Last Wednesday after taking SWMBO out for breakfast, we stopped by the Chef’s Store and bought 2 10-lb chubs of 80% burger. $66 +/-. Thursday I cooked up 10 lbs and started it in the freeze dryer. Today I did the same to the 2nd chub but saved enough out to make some kick-ass chili. And it was. The beans, mushrooms, and corn came out of our pantry (well, technically the can of Mexican Style tomato’s did too) since we NEED to start really using the freeze dried stuff. But, man, that chili was good. And, yes, I’m freeze drying the left-overs.

While all that was going on I re-initialized our modem to factory specs to see if that would help our Internet connectivity. Nope. Not really. But I do have way fewer “things” attached to the modem now. And re-installed only a few of the WI-fi electronics. (Our phones. My tablets.) Had to set up new ip addresses for all the devices and make everything connect to each other. Kinda fun but kinda a pain in the ass. But SWMBO has the NAS for her music and shows so she’s not complaining to me about not being able to do anything. That’s a plus.

So now we wait for the Century Link Tech to get here sometime Monday. I figure our drop-outs and really (really!) slow speeds are either the modem is just too old or there’s some type of of actual damage to our lines. Which was caused by our neighbors digging them up the last time we had these kinds of problems. (But, of course they called the “call before you dig” folks and THEY said it was okay to dig there …NOT!) Personally, I’m kind of hoping they’ve done it again and the Century Link folks turn them in or whatever they can do.

Absolutely not a lot of anything else going on. Still cold and wet out and has even snowed a few times this week. Did get out and start up my tractor and run it up and down the driveway a few times to be sure it (and I) still worked.

Coffee last Thursday with some of the NMARES members at the QFC. Didn’t order a $6 coffee this time. Had a $3 gator aid type drink instead. Holy Shit things are spendy in the QFC these days!

Bought another pump for the hydroponics experiment. Didn’t work much better than the last pump I bought. Looking at the chart on the side of the box I need the largest pump they make (195 gpm or something like that) to get my plants watered automatically. Next payday probably. Bought a new lamp that puts out different colored lights for what stage the seedlings are in. I don’t quite understand that part; yet. I will though.

The DSL and Internet lights on the modem are dark. Reboot.

So, let’s see if this will post.

Which pretty much defines Western WaRshington in March every year.

Otherwise, SSDD.

Saw my Doc yesterday. He’s referring me to a knee surgeon and an audiologist. (I’m thinking I need to keep my knee out of my ear or something…). And, since my Blood Pressure was 190/95 in his office he upped all my BP meds. Personally, I think I was kind of upset that they still require everyone to wear masks even though they’ve been proven to be ineffective in so many studies. But, be that as it may … Got my meds filled at the local instead of the Naval Hospital and it came to $53 out of pocket. Probably saved at least that much in gas and waiting (masked) at the Navy Pharmacy for a couple of hours (minimum). Still, 90 days of meds so I’m not really feeling the pain.

Speaking of feeling the pain: that TerraMaster NAS I bought finally started really not working like I believe it’s supposed to work. Half the time I can’t even access it without rebooting. A semi-angry e-mail to TerraMaster tech’s got the reply of: The file system is probably corrupted. Do these 45 steps (which I attempted) and that’ll fix it. Nope. Not happening. Long about step 13 the NAS kept responding in a way contrary to what I was being told to expect. So I just started the “wipe everything and start over” process. If this takes as long as the “add a new drive” process took then it’ll still be doing this Monday evening. But the little box said not to close or navigate from this page OR ELSE! We’ll see.

Met some of the guy from my Ham Radio club at the QFC in town last Thursday and I lost my Starbuck’s Virginity. One of they guys bought us all a coffee but we had to order what we wanted ourselves. So I did. First time. Made it 70 years before taking the fall though. Felt awful spending $6 bucks of his money for a coffee though.

Trying to embed from google albums…

Someone asked for an explanation of what I mean by “ripping,” so: I use “Makemkv” to “rip”/copy a DVD/Blu Ray to my hard drive. Each episode of a tv program (NCIS or whatever) usually comes in around 1.8 Gig. Then I run those files through “Handbrake” to “shrink” those episodes to around  1 Gig or less (around 5-700mb usually). 45 minute episodes. The bigger the ripped file, the bigger the final file. A DVD movie rips at around 4 Gig and Handbrake can take that down to 700mb without any real loss in video quality. A Blu Ray movie usually rips at 21-30 Gig and, again, Handbrake can shrink that down to 1.2 Gig depending on your settings and desires. Some movies I use higher quality settings so I don’t miss any of the space war scenes or goose bumpy boobs and those usually max out around 2.3 Gig. I gotta really like the movie though.

So, all our movies and tv shows reside on the NAS and we can watch what we want on any device that can see it. Cool beans. Not having cable and only 1 ota channel available means we rely on buying our entertainment. And YouTube. We be big on YouTube. (And Discovery+. And Wondrium.)

And, yes, to respond to the young guy; I am 70 years old and understand this shit.

