What did you do today? - 2020 version

[Walt34]

Mowed the "back 40" of the yard. Normally the lawn service does that on alternating weeks but this being springtime it's growing faster than normal and needed it now.

Edit to add:

Ordered a new drive belt (mower is self-propelled) and it needs a new one.

 

[Hermit]

I got the plow truck back from the welder today. He called and said it was ready. I asked him if he could bring it over. He said sure, that he was going to town anyway. That meant it was only an hour put of his way. I gave him quite a bit more than he charged so I hope he was happy with that. I had him just leave the keys in the truck. I'll make sure the plow still mounts as he asked me to do next week. In the mean time it's in COVID cool off mode.

 

[street]

Today I shoveled snow about 2 inches and stayed home didn't even take a walk.

Yesterday I mowed the grass and got two pickup loads and 4 garbage cans full of grass clippings.

 

[38Chevy454]

Rented a 1.5 ton ride on powered roller to try and smooth out my yard which is quite bumpy and about 1.5 acres in back, and 0.5 acres on front side. Thus making for rough ride on my big zero turn mower. Lot was unfinished weeds and brush when we bought and built a new house. Now it's grass, with some mowed weeds in back yard.
The recent rain had the ground wet, so hopefully the roller made it smoother. Made lots of passes in different directions, 4 hours time on the roller. I'll find out next time mowing how much improvement. The powered roller looks like attached picture.

 

[Walt34]

In a true sign of how desperate things are in these trying times, DW asked ME to cut her hair! She looks nice, if I do say so myself.

Pulled the lawn mower from the shed and used the angle grinder with a wire wheel to get all the caked-on grass crud off the bottom of the the deck. (Yes I wore goggles.) Pulled the air filter, said "Yuck!" and ordered a package of five new ones on Amazon. That gets the cost per filter to just over $2 each. Then, covered head to toe in grass clipping dust, dumped all the clothes in the washing machine and headed to the shower.

 

[doneat54]

In a true sign of how desperate things are in these trying times, DW asked ME to cut her hair! She looks nice, if I do say so myself.

Pulled the lawn mower from the shed and used the angle grinder with a wire wheel to get all the caked-on grass crud off the bottom of the the deck. (Yes I wore goggles.) Pulled the air filter, said "Yuck!" and ordered a package of five new ones on Amazon. That gets the cost per filter to just over $2 each. Then, covered head to toe in grass clipping dust, dumped all the clothes in the washing machine and headed to the shower.

Was it just me, or does anyone else wonder if those two "achievements" were related somehow?

 

[socca]

I did my first mobile check deposit using my iPhone today . The iPhone mobile banking app from my bank is a mature product - the deposit process was straightforward. The mobile deposit limits are $10k per day and $25k per month for my individual accounts, and $50k per day and $100k per month for my commercial accounts.

I normally check DVDs out of the library for occasional video entertainment (as well as subscribe to NetFlix DVDs-by-mail), but with the library closed I decided to give streaming a try. I watched my first streamed movie yesterday using the library's free streaming service - hoopla. The movie selection on hoopla isn't great, but you get what you pay for.

My sound bar is hooked up to the DVD player (there is no way to hook it directly up to the "dumb" TV I bought a couple of years ago). Since I'm spoiled by high quality sound, I'm thinking about buying a "smart" TV that will support a direct connection to the sound bar, so streamed movies will have good quality sound. So ... COVID-19 is stimulating the economy a little in some parts while seriously damaging other parts.

 

[atmsmshr]

Replaced about 60 square feet of pool screen enclosure. And 100 rusty sheet metal screws holding the shebang together. Day 2 of a never ending project.

High 70's outside in Florida made me stay outside today from sunup until now.

 

[W2R]

What I did today in the midst of a global pandemic

It's probably the most gorgeous day of the year out there, and I wanted to get out of the house and go enjoy it! Within the state mandated guidelines, of course. We can go for groceries or restaurant take-out, go to the pharmacy, or go for a walk or other recreation either solitary or in groups of less than ten. As for me, I hadn't been out of the house for maybe a week or a week and a half I think.

