Small Talk: The Welcome Mat

[Netfoot]

That jammy bastard Austin is sending photos from Bequia, teasing us! "Have a sundowner with me, boys," he says while sending a photo of the sun setting behind the yachts at anchor in the bay! I'll sundowner him when he gets back...

A do-nothing day. I could have taken Mo up to the club for a run around, but with two of our regulars out of Island, I thought I'd save my gas. Maybe on Sunday, although neither of them is likely to be back by then.

Lunch was potatoes with spicy tuna, onion and pak choy, and a plantain. A glass of sugar-water to help wash it down. It was good! I cubed and boiled the potatoes but took them out of the water when they weren't quite done and finished them in a pan of hot oil. Brown and a little crispy. Tasted great with my special mayo.

I'd better explain the "sugar-water" thing. Last week I bought three bottles of lime juice. Or thought I did, anyway. But yesterday, when the bottle I had using ran out, I couldn't find the other two anywhere. I searched several times and couldn't find them anywhere. I even looked in the back of the van. I use this juice with sugar (actually, Stevia) to make lime squashes. So lunch today, I forgot there was no lime juice and added the Stevia to the glass before I remembered. So my drink was "sugar-water".

When I was looking for pigeon peas to go in some rice for dinner, I found the missing two bottles of juice. With the rice I put corned beef cooked with onion and pak choy. And a plantain on the side. And a lime squash.

I had my special mayo with each meal and I have to say I like that formula! I used the last of it today so I will have to make some more tomorrow. I've also got the cheap sausages defrosting, and I might try to coat them before frying tomorrow. I have a feeling this variety of sausage is going to be very blah. So I'm thinking of a dry rub to put on them in the hope of making them more palatable. I even bought some mustard powder to possibly go in the mixture. Even some sort of a wet dredge? Dunno what I'm doing here, so it could be fantastic or a disaster. We will see.

Poked about on the internet and found a free API that will send me "The Joke of the Day". It was poorly documented, do so there was quite a bit of trial and error to get it sorted out. This made even more difficult by the fact that you are rate-limited to 5 requests an hour. Since the joke changes once per day, you should never need more than one request a day but when sorting the details of the API and writing a script to marry it to the telegram API, it's a PITA that you can only do a test run once every 12 minutes!

Anyway, tomorrow morning (and hopefully every morning hereafter) at 8:58 the BSMC robot should crack a joke on the BSMC group chat. Only three category of jokes are available; Blonde, Dad & Knock-knock. They are all pretty lame!

Now, I'm going to read a little, then go and offer Mo the choice: in or out? I prefer when he's in, because although he doesn't spend the entire night with me,  he does come visiting 2-3 times a night to give me a snuggle.

Edited July 7, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Nothing to report tonight, really.

This morning the robot delivered a joke as it was supposed to, at 8:58 on the dot. It was an animal joke, and it went like this:

Q: What do you get when you cross a female deer and a pickle?

 A: A dildoe.

I said it told jokes. I didn't say the jokes were any good... Let's see what tomorrow's joke turns out to be. I've been fiddling with the program slightly, and hope I haven't hosed it in the process.

I made up a big batch of the same mayo that ran out yesterday. Only changes were to reduce the amount of red pepper flakes and maple syrup. It still tasted great with the reduced syrup, and while I hemmed and hawed about taking it back to the kitchen to add more*, I decided to leave it alone. It still has a nice bite to it, and if I want more heat, I can add pepper sauce to the dish.

* More red pepper flakes, that is.

The new batch was completed just in time. I had cheese & tomato sandwiches with a little raw onion and a sprinkle of salt, on bread spread with this new batch of mayo. Had that for lunch and dinner!

Why I didn't have any time to cook properly is because I've been working on another task for the robot to perform. This time, it's currency exchange rates.  The idea is to produce a list of exchange rates from our dollar to a handful of other currencies. There are 180 odd to choose from but I've selected US, Canadian, Jamaican, Trinidadian and Guyanese dollars, British pounds, Euros, Japanese yen and Bitcoin. To this list I will add each day a randomly selected currency. So today it might be Israeli shekels, and tomorrow it might be Maldivian rufiyaa. Just to keep the boys on their toes. 

I have got to the stage where the robot is retrieving the instantaneous exchange rates correctly, so now I need to format that into a simple, easily understood list and then bang it onto the group chat at some useful hour, like 6:00ish, for use during the coming day. It won't disturb anyone at that hour because the robot will silence notifications for that telegram. 

Tomorrow being Friday, it should automatically detect two flying days ahead (Sat/Sun) and produce an appropriate forecast. We will see.

House is locked up. Mo chose to sleep inside - I held the door open for him to decide, and after looking out, he turned inside and lay on the ground. I shut the door and came to bed, but he hasn't joined me yet. Fingers crossed.

Listening to 16 Fathoms Down by Shaggy & Sting on the album 44/876. I've always liked Shaggy and I've always liked Sting, but I would never have thought to pair them up. 44/876 came as a delight to me!

@Spunkygal, my friend sent me a brief WhatsApp message today, saying only that he's swamped with paperwork and administrative chores but will say more when he gets out from under that. Nothing about the remaining daughter or anything else for that matter. I'm not going to press him for updates because I'm not sure how tight he's wound right now, only I'm guessing it must be pretty tight!

I've nearly finished my book, and so I will go and read it now, probably completing it before lights-out. No idea what to read next.

Edited July 8, 2022 by Netfoot

[Lovecat]

Is anyone planning any summer travel?  My husband and I are going to Maine for 2 weeks the early part of September.  We're taking the train from Newark to Portland and picking up a rental car (free, with points from all of the business travel he's done this year).  We'll be home-basing at an AirBNB in Bangor for a week, exploring Acadia and the southern coast, then heading to a cabin in the Moosehead Lake area for a few days, and finishing up with a few days in Portland (another AirBNB in the city, so we'll jettison the car in favor of walking/public transport) before taking the train back to Newark.  We haven't been on a nice vacation since September 2019, and are looking forward to celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary while we're at Moosehead Lake.

