. I enjoyed the meal, and left half the corned beef for dinner

Puppy and I went off to the club later than usual, and still eat around for two hours before anyone else showed up. I set off for my usual walk around the perimeter of the site, but had to give up half way through because my back was killing me. I sat in the clubhouse playing a silly game on the phone taking a couple videos of Mo running around like a mad thing (here and here), and generally wondering what had happened to Austin, who specifically said he would be there.

Just as I was thinking of locking up and going home, Austin arrived late. Apparently, with his Landy full of models, and he about to go, an unexpected visitor arrived at his house... And wouldn't leave. So he only had time for one flight, during which time a non-member friend arrived. So we sat and chatted for quite a while, with the light too poor to fly. Austin also handed me a bag of Ceylon mangoes!

I had taken the electric collar with us, but had not fitted it to Mo. But as we sat chatting, Mo began to make a nuisance of himself. Jumping up and annoying the other guys. So I got the zap-collar, and swapped it with his regular collar.

The controller has three buttons. Beep, buzz and zap. The next time Mo tried to jump up, I beeped him. That stopped his advances! He liked looked around curiously for a while, but then he renewed his attack. This time I beeped and buzzed in quick succession. The buzz really had him he pinwheeled around in circles to try and figure out where it was coming from, and sat thinking about it for a while. Then he began his third attempt to climb into someone's lap. 

One more beep/buzz and he was pinwheeling again. After that, he must have decided that that particular lap was no longer appealing, because he wandered off and harassed our guest no more!

So, a success, and I never had to zap him even once!

My thinking is, beep, or beep/buzz or beep/buzz/zap. Never buzz or zap on its own. So he has a warning what is coming before it gets there. If he comes to associate the beep as a precursor to possibly unpleasant buzz, he may decide to correct his behaviour after the beep only. And in future, I will issue a verbal command first, so he can start to learn to obey my command before beeps, buzzes and (hopefully rarely) zaps can start.

Edited June 13, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

So back home from the club and I gave Mo his dinner before even opening the front door (his stuff is in the garage). I went in and put the corned beef leftovers from lunch to warm, and started cooking a measure of white rice. Nothing in the rice except a bit of salt and some Bajan seasoning.

While that was happening I changed my clothes and then filled my glass with ice and readied for my meal. 20 minutes for the rice to cook, and I was ready to eat. Made a pile of rice in the plate with a hollow in the top. Spooned the corned beef mixture onto the top of the rice and got stuck in. 

For a simple meal of white rice and corned beef cooked with tomato and onion, it tasted good! And I might even have scoffed seconds, except i) there wasn't any more to scoff, and ii) I had to leave room for these beauties!

So for desert I ate this entire pile of Ceylon mangoes... No of course I didn't. I just wanted to eat the entire pile if Ceylon mangoes!

I sliced off the two cheeks and set them aside. Then I peeled the ring of skin from around the seed, and nibbled my way right around the seed, making sure I got all of the flesh and wasted none.

Then a cross-hatched cut across the inside of the cheeks, turning them inside out to present easily nibbled cubes. Delicious! So I did a second one. There I drew the line, so as to ensure that I'd have some left to enjoy tomorrow.

And now, to bed. The house is locked up but Mo has once again chosen to sleep in the living room. I took his collar off so he could sleep comfortably. Maybe he will come stand on me later and demand cuddles. Maybe not. But he's inside where he can come to no harm, it's warm and dry, there is a piece of ugly carpet for him to sleep on our there or he can come share the bed, including the pillows and the cover sheet if he feels inclined. He can get cuddles on demand (I wish I could), and so he's a lucky puppy. Many a puppy now sleeps outside, on a chain, in the dark, exposed to the elements and alone, with nobody to protect him from duppies and jumbies. But not my puppy...

[Netfoot]

Last night Mo was extra cuddly again, and I must say I enjoy his cuddling.  

Another day working on the computer, and (alas) not making much headway. Sort of discouraging.

Lunch was macaroni. I didn't make a sauce as such. I fried some onions and added a regular Tim tin of tuna and a small tin of Spicy Thai Chilli tuna, plus some shredded cucumber in a large pan. The result was a dryish mixture into which I dumped the drained macaroni and folded it all together with a pair of tongs. One small tongs-full went on top of Mo's lunch (chow), and I ate half of the remainder. Two mangoes for dessert, of course. (Dessert? Desert? Not the dry, sandy one.)

