Have you ever worn out a remote control?
I admit, I need people to watch television for me to make a living. I would like to think, though, that I am not a couch potato. I enjoy television, but I don’t think I watch a ton. Or do I?
Just four years ago, I made the plunge and got a big screen HD television. Maybe I have been watching more television, because of the hi-def. My remote control has worn out!
The push buttons were wearing out. I would hit, for example, the number 1, and nothing. If I pushed real hard, it might accept the number 1, but then I would hit 7….and nothing. Except the television would “think” I was selecting channel 1 and the television would go there (no such station) instead of channel 17.1 that I wanted to get to. (That is WNCN over the air by the way.)
The volume buttons stopped working, other numbers were ignored, and I was getting upset. I finally gave in and ordered an exact model replacement remote. After it arrived I quickly put the batteries in and voila, I can control my television again.
Now, I have to decide if I should keep the old one, as a emergency half working back-up, or chuck it? One thing I don’t want to do is keep them side by side, because I am sure I will grab the old one every once in awhile and get frustrated again. 
Lost and found gold, for the fifth time!
Well it happened yesterday for the fifth time. But for the fifth time, I found it!
Twice it was “lost” in pine straw after working in the yard. Once it was “lost” on a street after flying out of my car window. And just last year, it was “lost” in the work recycling bin as it slipped off while I was recycling some paper.
What was the item? It is my wedding ring. It’s not intentional, but it is weird how I have almost lost my ring, now five times.
The fifth time was yesterday. After putting up Christmas lights in the yard, I decided to add some red mulch to a tree bed where I had just strung some lights. Yesterday being a nice day, I was in a tee shirt with no gloves.
I came inside to clean up and watch a little football. After about a half hour the phone rang, and as I reached for the phone, I felt it. Or should I say, I felt the nakedness on my ring finger.
So a little panicked, I headed back outside to retrace my steps. No luck; the only places I worked outside were in that tree bed with lights and mulch, and also I strung an extension cord across the yard. I hooked that cord up in an azalea bed. After retracing my steps about 5 times, I kept thinking that it had to be close to where I put out the mulch. I stuck my left hand in the bag and pulled out clumps of mulch and then spread it out with both hands.
I dug around in the mulch and no luck. I did this for a half hour, at least. As I did this, my wife went over to my brother-in-law’s house to get a new device he bought for looking for old metal objects, a metal detector. I made fun of him when he got it; but I was looking forward to it, maybe finding my ring.
My wife started it up, and no joke, within two minutes of scanning around the tree bed, beep. The display went crazy and it showed on it’s screen that it detected gold. I dug into the much; that remember, I spent over a half hour combing, and there it was. My wedding ring, found for the 5th time in 24 years.
Oh yeah, I will be wearing gloves while working in the yard from now on, but I think I might have said that 15 years ago when the first “lost” happened.
Bat guano and mosquitoes
West Nile virus is a scary thing. I am sure mosquitoes have their place in nature and have some purpose besides biting people. While it seems that mosquitoes are in abundance this year, I haven’t noticed any on my outdoor deck.
What I have found on my outdoor deck are little black droppings. Yes, I think it is poop from some animal. Well, I have figured out where it is coming from, it is being dropped from high up in a screen eave. You see, I think I have a bat that likes to sleep in that eave and I guess when you got to go, you have to go.
The good news, by having a bat close by the mosquitoes doesn’t stand a chance. Bats are ferocious insect eaters. Now, if I could only potty train my bat things would be less guano.
A bird in the hand…
Birds of a feather don’t always flock together. At least that is what happened when a woodpecker got lost by itself in my neighbors screened in deck.
My neighbors have remodeled their screened in deck, but it is a work in progress as the screens and roof are up; but the door still doesn’t have a screen on it. This is how the woodpecker got in and then flitted and flew trying to get out. This enclosed deck is about 20 feet by 10 feet with a high ceiling, so the bird had a lot of room to stay away from people.
My neighbor called for help, and I showed up with a broom. After “brushing” the bird a few times, the woodpecker had the better of us. I found a large cardboard paper roll and with the broom finally cornered the bird; and he came down on the deck railing. My neighbor had a towel and gently tossed it over the bird. She was able to carry the bird towel outside and the woodpecker flew to freedom.
Needless to say, we taped the door up with plastic so the critters should stay away.
Moving in the rain
Rain and cool 70s or dry with sun and around 90? That was what I was thinking this weekend when I had to help my daughter move into her college apartment.
The move was Saturday and it was cloudy with rain. The next day, when I saw some others moving, it was sunny and 90. It wasn’t really humid with that 90; but still, after all was said and done…once you are wet, you are wet!
The rain started as I pulled up to pick up a 10 foot rental truck. The rain might have had some effect on the computer, because I had to wait over one hour to get my truck; as the computer kept acting up. On the bright side, I think the heaviest rain of the day occurred during this time while I was waiting in line, dry inside.
After getting the truck; I headed over to the storage company and filled up the truck with stuff, including the big sofa. The rain had stopped but started up again on the way to the apartment.
With a light rain falling we got the truck emptied. What really helped was the hand truck that I also got from the rental company. Because of my hour wait, I got to use it for free. My daughter’s apartment was on the fourth floor, so there were many elevator rides, including one in the freight elevator to get that couch upstairs.
Exhausted, wet, but not hot; I returned the truck and went back to the hotel to freshen up. On Sunday while watching others move in, I decided Saturday was indeed a better moving day. Even though Sunday was sunny and dry, the folks I saw moving in, were not only hot, but they were also wet from sweat.
Does your cat know its name?
I have written about our orange tabby, Pumpkin, a lot. He lets you dress him up, has never met a stranger, and is just a lot of fun to watch and play with. But to be honest, I guess he isn’t the brightest bulb in the house.
Our other cat, Levi, is a little anxious and nervous when it comes to others, but he is a loving animal. And…he knows his name!
Last night I was heading to bed, but hadn’t seen the cats for a while. All the lights downstairs were off, but I went to the bedroom door and called out for Pumpkin…nothing. I tried one more time…silence. Hmmm, I then called Levi, and up he came! He didn’t answer to Pumpkin but came on his own name. I decided to reward him with a snack. I have some cat treats stashed in my bedroom dresser. As soon as I opened the bag….jingle, jingle. It was Pumpkin coming up the stairs looking for a treat for himself. Why didn’t he come when I called him, intelligence perhaps?
Maybe Pumpkin isn’t as dumb as I thought. He might have heard his name, but thought, “what’s in it for me after all? I am a cat and I do as I please!” Well, he was smart enough to hear that food was being served and came for that. As far as Levi, he got a treat too; then both cats went back downstairs into the dark.
Shattered glass everywhere
Thank goodness I don’t live in a glass house. Last week while off on vacation; I had numerous little accidents. Numerous enough that I wondered if it was an omen?
It started when a paper bag, I was carrying a cast iron pot in, ripped and the pot fell out on the stairs. The pot survived but the glass candy thermometer that was also in the bag, shattered. Oh well, I wouldn’t be able to get an accurate reading of the oil that was going into the cast iron pot to fry pickles.
The next day while frying those above mentioned pickles, I was carrying something over the counter when I accidently hit a glass cup and it hit the floor, shattered.
Later that day, tired and hungry, I got the knife out, hey it wasn’t glass, but it was steel. I accidently cut my finger deeply. It kept bleeding off and on for a couple of days.
After I survived that, two days later it was some time for whiffle ball at the beach. I was pitching and dropped a couple of pop ups. Well here came another, I wasn’t going to miss this one. So I dove and made a great diving catch. Unfortunately, I dove and whacked my head on the sand. Don’t laugh the sand at low tide is hard! Got a headache and had to sit out because of a possible concussion. At least my head isn’t made of glass.
