What did you do today? 2019 version.

[Walt34]

Removed 23 of the 28 screens from the screened-in porch, preparing for it to be sanded and stained. Each screen is held in with four strips of wood, each of those held in with three screws. I quit when my back started hurting more than I wanted to deal with, I'll take out the remaining five screens tomorrow.

A bunch of the screw holes had been stripped over the years so today included drilling out the stripped ones with a 3/16 bit, filling with a bit of 3/16 dowel glued in, and then a pilot hole drilled for the wood screw to follow.

I really love my battery electric drills and drill driver about now.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Hiked to the top of Sharp Top on the Blue Ridge Parkway on a whim. I had never had the summit to myself before. It’s nice to be retired!

 

[ugeauxgirl]

Dropped kids off at school and then had a nice leisurely workout at the gym. Showered and brought DH lunch at the river camp- he was repairing something. Enjoyed the lovely weather and pulled the kayak out for a paddle. Nice day.

 

[Ronstar]

Downsizing garage sale day no 1. Got rid of a lot of stuff. A lot more to go.

 

[street]

Went fishing at the ranch and caught 2 walleye and one sauger. A cool breezy day with partial sun and a perfect day to be in paradise.

 

[robnplunder]

I really love my battery electric drills and drill driver about now.

Right tools make DIYs easier.



Moved an indoor furniture to the backyard to be used as garden work station. Had my wife put on a polyurethane (only need one coat per the can's instruction) to weather the rain & sun. It's a 30 year old furniture and we hope will last another 5 years.

 

[Walt34]

Despite the forecast for heavy rain we've yet to see any so after things dried out a bit from last night's rain I finished removing the remaining five screens from the back porch. We went by the local computer shop (not a chain) and ordered a refurbished commercial grade laptop to replace the six or eight year old one that is kaput.

I hate this getting old stuff. Yesterday it was my back that was in pain. Today that's fine, but with probably not more than an hour total sitting cross-legged (with a walk-around break after every screen) my left hip is the painful spot. I do hope this doesn't mean a new hip is in my future.

 

[W2R]

I hate this getting old stuff.

Tell me about it! But hey, you gotta admit, it's better than the alternative, that's for sure.

Luckily F and I seem to be aging at about the same rate. We both have chronic or erratic knee, hip, leg, and/or back pain. What helps is we joke about it a lot, about how some people must think we are 95 when they see us hobbling along. He is so hysterically funny! So really what people probably see is two old people hobbling along and laughing so hard they can hardly talk. Anyway he uses a cane and among other jokes, he jokes about how nobody better be rude to us or he'll bop 'em over the head with his cane.

 

[aja8888]

Now that over 5" of rain is over, I walked my usual 10,000+ steps today. The dog was along for most of it. Then I ordered a power mirror switch and fuel filter for my 1998 Ford F150.

 

[NW-Bound]

Left Portugal, and drove eastward to go back to Spain today. A few hundred miles across Spanish olive fields and vineyards and something looked strange: no signs of humans, other than the rare few fellow motorists on the road.

Ok, we did see a total of 4 humans from the road. One couple walking on a dirt road a couple hundred feet from the highway. One bicyclist in a small village. A lonely cashier in a large Cepsa gas station off the highway where we stopped for gas.

No other signs of life, yet vineyards looked well trimmed, and fields looked well kept. Weird.

 

[braumeister]

A few hundred miles across Spanish olive fields and vineyards and something looked strange: no signs of humans, other than the rare few fellow motorists on the road.

Alas, it's a well recognized situation:
'Empty Spain’: country grapples with towns fading from the map

According to Spain’s ministry for territorial policy, 90% of the country’s population – about 42 million people – is packed into 1,500 towns and cities that occupy 30% of the land.

 

[iloveyoga]

This is for yesterday. We live in central Iowa, so we have a short swimming season, but yesterday we swam in our new pool for the first time this year! Great times!

 

[Ronstar]

Garage sale day 2 is done. Netted over $550 for stuff I didn't use anymore. More importantly got rid of scaffolding and ladders that could have limited my life expectancy.

 

[NW-Bound]

Sitting at a bar in Plaza de las Tendillas, the main square of old town Cordoba, watching people. Will walk back to the hotel just a few hundred feet away to rest before going to dinner at 8pm.

 

[travelover]

Picked up a Honda inverter generator off Craigslist. I've long wanted one but resent that Honda essentially fixes the price on new ones. The one I bought is basically brand new as the owner just did not use it as planned. I want it to use with my Casita camper and also as a secondary generator backup for the house. My primary generator is needed to run the well on 220 volts, but the inverter generator would be perfect to just purr along and keep the lights on and run the refrigerator during an extended outage.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Well, we’re in Fort Stockton, Texas, and I’ve just heard my first tornado warning alert in a very, very long time.

Creepy.

The beagles and I have been hiding out in the bathroom with all the blankets and pillows.

DH is out foraging for food in the hotel bar. ��

 

[FreeBear]

Went and got a new dehumidifier for the basement. Sheesh, the old one was only 15 years old!

