A long day

Swirly's been under the weather, up one day, down the next, and after the past weekend Pat and I wanted to take her right away this morning to our usual vet. Trouble was, they said they were completely booked for the day.

We went to one of the 24-hour vets they recommended, and within minutes of getting there, Swirly was checked over and triaged, and we all sat down to wait our turn. Then a person arrived whose dog was having seizures. Then a couple walked in with an old dog with difficulty breathing.

It took longer than anyone would have wanted, but staff members kept us informed throughout, so we never felt like saying "Remember us?" Eventually we and Swirly were taken back to an exam room, and after they took a closer look, they found one bladder stone stuck to her fur, and more still inside. Vital signs good, no damage to kidneys, but a UTI in progress.

She's staying overnight with an operation scheduled for tomorrow, and we should be able to pick her up before the end of the day. Jack and Jennie loaned us one of their dog enclosures on short notice, which will really help with our Good Queen's recovery. 

Kids these days

On Xitter, one discussion involved how Sandy Koufax would pitch in 2025, based on his Cy Young and NL MVP season of 1963.  One man opined that Koufax had dominated all right, but not against the kind of hitters who dominate today.  "Janitors," he called the old-timers.

Another poster weighed in with a list of so-called janitors, shown below.

To which list I thought, um...  the names are those of players who had been, or were rising stars, along with those whose prime was in 1963.  But I held my tongue.  

Probably the best action in that venue was no action.  But here, where Asian skimmers and scrapers are the most frequent visitors, I can speak more freely.  The poster knew the players, but plainly did not check their statistics.  No complaint with Mays, Aaron, Clemente and McCovey, but Ernie Banks batted .227, Frank Robinson had a down year (.259/.379/.442), and Brock, Schofield, Mazeroski, and 19-year-old rookie Staub all finished below the league average of .245/.306/.364, while 42-year-old Musial, in his final season, posted a .255 average.  Orlando Cepeda, Bill White, and Johnny Callison would have fit better on the list. And Pete Rose?  Rookie of the Year, but a couple of years away from perennial .300-hitter status.

1st of the year

At mid-day yesterday, I saw one chicory flower growing along Grange Road.  The first of many...

Thoughts while strolling

A mile and a quarter at a slightly faster pace than I set when walking around this neighborhood.  I saw two deer, many swallows swooping over the surface of the pond, and one large downed tree.  

High muddy water in the pond and the creek that feeds into it.

Another first

This morning in our back yard.  Looks like a kind of ladybug, but the back isn't smooth like wings.

So let's look around and try to learn something.  

Larva (left), adult (center), and pupa (right)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonia_axyridis

"Harmonia axyridis is a large lady beetle or ladybug species that is most commonly known as the harlequin, Asian, or multicoloured Asian lady beetle."

My Day

(1) caregiver (meds, prescriptions, appointments)

(2) TP volunteer image-link fixer

(3) info on cat-calming products

(4) make vanilla pudding?  make cinnamon buns?

(5) cranberry juice sweetener - how much / proportion?

(6) Dr ___, GI specialist - look up

(7) Take a walk and look for interesting images

Tiny and Tinier

 

Yellow wood sorrel flowers are no bigger than a dime, and the mite is larger than a grain of sand, but not that much larger.

 

There he goes again

No information, really?  Pig Latin was the first thing I thought of when I saw the name "Akshay".         

      

And another one

 

I took a walk around the neighborhood early this evening, and moments before I got back home, this fox hurried through a yard across the street.   A few steps later, I saw a cottontail at the corner of the house where the fox had briefly visited.  

First a coyote, now a fox in our neighborhood.  The arrival of new and hungry predators means that the area rabbits -- and the mother cat who has mooched off us since February -- will have to be still more cautious.  

An unexpected visitor

Just before 6:00 this afternoon, a coyote trotted through a neighbor's yard behind us.  First time I've seen one this close!

