Cop Car's Beat

The seeds are sown

BEFORE Seeding

TenderCare's lawn service team was scheduled to core-aerate and slit seed on Monday, 10/11/2021. Unfortunately for that scheduling, we received 2.61" of rain that day, starting at Midnight and ending at about dinner time. TenderCare rescheduled us for Friday, 10/15/2021. Now, understand that there are a couple of things driving us to have wanted to have the seeding done two weeks ago: 1) I had originally scheduled our sprinkler system to be winterized on the 20th, and the grass seed would need thrice daily watering for at least two weeks following sowing, taking us out to having the system winterized no earlier than 11/3/2021 - by which time we will surely have had temperatures that will risk freezing the backflow prevention valve assembly* and 2) Kansas State U Extension Service recommends sowing fescue seed no later than October 15, to provide the new grass the opportunity to mature to a stage less likely to be killed by fluctuations in winter temperatures.

The photo, below, is a paste-up of two photos that I finally thought to take Wednesday, 10/13/2021, showing the bare patches in the back yard that were left by the voracious army worms - after I had completed pulling out the Bermuda grass that was prominent in those areas. BTW: We received an additional 0.53" of rain on Wednesday.

The next photo was taken merely to show our daily invasion by "our" flock of turkeys. They came up from the creek bank just as I had come inside from taking the above photos and was closing the patio door.

Came Thursday, the 14th, I ran an errand, returning home to Hunky Husband's news that he had called TenderCare. He did not recall how he received the word (phone? text? email?) from TenderCare that they had scheduled winterization of our sprinkler system for the following day, regardless of the fact that I had asked them to change our scheduled date from the 20th to sometime the week of the 27th, after which I will need to water the seed/new grass by hand. They told him that they would not turn off the sprinkler system before seeding. That is good. However, HH's memory of what transpired is not always accurate these days, so I wondered what would happen on our re-scheduled seeding day of Friday.

Came Friday, the 15th, at 3:30pm, we had still not seen anyone from TenderCare. I called the office to inquire and was told, "You are on the schedule." We waited. No one showed. Now the office was closed and I had no idea what was happening. I decided that, if their team showed up, today (Saturday - usually a non-working day for TenderCare), I would let them seed. If they hadn't shown up by Monday morning, I would tell them not to seed - we'll do that next spring. Spring isn't the ideal time to seed a cool season grass, here; but, then, neither is it ideal after the 15th.

Thankfully, today, one of the TenderCare lawn service guys showed up, bright and early, to do our lawn. He had missed work, yesterday, and the remaining members of the lawn service team had been overbooked and could not possibly get the scheduled jobs all done. Since we are friends of the owner, I suspect that he chooses to take care of less sure customers, first, and that we were scheduled last. The guy who showed up had help, his bride of 19 years who is a member of TenderCare's landscaping team. As they were dragging two trailers behind the Tendercare pickup truck and one was filled with balled-and-burlaped bushes, I suspect that he would be her helper at their next job.

AFTER seeding

The photo, below, shows most of the bare areas in the back lawn, after core aeration and seeding. I immediately took up all of the flags that we had put out to mark locations of sprinkler heads and other obstructions that the workers should not hit with their equipment, and programmed the sprinkler system to do the thrice daily chore. Keeping my fingers crossed that our weather cooperates for the next three weeks, at least.

________________________________________________________

*To the best of my remembrance, we have had to pay to have the backflow prevention valve assembly repaired or replaced three times in the past 21 years. However, that's not the worst that happens. The worst that happens is that I get soaked with 32 degree F water, getting to the assembly to turn off the water, once the ice in the assembly melts and the water starts gushing forth. I have packed the assembly for resistance to low temperatures (we were at 35 degrees when I went for my walk, this morning, with frost on our roof and on the grass along my route.) Unfortunately, the last time the assembly was replaced, the new assembly's configuration makes it impossible for me to apply electrically heated tape to it. Grrrr....

