tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89648502742954355462024-03-18T21:52:29.035-05:00Riverbend JournalEdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.comBlogger441125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-17995605968791391612024-03-18T05:00:00.000-05:002024-03-18T05:00:00.136-05:00Revitalized With New Wheels<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEneXZvPTu9aI3tzpvUFMwy4ISE5nTuSmYYW2URupnNa7TBLR2Jr6tKxtMuibJnOAHnk9hsCASqWVyvA41Cwpr7GSSEeiO_yU-zP2jHJZNiukysEFIr5L3oSCBdzG0AubwZhfQUcwS1TdQleQKuqV4YcEAqPCAobxDnO3doktbeiQsgRV4_S3M3d0U4l8/s2016/IMG_5215.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEneXZvPTu9aI3tzpvUFMwy4ISE5nTuSmYYW2URupnNa7TBLR2Jr6tKxtMuibJnOAHnk9hsCASqWVyvA41Cwpr7GSSEeiO_yU-zP2jHJZNiukysEFIr5L3oSCBdzG0AubwZhfQUcwS1TdQleQKuqV4YcEAqPCAobxDnO3doktbeiQsgRV4_S3M3d0U4l8/w640-h480/IMG_5215.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>The new solid rubber wheels I ordered for the hose cart came in sooner than expected. I was concerned about the hub length, which none of the venders provided dimensions for but it was exactly the same hub length as the old wheels. My leap of faith paid off and within 10 minutes, I had the old wheels swapped for the new ones. The new ones also came with extra bearings for a larger axle but since the installed bearings fit my axle, they are unneeded. They will go into my parts bin where I will most likely forget about them until someone spots them before my estate sale starts up. If I'm lucky, the right project will come my way and I'll have a handful of bearings to repurpose. </p><p>Since as I write this, right before leaving for our vacation, when it was still very cold outside, I didn't get the hoses sorted out and some of them removed. There is plenty of time for that when spring is here in force. Best of all, I won't have to air up the tires on the hose cart when the time comes!</p><p> *********************</p><p>Just a bit of house keeping. We got back from our vacation yesterday sometime, or at least we would have if everything went right. I'm sure with the associated jet lag and the girls wanting their electronic time before going to school tomorrow, my time will be limited on the computer and so I'm using this post to bridge the gap until I get some computer time and can write up a few posts on our trip. Those should hit this blog on Wednesday morning.</p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-45105164244694800632024-03-08T05:00:00.037-06:002024-03-08T05:00:00.124-06:00Family Vacay<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2SeSGAFQcKnckb7aG-uJ9oR-2rE4qaCBrZORnqC7KxgoMpv7RzOF7x8z1w2UrJfsYzkMbgz-yNiitxwJ7yFCargeyV_RJ2tzpsdS2M6xc91384Y5iKHUdXJkSGZ8sVJrZw-aAEqhH3AxJC_uYAUxXlBc6Gblho2xCEliL9CN1cT7iZGKfa6zJJIhFs0g/s1024/Family%20Vacation.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2SeSGAFQcKnckb7aG-uJ9oR-2rE4qaCBrZORnqC7KxgoMpv7RzOF7x8z1w2UrJfsYzkMbgz-yNiitxwJ7yFCargeyV_RJ2tzpsdS2M6xc91384Y5iKHUdXJkSGZ8sVJrZw-aAEqhH3AxJC_uYAUxXlBc6Gblho2xCEliL9CN1cT7iZGKfa6zJJIhFs0g/w640-h640/Family%20Vacation.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A.I. Generated Image of Our Family Vacation</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>As an Honor student, our eldest had the opportunity to go to Japan on Spring Break this year through her school. But for some reason not enough Honors students wanted to go and so they opened it up to anyone. Our daughter wasn't enthused with this development which meant a lot more kids and so asked if she could get a full refund and we go somewhere else as a family instead.</p><p>Sure, we said, you plan it all and we'll go wherever you like. Consider this our graduation gift to you.</p><p>So here we are in the picture above for the next 10 days. Doing what, I haven't a clue since I didn't plan a thing. But I think it is easily guessable and should you not be able too, I'll fill you in with all the details when we get back. </p><p style="text-align: center;">***********</p><p>A late update to this post. Two days before we were to leave, a major airline in a foreign country announced a strike for all their ground crews. Although our flights aren't on their airline, we do fly through their national hub. Our airline has already warned us (in a generic email) of probable issues and waived rebooking fees if we go through their website. I tried and was given eight options. Seven of those options would rebook us on the very airline having the strike. The only option that doesn't, does indeed take us around this country by adding a stop and half a day to the journey while flying on the same two airlines we are currently booked on and with very very short connections. </p><p>From what I have read online at this point, the strike is planned to end the day after we arrive in this country to make our connection. Past strikes have happened before and it sounds like they do rebook if your flight got affected and you are compensated for expenses if temporarily stranded. So right now, I'm inclined to roll the dice and just continue on as planned, assuming our airline from the U.S. still takes off for this airport, and hope that ground crews on strike for only the one airline, doesn't necessarily mean our airline will be affected. If not, we may spend a day in a country we weren't planning on waiting for another flight to our destination. Fortunately, we don't have any hard and fast dates until mid trip. </p><p><i>The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. - Robert Burns</i></p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-79971169962053509312024-03-06T05:00:00.022-06:002024-03-06T05:00:00.142-06:00Ordering Parts For the Next Project<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8XkgTV_b6Udh6QEnsNbyzYRGOfm1Wq-sGGk0GfzR2Y5KbK7dTZO9rD7hXqoAi801EwBPa8SibAdQC2zdlY1oCkEZPPHm50iZesev_CPtMA86Msm0p6OhwhmEzJucbEurYW43PGRV54ZPIkaEIwnpMnFHMIL-RsdB8LvWXMer64e9RiHfbKcrshfHzShE/s1280/IMG_5210.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1172" data-original-width="1280" height="586" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8XkgTV_b6Udh6QEnsNbyzYRGOfm1Wq-sGGk0GfzR2Y5KbK7dTZO9rD7hXqoAi801EwBPa8SibAdQC2zdlY1oCkEZPPHm50iZesev_CPtMA86Msm0p6OhwhmEzJucbEurYW43PGRV54ZPIkaEIwnpMnFHMIL-RsdB8LvWXMer64e9RiHfbKcrshfHzShE/w640-h586/IMG_5210.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Although I won't get this project done before spring break arrives, I did start it. At our old farm garden, the hydrant that we obtained water from was probably 200 yards away and required a fair amount of hose to reach it. My parents used this reel and hose and then when we took it over and expanded it, we also used it. As we were cleaning up our garden things to bring up here, I rescued it to perhaps use for our new garden.<p></p><p>It is on the backside of the house but not nearly as far. I'm guessing we probably only need 200 feet to reach our garden. But the old tires on this reel are beyond shot and some don't hold air anymore. Over the years, I've gotten in the habit of replacing these small pneumatic tires with solid rubber ones and have been much happier since. </p><p>So I brought the reel into the garage and took off one of the wheels for measurements. It took some searching but I think I found some solid rubber wheels that will work. They are missing the hub length dimension but just from the scale of the picture, they should be close enough and I do have a bit of leeway since a threaded nut holds everything on.</p><p>They are on order and will hopefully arrive before spring break. If they indeed work as I hope, I should be able to swap them on fairly easily and then roll this cart around instead of dragging it like I have to now. I don't need all that hose so will strip off most of it and store it somewhere as spare. That will also make it much easier to move around and help increase the water pressure should we use it to attach to a sprinkler for emergency irrigation in case our severe drought continues on through this summer.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivxVlpSFBlJCQQiBju5KVIHbSZErXHqhTLK_LH83bli1Cn7VhCxCvCT87rDgMYOWE4poQnjP9G5iQUdPIJbnPRQN8N5lOpZY5lCqfbw7x-taz6u-o4ED0JAVfkheowSlVPH8Iz98-PxnrfOwe9th2lbuj0oAILYlSjacSl0CBQmNmM9EHzKIFzhMDmcW4/s2016/IMG_5211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivxVlpSFBlJCQQiBju5KVIHbSZErXHqhTLK_LH83bli1Cn7VhCxCvCT87rDgMYOWE4poQnjP9G5iQUdPIJbnPRQN8N5lOpZY5lCqfbw7x-taz6u-o4ED0JAVfkheowSlVPH8Iz98-PxnrfOwe9th2lbuj0oAILYlSjacSl0CBQmNmM9EHzKIFzhMDmcW4/w640-h480/IMG_5211.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-49165846679630304942024-03-04T07:30:00.000-06:002024-03-04T07:55:25.502-06:00The New Wood Rack<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTm4Jo-8PG_QIQ-5eXFVuGnfE6XiAkyKIz7Pcxwu314pIcHwqqMqldF4r9JK9rvJ_ILiu5UYwgbjoOaNslNTBa68ZFLHPWHtJN0-wy2YuP9-mZcYagcnnWovAEtAFIO5EarCQtZjs9165oUIgpXK49ujev0YCwjM667cnRIHKjLDncIyuTugWsB_b27eQ/s837/Wood%20Rack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="837" data-original-width="718" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTm4Jo-8PG_QIQ-5eXFVuGnfE6XiAkyKIz7Pcxwu314pIcHwqqMqldF4r9JK9rvJ_ILiu5UYwgbjoOaNslNTBa68ZFLHPWHtJN0-wy2YuP9-mZcYagcnnWovAEtAFIO5EarCQtZjs9165oUIgpXK49ujev0YCwjM667cnRIHKjLDncIyuTugWsB_b27eQ/w550-h640/Wood%20Rack.jpg" width="550" /></a></div><br />For most things I build out of wood, I start with some sort of rough design. Sometimes I just use a pencil and paper and other times where I will need to estimate quantities to purchase material in, I'll use a free online CAD program to get an idea. Above is an incomplete design using SketchUp but enough that I can get everything I need from it.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje91ADFdwyDjFvv64A-G2PswEzmdQaIJVQLj1iBW_-B7KtFBXWFHZjbO9fGUc72wOljZtYkwIdXT4nC-2wKke1nBDX7IQB9pYEeTHZqSCY2-yA_D0vEqhjBCg6ze_9KLpx3dtSm_cn7BjUzxJ6fF0ogz5qYORBnpIOFVNy5rICkGd5Z0Cw0WdAWqUmKa0/s1604/IMG_5205.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1254" data-original-width="1604" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje91ADFdwyDjFvv64A-G2PswEzmdQaIJVQLj1iBW_-B7KtFBXWFHZjbO9fGUc72wOljZtYkwIdXT4nC-2wKke1nBDX7IQB9pYEeTHZqSCY2-yA_D0vEqhjBCg6ze_9KLpx3dtSm_cn7BjUzxJ6fF0ogz5qYORBnpIOFVNy5rICkGd5Z0Cw0WdAWqUmKa0/w640-h500/IMG_5205.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>I could have just built it in place but that would have required lots of trips around the house and up and down the steep ramp to access my lower back yard. It would have required lots of kneeling on uneven concrete to try and get things fastened together. So I designed this to be built in sections where I can comfortably work at waist level on my work bench and just carry the completed sections together and fasten together. Above is the framed out pieces waiting for some siding to be attached to the smaller ones.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzApy720aZlXcFb6KqOY-nCpxwNGv-r-6S-yOMZmKccd8CejmnwaJSgVM7k7ZJUI8mOXffqv2SsF3BmeTyGqrAf87OPKnRuxGq7uo2Qwi4WZ39i9z-THHbfxSQP54GAjZE2DUL1l6eYEix7oWpi0Opc5d41dn76tpM-ytcbDFAyNbBSTqe6gqtfhzZhf0/s1615/IMG_5206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1338" data-original-width="1615" height="530" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzApy720aZlXcFb6KqOY-nCpxwNGv-r-6S-yOMZmKccd8CejmnwaJSgVM7k7ZJUI8mOXffqv2SsF3BmeTyGqrAf87OPKnRuxGq7uo2Qwi4WZ39i9z-THHbfxSQP54GAjZE2DUL1l6eYEix7oWpi0Opc5d41dn76tpM-ytcbDFAyNbBSTqe6gqtfhzZhf0/w640-h530/IMG_5206.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>The back panel was heavier than I wanted to lift without any siding so I just fastened it in place and attached the siding later.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq30nd_V_4w4cXTLoNSA578dGecgwWisTbiWZrvzGt-0OVBPW0bbXQN5yJEqFGJgkl4eXHy7BlnAYIS_PsfgykAWjEVCqITxC8tJNcxAtp_m872277Aur424cbBiAHavj04WA-7zTfef4GL-PK-huMCvIj7Siq9YU9ARJLOIWmIp7ocv46QPI5JSiM6s8/s1385/IMG_5208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1308" data-original-width="1385" height="604" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq30nd_V_4w4cXTLoNSA578dGecgwWisTbiWZrvzGt-0OVBPW0bbXQN5yJEqFGJgkl4eXHy7BlnAYIS_PsfgykAWjEVCqITxC8tJNcxAtp_m872277Aur424cbBiAHavj04WA-7zTfef4GL-PK-huMCvIj7Siq9YU9ARJLOIWmIp7ocv46QPI5JSiM6s8/w640-h604/IMG_5208.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>I went back on forth what to do about the siding. I could have bought some cheaper materials but then would have to paint the pieces, front and back, before putting together which would have taken days of time. I looked at decking, siding, anything that was meant to last for a long time outdoors, but everything was so expensive these days. Finally I found some cedar "nickel gap" siding that was still expensive but more reasonably priced and I used up all my accumulated 11% off rebates that Menards does, to buy the cedar lumber. My thought was that it would go on easy and didn't need any painting or finishing. I would just fasten it to my frame made out of ground contact treated two-by material and let everything gray naturally with time. The cedar turned out to be miserable to work with. It split. It was warped, it was cupped. Despite hand selecting all 25 boards I needed for this project, I still needed ratchet straps (red strap on the left side) to pull things into a somewhat straight line at points of the project.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidBW8j7VevzpDk6NrDePd7FlaOw1PDZa63B4ts8yBw5hJ3x-pWcfM7Jx_ZJIt8SWtXZrFh0Jp5rpxDOyYlCOZrP4ZXzEEzPRECQjkE_whsBKQLhrCpRHWbff3K3l04KJZWqnAve0xkX5Ife8v3cF0pFxJbB325FhB2bbwzU2uIBHe5iU2YU9oYXq3G0i4/s1312/IMG_5209.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1312" data-original-width="1298" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidBW8j7VevzpDk6NrDePd7FlaOw1PDZa63B4ts8yBw5hJ3x-pWcfM7Jx_ZJIt8SWtXZrFh0Jp5rpxDOyYlCOZrP4ZXzEEzPRECQjkE_whsBKQLhrCpRHWbff3K3l04KJZWqnAve0xkX5Ife8v3cF0pFxJbB325FhB2bbwzU2uIBHe5iU2YU9oYXq3G0i4/w634-h640/IMG_5209.jpg" width="634" /></a></div><p>But I persevered and got everything built. I made a sloping roof to shed moisture though it shouldn't get a lot since the deck above will take much of it. I plan on moving the last of the tarped up firewood to this tomorrow and then perhaps over time this spring, haul up chunks of other trees that I have cut into rounds and piled up and attempt to split enough to fill up the new rack for a couple year's worth of fires. </p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-14585243965242290542024-03-01T05:00:00.079-06:002024-03-01T05:00:00.153-06:00Unwanted Anxiety<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLt4Pm8X1s-agBdNOl3bRfX9G36UnhaY1uP-LOvpiyI7ZZD_iSoBKcuIAUSkQyqQZWFMq4LoHN2IiGo2pn4ZNBSxD5_1DkswXMUwooETeGGydeRXmTkjm1C-9jwXxGPEbnJirILo6eIZliE9J-eSWV46iVWZpZ3dBrHm14eqC3Ou85kcX_Q_a-2BMjtbI/s1024/Death%20and%20Taxes%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLt4Pm8X1s-agBdNOl3bRfX9G36UnhaY1uP-LOvpiyI7ZZD_iSoBKcuIAUSkQyqQZWFMq4LoHN2IiGo2pn4ZNBSxD5_1DkswXMUwooETeGGydeRXmTkjm1C-9jwXxGPEbnJirILo6eIZliE9J-eSWV46iVWZpZ3dBrHm14eqC3Ou85kcX_Q_a-2BMjtbI/w640-h640/Death%20and%20Taxes%202.