Year 21, Week 22, Day One (week 1117) 07-03-21 Saturday

 Year 21, Week 22, Day One (week 1117) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

07-03-21 Saturday

77 degrees as the low, mostly clear, 90 as the high. This weather report is brought to you by The City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I got out of the house at just after eight. I started on the south part of my yard sale route and stopped at the nearby nursery. I asked where the coco plum was and a guy gave me a ride to pick them up in the golf cart, dropped me at the cash register, and then took me to my truck. I got two coco palm in a three gallon pot, and they had a potting mix made from coffee grounds. I think the recipe was coffee grounds, club soda and a little cinnamon. It was an expensive bag but I wanted the recipe. I am thinking that we could start saving our grounds and putting them to use. 

I stopped at two yard sales. One that is having sales almost every weekend, where I got the shorts, a hat and some shirts. I saw a box of cards and envelopes with the gold designed lines around the field. I grabbed some slippers for a friend and a little flag pin. The woman, who is from England, gave me the pin. If I did not get the cards, I would not have gotten the other things (dollar each).

At another yard sale on the way to Mom’s, now heading south, the was police activity, something like eight cop cars, an empty house taped off. At that yard sale, a black woman was buying some irons and some kitchen stuff. I picked up a baggy of cords. I got some very good items. Several plug-in chargers, cords for different things, a car charger plug with three outlets and a USB. Some electrical cords. I think it was a good find.  All two bucks. I have been having problems with charging my tablet when not at home.  I found a cord that is good, and I found one of my chargers that has two USB outlets has a problem with one of the outlets. 

Once home, I helped mom get the Clerodendon tree into a big pot. It was heavy but only lifted for a few seconds. I helped her move a flowering bush and she was surprised it was in the ground. Mom wanted to give a neighbor the bush now to be planted. The neighbor says she wants the trees already planted to start growing before she puts anything else in. I tried hard to get mom to understand that the neighbor was not ready for it. Mom wanted to plant it now so she did not have to put it into a new pot. 

A friend was working on mowing the neighbor’s lawn and was planting a tree. He cut through a black pipe and got shocked. Tripped the breakers. I told my brother to bring tools to fix it tomorrow. My neighbor thought my friend was mowing the lawn when he got shocked. He said he was digging.  I reset the breaker and had the power back on.  It was on the same circuit that the front room fan and my neighbor’s bedroom was on.  I think that is also the same one that the a/c is on, but not sure on that. 

We have learned that my friend is not the brightest person I have met. A few days ago, he was digging for a tree , found a pipe and moved the tree. This time he decided to cut through the line, which goes to a post near the driveway rather than move the tree. He had been warned that such a line was there. 

A few days ago. Mom said she would help him get a tree out of a pot.  She turned around a moment and he took a shovel and cut into the pot and then struggled to get the tree out. Mom was hurt because she was going to re-use the pot.  That explains why several of the pots he had taken trees out of was damaged beyond use. He used a shovel on them. Mom has an easy way to get plants out of pots and was about to show him how. 

I got the BBQ grill out and it needs to be wiped down. I had scrubbed the case and had stuck the rack and the fire plates in the dishwasher the last time I had used it. It just needs dusting off and use the heat to clean it.

The storm to the south of us will likely come past us Tuesday. The cone of death now misses us but if it is at the east edge of the cone, we will get some effects, but it likely won't be that close. 

Year 21, Week 22, Day Two (week 1117) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

07-04-21 Sunday

officially the temps were 80 as the low 87 as the high, nice and clear. It was 92 degrees under the awning when I went out there and 96 when I had finished out there. It was clear nearly all day. Tonight we are expecting some rain. I took several breaks inside during that to cool off. 

This weather report is brought to you by The City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

My neighbor got a thunder jacket for Ginger. It does help. I was visiting and had the dog with me and she would growl. She barked once in a while over the really loud blasts. I was petting her the entire time. I had taken my hand off her and She finally leaped off the bed barking. I think she went into the neighbor’s bedroom and I did not heard her bark since. When we first put it on her, she did not want to move. Earlier, my neighbor had put a dress on her and she did not like it. She thought the dress might keep her calm. It did not work. The thunder jacket did make some difference. 

After lunch I had my stuff out back. I did not feel like doing any grinding so I used the knife to nip the corners off some of the square tires on the car and truck ornaments.

I washed off the BBQ, the chairs and a couple bins we are using tomorrow. The chairs need soap, water and Brillo to get them looking clean. I moved all my equipment to the L end of the awning so there is a lot of room for people. 

