Cop Car's Beat

Odds & Ends - September 2021

Bag of Skin

T. Dawn Schrandt, PA-C (Physician Assistant - Certified)

On the 20th, Dawn did her annual visual scan of my bag of skin. This has been our ritual since 2004 when, on my first visit to her (sent by my primary care physician), she excised and cauterized a pencil-eraser-sized chunk from my upper lip. The biopsy showed it to contain a basil cell carcinoma. Each year, Dawn has taken it upon herself to reduce my mass by excising or freezing off chunks of skin. This time, she froze off several chunks of skin from quarter-sized down to pea-sized on face, hand, armpit, and torso, none of which warranted biopsy. Mostly, they itched or hurt on occasion - enough for me to want to be rid of them. Next exam will be on 9/26/2022. 

Exhuming an unused laptop computer

It proved difficult; but, of course, not impossible to revive Hunky Husband's laptop - unused since June 2018. Well...to be precise, he had picked up his emails on it once or twice in early 2019. What started me out on the quest was the desire to, as mentioned in Big accomplishments this week, to add his laptop to my Norton subscription. The exhumation proved to be a time-sponge. First, I had to wait for it to quit automatically downloading updates to Windows, which the computer started within microseconds of sensing that it had a connection to the internet.

It took about 30 minutes to get Norton re-installed, linked to my subscription, and working properly. All is good.

Finally, the real time-suck was getting the Windows 10 Version 20H2 to download and install properly. I recalled that it had taken me a few months to figure out how to get a successful install on this desktop computer; but, for the life of me, I couldn't recall how I had finally succeeded. I looked online for guidance. Found nothing useful. Before going to bed, last night, I scratched my head until I recalled that the problem solution for this machine involved my deleting some files. Which ones? Well...it had something to do with the automatic update trying to download files, but finding that some of those files were already downloaded.

Aha! I searched HH's laptop's hard drive, finally finding where downloaded files were stored. It took about an hour, but I deleted all of the files that had been downloaded on 9/26/2021. (No, I wasn't sitting contemplating my naval. The laptop is several years old, and slow...and there were bunches of files that required administrative OK to delete.) I then restarted the download and install process. All through the night, whenever I awoke, I visited HH's den to see how his laptop was doing. Each time it seemed to be chuckling right along. From the time I re-started the download and install of Windows 10 Version 20H2 sequence, it took another 12 hours to complete the installation. But it is done! It worked! I am happy!

COVID-19 Booster

Being of advanced years, HH and I now qualify for receiving booster COVID-19 shots. A few minutes ago, I checked (again!) our county's website to see if they were allowing appointments to be made. Yes, indeed. I made appointments for HH and me to get those shots on the morning of the 30th. The 29th had plenty of openings, but I decided to give them a day to work out the kinks in the system that is being restarted. For the past couple of months or so, all COVID-19 shots have been walk-in, rather than by appointment.

ADDITION OF 9/28/2021 - Machine Requirements

Windows 10 Version 20H2 System Requirements

If you are about to install Windows 10 on your PC, you might want to know if your device is capable of running the latest operating system from Redmond. Windows 10 version 20H2, which is released today, has the same requirements as its predecessor, version 2004.

 

Windows 10 Version 20H2 System Requirements

More Windows 10 version 20H2 resources:

Windows 10 Version 20H2 System Requirements

Windows 10 version 2004 will require a PC which fits the following specifications:

• • Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or SoC
  • RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit
  • Hard disk space: 32 GB for both 64-bit and 32-bit OS
  • Graphics card: DirectX 9 or later
  • Display resolution: 800 x 600, a minimum diagonal display size for the primary display of 7-inches or larger.

Notice the storage size requirement. For Windows 10 version 1809 and prior, it was 16 GB for 32-bit OS 20 GB for 64-bit OS. For Windows 10 version 1903, 1909 and 2004 the value is at least 32GB. This is related to the reserved storage feature.

Also, storage controllers used in devices that run Windows 10 for desktop editions must meet the following requirements:

• • Storage controllers must support booting using the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) and implement device paths as defined in EDD-3.
  • Storage host controllers and adapters must meet the requirements for the device protocol used and any requirements related to the device storage bus type.
  • Bus-attached controllers must implement the correct class/subclass code as specified in the PCI Codes and Assignments v1.6 specification.