[Spunkygal]

2 hours ago, Lovecat said:

Is anyone planning any summer travel?  My husband and I are going to Maine for 2 weeks the early part of September.  We're taking the train from Newark to Portland and picking up a rental car (free, with points from all of the business travel he's done this year).  We'll be home-basing at an AirBNB in Bangor for a week, exploring Acadia and the southern coast, then heading to a cabin in the Moosehead Lake area for a few days, and finishing up with a few days in Portland (another AirBNB in the city, so we'll jettison the car in favor of walking/public transport) before taking the train back to Newark.  We haven't been on a nice vacation since September 2019, and are looking forward to celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary while we're at Moosehead Lake.

Sounds like an awesome anniversary trip! Congrats! Please report back after your trip is over. We’ve been talking about this exact trip for a couple of years, except the train part. Earlier this year, I researched a possible itinerary and that area is so gorgeous. I’m so jealous! We did some traveling earlier this year so will not be traveling this summer. Gosh, our desire to go anywhere this summer is dampened by the airfares and number of cancellations. If we get a VRBO and the flight is cancelled and we can’t get to the destination, we have to eat the number of nights at the rental that we weren’t there. That did happen in February but it was due to our flight being canceled because of winter weather. That situation was a one-off for my area. 

[Netfoot]

8 hours ago, Lovecat said:

My husband and I are going to Maine for 2 weeks the early part of September.

Sounds like fun!

With the airlines in disarray, the train might be an excellent alternative. AirBnB always worked out just fine for me the times I used it.

I know nothing about the places you plan to visit, but for me at least, that can be a bonus. It's great to vacation in a place you know we'll well and are familiar and comfortable with. But it is also exciting to explore new places and make new discoveries. So, either way you can look forward to a good time.

As @Spunkygal says, you must report back. Either daily bulletins or a novella when you get back home: we will enjoy your vacation too, if you let us!

Edited July 8, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

The robot produced the following joke this morning:

Quote

A group of bats, hanging at the ceiling of a cave, discovers a single bat standing upright underneath on the floor of the cave.

Surprised by this unusual behavior, they ask this fellow: "What the heck  are you doing down there?"

And the fellow shouts back: "Yoga!"

Silently, I raise my eyes to heaven...

The exchange rates worked out OK as well:

Quote

Exchange Rates on Friday 8th July 2022 at 13:47
1 USD = 2.011 BBD (United States Dollar)
1 CAD = 1.550 BBD (Canadian Dollar)
1 GBP = 2.417 BBD (British Pound Sterling)
1 EUR = 2.045 BBD (Euro)
1 BBD = 67.690 JPY (Japanese Yen)
1 BBD = 3.361 TTD (Trinidad and Tobago Dollar)
1 BBD = 74.672 JMD (Jamaican Dollar)
1 BBD = 103.651 GYD (Guyanaese Dollar)
1 BBD = 1.343 XCD (East Caribbean Dollar)
1 BTC = 43,612.172 BBD (Bitcoin)
1 BBD = 1.467 LTL (Lithuanian Litas)

And of course, there was a forecast for the weekend as two flying days:

Quote

Forecast for 2 flying days
Sat 9th: Rain, Partially cloudy
Wind: 19.2 to 25.1 MPH
Direction: 82.1 (E)
Chance of Rain: 61.9%
Cloud Cover: 88.0%
Temp: Avg 80.1F Max 82.3F
Sunrise: 05:37 Set: 18:28
Moonrise: 14:21 Set: 01:20
Moon Phase: 32.2%

Sun 10th: Rain, Overcast
Wind: 20.6 to 25.7 MPH
Direction: 88.5 (E)
Chance of Rain: 61.9%
Cloud Cover: 99.5%
Temp: Avg 80.0F Max 81.8F
Sunrise: 05:37 Set: 18:28
Moonrise: 15:24 Set: 02:09
Moon Phase: 35.9%

Given the high winds and the elevated chance of rain, I don't know that many will be flying this weekend....

[Netfoot]

Baby Mo is sleeping outside tonight. I'm always a little worried about him when he sleeps out, but his choice, so other than man-handling him, there's not much I can do.

I tried the cheap sausages for lunch with fried eggs and two slices of fried bread. In an effort to improve on the taste of the sausages, I tried rolling them in a homemade dry rub, but the stuff didn't stick very well so only a very thin layer clung to them. At least half fell off the minute they hit the hot oil. They didn't taste too bad though, so there is that. Next time I will try coating them in something to help the dry rub stick. Egg? Oil? Milk? Dunno. Will work that out come the time.

Dinner by contrast was thinly sliced cucumber and spicy tuna with mayonnaise (plain) on crackers. I'm doing a blood sugar test in the morning, so maybe I should have eaten a more normal meal. Last reading was only 4.2 so it could stand to come up closer to the ideal 5.0 but to be honest, I feel that if low is good, lower is better. As it is, I dance around between low 4s and high 5s with the very occasional low 6. Dr. K. says that is perfectly satisfactory but like I said: lower is better.

I finished my book last night and have forgotten to select something new to read. I'm in bed now, but do I want to get out to find a book? Maybe I should. Reading before lights-out, even if it's just a paragraph, is such normal behaviour for me...

Ok. A Wizard of Earthsea. Of the original trilogy my favourite is The Tombs of Atuan but you can't start there, can you?

 I said original because the 'trilogy' now consists of six books and I am not so familiar with the latest three. Well, I suppose if I start tonight on the island of Gont and read all six in succession, I will become a little bit more familiar with the latest ones. I think I have all six...

I'm assuming you know the author and her work. Funnily enough, I just did a Google search on her and to my surprise, they recommended The Dispossessed as the #1, must-read introduction to her work. I know it received it's share of prestigious awards, but I've read it and frankly I wasn't in the least impressed. To the degree that I highly doubt I even own a copy today!