More of this and that - early October

Grass - not the smoking kind

Today was a nearly perfect day for me - something to write about. Nothing exciting happened, nothing out-of-the-ordinary happened; but...well...maybe it was a bit out-of-the-ordinary. Much of my day (5 ½ 6 hours of it) was spent pulling Bermuda grass out of our back lawn. (I wrote a tiny bit about this project at Big accomplishments this week.) We've been having such hot, sunny weather that I dared not spend too much time out there (besides my hands not being up to too much grasping and pulling) - until today. Today was mostly cloudy and cool. Tomorrow, I'll take an update photo and post it below this sentence. It is too dark, now, and I didn't think of taking a photo before.)

ADDITION of 10/7/2 021

The yellow ovals indicate areas not yet de-Bermuda-ed while the diamond shows an example of a small patch that has been completed. The Bermuda is a bluish color in the dew - before I put in my first hour this morning.

What made the day so spectacular for me was how quiet it was. No one was mowing. No one was running power tools in their garage. McConnell AFB didn't have a bunch of KC-135s and KC-46s taking training flights and shooting landings, Fred was at work so his dogs were indoors, air conditioners were not running...you get the picture.

By now, my right hand is a bit swollen, but not too bad since I switched to doing extreme grasping/pulling with my left hand about mid-morning. In all, I took six turns outside pulling Bermuda for that 5 ½ 6-hour total time. Even the 1 3/4 hours that I put in after dinner were extremely pleasant. (Hunky Husband let me get away with our having DQ treats as dinner - he had a Blizzard, I had a Mocha Moolatte - which is okay considering the totally nutritious meals we had yesterday and for lunch, today.) Fred was at home and his Labs were outdoors, but I was far enough away from their side of our yard that they ignored me. (The Great Pyrenees dogs whose fence is fairly near to my work area bark "Hello", then ignore me.)

I am desperately trying to get the visible Bermuda grass pulled before Tendercare comes out on Monday to core aerate and slit over-seed the lawn with fescue. Because of my progress, today, I have a shot at making it; although, tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday are supposed to be hot - and Sunday will be dedicated to other activities. 

Microsoft Ergonomic Desktop

I'm almost getting used to my new keyboard. I'd been putting up with the truly awful keyboard that came with this computer, for nearly two years - basically because I was too lazy to look for a different keyboard. A couple of weeks ago I got irritated enough that I decided to go for a new keyboard. Doing a very little research, I decided on the Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard which was easy to order online through my Microsoft account. Only after it arrived did I discover that I had accidentally ordered the Desktop (keyboard+mouse) instead of only the keyboard. Oh, well. I won't use it when, as now, I am using the mouse to the left of my keyboard; but, I may try the mouse sometime when I am using the mouse to the right of my keyboard. The mouse is configured with a couple of controls that are located for use by one's (right) thumb.

In the above photo, I have pulled the keyboard tray all of the way out (the truly awful keyboard is above the ergonomic keyboard, resting on the desk.) That is not how I normally position it, which is most of the way forward; thus, you would (now) see four keys with white tape over them. I don't have a great sense of touch in my fingers (it's a good thing I don't try to use Braille), so I use little self-sticking bumps or tape to help me "find" certain often-used keys. It reminds me of 1951 when Elder Brother and I put our pennies together to buy a portable typewriter (EB was a junior in high school and taking typing - I was in 8th grade and would not take typing until my own senior year in 1954-55.)

Dad intruded. He covered each key with a square of electrician's tape (he was, after all, a Journeyman electrician.) His theory was that, if we couldn't see the labels on the keys, we would learn to touch-type properly. He was right! By the time I did take typing (which I took only to learn proper forms for letters), I typed so proficiently that Mr Bills put me on one of only three electric typewriters that he had and, later, onto a 10-key adding machine to learn it. Actually, the electric typewriter slowed me down since my throw of the carriage on a manual machine was faster than the electric carriage return.

BTW: It seems strange, but this ergonomic discontinuous keyboard showed me that I was in the habit of striking the "6/^" key with my right index finger. This keyboard has the "6/^" key located to the left of the discontinuity - for striking with the left index finger. Which hand is standard? I no longer know; but, I note that the "7/&" key is nearly twice as wide as the standard letter keys, so I am suspicious that my using my right index finger is "standard".