You did well. My last one lasted only 3 years! Someplace on the web suggested that this was typical of newer units.


First sunny and 70F day here in weeks, but can't complain since we've been snowbirding the last 2 months. Well, it looks like it will drop into the 50's and rain for the rest of the week


Just finished dinner featuring free-range smoked chicken, right off our Weber grill, beer can style. Enjoying the last of the sun with DW and a glass of red wine. Life is great!

 

[REWahoo]

Driving on the inside lane of a 4-lane highway today, this happened to the car behind me. The F-250 truck was traveling the opposite direction and came across the grass median, flew past me on my left and hit the small black car head on. Both vehicles were going approximately 40 mph and were occupied only by their driver.

The driver of the truck staggered out and sat down on the grass while good samaritans talked with him and saw to the driver of the small car, who remained inside. When the first responders arrived they pulled out a yellow tarp (!) but it wasn't to cover the driver's body, only to cover the passenger seat so they could protect him from broken glass while they got him out on that side. That's him in the photo, standing with his back to the camera wearing a black t-shirt.

My guess is both were wearing seat belts and are thankful for air bags, crush zones, etc.

If we were three second slower getting to that spot on the road, that black car would have been us...

 

[MRG]

Driving on the inside lane of a 4-lane highway today, this happened to the car behind me. The F-250 truck was traveling the opposite direction and came across the grass median, flew past me on my left and hit the small black car head on. Both vehicles were going approximately 40 mph and were occupied only by their driver.

The driver of the truck staggered out and sat down on the grass while good samaritans talked with him and saw to the driver of the small car, who remained inside. When the first responders arrived they pulled out a yellow tarp (!) but it wasn't to cover the driver's body, only to cover the passenger seat so they could protect him from broken glass while they got him out on that side. That's him in the photo, standing with his back to the camera wearing a black t-shirt.

My guess is both were wearing seat belts and are thankful for air bags, crush zones, etc.

If we were three second slower getting to that spot on the road, that black car would have been us...

Time for lottery tickets. Wow.

 

[Music Lover]

I just sold a dart board and cabinet on the internet...not super heavy, but bulky. The guy showed up on a bicycle and rode home balancing it on the handlebars.

 

[LRDave]

Fabulous morning birdwatching walk with DW and a very good friend of ours visiting from out of town. IDed about 50 species with some great looks at some colorful and unusual birds for our area.

 

[pacergal]

Back from Nashville, had a great time, terrific music and meals in the honky tonk bars.
So glad we arrived the day after the end of NFL Draft!!

 

[Walt34]

For the first time in my life, this morning I had two painters in to get estimates on staining the screened-in back porch, the deck, and stairs. Another one is coming tomorrow. I've always done my own painting inside and out, but with back, knee, and shoulder issues I simply can't do it anymore, at least not in a reasonable amount of time on a project this size. And I'm done with ladders of more than two steps. Naturally DW had some idea of painting the kitchen and family room, and some other "Oh, while you're here" thoughts on other painting projects. That is never a good sign.

I don't have any numbers yet but this will be interesting.

 

[Souschef]

For the first time in my life, this morning I had two painters in to get estimates on staining the screened-in back porch, the deck, and stairs. Another one is coming tomorrow. I've always done my own painting inside and out, but with back, knee, and shoulder issues I simply can't do it anymore, at least not in a reasonable amount of time on a project this size. And I'm done with ladders of more than two steps. Naturally DW had some idea of painting the kitchen and family room, and some other "Oh, while you're here" thoughts on other painting projects. That is never a good sign.
I don't have any numbers yet but this will be interesting.

I am with you. Today I sat on my porch watching a gardener pull out a huge mass of Fortnight lilies, trim 5 boxwood bushes, and trim another stand of Fortnight lilies.

I am past doing any of that myself

 

[NW-Bound]

Left Portugal, and drove eastward to go back to Spain today. A few hundred miles across Spanish olive fields and vineyards and something looked strange: no signs of humans, other than the rare few fellow motorists on the road.

Ok, we did see a total of 4 humans from the road. One couple walking on a dirt road a couple hundred feet from the highway. One bicyclist in a small village. A lonely cashier in a large Cepsa gas station off the highway where we stopped for gas.

No other signs of life, yet vineyards looked well trimmed, and fields looked well kept. Weird.

Alas, it's a well recognized situation:
'Empty Spain’: country grapples with towns fading from the map

But the weird thing was how the vineyards and olive fields looked well kept.

The entire landscape free of people for a couple of hundred miles through farmlands was eerie. I felt like being in one of those movies with a zombie breakout.

In the next travel leg from Cordoba to Granada, I encountered tractors on the highway, farm hands working the field. It was a lot more normal.

So, what happened on the day I drove to Cordoba was that it was a Saturday, and people either stayed inside watching a soccer game or went to town to shop. And Cordoba was crowded with people, as it was one of their festival days (and that explained why my hotel rate was so high, and the town hotels had a low vacancy rate when I booked more than 2 months ago).