I'd like to hear what you think of her work and which ones you like and which ones you don't. Do you think The Dispossessed deserves the acclaim? What about her other works? I don't have a wide selection of her novels, and I'd be interested to hear which ones are worth tracking down.

Edited July 9, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Looks like I'll be eating sandwiches for the next day or so.

I went to cook my lunch (Matouk's beans with onions over a baked potato). Stuck the potato in the microwave and threw the onions into a pan over the stove. The stove instantly went out; the cylinder was empty!

So I had to put the beans in the microwave to warm them up. I dunno when I'll get a new cylinder. Tomorrow if I'm lucky, Monday otherwise.

Good thing the microwave still works. Good thing I've got Bajan salt bread so I can make cutters.

Mo is outside raising hell. I have a close neighbor who has <shudder> cats! The will not stay at home. They love to come and taunt Mo by taking a pose just outside our gate. It's pitch black out there, and I can't see a thing, but Mo being part panther, can see in the dark. I know he's not imagining it because when I take one of my tactical torches out there and put 1000+ lumens downrange, I can see two pairs of little, yellow eyes shining back at me.

Now, I like my neighbors. They're good folks. When Buddy the escape artist got out, he mostly went to their house to visit with their dogs. With Mo it's the same thing. The couple have often helped me recover a wayward puppy and bring him home again.

But that's once every few months. How is it their cats are out 3-5 times a day and they seem to think that's OK? 

Edited July 9, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

I'm feeling poorly.

Ever since the stove stopped working due to the gas running out, I've felt sorta queasy. It's stress.  I've been totally stressed out for months, and I do my best to remain chill. But the thing with the stove - silly as it was - was like the feather on the camel's back.

I put the kettle on to boil for a cuppa tea and went back nearly five hours later to make the tea. Had to reboil the kettle of course...

I had cheese cutters for dinner as planned. No problems there. Mo helped me with any ends of cheese, scraps of tomato or cucumber, and of course, if those scraps could be combined with a little bread he was doubly happy to oblige. (Later, when we did our walk around the yard, I found the scouring pad out on the grass. It is so fuzzed out now I keep telling myself to throw it out and start using a new one. But each time when I recover it, I look at it closely and the curly stainless strips all look perfectly fine, so I ball it up and it continues to do sterling service.

I'm so wired I can't get to bed. I am just sitting here waiting to calm down a bit. It's hot and still and I'm sweaty and nasty, so I will take a shower later. But first, I have to feel that it wouldn't be a waste of time to go to bed.

Mo is sleeping at my feet. Earlier today he crawled/climbed up into my lap and lay on my chest like when he first came home. He's at least six times heavier now than then, and he felt like a hippo lying on top of me. he's longer now than I am across the shoulders. There was no chance of him curling up on my desk and going to sleep, like yester-years! So if he can't curl up against my back (or tummy, or legs) in bed, sleeping at my foot is not a bad alternative.

Still hot, sticky and nasty, and still  not sleepy. So for now, YT videos and Sudoku on the computer.

[Netfoot]

It's nearly five in the morning. I made myself a cuppa and after one sip, felt like sleep was possible. So I'm in bed with a hot cup at my elbow and my eyes still wide open. Mo is outside barking at something and the door is ajar so he should be able to come and go as he wishes. It's almost time for me to open up as it is!

I will drink my tea and see if I can get any of my book read. Hopefully the combination will make me sleepy. Not to imply that Earthsea puts you to sleep...

I just hope I can get my eyes closed in the next 15 minutes, because I have to get up by eight to take my first meds of the day. 

Edited July 10, 2022 by Netfoot

[Spunkygal]

@Netfoot have you tried Melatonin to help with sleep? I don’t know if it has any interactions with meds you are taking but you might ask Dr. K. Hope you were able to get some rest.

[Netfoot]

4 hours ago, Spunkygal said:

@Netfoot have you tried Melatonin to help with sleep?

I did try melatonin a couple years ago and it seemed to work well enough. Normally I don't have any trouble sleeping but occasionally I get these days (nights) where I can't shut my eyes but they aren't frequent enough to consider another course of melatonin.

I did get to sleep around 5 AM, and woke at 10 on the dot. 

[Netfoot]

Not a lot of sleep last night, but I'm in early tonight and hope to get down soon. 

I'm trying to think what I had for lunch, and I think the answer is "Nothing." But I had a reasonably good dinner. (More later.)

Went up to the club where I sat and talked with Rudy as we both watched Mo rampage around. We actually took a walk around the site and Mo came with us. But for the remainder of the afternoon he alternated from racing around with afterburners on, to sitting in my lap. Apart from the Black Bullet, the afternoon was peaceful and I think this was good for me, helping me to lower my stress levels. I certainly felt much better when I got back home than I did before I headed out!

On the way home I stopped and bought a 25 lb. cylinder of gas, so I was able to cook myself some linguine for dinner. I ate it with tuna and onion, with only a little red pepper flakes and some garlic.

But I nearly ruined the pasta! When it went on the boil, I started a timer on my phone, while I went about preparing the tuna. After a while, I decided to check the timer to see how much time was left, but it turns out the timer never started. I immediately checked the linguine and it was alllmost too far gone. I don't like my pasta soft. I like a bit of chewyness to it. Not the nearly-crunchy-in-the-middle that I'm told is the new ideal. But not cooked soft. Anyway, I caught it on the brink of how I like it, and do so the meal was saved.

Mo has a small, dark brown food bowl and a larger, off-white water bowl. Up at the club, he has a water bowl that is the same as the food bowl at home, except in the same off white as the water bowl.  When ever I pick up his food bowl at home, Mo runs away. Same exact bowl (but a different colour) at the club for water, if I pick it up he doesn't run away.