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A.I. Generated Image</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p>Not long ago, I wrote about my struggle to do taxes this year after sweeping tax changes in our state. I allowed several state tax form updates to roll through and then input my information and compared it to my previous year as best as I could to make sure it was in order. With my confidence high, and owing considerable more taxes than last year due to the changes, I electronically filed my taxes. The very next day they were accepted by the state.</p><p>A week later by the day, I get an official looking letter from our state's Department of Revenue saying that I severely underpaid them in taxes and now owe more plus am being penalized for owing as much as I do. The letter included the data that they had received in columns with labels across three pages of paper with a balance at the end. I panicked a bit.</p><p>The next day I pulled out my copy of my state tax form and started comparing values to see if I could decipher where "I had gone wrong." It had to be my fault right since theirs is automatically uploaded to software with no room for interpretation. Eventually I found a value for "Iowa Net Modifications" that was a lot different between their form and what was entered onto my tax form. That space in summary is where we report a federal tax refund from the previous year to be taxed as income, minus any deductions above and beyond the standard deduction which we are obligated to take this year. (One of the previously mentioned changes.) If the value is positive, it is added to our Adjusted Gross Income to be taxed. If it is negative, is is subtracted from our Adjusted Gross Income so we don't pay as much taxes. The key take away is that we are supposed to subtract one from the other.</p><p>According to the Department of Revenue's answer, they added both together. Normally this wouldn't be a problem but the previous tax year of 2022 wasn't normal for us. My wife had been underpaid for two years and they finally figured that out and paid her, all at once in a lump sum with the appropriate, albeit way to much, federal and state taxes taken out. Thus our refund last year was about 400% larger than we normally expect. Now, per the rules of our state, we have to pay income taxes on it again even though we did that back in 2022. Right or wrong, them are the rules and I am happy to abide by them. </p><p>But those same rules say we can contribute a significant amount of money to our children's state 529 plans for college and deduct that amount from our income that gets taxed. We maxed that out in 2022 and since it is now the only thing we can deduct above and beyond the standard deduction these days, I took it. That amount nearly offset the large refund and the difference (that went into the space for Iowa Net Modifications) was very small. However, the Department of Revenue added those figures together. Why?</p><p>The included a phone number to call if I had questions so I took them up on the offer. After getting into the phone cue, I had around 80 minutes of waiting to do. While waiting, I pondered what I was going to say. Would the person be able to look at my taxes and say that despite it saying subtract, the state added and that I was right? Would they pass me from person to person with no real idea of what was wrong until I gave up in frustration and hired a tax lawyer to go over everything and prepare an appeal? Something in between those worries?</p><p>When the lady who helped me answered the phone, she took down my information and asked about my problem which I started explaining. She only responded in asking for details as she made notes. I was fairly certain things weren't going my way until I offhandedly commented something along the lines of, "it looks like the Department of Revenue is adding my 529 contributions to my income instead of deducting them." That rang the bell. Immediately she offered up that there was a known error that was causing issues for anyone who made 529 contributions and have already filed their taxes, i.e. me. They are in the process of correcting the error and will send out a corrected form for those who owe less in taxes or for those getting a small refund, me, they would just process my return as normal and electronically deposit my refund in a few weeks. </p><p>Since I was flagged and sent this notice, I'm not optimistic but my refund was smaller than the fine they said I owed for not paying a lot of taxes so if I get zero, I'm probably coming out ahead. But it was a morning spent on a computer staring at tax form, on the phone waiting while dozens/hundreds of people before me also having the same issue were being helped and not being productive. I still haven't seen any mention of it on our state's Department of Revenue's website warning there might be issues and to hold on for a few weeks before getting anxiety. That would have been nice.</p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-5504855973476724922024-02-28T05:00:00.012-06:002024-02-28T05:00:00.125-06:00My Neighbor<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlfayq_8EQKtTmxMjfY-EhYfmYaMmL7RvluMlrVKA1rk7tLy7mQTlt2INv2LL8ni-m4KGVRI3n6CGzGTBaFAMxZi-d0ddUEXctU9uRLh2xZ3-mP_06XHMepeBrszGRVBOryY3nPJ6TeogMloB3nKQh0OjxvhhAL4eMBWMJzf_jNvDIIpiMzZSwe2eD4dw/s1024/Neighbor.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlfayq_8EQKtTmxMjfY-EhYfmYaMmL7RvluMlrVKA1rk7tLy7mQTlt2INv2LL8ni-m4KGVRI3n6CGzGTBaFAMxZi-d0ddUEXctU9uRLh2xZ3-mP_06XHMepeBrszGRVBOryY3nPJ6TeogMloB3nKQh0OjxvhhAL4eMBWMJzf_jNvDIIpiMzZSwe2eD4dw/w640-h640/Neighbor.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A.I. Generated</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>I have written some about my recently deceased neighbor over the years but thought I would dedicate a post to her.</p><p>When we were looking to move to this community, long story short, we purchased a small run down house next to a beautiful sprawling brick home in a fairly nice neighborhood. Our house was truly the worst house by far on the block. We didn't know who the owners were of the brick home and never met them before we moved into the house on a hot sunny day. </p><p>But soon after we moved in, our neighbor brought over a plate of chocolate chip cookies for us and introduced herself. As it turned out, her husband had died the month before. She met our oldest daughter, (our youngest not yet born) and liked her enough to invite her over to pet her cats anytime she liked. Our oldest wasn't a big fan of cats back then so never really took her up on it other than petting them on her doorstep with me standing there talking to my neighbor. Later we reciprocated by bringing her some fresh sweet corn from our garden.</p><p>In the months and years that followed, I learned from her visits or from other sources, that she and her husband had bought a franchised restaurant many years ago. Then they added another restaurant under the same franchise and another and another. Judging from what I gathered from online sources and newspapers, at their peak, they owned well over 100 of them through three states before her husband died unexpectedly of a heart attack. They also owned several large and profitable businesses in our town as well. </p><p>I've heard lots of stories of their wealth over the years and though I'm sure many are true, I never attached them to my neighbor. To me, she was just a kind, now widowed lady, living next door by herself. I always told her that she could call me for any reason if she needed help but she never did. She had a dedicated handyman (the same one who also died recently after giving my daughter some valuable coins and other things) who did all those things for her. So our relationship was strictly that of being neighbors and saying a few things over the proverbial fence every now and then. She more than once sat on our couch and talked though I have never been inside her house. She kept her private life guarded and I don't blame her. I'm sure she was always asked for money by those around her.</p><p>She only had one daughter and before the start of Covid, that daughter moved back in with her mom, my neighbor. The daughter was in poor health and told us privately that her mom was having "health problems" without being specific and so they looked after each other. Our relationship continued on the same though with the trading of food and occasional neighborly chats. We suspected that my neighbor was developing memory issues and later, her daughter confirmed it when she told us her mother didn't even know who I was once when I stopped to drop off some garden produce. We saw less of them after that, I'm sure by design as the daughter I'm sure was trying to protect her mom. But the few times we met, she was aware enough to have a short conversation.</p><p>Then 13 months ago, an event which I'm sure I wrote about on here, we saw ambulances late in the evening at our neighbor's place and my wife, a physician, went over to offer assistance if able. It turned out that the daughter had died, most likely the night before, and my neighbor, lost in her dementia hadn't known that. She thought her daughter was still sleeping. An employee of the daughter, who has a show horse farm in southern Missouri, called for a welfare check which is how everything was discovered. Until then, we hadn't known our neighbor's memory issues were that severe. </p><p>That is when the handyman, stopped in and arranged for the home care professionals to look after our neighbor and also asked us to keep an eye out for her which we dutifully did. Other than a handful of times when I saw our neighbor getting her mail or sweeping her sidewalk under the watchful eye of the home care professional, we never had anymore interactions with her. The rotation of cars became like a clock to our neighborhood which is why all the cars in her driveway the week before caught my attention.</p><p>I'm not sure what will happen to the estate with only three nieces and nephews totally unrelated to each other other than my neighbor's marriage. I know there was an airport hanger full of restored old cars, a yacht and expensive Florida waterfront condo, the profitable businesses here in town, along with the 100+ restaurant franchise, (I think) all sold before the death of the daughter. So there is most likely a sizeable estate. I hope they had a iron clad will and it all gets divided up without quarrel. </p><p>I'll miss my neighbor and her chocolate chip cookies and the quiet unassuming relationship we had over the years. I'm praying that whomever buys that house next to ours, will also have a similar relationship with us. Hopefully they will not judge us harshly as we still own the smallest house on the block (by far) but it now looks a lot more respectable than it once did when we first bought it.</p><p>Finally, to close this post out, at the funeral which we attended, the officiant asked the 40 of us attending whom among us had eaten our neighbor's chocolate chip cookies. Everyone there that I saw raised their hand.</p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-81012156689550964342024-02-26T05:00:00.002-06:002024-02-26T05:00:00.163-06:00Filling Up Time While Waiting On Spring<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMB77sFzGEOg0M528MKMV6NAgRRIToVwyRhwrKpuyseoIocq_QXBvUHAk-vL7iMY7PYEuyKubQKSehOGcEQR2ez4beaA5I2WSzrSmehiFUy6GZmgC2LBP4uuf7cBgPM3YGCEUMWaYfwKV5hCo59CWrWi-UrXHqG8HXFFURGMOiUW3nVy60c3Xn960tjTQ/s2016/IMG_5203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMB77sFzGEOg0M528MKMV6NAgRRIToVwyRhwrKpuyseoIocq_QXBvUHAk-vL7iMY7PYEuyKubQKSehOGcEQR2ez4beaA5I2WSzrSmehiFUy6GZmgC2LBP4uuf7cBgPM3YGCEUMWaYfwKV5hCo59CWrWi-UrXHqG8HXFFURGMOiUW3nVy60c3Xn960tjTQ/w640-h480/IMG_5203.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>We continue to get warm spring days in the middle of February which leaves me a bit confused as to what to do. I don't want to start a huge outside project with snow and cold still very much possible. Starting an inside project with spring possibly around the corner doesn't make a lot of sense either. So I cast my eyes around and decided to tackle this corner of our property beneath the deck out back.</p><p>Long term I want to remove the concrete and the deck above and pour a larger patio with a somewhat enclosed 3 season room above. But that is probably still a ways off. Until then though, I would like to neaten this area up. </p><p>The hose real and hoses are from the farm. I would like to replace the always flat rubber tires on it with solid rubber tires and then use that for our garden since the only spigot I have outside is on the far side of the house as the garden. Behind that is a temporary cabinet I built to hold our gas cooktop while we were remodeling the kitchen 5 years ago. I wanted to get rid of it as soon as the new kitchen was functioning but my mother-in-law drug it out back to use and it is about rotted apart. I will call our waste management company next week, haul it to the curb and be gone with it before she returns later this spring. Behind that covered in a black tarp, the neat one on the right, is my tiller, waiting to be used soon. On the left side of this photo is an old planter box we attempted to grow things in. It didn't work well since it was in the shady for 9 months of the year. I'm going to empty out the soil and salvage/dispose of the wood. </p><p>Behind that is really the object I want to tackle first though. When we first bought this property, my brother and I cut down around a dozen trees and turned them into firewood for our fireplace steps behind me when I took this picture. Back then it filled up that entire bay, concrete to deck joists. What is left is under the sad remains of the tarp I bought new way back then but it more like a lace doily these days. The tarp doesn't keep the wood dry anymore and I no longer wish to keep that much piled up against my house and underneath my deck.