mouse

Last week I tried to take the Honda Pilot out for some exercise. Much to my horror it wouldn't start. Dead battery. I charged it overnight; it's fine now. Yesterday I took it out for some more exercise. I was driving down the road, minding my own business, when a mouse crawls out from down under the windshield wiper. On the pilot that a large black hole sort of place, full of dead leaves and the like. Anyway, mouse looks very unhappy about being out in the open at 40 mph, so it crawls back under. When I get home, I throw some moth balls under there. They make good mouse repellent too. This is outside the passenger compartment, outside the firewall, so I don't think the car is infested. That happened once before and daughter M and I took all the interior apart and stuffed it with moth balls. The car reeked of naphthalene for a while, but I guess it all sublimed away. It's refreshed.

Yesterday I tried to download my financials to my Quicken. it sits there for an hour saying it's downloading, but not. Hmm. Sounds bad. I loaded Quicken onto my laptop, then loaded the data file to a thumb drive and opened it on the laptop. Works fine, downloads nicely and all. I guess I'm gong to have to uninstall Quicken from the desktop and reinstall it.

I have to use a thumb drive because I can't get the laptop and desktop to talk to each other, although they are both on the same LAN. I suspect firewall issues, but I checked everything I know and can't find everything.

No bail-out yet, although I think there will be one this week. They need to feed their political dogs first. Looks like a lot of finger-pointing going on this AM. This would be a real good time to buy real estate if one had a bunch of cash laying around.

I need to go see Dr D in a few minutes. My toe is much better. And Thursday is the high spot of the week, the chemo treatment.

mile

I walked a whole mile yesterday! Yes, indeed, 1/26th of a marathon. I got my wrist mounted GPS out and went a half mile and then back. Sure enough- 1.04 miles on the clock. My legs were really tired at the end, like they used to get after a 10 mile run or something. I had a dream the other night about walking- then I broke into a run! Not a fast run, but a slow jog. It really felt good, in a kinda dreamy way.

Funny, I feel really good about being able to walk a mile. After all the many miles I used to run, you'd think a mile would be nothing. I guess it's like the dog who could sing- it's not that he could sing really well, but that he could sing at all. So I guess that's how I feel- it's remarkable that I can walk at all. In fact, when you think about it, it's remarkable that I'm alive at all. Actually, I prefer not to think about it- too depressing. One day at a time!

Looks like Kyle went further east than the original forecast, up the Bay of Fundy. I guess the Northern Front survived and is quiet.

I had some more of the great beef from Wal-Mart last evening. It actually is packed by Cargill, a big name in feed, fertilizer, beef, etc. Big Midwestern company, what they call an agribusiness. Anyway I had 3/4 of a pound of chopped sirloin, mixed with chopped onion and Worcestershire, then formed into a big patty and grilled. I put a few slices of Provolone on it right at the end, long enough for it to melt, and then guacamole and salsa on it to eat. Yum!

Looks like the financial crisis is over for now. Now the question is "What's next?" IMHO, Obama looked statesman-like while McCain just ran around making a fool of himself. I personally dislike a bail-out; it violates my liberal Republican principles. I think people who make bad deals should pay the penalty, whatever it is. That includes people who take out mortgages they can't afford with no down payment, as well as the people who sold those mortgages. What were they thinking?

DIRECTV

One of my HDTV receivers has been kinda fluky. It worked fine most of the time, but occasionally would just give me a message that I had a "wrong card". I'd call customer service and fight my way through the automated voice system until I get a real person, who would tell me to take out the card and reinstall, reboot, etc, etc. None of that would work. Finally they would do something on their end and it would work again. This happened about 6 times since it was installed in June, with me getting less patient with them each time. Finally they agreed to send a tech and change the receiver. That was scheduled to be today between 8 and noon. Gal shows up at 7:45 this morning, just as my gross eggs were ready to eat. She lives in Rote and gave herself extra time since she knows the address is not very specific. Very nice person, very helpful, and did a fine job. I ate breakfast in my office while she worked. So now it should be fine. She also gave me the number of the local office, where she works, and said they would usually be here the next day if I have a problem. Sounds good!

Hurricane Kyle heading to Maine! The name sorta fits, you must admit. Looks like it'll come ashore right about Eastport, on the Maine-New Brunswick border.

Walk yesterday was quite successful. I'll keep doing it for a while. I can adjust clothing to keep myself warm, which I can't do in the pool without a wet suit or something. Dog liked the walk too, being a dog and all.

Newman

They just announced on CNN that Paul Newman died of cancer. My favorite actor, gone at 83. So may great films, from "Cool Hand Luke" through "Butch Cassidy" and "The Sting" to "Nobody's Fool".

"What we have here is a failure to communicate!" and then the prison warden blows him away in "Cool Hand Luke".

The scene in "Nobody's Fool" where Melanie Griffith flashes him is great too- he says a lot with making a sound.

And of course he raced sports cars as a hobby. What a hobby! Later he just owned the team, but he actually raced at a fairly elderly age. How cool is that?

rain

Rain is happening here in the EF today. We do get a rumble of thunder once in a while too, but it's not a serious electrical storm. It was dark at 7 though- first time this season I've needed lights to get dressed. A sure sign of fall.