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.

Follow-up on Tools

In Tools and the comments thereto, I wrote about having purchased a cordless leaf blower, and that the first use produced an over-heat condition in its 2 Amp-hour battery. Bogie suggested returning the blower to the store to have them check it out. There were three store employees eager to tackle the issue when I did so last week.

After running the blower (on "high speed") within the store for several minutes (gathering up dead bugs and tracked in dirt), one of the employees observed that the battery was, indeed, heating up - although he didn't run it long enough to get the full effect. Another of the young men went back to where they kept their own tools to fetch a 2 Ah battery that he knew to be in good shape and charged. The same heating happened with it. Their observation was that I had put a light-duty battery to a task up to which it was no match. Since the blower is the mid-duty of the three offered in that brand, this puzzles me. Why would the company do that - sell an appliance with a poorly-matched battery? The employees told me that the 2 Ah battery was usually used with hand drills, etc.

I am now using the blower with a 4 Ah battery, for which they charged me a reduced price, with quite satisfactory results. You can bet that after I've used the blower with the heavier-duty battery for a while, I shall follow up on the whole thing with the maker; but, I wish to have more data, first.

The old, corded electric leaf blower was placed out at the street end of our driveway, along with assorted other goodies (Benz-O-Matic kit, partial sheets of light-weight plywood and fiberboard, metal legs from the workbench that I had torn down when it failed to be picked up several weeks ago, old manual sprinklers, buckets) and the 100-foot extension cord, wound on the device by which I had hung it on the pegboard. By the time Hunky Husband retrieved the mail that afternoon, everything had disappeared except the workbench legs and plywood. Three minutes later, trying to decide whether it was time to bring the items inside for the night, I noted that everything had disappeared except for one of the "FREE" signs that I had posted. We are never attentive enough to see anyone in the act of retrieving our "treasures" - mostly, because we have no interest in knowing where they go. (We are just happy that they do go!)

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.

_______________

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 - July 23

SATURDAY, July 17

Edging of street curb

I finished manually edging the street curb, this morning. The photos show the edged curb and the last load of sod that I removed in the edging process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUNDAY, July 18

Flowers for free

On the 11th, Bogie posted More Rain!, including photos of a few flowers that were blooming without her having planted them. She reminded me of a mystery plant that came up under a small mulberry tree that I had saved when having the trees surrounding it removed. I finally thought to take a photo, today. If you can identify the flower, please do so in a comment. I'm calling it a "wild tiger lily" because I don't know what else to call it. For the past three years, I've watched us (carelessly) mow down a couple of irises that I had laid at the base of the tree; thus, I've no idea how long this lily has been there. It has an interesting leaf habit that climbs the blossom stem. The third photo, below, shows what remains of the iris plants for comparison of the leaf configuration to that of the lily. The iris hasn't bloomed for having been mowed down so many times and I no longer recall what sort of iris it is - if I ever knew. I may have picked it up out of my trash heap of irises that were discarded when we sodded along what is now our neighbor's fence line.

 

 

Milkweed

While showing Hunky Husband the free lilies, I took him by my miniature meadow in order to check out the milkweed plants. They are doing well. There was a caterpillar on one of the plants (and a nibbled leaf edge); but, as I read online, "That ain't no Monarch!"

 

 

Addition of 7/19/2021: No caterpillar, no cocoon, no chrysalis, no further nibbling of leaves. Perhaps a bluebird ate the caterpillar.

 

MONDAY, July 19

 

Tomato harvest

After giving our four Ninebark bushes a haircut this morning, I harvested tomatoes. The bowl on the left contains tomatoes from a couple of volunteer vines that came up between the garage and the crepe myrtle bushes, this spring, while the bowl on the right contains tomatoes off of a Jet Star vine that I bought and planted. Because of the wonky weather that we had in March-May, our purchased vines had no ripe tomatoes for July 4th - which is the rule of thumb for gauging success of growing tomatoes, around here. The Jet Star and one of the larger tomato varieties ripened up one or two fruits - one week later.

