Category: Blog

Status: We’re sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies.

Plans: Attend Zoom Sunday Service and prepare for large storms headed our way.

Narrative: Had scrambled eggs with spinach for breakfast then watched the TODAY (r) show with Kathy before we get dressed for church service at 10.

We’re not expected to get the bad weather until late this evening. The sun peeked it’s head out off and on this morning. It’s quite nice outside even though there is severe weather approaching.

We have two weather fronts headed towards us. The first one will be from the south bringing warm moist air from the gulf. Then the cold front whacks us from the west with all the energy in the warm air. We’re battening down the outside for the heavy winds this morning while it is still nice outside.

We have several nests of carpenter bees in the wood around the garage. They are not on the porch area anymore since we have a wasps nest. LOL I tried spraying in their holes this morning and it splashed back on me. Good thing I was wearing a coat and glasses… I rinsed off then washed with soap before finishing the spraying at a distance this time. I sure don’t want to make a trip to the hospital!

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Work for four hours and then check out any damage by the storm tonight.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies.

Plans: Need to make a run to Lowes and get some roofing sealant before the storms tomorrow. We’re planning on taking a walk.

Narrative: Got up and sipped on a good cup of coffee while I get organized.

I found out that I totally forgot to write in my blog yesterday so I spent a minute to get caught up. Then I wrote in this page but it seems that it didn’t get updated. ARG

We took a good walk around the block at 10AM this morning. It’s 53 degrees and bright sun, just beautiful day for a walk.

After we got home had a bowl of oatmeal with raisins, it was pretty good.

We both took a good long nap to get refreshed and while Kathy was making dinner I mowed the back and side lawns. (They were needing it pretty badly.)

Dinner was Chicken Pot Pie with a large salad. Excellent!

Spent a minute to prepare for the storms and long run tornadoes tomorrow. Filled two of the five generators with fuel and checked all five for oil. I have five DC power supplies to charge the batteries using the generators, they are good to go. The portable fridge also has three sources of power to maintain our frozen foods.

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Easter Sunday, not a fun day to be at home. Strong storms predicted for tomorrow afternoon/evening.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: We’re sheltering in place with plenty of food and supplies. Our fridge is floundering, but should last until we get a condenser motor.

Plans: Find the motor for our fridge and get it on order. Work from 06:00 to 10:00.

Narrative: Wow, I was really distracted and totally missed updating my blog today.

Work was AWFUL, had a emotional battle with a coworker and I was seriously considering turning in my notice. When I am still trying to figure out how to deal with a situation at work the following day, conversations are way too emotional.

We drove across town to deliver a device I wear at night to someone with COVID-19 to monitor his oxygen level and his heart rate. The price has increased significantly after the virus outbreak, I bought two of them in Feb.

The great thing about these Overnight Wrist Oxygen Monitors is that they have a vibrator in the finger sleeve to wake you up if the oxygen gets below 90. (Works really well too.)

We ordered Chilis for Dinner using Door Dash. I had Caribbean chicken salad and Kathy had shrimp with a side salad. We gave the driver a $38 tip for risking her life.

We watched a 2007 Series called Pandemic, it’s amazing how closely it matches the current situation. We/they knew this could get bad. ! The show started with a passenger on a long intercontinental flight who was sick. They predicted 3 days to infect all of Los Angeles, that might have been hype. But two weeks is not too far fetched.

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Work around the house, take a walk.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place with plenty of food and supplies.

Plans: Work in the morning, take a walk with the wife and work on the homestead.

Narrative: Worked this morning and took a good long nap. Had ham with beans and vegetables for dinner.

Our fridge has developed a problem with the condenser fan. It’s been drawing inconsistent amount of power for a while and I thought it was the compressor. The fan is making bearing noises so that’s a lot cheaper than a compressor. (Just a really bad time for the fridge to die.) I have put a power monitor on the plug, cleaned the coils really good and put a fan on the coils. (That should keep the load off the compressor.)

Need to research a new condenser fan motor.

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Work at 06:00, it’s FRIDAY!

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: We are sheltering in place and have plenty of supplies.

Plans: Celebrate my Wife’s birthday, work 4 hours in the morning, do some improvements on the homestead and have church in the evening. We are planning to not go to the store again for two weeks during the peak of this outbreak.

Narrative: Got up around 5AM checked in with the team sipp’n a cup of coffee. Finished up a little after 10AM.

Ran the 600W generator to test a new power supply I got yesterday for several hours while I took a nap. The four power supplies provide power to the batteries while the UPS systems are running on battery. The UPS for the refrigerator draws about 5 amps only when it is running. The 6 amps the generator provides can charge the batteries when the compressor is not running. During the day the solar panels provide enough power to keep the refrigerator UPS batteries topped off.

We ordered Red Lobster today for Kathy’s dinner and then the Grandkids came over to wish Kathy happy birthday afterwards. (Surprised her.)

We played scrabble until church services started at 19:30. We played with pictures on Facebook until we turned in for the evening.

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Rain is forecast, work in the morning.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: We are Sheltering in place and we have plenty of supplies. Kathy’s birthday is tomorrow.

Plans: Work four hours today and then work on the homestead.

Narrative: Started really early this morning at 05:00, which is insane for someone about the retire. I finished up around 11AM and looking forward to a bit of lunch before I take a nap.