Frank needed to pick up a prescription, so I was happy to drive him to the Walgreen's drive through. Then we called and picked up a hot lunch at a nearby restaurant, took it home, and enjoyed it together.

After lunch I wanted to go to the boat launch to watch the birds and sailboats, so we did that from inside the car with the windows up.

I then suggested going to the grocery store, which I haven't done for a month. But, Frank had just heard on Facebook that our Trader Joe's is SHUT DOWN since several of their employees were just now identified as having covid-19. I decided that grocery shopping was a bad idea.

On the way home, my cell phone made that "emergency" sound that it makes when there is a tornado nearby or a hurricane on its way. This time the reason was that our governor had extended the Stay At Home orders until the end of April.

It was fun to get outside and away from home on such a beautiful, sunny day.

 

[Ronstar]

First bike ride of the year. yard work, some woodworking, fishing, and having a beer on my 6th retirement anniversary.

 

[MBAustin]

Finally making some progress on my way-overdue-to-do list. Finished the last 2 pages in the scrapbook I made as a HS graduation present for DD. She's 30, so that tells you how overdue this is...

Then I scanned the pages so I can do a photobook from it (so I can revisit it after she takes the original one of these days). Unfortunately, Shutterfly website appears to have a bad case of COVID-19 as it just keeps reloading so I can't do the book right now. Hopefully they get it fixed before their sale on photo book pages is over on Sunday. Of course, I still have about 6 more scrapbooks that are 75% or more completed and need to get done. But looks like I'll have at least a month to work on them!

 

[Souschef]

Today was a good day. Amazon delivered the 2 four wheel walkers I ordered for my local hospice. Spent about an hour unpacking and assembling them. I will drop them off Monday.
The highlight of my day was when UPS delivered the new 3 Qt. All Clad saucepan. DW loved hers, but it developed a crack and she was heartbroken
about it. I looked on Amazon, and the replacement was almost $200
I had an inspiration to look on eBay and found a brand new one, without the lid for $60. We still had the lid from the old one, so DW is now in business.

 

[Gumby]

I had an inspiration to look on eBay and found a brand new one, without the lid for $60. We still had the lid from the old one, so DW is now in business.

Very smart. Happy cooking!

 

[Walt34]

Installed the new drive belt on the Lawn Boy mower. Hooray for youtube instructional videos! While I doubtless would have eventually figured it out on my own it's a huge help watching someone else doing it first as there are a couple of "gotchas" on the way that machine is put together. One guy was even so helpful as to make his video using an obviously brand-new mower, not a speck of dirt on it, to make things easier to see.

 

[Rambler]

I’m sitting out on the back porch, smoking some ribs for DW’s birthday dinner...her favorite, and that’s what she’s wanted every year for the past 7 or 8 years. Also made her favorite dessert, Creme Brullee. I’ve been experimenting a lot with cooking, since we don’t get out much these days.

 

[gayl]

Hi. Trying to get some kind of rhythm in. We're rotating who goes to the store (my kids also have homes in my small city). Yesterday it was my turn, next Friday it's my son's. Prices are up but not much (avocados 3/$5, strawberries $4, french bread $1.99 so that's up $1 on each). We are on day 18(?) of Shelter in Place but we can go outside to shop, doctors, walk. I'm trying to walk 3+ miles a day on Black Diamond or Bruce Lee trail with the dog.

So the dog has decided he's had enough. For the 2nd day in a row Koda sat down during the walk. Had no intention of going 1 more step away from the house so I had to go back. Obstinate little guy

 

[braumeister]

Today I started a project I've been putting off for far too many years. I decided to digitize all our vinyl record albums and get rid of them. About 7 or 8 feet of shelf space full of old albums, mostly from the 60s and 70s, so this will be a very time consuming affair. But with so much time just sitting around at home, I think I'll probably get it done eventually. Since it's all music we bought at one time because we enjoyed it, I think it won't be too bad to listen to them again.

