What did you do today? - 2021 version

[Souschef]

Well, we had some excitement today. I got up at 6:45 AM and was sitting at the PC. At 7:00 everything went dark. We were experiencing almost hurricane force winds, and So Cal Edison shut off the power.
Fortunately, some time ago I bought a Generac 4500 watt generator. I also bought a heavy duty triple plug and a Power strip. Another thing I did was to buy a 6 foot heavy duty appliance extension cord. The refrigerator is plugged into it, so I do not have to move the refrigerator to hook it to the generator.
I plugged the refrigerator and the small freezer into the triple plug along with the power strip. That way we could also charge our readers and smartphones.
I shut down the generator at dark, as It makes a lot of noise.
Fortunately, it was not that cold (65), so we just put a comforter on the bed.
I was awakened at about 2 AM as the power come on. I turned on the FAU and went back to bed.
I have to refill the gas tank and check the oil on the generator, then refill my gas can. I put fuel stabilizer in it to keep it from gumming up..

 

[REWahoo]

I have to refill the gas tank and check the oil on the generator, then refill my gas can. I put fuel stabilizer in it to keep it from gumming up..

Something I learned the hard way is fuel stabilizer alone may not prevent problems. When shutting down the generator always do so by turning off the fuel supply and allowing the carburetor/fuel system to run dry. I've been doing this with my old Generac for many years and it still starts on the first pull.

 

[Souschef]

Something I learned the hard way is fuel stabilizer alone may not prevent problems. When shutting down the generator always do so by turning off the fuel supply and allowing the carburetor/fuel system to run dry. I've been doing this with my old Generac for many years and it still starts on the first pull.

Thank you for the information. I had a heck of a time getting mine started, because I thing I flooded it.

 

[FIREd]

This morning, as I was coming back from a ski trip, I slipped on a sheet of black ice and fell down a flight of stairs. Nothing broken, but I'm pretty banged up. My upper back and neck are really sore.

 

[braumeister]

Bummer!
Black ice is one of the most dangerous things in existence, whether on foot or in a car. Hope you recover quickly; it has to be very painful.

 

[Montecfo]

Hiked the first segment of the southernmost part of the Cross County Trail. Went under a cool barrel arch bridge constructed decades ago by inmates of the now decommissioned nearby prison. Supposedly it is the only of its kind in Virginia.

Fun afternoon, temps mid 40s and sunny.

 

[W2R]

Well, we had some excitement today. I got up at 6:45 AM and was sitting at the PC. At 7:00 everything went dark. We were experiencing almost hurricane force winds, and So Cal Edison shut off the power.

I heard about those high winds in California! Pretty amazing. Glad you got through the rough patch of weather and hope your home wasn't damaged.

I almost feel guilty because we have been having beautiful weather here in New Orleans the past day or two, sunny and around 70F, warm enough for shorts and sandals, no winds.

This morning, as I was coming back from a ski trip, I slipped on a sheet of black ice and fell down a flight of stairs. Nothing broken, but I'm pretty banged up. My upper back and neck are really sore.

Eek, that sounds like a nasty fall. Hope you can rest today and recover soon. I used to fall pretty often before I had my cataracts and knee fixed. Now I can see better so I don't bump into stuff, and my knee is stable and doesn't buckle, so I don't fall. This has nothing to do with the reasons for your fall, but just explaining that I know how much falls hurt and I am sorry you fell down those stairs and got so banged up.

On the bright side, I am glad you got to go on the ski trip! That sounds like fun and good exercise.

 

[Walt34]

The good news is that after the fiasco last week at the county health department for COVID vaccinations they displayed some sense and now do it by appointment only, made either by phone, which I didn't bother with, or online, which I did. The bad news is that my appointment is 10,276 and they've been running about 500 vaccinations at a time.

While I was doing that, unknown to me at the time is that after DW's hair appointment this morning she made vaccination appointments for both of us at a Walgreen's drugstore. Hers will be way after mine because she's just shy of 65 but she said I'm about a third of the way down on the list that's on the first page at that particular drugstore. Evidently each one keeps it's own wait list.

So there is hope that both of us will get vaccinated sometime in the foreseeable future.

 

[finnski1]

Hiked the first segment of the southernmost part of the Cross County Trail. Went under a cool barrel arch bridge constructed decades ago by inmates of the now decommissioned nearby prison. Supposedly it is the only of its kind in Virginia.

Fun afternoon, temps mid 40s and sunny.

perfect hiking conditions.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

We could not do New Years Eve this year. DW spent New Years Eve in the ER and self there and the parking lot. We saved the bubbly for another day.

Today was the day.

 

[rk911]

it's way past due time for a new desktop PC so my buddy and i drove to the local MicroCenter store and i picked out the various parts and components....case, CPU, motherboard, RAM, drives, etc. they'll be putting it all together and i should have it next week.

 

[street]

Spent the day at the ranch cabin. Took a walk down along the river, hauled some wood on sled up to the cabin and eat lunch there. Went down and cut some river bar willow and did some small wreath hoops up in the warm cabin.

A beautiful day in paradise.

 

[braumeister]

Walked past a furniture store last week and saw some recliner chairs in the window that looked amazingly comfortable. We have a couple in the living room that are only a few years old but I don't like them at all. Mentioned it to DW, expecting pushback, but it turned out that she had seen the same ones and was also interested in replacements.

So we went there this morning and bought one (the one for me). She wants to think about the one for her a bit more. Typical store session: I would have been in and out in ten minutes, because like most guys I go to a store to BUY something. Like most women, DW goes to a store to "SHOP" for something.

