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.

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.

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

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

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.

First Flower of 2023

 

it's yellow

Yes, one of the bubs I planted last fall has bloomed. This is in the crappy dirt in front of the bedroom wing. Looking forward to seeing more which will probably happen soon as our 40-50 degree days are about to turn into 60-70 degree days next week. Yes, yet again, late winter is turning into early summer. Whatever happened to spring?

Speaking of weather, we had a hell of a lot of rain the other day, thunderstorms, too. We have had trail washouts and a mini river flowing through the backyard. Mud is everywhere!

Sun came out today, things are a little drier.

Mini Greenhouse

 Last month I ordered a mini greenhouse from Home Depot, it was on sale for $35. It has 5 tiers, will easily fit a couple 20-inch-long trays on each shelf. It also has a reasonably nice (one back corner had an open seam for about 8 inches, I just used tape rather than take it off to try and sew it together), zippered plastic cover to keep the wind out and seedlings reasonably warm though it's definitely not going outside till the temperatures no longer drop below 30F at a minimum. It came in a flat box and all I had to do was fit all the pieces together, posts into holes, no screws or tools required.

The box with a wire shelf

some of the parts

took about 30 minutes

Here is the greenhouse with some inexpensive, $22  grow lights I bought from Amazon. I placed it in front of the unused front door till it can be moved outside. Already have 2 year old lupines sprouting, as well as monarda and asters. I'll plant more seeds this coming weekend. Trying not to plant too early, depending on the variety so I don't have my usual leggy seedling problem.

The open seam

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.

Well, How About a Short Update?

So, Hal and I recovered from covid. Took the last 2 weeks my sister was here and then some to recover, so the rest of the holidays sucked. thank goodness my sister took over cooking and cleaning or we would have been more miserable. I think the 5 days of Paxlovid I got at the hospital helped me, though the side effects on the first 2 days were miserable, and then there was the metallic taste it gave everything. A few days later I couldn't taste or smell anything at all! That lasted well into January. Poor Hal had a 5-day sore throat and then lost his senses of taste and smell, too. His doctor didn't bother getting him Paxlovid. Now we just have an annoying residual, random cough. As for my other health news, the huge lump on my head is mostly gone and I no longer look like I've been in a bar fight. I really need to stop falling down.

We haven't started work on the house yet this year and decided to take February off. We are cleaning up things in the house, throwing out stuff, donating stuff. Plus, Hal bought and built some metal shelves for the garage which is really helping. I finally have a place to store all the Christmas stuff as well as my overflow of yarn and fabric, I really need to sell or donate some of the yarn, I just have no time or inclination to crochet anymore, I've got other things I prefer to do now, the main thing to be blogged about later.

Here is a photo of the shelving. Nice to get all the grocery bags of drinks off the floor. The window wall also has 3 more shelves.