I helped clear the neighbor’s living room as we will have some of the food there. They had the laptop, with keyboards and screen on the kitchen table. The desk was covered with stuff and so was the table. I dug into the piles and did a very good job of clearing stuff. I will set up the laptop on the desk. It is disassembled right now.  We will be able to put the food on the table. The laptop will stay on the desk for now. We had used it for videos when we were using the house for bible study sessions. 

This gathering is what is needed to get the house cleaned up some....

The experts show that we won’t get the storm other than some possible outlying rain. It will be passing us on Tuesday. A few days ago, we were worried  as to whether the storm would mess up the BBQ. We now know everything is safe.

Year 21, Week 22, Day Three (week 1117) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

07-05-21 Monday

84 as the low, 89 as the high (94 under the awning)  clear or patchy clouds, at least until after three when we finally got drenched.

Long day. I started by cleaning the living room and office (same room).  I was handed some storage boxes. You have to assemble them. I decided to put them on the office desk in a cubby hole. The first one, I tried to assemble it and was failing. I finally said half out loud, “when all else fails,  Read the instructions.” I looked and found that I was trying to do it all wrong. I was trying to fit the ends inside the plastic that makes the box. The plastic actually fits into grooves in the plastic front and back. They even specified to do the front before the back. I followed instructions and found that it was a great idea. The front has a door that opens and you can reach your hand through the door to get the plastic in line with the groove of the back. 

By the time I finished the sixth one, it was extremely easy to do. They have tabs that stick out to align them for stacking. The cubby I stuck them in was just slightly wider than two side by side storage boxes. I stuck something on one side to add pressure to keep them from buckling as I stacked some light stuff on top. Those helped clean up the desk. 

I went out and set up the back area, digging out an extra folding table which serviced the grill. I really  needed to move my stuff over some more but we decided not to move them. It was a little tight between the tables, one against the cart with my little lathe. The space to sit, then another table with most of the outdoor foods. In the house, Mom’s neighbor made potato salad, macaroni salad, and mac and cheese (the real stuff). 

We cooked the brats, the burgers, the dogs and My nephew cooked up some pork steaks for himself and some skirt steak, which he shared. I had a skirt steak, two brats, two burgers, and a dog. I had some of the other stuff. I was really full. 

I had made some Cuban dark coffee (Bustello Caffe), but instead of using the usual 4 scoops of coffee, I decided to use five scoops and that made a big difference on the flavor. Mom’s neighbor had tried it before and did not like it. When my other nephew tried it and said it was great, she tried a little bit and said it was really good. 

That nephew came last night and left today. We caught up with his band work. He is in three bands. This SISTER KILLCYCLE band he is in, existed before he joined. I did not know that. It is basically the lead singer and other band members swap in and out over time. 

The little one is two years old and a real cutey pie. The two boys still have the same personalities but are growing fast. Mom took pictures so she will send them. I did not pull my camera out at all. 

I did a lot of walking back and forth, carrying stuff, moving stuff, once everything was set up and they were getting food out ready for cooking to start, I stayed in my seat for most of the time, not wanting to get up. 

At about 3:30, I laid down for about 20 minutes. I got up and showers hit. They were packing up everybody was done. There is a lot of stuff to take care of, but for now, it is all right. We still have loads of food left. 

The storm is missing us, but we are getting a little bit of effect from it right now. It is still  "behind" Cuba. 

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Year 21, Week 22, Day One (week 1116) 06-26-21 Saturday

  Year 21, Week 22, Day One (week 1116) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

06-26-21 Saturday

06-26-21

81 as the low, 85 when I got outside, 86 as the high, mostly and partially cloudy. One tiny misting showed up, then that was then gone. The humidity felt higher all day long. Dots of showers kept coming off the ocean, playing tag with different parts of the area, but not here.

I accomplished very little today. I looked at my gas tanks for the BBQ and they seem full. I don’t know about the one on the unit itself. That killed my excuse to go to the hardware store.

We had dots of showers zipping through and when I first walked out back, one was passing over. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism

I did cut a little sapling that was growing between the fences. About the diameter of two fingers side by side. I am sure it was a Gumbo Limbo, which is a native tree, sometimes called a tourist tree because when growing in the shade of a forest, it will develop red, pealing skin. Mom had cut about half way through. I basically bent it to the side until it broke, then bent it to the other side and it came off. It was not a strong wood, a little softer than whitewood.

Other than spending time talking to a neighbor, I accomplished nothing else.

During the week, Mom dug out her sand pile and put them in four foot and three foot diameter planter pots. It was a lot of work. She simply took her time and worked shovel by shovel. I think it took her like two days to do it. It made a big difference. Takes up less room and easier to use. 