</p><p>So I am going to build a firewood rack to keep it dry that will sit up against the house where the hose reel and the the former gas cooktop cabinet are sitting. I have plenty of wood that I can cut up to fill it up and I'm sizing it to hold about two or three years worth of wood instead of the 11+ years we did the first time. </p><p>Just a note for the curious about the wood planter in the far background with the white glass enclosed box with a flower in it in the far background near the stairs from the deck. That is my mother-in-law's prayer garden that she keeps up. When she is here, the flower is replaced by a status of Mary in that white glass enclosed box that I built for her to keep it dry. Since it isn't actually underneath the deck and gets enough moisture and sunlight and fills up and weird corner between the retaining wall and the patio, it will stay for now.</p><p>Perhaps by the time I get all this stuff fixed up, spring will be here and we can start in on the new garden which I'm sure will keep up busy this spring.</p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-66703698160761617192024-02-23T05:00:00.019-06:002024-02-23T05:00:00.130-06:00Cause For Concern<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir3jhEqXRet7gc8HdwnAy3KkUc80WIBF11YrCcXIcqAKnu5IlMEELmSkoVu93pOV7T-ZTl4MiIsnOoglAKZi38HL8K1a0tvh2TnHkEu04zXererJIKCA4KK90PxohP0o_prlJRTJRB5CN-txcs7g9lY3nRHQChRm7rGIsZYn4h73_786VXbmH0A4JFYjM/s1024/Ambulance%20at%20Neighbor's%20House.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir3jhEqXRet7gc8HdwnAy3KkUc80WIBF11YrCcXIcqAKnu5IlMEELmSkoVu93pOV7T-ZTl4MiIsnOoglAKZi38HL8K1a0tvh2TnHkEu04zXererJIKCA4KK90PxohP0o_prlJRTJRB5CN-txcs7g9lY3nRHQChRm7rGIsZYn4h73_786VXbmH0A4JFYjM/w640-h640/Ambulance%20at%20Neighbor's%20House.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A.I. Generated Image</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>On a sunny and warm day in the middle of <strike>winter</strike> February, I was raking up sticks under the oak tree in front of our house. It has an oak gall problem which causes it to shed lots the tips of it's branches, especially when helped with the 16" of wet dense snow we received earlier. It creates a matt of twigs that need to be disposed before mowing season comes around.</p><p>As I was pausing my efforts, I happened to notice my neighbor's house where there was a trailer backed up to the garage, a SUV backed up to the house, and another car parked in the driveway. She is a kind older widow lady who over the years has brought us lots of chocolate chip cookies in exchange for fresh farm produce from our garden. Then a couple years ago, her youngest daughter died unexpectantly at home and we found out that our neighbor had severe dementia. We had suspected she might over the years but hadn't realized it had worsened considerably in recent years. Since then, she had had round the clock health care professionals looking after her and thus other than a few rare sightings of her collecting her mail, under the watchful eye of a caretaker, we haven't seen much of her.</p><p>So when I saw the vehicles backed up to the house, I suddenly remembered a day last week when there had been four cars all parked in front of the house. Since she can't drive, normally we just see the caretaker's car unless it is shift change and then there will be two for a few minutes. Worried, I called the neighbor on the other side of my neighbor's property and asked if they knew anything. They said they didn't know anything other than they had seen an ambulance there the same day I had seen all the cars last week. </p><p>We decided that we needed to get some more information and so the neighbors on the other side did the asking. I guess besides her dementia, our common neighbor has a pretty bad heart issue that required her to go to the hospital. According to the caretaker, she is expected home tomorrow but will be under home hospice care from now on. </p><p>It is unexpected news as other than the dementia, our neighbor has always been in great shape for her age. I wonder if the heart condition is genetic since her daughter (who was in horrible shape) died from a heart condition at a really young age. It also makes me ponder our the last thing I ever said to our neighbor. I don't know what it was but I know it would probably have been more thoughtful had I known it would be the last time I would get to talk to her. </p><p>I finished up my raking and hauled the debris down to the burn pile I didn't get burned this winter, again. Life has to go on whether we like it or not.</p><p><i>Post Addendum: My neighbor did some home the following day I wrote the above post. I saw the ambulance pull in around four in the afternoon though I didn't stay to see her exit the vehicle. The following day, at about the same time, I pulled into my driveway and noticed a hearse parked in the driveway. It pulled out about 30 minutes later followed by the string of other cars that had also been parked there. It seems like the book has ended for my neighbor.</i></p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-75374414933069447852024-02-21T05:00:00.001-06:002024-02-21T05:00:00.132-06:00The Creative One<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqiV8I423Ojs-2gx5yOb3r7uCXu9jdtzMK11FR1Z__y8yKUMgIO7xy07zInEu1wBm1q9roGTlQ4E39wOx5a2Bo22Xkic8pc2BA-9oRm0cPOwxpxXOxvlUNiFctBHlem3zjQlZPHMMxGqZlykE36whjkRaewuLxZui_0CLRF1YcfgxvMcwB76dqCNRJjyU/s1817/IMG_5192.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1817" data-original-width="1794" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqiV8I423Ojs-2gx5yOb3r7uCXu9jdtzMK11FR1Z__y8yKUMgIO7xy07zInEu1wBm1q9roGTlQ4E39wOx5a2Bo22Xkic8pc2BA-9oRm0cPOwxpxXOxvlUNiFctBHlem3zjQlZPHMMxGqZlykE36whjkRaewuLxZui_0CLRF1YcfgxvMcwB76dqCNRJjyU/w632-h640/IMG_5192.jpg" width="632" /></a></div><p></p><p>For the last 14 or so years, whenever Valentines Day rolled around, I would scrounge around the house for a box that one of my daughters could use to hold their class Valentine card swap, cut a slot in it and let them paint it. It was always a simple box out of plain cardboard or sometimes we covered it in white printer paper and scotch tape so it could be decorated more easily.</p><p>So imagine my surprise when I came home from working a charity event and saw this green dinosaur sitting on our kitchen table drying from it's paint job. My youngest made this for her final year of the Valentine card swap (next year will be middle school where it is no longer practiced as a class) without any prompting from me.</p><p>Inside the mouth, is another hole leading down the "throat" for her classmates Valentines to go. I was very proud of her effort though not terribly surprised. She has always had a penchant for art. Even before she went to school as a Kindergartner, she was drawing people with actually proportions and not just as stick figures. I often go looking for her after not hearing a peep for several hours and will find her in her bedroom drawing, animating on her tablet, painting or some other craft. </p><p>As someone who always loved creating art when I was younger, but never seem to find the time these days, it is nice to see this creativity blossom. </p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-5513177043183795042024-02-19T05:00:00.002-06:002024-02-19T05:00:00.136-06:00Tears of Joy<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq0r5kq_9hlV1Qu-suhCO8RYGcWxzAxIOJeByV_Np_M9ulORi1UrJgB7cpkqPIiaCOHRe0XH2f-hv_l7Y9LTzTFfwBzwoc-2KgjFlQ11-ytstU9ojkdbxJlDq3iWiLf9GdX045cf9kQwX5sf5nK2F0uSCpSZ5nbTihA-CXAduERzn4SZiT3tTUVZ_8Nz4/s1024/Tears%20of%20Joy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq0r5kq_9hlV1Qu-suhCO8RYGcWxzAxIOJeByV_Np_M9ulORi1UrJgB7cpkqPIiaCOHRe0XH2f-hv_l7Y9LTzTFfwBzwoc-2KgjFlQ11-ytstU9ojkdbxJlDq3iWiLf9GdX045cf9kQwX5sf5nK2F0uSCpSZ5nbTihA-CXAduERzn4SZiT3tTUVZ_8Nz4/w640-h640/Tears%20of%20Joy.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A.I. generated image and no, my daughter doesn't really have three arms.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p>When our eldest graduated from the small Catholic school she attended and was headed to the public Middle School halfway across town, we decided it was time for her to have her first phone. We bought her a small flip phone and it came in handy during her time there. When she headed to the high school, we upgraded her phone to a smart one using some promotional deal and saved her from all the embarrassment she claimed to be getting. Four years later, she is heading off to college soon and we decided she really needed a better phone and so upgraded it this past Christmas. Between the old smart phone and the old flip phone, I hoped to get one to work for our youngest who is graduating from the same Catholic School and heading to Middle School, this time in a different building on the way far side of town.</p><p>I headed to the phone shop with my collection of phones and was soon informed that the battery life on the smart phone was so low, it really needed replaced to the tune of $100. (That might explain my eldest daughter's complaints of having to charge it several times just to get through a school day.) I asked about the flip phone but was told it is no longer supported and essentially a paper weight at this point. So I asked about the price of a new flip phone and was told it would cost $400. I really didn't want my youngest to have a smart phone from the get go, even though she uses her sister and mom's phones all the time. I thought using a flip phone would build character. I was about ready to pay for the flip phone when the lady running the store said that they were having a promotion right now that provided a free iPhone 13 for anyone signing up for a new line in their plan, which I was going to do. So all my plans went out the window and I got the free iPhone 13 and decided to surprise my youngest with it.</p><p>After she got home from school and some time had passed, I called her phone number to the phone hidden with the incoming mail, and then pretended surprise when I didn't recognize the ring tone. My youngest immediately found the phone and asked whose it was. I told her it was her phone.</p><p>I was expecting joy. I was expecting excitement. But I got a gush of tears and she raced off to her bedroom crying. I was a bit lost. Her sister, always the "horse whisperer" to her younger sister, went back to see what was the matter. Turns out, she felt like she didn't deserve such a nice phone that cost so much money. My heart was instantly overfilling. I had to explain that it didn't cost me money and was cheaper than the flip phone she had been expecting which is why she got such a nice phone. And yes, she deserved it. </p><p>For now, we have place restrictions on it. She can only use it to communicate with us and not to access the internet. She also isn't allowed to take it to school, the Catholic grade school yet as it really isn't necessary since I drop and pick her up there on a daily basis. Next year, since it is clear across town and in a really congested part of town, she will be riding buses back and forth and will have a way to call me if she misses a bus. </p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-21290889807466018972024-02-16T05:00:00.089-06:002024-02-16T05:00:00.135-06:00Fitting 10 lb of (Stuff) Into a 5 lb Bag<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMz8stKhrEf2x8eiGi5IrTHeB_q2TGeK5hzYHPx2BcwKTXOBsL1OCLUAolMA1SWB49cyy1PiNCyFVWrxTVgCS560pGmMQydnbxstIia3OtrmSIQXucn8MBkUKVakj5zJtDfjAx_HxmQugbIssiwruImN21azne2fvahRo_4jUUgvN3ws-kfiNpVI_1jhU/s1024/20%20lbs%20in%20a%205%20lbs%20bag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMz8stKhrEf2x8eiGi5IrTHeB_q2TGeK5hzYHPx2BcwKTXOBsL1OCLUAolMA1SWB49cyy1PiNCyFVWrxTVgCS560pGmMQydnbxstIia3OtrmSIQXucn8MBkUKVakj5zJtDfjAx_HxmQugbIssiwruImN21azne2fvahRo_4jUUgvN3ws-kfiNpVI_1jhU/w640-h640/20%20lbs%20in%20a%205%20lbs%20bag.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A.I. Interpretation of the saying, "trying to stuff 10 lb of (stuff) into a 5 lb bag."</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>I ordered a gel infused memory foam mattress topper for our bed from Amazon and it arrived in a shrink wrapped bag in a box. </p><p>I opened it and watched it inflate to ten times its former size like a wiggling anaconda trying to wrap up it's prey on my bed.</p><p>It was too small despite having ordered the correct size.</p><p>I was told I can return it free of charge.... just put it back in the box and apply the free shipping label.</p><p>Were they going to send me a vacuum press too? Um... no.</p><p>Solutions?</p><p>I was forced to use my "one time no return exclusion" from Amazon to get my money back and to keep the wrong sized mattress topper.</p><p>I ordered another one.... from a different company. It too was sporty to unwrap but at least was the correct size.</p><p>I tried to leave a review on the first one to warm others who might order this product and be shipped the wrong one at no fault of their own.</p><p>Denied. My review focused on shipping and delivery, an important concern for a inflating vacuum sealed object.</p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-27496386932715315852024-02-14T05:00:00.001-06:002024-02-14T05:00:00.263-06:00Cancelling Audible<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0sBaLe71jgmkDOMLN2abTyYtYe4Ylfu5iVgrtys8LtxOLWyrAJ6BATJLpOcE0ur4PoXwSYYrPtUtASACVtyW6Y7xRAqDTizih_yb5Ew3CX_XOoDhfVlOZqa7zvWSyuSALmEpjQ5lkvYyHBXfhG5OQatfq89cj19vZyhmuUhxuVmOX1tfMgQ5vOJSwBsI/s1024/Cant%20Cancel%20Membership.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0sBaLe71jgmkDOMLN2abTyYtYe4Ylfu5iVgrtys8LtxOLWyrAJ6BATJLpOcE0ur4PoXwSYYrPtUtASACVtyW6Y7xRAqDTizih_yb5Ew3CX_XOoDhfVlOZqa7zvWSyuSALmEpjQ5lkvYyHBXfhG5OQatfq89cj19vZyhmuUhxuVmOX1tfMgQ5vOJSwBsI/w640-h640/Cant%20Cancel%20Membership.