It’s all done. We passed our last inspection yesterday, and I personally flipped the switch to turn our solar panels on. Actually, I had to flip that switch, because the inspector for the energy company told me that he is not allowed to do that. It actually felt really good to do that very minor task ( Read more... )

Once upon a time, I was riding high on the hog.  I could afford anything I wanted, and still put money in the bank.  I had a great job, a lot of friends, and the respect of most of the people I worked with ( Read more... )

and all the other damn corporations that act like they own your privacy ( Read more... )

Last night as my wife was getting ready to go to sleep, I noticed that we had quite a lot of dirty laundry that needed washing.  So, since there was a washer/dryer in the house when we bought it 2 years ago, I stayed up last night watching movies and doing laundry.

Until about 0430 hrs. (aka 4:30 am).  At that time, I had put the final load into the ( Read more... )

In the ever-ongoing quest to make our property more "green" and/or cost-efficient, we've decided that now is the time to plant one of the planned oak trees that we want to have around our property.  This one will go on the west side of the house.

The one we reserved - we'll actually buy it next Friday and make the appointment for it to be delivered ( Read more... )

The deployment of our new computer has been further delayed.

I wrote Thursday about getting rescheduled for 5pm Friday to get the OS installed on it.  My wife had the car, and I asked her to plan to come home by 3:30pm so we could get supper and I could still be at the repair shop by 5pm.

She walked in the door at 4:15pm, and was surprised to ( Read more... )

Well, I guess I knew it had to happen sooner or later.  I just kept using every trick in the book to opt for "later".

I have finally run out of tricks.

What I'm talking about is my desktop computer.  I bought it new, as a top-of-the-line gaming rig, in 2001.  It's 11 years old.  In all that time, we've had to replace the hard drive (which I upgraded ( Read more... )

As with so much of the central Continental US, we've had a devastating drought going on here for a couple of months.  Corn crops in the area are shriveling, other crops are browning and dying in the fields, and just, in general, there does not seem to be any relief.

So, what is the worst that could happen?  Oh, how about this:

Yesterday, the heat ( Read more... )

Yesterday I went back to Mt. Vernon, MO, for the 4th & final meeting of the MOVE clinic (about trying to get my weight under control).  But, that was not all that was done.

( A very long day . . . )

I just ordered my wife's costume to wear to work for Halloween.  She's going as Black Widow (Marvel Comics, Avengers).

I've been looking at ways to either upgrade the costume I already have, or looking at new ones of other characters, but I always end up getting discouraged and giving up.

Why?

I'm 5'8" tall, and currently weigh around 230 pounds.  The ( Read more... )