Ziggy's Mom Played Guitar.......

 ...while his dad played bass.

Last November, Hal told me he once tried to learn electric bass guitar in school when he was about 13. But the school had fewer basses than guys wanting to learn and because Hal was tall the teacher decided he would be the one to tackle the double bass. So much for Hal's fledging rock star career. So, as it was Black Friday weekend (the buying frenzy in the US) I suggested he go ahead and get himself a bass and teach himself to play. So, he went on Amazon, and he did just that, ordered a cheap bass with a small practice amp, etc. This made him extremely happy.

Ziggy's Dad

Now there I was sitting next to him while he's searching the website and it occurred to me that I once told me parents when I was around 12, 14, can't remember, that I wanted to learn guitar. I had played recorder in second grade and in 3rd switched to clarinet. It all went nowhere, and I don't really remember why though I have told people for decades my parents didn't like hearing me practice Jingle Bells in July. For all I know it could have been the cost of renting the instrument, maybe I wasn't that good, who knows? But, back to last November, while Hal was merrily loading his Amazon cart, I wondered why the heck wasn't I buying myself a guitar and learning to play it, too?

So, onto Amazon I also went and looked and looked and had no clue what to get. I had always figured in my past musings about playing guitar that I would someday get an acoustic, possibly a used one, no amp required, and I could sit around outside and strum away, etc. Hal convinced me to go with an electric guitar. We knew there was a small guitar store in the nearby town, but I didn't want to get a hard sell, or possibly be pushed into whatever they had. Plus, Amazon was right there.

All I knew about electric guitars were the brands Fender and Gibson. I looked, pondered, read many, many reviews and decided on a Squier Bullet by Fender Stratocaster, made in Indonesia. It came in 2 colors, black/white and brown sunburst, the latter the color of Hal's bass. I opted for the black and white one. It didn't come with anything, not even a pick or guitar strap. Hal gave me his picks, bass players seldom use them apparently, and his wimpy strap as he bought a nicer one. I have since bought a nicer strap as well. 

Shall I name him Eric?

Of course, I was out of town when it arrived, so I didn't get to open the box for a few days. It was now December and I had no idea what to do with it (though I did discover you can hear the strings without an amp), and the "manual" was laughable, Next stop, the internet to look for lessons. I found an English guy on You Tube and learned the E major, E minor and one other easy variation and watched his next video. There didn't seem a rhyme or reason to the lessons, so I looked around some more. Stumbled upon a phone app from Justin Guitar. Downloaded that and listened to this nice, likeable man from Australia tell me useful things like how to hold the guitar, how to hold a pick, aka a plectrum, how to tune a guitar, a very important thing and easy to do now with these little electronic tuners that Hal happened to already get for me. 

The first lessons were free, so as I sat on the edge of the bed, (Hal practiced in the TV room) I learned about the A and D major chords, a little about strumming, and practiced 3 karaoke style songs, none of which I had heard before or even particularly cared about. But it was something as I was now learning how to switch between chords!

Then my sister her boyfriend and Ember arrived, the holidays quickly intervened though I still managed to practice the 20 minutes a day recommended by Justin and built up my callouses, so the metal strings didn't hurt anymore. And they really did hurt a lot for the first couple of weeks. Two days after Christmas I came down with Covid, followed by Hal a day later and neither of us felt like doing anything again till mid-January. I lost all my callouses.

I debated buying the phone app for the rest of the beginner classes and the karaoke style play along thing, but then it occurred to me to look for Justin Guitar on the internet. And there it was, everything "free" and available (there are a few paid for specialty lessons). I re-watched all the videos I had watched on the app and have been continuing on. I now count my actual learning from about Jan 25th when I started with the website. As of this writing I can play A major and minor, D major and minor, E major and minor as well as C major though that is still a bit "fuzzy" need lots of practice to perfect it.

I'm also learning a few songs, but more on that later. It's time to make dinner.

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Changed my Blog's Name

 Well, as we moved out of the swamp 3ish years ago, I figured I ought to change the title to something other than Life in the Swamp. 

This new house is pretty much on a small hill in a large field. Sure, the property has some swamp but nothing like what the old property had and that was only half the size of this one. We were also in the center of a small village that actually has a gas station, a bar, post office and sort of a downtown. This place downtown has a post office and that's it. It had a country, once upon a time but it sits derelict now as well. But it is 17.5 miles closer to the big city of Alpena, so that's something worthwhile. It's also close to 2 of our favorite restaurants, Rosa's and The Stone Bar, which is a definite plus. I do miss being surrounded by trees though, the hay fever is abysmal till the first cutting, but there aren't any deer flies buzzing around as soon as we step outside. That's a big relief to me and the pups.