The processor should meet the following requirements:

• • Compatible with the x86 or x64 instruction set.
  • Supports PAE, NX and SSE2.
  • Supports CMPXCHG16b, LAHF/SAHF, and PrefetchW for 64-bit OS installation

Tip: Consider getting an SSD/NVMe drive instead of a hard drive if you use Windows 10 daily. It will greatly improve your user experience. Also, check out the post The REAL System Requirements for Windows 10.

If one follows that last link, above, one learns the optimal system requirements:

...the optimal hardware configuration for Windows 10 looks at least as follows:

• • Processor: Intel 8th generation processors (Intel i3/i5/i7/i9-7x), Core M3-7xxx , Xeon E3-xxxx, and Xeon E5-xxxx processors, AMD 8th generation processors (A Series Ax-9xxx, E-Series Ex-9xxx, FX-9xxx) or ARM64 processors (Snapdragon SDM850 or later)
  • RAM: 4 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 16 GB for 64-bit
  • SSD/NVMe: at least 128 GB for both 64-bit and 32-bit OS
  • Graphics card: DirectX 9 or later
  • Display resolution: 800 x 600, a minimum diagonal display size for the primary display of 7-inches or larger.

I don't know about you, but that last bit is a waste for me - mostly beyond my ken. Obviously, HH's laptop is old enough that it does not fulfill the requirements stated as optimal.

Big accomplishments this week

Well...not big; but, it beat not getting anything done!

Hunky Husband, it turns out, has been looking for a chronometer to replace his favorite (photo, below). I offered to do the research for him, which offer he gladly accepted. Not by skill, but by luck, I found an online video that told how to solve the problem he was having with his current piece, followed the simple directions, and restored his piece to full function. Note in the photo how the long, red hand (the timing, second hand) is pointing between 1 and 2. The reset indexed that hand back to the 12 position. That was all that HH needed - saving him $600.

About a month ago, the army worms hit our town - hard! Nearly everyone's lawns were hit. Unfortunately, I didn't get around to photographing the damage until this morning. In the photo (below), one can see that the army worms missed eating some of the roots of our fescue grass, and they have sprouted up. The part of our back yard that gets shaded by the cottonwood tree, was spared - something about trees seems to repel the army worms. Tendercare is to come slit seed the barren spots in back, and all of the front lawn, on October 11.

While the army worms readily devoured the fescue grass, they eschewed the native Bermuda that has, over the years, invaded the sunny area of the back yard. While Bermuda grass is much more suited to our current climatic conditions on the sunny side of the back yard, I won't have it, having fought it my whole life (starting at age 4 or 5 when Mom had Elder Brother and me pull the native Bermuda grass out of her rose beds). While the fescue grass is sparse is the ideal time to pull the Bermuda grass - which task I've been attempting since the mornings have cooled down during the past several days. Most days, I've been able to put in 30-60 minutes of work on that tasking, limited by when the sun starts hitting that area and/or my weariness.

In the photo, below, the yellow oval shows some of the Bermuda that has yet to be attacked while the yellow diamond encloses the visible part of the area on which I spent 55 minutes this morning. (The orange tubing running across the upper, right corner of the photo is part of the watering hose that I had out to water the newish trees in back.)

I had but one instance of performing IT services, this past week. It turns out that HH has been carrying a separate subscription to a Norton (Symantic) anti-virus suite that is installed on his laptop. I'm not sure that HH even knows his login for his laptop, these days, but I can state with confidence that the anti-virus suite on his laptop is not worth the $89.99 that he is paying each year - especially considering that he can have the coverage, free, from the up-to-5-machine subscription that I have from Norton, for which I pay $97.19 per year.

Currently, since removing Norton from the laptop that I've prepared to give to Elder Brother (Norton is a space hog and EB only accesses one website - to update his data on the stock market), there are only two machines using my subscription, HH's and my desktop machines. As I recall, at the time HH bought his laptop several years ago, my subscription was fully used on five machines; thus, HH had purchased a separate subscription.

Tools

The video, above, was stolen from Bluebird of Bitterness (BoB) while she wasn't looking. I could make a cheeky comment, "What else could they do with toolboxes that are empty?" and comment that their wrenches are nice and shiny and unnicked - as if no one had used them - at least not as I would have as prybars or hammers. Those guys've got rhythm! Thanks BoB.

Speaking of tools, our little town, once again, has an Ace Hardware (photo, below). The current heat wave has me so distracted that, although Hunky Husband kept asking me, "How many days?" leading up to its opening last Friday, I missed the actual opening - and haven't, yet, made my way up there. When HH first realized what was moving into the space that is only 1/2 mile from us, he started teasing me that he would henceforth always know where I was were I to disappear. A bit later in the year, when it cools down and the sun comes up a bit later, I shall be able to hit the hardware store during my morning walks! (Not shown in the photo, but off to the left, is their outdoor supplies department - mulch, etc.)

