All Geeked Out with the BLAZE!

Last week my FitBit Blaze was delivered to my mailbox - oh, goody, a new toy!!!

I get text, calendar, and phone call notifications, and I can control the music on my phone with it.  Pretty cool, daddio!

It's a smart watch, but it's NOT an Apple watch competitor - I can't answer texts or phone calls like The Girl can on hers, but it's what one reviewer called a smart-enough watch!  I've seen The Girl answer her phone and carry on a conversation on her watch, and it reminds me of Dick Tracy and his 2-way wrist radio (oh, no, I don't remember Dick Tracy comics in the newspaper myself- not me, never ever, that's for OLD people - HA).   Even she said it's awkward to talk to your wrist.

I can choose different watch faces.  I'm using the "Flare" face.  It shows you how active you were during the current hour by how much "flare" shows up on the display for each minute.
I originally had reservations about wearing what's essentially a pedometer on my wrist, but it's proven to be fairly accurate for most activities.

But...!

Beware if you wear it while you're grocery shopping and pushing a cart.  NO STEPS RECORDED.  

Beware if you run on the treadmill and hold the rails.  NO STEPS RECORDED.  And I had it in treadmill mode.  It showed 400 steps for my 3 mile run. 
 
Ya gotta swing that arm!  Phooey.

But I like it.  I'm all geeked out now!

That Man and the Garbage Disposer

That Man had knee replacement surgery 5 weeks ago.  The day after he came home from the hospital, I turned on the garbage disposer after cleaning up from dinner (yes, I DO cook), and water sprayed all over under the sink like a fire hose.  Why THEN?!?!??!!?  Why not 5 days earlier, BEFORE the surgery?!?!??!?  So typical of houses and cars.  Things just have to break when it's most inconvenient.

I said nothing.  I can live without the GD (interesting initials that machine has!) for a few weeks.  I put a strainer in the sink and emptied it into the trash every day.  UGH.  To actually TOUCH garbage is so YUCKY (that's a scientific term).

But late last week, The Man was making plans to change the oil in one of our cars  Hmmmmmm....  If he feels up to doing THAT...!  

So I fessed up - the GD was hosing down the sink's nether regions. I thought it was a seal.  

He got down on the floor (WITHOUT getting on his knee - how is that possible?), removed the trap and handed me the fitting.  I dug out the seal, and it was split.  So he went to Home Depot, spent about $3.00, came home, got back down on the floor, and put everything back together - my hero!!!

After he was done was the best part - he was all smiles the rest of the evening!  Back to feeling useful and needed.

I'm Ba-a-a-a-ack!!!

Be afraid - be VERY afraid!

Long story short - life happened.  And death, too, which is, of course, part of LIFE.

The last Elderly Parent passed last year, and The Girl had a baby, so maybe we're back in balance again.  But, now, with The Baby, I'm officially OLD - I'm a GRANDPARENT.  Oh my.  She's awfully cute, though.  I don't think we'll try to put her back.  The Girl might have some objections.

I drove to Branson, Missouri, for a vacation, and boy, I had a blast!  Along Interstate 70 there are loads of motels and restaurants with "66" in their names, since it parallels old Route 66 for quite a while.  Route 66 brings back the summer road trips we took in the era B.I. (before interstates).   We got excited when we saw farm windmills (as opposed to windmill farms) and oil well pumps (rocking horses). From the interstate, I saw one windmill and eight rocking horses.  I got excited, of course!  I also saw some interesting billboards (one of my favorite things about road trips):

Mule Trading  Post - Good golly, I remember billboards for the Mule Trading Post when I was a kid.  They're kind of like the See Rock City signs and barns when you're traveling east, but not quite as bad.  Plenty of them, though!  The Mule must do pretty well - the billboards are in good shape.  It's just hard to believe it's been in business for 40+ years.

World's Largest Rocking Chair - Wow.  Giant furniture!

Got Bra Problems? - This took me by completely by surprise, mainly because the letters on the billboard were ginormous!  I mean, you're driving along, minding your own business and BAM!  GOT BRA PROBLEMS? right in your face!  For some reason, I found this immensely funny.  Maybe I was overly tired, but I laughed until I thought I'd be sick.

Got Chicks? - Also in ginormous letters.  You expect it to be some XXX-rated truck stop (there are plenty f those along the interstate), but no, the "chicks" are literally CHICKS.  It's a billboard for a hatchery

Lambert's Cafe, the Only Home of "Throwed Rolls" - Yes, that's "throwed," NOT "thrown."  I've eaten there - it's just a few miles south of Springfield, Missouri.  They throw the dinner rolls at you.  It's a hoot!

and my favorite,

Vacuum Cleaner Museum - Their tagline:  "It will suck you in!"  I thought I was going to run off the road laughing.

I just love road trips!  You see so much STUFF, if you just pay a little attention, even on the interstate.  Cross country driving is the way to go.  Everyone should take at least one good long road trip - it's the all-American way to travel.  Like the vacuum cleaner museum, "It Will Suck You In!"

Rain, Backyard Chickens, and Sustainability

Rain, rain, and more rain.

It's all my fault.

I went out to work in The Garden Saturday morning, and a rogue thought came to me - "Oh, I don't want to water the garden.  Maybe it will rain and I won't have to."

And it did later that day.  And every day since.

Ugh.

The front yard is flooded, and still it rains.

I got out this morning and ran.  At least it didn't start raining until after the house was nearly in view at the end of my run.  It rained last time I ran, too. I'm tired of trying to run around thunderstorms.

I'm just tired of rain.

But a low pressure system has been sitting over the midwest for a week.  The forecast is gloomy.  No end in sight for now.

So I lost myself on the Internet looking up information on Backyard Chickens.

Yes, Backyard Chickens.  And Urban Chickens.  And Pet Chickens.  And Chicken Coops.  A garden and backyard chickens would go together so well!

Then I found that we can't have chickens inside the city limits.  Curses, foiled!!!

Believe it or not, there is sort of a chicken...movement.  A groundswell.  People in Indianapolis are putting up chicken coops in their backyards, at schools and workplaces!  There's even a Tour de Coop bicycle ride/tour of several urban chicken coops in the fall.  Crazy!  But oddly compelling.

My great uncle Earnest (yes, spelled with an "a") lived in Orange County, California - NOT in the country, and he and my great aunt Edith had chickens and a garden, and fruit trees.  I clearly remember the chickens, and  "picking eggs" for Aunt Edith.

Maybe I just want to relive my childhood.

Or maybe I want to pretend I live on a farm..

Or maybe I'll give it a politcally correct label - an Experiment in Sustainability.

Yeah, that's it - Sustainability.

Maybe next I'll look up goats.