So I swapped. The dark brown food bowl went to the club for water and the off white water bowl from the club came home to be his food bowl and match the water bowl in colour. I pick up the new food bowl, he still runs away. 

Why does he run from the food bowl when I'm holding it, no mater what colour, but not from the water bowl at the club? Especially when it is the same physical bowl?

I'm going to go out and close the door, hopefully with him on the inside of it. Then I am going to crash out.

Edited July 11, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Last night, Mo was extra cuddly and snuggly. More than ever before, as I recall. He's purched on the steps beside me now, as I sit out in my Adirondack chair to read. I just noticed that the right front leg (made from crap wood like the rest of the chair) is crumbling at the foot. I will have to consider effecting a repair. 

But not today. I'm feeling off-colour again. Not as bad as a couple days ago, but the stress isn't letting up and to be honest, there is no end in sight to the situation. I am not in any position to deal with it, and those who are, don't seem to think it's anything that needs to be dealt with in any sort of urgent fashion. 

I guess when you're the black sheep of the family, your sheepcote falling down doesn't matter much to the other sheep in the family. Not even if winter is coming.

Cheese, cucumber & onion cutters for lunch. I'm not really in a mood for food. I may try boiling eggs for dinner. My mum used to boil a dozen eggs or more, when she was making devilled eggs or scotch eggs or similar. None of the eggs would break in the pot, and she would shell them easily and quickly. When I boil eggs, at least half break before finished, and the shells don't come off very easily or cleanly as a rule.  Not even from the eggs that didn't break prematurely.

Will read a little...

Mo, sitting on the steps near me.

Try as I might, I couldn't get him to look at the camera.

[Spunkygal]

@Netfoot I boil eggs the “Martha Stewart” way. Put the eggs in the saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. As soon as the water starts boiling, turn off the burner, put the lid on the pan and set timer. I cook mine 10-11 minutes. Then immediately peel under cool water. Store leftover peeled eggs in a container in water in the fridge for a day or so. I’ve never had them break in the pan while boiling using this method. See if this works for you! 

Edited July 11, 2022 by Spunkygal

[Netfoot]

The perils of housework when you live with a Monster.

@Spunkygal, I will try your method tonight.

[Browncoat]

@Netfoot, I use that egg boiling method, too (but for 12 minutes), and the eggs come out perfectly every time.

[Netfoot]

Water not boiled yet and one egg cracked and leaking.

[Netfoot]

None of them came out very well. Even the best (lower left) had a chunk of the white missing...

About par for the course.

[Spunkygal]

1 hour ago, Netfoot said:

Water not boiled yet and one egg cracked and leaking.

How could it be cracking and leaking if the water isn’t boiling? I don’t understand what is happening. Were the eggs in the water before you turned the burner on? So strange. 

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, Spunkygal said:

Were the eggs in the water before you turned the burner on? So strange. 

I put the eggs from the refrigerator into the saucepan and ran in cold water from the tap, until the eggs were just covered. (Our cold tap may run warmer than in other countries, but it isn't warm!)

I put the pan on the fire and let it come to the boil. The photo was taken 3-4 minutes later. The water would have been hot by then, but visibly not boiling. As you can see, the egg had cracked and started leaking by then.

When water began to boil, I turned it off. The crack was much bigger and the leak much worse by then.

I waited 10 minutes, put the pan under the cold tap and ran it until the eggs were cool enough to handle.

(I recognize this as the way the English cook a soft-boiled egg, waiting 3, 4 minutes or how ever they like them, before taking them out. I guess 10 minutes is cooked hard.)

Instead of the shell peeling off in 2-3 large pieces as I have seen so many times when others do it, I was forced to pick, pick, pick little pieces off, with each little piece coming away with some of the white still attached to the inside.

I tried to lift the edge of the shell and direct the flow of cold water underneath to help the shell off, but that was a fail.

So, I dunno. Eggs not fresh enough? Bought pre-cracked from the grocery? I'm just a ham-fisted cook? The method cooks the eggs fine, but I can't seem to prevent the eggs from cracking,and I can't perl them without losing chunks of the white, which makes them look scabby.

[Browncoat]

Older eggs generally make better boiled eggs — they’re easier to peel, too.  But the cracking is a puzzlement.

[Netfoot]

I had 3 eggs left in the box, and I took a close look at them. Upon inspection, this one has a visible crack,

but it is small enough that you might miss it, if you didn't look closely. I candled the egg with a powerful torch

and the crack leaps out at you.

Now this one looks perfectly fine, even looking closely.

But when the torch is applied

you can see that there is a crack there. And if you go back to look at the previous photograph you can just begin to see a black hairline which (I suppose) is the crack.

I bought another dozen today, and I made a nuisance of myself by inspecting every one in the box at the super market. I swapped out 5-6 with hairline cracks for replacements from another box, after checking them for cracks. (And while I was at it, I swapped out one that was the size of a green-lizard egg for one that obviously came from an ostrich. But that's another story.) 

So I guess that if half the eggs in the box are sporting hairline cracks, it isn't surprising that half the eggs split open while cooking!

Yes, I candled the new dozen when they came home, and I see no signs of cracks in them.

Dominique came around and spent 10 minutes playing with her dog Mo. He put on a nice show for her. Not surprisingly, seeing as he loves when he gets to interact with other people. He ran around and leaped in the air... She was very pleased at how he looked and how he behaved. Dominique is the Mother Theresa of the canine world.

She also brought me two small pawpaw's. They aren't quite ripe yet, but when they are, they will go great with a drizzle of lime juice...

Heard a funny noise outside. When that happens, it's always a good idea to investigate.

Yes, that's my cap...

[Spunkygal]

Aha! The egg mystery is solved! Well done! You get eggstra credit for the torch idea!

[Netfoot]

4 hours ago, Spunkygal said:

You get eggstra credit for the torch idea!

It was eggsremely simple! Yet, quite eggsciting in its own way. 