Truth to tell, the real reason I was so distracted that I missed the hardware store opening, was that I pretty much destroyed our zero-turn-radius mower. I don't recall why it was, but I had decided not to raise the deck of the mower while mowing "the deep back" next to our woods, a week ago. (I seem to recall thinking that HH had told me that he never did - in fact that he always mowed "the deep back" with the deck lower than for "the good grass" - AND - several of the swaths that I was mowing extended from "the good grass" into "the deep back".)

At any rate, at one point, forgetting that the deck was lower than normal, I got into mowing in the roughest part of the yard - the area on a rather steep slope that used to host our compost pile and a bunch of trees (photo, below). Carefully guiding the mower astraddle one of the short stumps left from trees removed in that area, I was jarred by the thunk when the blade bit into the stump. OMG. By hook and by crook, I was able to nurse the poor machine up into our driveway where I shut down the smoking engine to let it cool down in a non-flammable area.

After HH and I got through laughing about my idiocy, he agreed with me that the simplest thing to do (since I still had some of "the good grass" to mow) was for me to call up Jim's Tire and Auto. [I ask you: How could I not love a guy who can laugh over such things with me?!] I asked Jim's to send me out a new machine (same model as the old, which I had given HH just 18 months ago) and pick up the poor broken, old thing. Jess delivered the new machine Friday morning and I finished mowing "the good grass" which is why I wasn't thinking about the hardware store opening.

HH received a phone call from Jim's, yesterday - they are holding a check for me at the office. That's all HH could tell me about the call; so, I don't know whether the check is for the previous (old old) mower that they had picked up when they delivered the then-new old mower 18 months ago or for the one they picked up Friday. (Each was to have been fixed up and sold, on consignment.) When Jess had been here, Friday, I had casually mentioned to him that we had never heard anything about the old old mower once they had it. I believe the check may be for that mower. It's a bit soon for them to have been able to replace the deck and blades and, maybe, the spindle on the new old mower and get it sold, already.

BTW: Hunky Husband has, a couple of times, told me that he "...would be proud to escort...." me to the hardware store when I am ready to inspect it. I'm hoping that the new store will have good employees. I've frequented Hupp Hardware, up in Wichita, for many years because they have great stock and great people; but, being able to have equivalent service so near our home would be so much more convenient in my declining years. Slowly, I've been changing over my medical and merchant services to Derby, as such services have become available over the past several years. For instance: Within the past two weeks, a Schlotzsky's has opened up just two miles north of us.

ADDITION of 3 hours later: I am now $819 richer. The people at Jim's said that they had to cut a new check when Jess asked about our old old mower. The expiration date on the original check had passed. Neither HH nor I knew that it was waiting there for us until the call yesterday.

Since all of my errands had gone so well this morning, I did (no surprise to HH) stop by the new hardware store. Neither was it a surprise to him when, my having handed him a bag with candy in it - for him, I answered his, "Is that all you got?!" with, "The rest is in my car trunk." I told the cashier that I would have my monthly Social Security check sent to the hardware store so that I could just drop in to play. My big purchase was a Craftsman battery-powered leaf blower to replace the corded leaf blower that is about 25 years old. I'm tired of dragging around and untangling 100 feet of heavy electrical cord.

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NOTE: Except for whatever business I, personally, throw their way, none of the commercial businesses linked in this posting knows that I exist nor do they pay me or endorse me. OTOH, excepting the new hardware store that I've yet to check out, each of the businesses linked is worthy of recommendation by me.

Summary of the week - 7/10/2021

Monday, July 5, 2021

Today would be a quiet day at home for us were it not for our having several neighbors who didn't satisfy their tastes for noise and explosions in the past few days. Today is the last day to, legally, set off fireworks. It's too bad that most of our neighbors don't seem to realize that setting off fireworks in the street is not legal. (The retired USAF colonel up the street grumbles about this.) Most of the neighbors are pretty good about cleaning up the next day; but, they aren't really meticulous. Starting Thursday (to give time for all embers to die out), my walks will include picking up much trash from expended fireworks.

BTW: Hunky Husband says that the "retired USAF colonel", Mike, hasn't really retired, at all - that he is still looking after "his troops". Mike stops in every couple of weeks, if he and I haven't recently seen one another while out walking, to make sure that we are doing all right. Mike is a bundle of energy, taking on jobs that might come around. He was scheduled to go work in Texas for a few months, a year ago, when COVID-19 put the Kibosh on it.

Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Hunky Husband had another session with his audiologist today. IMHO, it is unfortunate that he let Dr Combs talk him into going back to manual control of his hearing aids; but, perhaps he will do better this time. (Dr C didn't recall that HH had had manual control for his first week with the hearing aids and that he didn't do well with it.)

This being grocery shopping day, we stopped to buy groceries on our way home from Wichita. Of course, I had decided against taking my want list with us, thinking that HH wouldn't feel like making the stop. He fooled me! We purchased about half of the items on my list, the only important omission's being block chili. I bought three pounds of ground beef at our local meat market the other day, planning to make chili for freezing to send home with Elder Brother the next time he visits us. He brought me the empty jars, last trip.

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

I had my annual eye exam. Everything is looking good, according to Dr Agpoon.

HH mowed the front and back lawns. It has been a challenge for him to get the mowing done during the past few weeks - working around the bouts of rain. In the month of June, we surpassed the "normal" rainfall total by a bit over 0.50". As frequently as it seemed to rain, I was surprised that the excess wasn't greater. Of course, they had just updated "normal" to include statistics from 1990-2020 this past month. Previous "normal" had been based on 1980-2010.

Thursday, July 8, 2021

Walked for 45 minutes, this morning, and gathered half of a grocery bag full of leavings from fireworks. The rest of the bag was filled, mostly, by bits and pieces of marker flags that had been installed along the semi-major artery up the street from us when optical cable was being installed (again?!) and shredded by the mowers of the lawn service that cares for our Home Owner Association's common areas. I did not pull up any of the flags that had not been shredded - just picked up the pieces. Surprisingly (to me) was that the actual markers on the route of the optical cable were paper rather than the plastic used by other utilities along that route. Well done!

Washed all of the dishes from one-third of our china cabinet (above). This is an annual event that I hate, but which must be done. I haven't yet worked up the energy to replace items into the top two (cleaned) shelves, having used too much energy pulling weeds and mowing the "deep back" part of our back yard. (It got done, eventually.)

Every once-in-a-while I am surprised by something that HH does remember or that he does not remember. Today, it was not. He told me that he was taking one of his clean hand towels to the basement with him - that he intended to treat his scalp with his special shampoo. I let him know that there was already a towel for him to use, on the towel bar at the sink next to the clothes washing machine. Regardless, he took the clean hand towel downstairs with him. A minute later, he returned with the towel, exclaiming "I just found a towel bar I didn't know it was there!" Never mind that he has routinely used a black hand towel (photo, below - not HH's shampoo shown) that always hangs on that bar - whenever he washes his hands while doing laundry, or after he works out in his weights room.

HH had surprised me the other day by, without a word, replenishing the supply of paper napkins that we keep in a holder (that Bogie made in a high school course) on the breakfast table. Prior to that day, for several months, I had had to ask that he perform the tasking - and tell him where we keep the supply of paper napkins. That was a does surprise.

Summary of the week

Hunky Husband's busy calendar - 6/21/2021

It is well that HH is as organized as he is. It really helps him. Today he has a social engagement (to see old friends from 50 years ago, one of whom has come to town) and an appointment with his audiologist. That being the case, HH brought his penciled schedule for the day to me last evening to see if he had missed anything. He had noted the time at which he was to leave the house to meet his old friends at McDonald's, the time he was to leave McDonald's for home, etc. Right on! Unless HH starts getting more anxious about the whole thing, I plan to go to the gym this morning. I should return home before HH needs to leave, but I don't plan to go with him. McDonald's is less than one mile from our home.

How can we be so wasteful? - 6/22/2021

The item, below, is from News for Nerds.

Amazon Labels Millions of Unsold Products For Destruction, New Investigation Finds (theverge.com)73

Posted by msmash on Monday June 21, 2021 @01:39PM from the closer-look dept.

Amazon marks millions of unsold products for destruction each year in the UK, according to a new investigation by British television program ITV News. From a report: ITV found stacks of boxes marked "destroy" that were filled with electronics, jewelry, books, and other new or gently used items in one warehouse's "destruction zone." The news outlet caught the practice on camera while going undercover at the Dunfermline fulfillment center in Scotland. It says it tracked some of the goods to recycling centers and a landfill. About 124,000 items at Dunfermline were labeled "destroy" during a single week in April, according to an internal document obtained by ITV News. Just 28,000 items were set aside for donations during the same period. About half of all the stuff that's trashed are things that people returned, a former Amazon employee told ITV. While the other half are "unopened and still in their shrink wrap," the ex-employee said.