 

[MBAustin]

I finished and scanned my second scrapbook in two days . This one had only 2 incomplete pages but it was 78 pages so it took a long time to scan (each page has to be placed on the flatbed). Converted all of the .TIFFs to .JPG and uploading them to Shutterfly now to order printed books so I have one to keep when the kids decide they want theirs.

Raining all day so doggie and I haven't had a walk. Tomorrow at least is just supposed to be cloudy so hopefully we can make up for it then.

Time for a glass of wine and dinner prep - shrimp and grits is the comfort food of the day.

 

[NewEnglander]

Today I started a project I've been putting off for far too many years. I decided to digitize all our vinyl record albums and get rid of them. About 7 or 8 feet of shelf space full of old albums, mostly from the 60s and 70s, so this will be a very time consuming affair. But with so much time just sitting around at home, I think I'll probably get it done eventually. Since it's all music we bought at one time because we enjoyed it, I think it won't be too bad to listen to them again.

I was just thinking of doing the same! I'd be interested in hearing what format you decided on, what lossless version? and what software and hardware you are using for the transfer?

 

[braumeister]

I was just thinking of doing the same! I'd be interested in hearing what format you decided on, what lossless version? and what software and hardware you are using for the transfer?

I'm well past the age where super high quality does anything extra for me. In my youth I was kind of an audiophile but much more easily pleased today.

I'm just using a free application called ocenaudio to turn the discs into .wav files at 16 bits resolution (CD quality) and then importing them into Music on my Mac.

I have a Stanton turntable with digital output so it's pretty straightforward.

 

[Gumby]

Cleaned the downstairs of our house; I'll do the upstairs tomorrow. I'll be quite happy when our cleaning lady can come back. Then went out and uncovered my fig trees from their winter slumber. Started cold hardening the new thyme before I put it in the ground later in the week. After all that, came back in and popped the top on a bottle of the new American Pale Ale I brewed last month. I'm quite pleased with the result.

 

[gayl]

I cleaned the house for Passover all except S's room. He's home from college & teaching. Then made my grocery list. It's going to be a very small group, just 5-8 of us. My dtr / her SO / and her littlest one / S / and me. I invited DS & his 2 kids but I have no idea if they'll come. DS says his ex isn't Sheltering in Place so he doesn't want to 'contaminate' me.

Off to try to find a game for Seder instead of a traditional service. DS dropped off his haggadahs for me to use but I want to think outside the box. This night / year is different

 

[doneat54]

Got discharged from a local city hospital after emergency appendectomy surgery last night. Started feeling localized pain on Sat. Sunday told DW I might want to have it looked at, suspecting appendicitis. Normally I would have given it "a day or two" to see if it got better on its own, but with the impending Covid surge in the next 1-2 weeks here, I did not want to have an "issue" at a time when I couldn't get healthcare.


Boy am I glad I did go. After some probing, then a CT scan, around 3:00 yesterday met with the surgical team. They had not one case scheduled that afternoon, I was in 30 mins. Even the ER when I got there around 11:00 or so was empty, only one other person there.

My wife, an ICU nurse now working in corporate was told she could not come in there. The hospital's policy now is no visitors, except for childbirth (spouse only) or end of life cases.


Woke up in PACU at around 7:00 pm. Considered coming home late evening, but pretty intense post op pain and decided to stay the night.

The kick? Not only did I have an inflamed/blocked appendix, but my colon had perforated slightly and was "leaking" into the abdominal cavity. Had I not gone in, it would have gotten bad really fast. The staff that all amazed that with my fairly advanced condition, I had no fever, nausea, chills, etc. Even my pre-op blood labs were pretty normal.


So a bit of a PSA here, if you get abdominal pain (lower right side) and there one "OOOOWWWWW!" spot you can hit, go have it checked out.

Back at the lake house recuperating, AND quarantining now....

 

[REWahoo]

doneat54, you really did dodge a bullet - actually two or three bullets! Congratulations.

 

[pacergal]

doneat54: wow! glad you are doing better.