Year 21, Week 22, Day Two (week 1116) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

06-27-21 Sunday

82 as the low, 87 as the high. a mixture of clouds with lots of blue sky. Radar showed dots coming off the ocean but missed us entirely. humidity this weekend is inching up more and more. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

I worked on some of the trucks using the dremel, turning them into step bed trucks. I added windows to a couple other vehicles. 

Mom and my neighbor’s fences are back from the property line a bit. There is a Schefflera tree growing on our property, but we have to go around to the other end of the block to get to that part of the property. A Schefflera tree sprang up there and sent up a bunch of trunks. Since it is on our properties we had the right to remove it. It broke one post on my mom’s fence by leaning against it. My brother, with the help of a neighbor cut down much of that Schefflera tree down using a saw-all. To take it the rest of the way out, he now has to bring a chain saw because the trunk is too think for the saws-all. It made a big difference in mom’s view. 

I will see what I accomplish next weekend.

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mom's new sand pile storage.

\Alamanda blossom

Alamanda blossom

flower bud

clerodendron  timmed, roots all but cut, ready for relocation

trucks and cars christmas ornaments

another view of trucks and cars christmas ornaments

Year 21, Week 21, Day One (week 1115) 06-17-21 Saturday

 Year 21, Week 21, Day One (week 1115) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

06-17-21 Saturday

The day was nice, but I was not out in it. Patchy clouds, and the radar showed some dots coming off the ocean. At one point, I pulled onto the highway and looked back and saw where a shower had just hit the road but not where I was. Tomorrow may be the same. This weather report is brought to you by The Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

When you hear about people’s phones getting wet, it is usually dropped into a lake or mud puddle. One never considers it falling into a cup of water. Thursday, I had my phone on the charger at work and it slipped off the upside down cup I had it sitting on and fell into a mug of water. I could see the water behind the glass of the screen and like an idiot, I did nothing about it. This morning, the screen was unreadable. Other than not being able to see anything, the phone should work all right....The problem with my old phone is that part of the screen is filled with lines . Normally, a sixth of the screen shows, but when I go to the address book, more lines cover the screen and I while I can make out the phone numbers, cannot really make out the names.

Today, I went to Walmart early to get a new phone. Try as I might, I could not set it up. I had to go to a ATT store and have them set it up for me so I could use it. My old phone won’t be answering now. A few doors down was a computer and phone repair place. I went there and talked to the girl there. She said that the only way to get the data off the chip, which is different than the one I got now, would be to get the same phone on line. The cost is as much as my new phone ($36).

This new phone is harder to use also. Imputing information takes more work. With the old phone, to type a letter in the address book or when texting, you just hit the same key till your letter comes up. With this one, you hit a number, then have to use another button to move over to the letter you want. Then you hit OK, then go to the next letter. 

I have the old phone  in rice right now and will leave it for several days before I try to check it again. messing with the phone took the day.

I was given a tall newel post (tall post for the head or feet of a bed) from someone’s bed. They said the other one broke and they tossed it. This post has flutes down the length of the main body, and decorative pieces on the ends. I have not decided what to do with it yet,  It would be an excuse for another ornament. I could cut the post into sections and put them on the lathe to part off the disks, and then carve the surfaces to look like petals or carve them to be snow flakes. The ends could be hollowed out and made into vases. No rush right now.

Will see what I do tomorrow.

*****

Year 21, Week 21, Day two (week 1115) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

06-17-21 Sunday

Sun, Jul 18, 2021 6:53 pm

In the morning we got a good solid shower. After that it was hot, humid, with patchy clouds. A fan helped under the awning. 

The room mate of the next door neighbor BBQ’d some food under our awning since I had not put the BBQ away. She BBQ’d some bell peppers. She put them on the fire and rotated them so they cooked evenly. When they collapsed, they were done. They were sweet and tasty and you could even eat the seeds. She did not even take the stem off. She said a brother in law of hers did that and she said those were the best peppers she ever had. These were good. The green peppers were picked over, with few left at the store and the colored peppers were even cheaper, so the colored peppers was what she used. If you think about it, they are cooked about the same as how the peppers would be cooked when you stuff them and bake them. Being colored, they were sweeter than the green and that made them especially delicious. 

After lunch, my brother and I sat outside and talked. By three my brother had to leave. 

I sat and talked with mom and by the time I was to leave, day was gone without any wood working being done. I had taken my stuff out under the awning but by the time clean up was done and everything was settled in, it was really too late to get set up to work.

My brother liked the bed post. It is very pretty. 

I will see what I come up with next weekend.

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