 

Sidenote to Bogie: I recall your telling me about wastefulness when you worked at Brookstone. I think it pales into insignificance when compared with the magnitude of Amazon's wastefulness.

 

Hunky Husband's busy calendar - 6/23/2021

 

 

For the first time since February, 2020, I got to see my friend who lives in a retirement village in northwestern Wichita. Hunky Husband took Elegant Friend and me to lunch at the Bricktown Brewery, a restaurant just a few blocks from EF's apartment. EF and I failed to recall how large portions of food are at that restaurant and each of the three of us took as much food home with us as we ate.

 

We lost our ISP (Cox) - 6/26/2021

 

 

As I was trying to solve a "no audio" problem with my computer software, this morning, I lost Internet connection - at about 7am. Since Cox has been laying some sort of cable in up along the main street that is about 1/3-mile to the west of us, I checked that our Wi-Fi was working and chose not to panic; but, I did check up on it every once-in-a-while. Hunky Husband and I just returned from the public library where, for the first time in 1.5 years I checked out a couple of books (both fiction, this time). In logging the books into my Excel spreadsheet, I note that I now have Internet connection - at about 2:45pm. Yay! HH is going down to his computer to check on his incoming emails.

 

I still have no audio. (Yes, the speakers are plugged in, powered up, and producing sounds.) The Troubleshooter software checked out my system and found nothing that it could fix - even after it reinstalled the audio drivers. I updated the System BIOS which, likewise, produced nothing. I don't much use the audio; but, it would be nice to have it back. 

 

Unlike previous times, HH has been choosing to go with me for most of the errands that I run - whether he drives or whether I drive. This is new behavior.

 

P.S. Weather - 6/26/2021

 

We received 1.6" of rain overnight. That cooled us down a bit, even if it raised the humidity. It was rather nice doing yardwork this morning - pulling millions of weeds and gathering branches downed by the wind.

Summary of the week

The ears have it - 6/14/2021

Hunky Husband had an appointment with the audiologist. The upshot of the appointment was that he chose to have Dr Combs set his hearing aids on "fully automatic". Trying to make adjustments was not working out for him. No more than HH currently wears the hearing aids, it isn't that big a deal. I must say, though, that I'm enjoying that HH is now (mostly) wearing his hearing aids when he watches TV in the evening. (Not so, during the day; but, one thing at a time!)

At times, HH's TV has been set to such a loud volume that, even though my den door is closed, I cannot hear my own TV over his. Note that, in the photo above, the charger sits on a note that I had written HH a couple of weeks ago to remind him to keep the lid open while charging his hearing aid batteries. Dr Combs recommended this as a means to check that everything is proceeding normally with the charging - by observing the blinking green light on each unit, during charging, or a steady green light when fully charged.

Note to Bogie: I showed your dad the hearing aid controls information in the format that you suggested (which reorganized the information and added the bit of info about the beeping that I had previously omitted) the other day. He didn't recognize the difference. He kept saying that it was the same information as on the previous table. It was mooted by his going to the "fully automatic" mode, anyway; but, I appreciated your input. Thanks for taking the time and making the effort.

Outlook and my teeth - 6/16/2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was not too pleased upon learning that, seemingly, a recent update to Outlook has changed how it operates a bit. Just how, I've not determined. The effect is that I missed my dental appointment on the 15th and had to re-schedule for the 16th.

My usual practice is to set up important appointments in the Outlook Calendar with first notification occurring 18 hours prior to the appointment so that I am reminded the evening before the appointment. The first notification that I received of the dental appointment on the 15th was when I came in (hot & grimy) from doing yard work and was notified that my appointment was past due. Picking up my phone to call the dental office, I noted that they had left me a voicemail about my not being there.

In setting up my appointment for the 16th, I was doubly positive to set first notification for 18 hours prior to the appointment. However, as had occurred on the previous entry, the default of 15 minutes was actually set on the appointment. Of course, with the kerfuffle, I did make it to the appointment on the 16th. I saw the dental hygienist (Lacey, who cleaned my pearly whites), the owner of the practice (Dr Carol Ysidro, who said she just wanted to see me because it had been at least a year since we last spoke), and Dr Omar (Dr Omar Barakeh who adjusted a few of my teeth to improve my bite). My teeth have been shifting a bit since Dr Omar installed the permanent bridge.