 

For a while, the volunteer tomato plants out-produced our purchased plants. There is still one purchased plant that hasn't set on fruit but has abundant blossoms. (I picked some of the tomatoes a bit under-ripe so as not to give our expected high temperatures this afternoon, and the critters, a chance to spoil them. The temperatures are to crescendo to about 106 degrees Fahrenheit within the next two weeks, making our temperatures more in keeping with expectations for July.)

 

 

Update of 7/24/2021: The one vine that I wrote had not yet set fruit is the Bella Roma and closer inspection, this morning, showed  one walnut-sized and two marble-sized green fruit have actually set on.

 

Tuesday, July 20

 

By 7:15am, I had taken my walk and bought groceries. By 8am, a batch of chocolate chip/pecan cookies had been baked - made necessary by HH's having finished off the sandwich cookies that he likes and by the little WalMart's not having any for sale, this morning.

 

Thursday, July 22

 

Fortunately, I accomplished all necessary outdoor activities before 9am, today - my walk, some yard work, and a quick trip to the little WalMart to purchase more wide-mouth jar flats (for jars of chili that I had ready to put up in jars for Elder Brother). The trip to WalMart was a bust. They had nothing but jars left for sale in the canning supplies area. It seems that canning supplies are in short supply due to COVID-19 shutdowns.

 

I had to re-use some of the flats that I had on hand. I've historically re-used flats when the food is for Hunky Husband and me; because, except for the rare jar of jam, I keep such canned goods in the downstairs refrigerator or freezer. I like to use new flats when someone else is getting the canned goods - even when, as for the chili, the person will similarly store the jars in the cold. EB may choose not to take the chili if that is his preference; but, with careful packing, he should be able to get them to his home at a low enough temperature. I did assure that each jar actually sealed. *ping*

 

The photo, below, shows a loose set of wide-mouth flat and ring, one pint of the chili, and one unopened box of standard-mouth flats. The standard-mouth flats will probably still be in the cabinet when I die. I pretty much have used the wide-mouth jars since an epiphany many years ago in which I realized it is easier for one with tremors to hit a larger target. (My circular error probable, CEP, isn't that small.)

 

 

The reason I was glad to get outdoor activities accomplished early was that the authorities started issuing air quality advisories (stay indoors) at about 10am. The smoke from the wildfires in Northern California wasn't pea soup thick; but, it has been hazy out there.

 

A piece about canning jar flat shortage, Where have all the canning lids gone?, was posted last August. I hadn't noticed, before, because I had plenty of the flats on hand until now. (I've used at least three dozen new flats since August.)

 

Milkweed

While showing Hunky Husband the free lilies, I took him by my miniature meadow in order to check out the milkweed plants. They are doing well. There was a caterpillar on one of the plants (and a nibbled leaf edge); but, as I read online, "That ain't no Monarch!"

 

 

Addition of 7/19/2021: No caterpillar, no cocoon, no chrysalis, no further nibbling of leaves. Perhaps a bluebird ate the caterpillar.

 

MONDAY, July 19

 

Tomato harvest

After giving our four Ninebark bushes a haircut this morning, I harvested tomatoes. The bowl on the left contains tomatoes from a couple of volunteer vines that came up between the garage and the crepe myrtle bushes, this spring, while the bowl on the right contains tomatoes off of a Jet Star vine that I bought and planted. Because of the wonky weather that we had in March-May, our purchased vines had no ripe tomatoes for July 4th - which is the rule of thumb for gauging success of growing tomatoes, around here. The Jet Star and one of the larger tomato varieties ripened up one or two fruits - one week later.

 

For a while, the volunteer tomato plants out-produced our purchased plants. There is still one purchased plant that hasn't set on fruit but has abundant blossoms. (I picked some of the tomatoes a bit under-ripe so as not to give our expected high temperatures this afternoon, and the critters, a chance to spoil them. The temperatures are to crescendo to about 106 degrees Fahrenheit within the next two weeks, making our temperatures more in keeping with expectations for July.)

 

 

Update of 7/24/2021: The one vine that I wrote had not yet set fruit is the Bella Roma and closer inspection, this morning, showed  one walnut-sized and two marble-sized green fruit have actually set on.