I was strolling in the park one day

A couple of brief stops along the way, first to watch a bluebird whose box I'd walked by, and then to admire a patch of Dame's rocket along the creek.  Interested today in the distance, not the time on task.

Automotive Geography

 Palisades drive.

Palisades park.

I ask you...

... if you get wings at a wing bar, then what do you get at an Asian bar?

Spring flowers

Seen along area roads today.

Philadelphia Fleabane.

Dame's Rocket.

I didn't bother

Things I saw but didn't photograph:  At the traffic light exiting a shopping center, across from the former world headquarters of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.   In the grass between the sidewalk and a chain link fence, two Canada geese were walking.  As I turned onto the road, I saw several goslings walking with them.  

I took a shopping list into a store, and in one aisle I found someone else's shopping list.  Both lists had been written on paper that bore the name of the same children's charity.  

At the end of the day

   

The worm/caterpillar on the left was dangling at eye level over the sidewalk from an oak tree on the next door neighbor's property.  Between its size and its constant motion, I knew it would take a miracle to get a good focused image, and after four blurry tries, I settled for the one you see above.  What it is doesn't feel as useful to remember as just recording that it was there, and that I almost walked into it.

And now, what you've no doubt been waiting for:  Google Lens guessed that the thing in the photo above right is possibly an x-ray of a tibia, or else an image of paint peeling from a Ford F-150.  Guess I'll have to try something else.

Later:  Blue-tailed damselfly?  OK, I can accept that.

Ancora Imparo:  (1) learned that the WIN/Shift/S combination that does screen grabs also records videos, the way Dropbox used to do.  Used it to save a clip from a post on Xitter that showed a dog jumping ropes being twirled by a human and two other dogs.  (2) learned that FastStone accesses the latitude and longitude recorded on pictures taken with my Samsung Galaxy, and it can place them on a screen in Google Maps (Windows 11).  The grab below shows where I saw the insect on the right above.

Lots of unnecessary eating today, so I needed a walk late this afternoon.  The timeline on Google Maps (Android) isn't as detailed as it used to be, so when it told me just now that I'd only walked half a mile, I had my doubts.  (There should be an app for that.  A free one would be best for my budget.)

EDIT:  Did some searching and eventually settled on MapMyWalk.  Yesterday's walks totaled a bit over a mile and a half.  

Extra pep

Pretty good at staying focused today.  Besides the longer walk, I took an hour for practice at home and filled it with meaningful action.  No naps, and just one Pepsi in the category of junk food.  Good cereal for breakfast, a ham sandwich for lunch, and... and... no memory of what I ate at 5:00.  I think it may have involved whole milk yogurt from Whole Foods.

I wish this photo had been better, but at least I got a picture. There were a couple dozen rabbits in the yards I passed during my walk, including this one, who was stripping a young plant of the highest leaves it could reach.  

Google Maps and my timeline say I walked a mile and a half this evening.  Must have had some extra energy and motivation.  

  

This was in the field that last year grew soybeans.  Nothing planted this year, from the looks of it.  Nature is taking its course, with unpredictable results, like this large, brightly colored volunteer.  (Yes, yes, it's out standing in its field.)  Google Lens made a guess, but an unlikely one; I doubt that it's a plant that their AI says is native to Australia.  

Otherwise, I did some reading for pleasure, spent a minimum of time on Xitter, and burned a CD for PG with music I believe she'll enjoy.

Forget it

The internet is forever.  Even irrelevant little online journals like this.

Which is why I'm giving no details of a meeting PG and I had this afternoon.  That's the when, but nothing else.  Not the who, the what, the where, the why, and not even the how.  

Maybe 20 years ago I would have put it all down in black and white, and never mind the consequences.  At 68, I'm less adventurous. 

It was a totally mundane, yet stressful scene.  Anyway, it's over.  This, I can forget.

At least, I hope so.

Calls

Calls all day... along with the usual spam callers who wouldn't leave a message, there were calls from PG's dentist office, her sister-in-law, three calls from the pharmacy with status updates on a prescription, along with a call we made to one of her specialists to postpone a scheduled appointment due to a time conflict.  