The lawn and my "miniature meadow" (mm) - 6/18/2021

Edward, of TenderCare Lawn and Landscape, came by this afternoon to check out our irrigation system. This is a mid-season service that the company offers. Having spent time weeding in the side yard, this morning, I decided to check out my mm that sits between our back lawn and the far back grounds, to see how the milkweed plants are doing. The above photo shows the mm's status.

The lacy-looking white flowers are Annual Daisy fleabanes, I think. I didn't plant them, but neither did I pull them when I saw them growing. The daisy-like yellow/brown flowers at mid-height are Brown-eyed Susans that I seeded a few years ago.

The multi-hued little flowers lurking in the shade of the towering Brown-eyed Susans and Wild asters are Blanket flowers that I planted from pots in 2019. At the left of the photo, one can see that the milkweed plants have grown little since I stopped babying them. Perhaps they are thirsty. The mm is just out of reach of the irrigation system unless the wind is from the north.

As an afterthought: The yellowish long leaves sticking up at the edge of the bare dirt, toward the right edge of the photo, is what's left of one of the Narcissi that surround the mm and a few of the trees that I've had planted in the edge of the woods. The Narcissi have shriveled, fallen, and been mowed down for the season.

Weather notes for the week

It has been hot, hot, hot - and it isn't even summer, yet. The NPR station was announcing that their studio thermometers (in Downtown Wichita) were showing 103 degrees Fahrenheit. The hottest I saw, myself, was 103 on my car (but it changed to 100 when I turned down-sun) and 100 on our front porch. It is supposed to be hotter, today. It is 96 on our front porch. On my drive home from visits to the gym, this week, I've been swabbing down my carotid arterial areas, etc, with the wet wipes that I have been carrying in the car for COVID-19 precautions for the past 15 months. When one cannot perspire, it really helps cool one down.

Bogie, how's it doing up there in New Hampshire? You've been having really hot weather for an area that is supposedly "cool". You were hotter than were we, by about 20 degrees during May, I think.

So far this week....

So far this week there have been two things keeping me occupied: nursing Hunky Husband and dealing with a request from the Wichita State University Foundation concerning the small physics scholarship that HH and I have funded at WSU. The WSU Foundation wished to change one of the guidelines that we had established for our fund. Before answering the request, I conferred by email with a friend on the physics faculty, Professor Nicholas Solomey (Nick). I ended up denying the WSU Foundation's request for the change while conceding to an exception that would allow another (newish) physics faculty member to use the Summer 2021 expenditure from our fund for a non-complying graduate student. To change the guideline would have been to instantly thwart the original intent which was to lure new graduate students to WSU for their physics research program.

Heads up: If you are queasy about seeing scrapes/cuts/bloody sites, please do not scroll down to the end of this posting.

Physics

In exchanging emails with Nick, I learned that his wife's mother (who has lived with them since she was my age, five years ago) had emergency surgery last November. She had returned from the hospital with COVID-19, promptly sharing it with the family. Fortunately, no one succumbed to their bout with the virus and Nick wrote, "Covid-19 is the worst 2 weeks ever in bed every symptom of flu for two solid weeks and 6 weeks to recover and from my sick bed I wrote the grant! Someday I should reread it and see what delusions I said but too scared! Best just to work hard over next two years to get this done." NASA's announcement of the grant to which Nick referred is given, below. The graphics are from previous proposals that Nick had written to get him into Phases I and II of research under the NIAC grant program.

NASA encourages researchers to develop and study unexpected approaches for traveling through, understanding, and exploring space. To further these goals, the agency has selected seven studies for additional funding – totaling $5 million – from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. The researchers previously received at least one NIAC award related to their proposals.

“Creativity is key to future space exploration and fostering revolutionary ideas today that may sound outlandish will prepare us for new missions and fresh exploration approaches in the coming decades,” said Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD).

NASA selected the proposals through a peer-review process that evaluates innovation and technical viability. All projects are still in the early stages of development, with most requiring a decade or more of technology maturation. They are not considered official NASA missions.

Among the studies is a neutrino-detecting mission concept that will receive a $2 million Phase III NIAC grant to mature related technology over two years. Neutrinos are one of the most abundant particles in the universe but are challenging to study since they rarely interact with matter. Therefore, large and sensitive Earth-based detectors are best suited to detect them. Nikolas Solomey from Wichita State University in Kansas proposes something different: a space-based neutrino detector.

“Neutrinos are a tool to ‘see’ inside stars, and a space-based detector could offer a new window into the structure of our Sun and even our galaxy,” said NIAC Program Executive Jason Derleth. “A detector orbiting close to the Sun could reveal the shape and size of the solar furnace at the core. Or, by going in the opposite direction, this technology could detect neutrinos from stars at the center of our galaxy.”