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A.I. Generated Image</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I've been hearing/reading about others who use Audible as a resource to listen to books when they ordinarily wouldn't be able to such as driving, outside or simply doing some other task. Ahead of my flooring project, I thought I would give it a try and listened to the latest Harrison Scott Key book which I learned about through one of my fellow bloggers. </p><p>Signing up was simply clicking a button for a free trial offer for a month and entering a credit card number. I was assured I could cancel at any time. I explored the app for a few minutes and found it fairly easy to use and I was soon listening to my first book.</p><p>Overall, I enjoyed listening to the book while working on the floor or working outside, times I normally couldn't be reading. But I found just sitting in a chair at home while listening to be a bit awkward. I mean it was easy to sit and listen but for some reason, my mind would begin to wander, I guess because it felt I should be doing something, like moving a hand to turn a page occasionally or something. Regardless, I enjoyed the app and will probably at some point in the future return to it, especially if we have a long drive ahead.</p><p>But right now, I have enough books on hand to keep me busy for a year, or more, and would like to get through some of them before moving more towards the Audible app. So I went to cancel in the days before my free subscription renewed and charged my credit card.</p><p>I went to the Audible App but couldn't find a place to cancel.</p><p>I went to my Amazon account, owner of Audible, but couldn't find a place to cancel.</p><p>I read numerous articles showing me how to cancel my free subscription using the Audible App or Amazon account but in every single one, the directed me to navigate to a certain page where I could click the link "cancel my membership" but I did not have such a link. Some of these articles were as recently written as last month!</p><p>So I did another google search along the lines "can't find the link to cancel audible membership". After a few articles, I found one saying that I had to go back to my phone and go through my settings where Apple has a subscription menu and there, I finally found a link to cancel my Audible account. I did and it worked. </p><p>At this point, I'm not sure if it is Audible/Amazon just being difficult so that you can't easily cancel or if it has to do with their relationship with Apple. It shouldn't take this much effort to cancel a free trial membership... ever. But it is done and over.</p><p>However when, now if I sign up again, I'll have something to consider besides the subscription rate.</p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-78802972197218004102024-02-12T05:00:00.001-06:002024-02-12T05:00:00.404-06:00Death and Taxes<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy8XFAlUxtj5nqd0fBk_foQErAdrTlHzngncHQ2XbDQZ6EdSeXRKqXh9g__VWFIWEJ934FNJaCFQ7qPxau7EM0sdJNEhJoP7_nlHqZLla0qGZ1O-6tJGDI-Y_mKLUjpYHPvFxq-xu7ZdAEec0jXHo5lQu6LzMySbl_AhZoCQHGPepR7QWiXXBhHfZhB8s/s1024/Death%20and%20Taxes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy8XFAlUxtj5nqd0fBk_foQErAdrTlHzngncHQ2XbDQZ6EdSeXRKqXh9g__VWFIWEJ934FNJaCFQ7qPxau7EM0sdJNEhJoP7_nlHqZLla0qGZ1O-6tJGDI-Y_mKLUjpYHPvFxq-xu7ZdAEec0jXHo5lQu6LzMySbl_AhZoCQHGPepR7QWiXXBhHfZhB8s/w640-h640/Death%20and%20Taxes.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A.I. Generated Image</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think we've all heard the famous Benjamin Franklin quote, or at least the latter part of it where he said: "<span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">I'm beginning to think there won't be anything certain about taxes until my death.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Every year, I go into the tax season thinking that it should be relatively simple since nothing has changed but soon realize that nothing is the same because things have changed. While it doesn't necessarily make it harder to do the taxes, it does make it harder to compare this year with the previous year to make sure that something isn't off.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I guess with the flooring project being completed, I decided to start on my taxes a bit earlier this year than normal. My parents had </span>fraudulent<span style="font-family: inherit;"> taxes filed on their behalf once and had lots of ramifications so I try to get my filed as early as I can. To combat this fraud, experts say the first one to file, you or the fraudster, is the most quick and painless option. But when I plugged in all my numbers, I noticed the amount of tax owed was significantly different than last year. Because February was still a week away at that point, and February 1 is the first day I could file taxes anyway, I shelved the project. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I did start comparing W-2's from this year to previous years. This stems back from a couple years ago when we noticed that things didn't look correct. My wife met with her HR and sure enough, they were significantly underpaying her and had for two years! They of course paid her money do which drastically altered our taxes last year. Thus for the previous three years, it makes things difficult to compare. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;">This tax year (actually last year), my wife's company was spun off under new ownership (same overall company) so that means two W-2's to compare to previous ones. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;">Eventually, Iowa updated their tax form through TurboTax (the software I use) and the taxes owed looked a lot better but not quite the same, nor did it ask me for some of the paperwork I always input into the software. More research was done and then I found that my state had passed some legislation last year altering our tax code making it a bit more simple. The short version is that instead of being able to file your tax status independent of your federal taxes as either single, married filing jointly or married filing separately, we now automatically have to file the same status as our federal taxes. It has taken me years to figure out that filing "married filing separately" is the best route for our family and now that isn't an option. As a result, our taxes have essentially gone up since we no longer have options to reduce our taxable earning that we used to have. That explained the difference I was seeing.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;">Finally, two weeks later, my wife and I finally determined that in all likelihood, she is being paid what she earned, something we vigilantly check these days. I am still waiting one form that won't come in the mail for another week and then I can at last file taxes and be done with the problem. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;">All told, I have probably spent only four hours of my time doing taxes this year and learned a lot of new things for future years. Definitely worth it compared to the $250 I paid to have H&R Block do my taxes last some ten years ago. She took my money, spent 30 minutes typing my data into her software and collected my check. It was at that point I said I could do the same thing for a lot less and have been doing my own taxes with TurboTax every year since.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white;">But I have a feeling, the only time I will be able to enter my tax information, file them with federal and state within 30 minutes and be reasonably sure they are correct will be the year after I'm dead.</span></span></p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-14625593378404159542024-02-09T05:00:00.080-06:002024-02-09T05:00:00.257-06:00Time Through Vegetation<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguIm8n2dHUV0p89k4E2hQHYSpS7bgzKRM7AJOaO6PfjDSdwf9feY6cYEUMcBT98RLrd4sXMhVQvuXwO29TYYdlrdOtbOkmi6OG4dlK0epkOVMlwP7oxTwFAmoBfpFOWLubioCUPV3M1QAmYjm2HnQ7xKAwHYWN_rDc_axTXEL11r5R9KqBvyYgGbjo_TQ/s3264/IMG_2367.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguIm8n2dHUV0p89k4E2hQHYSpS7bgzKRM7AJOaO6PfjDSdwf9feY6cYEUMcBT98RLrd4sXMhVQvuXwO29TYYdlrdOtbOkmi6OG4dlK0epkOVMlwP7oxTwFAmoBfpFOWLubioCUPV3M1QAmYjm2HnQ7xKAwHYWN_rDc_axTXEL11r5R9KqBvyYgGbjo_TQ/w640-h480/IMG_2367.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2014</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>When I took this picture, I was focused more on the new concrete driveway than I was the vegetation on the left side but it is the first picture I can find that shows what I am going to write about. We had purchased this house three years prior and removed a giant large dead oak tree near the corner of the garage where the pad jogs to the left. We also did three other large dead trees on the far side of the house at the same time. All would have smashed our house to pieces had they fallen the wrong way. </p><p>Seven more years would go by and then on a warm spring day in 2021, while standing in the garage with my two girls, waiting for the school bus to come, the entire top half of the tree on the very left of the photo broke off and fell into our driveway completely blocking it. I have seen plenty of trees succumb to gravity due to chainsaw cuts, but this is the first spontaneous break in half of a tree I have ever seen. Fortunately, none of us were hurt and the kids on the bus sure gazed at the mess with wide eyes when they arrived a few minutes after it broke. I no longer remember what kind of tree it was but I don't remember it being spectacularly pretty so I wasn't too sorry to see it go.</p><p>Flash forward to the big snow storm we had a few weeks ago that dumped 27 inches of snow in three days on us. It was too much for the second tree from the left and the next one along the driveway towards the garage, a mulberry I think, and about a third of it broke off and fell next to the bump out pad on the left side of the garage where my daughter parks her car. Fortunately, it just missed the car and I cleared what I could from the cleaned driveway and called it good for the time being.</p><p>Now, several weeks later, the snow has largely melted except for piles here and there and I thought I would get a jump start on spring on one warm February day. I fired up my chainsaw and took care of another large limb that fell on the city road that runs by the front of our house. I never saw it initially but a large snow plow during the storm pushed it to the side of the road so it was passable in one lane and buried it in many feet of snow. A week of -20 F temperatures that followed froze it in place solidly. But now free of snow, I cut it up and disposed of it so my neighbors and I can use both lanes again. </p><p>I then set my sights on the Mulberry tree that nearly squashed my daughter's car and made a few half hearted cuts at the limb before stopping. There was still snow on the bank that is was growing from, the same bank that I fell on and broke three ribs back in 2021, and there was a lot of weight still being suspended 10 feet in the air by the branches poking into the ground. I also looked up at the tree and saw that it was looking rather poor and has been for a number of years. The trunk was split and starting to rot. It was time to come down and so I hired my tree guy and the following day, it was all gone to what you see below.</p><p>Now that it is gone, I'm thinking of the possibilities of what to do with that slope. Part of me wants to build a large retaining wall out of huge rocks to make it a nicer place to walk above and below. But I know that would cost a lot of money and I would need to hire it out. My next option would be to use that space to plant something. A row of small trees that are ornamental or fruit bearing perhaps. A hedge? Extend my two lilac bushes at the very end of the driveway and great a long row? I'm not sure yet and in no hurry to decide. We still have a fair amount of winter left to go despite what the groundhog said this morning (Feb 2) as I write this.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWsDUl9F0RUPM1d-9nDiKUx49cBMvo77R5bHz3-GErwqm309JEsTUUR_eGbDyFPkPbQ40-sjgf0PH_EsjTdO7gjARxTUnkmaMMkEM3S729flC14F3adCsFYT2Wh1TYW6dzA9Gb5oji5qdAJXy_6zlhSVPc8nOEsb47NUIx0SkadA9_AZ0zd4njFLWmYcY/s1660/IMG_5189.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="1660" height="582" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWsDUl9F0RUPM1d-9nDiKUx49cBMvo77R5bHz3-GErwqm309JEsTUUR_eGbDyFPkPbQ40-sjgf0PH_EsjTdO7gjARxTUnkmaMMkEM3S729flC14F3adCsFYT2Wh1TYW6dzA9Gb5oji5qdAJXy_6zlhSVPc8nOEsb47NUIx0SkadA9_AZ0zd4njFLWmYcY/w640-h582/IMG_5189.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2024</td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-18294448058564847692024-02-07T05:00:00.037-06:002024-02-07T05:00:00.387-06:00The Answer To My Ponderings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6sQHDHkH0tVfgmZA_RTo0LhAsITgGBKBCMn3nEMW58HLNHwZV6YgQh5vOP2-mdH4uOV1D0PvIo1XJ5uJDrSx6fZD5CBRMMCvqXWbXlHpJP8UAe5ThNTOczZlGgeBBZ3yZReHwkWeueugMBR-IRT1VSK2rxcdPsFV8i_mLrL2Wid0GD6PEuWFZqSRt0Og/s1024/Bob%20giving%20away%20his%20possessions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6sQHDHkH0tVfgmZA_RTo0LhAsITgGBKBCMn3nEMW58HLNHwZV6YgQh5vOP2-mdH4uOV1D0PvIo1XJ5uJDrSx6fZD5CBRMMCvqXWbXlHpJP8UAe5ThNTOczZlGgeBBZ3yZReHwkWeueugMBR-IRT1VSK2rxcdPsFV8i_mLrL2Wid0GD6PEuWFZqSRt0Og/w640-h640/Bob%20giving%20away%20his%20possessions.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Before Christmas, a man whom I had only met personally once before, showed up at my door step and gave me a gift to give to my daughters containing a number of valuable coins, arrow heads, a brass mortar and pestle along with some exquisite shell bracelets. I wrote about all that <a href="https://riverbendjournal.blogspot.com/2024/01/bob.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> along with some pondering about the why of the matter. </p><p>I have an answer.</p><p>Bob entered hospice a week ago for congestive heart failure and passed away yesterday morning. Among other things that Bob did around town and won civic awards for, was taking care of the grounds of hospice and helping as a civilian to make the final days of the patients lives as best as possible. So I find it fitting that the other people of hospice were able to return the favor. </p><p>Predictably enough, on his death bed, he still told my wife to stop by his house and have his wife show us all of his collection of antiques. Perhaps after the funeral, we shall at last honor Bob's wishes.