In bed early. Mo is inside, curled up under my chair in the living room, I am remotely switching off the lights leading to the bedroom, one at a time. Maybe he will pop in for a cuddle, for a few minutes, at least.

Beans with cheap sausages over baked potato and the last plantain. I tried to get some more but the ones in the shop looked a bit spawgy, so I left them there.

Still gradually working on my exchange rates, jokes and weather forecast robots. They work at my house but I want to remote them onto my server which is located (if I remember) in Utah. I am very restricted in what I can install in that machine, in terms of modules. So, while at home for instance, I can install and use the public module Astro::MoonPhase, I can't install it on the remote host. This means I can't move my code offsite. So I've been coding up my own module to compute the phase of the moon.

I've gone through this process for several modules that I wanted to use but couldn't. So far, jokes and exchange rates are now running remotely, but the flying day forecast has been the trickiest to migrate. Finally, I think I've got it.

'Course, I still have to go through and tweak things related to time zones. 

Anyway, Mo still hasn't come to visit, so I will read for a while and turn in.

[Netfoot]

17 hours ago, Netfoot said:

'Course, I still have to go through and tweak things related to time zones. 

That was much simpler than I initially thought.  The built-in localtime function uses the timezone value out if the local environment if it finds one. So all I had to do was set the environment to reflect a timezone of "America/Barbados" and Robert is your father's brother!

Mo came a-snuggling again last night, but Insisted I let him out around 2:30. I opened the door again around 3:00 and he came rocketing back in.

Egg and cheese sandwiches for lunch. Godnozewot for dinner, but it will probably involve rice or pasta. And tuna or corned beef, but most likely tuna. Or, come to think of it, I bought some red herring yesterday. I will chop up a piece of that and make a sauce to put on top of the rice. Maybe with some onion.

Mo is outside making a huge racket. Either someone was thoughtless enough to walk past our gate, or the cat is back. It showed up earlier and for the sake of the neighborhood I threw a stone. I didn't throw it at the cat. I threw it at the bush behind the cat to startle it. The kitty took off like a bullet and shot home, hardly touching the ground.

Going to look around for some other APIs to teach the robot about. There are many, but I'm looking for utility. Or at least entertainment...

[Netfoot]

There is a big pile if of rubbish in my yard that the landlord won't throw away. It consists mostly of materials from the old fence that was torn down to build our guard wall. Mostly chain link or chicken wire, with some odd bits of metal, wood and concrete block. 

Now I will admit this pile has proven useful to me on several occasions. Just the other day I repurposed some of it to patch a hole in the fence that Mo was making. And before Mo came home in the first place, I used some of this same wire to puppy-proof my gate.

I just went out and prepared Mo's dinner. Some tinned puppy food made into a slurry with water, and mixed up with a scoop of puppy chow. Mo usually watches me do this, and helpfully licks the mixing spoon clean before starting on his meal proper.

No Mo. I wonder where he is? I give a whistle that he will recognize, and usually come to. No Mo. I realize I have not seen or heard him for maybe an hour? It's pitch black, so I go for one if my torches and begin to search the yard.

it doesn't take me long to spot a black form, immobile, close to the bedroom window. When I investigate, it's him of course... with a big piece of wire.

You see that single strand that sort of sticks up in the top left-hand corner of the photo? Somehow, he'd managed to get that hooked under his collar and then back through the buckle! I was too focussed in getting him free than on going back inside for a camera, so no photograph. But he was completely immobile.  He'd dragged that wire (actually two pieces, tangled together and disappearing off the top of the photo) about 30 feet, trying to get to me for help, I'd guess. Then he encountered the concrete block partially visible. The wire snagged on it, and he wasn't going anywhere after that.

When I went out there, he was laying quietly on the ground, waiting to be rescued. I don't know if he barked or not, but when you "cry wolf" every 15 minutes...

He's fine. He's completely unharmed as far as I can see. (I will give him a thorough examination looking for scrapes and scratches, after dinner.) When he was released, he ran around happily, and doing his favourite thing: running towards me at full speed, and at 6-8 feet away leaping bodily in the air to 'punch' me with both front paws. Usually in the nuts, if I'm not careful. Then race around a bit and repeat. 

Buddy was one naughty-assed little boy. Yet, by comparison to Mo? Bud was an angel. But I still love my little devil!

As I was finishing this post, I heard a ruckus at the gate. My neighbor from across the way searching for one if his cats. (I wonder why he is searching in front of my gate?) He and Mo having a chat and Mo trying to get out to play with him. Leaping up one minute and trying to crawl under the next.

Anyway, it's now after eight, so red herring!

Edited July 14, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

I heard a loud crunching from just outside. Loud! I went to investigate...

He has beautiful, big, strong, white teeth. I hate to think what this could do to them.

Wait! I hear more crunching!

[Netfoot]

It's now a quarter to five, and I just got to bed. It's almost time to open up the house, so instead I will simply not bother to lock it up in the first place. I'm going to feel rotten tomorrow, especially if I have to get up in three hours to take my meds. So, I've brought them to bed with me, along with a bottle if of water.

People around here call red herring "poor people food" and that's fine, because I'm poor people. I also eat other "poor people food" like corned beef and breadfruit. Because I like how they taste. I've even been known to eat the ultimate "poor people food": corned beef and biscuits! (Crackers.)

My red herring and rice was nothing to look. Plain white rice with a little white onion and chicken gravy with a tiny bit of red herring in it. It tasted fine. Red herring is so strong a taste you don't need loads of it in the dish. I could have added some pak choy to the rice, but I forgot.

(I've eaten red herring and biscuit too. I used to take it to work for lunch. Everyone in the lunch room gave me strange looks and I'm pretty sure there was some whispering behind my back, but I don't care. I eat what I like and don't care if my choice of meal causes speculation.)

Anyway, it's now five o'clock, puppy is curled up by my feet, and I'm going to sleep. Until next Monday!

Edited July 14, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

The thief has progressed from caps to pairs of shorts!