In between, PG rested, which with prescription meds helped keep her pain level manageable.  We're waiting for test results from last week and when they are posted, we will see what options are available next.

My day

Pat's back has been bothering her a lot lately, and early this week our family doctor recommended some tests.  First, he gave her a prescription for an x-ray, and told her she could get that without an appointment at a nearby satellite office of the area's largest hospital system.  In addition, he told her that she should have a bone density scan, which could be done at the same office, but would require an appointment because there was more to it than just an x-ray.  

Back home, I set up the appointment for the scan and made a note of it.  But this morning, when I wanted to make sure of the date and time, I couldn't find it.  It wasn't in her email, not in my email, not in my Keep file, and not on the wall calendar in the kitchen.  

I found it soon after, but until then I was upset that I hadn't handled that important information properly.  Pat did her best to talk me down.  

When I remembered the information could be in Dropbox, I knew where to look for it, and calmed down.  I had printed the appointment from the hospital system's website to a PDF and filed the PDF in Dropbox.  At the time, I couldn't get the .ICS file to make an entry in the calendar program.  When I relocated it, right away I wrote the appointment info on the wall calendar and input it on the calendar program so it wouldn't happen again.    

This afternoon, I drove her to the satellite office for the walk-in x-ray.  The technician who called her name to come back to the x-ray room was friendly and outgoing, and I told her that we'd likely be back next Tuesday morning for the scan.  Then another woman approached and interrupted the technician, and momentarily I started getting hot at the interruption.  Fortunately, I kept my mouth shut, because the other woman was the manager, she had overheard me and had contacted the main office to change the 2nd appointment.  After the x-ray, Pat could go down the hall immediately to the room for her bone scan so we wouldn't have to make a second visit next week. 

Just nitpicking:  if she had first said "Excuse me, but I couldn't help overhearing... I'm the manager and..."  Otherwise, 10/10, no notes.  If the hospital doesn't do a follow-up, I'll have to email someone in charge.  I know that when I was working, it was always good to hear from a satisfied customer.  (And then I would  forward a copy of the message to the boss.)

Brown on brown

Handsome Kit is keeping Pat company on the sofa this morning.

Second sight?

Ken Tucker of Rolling Stone reviewed The Royal Scam in 1976.  

Steely Dan's next album, Aja, was indeed a pop killer.

Second chance

Last year about this time, I spied one white flower standing out in a fallow field of green.  

Yesterday evening, I returned to the area because from a distance, I could see...

...and then I got closer.

There's just one plant this year, but it's the same drooping star-of-Bethlehem that I spotted on April 21, 2024.  The location data in my phone confirms it's the same place this year.  The red 11 and blue 6 were last year's images, and the other 9 were from last night. 

     

Look out

 

Wildflower at sunset

Seen this evening in the same field that last summer held soybeans.  Henbit deadnettle is the tag Google gave it, and instead of linking to the usual "noxious weed" rundown, here's Blue Ridge Botanic with a much more complimentary description.  

Down it goes, too

Remember that red maple we planted on April 14?  Here's a good close look at it now.  Rabbits?  The missing parts were seemingly too tall for a rabbit to reach them.  But something nibbled them off.

Down it goes

At 8:00 this morning, work began on roof replacement of our next-door neighbor's house.  Good Cat Nora has her eyes on the workers as they strip away the 25-year-old shingles and roofing paper.

In bloom

For quite a few years, we've had a dogwood tree growing just at the near end of our driveway.  Like much of our landscaping, it just appeared one year and we let nature take its course.  

In 2019, we had landscapers work on the non-lawn portions of our yard, which we regretted.  Areas where they spread black mulch looked fine at first, but as the summer went along, the grass died alongside the mulched areas, as though the mulch had contained Roundup or some other powerful herbicide.  