And the other half for dinner! Mo got a half tin of a meaty dogfood I know he likes, softened with a spoonful of water into a sort of slurry, with his chow mixed in. When I went to collect his bowl at dinner time, the macaroni from lunch was all gone, but the majority of his chow was still there! When I added more chow and mixed it with the meaty slurry, I thought he would chomp it down in no time, but even now, art at least a third remains in his bowl, untouched.

Has he found another source of food? My puppy that will eat anything from raw cucumber back?

Went out for our pre-bedtime stroll through the garden, and spotted this:

Yes, he has found meat and veg! The potato he got by putting his front paws on the counter, craning his neck. And opening a plastic bag of spuds I carelessly left too close to the edge. The evidence wad was plain to see in the kitchen, with the opened neck of the bag folded over the edge and dangling towards the ground.

The lizard? I don't know he came by it. It isn't even a common green lizard. It looks more like a Trinidadian zandolie. I knew a guy who traveled back and forth to Trinidad on a very regular basis and insisted on smuggling zandolie lizards back from Trinidad and turning them loose in his garden. I told him that was a silly thing to do but he continued anyway. 

I like lizards and I'm sorry Mo killed this one. I measured it at 9½” nose to tail-tip. It looks to be a pregnant female, too. 

As I'm typing I hear munching at the top of the steps (I'm sitting in the living room) and so I went to investigate.

My blue-eyed boy Mo finally decided to finish his dinner. Lousey photo from lousey camera in lousey phone.

Normally tomorrow, a Tuesday, I'd go shopping. But there is no gas in the car. Well, not much. And I don't need anything from the pharmacy. I'm low on a couple items, but won't be able to obtain them until Thursday. And I've got pretty much all of what I need for meals tomorrow.  So, I guess I'll wait until Thursday or Friday and go do everything then. Fill the car, buy groceries, visit pharmacy, etc. Tomorrow maybe I will just stay in bed reading!

Mo has now gone out to the gate and at a quarter to one, has decided to bark down the entire neighborhood. Better go and retrieve him...

Edited June 14, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Once more, I was visited in the dead of night by The Midnight Snuggler who is so much fun to cuddle that you don't mind being woken up. I don't know why he doesn't simply sleep in the bed all night, but I guess he knows what he wants.

Done little all day other than watch YT videos. Lunch is on the stove: three cups of rice and seven cups of water, including the liquid from tins of corn, green pigeon peas and channa. Also included were some diced sausages, cucumber and onion, plus a small quantity of baby carrots. That should easily make for three or four good meals, and with the promise of mangos for desert, possibly even more. 7½ minutes until I stir the pot!

Mo has been helping in the kitchen. I heard a sound, turned, and there he was, on his hind legs with his fronts on the edge of the sink, purloining the scouring pad. I gave chase, but he's a little rocket ship when he wants to be.

Good thing I went after him though, because I discovered the passenger side window of the car was all the way down, and probably had been since Sunday night!

Gotta go. Lunch needs attending to!

[Netfoot]

Just do so you know what I'm dealing with here:

That's a jar of peanut butter.

And without the scourer I couldn't wash my rice plate, but that's OK because after dinner last night, I put it on the floor and Mo licked it clean for me!

Edited June 15, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

This is what became of the peanut butter:

And there is the scourer as well!

I buy that particular brand of peanut butter in those particular sized jars, because I collect the jars for storage of small bitz and piecez. He hasn't only deprived me of the peanut butter, but of a jar as well!

And now two kitchen towels have mysteriously vanished...

[Netfoot]

Lunch as previously described, was a success. Apart from the ingredients already given, I added only salt. I was eager for the meal and it came to the table piping hot. I was burning my mouth until I remembered my mum saying something about "If greedy will wait..." so I slowed my haste and gave the meal a chance to cool down a bit.

I hadn't made any gravy, and I didn't think about putting a nob of red butter on the rice so I used some of my special mayo with the latest additive: red pepper flakes. The rice was suddenly piping hot again!

When I was done I decided to wait a little while for my mouth to return to normal before moving on to the mangos... and forgot entirely. 