Upon returning home, while putting away a beach chair, I knocked a lantern, and it hit the floor. The glass globe, you guessed it, shattered.
Then a few minutes later, while putting more beach stuff away on a ladder, I knocked a glass bottle and watched it fall to the ground and shatter.
Finally, while wiping out the back of the car, I swept my hand over some debris and a tiny piece of glass got lodged in my thumb! Holy cow, I had a glass splinter.
I have been very careful since, thinking of what else I could break? So far, knock on wood, so good. Speaking of wood, I forgot to mention the wood splinter I picked up on my foot while on my deck earlier this week.
Fire Alarm in the middle of the night
After standing for over 4 ours to watch a great college baseball game, I was tired. I had spent a lot of the day out in the sun watching South Carolina beat Clemson in the NCAA regionals, that sun will tire you out. So after hitting the sack around midnight, I fell right into a deep sleep.
Beep, beep, beep… or something like that, it could have been a car alarm but it wasn’t coming from the outside parking lot. I was in my daughter’s apartment, and the noise was coming from outside the front door down the hall.
I groggily opened the front door and saw it, the fire alarm was going off. I didn’t smell any smoke and saw a note on the door across the hall saying that they were alright and were out to dinner! At 2:30am in the morning???
Well, I realized that someone had pulled the fire alarm and that there was no fire, so I shuffled back to bed.
Beep, beep, beep,….so much for trying to fall back to sleep. After trying and giving up, I decided to get up and call the apartment’s maintenance line. After leaving a message, I tried one last time to fall back asleep. Now, it was around 3:30 am and I decided to get up and clean up around the apartment some. What else can you do at 3:30am? Oh, I guess you could call 911. So I grabbed the phone, stepped outside into the noise, and dialed. As I was describing my emergency, I ran into the maintenance lady who had just started her job last week. She told me that she had been trying to find the right key to turn off the alarm; but none of her keys, so far, fit!
Well, I hung up with 911 and knew the problem would be solved soon. After going back inside and trying to lie down again I patiently waited. It took about another ½ hour and finally…nothing. The beeping stopped around 4am.
I was able to fall back asleep and get a good nights sleep, or should I say “day’s” sleep. I did manage to get up just in time for lunch!
Grilling with my new Kamado grill
It’s been a few weeks, but I have been able to use my grill a few times. I slow cooked some ribs; but for my first attempt, I wanted to sear some steaks with high heat that my old charcoal grill could never get to.
The Kamado grill is made of clay and will hold the heat. I built the charcoal fire and got the grill hot, up to over 500 degrees. The steak turned out great. But the real cool, or should I say hot, thing about the grill?
After closing the vents and killing the fire, the grill kept its heat! It was reading about 275 well over an hour and half after eating the steak. This grill keeps it heat!
However, I now feel like the next time I fire up the grill, I have to have two meals; one to cook for now and another meal to cook while the grill is “cooling” down.
Kamado Grill
My grill is smokin’. It does look pretty cool, but I mean the way it can cook. I have needed a new grill to replace my 20 year old Weber kettle. I loved my Weber; after all they are from my home town.
For the last couple of years I planned to buy a new Weber, but I have been intrigued by a Kamado type grill. A Kamado grill is a clay covered grill. It can grill but also act as an oven as the clay holds heat very well. This way you could bake in it; or if you keep the temperature controlled to a low burn, you can smoke food for hours.
These grills are heavy, the one I got when assembled all together, weighs about 200 pounds. (not very portable!)
These grills aren’t cheap, but I saw one at the local Costco and after careful thought, I said, goodbye Weber. Once I got help to put the big box into the car I had to get the grill home.
I was able to use a couple pieces of wood to slide the box out of the rear tailgate. So now I had the grill but I still would need to unpack it and assemble it before I could cook on it.
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