Hey There! It's 9:03 AM EDT, 65°F, Wind 10 mph SW, slightly overcast
I wasn't expecting it to rain yesterday, so when the rains came I was sort of surprised. It turned out to be a day of indoor activities.
In the morning after my usual routine I took my walk, and once again I found a slightly shorter route. I decided to walk along the back edge of the parking lot that runs the length of the back side of the park, and then into the small woods where a new trail is being constructed. I was thinking of going to the local state park, but there is new construction closing the main highway to replace a bridge, so I figured I'd stay local. As I was walking on the trail, I noticed a man who was sitting on a stump, and it seemed to me he might bave been meditating. He was quite still, and I wasn't sure he was alive or just a scarecrow in the woods until I saw his head nod a bit. He was dressed in overalls and a flannel shirt, and had a stereotypical long gray beard and hair to match. He seemed pretty peaceful, so I walked on by so as not to disturn whatever he was engaged in.
Then further into the trail, close to the exit, I saw two other men who were birdwatching. It did occur to me that there were many birds in these woods, more so than in the open part of the park, and I was thinking about taking out my phone and opening my bird ID program, but since I was working to keep my heart rate up and such I decided to keep on walking. Another day for that, perhaps. It's interesting how birds take on a new significance in your life as you reach your retirement years. My father was the same way in his 70s; living on a lake cottage in the summer with a bird feeder right by the porch window, cataloging the appearance of birds.
When I got home, I set about to try and find out what the issue was with my upstairs computer. It has a Windows hard drive and a Linux hard drive installed in it, and for some reason it won't send an HDMI signal to the monitor, so nothing shows up. I pulled out another computer I had which was crashing at random moments. These are those little BeeLink/Minisforum boxes that are so cheap on Amazon, and when I was in my Linux phase, trying to shed my reliance on Big Tech, I had a few of these to turn into Mint Linux machines. I thought perhaps by taking the drives out of them and swapping them over I might solve the problem, but no such luck. So now I have two miniLinux computers that won't boot up correctly. I solved the immediate problem by setting up my Linux laptop, which was once a 2017 MacBook Air, and using that in place of the two miniPCs. I think this will work for awhile, but I'd still like to solve the miniPC problem. Perhaps I will buy a bare bones miniPC and swap the drive and RAM into a new box. We'll see.
When I came downstairs it was raining hard, so my plan to get my scooter up and running was scrapped. While DW and I were in the midst of our activities, we noticed an ambulance show up and park in front of the house. It turned out they took our nieghbor into the ambulance, and we are at the moment unsure of what has happened to him. He's had a couple of operations to repair his shoulder and neck, so hopefully he's OK. TBH we don't know then all that well even though we've been neighbors for probably 25 years at least. We chat and say hello, but no more than that. But seeing him get taken away by ambulance always makes you think about the worst.
Dinner was a ground chicken and rice casserole baked with cheese, and a salad with those organic vegetable we got Wednesday. The lettuce is really quite good. I'm not much of a salad guy, but fresh lettuce makes a difference. Then I idly passed the time until I left for my poker game.
I play poker with a collection of men I worked with as well as a few other acquaintances. It's a good time. I have this pattern of winning early hands, and then the rest of the night winning nothing. The chips are a dime each, and you can only bet a imit of 30 cents, with another limit of three rounds of betting per round, so it's not a high stakes game by any means. I lost $9 last night, but I don't believe you can have more fun with $9 anywhere else. I had some BBQ venison, a cookie, a brownie, a shot of bourbon that I sipped along the way, some cashews, and a cigar. I must confess that this morning I do not feel all that well. It seems the combination caused a bit of internal physical distress (headache, some minor stomach cramps, and an achy feeling). Today I think is going to be a day of recovery.
We don't play very long, so I was home by 9:15. The forst thing DW asked was "How much did you lose?", which tells you the quality of poker player I am. She was watching something on the TV, and my clothes had taken in that poker odor, so I went in the back room and tried (and failed) to get the baseball game on. Basically I putzed around until I had to clean the kitchen and get to bed. Bedtime was 11:10 PM.
'Til We Meet Again!