A cherry tree declined to the point where only two limbs remained alive.  Next to the shed, a magnolia tree got sick and died.  The area containing the volunteer dogwood also suffered, but the tree remained alive, although several branches stopped producing leaves and were pruned last year.  This spring, it's looking better than it has since before the misbegotten mulching. 

A particularly good specimen

A wildflower at its peak before it goes to seed.   It's worth recording, I feel.

Outside looking in

Good Queen Swirly makes the acquaintance of the visiting neighbor cat from a respectful distance.  The little moocher was here to eat breakfast early this morning, again for a mid-morning feeding, and showed up late this afternoon to ask for another meal.
 

Strolling with a camera-phone

Walked around the development just before sunset today and saw a number of rabbits, including this one.  All of them were in the grass, except this cottontail.  

Our back yard

One wildflower and one freshly planted tree.

Let me see...

 "Rory McIlroy got a huge monkey off his back on Sunday afternoon, and he replaced it with a green jacket."  

Coincidence?

Although past champions Sergio Garcia and Mike Weir would need a miracle to make the cut, no doubt they were grateful for the opportunity to compete.

 

A Good Day

I baked a cinnamon streusel coffee cake early this afternoon.  Then, went to Costco for one or two things and came home with four or five.  (The eggs were $5.79, but that was for a dozen and a half; the Diamond Crystal salt was 37 cents a pound; the pint of Kirkland vanilla, as yet unaffected by the Trump tariffs, was $10; and the Kerry Gold butter and the Rao's marinara sauce both had sale prices that put them below those on supermarket shelves (less than $6 a pound for the former and less than $5 a quart jar for the latter).  

As mentioned above, the coffee cake was made with cinnamon, but our open container of Kirkland (again) cinnamon, although it contained enough for the cake, was at a low level that made it difficult to reach with a measuring spoon.  The answer was readily at hand, though.  

Both PG and I save glass jars just for occasions like this.  There's a shelf in the pantry that holds a dozen or more jelly jars, home canning jars, and other glass containers, and from the stack I picked out one that had held Bonne Maman preserves.  

Maybe a visitor would wonder, but maybe not, if they understood that's how both of us were raised.  Our mothers and fathers had to quit school in their early teens and were thereafter blocked from high-paying jobs, which is why they insisted that their children get as much education as possible.  My mother said again and again that when you had an education, nobody could take it away from you.  

I got there in a roundabout way, which I can attribute to being the first in the family to go to college, but the inexperience that led me to take the scenic route on the road to a diploma also resulted in lasting memories of interesting detours.  That was back when a young person and average student could pay for college with federal grants without signing up for student loan debt.  Any advice I might give now based on that era is as out of date as cookbooks from the 19th Century.

Supper was homemade pizza, washed down with Pepsi, which I've otherwise given up to keep my blood sugar score out of triple digits.  It tasted terrific.  I'll be craving it for days to come.  

Rather than buy Pepsi in bulk, which would be a mighty temptation, I got two cold 20-ounce bottles at Wawa.  The price was $2.59 each, or two 20's for $4.00.  (Don't want to forget that I saw a caramel Lindt bar at Wawa and picked one up for PG.)

That's enough detail about the past day.  Time to go upstairs.

Spring in name only

Wildflowers by a stream, Ringoes, New Jersey, April 4.  Lesser celandine, Google Images claims.  As is customary with most wildflowers I consider attractive, it is considered invasive and is unwelcome in many states.  

I'm grateful to see any sign of spring these days, which have been either gray, damp, and chilly, or bright, dry, windy and cold.

Still at it

Just nothing particularly noteworthy these days.  I'll know it when I see it, and then I'll write about it.

Everything all at once

Early in the week, I ordered some everyday household stuff from Amazon, and on impulse I added a paperback to it.  Then I took a good look at my everyday black shoes and realized it was time to get a new pair.  I'd be curious to know when I bought my first two pair of SAS Time Out.  Wouldn't be surprised to learn it's been 10 years between buys.