Looks like the Northern Front is about to get clobbered with rain and wind. Keep your powder dry, you guys!

I went swimming yesterday. I only did 2 laps again, and I was cold, so I beat it into the hot showers. The gal at the front desk told me they are trying to keep it between 84 and 86, but it was down to 82. That sounds a lot warmer than it felt. I'm beginning to wonder how they measure the temp. I've seen the lifeguards dip a thermometer in at the edge, but the pool is very often stratified; i.e. warm on top and cold under the surface. Hey, warm water rises, cold water sinks. I think the only mixing it gets is the people moving the water when they swim. I don't know where the pick up for the heater is, nor where the discharge back into the pool. It needs to be discharging warm water into the bottom, obviously.

Maybe I can't swim, at least until the get their act together. Maybe I should try walking. I started swimming after my orthopedist told me to minimize impact on the bad knee, but that was a hundred pounds ago. Less impact now, which may be the only good side of the battle with the gorilla. I can ride bike too, which is low impact. I'm really weak, and I don't like it one bit!

quiet

All quiet on the Western Front. Funny to think we're about to become the Western Front in PA! With one offspring in New Hamster and the other two in down-east Maine, that's what will happen. Anyway, it's quiet here today. I'm in the third week of the chemo cycle, and at my best. I do feel pretty good. I have a little discomfort in the left lung, but nothing serious. Thinking about trying the Y again today.

Does anyone else think McCain is self-destroying himself? I think the Palin thing was a big pander- I thought better of him. He should have stood his ground and held out for Leiberman or Tom Ridge. Ridge was a governor too, in PA which is a battleground state. Only trouble was he's pro choice, as are most Americans, who are moderates, but not the right wing lug nuts who think Palin walks on water. And now McCain is just making a fool of himself over the latest financial crisis and the bail-out. Obama, on the other hand, is making all the right noises at the right times, in my view.

I studied economics in the MBA program, and was pretty much up on what was going on, but they are starting to confuse me. Only think I can figure, after reading an explanation in The Economist, is the value of the assets the companies hold are declining, since they are mortgages in real estate. And of course when a companies assets decline past the value of their liabilities, they are technically bankrupt.

Yesterday when the dog and I went down for the paper at 7, the crows across the street in the Mark's pasture were carrying on, cawing and flying around. So we stopped and watched, and sure enough a big hawk flew out from behind the trees. No, I don't know if it was a red tail or not, but the red tail the most common hawk around here. I guess the crows took exception to the hawk hanging around. Don't think they are nesting at this time of year.

I see Rep. Barney Frank is getting some air time about the financial bail-out. Nice to see him not being castigated because he's gay. He's just another politician, and you can agree or disagree with him. Sometimes I think society is actually making progress. As Queen Victoria is said to have said, "I don't care what they do, as long as they don't do it in the streets and scare the horses." Amen, Vikky. Or should that be Queeny?

I made a killer batch of chili for dinner last evening. I've discovered that Wal-Mart, of all places, carries meat by grade. They have ground chuck, sirloin and round. Nobody else I've found has that; they all have just "beef" with no comment on the specific source. The Wal-Mart sirloin is particularly good- good taste, better, IMHO, than the generic "beef". it's also labeled as to ft content- 10% in this case. Anyway the chili- I browned the beef with onion and garlic in olive oil, added frozen green peppers and a few pieces of Jalapeno, cooked it down, and added a can of diced tomatoes. Cooked down a little and ate with some grated cheese and sour cream on top. Yum!

memory

I think I'm losing my memory, but I forget. Yeah, yeah, there are a million "losing your memory" jokes out there. But I seriously have holes in mine. What's with that?

Incident 1: I made bookcases a few years ago; son in Bangor has one. I was admiring it when I noticed there is a block on each side holding the top onto the side. Pretty clever, screwed and glued, nice and stable, adds strength. Picture the block attached to the side and the top attached to the block. But I have no memory of installing it! How could I forget a significant detail on something I built?

Incident 2: I had my pistol locked in a lock box in my closet. There were two keys to the locks; I had one. My memory was that I gave wife the other, but when I asked her for it, since I will be using the new cabinet instead, she claimed she never saw it. I looked in the place where I keep spare keys and there it was. OK, I have it, and that's good, but why does my memory continue to tell me I gave it to the wife?

Incident 3: I kept a 20 gauge shotgun in my closet. I thought it was loaded, but yesterday when I took it out to clean it and put it in the new cabinet, it's empty. My memory is that I kept it loaded in case of burglars or whatever, but there are no shells in it. How did I unload it and why put it back in the bedroom closet instead of in the hall closet in it's case with the other empty long guns and have no memory of doing so?

The bookcase was built before the cancer surgery, where I got a lot of drugs, so I can blame the drugs. The key could have been that I intended to give the wife the key, and then brain decided I did so, even though I didn't. But the gun throws me for a loop. I was feeling secure since I had a loaded gun handy, and it turns out it wasn't loaded. How did it get unloaded without me remembering doing so?