New: “Game-Changer” Male Contraceptive – Experimental Drug Stops Sperm in Their Tracks and Prevents Pregnancies Exactly 100% of men have never gotten pregnant, ever; but now we have our own pill just to be sure. 🙂

Busy week around the house. Even managed to get outside a couple of times it hasn’t been raining or just too damned cold. Started up the tractor just to be sure that works. Walking around the property to start to plan repairs. Winter damage has taken down more of our small tree’s and part of our path is blocked. Lots of downed branches. Gotta move some sycamore trees before it gets warm. Thinking of moving my grape to my tower and letting it grow up that.

Made an antenna feed cable out of some wire I got at Habitat for $7 that, later, some of the more “experienced” Hams near me said couldn’t be used as antenna cable. Working fine and has zero SWR (feedback). Going to try that other spool of wire I bought for $4 at the Habitat Store. I’ve found that almost anything can be used as an antenna/cable if you recognize its limitations and compensate for that. Heck, I once saw a guy use the Mannette Bridge in Bremerton as an antenna. My friend in Pa used two rain gutters at his apartment for years. Part of the hobby is experimentation.

Still no word on Starlink.

Freeze dried some ice cream sandwiches for the next time we feed the Missionaries. Which is the 26th this month. Freaks them out to have warm ice cream. But, heck, you can leave those ice cream sandwiches on the counter for a week and they don’t melt. Oooh, I should try Twinkies.

Ruined the 8 plastic buckets ($1/ea) that I was going to use for my new hydroponics experiment. Just being stupid, I think. Drilled the holes I need too small. Might be able to “fix” the error if I use something I can drill into to make the holes the size I need. Kinda like a block of wood to hold the drill bit steady so the hole cutter is centered and secure. I’ll figure it out. It’ll be fun.

Anywho, Date Day so I should get SWMBO started getting up so I can take her to FPH for breakfast. Then I think Home Depot, COSTCO, and WinCo. Maybe event The Dollar Store. (Even though they should change their name to The Dollar-Fifty Store now.)

Talk about forgetting!!! I meant to post this 3 days ago! Where is my freakin’ mind these days?

When I visit Fox News I see: You are seeing this message because ad or script blocking software is interfering with this page. Disable any ad or script blocking software, then reload this page.

Our Local QFC Has Eggs For $7.35/Doz. $7.35! For Eggs!

So, when SWMBO and I stopped by the Chefs Store the other day, we found 15 dozen for just under $50. And, since I have a Freeze Dryer, we got them. That’s, let’s see. 49.00 divided by 15 dozen, …, carry the 4, = $3.26 (rounded down) per dozen. Hey, I could run them through the freeze dryer and sell them for $5/doz and still make some bucks. Hmmm….

I won’t though. Too much like work. And, with my luck someone allergic to eggs would buy some, get sick, sue me and I’d wind up sleeping under the bridge in Bremerton. I’m too old to sleep under any bridge; much less the one in Bremerton. I know it would happen in today’s world cause most people are dicks these days. Don’t get me started.

Anyway, that’s a butt-ton of eggs and they should last us a long time. Can’t make “over-easy” (or anything else that requires a whole yolk) but they’re good for omelets and egg sammiches and such. And baking. I may go get another 15 dozen next week.

Running 1.5 gals of whole milk through the freeze dryer today. Have sliced peppers and something called “riced cauliflower” that SWMBO picked up to try for the next batch. We’re still perfecting the re-hydration part of all this and she thinks that smaller pieces will re-hydrate better. Hey, it’s costing only $5 to prove her right.

That was yesterday and the milk turned out good. To me, re-hydrated in COLD water and it still tastes like milk. Which is what it’s supposed to do.

Dropped $100 at Ace Hardware today for parts for my next hydroponics experiment. Going to try root veggies in buckets. And a mater plant. I’ll post pics when I get it up and running. Yeah, starting the project kind of late, but just now rested from all the traveling and events of 2022 (I never want another 2022) so it’s time to get it started.

SWMBO ordered an “electronic” pet door to let the Dog still go out but keep her new Cat inside until it gets big enough to kinda sorta protect itself outside. Guess who got to install it? Dang, the door was heavy when I took it off! Got it done and the Dog refuses to go through it. Don’t get me started.

Running hash browns and apple slices through the freeze dryer tonight. SWMBO spent the day at a friends trying to “thin out” some of the hoarding she’s done over the past 50 years. (The friend has hoarded. Not SWMBO. But, if one was to look at her sewing room ….)

Cold and windy out. Wx Weenies have predicted possible snow for Monday night-Wednesday morning. And we still pay them.

Have ripped 10 seasons of “Hawaii Five-0” and 8 seasons of “House” and will start them converting tonight just before I go to bed. Even with “Handbrake” using my GPU’s it’s gonna take at least a couple of days to get all those episodes done. Keeps SWMBO happy though; to be able to click on an icon and watch her favorite shows on the big tv.  I have no idea how she’s going to keep all the electronics, movies, and tv shows up after I die. She’s a user.

We’ll both be glad when Starlink gets here though.

The new NAS seems to be working fine. Not sure if it’s the NAS, the Network, or my computer that sometimes pauses in the middle of a program; except my computer will also pause for a bit when copying files from one drive to another locally. May be time to upgrade my distro.

That’s about it. Long time coming. Want all y’all I “follow” to know I appreciate your posts. Keeps me entertained.