Solomey’s previous NIAC research showed the technology could work in space, explored different mission flight paths, and developed an early prototype of the neutrino detector. With the Phase III grant, Solomey will prepare a flight-ready detector that could be tested on a CubeSat.

HH's Health

Hunky Husband had the unpleasant experience, Monday morning, of undergoing surgeries to remove both great toenails, and a hunk of scalp from the crown of his head. The toenail removals were the latest chapter in his continuing fight against fungus - a hard fight for a person who perspires as freely as does HH. The scalp removal was to rid him of a worrisome patch of skin that is potentially cancerous/pre-cancerous. I shant go into additional post-operative images. (In fact, I've taken no others. The above photo was taken to show HH the appearance of his surgical site.)

Attempting to nurse someone whose stubbornness would put a mule's to shame is not my idea of fun. It is an exercise in futility. That is especially true when said someone has memory issues and behavioral issues due to disease. I must say, though, that the hardest part of the whole thing for me was watching the repeated jabs of the needles injecting anesthetic under the toenails and under the scalp - knowing that HH has always hated needles. He was, understandably, not a happy camper.

Today, HH was feeling up to a walk - his first in several weeks. I'm sure that the walk was slow, for him; but, it was good for him, acknowledging that it would have been even better had he been willing to follow Dr Niederee's nurse's caution to stay off of his feet as much as possible for two or three days. (It was never destined to happen, despite her and my best efforts.)

With HH, there is no way he can go for a walk without having to shower afterward - it's that pesky copious perspiration to which I referred, above. (Fortunately for HH, the type of perspiration that he produces does not give him an odious odor even when he cannot shower!) He fared well. I put fresh bandages (large Band Aid-type bandages, cut to fit), another pair of clean, white socks, and a fresh pair of fleece-lined house shoes on his feet, and he was all sweet and clean.

It's a matter of perspective

I just know that I have made a posting with a similar title; but, for the life of me cannot find it. Although I've always found the TypePad internal search function pretty useless, I gave it a try. The search function came back with exactly one hit on "perspective" - What Makes Us Laugh from 15 years ago. The subject of that posting was my favorite cartoon character, Ms Crumm. When I went to the posting, the most interesting part was the link to a now-defunct (AFAIK) blog by a friend in the UK - and the comment string that followed.

Back to perspective: Liz (in Wales) frequently posts about her exploits in the field of exercise. She leaves some of us in the dust! Two Three weeks ago, I started going back to the gym. Wednesday, all of the signage to the effect that "Textron requires everyone to wear a mask" were missing and I was informed that they were no longer required. As there were only three other people in the gym, that morning, masking/not masking wasn't a big deal. I did, however, note that the only other woman was wearing a mask and asked if she would feel more comfortable if I left mine on. She demurred, thanking me for asking. I don't know her vaccination status; but, she is a member of a minority community so it is entirely possible that she and her adult son (also working out - never with a mask) are not immunized against COVID-19.

To the point: Amount of exercise that one is taking is a matter of perspective. From the perspective of my old, old age and past experience, I have been trying to gradually increase the intensity of my work-outs (from the "weak" state at which I re-started my gym visits) so as to avoid aching muscles. So far, so good. I am making great progress. However, my usual intention of applying the same concept to the work that I do in the yard has been less successful. Today, I arose with achy upper arms (biceps).

Yesterday, I cut off dead wood from one of our crepe myrtle bushes with our Craftsman loppers. "Aha!" I thought. That is what made me achy. But...I didn't do that much. It didn't stand to reason. Oh, yes, now I recall. Before I did the dead wood lopping, I had weed-whacked around all of the newish trees, around the steps down to the woods, and so forth. Our string trimmer is a Weedeater cordless - not very heavy. However, I did use it until the battery ran down and I am sure that was the cause of my achiness. 

ADDITION of five hours later:

Today, I've had to get myself outside between rain showers. I used the Weedeater to trim around the lone tree in the front yard (oh, yes, that's where the achiness came from!) and have completed the removal of dead wood from one of our crepe myrtle bushes. In addition, I've pulled a lot of weeds and, from the edge of the woods, many purple winter creepers. As of 4pm, we have received 0.55" of rain.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to turn off the sprinkler system last night. At about 5:30am, I heard the sprinklers hitting my bedroom windows - that would have been from Station 3 of the system. An hour later, there was an announcement on the radio that said that Wichita was getting rain and thunder. I wondered, to myself, whether we too would receive rain. A few minutes later, we had several flashes of lightning. I arose about that time, and it was raining by the time I got upstairs. The rain sensor only turns off the system if it detects rain before the system activates; thus, I turned off the system just after it had cycled to Station 6 (we use 7 stations). Most of our yard has received a lot of water, today.