Yesterday, part of the order from Amazon arrived early on an Amazon truck, with the rest coming later via UPS.  After that, the SAS shoes were delivered by FedEx.  Neighbors with an inclination toward minding someone else's business got an eyeful of delivery drivers carrying boxes to our front door.  

Next week:  Naming Names paperback arrives via USPS.  That's pretty much all of them, except for DHL.

Neighbor cat

This young lady cat has been visiting us when the weather cooperates.  I'd like to believe that her owners keep her indoors on rainy/snowy days.  But today was warm and mostly sunny, so this morning she stopped by to ask politely for a snack, which we provided.

Once around the neighborhood

Tomorrow, it's supposed to feel springlike, but today was another late-winter day with cold wind throughout.  Not as cold as it has been, granted, but when I decided to go for a walk after finishing off the last of a pint of Graeter's Black Raspberry, I layered up and was glad I did.

Just before the last right turn into the home stretch, I looked across the street and saw two rabbits in the yard of the house on the northwest corner.  Encouraging, as was hearing robins at two separate times during the walk.  

Also heard a favorite song right after walking in to the Macungie Weis (aka the Nice Weis) this afternoon.  PG looked and sounded much better than she has in the weeks since she came down with a virus.  It was a good day, pardon the expression.

Costco Wardrobe

After losing weight, my XL clothes are overly loose.  I picked up long-sleeved Woolrich t-shirts at Costco in size L, which are heavier than the average and which fit well.  When I put them in the closet, I saw two pairs of casual pants and two sweatpants that I realized I'd also found on large flat display tables at the Costco down the street.  Functional good-quality clothing, that's what I'm after.  

Tell you the truth, that long winter underwear in one of those closet cubbies also came from there.  

Change of view

June 15, 2024

February 28, 2025

 

Don't ask...

A day in a hospital, a day visiting the TP cats, and then three days down with some kind of virus.  Still hacking, but appetite is coming back, as is energy.

Sunday morning, I woke up in a dark bedroom.  It was darker than usual because the power had gone out.  The electric company's website said the reason for the outage was unknown, but that it would be back online by 10:00 a.m., or eight hours later.  It was hard to get back to sleep, so my eyes were closed when it came back on at 2:35.  At that time, PG's iPad lit up, making the room bright enough to get through my closed eyelids.

There is this...

The headline read, "Coke’s $7 Billion Bet on Milk Hits Big, But Wall Street Wants More".  Turns out all that expensive Fairlife brand milk in the dairy section belongs to Coca-Cola, Inc.  

QUOTE:  "Fairlife filters its milk to boost protein, reduce sugar by half and eliminate lactose, while also, according to fans, being creamier."  

And this: "Despite being about three times the price of traditional milk, retail sales topped $1 billion in 2022."  I was at Wegmans today and can confirm that.  $2.42 for a half-gallon of whole milk, or $1.21 a quart, and the Fairlife on the shelf just above it was going for $3.30 a quart.  

But here's what got me:  "The US milk industry...has been facing declining demand for decades as kids aged out sooner and cereal’s popularity waned.  US per capita milk consumption has sunk nearly 30% since 2010."  Also during that time: "Since 2000, data analyzed by Beverage Digest, a trade publication, shows that the total amount of soft drinks consumed each year in the US has sunk by 37%."  

Well, my weight and blood sugar levels have forced me to cut way back on soda, so that last part is understandable, but I've been a fan of whole milk ever since grade school, when it came in half-pint cardboard containers and cost 2 cents.  Here it is, 60 years later, and I'm still drinking whole milk, putting it on my cereal and making homemade pudding with it.  For all I know, 2 cents in 1965 dollars is worth 30 cents a half-pint today.  (However, now the president wants to stop minting pennies, and I'm with him on that.)

Life goes on

A week and a half without anything to say.  Winter in these parts.  Late sunrise, early sunset.  Multiple weather systems passing through, one after another.  Snow thrower is in the garage, but isn't much good when the storm brings freezing rain.