But eventually we managed to escape after making an order. About 10 weeks to delivery, which isn't all that bad. And the chair is incredibly comfortable, as expected.

Then after we got home, UPS delivered my annual order of maple syrup. I'm extremely picky about that, since I consider real Vermont maple syrup to be one of the most wonderful things on the face of the earth. I order some every year from a small Vermont farm. There is simply nothing like it on pancakes, waffles, ice cream, or so many other foods.

If you haven't had any lately, it's interesting to me that a few years ago they changed the designations for different grades of maple syrup.

Old Name	New Name
Fancy	Grade A Golden Color and Delicate Flavor
Medium Amber	Grade A Amber Color and Rich Flavor
Dark Amber	Grade A Dark Color and Robust Flavor
Grade B	Grade A Very Dark Strong Flavor

I believe the lightest "Golden" is the most popular, but I love the strong maple flavor so I've always bought the Grade B (Very Dark). I had a good friend who lived in Vermont and knew all the local producers, but he died a few years ago and since then I've bought from a family farm in northern Vermont that does a great job.

 

[Gumby]

...
If you haven't had any lately, it's interesting to me that a few years ago they changed the designations for different grades of maple syrup.

Old Name	New Name
Fancy	Grade A Golden Color and Delicate Flavor
Medium Amber	Grade A Amber Color and Rich Flavor
Dark Amber	Grade A Dark Color and Robust Flavor
Grade B	Grade A Very Dark Strong Flavor

...

Now everyone gets a Grade A trophy.

 

[MRG]

Went downtown to the riverwalk with our little dog. A couple miles made her pretty quiet. We met a few others walking, a couple guys were fly fishing the river, looked cold.

After lunch and coffee I went out front to chip the remaining ice in the driveway off before the next snowstorm that is starting as I type this. The forecast suggests two storms dropping 12"-18" over the next few days. Hopefully it's true.

As I was finishing up the driveway DW said her ear was blocked. I tried unsuccessfully to clear it. So as the storm is starting I'm sitting outside Urgent Care. [emoji56]
ETA: All is well with her ears. When I was outside I noticed a steady flow of people who were receiving Covid-19 vaccines.

 

[MRG]

Day 1 of the storm, woke up to a couple inches of fluffy snow that our dog liked. She had a bath this morning and a blow dry.

DW and I walked around the neighborhood, only saw one couple. Snowplow people haven't been by and its totally quiet. I saw two driveways that were cleaned off. I just did ours, maybe 4" total so far. I think it's supposed to snow more overnight, then a break for a day, then several more days of snow.

 

[socca]

Today's USPS Daily Digest e-mail indicated that a letter from the IRS was on the way. It turned out to be nothing, but I had a few hours of anxiety as I waited for the mail. Normally I wouldn't be so worried, but I did something tricky in 2019 with one of the entities I manage (the letter was addressed to the entity). I paid for two independent opinions from CPAs regarding the tax-free status of transaction, but with the IRS you never know - it always wants its pound of flesh. Now it's time to relax, have some chocolate, and watch some trash on Netflix.

 

[jcfradio]

Started a 5 gallon batch of amber ale. I "ground" the grain using an old food processor which wasn't very efficient but it seemed to get the job done. It's bubbling away now and hopefully will be ready to taste in 4 to 5 weeks. If it turns out good, I will need to "Blow That Dough" and get a proper grain mill for the future.

 

[Chuckanut]

Drove out to the waterfront where I had a nice view of the snowy mountains.

 

[rk911]

just got a call that our new custom Win10 desktop is ready to be picked up. i'm installing the two old drives from the current PC. i can't get to the pickup until monday. gonna be a lonnnnng weekend in anticipation.

 

[Walt34]

It's windy and cold today so we pretty much stayed inside, just as we plan to do for the rest of the week since the weather is going to be even worse, with snow, freezing rain, and rain, and various mixtures thereof. I did fix up a mount for the runcam on one of the airplanes, and also hooked up one of the "lost airplane finders" on that one. A "lost airplane finder" is basically a noisemaker that's hooked up in series with one of the control surface cables. If it doesn't sense any signal for about a minute it starts a loud beeping noise. I'll do the rest of the airplanes during the next week or so.

Anyone who has searched for a lost R/C airplane in a cornfield or woods will immediately know the value of these cheap devices. Yes it's dependent on the battery connections remaining intact but it's better than nothing.

 

[doneat54]

Walked about a mile on the lake today. About a 6 degree windchill, but bright and sunny. Lots of skaters and fishermen.

 

[MRG]

Got up to fresh snow, snowball style. Ran the snowblower once, maybe 4", its still snowing despite the forecast. We're looking at a local one and a couple national and it's going to stop sometime and resume snowing sometime. Maybe 4"-12" overnight depending upon who you believe. DW has a 9am doctor appointment in the morning and I'll be taking her despite the weather.

 

[W2R]

It got up to 79F here in New Orleans today, which was nice after some chilly weather earlier this month.

We went out to lunch, and split a grilled chicken wrap for $6 each including tax and tip. There was just one other table with customers, clear on the other side of the (very large) restaurant, and only one employee was there. It's amazing to me that they are still in business.

Then, we went to the boat launch to do some bird-watching, but since it was a Sunday with pleasant weather it was very crowded. But not so many birds; we only saw two pelicans and some seagulls. So we left right away and instead, went on a pleasure drive.

I suppose our day's activities sound terribly boring but as always we had a great time.

 

[Gumby]

It got up to 79F here in New Orleans today....

Wow! The young wife and I have been wanting to take a trip to New Orleans and wondering when would be the best time of year so that the heat will be bearable. But if it is 79 deg. in January, I don't know when that ever would be.