Back to the gym - yay!

Cessna Textron West Side Activity Center

Cessna Textron East Side Activity Center

On 3/14/2020, I made my usual trek to one of the gyms in which I have a lifetime membership. Because of my fear of COVID-19, that was the last trek I made there - until this morning. I didn't know when/if the place, itself, closed down. I only knew that I didn't want to be there. Surprisingly, the woman at the front desk told me they had been open since May 2020. Wow! I would not have felt safe working out there (or anywhere away from home).

It felt great working out, again. Masks are required in the public areas of the building; but, in the gym itself, I was the only one who was masked up. The employees and a couple of the fire fighters who work out there recognized me - despite the mask and the hair grown long.

My lifetime membership is courtesy of the company for which I put in a total of 19 years of service (Nov 1975-Apr 1981 and Apr 1990-Apr 2004). The deal was, that to use the gyms one must pay dues (deducted from one's paycheck) to the Employee's Club. I belonged to the Employee's Club for all of those years - only because one had to belong in order to belong to the Flying Club. That was a real carrot for many of us. The bonus was/is that, for belonging to the Employee's Club for the years before retirement, a retiree was awarded a lifetime membership upon retirement. Good deal!

Although I've shown photos of only two gyms, above, I think a third gym was added to the stable when Textron acquired Beech some years ago, but after my retirement. I'm unfamiliar with the facilities other than the West Side Activity Center (top photo) and the East Side Activity Center (second photo). For two reasons, I choose to use the East Side Activity Center: 1) It's a shorter drive from home (about 10 miles versus about 15), and 2) It's a smaller, less used facility. Granted, the West Side has a larger pool, more machines, and fancier locker rooms; but, I like not being among 100 other sweating bodies.

What has happened this week?

Safety Deposit Box Project:

The big thing that happened was that Dudette met Hunky Husband and me at the credit union so that we could get her onto our safety deposit box as a co-owner. Yay! She and Bogie will need to be able to access the stuff in that box, eventually. Unfortunately, despite what I had been told, they would not issue another key for Dudette.

In order to have Dudette put on as a co-owner, she had to provide a photo ID (her driver's license did nicely) and her Social Security card. As happened, Dudette could not find her Social Security card. She, instead, brought her birth certificate and her marriage license (to show her name change), knowing that her original Social Security card is among the papers that we do keep in the safety deposit box. That worked nicely, too. Why we still have Dudette's and Bogie's original Social Security cards is beyond me; but, there they are - and Dudette chose to place hers back into our safety deposit box when the paperwork was all done.

Come to think of it, Dudette also used the opportunity to return the Half-Pint microwave oven that we had loaned the girls. I need to retrieve it from HH's car trunk. [I got it, only to find that Dudette or Wonderful GrandDaughter had slipped a pint container of home made cookies into it. It's a wonder that I opened the door of the microwave. Otherwise, who knows how many years the cookies would have stayed there?]

Similarly, I used the opportunity to take a twig, that is to become an oak tree, that I had potted up a year or two ago - for Dudette & Wichidude or for the girls (Wonderful GrandDaughter and Rachie).

Yard Work:

Slowly, maybe not so surely, I am making progress on yard work. A week ago yesterday, I mowed the good grass. I had actually been checking the status of the mower battery; but, when it proved to be alive and well, I went ahead and used the mower - thinking that Jim's Tire & Auto would be picking it up that day for its 1st annual servicing. As it turned out, Jim's was swamped. They will call us when they have time to do the servicing - in about three or four weeks, they thought.

 

 

Trees:

Our crabapple tree that was planted last May is showing some color. The tiny leaves are unfurled.

The weather has provided so much moisture in March (yes, we're supposed to have rain in April) that the nursery has been unable to get their trees out of the ground on their tree farm; thus, the two trees that I bought last fall will not be planted in March - maybe April. The first photo shows, in the foreground, a yellow flag marking the spot in which the new cherry tree is to be planted, eventually replacing the North Star Cherry tree that is enveloped in yellow, in the background. The second photo shows the location at which the new Oklahoma Redbud tree is to be planted, replacing the redbud that had been encroaching on the neighbor's fence.

And then there are narcissi: