Scattered Thoughts . . .

I had previously written about sending one of my old camera bodies in for service.  I sent it to the west coast to have the sensor converted from seeing and capturing images in visible light to only seeing and imaging in infrared light.   There are different levels of infrared conversions that can be done but I chose to have this camera body converted to see only light wavelengths above 830nm which is deeper into the infrared wavelengths.  These wavelengths make for very interesting, very crisp black and white images with a clarity you simply cannot attain in visible light.  Some things render the same in infrared light but many things a quite different with a very noticeable increase in clarity. Naturally, I couldn't wait for my old camera to arrive on my doorstep.  It arrived last night about two weeks earlier than I had expected, but still, it seemed like an eternity to me.  I think it spent more time traveling from and to the east coast during sh...

When we spent the day at Echo science and nature museum earlier in the week with little Miss Ellie, I naturally was reminded of our last visit to this museum.  Back in the summer of 2021, we brought Lukey and Kenzie there.  I don't think I ever shared any photos from that day so I guess sharing them late is better than not sharing them at all so here are a few from that day in 2021. If I remember correctly, we brought Lukey and Kenzie up to the Burlington waterfront two or three days in a row that summer.   The kids were able to do a local newscast in front of a green screen.  They had a few choices of backgrounds for this newscast.  We were able to email the videos they created to ourselves but the video quality was exceptionally poor.  If I remember correctly, the sound quality was so poor that it was mostly just noise.  The kids had fun creating their own news reports though... The day before we went to this museum with Lukey and Kenzie, we wen...

O ur furnace was fixed this afternoon and it is now heating the house again so that is very good news. There is one more part he wants to replace...  just a small contact cap that goes in the ignition transformer... but he didn't have one on his truck.  He is off tomorrow but said he will stop by in the morning to install a new contact cap.  I don't really know the name of this part but it is an electrical contact point in the shape of a small cap so I'm calling it a contact cap here.   This older corroded contact cap is giving us inaccurate resistance readings.  These readings give a reading in ohms indicating the brightness of the flame.  The lower the resistance, the brighter the flame.  He adjusted the fuel pump to get the best resistance numbers possible but he's thinking the numbers will be even lower with a contact cap that is in better condition.  This is important because the ignition control box will shut down the furnace if these r...

I figured I would add a short health update here this evening.   I'm still waiting on some of the results from the bone marrow biopsy to come back but I think most of the results have come back at this point.  One pathology report is actually hidden from me and has been hidden from me for the past week which likely means there is something in that particular report that needs to be discussed (ie, not the best of news).  I meet with my oncologist again in three weeks, I think...  maybe in two weeks.  For some reason, the 18th of April is standing out in my mind though so it is probably in three weeks.  Naturally, until I meet with my oncologist, I will have no definitive answers.  Actually, I still may not get any definitive answers when I meet with her since we're (well, really our health professionals) still learning about this crappy illness.   That being said, there are some concerning test results that have come back since my biopsy....

I only got about two hours of sleep last night due to furnace problems and this furnace nonsense is seriously affecting my health.  Our furnace is still not working as it should.   I nursed it all night long last night to keep the house above 60 degrees.  Then it failed to ignite again this morning, twice.  I tried bleeding the line but that produced no air.  While bleeding, it did ignite, again.  It then failed to ignite again on the next cycle...  and again...  so, sometimes it ignites, sometimes it doesn't...  sometimes it loses ignition in mid-cycle, sometimes it doesn't.   In the meantime, we've called the fuel company and they are sending someone as soon as possible at no charge.  No charge for this service helps alleviate some of the pain of this ongoing problem but this is still frustrating and nerve-racking.  My health is still quite poor so any little thing seems to trigger significant health issues setting...

W e celebrated two birthdays yesterday.  Sheila and Ellie share the same birthday so Sheila took the day off from work so we could celebrate together.   Ellie didn't know that we would be spending her birthday with her so Sheila, Will (Pop) and I surprised Ellie by showing up at Echo science and nature museum on the Burlington waterfront.  Whitney simply told Ellie that they were going on a birthday adventure.  When Ellie and Whitney walked into the museum, Ellie immediately saw us in the lobby and greeted us with a big smile on her face.   Gee had previously purchased a "5th Birthday" tiara and a sash and it was gift-wrapped for Ellie to open when she arrived at the museum.  Before we left the lobby, Ellie had opened this first gift and put on her tiara and sash.  Everywhere we went, people wished Ellie a happy birthday and commented on her tiara! In this next photo, you can see that Ellie was pleasantly surprised by finding us waiting for h...