Plus, we do love this house we built ourselves!

Now the name Life Outside the Swamp isn't that exciting, but as I have yet to think of anything better, it will have to do. I am open to suggestions, my many, many followers..

And now a short interlude.

It's Maple Syrup Season

 Hal actually tapped the 10 trees from last season early in February as we had days in the 40s quite a few times. It didn't last but he got enough gallons the first time to boil enough for nearly 2 quarts and the second time it warmed up to get a little over 2 quarts so all in all we got a gallon from that early run. This is now sitting on the kitchen island (it's canned so no refrigeration required) letting the niter settle for later removal.

Batches 1 and 2

boiling down pre-canning

We had 3 more days this past week for another short run but as the ground and trees have warmed up he got a full 35-gallon barrel in 2 days. He also tapped 6 more trees so that really helped. He'll boil this batch this weekend. Temperatures will be too cold tomorrow, the front is moving in now, so he won't put a battery out to start the pump till Sunday afternoon. By the forecast we ought to get a couple barrel's full next week. Fingers crossed, we'd like to bottle at least another gallon or 2 more than last year, all depends on how warm things get.

the sink boiler

More Decor

 Before Christmas last year, I went downstate and spent a few days with Hal's sister. We had a great time, got to see her new condo as well as the new homes of 2 of her brothers. We also went shopping. I managed to find all sorts of things to hang on my walls at home, most of them at a resale shop called Fabulous Finds.

On the left side is a black metal corner shelf unit which is decorated for Christmas. On the top shelf is a red lantern I also bought. Another metal wall hanging that I think fills the space nicely between the cabinet and the stove. I do think I want to move it a couple inches to the right. 

In the guest room my sister-in-law saw this at the same shop, and it now resides above the bed as you can see. I need a couple "somethings" on either side for balance, I think. 

Perhaps, I also need more pillows on the bed...

Another Random Update and Ziggy's Health

 I'm hardly updating at all this year! All I can say is we've been busy, just not on finishing the house though I did take four 1x4s and add wood filler where needed and sanded them, awaiting the stain which may happen next week. I dare say it will happen next week. Tonight, Hal's sister is coming up for the weekend, so we'll be doing other things, hopefully, more donating and looking at carpet remnants for the living room.

A couple weeks ago Hal tapped the 10 maple trees we used last year. We had around 5=6 days in the 40s, weird for that early in February. We only got about 25 gallons of sap and he still hasn't boiled it, fortunately it turned cold again so it ought to be fine. He's also had to plow the driveway and my walking trails more than once as winter decided to barrel right back in. 

I've been walking the dogs, of course, and unpacking the odd box or two, throwing out stuff and donating the rest if we can't use it. Also, cleaning out my sewing room of boxes of extra yarn and fabric I don't have an immediate use for. I may never have a use for most of the yarn, I just can't get enthused about crochet anymore. I think I still will sew though; I've finally set up my sewing machine and darned some socks and put buttons back on shirts. If nothing else, it cleaned up a large pile of clothing on the floor.

Ziggy is on medication now for Cushing's Disease. For the last few months, he's been getting his liver and kidneys rechecked and while we got his kidneys back in working order, his liver values went into the red. I hadn't realized all the bread he was stealing since last August, his constant begging for food, and lately his excessive drinking were actually symptoms. I figured the bread thievery was taught to him by Oakley. Doggie see, doggie do.

Cushing's is apparently often caused by a tumor on either the pituitary gland or the adrenal gland, I don't know which. From what I've read online the adrenal tumor is more likely to be deadlier, but I'm not going to have exploratory surgery done to find out. He turned 12 in January; I'm not making that same mistake I did with Rocket. He's been on these pills for about 9 days now and I do think he is drinking less, at least I haven't had to fill the water dishes as often these last couple of days. Maybe he is begging less, he doesn't try to climb on me as much anymore, which is what he was doing several times a day for the last couple of months. The pills, Trilostane, aren't a cure, but hopefully they will help him feel better.

Oh, 2 weeks ago today we went back on Keto. I have determined it is impossible for us to do this all the time, we really like a nice piece of bread, or cake, or pasta, or rice, the list goes on, but we will try to go lower carb and lower fat when we go off it which tends to happen a lot when family visits. We'll see how it goes. So far, I think Hal's lost at least 4 pounds, and I've lost 7. Five of that came off in the first week, so I know that was just water weight. I plan on doing this till at least the end of April, at which time I will be attending a baby shower for one of my nieces. I am sure there will be cake.

And finally, we seem to have recovered from keto, no more coughing jags unless it's because we inhaled something we shouldn't, etc.