Hey There!
It's 7:42 AM EDT, 69°F, Humidity 72%, Wind 12 mph S, rain, AQI 32
It's cool this morning, with rain coming down lightly but steadily at the moment. No real wind. But it's not dreary. A little dark, yes, but somehow not dreary. Can't put my finger on it.
Yesterday was a golfing day, so I went through my morning routine and added a quick breakfast to that. Our cleaning person was supposed to come today, but once again she had to back out, as her husband, who has been in hospice care for some time now, had a fall. When she's scheduled to come we usually get up a little earlier than usual and straighten a few things out. When she cancels we think of all the extra minutes we might have spent in bed. No real problem, however. DW and I continue to try to get into one or two rooms a day to keep things clean.
When my colleague and I got to the golf course, the front nine was pretty crowded, so we walked across the road to the back nine. We just beat a guy who was playing by himself. He was good, so by the third hole we sat down and let him play through. As always we had a nice round. He scored a birdie and a par, while I scored neither of those - bogeys and double bogeys. I seem to be caught in a situation where I miss putts by one inch, or they curve around the lip. It's a little frustrating at times, but I don't care too much about it. I just enjoy walking the course, chatting, and every once in a while whacking the ball down the course.
As I was just about finishing the round, Son1 contacted us to say he needed a new phone because the speaker in his phone is not working and the repair would be about the cost of a phone. His economic circumstances don't really let him grab a new phone, and phones are expensive these days, so we will have to buy it for him. He's getting an iPhone 17e, which I believe is the cheapest of the recent offerings. We tried to buy it from Visible, but in trying to use my credit card, there was a snag between his mailing address and my billing address, and there appeared to be no way to change the billing address. His boss is an Apple consultant, so they bought the phone directly, and we will activate the phone when it comes.
I took a few Advil for the soreness I knew was coming, then showered. I rested up until I had to go to the gastroenterologist for my pre-screening for the upcoming colonoscopy I'm going to have. It was pretty much just a matter of paperwork. I signed forms, he poked about a bit, I answered questions, and now I wait for a date for the procedure. No one looks forward to these. The day before is the worst. But I have a family history of colon cancer, so I get screened every three years. I had 5 polyps removed the last time. We'll be getting to the bottom of this soon.
When I got back home, I set about putting together a tech bag for the upcoming trip. I have so much used tech and cables and plugs and what have you it's embarrassing. I wanted to have a tech bag that I can just grab and go whenever we travel, that I never have to empty and pack all the time. I think I've got one put together that will work, but it feels heavier than I'd like. I also have some EDC tools in there as well. One thing I wanted for the bag was an emergency car port charger, so one is coming today, as I wanted one with a USB-A and -C port.
Son2 sent a home to look at, but we dismissed it as impossible for access. Too many steps, all in the wrong places. Nice-looking house, however. While I was thinking about it, I checked our accounts for where the down payment would come from. Probably the Roth, but there seems to be one other option, and I'll have to call my financial planner to see what that's about. I also contacted someone who might list and sell the campsite, and it looks like he's list it for $50-60K. That's disappointing, as I paid $40K for it in 2005, but I guess vacant land doesn't appreciate all that much, and there are issues with the plot (it's wet, there are dead trees standing from the emerald ash borer). DW and I will discuss it during our upcoming trip.
Dinner was leftover chicken parm. After that I turned on the ballgame, and we managed a tidy victory with some power hitting. The game started earlier than usual, so it ended with time to look around the web. I have been thinking of moving this blog to another site somewhere to gain a little more flexibility of design, and I may have found one at Pagecord. It has a free version that has templates and an overall better look. I am a little nervous to move to another site, but we shall see. I spent a lot of time last night reading various web sites, following a number of links across the internet. There are many interesting blogs out there, but I have come to realize that blogging is basically an educated person's activity. I see a lot of blogs written by tech and tech-adjacent people, as well as artists and educators. But I don't see many written by blue-collar workers of any type. I wonder if that has any meaning.
I decided to add this blog to #Blaugust, which is a movement to get people to blog for 31 straight days in August. Since I blog every day as it is, I figured why not. I did not think they would take the entry form, but they did. I've no idea what this will mean, but I will just keep writing as usual.
I cleaned the kitchen, and bedtime was 11:33.
Notable Deaths: Frank Beard, drummer for ZZ Top, 77.
That's all for now. 'Til We Meet Again!