[Netfoot]

The rascal wants to strip me bare! Or he's decided to become a Rag'n'Bone Man Dog. And don't think recovering these items is easy. If you approach him, he grabs it up off the ground, and runs literal rings around you, until he drops it again and taunts you to try again. The only way to get your gear back is bribery or trickery. 

Last night I didn't close my eyes until five in the morning, and I didn't bother to close the door because it was just about time to open up again.

At five past six the puppy was yapping in my ear and using his paws/claws to pull my arm. And not taking no for an answer. I groggily thought he wanted me to open the door, and went to do so, but of course, it was already open/never closed. The brute just thought it was time for me to get up!

Any way, I am going to go in a little early tonight (a few minutes to midnight) and try for a solid 7-8 hours. Tomorrow I have the unenviable task of choosing which of my tools I will try to sell, and I'm not looking forward to the task.

Went looking for interesting APIs today and found one called The Cocktail DB. If you click the link, you will be served the plain, unbeautified or PrettyPrinted JSON text of a random cocktail recipe from their database. A different one each time. People don't usually follow that link, but programs (like the Robot) do, to get data they can present in a formatted way to the end-user.

It might be fun to throw the occasional random cocktail recipe at the lads, complete with photo. Dunno whether to proceed or not.

Anyway, time to have a shower, then encourage the puppy to come inside so we can go to bed.

Edited July 15, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Puppy-cuddles!

A kiss is coming...

I just knew it!

[TAG42481]

Is this the best thread to reference our former TAR contestants in "The Challenge"?  I'm very disappointed that only 3 of the 28 contestants are from TAR.  Were "our" people just too smart to do a show like that? :-p

[dbklmt]

1 hour ago, TAG42481 said:

Is this the best thread to reference our former TAR contestants in "The Challenge"?  I'm very disappointed that only 3 of the 28 contestants are from TAR.  Were "our" people just too smart to do a show like that? :-p

There are several comments about it in the TAR IN THE MEDIA thread so that's probably the best thread to use.

[Netfoot]

6 hours ago, TAG42481 said:

Is this the best thread to reference our former TAR contestants in "The Challenge"?

O. M. G!

I just grabbed two episodes to see what it's like. I've never seen a bigger group of arrested adolescent poseurs in all my life. 

I don't think I will be able to watch episode #2.

But thanks to the hose host (TJ?) I learned something new: There is such a thing as negative charisma!

Edited July 16, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

This morning, I got my scroll saw and it's bench out and down the stairs. 

It was heavy. And I was stronger when, pre-MG, I lifted it in. Not sure how to get it sold, now. The guy who was helping me sell off my tools is the guy who had to race back to Canada after a family tragedy...

For lunch I made Bubble & Squeak with corned beef. Or if you prefer, Corned beef & Cabbage with potato. It tasted pretty good for simple fare, which is a good thing, because I made enough for dinner as well. Except, with dinner I also had some tried bread.

I'm actually becoming a fan of the fried bread these days. But I have a long way to go before I master it. I put the bread in the pan and periodically lift up and peep under to see how it's coming. One minute it's pale, soft looking bread, and literally seconds later it's burnt blackish. Then you have to flip it over and consider if the first side is too bad to eat, all the while cooking the other side. So, two chances to ruin it. And for some reason I keep burning myself repeatedly while frying the bread...

After dinner, I suddenly remembered I had a paw-paw ripening in the microwaven. And ripe it was!

So I sliced it open and scooped out the seeds...

And with a drizzle of lime juice and a spoon, I got stuck in!

[Netfoot]

It was delicious! 

Yes, Mo liked it as well!

[Netfoot]

Ok, got the robot to access the Cocktail database and generate telegrams with random cocktail recipes.

I think this is pretty good, given that there was not much work involved.

It's nice that the database offers photos of cocktails along with the recipes.

One change I'd like to make is to introduce neat fractions to replace crude ones. So "1½ oz" which I think looks neater than "1 1/2 oz".

Also, I can see I will have to go through each item and tweak capitalization: The "Zorro" description for instance starts with a lowercase 'a'.... Ok, done.

It's enough to make me regret I don't drink!

[Netfoot]

Well, the rain is sluicing down and after a good lunch, I am in bed with Ursula. Mo is here too, leaning up against my butt as I lie on my side.

At 4 :00 this morning he insisted on being let out. Out he went and the door closed behind him, because it was still full black sky. At 6:15 he positioned himself outside the bedroom window and began to howl, shriek, whine and bark, until I stuck my head out and told him to shurrup! At this, he slammed his trap and took off round the house, heading for the door.

I went and let him in, whereupon he raced me to the bed (winning handily) and when I climbed I in he attacked with tooth and claw. Wouldn't stop, so I had to mummify myself within a roll of sheets, and let him bite and scratch away while I lay protected within.

He is a very sweet baby and extremely handsome but there are challenges when it comes to living with him.

Lunch came out of a pot of rice. Containing black beans, onion, baby carrots, pak choy, diced sausage (I found a pack of the previous, tastier ones in the freezer) and seasoned with red pepper flakes and basil. Served in a bowl with a knob of red butter, it went down well. There is enough for two more meals, if I'm any judge. But the rice bag is running low. Must check to see if I have another bag in the bottom of the fridge by any chance.

Found an API that provides random recipes. Have not investigated more than to say that the amount of data provided is enormous. Image data for the individual ingredients as well as the final dish, nutrition facts on everything, flags that let you determine whether the dish is vegetarian, vegan, kosher, halal, and a lot more (but no meatatarian flag).

Anyway, I will return to The Hijinks of Sparrowhawk. (And Mo has disappeared.)

Edited July 17, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

The rain has stopped but everything is soaked. The breeze is cool and damp but not strong.

More rice for dinner. Enough left for lunch tomorrow. The second paw-paw (bigger!) was ripe on one side, so I am going to leave it another day. Maybe I'll have it after lunch tomorrow.