</p><p>A word of note on the picture above. It is of course A.I. generated and was told by me to create a picture of "a dying man giving away his most treasured possessions before his death, to a family who will treasure them forever, in the style of Dali. From the looks of the "family" on the right, I should have specified human family. </p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-76084154380964775212024-02-05T08:00:00.000-06:002024-02-05T08:42:28.670-06:00Miscellaneous<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgodCgoMgkH3vJj8uecuTC9zAeNCLdoPKWjzKL5jAP7NPdKy6N1xcLCsr58IDwEmVL-bE5FE0aDdvaKB1x6NcL32tdus-CWczlkz47b1GLj8t2zoUe-71o751mEgOLRshLw5QIQwMJYPzYQNjLih4MgzBMA2IGYjFTvVNH4q8UB4V-y10pOL7iJ3xvfE4Y/s2016/IMG_5163.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgodCgoMgkH3vJj8uecuTC9zAeNCLdoPKWjzKL5jAP7NPdKy6N1xcLCsr58IDwEmVL-bE5FE0aDdvaKB1x6NcL32tdus-CWczlkz47b1GLj8t2zoUe-71o751mEgOLRshLw5QIQwMJYPzYQNjLih4MgzBMA2IGYjFTvVNH4q8UB4V-y10pOL7iJ3xvfE4Y/w480-h640/IMG_5163.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>While running an errand not long ago, I came across this scene. It was extremely foggy and was forecasted to rain off and on all day long, and yet there was a crew of men on the gas station in the background tearing up the roof from the looks of things. It captured my attention anyway.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc_FYckF6Mgm0V5N3IuS7eKJCOqdUySxERtId-vr2P-U0J0B5iLOvulA-0T8fXehhxSyHdaORhDuQ2_2RfehDmNb2h6l1GZmREmmjM_AagpFLivNwJ4vml3sC8DeWGUsS4FBaBO_N31fWzBn0mjegDXkfF0NfAjpUBKYzhYsgnmzztPv1nhS5D3pv3WnU/s2016/IMG_5169.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc_FYckF6Mgm0V5N3IuS7eKJCOqdUySxERtId-vr2P-U0J0B5iLOvulA-0T8fXehhxSyHdaORhDuQ2_2RfehDmNb2h6l1GZmREmmjM_AagpFLivNwJ4vml3sC8DeWGUsS4FBaBO_N31fWzBn0mjegDXkfF0NfAjpUBKYzhYsgnmzztPv1nhS5D3pv3WnU/w640-h480/IMG_5169.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>A few years ago, we suffered from a derecho that knocked down a couple trees in our yard creating a huge among of debris. One of those trees, closer to my burn pit and mowed part of our yard, I cut up and it is mostly in a pile of pieces suitable for burning outside in the firepit. The small stuff went into one brush pile. The second tree was on the far knob and on a very steep portion. I cut up the top part and piled all the smaller stuff where it fell. My thought is that I would burn both piles when there was snow on the ground so that I didn't have to worry about the fire getting away in the taller grasses of this unmowed portion and burning down my house or worse, a neighbor's house. </p><p>After two years of not enough snow to do such, we finally got enough snow but burning down the pile has still proved challenging. Twenty-six inches of snow is a lot more snow than I need for brush pile burning purposes. My first attempt didn't do much of anything. My second attempt, after the majority of the snow had melted off the top of this pile, I thought was going to be successful when I took this photo. But it too just petered out. The space between the sticks and the wet outer bark of the sticks meant that it just couldn't burn hot enough to span the gaps. It too has petered out. I may have to go to plan B and just wait until the snow is gone, the brush dries from the moisture and I have to string out every garden hose I have just to keep it contained. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp_Xx6bbW45kLGKGhf_8HqZpaRVwNsZ8B3fz-DxlfRZstUSeJdMkvJDNPrM7PoPGaf-U-u2Ampe6YNCfqv5T4n93zMsiOy_4XEQKXWpuJ64CkhE5irL1AokDVZLUi0rFwJrAL3vpcnWraBPuPkIY4oEuU71vauHV_jzctDFe0fZ3HgXgZLnRtd6fO87vE/s1422/IMG_5173.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1272" data-original-width="1422" height="572" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp_Xx6bbW45kLGKGhf_8HqZpaRVwNsZ8B3fz-DxlfRZstUSeJdMkvJDNPrM7PoPGaf-U-u2Ampe6YNCfqv5T4n93zMsiOy_4XEQKXWpuJ64CkhE5irL1AokDVZLUi0rFwJrAL3vpcnWraBPuPkIY4oEuU71vauHV_jzctDFe0fZ3HgXgZLnRtd6fO87vE/w640-h572/IMG_5173.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Fortunately, I can still make a mean pizza. My wife informed me that I would be making pizza and gave me the two kinds, one I haven't made in many years and one I have never made. Fortunately, she helped me out so I got the crust ready and did the baking but she did the "decorating" which she enjoys. Above is a crab rangoon pizza, one of our favorites. We don't have a recipe and just winged it after eating one in a specialty pizza parlor in the urban jungle many years ago. It is really delicious.</p><p>Below is a baked potato pizza, one neither of us has ever made before. It wasn't bad but needed a lot more seasoning. Like all things made with potatoes, it takes a lot of seasoning to be enough. But it has great potential.</p><p>Both pizzas were baked using our favorite method, baking in cast iron pans that have been preheated to 450 degrees F before we add the crust and toppings. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn106y2WeeJMmrs0niICxLoGsCpRkNFtvtULSynm4XJnyn_So6uWqP17tOGsIEI0S4T27yjtI_1IR3tHkRwc78mv25C72nWs5yPdhb4qfR5n0z5oDHxrydqEbT92jbr0u5w90AMZIed8MMG9D0jUdh7mcklOPEj0cCsg8w85VrtlX0arVLnWojSTDJ4eQ/s1381/IMG_5172.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1206" data-original-width="1381" height="558" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn106y2WeeJMmrs0niICxLoGsCpRkNFtvtULSynm4XJnyn_So6uWqP17tOGsIEI0S4T27yjtI_1IR3tHkRwc78mv25C72nWs5yPdhb4qfR5n0z5oDHxrydqEbT92jbr0u5w90AMZIed8MMG9D0jUdh7mcklOPEj0cCsg8w85VrtlX0arVLnWojSTDJ4eQ/w640-h558/IMG_5172.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-75561983608067468162024-02-02T05:00:00.016-06:002024-02-02T05:00:00.135-06:00Floored<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEbpxbDwMn6ZO76kv0Q2DN_r9uzJnSXJrz8ATZqPKNSHF8XGK6jLZZsPKpbclBQvkWKvCmmrj06bRPQWpWfONBhZYjJRRxG4TAC2TxGpWKJfptdMRG2juSCYYNFsFYJ6AiRaLTG5d0LwXVOv5RELwGppcxpIcyvIowQAyrl7aPk8i-JxPZvxwqFZEogPA/s2016/IMG_5160.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEbpxbDwMn6ZO76kv0Q2DN_r9uzJnSXJrz8ATZqPKNSHF8XGK6jLZZsPKpbclBQvkWKvCmmrj06bRPQWpWfONBhZYjJRRxG4TAC2TxGpWKJfptdMRG2juSCYYNFsFYJ6AiRaLTG5d0LwXVOv5RELwGppcxpIcyvIowQAyrl7aPk8i-JxPZvxwqFZEogPA/w640-h480/IMG_5160.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>After Christmas, I caught a common cold and after a typical week of symptoms, thought I was about through with it. But then I either caught something else or just haven't been able to shake an unproductive cough for nearly a month. I'm not alone according to news reports but that brings little comfort. Fortunately other than a cough which I can treat with various medicines and remedies, it has had little other symptoms to go along with it. I have felt fine other than when I work up a head of steam and then stop, a coughing attack usually goes along with it.</p><p>Thus the flooring of our downstairs "family room" took a lot longer than I had hoped. Partly due to the ailment but also in large part that I really had no place for the furniture and so had to shift it this way and that as I tore up the existing floor and installed the new flooring. I'm still not done as there are a few trim pieces and a threshold that I need to fasten down with an industrial glue, including one piece attached to the bottom of the sliding aluminum patio doors in the background (behind curtains). The glue needs relative warmth to cure and right now, the aluminum is icy cold. So I will wait to do all the gluing in one go so I don't have to buy multiple caulking tubes of the stuff, when it is a bit warmer.</p><p>This constitutes a large milestone in my home remodeling project because this was the last room I had not fully remodeled (with a few caveats below). I had repainted it and installed the wood stove insert in the background, but never replaced the flooring which looked hideous the day we bought the place over 11 years ago for reasons mentioned in my previous post. Achieving this goal doesn't mean I am done though. The storage room on the other side of the wall from the stairs, has never been anything but concrete walls and wood studs. Other than a functioning laundry and a place for our deep freeze, canning jars and utility mechanisms, it is mostly a catch all room for those items like luggage or camping gear that only are used now and then. Someday, I would like to spruce up the corner around our canning jars and old chest deep freeze. There are also the stairs above with remnants of the same carpeting that was throughout the house when we bought it. I want to strip off the carpeting and do something different there that is more attractive and easier to clean. Also, two of the upstairs bedrooms still have old carpeting but in fair shape so hasn't been replaced yet.</p><p>Below is a picture of the old engineered laminate flooring. It doesn't look bad in the photo but was in fairly rough shape. Still, I figured if I gave it away for free, someone might take it for a hobby room floor where the appearance isn't as critical as the ability to clean it. The fellow who got the first half of it last year when I redid the mother-in-law suite got first dibs, as he requested, but after a week of no response, I just posted it on Marketplace. I expect after dozens of canned requests of "Is it still available?" and my judicious weeding of a dozen posts asking if I'll deliver it or hold it for the next paycheck after the second Thursday of next month type requests, someone will finally show up and it will be gone in a few days. A hassle, but not in the landfill which is my only other alternative.</p><p><i>[I finally got around to posting it and despite my saying in the ad that if you are reading this, it is still available so don't ask me that question, I had 50 people reply and of those 41 started off by asking if it was still available. After refusing to hold it for the third Thursday after next or for a relative that lived in another state and supposedly was willing to drive the following day to pick it up, someone who lived in town swung by and picked it up. They have two boys who are around 6 or 7 years of age who apparently were rough on flooring and so this was to be their new flooring in their bedroom. I may have sore fingers from so many DMs and a headache from dealing with stupid questions, but that pile didn't end up in the landfill.]</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimJoUAyReHqI_N_YJuul9pCq77mnqV5VbuPhzgAvhdXl0ICZtV0W0D3GOyapYX5OZy5fyhreBIF-y4CTdGYgiiq9xhJgHvQe7BjjIHHDeFnF447uOM7AyQzYhojDo3coGRmRQDgKZhUyOa7QLNXUNKRxK0O0PmhBr0UZeWhtS8y01EFZoA4kyEtrNah4I/s1777/IMG_5152.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1392" data-original-width="1777" height="502" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimJoUAyReHqI_N_YJuul9pCq77mnqV5VbuPhzgAvhdXl0ICZtV0W0D3GOyapYX5OZy5fyhreBIF-y4CTdGYgiiq9xhJgHvQe7BjjIHHDeFnF447uOM7AyQzYhojDo3coGRmRQDgKZhUyOa7QLNXUNKRxK0O0PmhBr0UZeWhtS8y01EFZoA4kyEtrNah4I/w640-h502/IMG_5152.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-23255602522948311272024-01-31T05:00:00.001-06:002024-02-04T15:34:25.954-06:00John Chicken: Carrier and Criminal?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL5FKIZskXKXIz2OboZadPZ3nZumOYvni_uOmyZbH-59rldfW4FWa8zQCzzKIw__3DMuG0YN54OIb1jJkDQsakjoVJQMamaFYwHnTelroasqKfos14CfrgcN0jIENLXE-rJNKW6-RQPGUvCMFUnGYHn8HpUTFn4Dh2hTXNkD7QU8Y1C5m9OFiY1Gp6/s612/Carrier.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="429" data-original-width="612" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL5FKIZskXKXIz2OboZadPZ3nZumOYvni_uOmyZbH-59rldfW4FWa8zQCzzKIw__3DMuG0YN54OIb1jJkDQsakjoVJQMamaFYwHnTelroasqKfos14CfrgcN0jIENLXE-rJNKW6-RQPGUvCMFUnGYHn8HpUTFn4Dh2hTXNkD7QU8Y1C5m9OFiY1Gp6/w640-h448/Carrier.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Not to long ago, I discovered more articles on the life of my 4th great grandfather Joseph Chicken that made me desire to once again, take up all the information I have and seek out my 5th great grandparents. I compiled all the information I knew about his parents.<p></p><p>They are from England.</p><p>His father's name is John and he is a carrier.</p><p>He had no memories of his mother from a young age.</p><p>Not a very in depth list for sure but something to go on at least. I did know that Joseph had lived in Durham county, England in 1841 when he was listed at being 25 and that he immigrated to America with his wife and three children in 1849 when he was around 34 years old. So I started searching in Durham county and came across a hit fairly quickly.</p><p>John Chicken was baptized in Durham County on 4 May 1791. Assuming he was born that same year, he was 21 years old when he married Ann Hutton also in Durham County on 13 Dec 1812. This latter date creates a problem because I have always listed Joseph's birthday as Nov 1811 which would make him an illegitimate child by nearly two years. This just didn't happen back then. The couple who got pregnant while unmarried just got married quickly and hoped nobody would do that math. I have lots of ancestors in my tree born 7 to 8 months after their parent's marriage. But I don't have a lot of faith in the Nov 1811 birthdate anyway. It was what was recorded on the 1900 Census when Joseph would have been 89 and probably had forgotten how old he was. The rest of his census record trail supports this because when back figuring from his age recorded by the census taker, he was born anywhere from 1811 to 1820. </p><p>Assuming Joseph Chicken was their son, he had a brother born to John and Ann around 1816 due to baptismal records. Unfortunately John Jr. as he was named only lived to be 5 years old before dying on 18 Jan 1821. His record says he is the son of John Chicken, carrier, of New Elvet which is a town in Durham County. Also, the burial records indicate Ann Chicken, died on 8 May 1816 and is buried at St. Oswald, Shincliffe, Durham County and is noted as the wife of John, the carrier. </p><p>So the birth of son John Jr and death of Ann Chicken both in 1816 lead me to suspect she died in the process or shortly after giving birth. Her death record lists her as being 31 at the time. This also would mesh with Joseph Chicken stating he never knew his mother or had any memories of her since he would have been just over 4 at the most and most likely younger than that. </p><p>John Chicken Sr would remarry 15 Mar 1818 to Mary Martin and would get in a fair amount of trouble. I have two articles which I will post at the end for those interested in reading them. In one, John and Mary were found guilty of fraud and sent to prison for a short time because they were unable to pay their fine and in the other a month later, he was declared insolvent in debtors court. I have found other articles of John being fined for parking his wagon (as a carrier) illegally. Right or wrong, I don't get the impression he was of the finest cloth in the social fabric of England.