 

Tuesday, July 20

 

By 7:15am, I had taken my walk and bought groceries. By 8am, a batch of chocolate chip/pecan cookies had been baked - made necessary by HH's having finished off the sandwich cookies that he likes and by the little WalMart's not having any for sale, this morning.

 

Thursday, July 22

 

Fortunately, I accomplished all necessary outdoor activities before 9am, today - my walk, some yard work, and a quick trip to the little WalMart to purchase more wide-mouth jar flats (for jars of chili that I had ready to put up in jars for Elder Brother). The trip to WalMart was a bust. They had nothing but jars left for sale in the canning supplies area. It seems that canning supplies are in short supply due to COVID-19 shutdowns.

 

I had to re-use some of the flats that I had on hand. I've historically re-used flats when the food is for Hunky Husband and me; because, except for the rare jar of jam, I keep such canned goods in the downstairs refrigerator or freezer. I like to use new flats when someone else is getting the canned goods - even when, as for the chili, the person will similarly store the jars in the cold. EB may choose not to take the chili if that is his preference; but, with careful packing, he should be able to get them to his home at a low enough temperature. I did assure that each jar actually sealed. *ping*

 

The photo, below, shows a loose set of wide-mouth flat and ring, one pint of the chili, and one unopened box of standard-mouth flats. The standard-mouth flats will probably still be in the cabinet when I die. I pretty much have used the wide-mouth jars since an epiphany many years ago in which I realized it is easier for one with tremors to hit a larger target. (My circular error probable, CEP, isn't that small.)

 

 

The reason I was glad to get outdoor activities accomplished early was that the authorities started issuing air quality advisories (stay indoors) at about 10am. The smoke from the wildfires in Northern California wasn't pea soup thick; but, it has been hazy out there.

 

A piece about canning jar flat shortage, Where have all the canning lids gone?, was posted last August. I hadn't noticed, before, because I had plenty of the flats on hand until now. (I've used at least three dozen new flats since August.)

Residential electrical service entrance

Earlier this month, a comment string on the posting, More from News for Nerds - Heat pumps, led to another posting, Determining electrical service requirements - for the non-professional, with an abundance of comments. I do not intend to extend (I like that phrase; ) the discussion in this posting, but merely wish to provide a place to document some of the information and sources that I ran across during the earlier exchange. In no particular order, I include the following items.

City of Derby, Kansas, Underground Wiring in Residential Subdivisions 

I've made previous mention of utility supply lines of various sorts' being delivered to our homes by underground installations, and below is an excerpt pertaining to electrical and telephone service supply from our city's Subdivision Regulation, Article 7 Installation of Required Improvements (Download Article 7__201304041240165680).

Overhead Power Line Service

If the electrical service is delivered via overhead power lines, as has been the case in about half of the homes in which I've lived, the electrical service entrance is through the roof or through an exterior wall - above grade. 

The graphics, below, are from a simplified presentation at Electrical Academia, and illustrate some of the routing and terminology having to do with conducting overhead power line electrical service into a residential dwelling. The graphic on the left shows a "mast service drop"; on the right, a "clevis service drop".

 

 

 

 

 

Dealing with restoration of electrical service following damage due to a disaster

It is a sticky wicket, figuring out whom to call when disaster strikes a home, damaging the electrical service entrance. During my volunteer disaster relief work, in coordinating with governmental agencies, I have been party to several conversations concerning what various levels of government can/cannot do, what utility companies can/cannot do, and the responsibility of the home owner (who may engage a qualified electrician) in restoring electrical service following a disaster. It got very frustrating for the stressed home owners.

The following table of responsibility is from Basics of Residential Electric Service Drops (thespruce.com). 

How [sic - should be Who] Is Responsible For Fixing the Service Drop?
	Power Company	Qualified Electrician
Overhead wires running from pole to house	X
Service bracket attaching service wires to house	X
Electric meter	X
Weather head that attaches to service cable		X
Service cable from weather head to meter box, then to service panel (circuit breakers)		X
Meter socket		X

Summary of the week - July 16

Inside Work

This week, I was able to finish cleaning the second one-third of our built-in china cabinet (in-progress photo, below).