Dinner was much the same except I reheated the bowl in the nuke-box and didn't bring it up to solar-flare temperature like before. And I was a little more cautious with the red pepper mayo. So, I ate the last of the mangos and they really went down well. I could go up to the club tomorrow and I'm sure Austin would produce another bag for me. He basically said that his tree is breaking down with fruit and he just can't give them away fast enough, so it would not be an imposition but I don't know I will go up tomorrow. Gas has gone up again, or is soon to do so, so I will save the gas for Sundays, when more people are free to come up and we generally get more pilots/planes.

Mo is again sleeping out near the front door on a bit of carpet. I hope The Midnight Snuggler visits me again tonight. I found the two kitchen towels soaking wet out in the garden (it's been raining off/on all afternoon and evening). I just can't imagine how they got out there. They're hanging in the garage drip-drying. Or at least they were, last time I looked.

I'm going to read a few pages of my book before I shut the lights out, so I leave you with another photo of The Kitchen Bandit to enjoy:

I honestly don't know why he steals that thing so often. It can't taste very good and I doubt it's very pleasant to chew on so much that it frazzles out that much. But he's pinched this one over and over, and there have been others before it. He once pinched it three times on the same day!

I just noticed he isn't wearing his collar. I'm changing him in and out of that back and forth between his regular collar and the Zap-collar irregularly, so he doesn't come to associate beep/buzz/zap with the change of collar. Mostly he gets to wear that for half a day when it isn't even switched on! One small fault with the design: it doesn't have a D-ring, so no lead can be used. 

Book!

Edited June 15, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Had rice fried with egg for lunch and with fried bread for dinner. The fried bread didn't come out that well. I've eaten it many times before, but don't remember cooking it before. To my surprise, after a very short time the bread was very dark, almost bordering on burnt! And when I day a very short time, I mean way under a minute! But fortunately I caught it in time and it was quite edible.

Anyway, the rice is now all gone. There was a little left but Mo came a-begging, so I put the last scoop into his bowl. He wouldn't touch it. So when I was done I emptied the rice out if his bowl and into my plate, which I put in the floor. He immediately ate it all, and licked the plate clean enough it can go back into the cupboard without needing to be washed.

It's late as usual, but for some reason Mo won't come inside the house. He was asleep on the top of the steps and I went and told him it was time for bed as usual. Instead of coming inside so I could close the door, he walked off through the garage to the gate. I went out and tried to persuade him, but he won't let me get near enough to grab him, and while he listens closely to every word I say, he ignores my pleas. 

It's close to 1:30 and I have to get some sleep, so if he won't come in, I will have to close the door and leave him outside. I don't like this for several reasons, not least if which is that if he decides to bark down the neighborhood for the rest of the night, the neighbors won't be pleased.

I'm going to go and appeal to him one last time. BRB...

No use. He seems to be fine, not acting sick or anything, but he isn't interested in coming in. So I left him to it, locked the door and darkened the house. Now I will sleep poorly until morning, and spend the day tomorrow nodding off at my desk.

Tomorrow, I was going to do some shopping and visit the pharmacy. Should I leave him at home on the chain?

Got to tell you that after all these months I get the feeling that he has no affection for, or trust in, anyone around him. Do you know, when I go and prepare his meals, if I pick the bowl up in my hand he immediately runs away? He will happily est eat what is in the bowl while I'm right there patting his head and stroking his back. But if I pick that bowl up one inch, he runs away as if I was going to brain him with it. Why?

Going to bed. No Midnight Snuggler tonight. 😒

Edited June 16, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

About 2:00 AM I picked up a pillow and a sheet, went out and opened the front door. Mo was laying on the top of the stairs, and didn't bother to move. I lay down on the bit of carper just inside the door that Mo usually sleeps on when he's not sleeping in the bedroom. I put my head on the pillow, covered myself with the sheet and turned out the lights.

After some time, he was laying on the floor next to me, sharing the pillow. Then he got up and began giving me kisses and using his claws to roll me over so he could get at my face. I put up with this for about 10-15 minutes, but eventually, I got up from the floor. Mo was inside at this point, so I closed the door and retired to bed. He remained behind on his piece of carpet. It was just after 3:00 at this time.

I'm quite tired. He is curled up on the carpet "sleepin' lile a teef!" as my mum would say. I have to go fill up the car, get a few groceries, and collect some meds from the pharmacy.