Had a nice turkey sandwich and a 2 Hr nap. We took a walk down the street and back before the rain cut our walk short. It rained pretty good for 15 minutes or so.

Had a difficult conversation with my mom about staying home and an equally difficult conversation with my coworkers.

Watched the “Andromeda Strain” with the wife before heading to bed.

Feelings: I am ready to quit my consulting job over having employees that are disrespectful of their job. They have no regrets about spinning their wheels all day and getting nothing accomplished. When they are called on their progress they respond emotionally with the attitude that we are being harsh with them.

Tomorrow: Wednesday work in the morning and church in the evening.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: We are sheltering in place, we have plenty of food and supplies. (Even freeze dried foods for a week.)

Plans: We’re going grocery shopping first thing this morning.

Narrative: Went to Kroger at 07:00 and got our week’s worth of groceries. Our portable freezer is now full. We’ve been buying 1 weeks worth of meals and then stretching the meals as far as we can.

The end result is that we were gaining 2-3 meals every week in the freezers. We’ve also been careful not to take several packages of the same item or the last one off the shelf. We’ve been planning on the virus in Gwinnett getting bad enough the trips to the store will become too risky. Then we’ll eat what we have instead of driving to the store.

I downloaded the latest version of Pi-Aware and loaded it onto a Raspberry Pi-3B with wireless. I am hesitant to use a Pi-4 because of the heat dissipation will be an issue being outside on the roof. The Raspi 3B I just built has really good heat sinks on it to help keep it cool.

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Work in the mornings and tinker in the evening.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place, we have plenty of supplies.

Plans: Make grocery lists for tomorrow morning. Continue working on the house and take long naps.

Narrative: Church this morning was very good, we talked about being still for a change and listen. We also walked around the block to get some exercise.

I am still working out the engineering of my IOT using “Home Assistant”, I already have a lot of stand alone devices that will be incorporated into the H.A. platform.

The next problem is to solve how to interconnect the power wires. I want the NodeMCU’s to be airtight and running wire in and out of these boxes is inherently not.

I connected a pair of batteries to our portable freezer and measured the power consumption. To my pleasant surprise it drew a little over 50 watts with a peak load around 60 watts. (I was expecting a much larger surge on compressor startup.) We can easily run this unit on the two solar panels that are on the roof. I am making arrangements to double the panels up there, then they can power our CPAPs and the portable refrigerator without using a generator. Which was the whole idea of buying one!

Feelings:

Tomorrow: Go grocery shopping in the morning at 07:00, we have about three weeks of meals less produce. We buy produce week to week.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
*Did My Best To

Status: Sheltering in place with plenty of supplies.

Plans: Dart out early and get some stuff at Lowes. Then stay home.

Narrative: Left the house just after 06:00 and drove to Lowes. Dawned a couple cloth gloves and picked up a shovel plus some other small stuff in a Lowes Bucket. I gave the bucket to the cashier and stood back while she rung it up. Grabbed my bucket and left. When I got to the car I pulled one glove off, loaded the car with the other then tossed that glove into the car’s trunk.

Went to the bank where it was much more difficult to use gloves. Although handling the debit card was ok and entering my pin was also pretty easy. The option screen had to be touched with my hand, the gloves didn’t select the items.

The cloth gloves will stay in the car until I can don another pair of gloves to gather them up and wash them.

We bought some cloth masks from a friend yesterday, the ear pieces are a bit tight for me. We’ve not worn them in public yet.

Dinner was a Port Tenderloin, smashed sweet potatoes and mixed vegetables. There is enough left for tomorrow.

Feelings: It helps to take a long nap with the wife.

Tomorrow: Sunday, should be another nice day.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accmplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:

Status: Sheltering in place for about the second week, we have plenty of supplies.

Plans: Work for half a day, and mow the lawn.

Narrative: I know four people that have the right symptoms and cannot get a COVID-19 test. That means (To Me) that this page on the Georgia website is seriously underestimating the number of cases out there.

https://dph.georgia.gov/covid-19-daily-status-report

I was wondering why the numbers in Georgia are Linear. (Not Logarithmic) It didn’t follow that the rest of the USA is on a sharp incline, but the numbers in Georgia are much flatter. I believe that they represent the number of tests given rather than the number of patients that are ill.

As you can see, we went out today and replenished our spirit supplies. Now that I’ve reassessed our risk I wiped down all the bottles to make sure I haven’t brought the virus home with them. We’ve gotten to where we stage everything coming into the house one day to let any virus have a chance to dissipate.

It’s hard to look outside and feel like there is a virus killing a thousand people a day.

As you can see, I mowed the lawn today with our battery powered mower. (One battery did the entire front yard.)

We did go to the bank for the first time in months. They control the lobby entrance, so I called them first. The directions were to go to the first drive-thru and it had a drawer for my dollar coins that’s pretty heavy. We had filled out a check before hand and it was a pretty easy task in the end. I haven’t decided whether I should dis-infect the coins since they haven’t been touched in a long time. (They are rolled and boxed.)

Feelings:Found this chart online a while back. I am going to try to use it to represent MY feelings for the day. (I had originally tried to use a list of feeling words, but that was too time consuming for me to do it every day.)

We had a good sized salad and stir fry for dinner. Watched a good movie about living in Antarctica for a year and went to bed.

Tomorrow: Saturday, should be another bright sunny day.

Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News: