Sunday, December 31, 2023

End of 2023!

Three months since I posted here. I'll write a few things that happened in those months.

I'm still playing/practicing guitar. I'm a bit better than I was 3 months ago. I hope to be even better 3 months from now.

My younger sister, her BF and Ember have been visiting just over 2 weeks now. We went to Rosa's tonight for dinner to celebrate our friend John's birthday. Our other friend Tom joined us. We had a very good time and good food.

I traded in my 2017 Chevy Equinox for a loaded 2021 Chevy Equinox Premier. It has a better Sirius XM radio with navigation capability, too. Mainly I wanted AWD (all-wheel drive) after skidding down Nicholson Hill Road toward US-23 after a bare inch of snow. I wasn't going fast but the car nearly didn't stop. Now I have fog lights again, too. It was an unexpected purchase, they cold called me, and it just seemed the right time. It's silver instead of dark red. Leather interior is nice, too.

We haven't done anything much on the house. Still waiting to get some HVAC guy to fire up the system. Of course, hunting season and Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year has kept that from happening. I'm sure there will be more excuses next year. Got to still love this gas cast iron stove and the 2 bathroom space heaters.

We had the usual crowd for Thanksgiving, John, Tom and Hal's older brother who was up from Texas. Christmas of course, we exchanged the brother for my sister and her BF.

Christmas was fun. I had bought an Alexa Pop on Black Friday and Hal got 2 more for Christmas and we got one for my sister. The boys, especially Hal has been having a blast getting it to turn on things, tell bad jokes, etc. They came with smart bulbs and then Hal bought 4 smart plugs. It is kind of fun. (But who is listening in? BWAHAHAHA.)

At the beginning of November Hal, Ziggy and I went to Massachusetts. Hal and M went hunting for deer in Maine while I visited with my 2 sisters. I hadn't seen my older sister or my best friend in 7 years, the time we've taken to build the house. With all of Hal's hunting clothes, etc. there was no room for Kaylee even with getting a cargo carrier for the roof. So, Kaylee stayed with John, Oakley and Seamus. A good time was had by all. Hal did not get a deer. M did.

There might be more, and there needs to be photos uploaded at some point, but that's for another day.

Happy New Year.



Friday, September 29, 2023

End of Summer Update

 I haven't really worked on the house this summer as Hal has been under the floor in the crawl space installing ductwork. He declined my assistance other than to pick up parts at the store. He finished last week and started plumbing the geothermal unit in this week. 



So other things: had this growth on my lower lip for all of June and July that bled like crazy and I couldn't get into see a dermatologist till August. Of course, before the appointment I was able to twist the thing off. She cut out the remains and had it tested, it turned out to be a wart. And she didn't get it all, I can see and feel a hard little gray knot. I hope it doesn't get any bigger. 

I bought a second guitar. I wasn't planning to; it was used, and I just fell in love with it. It's a Paul Reed Smith, a PRS Soapbox II. Apparently, it was tuned for double drop D. When I tuned it back to regular tuning (EADGBE) the 5th and 6th strings buzz. I haven't looked into setting it up myself yet. 

But even so it sounds incredibly better when compared to my Squier Bullet! The photo doesn't do the cherry red color justice.

I've been practicing guitar regularly, learned the F barre chord though I am not proficient in chord changes to and from it. I've got to get batter at though if I want to play the House of the Rising Sun well.

Over the last couple weeks, now and then, I've been adding wood filler and sanding down three 1 x 4s for the trim of my sewing room window. I stained 2 today, decided the 3rd still needed more filler and sanding. I hope to finish the poly-urethaning Sunday, that was they will be ready whenever Hal is done with the furnace.
Okay, that's enough update for now, hopefully the next one won't wait so long.

Monday, July 17, 2023

Two Windows Finished

 We finished the guest bedroom window and the kitchen window since my last post. Hal cut the jambs and trim and I stained and varnished, and he installed. They look good.


guest room window, temporary curtains

Other than that, there isn't a lot to report otherwise. Hal is working on laying the ductwork in the crawlspace. Currently he's building the main trunk for the return air. It's annoying having to do it without help, but no one wants to work, and the guy who started with us last September disappeared and doesn't answer calls. Hal isn't a spring chicken and with a bad back it's tough crawling around on his backside, but hopefully he'll be able to get the HVAC installed before winter.

piece of return air duct

Sunday, April 30, 2023

So, About that Guitar Thing......

 Yes, I really am serious about learning guitar. I've been following the beginner courses from JustinGuitar.com which has been an awesome way to learn as I can do it when I want, for as long as I want or have time for. Except for the last few days while I've been out of town (though I did bring my guitar with me), I haven't had a lot of time to practice. But when I'm home I've been averaging 1 to 2 hours per day. I started with about 20 minutes back when I was still developing finger callouses. Those are quite well formed now except for my pinkie as it's currently only involved with the D minor chord for which I have not found any songs I want to practice with yet.

As for songs, the first one I learned was Three Little Birds by Bob Marley and the Wailers. I haven't played it in a while as I've been working on other songs I prefer. In no particular order:

For What It's Worth - Buffalo Springfield.  This one I know pretty well now as I'm practicing it every day. I barely look at the App now when I do play it.

Stand by Me - Bill Withers. This one is fast, faster than I expected it to be. I cannot play it at full speed yet though I am dabbling at 90% now with chord changes that are often bad with a few that are good. 

What's Up - 4 Non Blondes.  One of my few more modern songs in that it was released in 1993 and all the others are 60s and 70s songs. I'm doing better on this than Stand by Me simply because it's a much slower song.

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd. This is also slow and easier than I expected, but remember, I am only playing rhythm guitar, someday, if I get much better, after learning the harder chords like F major and B, maybe I'll start working on learning lead guitar. I have no aspirations of ever even approaching David Gilmore's ability with the instrument.

Cortez the Killer - Neil Young. I'd love to play this on acoustic, but don't have one yet, still sounds okay on electric guitar.

Wild Thing -The Troggs. One of the first songs I attempted, before having the App. It's not easy, it's fast (for me) and has an odd syncopation, if that's the right word. I should probably slow it down a little more to work on it till I've perfected the strumming and timing.

Hey Joe - The Jimi Hendrix Experience. I'm actually not that fond of the song, at least not for playing, mostly I chose it because it has 5 of the chords I have learned. I much prefer it when Jimi plays.

Mary Jane's Last Dance - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. This one I've only tried once but I really enjoyed it so I may move it up the list to practice more than Hey Joe.

I have other songs in my favorites list that I'd like to learn eventually but for now these are the ones I have tried at least once, the top 3 several times and the first one I pretty much know by heart. I've been practicing with the Justin Guitar App which I purchased as a yearlong subscription because it has lots and lots of songs, you can filter them by the chords you know, of which I know the 8 open chords now plus it is a karaoke style program that can slow the song down to as low as 50% speed. But trying to practice at the faster speeds is definitely pushing me to get my chord changes faster. 

Hopefully, in another couple of months I will be playing much better and I can move on to the 2nd set of beginner lessons.

D minor



Saturday, April 29, 2023

Bob Jo's Custard

 Hal's sister and I went out to visit a Wyandotte, MI tradition tonight for a soft serve custard. I asked for a vanilla/chocolate swirl with sprinkles. A medium. This is it. Bob Jo's since 


Obviously, it was huge. But I ate it all.