[Netfoot]

Shopping this morning went well. Pharmacy was cheap -- Less than $20 and the groceries were under $100. The gas station was another matter.

Price of gas has gone up. Only by 3¢ per liter but that's still $16.67 per gallon. (Divide by 2 to convert my dollarettes to your dollarettes.) From ¼ tank to first click on the pump was $156.72 but at least there weren't any "I did that!" stickers on the pump.

Had sandwiches for lunch. Cheese, cucumber, rae raw onion and tomato on sliced white spread with red pepper flakes mayo and sprinkled with salt. Tasted pretty good but the bread, although I only bought it this morning, seemed a bit stale. 

For dinner I am planning on a fried chicken breast with a plantain and a baked potato. Will probably put a little red butter on the potato and then smother it and the chicken with gravy made in the pan by deglazing with water and adding some onion that has been introduced to the mandolin and just a teaspoon of gravy crystals. 

But I am thinking of having a large bowl of soup with that, because I need the tin can. But that would probably be excessive so maybe I'll have soup with bread (fried bread?) For lunch tomorrow instead.

PT/INR results are back and in the zone. Normally below 2.0, the meds I'm on should increase that to between 2.0 and 3.0 which is the upper limit of the safe zone. I am at 2.19 and Dr. K. is very happy with that. Now, I would like to see it at 2.95 because if we're thinning my blood for a reason, 2.95 should be more effective at furthering our goal than 2.19, right? But I'm not going to argue with Dr. Kristi about it.

That is a GMS .76 cu. in. ringed two-stroke that has become bound up. It is the powerplant for the Bobcat aeroplane I wrote about and had my post swallowed by the mobile editor a while back. It's soaking in Automatic Transmission Fluid overnight and I will apply the heat gun tomorrow in the hope of freeing it up. Once it's freed up we can replace the plug and put it on the engine-test stand.

That little engine produces 2½ horsepower at 15,000 RPM. That's 3⅓ BHP per cu. in. or better than one horsepower for every 4 cc! Cost me $99 bucks!

I've managed to keep my eyes open until now, but the urge to crash out is strong. If I nap time this afternoon it will make it harder for me to sleep tonight so I'll be tired tomorrow again. I will try to hold out until evening meds (8:00 PM) and crash immediately thereafter.

 Mo scared the pump attendant so badly this afternoon she refused to pump my gas. I had to wait until someone from another pump came and did the job. And honestly, he didn't do or say anything to upset the woman. So <shrug>.

Finally think I'm beginning to make some headway with the computer after several days if of head scratching. Unfortunately my remote server won't allow me to install the official package I want to use, so I will have to write from scratch my own package that replicates that package and install that instead!

But maybe right now isn't the best time to be developing packages for use on the broader internet... So I will play a silly game on the phone instead, and try doing it tomorrow.

Edited June 17, 2022 by Netfoot

[andidante]

I have to get gas this weekend and am not looking forward to how much it will be! I work from home so it has been several weeks since I have had to get gas. UGH...

[Netfoot]

It's just gone midnight and I'm finally getting to bed. Puppy Mo is in and the house is secure. He is sleeping in the living room again. Please let The Midnight Snuggler visit me later tonight.

Dinner went mostly as planned. I bought a $9.99 bag of potatoes plus one large baker. Chicken breast in the pan dressed simply with salt and black pepper. Half a tomato and four thickish slices of cucumber diced together with a touch of red pepper flakes mayo to be called a salad. When done the potato was split and a slab of red butter added, and the chicken came out of the pan golden. Mandolined some onion into the hot oil from the chicken, and a short while later added a few ounces of boiling water and a few gravy crystals. Came out great! Some went over the chicken but the majority went over the potato which hastened the melting of the red butter.

But what about the plantain? Funny you should ask. I picked up four medium sized plantains in the grocery, bagged them, and put them in my trolley. Paid, put them in the van and came home. I put them in the microwave (protection against mice). But when I went to cook one this evening, I couldn't find them anywhere. Not in the microwave, on the counter, in the fridge, in any cupboard. Not in the car, on my desk or in the bathroom or the bedroom. I checked inside the garbage bin. I even took a torch and searched the yard because, well, The Kitchen Bandit. No plantains to be found in or around the house. The meal was fine without them, but where did they go? Didn't it really happen? Did I have a dream? Like Pam Ewing?

Today at the supermarket I saw a 5 lb. bag of russet potatoes selling for $24.99 I kid you not. Didn't buy, natch. Did buy two small melongene. No idea how to cook them. I just hope they don't require the oven because I'm still without any kitchenalia for the oven.

Tomorrow will be another saga, I'm sure. And it's rapidly approaching, so I'll try for some shut-eye before it gets here.

(Eaten by editor, recovered and posted tonight instead of last night. The Midnight Snuggler did indeed visit later.)

Edited June 18, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Got some success on my software project. Enough to make me feel like I will succeed if I keep at it. 

Also removed the carburetor from my .76 motor. Left the majority of the thing still soaking... will get to it tomorrow.

Meanwhile, after it's 24 hour bath, I got the carb's barrel turning by applying serious heat with the heat gun.

Seen here are both the main carb body and the remote needle jet. 

After that, I stripped down the needle jet and cleared out some crud. 

Didn't strip the carb body because with the barrel freely rotating there was no need. I did check that all the screws could be moved, and none were stuck. Not even the tiny little grub-screw holding the throttle arm onto the barrel that usually gives you hell to take out.

Quite a bit of WD40 was used and when it was being reassembled I used tiny drops of Hoppe's oil. I'm quite satisfied with how that came out. If the main body of the engine comes back the same way, I will be well pleased.

Lunch was sandwiches. Cheese, cucumber, tomato and raw onion on sliced white with red pepper flakes mayo and a sprinkle of salt. As And as I'd bought some lime juice, I was able to have a lime squash with it.

Dinner was a tin of Tomato Basil soup from a can, and served in my mug. Tomato is not my favourite soup, but I enjoy this particular variety. Not bad for a soup with no "bits" in it.

I took a butterflied pork chop out of the freezer. Will probably have that for lunch tomorrow, along with some potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots, boiled and maybe browned a bit in some hot oil. Or maybe I will boil the carrots and nuke the potatoes English/Sweet. (This is where a cookie sheet for the oven would come into play.)

I might attempt to fry some slices of melongene in oil as well, possibly coating it with a mixture of flour, corn flour, cilantro, cayenne, etc, to develop a crust. I'm just wondering whether an egg should play some part in the coating process.

Never did find the plantains. 😠

Mo is fine. Stole a half gallon mayonnaise jar (empty) for reasons unknown. He had chow with a little evaporated milk for lunch. Plus enough cheese to make another two sandwiches with, that he wheedled out of his doting dad. He's sleeping by the front door again, as he has ever since the mishap with the crate when it fell off it's support with him inside it.

Edited June 18, 2022 by Netfoot

[andidante]

Dream like Pam Ewing!! That took me back, LOL 🤣

[Netfoot]

After 48 hours soaking in ATF, the little engine was... frozen solid. 

What happens with these engines has to do with how they work. The fuel is mostly methanol (methyl alcohol a.k.a. methylated spirits). This is mixed with an oil, usually in the order of 18 - 20% by volume.

The fuel (mixed with air in the carburetor) is sucked into the bottom of the engine as the piston moves up. When the piston comes down again, it squeezes the fuel vapor which passes through a port into the upper part of the engine. As the piston rises, sucks more fuel into the bottom and simultaneously squeezes the fuel in the top to such a degree it gets very hot. So hot, that it explodes, pushing the piston down, spinning the prop and perpetuating the process. The burnt gasses get pushed out of the exhaust by the new charge of fuel vapor being forced up through the transfer port from below.

Notice then, that the fuel passes through both top and bottom of the engine, and the oil component lubricates as it goes. 

Note that the oil does not burn up as the fuel combusts. (That's why you need an oil with a high flash-temperature.) It is exhausted as a very hot vapour along with the burnt methanol fumes. That hot oil takes with it a great deal of heat, thereby cooling the engine. So, the oil not only lubricates, it also cools the engine by taking a great deal of heat with it as it leaves the exhaust pipe.

Historically castor oil had been used, because of all the natural oils, it can withstand most heat and continue to lubricate without burning up. But castor oil has a bad habit of turning to "gum" when allowed to sit for a long period. All the bearings and internal moving parts of the engine are fuel soaked so when the film of fuel residue in an engine is allowed to dry out, it leaves "gum" behind, which gums up all the internal parts.