Notice the rope hanging at the right-hand edge of the above photo. It is one support of the three-tiered macramé/glass table that has hung in the corner of the dining room for the past 10 years or so. It had previously hung in the living room in the corner next to the piano; but, during the early years in this house, I had discovered that when I watered the over-wintering house plants that were on that table, the water found a way to drip into the carpeting. It's much easier to clean the mess off of vinyl roll goods floor covering.

Cecil ("our" handyman) un-hung that table (and the table in the opposite front corner of the room) to give us more space in the dining room. We do not frequently have enough family over to require extending the dining table to it's full length with leaves (I gave up being the primary entertainer in our family when I was in my late 70s); but, when we need to seat 10 people, accommodations will be more comfortable. Below are photos of the two vacant corners. (The first photo includes the collapsed table below where it had hung.) BTW: Each of the macramé tables, purchased at an artworks shop in Old Town Albuquerque in the 1980s, hung from a healthy chain and hooks driven into the beam that shows at the top of the second photo.

 

Cecil teased me about the size/strength of the hardware that I used, and for my having used two hooks from which to hang each table. You will note in the photo, below, that I had spray painted the parts to make them blend with the walls (off-white chain) and beam (chocolate brown hooks). I still felt competent to teeter at the top of an 8-foot step ladder in those days. I let Cecil do it, this time.

Cecil's primary purpose of being here was to repair one of the bi-fold doors on the guest bedroom closet. The door had come off its pivots the last time Elder Brother visited us. Since EB is even more anal retentive than is Hunky Husband, it really bothered him that the door "broke" on him - despite my assuring him that the door had been giving me troubles for several years (that bedroom was mine until I moved to the basement.) The pivot point on the bottom had actually been pushed up inside the hollow door. Cecil took the door home with him to see what approach(es) he could come up with and returned it two days later - with, in his words, Plan A. So far, we haven't had to go to Plan B as the door, after Cecil put much elbow grease into adjusting the hardware properly, seems to be working well. (The cranky door is the one on the left in the photo, below.) 

Outside Work

A couple of months ago, one of my postings included a photo a a new string trimmer that I had bought. Since then, I've casually mentioned edging the front sidewalk, the driveway, the street curbing, and our patio. It wasn't until a few days ago that HH pointed out to me that, despite my efforts, the edging of the street curbing did not look all that great. Casting a critical eye on it, I had to agree. Thus, this week, I dug out my manual edger, my Weasel Edge-Chopper, and have been working at establishing neat edgings that I shall then maintain using the string trimmer.

The photo, below, shows a section of the street curb edging. The dark area next to the grass is where the grass had grown out over the concrete - that I had failed to note in edging with the trimmer. I removed about 40 feet of 4-inch-wide sod from along the curbing. I've not quite finished all of the manual edging, but the bit of street curbing that is left to be done has grass that has only overgrown the concrete by about one inch.

While pulling weeds in front, I noted that the one ice plant that has thrived for the past few years is in full bloom (below). The 1/2-inch of rain that we received yesterday made the weeds grow by about six inches in all directions.

When I stepped outside to work, this morning, I was greeted by an unusual sight - an Annual Cicada that had just emerged from its shell. It is on a dill weed that is growing in the rose garden.

Added about 24 hours later - in response to Stu's having asked about the size of cicadas. The photo, below, is out of focus, but will give the idea of size on this particular cicada. I'm judging this cicada's length, nose-to-wingtip, to be about three inches - perhaps a little larger than "normal" in my experience. More information may be found at Common cicadas of Kansas, but in my limited browsing, I didn't see mention of sizes of the numerous varieties listed/shown. BTW: There are nearly 200 varieties (species & sub-species) in North America and over 3,000 world-wide.

Wikipedia notes that "The adult insect, known as an imago, is 2 to 5 cm (1 to 2 in) in total length in most species. The largest, the empress cicada (Megapomponia imperatoria), has a head-body length around 7 cm (2.8 in), and its wingspan is 18–20 cm (7–8 in).^[7][23]"

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

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.