Finished Earthsea this afternoon, so on to The Tombs of Atuan, my favourite of the trilogy. Only a handful of pages in so far.

(Behind Blue Eyes, The Who)

Mo is in the living room, snoozing under my chair. When I came in I told him I'd be out again before too long to lock up, so he would have to make up his mind.

Poor boy! He so looks forward to our excursions on the weekend so when the rain spoils play he really feels it worse than I do. Unlike myself, he doesn't understand about mud and traction and the price of gasoline.

Retrieving the recipes data smoothly now, but it is so huge a payload I have to try to figure out what I want to use and what to exclude.

What I'd really like to find is a source of photographs of historic aircraft. But everything I've found so far (and there is a vast amount of it) is to do with tracking current passenger and cargo carriers in realtime. Oh, well.

Atuan!

[Netfoot]

Despite the recent rains, I popped up to the club. It was quite dry! One small puddle in the track and that is all. Austin showed up with a buddy, Rudy brought Yinger (his wife), and Tony brought his two grand-kids. And I brought Mo.

The little Mouse responded very well to the beep button on his collar, when ever he got too excited and tried to get into someone's lap uninvited. Naturally, my lap was not off limits, and he made good use of that fact. 

The white unit is the beep-box.

Austin's friend was trying out a quadcopter and Austin flew the Delta. He did a very kow low-speed approach and landing that is typical of what a delta wink wing can do. To see what I'm talking about, watch this short video. More in on Austin and the Delta later. We sat around later and chewed the rag a while before coming home.

Mo got some fried chicken bits (donated by Yinger) with homemade gravy for dinner. He was quite anxious and got very angry when I made him wait 10 minutes so it could cool down before he ate it.

And speaking of dinner, I just realized it's approaching 10 o'clock and I have not had any dinner yet! So I am going to warm up a can of black bean soup and mug that.

Edited July 18, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Did you watch the video I linked in my past video last post, of Austin gently landing the Delta? The next landing was not so gentle.

Austin was in the middle of a flight in conditions of strong wind. Strong, but smooth with little gusting. He was downwind of the clubhouse and put in a banking turn to come back. The model started the turn, but Aussie immediately lost control of the model. The transmitter reported an abrupt but total loss of telemetry, and the aircraft did not go into its failsafe configuration. This implies a total loss of power, with all the electronics going from fully functional to stone dead in a split second.

Stuck in a banking turn, the Delta just kept turning in circles, and drifting further downwind with the breeze. The circle slowly went from horizontal to steeply angled. Gravity stepped in. She went in at near-maximum speed, in a field of young cane. We all walked out to look at the wreckage. 

The point of impact wasn't far from the track that runs behind the grounds of a children's home. (When she was going down, everybody was praying she would go in clear of there!) The point of impact, as measured on Google maps is 400 meters from the closest end of our airstrip. A hair under a quarter of a mile.

The damage is extensive; there will be no repairing this one. The wreckage us was brought back so small parts can be salvaged.

We had to dig deep to find the engine!

The carburetor body and the engine block itself are broken, as is the muffler pipe. So aircraft and motor are a write-off.

An examination of the wreckage suggests that one if of the connectors between the five cells of the battery pack broke. With the pack essentially cut in two, there was no power coming out of it, so the electronics just died instantly. 

Pity. She was a nice aircraft. And she was flying well. But as they say, about the hobby: "You fly them, you lose them. If you aren't prepared to lose them, you should find another hobby."

Edited July 18, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

So yes, an interesting afternoon. And Mo did not disappoint. When we all went out to recover the wreck, Mo naturally went with us. Little did I know until later, he found a plant with burrs on it. Maybe more than one plant. These were the type with sharp, spikes on, not the slightly furry, sticky variety I call sweethearts (from my early days in Trinidad). And poor baby got about a dozen or more of them stuck to his... whisker.

When he was a baby he had a pronounced whisker on the end if his willy. It was about ten times longer than the willy itself! Now he's grown up, the proportions are more reasonable, but he still has a willy-whisker. The little lad had gotten sharp, nasty burrs stuck all over willy, whisker, and everything. I had to remove them for him, and it was not easy to do so. I had to be very careful not to pull on the whisker or in any other way cause the baby hurt or harm!

Got it all sorted in the end, but thankfully there was a squirt-bottle of alcohol in the house left over from the athlete's foot era. So I was able to sanitize my hands efficiently afterwards. And the baby escaped a potentially painful experience, so that is all to the good.

The things you have to do when you are a parent! But some things are worse than others:

The "viewing" for my friend's wife and daughter was today. They are being laid to rest tomorrow, in Canada. I left a brief message of condolence on the funeral home's memorial page, and admired the photos of some lovely people who we will never meet again.

So, as a complete switch from that sad thought, I just wanted to say that the second paw-paw made a nice desert for my lunch. Dinner was a can of black bean soup which tasted great... but I prefer to cook my own. I like the beans to be cooked until they are softer and falling apart. (Or run through a blender.) This makes for a thicker soup, with the disintegrating beans suspended within it. This tinned soup had the beans whole, settled on the bottom of the mug. While it tasted just fine, it meant I had to use a spoon, rather than just sip from the mug. But I mustn't complain, it was a quick and tasty meal prepared in three minutes in the microwave. With some bread to make fishes... or even a sandwich or two, it would have been a solid meal, but after rice three meals in a row I chose to minimize the carbs. Especially since I will test the blood sugar in the morning. With the last three tests in the mid fives, I want to see a decrease rather than an increase!

Anyway, my darling boy is right here with me now, with his back to my tummy. He had plenty of exercise today, and is now completely knackered. I wonder if I can get a nice photo?

He could get hit by a tornado and he wouldn't wake up! The little darling.

Anyway, I'll read a page or two from my book, and then turn out the light.

[Netfoot]

I had  a difficult task scheduled for today: get my lathe out onto the verandah, and down the stairs without damaging the lathe, demolishing the house or killing myself.