Nowadays, we use modern synthetic oils instead (but many still swear by castor oil). The synthetic oils don't have the "gum" issue. But my .76 motor was last run with castor, and it's been sitting from before athlete's foot so it was no surprise to find it frozen solid with castor castor gum.

So after 48 hours soaking with the muffler off and the carburetor removed and the backplate slackened to allow the ATF to soak in, it was still frozen. I had to apply the heat gun. That thing can char wood or cloth. With the crankcase and cylinder too hot to touch, I put a prop spanner on the shaft and brute forced it. It resisted for a while, but eventually it moved.

Once it will move a tiny bit, you're golden. Just keep working it and in a minute or two the entire motor will be free and slick. Then it's time to reassemble the motor with it's carburetor and (in this case) remote needle jet. Here she is, all ready to go together:

And here she is assembled (all but the muffler which somehow went home with Austin) and the short piece of silicone fuel tube that connects the remote needle jet to the carb body installed:

All she needs now is for me to check the glow plug, and she should be ready for the engine test stand tomorrow.

Lunch went well. Nuked the spuds, boiled the carrots. Cut the sweet potatoes and melongene into thin slices and shallow fried them in oil, pan-fried my pork chop, and made a gravy with onions by deglazing the pan when the pork was cooked. All great, but I left the melongene on the fire too long, and they were very soft. I simply left them the same length of time as the sweet potato, and they should have come off long before.

Al tasted fine, though, and my only regret is that the pork chop wasn't bigger!

Mo is fine. He laid a trap for me at the bottom of the stairs, and I stood on it barefooted. What ever it was, it hurt like blazes. (Woyaya, but by Osibisa!) 

He had an exciting morning, because a guy turned up to replace the wall sconces in the verandah. So Mo had a new target to molest. The guy just laughed and got on with his work, and Mo was thrilled to have a new friend. 

One day, I'm going to have a tradesman or technician come to my house and not say "I'm a professional out on a job, but naturally, I didn't bring the tools I need! Can you lend me a ....."

Edited June 19, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Glow-plug glowing hot!

[Netfoot]

Follow this link:

Went out with Mo for his bedtime stroll, The pitter patter is rain falling on the driveway. There is some wind noise. The rest...

Edited June 19, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Just come in from our stroll. Mo will not venture into the bedroom. I moved the crate out of the way, and replaced it with a simple, flat platform at the same height as the bed. It is so stable I could dance a horn-pipe on it! (If I knew how to dance a horn-pipe...)

I picked him up and carried him into the bedroom and showed him the changes. He didn't seem in any way distressed to be there, and he lay/sat on the bed and played with me. But pretty soon, he hopped down and left the room.

Will my Midnight Snuggler never snuggle with me again? I just left him laying on his little bit of carpet, where he ignored all my coaxing to come to bed with me.

Dinner was pasta. Not sure what it's called,, but it was like big elbows. I got it out of the bottom of my fridge, part of the lockdown supplies laid in 2 years ago. I hope I remember never to buy that brand again. It was fine, but the packaging gave no indication as to how long to cook it for. Some pasta tells you 6-7 minutes. Some say 8-10. I've even seen 10-12 minutes. I generally use that as a rough starting point. But when the package doesn't say anything, you have to be standing over the pot, checking it every minute!

While the pasta was boiling, I diced some sausage, cut a large onion into rings on the mandolin, and put that into a large pan with hot oil. As the meat and onion began to brown, l added diced tomatoes an s can if red kidney beans: Matouk's brand from Trinidad. Spiced with cilantro, garlic powder and a touch of salt, I added the hot pasta to the pan and stirred/folded everything until it was evenly mixed.

Filled a large bowl, dressed it with soy sauce, and yum! Mixed myself a lime squash to enjoy it with. There is enough pasta remaining for me to have the balance for lunch tomorrow.

It's damp outside, and was just drizzling a short while ago. There is a cool, moist breeze coming through the window but no puppy is coming through the bedroom door, no matter how much I call or whistle to him. 

☹️

He was staring at me so I grabbed for the phone to take his picture. Naturally, during the delay between when I pressed the shutter and the camera finally took the photo, he turned his head away...

[Netfoot]

17 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Follow this link:

Sorry, guys! Stupidly forgot to make the link public! 

It should work OK now...