Scattered Thoughts . . .

In my zeal to stay ahead of the grandkids' education so I am able to continue to converse with them about anything they may care to share or question, I am constantly trying to stay on top of my own education. Fortunately, I enjoy research and educating myself so I do this everyday anyway.  I spent a lot of time during my primary and secondary education using microscopes for a wide variety of subjects. Even my college engineering education required the use of microscopes on occasion. For my last year of college, I was also a student teacher teaching various aspects of civil engineering to underclassmen. At times, even this required some microscope use. I also used microscopes in my physics classes at the Merchant Marine Academy. As if all of that wasn't enough microscope use, I've had my own microscope since around sixth grade. Now, many decades later, I like watching the grandkids' interests and knowledge evolve so I'm constantly trying to introduce them to new

I haven't written anything here in quite some time. Well...  quite some time for me. Unfortunately, I'm still struggling with getting my health back to a stable place and I've been feeling so miserable that finding the right words and staying focused on what I am attempting to write is difficult. Staying on topic and staying focused on any task is almost impossible but I'm also having difficulty writing in a positive way so I've actually been avoiding writing here. You'll see what I mean as you continue reading this blog entry...  We went up to Stowe to meet up with some friends almost three weeks ago... I can't believe that was almost three weeks ago. It seems like last weekend! We had a great time and it was really  nice getting out of the house for a change but I felt quite lousy within an hour of being out. My health only worsened over the next few hours during dinner... pain, nausea and overwhelming fatigue... and now, even though I thought I was fin

I haven't been writing much about my health or Sheila's health lately as my health recovers from an all-time low over the past two months. I simply haven't had the energy to write much. Actually, we haven't really done much of anything in the past two months because of this significantly poor health. We have, however, been continuing with our medical care and appointments and I'm beginning to feel more like myself in recent days so I figured I should write a little bit about our latest health updates.  A week or two ago, Sheila had a followup appointment with her Radiation Oncologist so we found ourselves up in Burlington at the hospital again. Thankfully, that appointment was uneventful, even pleasant! The large area of Sheila's chest where she had endured radiation treatment has healed nicely over the past 11 months. Needless to say, we left the hospital feeling pretty good about having Radiation Oncology behind us... well... for now, anyway. Sheila t

I've had my best camera for approximately four years... wow, has it been four years already? The first summer that I used this camera, my sunblock ruined my LCD screen on the back of the camera. My nose is always in contact with the LCD screen whenever I use my viewfinder so it was impossible to avoid getting sunblock on my camera.  Over time, this completely ruined my LCD screen on this particular camera and, after years of sunblock getting on the LCD screen, it has been getting difficult to see detail on my LCD screen. I was at a point where I needed to address this issue. I've been toying with the idea of sending this camera body in for repair but I haven't wanted to wait the usual two to six weeks for the camera to be back in my hands. I have another camera body with a slightly smaller sensor but this camera body is my overall favorite because of its large sensor. I just couldn't send it in for repair while it was still in working condition. I recently found

Little by little, we're adding more to our Alexa-enabled home automation.  I had written previously about purchasing and installing an Ecobee4 Smart Thermostat. This was a project that required some research because our heating system and furnace were not compatible with these new Smart Thermostats. I figured out a way to make it all work and it only required some rewiring and a little bit of adaptation to our system. The most difficult part of that project was that I needed to learn far more than I wanted about heating systems and our particular old furnace.  This new thermostat is Alexa-enabled (Amazon's voice activated assistant) which means it can be controlled by voice as well as be controlled remotely with our cellphones, tablets or a computer. This allows us to monitor the temperatures in the house from anywhere while we are out of town. Also, since this particular Smart Thermostat is Alexa-enabled, we knew that installing this particular thermostat would open the

Way back in 1784 through 1789, when Thomas Jefferson was our US Ambassador assigned to France, he devised a decoder wheel to use for encrypting and decrypting letters sent between the US and his office in France. Being able to encrypt letters being sent between Thomas Jefferson and the US President became an urgent necessity because the European Postmasters opened and read all diplomatic letters passing through their command.  When I was a child, we would sometimes play a "Da Vinci Code" type of scavenger hunt game that consisted of written clues leading us to the following clue which eventually leads to the prize or solving the mystery. This was definitely an educational game and sometimes required some research in order to figure out various clues. I certainly enjoyed this game and have been thinking about sharing this game with the grandchildren as they get older. The grandchildren are now beginning to read so I've been thinking about this game again and wonderi

This past weekend, Sheila and I headed down to Rutland for a small train show. We've been attending this show since the first show seven years ago. Each September, we find it is a nice excuse for a relatively short day trip.  It was nice to get out of town for a short while after weeks of significant health problems for me. Sheila and I seem to take turns with poor health. This past month was my turn, apparently, so it was nice to get out of town if even for a short day trip.   The weather was quite nice although we did encounter a few sprinkles on the way down to Rutland. The autumn colors are barely visible in our neck of the woods and not yet all that crisp anywhere nearby but we did encounter some color once we approached Killington right outside of Rutland.  Driving through the northeast is always nice this time of year... the air is cooler and the landscape is in a stage of transition with colors beginning to uniquely enhance the appearance of each type of tree.  W

I've been trying to catch up with the many tasks on my to-do list as the season changes toward winter. One of the things I have been focused on in recent is our furnace since winter is fast approaching.  I already did some annual cleaning of the furnace... checked and cleaned electrical contacts inside the ignition... and then turned my attention toward our thermostat. Our thermostat has been a little bit of a frustration for quite some time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. We replace batteries regularly and have to clean contacts inside this old programmable thermostat approximately twice each season.  Programming that old thermostat is a pain in the butt with tiny switches on the circuit board and a very clumsy interface. Usually, we just avoid changing the programming because it is such a pain in the butt and, instead, just make do with the main programming. Whenever we need a change, we simply manually change the temperature and use the hold button which de

I've spent the past 18 days struggling with chronic and serious health issues related to a failed attempt at a colonoscopy. It has been a rough few weeks and a few weeks of nothingness... just trying to get through one moment to the next.  After constant and consistent extra medications, I am finally beginning to feel more like myself again. I'm not feeling "good"... I am not anywhere near what is considered "normal" for me... but I am feeling decent enough to safely attempt a few small chores around the house. I even started back on a very light version of my daily physical therapy for my spinal injuries (which is much needed!).   Needless to say, after all this time of nothingness, there is a lot to be done around here because everything, other than my health, has been ignored and neglected.  I did some preventive maintenance on my furnace... then I had to get the thermostat in working order again. The heat kicked on after this little bit of wor

This past weekend, we went to a local park to watch Lukey and Kenzie play in a soccer game. Fortunately for all of us, they are both on the same team which makes scheduling a lot easier! It was a windy and cold morning but we all came prepared for the weather. Fortunately, the heat and humidity that we had for months has finally left the area but this particular morning was a bit chilly by comparison. In the first half, Lukey and Kenzie's team found themselves down 3-0 but they seemed to motivate themselves in the second half and scored three goals. In the end, t hey lost by only a single goal but Lukey scored a goal in the second half. Kenzie was injured early in the second half but she is fine. They both played a great game! Here is a short video of warm-ups...