</p><p>He and second wife Mary would go on to have at least four more children eventually moving to Witton-Gilbert, Durham County where he is found on the 1841 Census, about 15 miles as the crow flies from where Joseph was living. John died the following year at age 51 and is buried in the same town. Wife Mary would continue to be found in census records through 1861 living with her oldest daughter Mary before disappearing from records. One person has her dying soon after in 1861 but I haven't seen any records verifying this.</p><p>Joseph left with his family in 1849, 7 years after his father's death. To me this isn't really surprising, His only biological brother (guessing here) died many years earlier and with the death of his father, there were no ties to bind him to England. Being a coal miner, there probably wasn't much upward mobility in his status in life and so it made perfect sense to sail off for America and leave his stepmother and 4 half siblings behind. Combine all that and the numerous records listing John as a carrier, or person who delivers people or cargo by horse, Joseph's marriage record stating his father John was a carrier and Joseph himself saying he did carrier duties as early he could remember with his father's team, I have a high degree of confidence that these are probably his parents. </p><p>It would help if I could turn up a baptism record for Joseph like I have for all his other full and half siblings but I can't. Either it was never recorded or maybe never happened. Perhaps he was a bastard child after all which could explain the lack of baptismal records too. Another convincing piece of circumstantial evidence is that Joseph, names his first born son John. It was very common practice to name the first born son after the father's father and the second son after the wife's father. Also common was to name the third born son after the father's grandfather. That son happens to be my 4th great grandfather Joseph Chicken.</p><p>Also in the records of Elvet, Durham County, England is a Joseph Chicken, also a carrier, who died 29 Dec 1829 and is buried in the same cemetery as John Chicken's first wife Ann Hutton Chicken. I may have also found my 6th great grandparent.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_llsjyqRr8T0eVfYV_rscZ9lGDKalehMtXNGYzSuLy4bIIBHTveaFkh4oM0V8pcyykmkxDH17rJfRppdSGmYlnK-onjBGF7jrYSnPFQTA5tn_FEFMJkmU5eMY7dw05jYn7KEwxEZ2rNio2kZ41Bo_Jn4Yk9c0nwL1fSsi6H4mcSb_4kWy5dqUSEu4/s711/Elizabeth%20Wife%20of%20John%20Chicken%20Stolen%20From%20-%20Globe%20-%207%20Sep%201815%20-%20p4.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="435" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_llsjyqRr8T0eVfYV_rscZ9lGDKalehMtXNGYzSuLy4bIIBHTveaFkh4oM0V8pcyykmkxDH17rJfRppdSGmYlnK-onjBGF7jrYSnPFQTA5tn_FEFMJkmU5eMY7dw05jYn7KEwxEZ2rNio2kZ41Bo_Jn4Yk9c0nwL1fSsi6H4mcSb_4kWy5dqUSEu4/w392-h640/Elizabeth%20Wife%20of%20John%20Chicken%20Stolen%20From%20-%20Globe%20-%207%20Sep%201815%20-%20p4.jpg" width="392" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tyne Mercury Northumberland and Durham and Cumberland Gazette<br />23 Oct 1821 - page 4</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfY_s1eEsShqigNadgifXwvximj3y6Fg30ECIvKpJnGItLghObonTZqAyaGeVu0cs3vjH4OgyBHkNU8Ngqphgl97d9jVI-N0-UcgcHk00RByYgj1JKB8IkHOd5v7N966nB_AVSULhxnxDnTDJ6bVnrgWBiyVT7XZ5fs-FAbqrTGkFSqnbapNV3-Qu4/s580/John%20Chicken%20Insolvent%20-%20Tyne%20Mercury%20Northumberland%20and%20Durham%20and%20Cumberland%20Gazette%20-%2020%20Nov%201821%20-%20p3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="580" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfY_s1eEsShqigNadgifXwvximj3y6Fg30ECIvKpJnGItLghObonTZqAyaGeVu0cs3vjH4OgyBHkNU8Ngqphgl97d9jVI-N0-UcgcHk00RByYgj1JKB8IkHOd5v7N966nB_AVSULhxnxDnTDJ6bVnrgWBiyVT7XZ5fs-FAbqrTGkFSqnbapNV3-Qu4/w400-h272/John%20Chicken%20Insolvent%20-%20Tyne%20Mercury%20Northumberland%20and%20Durham%20and%20Cumberland%20Gazette%20-%2020%20Nov%201821%20-%20p3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tyne Mercury Northumberland and Durham and Cumberland Gazette<br />20 Nov 1821 - page 3</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><i>[Post written in March 2023 but never made it out of draft status until recently.]</i></div>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-82640527898630143792024-01-29T05:00:00.076-06:002024-01-29T05:00:00.133-06:00Basement Flooring Project... Begins Again<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGWMLxNgtgbTdattXPCpauM5GOy78d6gACaL2Grfaf7gO9r3j4exMoZZc2IkwJUnWnmLrlDB3PedNn1z83PRPutRbiRQjv2M78LscoH_nwO35AZWjvKCPmxB7jDBPf8gkddqYVSwC973MyGAG9xIhrha0Cp_w5khi8mjt-4S5A2SsdFJ7aXkZj0DB6tzo/s2016/IMG_5150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGWMLxNgtgbTdattXPCpauM5GOy78d6gACaL2Grfaf7gO9r3j4exMoZZc2IkwJUnWnmLrlDB3PedNn1z83PRPutRbiRQjv2M78LscoH_nwO35AZWjvKCPmxB7jDBPf8gkddqYVSwC973MyGAG9xIhrha0Cp_w5khi8mjt-4S5A2SsdFJ7aXkZj0DB6tzo/w480-h640/IMG_5150.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Last spring during the big bedroom swap project, I refloored the room to be my eldest new bedroom, formerly the mother-in-law suite, down the hallway to the right in the above photo. Running out of time due to the return of the mother-in-law, I opted to not continue the flooring down the hall and into the family room, despite having bought enough to do all that, so I could finish up her new room which had formerly belonged to my youngest and then finish up the youngest room, formerly belonging to her older sister. Clear as mud?</p><p>By the time I got all the bedrooms repaired, repainted, items hung as desired, etc., it was spring and so the remainder of the flooring project got put on hold for outside things, like gardening, working in the garage/shop, etc. But with more snow than we typically get in an average year and more than we had gotten in the last three years combined, and temperatures bottomed out 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, I decided perhaps I should restart that project again.</p><p>Previous occupants had ripped up most likely carpet and installed cheap laminate wood flooring on top of the concrete floor. The problem with that is in the early 70's when this house was built, there was no concerns on things like water vaper coming up through the porous concrete slab because we didn't but moisture absorbing products over it as flooring and houses weren't very air tight so any vaper that did come through could evaporate straight away. What this means is that over time, moisture has been absorbed by the cheap laminate wood flooring causing the finish along every seam and joint to blister and bubble. It looks hideous. </p><p>The solution at this point is to tear out the flooring and either install a vaper barrier on the inside of the house preventing moisture from getting in or to install vaper permeable flooring like carpet again. We went the former route by installing a vaper barrier and new "wood" looking flooring product called vinyl planking. It certainly isn't my favorite product especially when most of the upstairs has solid wood flooring, but since we mostly just spend winter weekends down in this room enjoying the fireplace, i.e. not a lot of time, I thought it would be sufficient for our needs and as a bonus, won't look like crap when it is time to sell the place, if ever.</p><p>Laying vinyl planking was a learning experience which I wrote about last spring and how difficult it was to get everything straight and clicked together, especially working through door jambs. The hallway above has three such door jambs in about six feet! Fortunately I had done some YouTube research in the ensuing months and figured out ways to get the floor in place and interlocked without having to remove the entire door jambs of three doors in order to get everything tilted into place. It was a bit of tedious work but I am definitely much happier with the end result. </p><p>It was also tedious getting all the planks to come out of the hallway into the family room and lay straight and correctly interlocked with no straight or square walls to reference. I had to fiddle with things for half a day before I got everything just right and perfectly straight. Unfortunately, my cuts close to the sliding patio doors (with the curtains) ended up being quite a ways off when I achieved straight so there is a large gap there. My hope though is that after I finish the rest of the room, assuming I have the extra I planned for, I will cut new pieces to replace the miscut pieces and backfill. Not as easy as working forward in the direction as told, but I found out with my daughter's room last March, can be done.</p><p>After the above picture was taken, after nearly an entire day and a half of work, I was able to double the area floored in about 10 minutes. Vinyl plank flooring is like that, hard to get straight but very fast once you do. I had to stop, shift about half the furniture over against the now completed wall, to expose the middle third of the room so I can repeat the process. Not having anyplace to move all the furniture to be out of the way except upstairs and I sure as heck wasn't going to move all the furniture upstairs, I'm having to do the flooring in stages. Fortunately, Vinyl planking is good for doing that as well.</p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-73769339539640898342024-01-26T05:00:00.003-06:002024-01-26T05:00:00.139-06:00Beyond Joseph Chicken Sr.<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkhpraDlE36Z0p6x1rqsz7_mijAJhUv-fCll5uWqAn9fYJOLcY498LUitwbF4BV2SK0wcYbq5e69fmgIYalz16dRjfLiWcB5jWBTEjnv1gqG3BWwVlXYHEcou8QDEi-wgajDSnnWAZFhXkr33tkN_eBFp8pyZezVNOVb-UIsZIemkHsouS_N-6hNr6/s1225/Map%20of%20Durham%20England%20and%20Surrounding%20Areas.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="848" data-original-width="1225" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkhpraDlE36Z0p6x1rqsz7_mijAJhUv-fCll5uWqAn9fYJOLcY498LUitwbF4BV2SK0wcYbq5e69fmgIYalz16dRjfLiWcB5jWBTEjnv1gqG3BWwVlXYHEcou8QDEi-wgajDSnnWAZFhXkr33tkN_eBFp8pyZezVNOVb-UIsZIemkHsouS_N-6hNr6/w640-h444/Map%20of%20Durham%20England%20and%20Surrounding%20Areas.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>The 1841 England Census states that Joseph Chicken Sr. was born in Evenwood, England which is just to the SW of Auckland England. His marriage record at St. Helen Church in Auckland also confirms this. But the biography article in the newspaper <a href="https://riverbendjournal.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-life-before-death-of-joseph-chicken.html" target="_blank">in my previous post</a> says he was born in Durham city to the NW of Auckland. I don't know the answer and most likely will never know. </p><p>But while searching the area via armchair, I came across a website with records for Durham county, England, of which both Evenwood and Durham city are a part, and was able to locate a more detailed church record than the index record I had known about previously. Besides the marriage date of 25 Nov 1837, it also says the following:</p><blockquote><p>Joseph Chicken (bachelor, pitman, full age, of Evenwood, son of John Chicken, carrier) married Ann Brittain (spinster, full age, of Evenwood, daughter of John Brittain, joiner) Witnesses: John Wilson and William Teasdale</p></blockquote><p>So now I know the name of the fathers which would be my 5th great grandparents. Unfortunately, Ancestry records are pretty sparse for this area in this time frame so I have no further information other than the listed occupations. I'm assuming a carrier in early 1800's England means someone who drives wagons. This makes sense because the biography for son Joseph Chicken said he woke up nearly every morning at 1 a.m. to harness a team and haul cargo from the port to neighboring towns. It didn't specify which port but from looking at the above map, I would guess it was Seaham Harbor which has been used as a port for many eons and in the 1800's was largely constructed for coal which was found in the nearby geography. The meshes well with Joseph being a pitman, which again I'm assuming relates to someone who went into the pits to dig coal. </p><p>John Brittain's occupation as a joiner is less clear to me. Perhaps it means a furniture maker which might explain my love of building furniture. Like John Chicken, I can't find any information on him or his unknown spouse.</p><p>I also looked up the Chicken surname in England which according to records, has the most people named that in Durham county, England. The Brittain surname, oddly enough isn't a British name. It actually came to Britain from Normandy. But both the Chicken and Brittain surname have hotspots in the upper Midwest parts of the United States where my Chicken and Brittain 4th great grandparents settled. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaY1DBAGUrOV_VYz931KSybLl1lnpJvX5bJZYwqhgmsMaxtsQ2X39aIHonjvDZNEi-EKGwDeoYn9y0v64DXnNg8AKZ3-BBpfMtL-LcB6p1Y0WX2muD3MSk37ayGPHVQ9QzB8mCzGV7OsznlUxqo7dslR7VMXtiU1X6WxVhR0m1JHf2M5cAsTChQWOp/s640/St.%20Helen%20Church%20Auckland%20Durham%20England%20pict%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaY1DBAGUrOV_VYz931KSybLl1lnpJvX5bJZYwqhgmsMaxtsQ2X39aIHonjvDZNEi-EKGwDeoYn9y0v64DXnNg8AKZ3-BBpfMtL-LcB6p1Y0WX2muD3MSk37ayGPHVQ9QzB8mCzGV7OsznlUxqo7dslR7VMXtiU1X6WxVhR0m1JHf2M5cAsTChQWOp/w640-h480/St.%20Helen%20Church%20Auckland%20Durham%20England%20pict%201.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">From my google searching, it sounds like the St. Helen church in Auckland, seen above, is still in business so I wrote a nice email to them asking for further help/guidance since I am not familiar with English genealogy. I got lucky doing that for my German Kuck family so perhaps lightening can strike twice. I don't expect that the family went there regularly as they were either from Evenwood or Durham as records suggest. According to one British based cemetery agregating site, there is a John Chicken buried in northern Durham county in the town of Heworth but the dates don't line up. There are several of John Brittains but none in Durham county either. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Certainly nothing is easy but then, if it were, everyone would be doing it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>[This was written 10 months ago but has been in draft form until now. I never heard back from St. Helen Church in Auckland.]</i></div><p><br /></p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-61834100113142415462024-01-24T05:00:00.061-06:002024-01-24T05:00:00.149-06:00Porting Into the 21st Century<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-rnY4Lzk7hLeABUEj572mOPW26TRa20aeJludV4eWCJNRewhupSpPodpt7XRKA-6agjeP5tkhipgDOfxGdjgtx2upHmhGe3zmxEgwIif74x_6nIZH0ZKSRaT1v3yrckB2W4EKzZTUVo4uUghyphenhyphend06-hppGlXzWa2Sz3KaGC6QCXmD2jCsT4mxGy634rE/s1024/Teleporting%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-rnY4Lzk7hLeABUEj572mOPW26TRa20aeJludV4eWCJNRewhupSpPodpt7XRKA-6agjeP5tkhipgDOfxGdjgtx2upHmhGe3zmxEgwIif74x_6nIZH0ZKSRaT1v3yrckB2W4EKzZTUVo4uUghyphenhyphend06-hppGlXzWa2Sz3KaGC6QCXmD2jCsT4mxGy634rE/w400-h400/Teleporting%20(2).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A.I. Generated Artwork</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>For many years, I've put off a task that I know I shouldn't but just couldn't bring myself to do. I needed to upgrade my electronics to the 21st century. By that I mean I still have a landline phone, coaxial cable television that also services our internet, all in one bundle. In order to get better services that met our needs, I would need to unbundle things and align various services to all work together providing similar services at a much cheaper price, hopefully. But sometimes it is just easier to go on the past of least resistance, which in my case was to write an increasingly larger check for my bundled services.</p><p>Then out of the blue, a fiber optic cable started laying conduit for their cables in my town, then my area and even right through my front yard. According to their website, come spring, I will be able to have a CHOICE for my internet services for the first time since living here. I decided that I would be ready for spring when my time arrived.</p><p>The first step is dealing with the landline phone. I need it for two reasons. First, by using it as our primary phone number for all forms, accounts, services, it prevents our cellphones from getting bombarded with spam calls. Our landline, set on mute and going directly to voicemail, gets perhaps 25 calls a day, especially right before our caucus night as I right this. Second, my wife needs a line out that doesn't have her personal cellphone number on it since she calls patients directly at times. When a doctor's cellphone number gets distributed in public, there is nothing good that comes of it.</p><p>So I looked into switching it to Google Voice. My understanding is that I could port any phone number to Google Voice and then set it up to email me transcripts of any phone messages. This was perfect for my needs. It would allow me to remove the phone services from my previously mentioned bundle which then could allow me to choose an alternate internet provider who doesn't have such things. But and there is always a but, I apparently couldn't import a landline number to Google Voice, only a cellular number. </p><p>Some quick research showed that there was a work around involving me porting my landline number to a cellular number using a cheap provider called Tello and then once there, I could port it to Google Voice for a one time fee. The YouTube video directions were clear and concise and though the video itself is only a few minutes long, the actual process still took me several weeks for various drawn out reasons which I will skip here. But finally I apparently have a landline number that now resides on an app on my phone and will email me transcripts of any phone messages left. </p><p>Step two will be to wait for the fiber optic fellows to arrive in the spring and get signed up with them. </p><p>Step three will be to ditch my cable and go to streaming as almost all my peers have long since done. I could do that now but my internet provider provides download limits which would turn my already very expensive bill even more expensive by a factor of two or three times. For that much money, I'll wait a few months longer. </p><p>Step four will be to bundle up all that electrical refuse that now clutters my office desk, the electronics nook of the kitchen and the armoire holding our television and haul it downtown to the former captive provider and tell them where to stick it. </p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-33028111012267028502024-01-22T05:00:00.000-06:002024-01-22T05:00:00.137-06:00Photo Origin<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDMAIZuzZIiGAsnqd8oxFadooK-NhVO3zBL_1vPHpWxI3W0ZQ-dYolhq6amcRK54kSi0jSc_3Ks4ZsafM8QnmQTMLlJHJx0bSS0Dq4LT-JD3WclR2Zs7krOCBY6iYCR4MBs_MXdyWAlvN_Z7Bm9Lc4srmnrKAHricCcQXB1CKIu-SSr_u1yP9HbLAaC_o/s1566/slide%20009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1084" data-original-width="1566" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDMAIZuzZIiGAsnqd8oxFadooK-NhVO3zBL_1vPHpWxI3W0ZQ-dYolhq6amcRK54kSi0jSc_3Ks4ZsafM8QnmQTMLlJHJx0bSS0Dq4LT-JD3WclR2Zs7krOCBY6iYCR4MBs_MXdyWAlvN_Z7Bm9Lc4srmnrKAHricCcQXB1CKIu-SSr_u1yP9HbLAaC_o/w640-h444/slide%20009.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I have always loved this photo of my great grandfather. I have only seen it as either a blown up picture or used in a magazine article about him. I've never seen the original. But in another random box among my great uncle's slides labeled "Summer 1963 Canada", I found it. From using contextual clues from the other slides in the box, it was taken at the fishing lodge/cabins my great grandparents used to manage.</p><p>I am unclear of the specifics but I have heard that my great grandparents managed a fishing camp somewhere up in Canada. I'll have to look back, but I'm fairly certain that it still exists and is called Tall Pines Camp but used to have Ballard's appended to the front when the original owners still owned it. I'm assuming this photo is taken on Wabaskang Lake which the camp sits upon.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBuGG-6LJgV4si31bn1L_4UDUPY2HEMNsIXiLuOeADo1wuT8QCZZUyYjoKq-E22f2GpKXi2tB2xaNKEU_nw5ZsAt6eBncdESKdAfSdntG9GKpJLkUy4PVQa5miZ9i87BQBvrtrBbvize4d7GPHhyJop8_NXCaI_YpHe4F8-pfcv1IfU6InyOlOQGn0VS8/s1604/slide%20007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1029" data-original-width="1604" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBuGG-6LJgV4si31bn1L_4UDUPY2HEMNsIXiLuOeADo1wuT8QCZZUyYjoKq-E22f2GpKXi2tB2xaNKEU_nw5ZsAt6eBncdESKdAfSdntG9GKpJLkUy4PVQa5miZ9i87BQBvrtrBbvize4d7GPHhyJop8_NXCaI_YpHe4F8-pfcv1IfU6InyOlOQGn0VS8/w640-h410/slide%20007.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Also in the same box, is a photo of my great uncle standing upon an old wooden boat now high and dry somewhere. I'm sure there is a story here and I wish I knew it.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAIuenIoE73TO4MXmMDiQGgKnXJqMipzaY-ncT0qSMdQqOw7fAzE1fV7MCblsb6ehZsMuu_nec_3qaM5lyQVasAhV_KDS7CXJQ_xqmUUE4q_g4BpQvx86gyv-EXN5blIozDsuCgt8klcvEYz_HjQejHSMBGAQmiXhk7_vMBgU_8SeR4rKY4bQH4C4TJgU/s1604/slide%20008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1088" data-original-width="1604" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAIuenIoE73TO4MXmMDiQGgKnXJqMipzaY-ncT0qSMdQqOw7fAzE1fV7MCblsb6ehZsMuu_nec_3qaM5lyQVasAhV_KDS7CXJQ_xqmUUE4q_g4BpQvx86gyv-EXN5blIozDsuCgt8klcvEYz_HjQejHSMBGAQmiXhk7_vMBgU_8SeR4rKY4bQH4C4TJgU/w640-h434/slide%20008.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Finally, I thought I would end with this picture, of a couple whom I have never seen before. Perhaps they are the Ballards or one of the subsequent four other owners who have owned the camp over the years between the Ballards and the current owners. What caught my eye was the writing above the door which I could read until I mirrored the picture and sharpened everything up a bit. It says "Liar's Den." I imagine it was sort of a group space for guests staying in the individual cabins to meet and swap fishing stories... or lies. </p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-50216215441054457922024-01-19T05:00:00.000-06:002024-01-19T05:00:00.153-06:00Mystery Box<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOx_z11xOduOLEXuEOEk2JpHkZtnR-m5U-Z2ncViXZr54bpEMBvwYGlz-9L2GAp11_otjMCJx4PJosW1lyTzXWlnXf__4CrIn4mLubn_1M0k1wtP3kIpaT9PNDUrCJrFjrVLNkPlwPLNt3Fhyphenhyphenw86XvNDdgVJ1bJSDyyEKPNb6f7yeTB8fSHdfV3VtvJoA/s1246/slide%20003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1159" data-original-width="1246" height="596" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOx_z11xOduOLEXuEOEk2JpHkZtnR-m5U-Z2ncViXZr54bpEMBvwYGlz-9L2GAp11_otjMCJx4PJosW1lyTzXWlnXf__4CrIn4mLubn_1M0k1wtP3kIpaT9PNDUrCJrFjrVLNkPlwPLNt3Fhyphenhyphenw86XvNDdgVJ1bJSDyyEKPNb6f7yeTB8fSHdfV3VtvJoA/w640-h596/slide%20003.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Still sorting and scanning through my great uncle's slides, I came across somewhat of a mystery box. On it was just the date July 1971 instead of a number and a location out west like the rest of the boxes. The box itself was a different color and shape. I took out the slides and held a few up to the office light and saw lots of people in them which made me excited and I ended up scanning every single one.</p><p>Above is a picture of my grandparents, uncle (not great uncle who took the picture) and mom. Although I suspect the picture was taken at my grandpa's farm, five or six miles north of where I spent the bulk of my childhood, I'm not sure the reason for the photo. Everyone is dressed up but the focus of the photo seems to suggest the root cellar was the focus, perhaps the rusty pipes laid upon the door. My mom was nearly not in the picture. </p><p>Root cellars are nearly extinct these days. Most houses in the region have storm protection from full depth basements and cold storage in the form of freezers, refrigerators and modern canning techniques. We also buy more things fresh from grocery stores instead of trying to preserve them long periods of time. I always remember trips into the root cellar as being scary things because the chances of seeing a snake or large spider was quite high, not to mention they were always dark and dank smelling. </p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip0p_w0vP-zVbCQruTdaTSw-3BXrUn7fsJTafarwUy3kL2ssDf-MHoCal3ywDiE1s1wS7UjlNTrBsk4a4W5-WBIPVdflKetSamh-ZPmgW5uNeDdhtJLF8_WmQNkFFbICoNvXQqjA2E-pp63kTppecZkzxoQe-6Ed9ifbJC7N8GTrd4myqFQDun9caikb8/s1256/slide%20016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1256" data-original-width="1243" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip0p_w0vP-zVbCQruTdaTSw-3BXrUn7fsJTafarwUy3kL2ssDf-MHoCal3ywDiE1s1wS7UjlNTrBsk4a4W5-WBIPVdflKetSamh-ZPmgW5uNeDdhtJLF8_WmQNkFFbICoNvXQqjA2E-pp63kTppecZkzxoQe-6Ed9ifbJC7N8GTrd4myqFQDun9caikb8/w634-h640/slide%20016.jpg" width="634" /></a></div><p>My grandpa decided he wanted to become a farmer and bought a farm near some friends of his who lived in SE Iowa. He farmed it for a number of years but decided farming life wasn't for him so moved back to the city life in NE Iowa and left my mom, newly married, behind. I'm guessing she didn't like farming at that time because she soon moved off the farm and it was sold. Later, that obviously changed as I spent most of my life growing up on a farm five or six miles south of this one.</p><p>This one still exists and on a rare occasion, I drive by it, usually when we are in no hurry and doing a "Sunday drive". I have no memories of this farm though a handful of pictures exist of me inside the house or close ups of me at various points outside. Searching through my memory though, this is the only picture of the homestead on the farm from a wider perspective. It looks a lot different than it does now. The house looks quite a bit different now having been expanded several times. The vehicles parked in front of it are also 50+ years newer as well.</p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_svPIMnI2wj4xlLY72Is-dPPFMvt1LOQ38rIBc5G20vAvPnSyjyPF_Uw4d8D9Qd1ArKwuOjgHSNV013q6neddYdCExKotbntWeP8ouCMrwlYRvAc7Mxqhkl6q3Um9isurpH_Wn-2Oyit4Or-V4z0sqgvT09i8eg27nbyPTY65pJUmEJZt7t483lS2V-Q/s1248/slide%20019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1248" data-original-width="1245" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_svPIMnI2wj4xlLY72Is-dPPFMvt1LOQ38rIBc5G20vAvPnSyjyPF_Uw4d8D9Qd1ArKwuOjgHSNV013q6neddYdCExKotbntWeP8ouCMrwlYRvAc7Mxqhkl6q3Um9isurpH_Wn-2Oyit4Or-V4z0sqgvT09i8eg27nbyPTY65pJUmEJZt7t483lS2V-Q/w638-h640/slide%20019.jpg" width="638" /></a></div><br /> Finally, above is a picture of my uncle holding the yellow bladed paddle and I think my grandfather. The grainy structure of the slide doesn't allow me to zoom in enough to tell for sure but just from the shape of the man, I'm fairly certain it is him. I am also fairly certain I know what "river" they are floating on. Although the name of it has river appended to it, I think of it more as a seasonal creek. It tends flow during the spring and summer months after rains but by fall and winter, is reduced to pools that one has to drag a canoe between.<p></p><p>Once when I was probably around the age of my uncle above, my younger brother and I canoed a stretch of this creek when it was flooding with water. The river flows clear across our county and the part above I'm guessing was the part near my grandpa's farm which I don't have any experience with. The part I canoed, would have been several miles down below this photo.</p><p>I should mention a little housekeeping. All the other slides I have shown thus farm were untouched other than scanning and cropping to their edges. These I ran through Lightroom to adjust some of the setting to brighten them up a bit since they were all faded from time. I don't normally do this for pictures posted on this blog but these felt special and thus deserving of some extra treatment.