So I began by contemplating this task with an eye as to how best it could be achieved. Around lunchtime I paused in my contemplations to prepare a simple repast - cutters containing corned beef mixed with plain mayo, garlic and red pepper flakes. Also thinly sliced cucumber. Some of the corned beef went to 'sweeten' Mo's chow. When the meal was over, the remainder of the mix (about ¼ of a tin's worth) went into the fridge.

Contemplations resumed immediately after lunch and continued until dinner time. I cubed some spuds (Heroin -- Billy Idol) and set them to boiling in salty water. Meanwhile I used the mandolin to produce half-moons of onion to brown in hot oil. When to my satisfaction I added a tin of my favourite beans, red pepper flakes and some dried rosemary. Just as the potatoes were ready, the remainder of the corned beef mix from lunchtime went in to the mixture. Stirring it in, the mayonnaise made for a really creamy concoction. The potatoes went in to soak up some if the flavour while I fought with the ice trays and made lime squash. A few slices of bread to "rip & dip" completed the meal.

Remember I said I added red pepper flakes, and the left over corned beef? Remember I already added red pepper flakes to the corned beef at lunch? Yeh, dinner was peppery! Went down very well, but did call for a second glass of lime squash. And the meal was enjoyed while hot breath played on my hip again. Mo liked the sauce. He ended up eating at least half the rip & dip bread.

Real Rip & Dip was one of those meals from when I was young and our family was struggling. Gravy and bread. The gravy usually had some sort of meaty ingredients, sometimes thinly spread, I admit. I remember those days, thankfully few and far between, when we sat and made do with what little we had. I remember them fondly.

And I actually like Rip & Dip, if the sauce isn't too lean. So much better than that other austerity meal from my youth,  Potatoes & Point. If you never had Potatoes & Point, consider yourself fortunate.

By this time my contemplations revealed one inescapable fact: it was far too late to try to move that lathe!

I lay down about 10:30 and nodded off to sleep (such a tiring day) and my baby came and woke me at midnight. So I locked up the house and here we are together. I will read a little before shutting off the light.

But not for too long! I have  a difficult task scheduled for tomorrow: get my lathe out onto the verandah, and down the stairs without damaging the lathe, demolishing the house or killing myself.

[Netfoot]

Here is a short video (less than a minute) of the Delta Vortex on one of it's last flights. Mo makes a very brief cameo appearance at the end.

[Netfoot]

Just received another short video (14 seconds) featuring Molasses!

[Spunkygal]

1 hour ago, Netfoot said:

Just received another short video (14 seconds) featuring Molasses!

He sure has long legs!

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, Spunkygal said:

He sure has long legs!

Who, Mo?  Or the camera man?

[Netfoot]

The lathe still has not moved. But in my defense, it's been drizzling all day and I didn't want to fight that weight down steps covered with wet ceramic tile. Also, it wouldn't really be good if the thing was halfway down the stairs and the rain fell on it. The cast iron ways really wouldn't like that one bit. And it wouldn't be possible to hurry it down the stairs if the rain started and even more impossible to hurry it back up! So hoping for a dry morning tomorrow. But the robot says chance of rain tomorrow is 95.2%...

I can't wait for the season to change. That lathe has to be down and operating in the next few days! I may be forced to dismantle it and take it out in pieces - which will allow me to avoid the external route through rain territory. But will take much longer because the disassembly and reassembly will add time to the job. Particularly putting it back together and making sure the bed extension is perfectly aligned.

Nice little video of Mo jumping into my lap appeared in my feed this afternoon, so I posted it above. Taken by Austin's friend whose name escapes me at the moment. Howard? Dunno.

For lunch, I had my favourite beans with onion and cucumber, over baked potatoes and red butter and lime squash on the side. Diner was penne with "Thai Chilli Tuna", onion and halved Manzanilla olives with a sprinkle of dried rosemary and a big glad glass of orange juice (for a change). Both meals tasted good enough that Mo demanded a share of each of them.

Had a rough night last night. Went in early but Mo woke me at midnight (for no good reason that I could discern) and I couldn't get back to sleep. Finally dropped off shortly after 4:45 and slept until almost 11 o'clock. Don't want anything like that tonight. So I'm turning the light out now and hoping to sleep uninterrupted until a reasonable time tomorrow.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

OK, the lathe and accompanying grinder have been moved out onto the veranda. And my back has paid a terrible price. I'm swallowing Panadol as we speak. 

Now, lathe and grinder have to go out here and down these steps. You can hear how winded I am from moving the stuff. The lathe is spindly to look at but it isn't only ungainly. It's made of cast iron! It isn't an easy lift. It wouldn't be, even if it were not so cumbersome.

But these things can't stay where they are. The next shower of rain will soak them through and through. Gotta get moving. No pun intended...

ETA: Well, it's down. But not before some fun and games on the steps. My back is in serious state right now, and I've already taken a maximum amount of Panadol. Of course, the rain did sprinkle on the ways a little before I got it under cover. Not that that was easy. The rain was accompanied by a strong breeze that blew the rain in over 25 feet.

The poor grinder got a 55 gal. bin liner to keep it dry as the rain blew onto it.  The box of lathe tools got completely soaked, so badly it nearly fell apart when I tried to lift it under cover. And the box was so heavy (I never realized how many tools and accessories I had collected)  I could barely lift it at all. And to put the icing on the cake, the wet tiles gave me a skid that nearly caused me to fall, and did cause me to wrench my back even worse.

I'm going to give the back a chance to settle down then (since the rain has stopped) try to get the grinder down.

By the way. If you look at the lathe you will see two plywood shelves sandwiched between the lathe body and the stand. Don't do that! The shelves become completely covered in shavings the moment you start turning, and anything on those shelves instantly disappears. It seemed so smart! It turned out to be a huge mistake. They are coming off as soon as I get my breath back. And find my spanners.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Netfoot