Another week that flew by so fast………………………………….

As always, first the chronology:

9/27/20 – Sunday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine.  Downstairs to do the blog.  Up and cleaned up then lunch.  Helped Kathy with some computer issues then out on the motorcycle to the weekly afternoon get together at Gary’s.  Took the long way home.  My turn to take out the garbage so picked it all up.  Then dinner.  Took the garbage to the end of the driveway.  Back and computer updates.  Chores.  Bed, Big Bang on DVD and sleep.

9/28/20 – Monday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine.  Kathy was out to help Julie with some things for the day.  I got cleaned up and went out to Kroger to get my flu shot.  Then over to the Dixie Highway for lunch at Hooter’s.  Then up to one of my watering holes for a few hours.  Home and put things away.  Kathy came home and we had dinner.  Chatted with the guys on 2 meters.  Chores, Bed, Big Bang on DVD and sleep.

9/29/20 – Tuesday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine.  Spent the day working on Gary’s project.  Making good headway but things are going slower than anticipated.  Kathy came home and we had another great dinner.  Chatted with the guys on 2 meters.  Spent most of the evening setting up a new laptop for the grand kids.  Then bed, Big Bang and sleep.

9/30/20 – Wednesday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine.  Spent the day working on Gary’s project.  Again, making good progress.  Had a cable outage that took down internet and landline telephone.  Came up on it’s own but online support insisted on sending a tech.  Tech was extremely knowledgeable.  He identified a problem in levels.  He found the issue and resolved it very quickly.  I’m getting faster throughput then I’ve ever had. Did burgers and dogs on the grill for dinner.  Chatted with the guys on 2 meters.  Chores around the house.  Bed, Big Bang and sleep.

10/1/20 – Thursday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine.  Kathy was out and up to Persimmon Ridge to watch the grand kids.  I spent the day work on Gary’s project with fantastic progress.  Kathy came home and we had frozen pizza for dinner.  Chatted with the guys on 2 meters.  Chores, bed, Big Bang and sleep.

10/2/20 – Friday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine.  Kathy announced to me at breakfast that her Dyson stick vacuum stopped working.  So, I spent the morning making phone calls, searching the web and taking it apart.  Concluded that the motor assembly was bad and since it was out of warranty I had to find a refurbished unit for $70 and ordered it.  Much cheaper than another $200+ for a new one.  Had lunch than downstairs to finish up Gary’s project.  Did some testing and all looks good.  Kathy helped lable it.  Need to update the schematic then it’s done.  Had Moby Dick seafood for dinner.  Chatted with the guys on 2 meters.  Dessert, chores, bed, TV and sleep.

10/3/20 – Saturday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine.  Finished up some details on the schematic for Gary’s project.  Started getting up to speed on my garage door project.  Nothing was working correctly.  Then Kathy came down to clean and a bunch of phone calls, Too much distraction so I gave up for today.  Had dinner, chatted with the guys on 2 meters.  Had dessert, some chores, bed, computer work, TV and sleep.

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Now the specifics:

Welcome to October. Even with all the COVID shit, this year is flying. Soon we will turn the clocks back, then Christmas and then a new year. Let’s pray it’s much better than this one. Of course we learned a lot about other people and more importantly ourselves. Even if things return to what we knew as normal, I don’t think they will ever be the same. At least I would hope everyone would enjoy the more trivial things in life to a greater degree.

Apparently I have been being good lately. The wife has served me some great meals this week. This is just an example of one of them. Who could ask for more?

Gary’s project is done. Here are the pictures I promised.

Saturday morning I did some minor updates to the schematic and will deliver the product to Gary this afternoon. I’m sure this will have a continuing saga but this part is done.

Got my flu shot this Monday with no side effects. Two more shots to go. I was planning on getting my second shingles shot this Monday but I have election officer training on Tuesday. Perhaps I’ll hold off till next week. Then I need to get a pneumonia shot and I’ll be good for the year.

I was totally wrong about the water holes being closed. Apparently the owners of the one I used to stop at used this COVID thing as an excuse to close the one I use to frequent. I have no idea why but I was online looking around and I noticed the times were changed on the opening and closing of one of his places so I called and sure enough a person answered the phone and said they were open. Needless to say I had to check it out. Since Kathy was helping Julie on Monday I was on my own. So after getting the flu shot I went over to the other side of Jefferson County and after a stop at Hooter’s I went on up. They had a waiver notice outside that essential said they were not following any rules and therefore I was at greater risk of being exposed to COVID-19 if I entered. Needless to say I went in anyway. No masks, no social distancing. Just the normal everyday happenings at one of my watering holes. I’m not sure how they legally get away with it but they apparently are OK. No one was upset about things.

I stumbled across some DVDs this past week. It seems I have several Big Bang seasons on DVD. So, now if they don’t have it on TBS I can always load a DVD and watch till I go to sleep. I’ll tell you if this is a good or bad thing next week.

We continue to setup laptops for the grand children. I think we are all good now. It is a challenge for someone that is used to opening things up to safely browse the dark web and go to sites that other’s might find adult only in it’s theme. Now I’m doing the opposite and making sure things are locked down so they can’t buy things online, start chats with shady characters or otherwise get in trouble. It’s an interesting challenge.

Had an interesting cable outage this week. Internet and phone modems both went down. I recycled powered then called the online support to report the outage. We took a power hit around the same time the modems went offline so I was convinced someone had an altercation with a car versus pole somewhere. As I was chatting with the online guy the service came back. But the guy on the phone said he didn’t like the readings he was getting from the modems and wanted to send a tech to the house. I was reluctant but agreed when he said he could be here the same day. The guy showed up. Typical Kentuckian fellow. No social skills, disheveled and missing most of his teeth. He first impressed me when he asked me what was going on. I learned a long time ago that it was always good to ask that question. I explained and showed him the printouts from my cable modem. He said he understood and would look around. I watch for awhile and he first looked at the signal level outside the house. He said it was down. He went to the pole to measure it off the line and when he disconnected the cable from the grounding block the insides came out with the cable. It’s not suppose to do that. He replaced that and put new connectors on the cables. Went to the house and did the same thing. Came inside and measured the signal and was happy with things. Since his visit I have had better throughput than I ever had on my cable. Moral of the story, don’t make assumptions.

Last but not least was the Dyson Vacuum cleaner saga. Kathy said it stopped working so I confirmed that and then started looking at the trouble. I got on the Dyson website and followed their directions and surprisingly it told me the trouble could not be resolved online and I should call technical support. I called and they told me it was the motor assembly and since it was purchased in 2015 the warranty was up in 2017. So, got online to find a motor assembly and found one refurbished and delivered for $70. Still much cheaper than buying a new one at $200+. So that is ordered and should be here by the end of the week. I’ll tell you next week if that fixed the problem.

OK, that’s it for this week. As always, hope this finds everyone well and safe. Stay that way. Blog at you again next week.