</p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-42204025810893678202024-01-17T05:00:00.000-06:002024-01-17T05:00:00.172-06:00Gub-ment<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM0t6zCBkBwm9twKqQ8Iq54wo3jA8aYWPsTmsH2DfwsQbJRFA4Asg7M_5E8dGU9spuLkUDoemKyE9BJy38QcV5o91UIjDWwNeMjOULKChdxDBiLKwVVHPny5ZNB0VYkyv337xFvSV12DjE78emf3Qtr1u5KZgXmIemXzy4WvM76P3rbqoUrvJRXsyNK3M/s1024/Gobsmacked%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM0t6zCBkBwm9twKqQ8Iq54wo3jA8aYWPsTmsH2DfwsQbJRFA4Asg7M_5E8dGU9spuLkUDoemKyE9BJy38QcV5o91UIjDWwNeMjOULKChdxDBiLKwVVHPny5ZNB0VYkyv337xFvSV12DjE78emf3Qtr1u5KZgXmIemXzy4WvM76P3rbqoUrvJRXsyNK3M/w640-h640/Gobsmacked%20(2).jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A.I. Created Image</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>I have little faith in my government to do anything efficiently. I know going into anything dealing with them that my hard earned tax dollars are being used inefficiently for everything they do for me. It really isn't surprising. Whenever anybody in history has had bottomless pockets, i.e. taxpayers, there is no incentive to spend money wisely.</p><p>Case in point.</p><p>My oldest is going to college and as part of that process is encouraged to apply for federal student aid. I'm 99.999% certain that we earn too much income to qualify but their website says that there are no limits and that one should always apply just in case. My daughter takes this very seriously and wants me to apply. So I am going through the motions so that I can apply, be denied, and move on with life.</p><p>My daughter first has to go onto the federal student aid government website and start an application which she did. It in turn sends me an invitation to set up an account as a parent which will be linked to my daughters account, and eventually allow me to input our financial income to determine eligibility. I received the invitation and then on step 3 of 7 of setting up my account, the part where I enter my address and phone number, it sets up a defense that any professional football team would kill for right now. I can't get pass it no matter what I do. I eliminate the usual things like periods for abbreviations, I spell out the state name versus the two letter code, I shorten things up in case there are character limits. No matter what I do, when I click submit to go onto step 4, the computer things briefly, sends me back up to the top of the form but offers no hint of what is wrong or lacking. </p><p>This is a site that has been used for probably decades by generations of students. It should work flawlessly. </p><p>So last night I called the number. The help number. The one that guarantees you will play tag with a computer somewhere to see if you can actually get a real human to talk too. I played twice and was booted out after assurances that what I needed could be addressed on their website. On the third time, I was greeted by a computer saying wait times were much higher than anticipated and put on hold. 90 minutes later, I hung up and went to bed.</p><p>The next morning, I tried the website again across multiple browsers and multiple devices and still couldn't get past the defense of step 3 of 7. I called the number again and on the second attempt, selected the right combination of menu selections to get back on hold again with the same "long wait time" message. I then proceeded to put the website up by creating split windows so I could catch the sneak attach of being asked every five minutes if "I am still there" so they didn't boot me off prematurely and then on the other half of the screen, read through blogs, forums, news sites, playing games for another 2 hours!</p><p>Just when I was reading to pound my face through the computer screen, the musack goes silent and I thought for a terrifying second that I was booted from the system. But a pleasant voice, one speaking flawless English for a change, answered and asked about my problems. After verifying my credentials, she proceeded to tell me there was a known bug on step 3 of 7 where ANY ADDRESS you put in will lead to the same results I was getting. The solution was to delete the address, proceed with a strong warning asking me if I was sure I wanted to proceed with no address, complete the four remaining steps and then to go back once my account was added and edit to insert my address.</p><p>Why is this a bug still after all these years?</p><p>If it is a known bug, why not put a pop up on the login/account creation page stating this bug and how to proceed?</p><p>But no, my totally inefficient government's solution is to make every person across the country call in individually, play the telephone/computer roulette, finally speak to a human to find out the bug and then have the person sit there on their computer playing solitaire for 15 minutes while I complete the remaining four steps just to ensure I don't have any issues and then tell me how to edit my address to insert it. </p><p>As my friends across the pond say, or so I've been led to believe, I'm gobsmacked. </p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964850274295435546.post-36492628515079845272024-01-16T05:00:00.001-06:002024-01-16T05:00:00.148-06:00Outmanned, Outnumbered, Out Planned<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiRmZsAFOoGk33UXig7swz3iG4qxTPSsGeH-vsyEfM6JzqHufQJEcxiki0FTBWijgFokCL0tZrd6BOHHTRxhL9wmqdFXHJAWnS1jg-o1c8-_bFPwI8zQD0VWODtXomoWbyp-75MrTgP40UPtcSQkA6gr9JmV1v7itEVcYqLZPCkFIPP0cKbPpunKxcOm8/s1024/Outnumber%20At%20the%20Polls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiRmZsAFOoGk33UXig7swz3iG4qxTPSsGeH-vsyEfM6JzqHufQJEcxiki0FTBWijgFokCL0tZrd6BOHHTRxhL9wmqdFXHJAWnS1jg-o1c8-_bFPwI8zQD0VWODtXomoWbyp-75MrTgP40UPtcSQkA6gr9JmV1v7itEVcYqLZPCkFIPP0cKbPpunKxcOm8/w640-h640/Outnumber%20At%20the%20Polls.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A rather apocalyptic A.I. generated picture of voting last night</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><br /><div style="text-align: center;">We are outgunned</div><div style="text-align: center;">Outmanned</div><div style="text-align: center;">Outnumbered, out planned</div><div style="text-align: center;">We gotta make an all-out stand</div><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Right Hand Man - Hamilton (The Musical)</i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></p><p style="text-align: left;">As I'm sure you all are aware, even my friends from other countries that read this blog, America, specifically Iowa, was starting the process of electing the next president. We use a system that might be called antiquated, and possibly needs a fresh coat of polish and is largely misunderstood, to poll our residents on whom our appointed electors should vote for at the next National Convention held by each political party. It is called a caucus.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Both of the two major parties held their caucus last night. The Democrats just met to elect chairs for the next election after this one as well as various stages of our process leading up to and including the Democratic Convention. They used to poll themselves too but found themselves in trouble with the national press during the last election cycle and were removed from their first in the nation status. They are still voting by mail in preference ballot from now until mid-February with their results not being released until March.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The Republicans side however, don't use the same Democrat complicated system of multi level preferences and instead just vote by a simple secret ballot of your top preference. They haven't been banned from their first in the nation status and so carried on last night and the results, which I haven't seen in detail (more on that later), have long been released and are probably headlines on every news site this morning, being analyzed to death.</p><p style="text-align: left;">I consider myself an Independent since I side with both parties on a number of issues. But as an Independent, I had no ability to caucus or steer my future in selecting a party candidate to run for president. So perhaps twenty years ago or so, I changed my party affiliation to Republican, simply because I felt it was the easier party to steer in my direction and I liked their system of caucus much better than the Democrats for a number of reasons much too long to explain for this post. So last night, as a RINO (slang term used by other Republicans for those of us who are Republican In Name Only), I took part in the Republican Iowa Caucus.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Unlike voting for president, where I typically vote a candidate that I agree largely with, my agenda for caucus night was different. There wasn't a single Republican candidate that I felt I could say this about. I definitely didn't want to vote for former President Trump because just typing his title in a respectful manner is giving the man more respect than he deserves for the disrespectful way he ran his office when President. DeSantis didn't seem much better and has a track record of also using his political office in a vindictive manner against those whom disagree with him. Haley, while she has some independent streaks about her, was quick to be a "Yesman" for Trump when he was in office, until she fell out of favor. There was another guy, whose name I have a hard time pronouncing, with Indian ancestry, that spouted one wild conspiracy theory after another. Finally there was another guy, who just a couple weeks ago was the first time I ever heard an ad from him, that absolutely has no other platform other than he wants to unite the country. Those were my choices. I decided to vote for the person whom I felt had the best chance (which isn't much of a chance) of beating Trump at National Convention and so voted for Nikki Haley.</p><p style="text-align: left;">I had hoped that the recent snow (more snow than we typically get in an average year and more snow than we have received in the last three years) and the extreme cold (coldest caucus in our state history by a LOT) would keep people home but as drove up to the parking lots of the high school where it is held, they were packed. Later I would learn that while not record setting like the 2016 caucus, it was fairly close to that same amount, meaning a much larger caucus than normal. I knew at that point that Trump was definitely going to carry the night but I continued on.</p><p style="text-align: left;">After checking in to our precinct, we go to a large auditorium where current office holders, our state Senator and Representative along with a proxy for National Representative all gave speeches. Then a proxy for each of the candidates mentioned above also gave speeches about why you should vote for their candidate. After 45 minutes when they were over, we all went to different rooms of the school building to do our business and take the poll. When I arrived and sat down, I pulled out my phone and happen to notice that the Iowa Republican Caucus had already been called for Trump. WTH? Nobody in my precinct had even voted yet at this point.</p><p style="text-align: left;">My precinct, as normal, is highly dysfunctional. The precinct captain is an extremely disorganized and soft spoken woman. It took her 20 minutes of running around to get her shit together and by that time, many of the other precincts were already done and walking out the door, right by where my precinct meets. Finally, after 20 minutes of waiting, our secret ballots were handed out and I could vote. After that, the soft spoken precinct captain started asking for various volunteers for all the previously mentioned committees and political stages and wasn't getting any volunteers because nobody could hear a single word she said. Finally a fellow took pity on her and started repeating everything she said at a louder level that could be heard. By the time our precinct wrapped up and our results tallied 47 votes for Trump, 17 for Haley, 14 for DeSantis, 1 for the conspiracist with Indian ancestry and 1 for the other guy I hadn't heard of until a couple weeks ago, we were one of the last precincts reporting for our county.</p><p style="text-align: left;">In conclusion, I knew going into this that Trump would be the overall victor. I have seen too many polls showing this which is why the race was called so early, that I hadn't even voted before it was over. I was secretly hoping that Haley would take a solid second place since she seemed to be the only candidate with any momentum that could challenge Trump. I haven't seen the results yet. (I'll do so after I publish this post), but just from our county results, I don't think it is likely that either she or DeSantis will come away with a clear cut second place finish. What this means of course is that they will both likely continue to be in the race and continue to dilute the (other than Trump) votes like in 2020, until he becomes the nominee again. But if Trump takes over 50% of the vote (as he did in our precinct), it really doesn't matter anyway.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Sigh. </p><p style="text-align: left;">The one positive point to the evening besides getting out and talking with my neighbors in spare moments, is that one of our top three national news organizations chose our caucus site to be on the national news. NBC even sent on of their national correspondents, Jacob Soboroff and crew there to record clips for appearing on the national news special on our caucus. Being somewhat star struck, I started taking a selfie of myself with him in the background but he saw what I was up to and mugged for the camera behind me. Afterwards, he even shook my hand. I won't show you that picture but I'll leave you with a screen grab of Mr. Soboroff during one of his many videos last night. Behind him is the area where all precincts check in initially and where my precinct, one of the larger ones, meets to do our voting later in the evening.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTK715Q61UlUkTl9NjquyHkzFcT2T-U7p9kHooU11YV8aKxmSXGKCM9zg53W6s3kqUcJpjNtr9NSZbf0q3nAj28eTwnskuqtpq_-QTVJNNmrt15LIr3xciBtCYsCPZLldVZ_J9xh2HBZfUmZOQSCjtFl5oCi6NFXb93iEKBOvRjfIu3VhOuGnfMCWPuN4/s1426/Jacob%20Soboroff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="1426" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTK715Q61UlUkTl9NjquyHkzFcT2T-U7p9kHooU11YV8aKxmSXGKCM9zg53W6s3kqUcJpjNtr9NSZbf0q3nAj28eTwnskuqtpq_-QTVJNNmrt15LIr3xciBtCYsCPZLldVZ_J9xh2HBZfUmZOQSCjtFl5oCi6NFXb93iEKBOvRjfIu3VhOuGnfMCWPuN4/w640-h346/Jacob%20Soboroff.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com18