The PC updates appear to have been successful, and all 13 DVDs of home videotape have been HandBraked into MP4 files.  Still need to document the activity on them.  After that, maybe offer a copy of certain footage to family members.  

Most of the time, though, it's retirement.  She and I shop, we go to doctors' appointments, we play games on our iPads and sometimes play games together on her iPad.  We appreciate each other's company.

I think I've got it now

What I had:

(C:) SAMSUNG 980 SSD 500GB      PCle 3.0x4, NVMe M.2 2280   10.21   7.22

(D:) ST1000DM010-2EP102 Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA HDD

(E:)  CD/DVD optical drive SATA

(F:) Crucial MX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD  9.2020

(S:) ADATA Swordfish 1TB 3D NAND PCIe Gen3x4 NVMe M.2 2280 Read  9.2020

(with S:) QNINE NVME PCIe Adapter, M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD M Key to PCI Express 3.0 x2 Expansion Card with Low Profile Bracket for PC Desktop

I proceeded to add a 2TB Crucial SATA Internal SSD, used Macrium to clone the existing F: drive (the main data drive) to it, then Disk Management to expand the volume to make the entire 2TB accessible.  Then I changed the drive letter so the 2TB is now the F: drive.  

The power cable in the 2.5" slot had two inputs, but not two data cables, so I ordered one.  That arrived today, and I installed it without any issues.  

What I have now:

(C:) SAMSUNG 980 SSD 500GB      PCle 3.0x4, NVMe M.2 2280   10.21   7.22

(D:) ST1000DM010-2EP102 Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA HDD

(E:)  CD/DVD optical drive SATA

(F:) Crucial MX500 2TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD  9.2020

(G:) Crucial MX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD  9.2020

Missing:

(S:) ADATA Swordfish 1TB 3D NAND PCIe Gen3x4 NVMe M.2 2280 Read  9.2020

What I learned:  on the motherboard there are four SATA ports.  If there are fewer than four SATA drives, the NVME PCIe adapter will allow a stick SSD to use one of the ports.  When I added the fourth SATA, there was no more room for the adapter.  

Now the D: drive will be an onboard backup for everything on F: except the photos, which will go on G:.  There will continue to be multiple external backups, one of which will remain offsite.

One source of info, from Reddit, and another one, this one from Dell, Quote: "It has 4 sata ports (one blue two black one white).  If you have an optional ODD, then there are three left for HDD/SSD.  If no ODD, then 4 HDD/SSD max.

"note the white sata port is reserved for optional odd, but there is nothing stopping you from giving up odd and using the port for hdd/ssd.  as far as mobo is concerned, it does not matter whether it is odd or ssd.

"its 2.5 bay can accommodate two 2.5 hdd/ssd"

One-man Geek Squad

Parts taken from our PCs.  The two at left came from a 2011 XPS in hopes that they might work with the current XPS.  The CPU cooler would likely have been fine if the X-shaped holder next to it would have fit in the motherboard.  The "hockey puck" CPU "cooler" at top center needed to be upgraded so I could Handbrake a bunch of DVD home video to MP4 format.  Bottom right is a sound card dated 2007 that I tried using, and after it failed, I never took the thing out, until now.  And if I ever need to re-install the empty 3.5" hard drive brace at top right, I'll be surprised.

The CPU cooler/fan arrived today, and with the prior research and due diligence, was installed without a hitch.  CPU temp went from 75C to the 50's at once, and now is comfortably hovering in the low 40's.

The 2TB SATA SSD arrived this morning, and after the CPU cooler/fan got installed, I used Macrium so it would mirror the soon-to-be-replaced 1TB SATA SSD.  Then used Disk Management to change the drive letter and replaced the 1TB drive with the 2TB drive.  Tomorrow a part will arrive so I can re-install the 1TB drive for other storage.  Also scheduled to arrive is a "be quiet!" brand 92MM fan to replace the 80MM fan presently in place.  

Is that enough upgrading?  Is that enough expense for now?