Mostly from an email to a friend:

I ended up playing with the iobridge yesterday (iobridge.com). I can now read the temperature and turn a light off/on in the shop from anywhere in the world. Boy, that’s got to come in handy sometime or another. Hi.

Actually, it wouldn’t take much to be able to switch between heating and cooling on the shop’s thermostat (or I could just buy a smarter AC controller). The small iobridge microcontroller is setup totally across the internet, i.e. no computer-language programming required. I have another board that does require low-level programming to scratch that itch I get from time to time. The iobridge will talk to the other board by serial connection and allow the passing of commands and the collection of data. The iobridge will also control X10 wall-plug devices directly (that’s how I turn the light off/on).

The computer I’m using in the shop I just bought from bestbuy for about $200.

Jeanne needed a computer in the bedroom for a little solitude while writing; so I went looking. Bought her an Acer R1600. It runs XP, drives a large monitor, and runs really cool to the touch (uses very little power). Liked it so much I went back and bought me one for the shop. Added a USB WiFi device to each to keep from running Cat5 cable. They hit the Belkin router in the living room just fine.

Break

About this blog going dormant, I figured it out: I was no longer focused enough on the yard to generate discussions and my ongoing activities mostly fell under the theme of my other blog, i.e. recumbent bike riding. But now that I have my part of the shop appointed with work benches and tools I’ve started piddling with electronics/web control/embedded computing again. I use to do that kind of think at work. I’ll drop the “yard” part of yard.piddling.info and shift this blog to piddling of all kinds not recumbent.

I’ve been thinking more about gardening lately and wanting to get back to yard piddling. With fall coming it is my time for maintenance activities and planning in preparation for the spring. I have my eye on a couple of ebooks, “24 Historic Styles of Garden Design” and “The Principles of Garden Design”. The first because I’m thinking about trying some radically different ideas, well, just different to start with.

An old photo taken in the rain but it is the tree with the pots around it. For example: I’ve already discussed with Jeanne the cutting down of a pecan tree in the back to create a raised vegetable (or flower) bed. There is already a slightly raised brick-surround that might do as is. In any event, these ebooks, and possibly others, will be free for downloading in October from GardenVisit.

Thanks to Sarah for thinking I would be interested and, similarly, I thought you might. I plan to check their site in October for some fall reading, if I can wait. Even when not free the prices are very affordable. I receive no compensation for these comments and they are purely my own

This would be for the kitchen and utility room. She has already selected a pattern from a store sample and had a guy come out Wednesday to take measurements and give an estimate. He made arrangements for us to visit a new construction using the same stone pattern and, so, Jeanne and I drove out to Oak Grove after he left.

The installed slab does not seem to be as polished as the sample; maybe that is an after-installation step. Also, after seeing this example, i.e. the thinner of two thicknesses available, we are sure we want the thicker slab.

Here is a closer view. On the sample it as if you can see down into the stone, sort of a 3D effect.

I performed my last official act at USM this past Friday. I turned in the grades for the term, came home and:

Gary: I am now unemployed.
Jeanne: You are retired, you are not unemployed.

Uh-oh

I taught my last class today. I give my last final Wednesday. I signed my USM retirement papers today and take them to Jackson tomorrow. I signed my Social Security retirement papers last month. Of course I have been retired from the Air Force for 24 years. I guess you might say that I am:
RETIRED, RETIRED, RETIRED.

I feel that my new life has begun and the burden of responsibility greatly reduced. Let’s see how long it takes me to obligate myself. NOT. I have more things to do than I can possibly get done but the big difference is that I am now working totally for myself. I give myself a big “Huh-Rah“.

Jeanne comes home tomorrow night. She has been gone to Texas for a week to visit and attend a doll show. I have been doing her chores and mine too and it is going to be another busy day. I go to work, I take Kurt to his doctor appointment and then to another appointment, I join the School of Computing faculty at dinner where they plan on roasting me (I hope it is on low heat), and then finally to pick Jeanne up at the Airport at 8:40 (and I hope picking her up is just the beginning of the evening). Why am I telling you this? I don’t have a clue.

If you want to see what’s blooming on the Long Leaf Trace (or just “bike trail” as I usually say) go over to my bentrider.info blog. I am going to resist the urge to post the same thing there and here.

In a recent thread on BROL I told about riding my bike to the office but forgetting my office keys. I thought you might like the following comment I made about preparations for old age.

“For that reason I have started creating automatic habits against older age. For example, before I close a locked door, e.g. house and car, I take the key out of my pocket and hold it in my hand. I do not rely upon thinking it is in my pocket, even if I just handled it. In addition I look behind myself when I leave a room or at the front door after getting the mail. I also have a lot of information online that I can browse to from my iphone. I password protect some and use hints for the more sensitive.”

Life goes on.

Jeanne’s been sick, Kurt’s been sick, and I am now sick. I think they have turned the corner but I have not. Oh, the discomfort of it, the dripping nose, the sore throat, the headache, the inability to think clearly. And the nose piece for my CPAP machine broke and I could not use it last night, I had to set in a chair. Just sleeping in a chair is torture enough but I have to prop my head un-naturally forward to keep my breathing channel open. I felt so bad this morning, and then I went to work. I don’t ever miss work when ill. I left my office at noon to walk over for something to eat, maybe for something cold like a Smoothy or shake, blowing my nose and wiping the whole way. A near brain freeze diminishes the headache. (As I re-read this I see just how unclear my thinking was, but I’m not going to change it now).

While going down the stairs in front of my building I was using the banister for support when a sharp edge cut a large gash in the tip of my thumb. Boy did it bleed. I went into the Dean’s office to tell them about the danger, the rail was off its vertical support and needed repair. It is then when my thumb really started to bleed; they gave me some napkins to wrap around it. I walked half way across campus to the clinic. My thumb started to throb, bless its heart. My nose continued to drip and I continued to wipe. I did not enjoy the walk. At the clinic they told me I needed to go to “Health Works” (a service provided to the University by Forrest General Hospital) and that I may need stitches. They gave me a temporary bandage that stopped the bleeding and I walked back to the office to find someone to meet my class at 2:00; good thing I had the lesson/activity on line. Found someone. Thanks Wayne. Went to the School of Computing office to let them know “what’s up” and to check on the paper work required for “injured on the job”. They said I would normally go to Human Resource to fill it out but that they would take care of it for me and I could come by tomorrow to sign. Thank you ladies. The “Health Works” clinic is over across from the old mall and, so, I would have to drive. They wanted to know if I would be OK. Thanks for carrying, ladies. I walked to my car; I never seem to get a parking place close any more. Throb, throb, this was not fun but I made it OK. (I came to realize how much I used my thumbs. Thank you “other thumb” for filling in.) I had a little trouble finding the clinic in a building of several clinics. I had been told the wrong name but the word “work” was common and I eventually found it, but not before being told it was actually across town; a bad moment but the person asked who I worked for and told me I was in the right place afterall. The 30 minute wait was not bad as such waits go. I rested with my hand on top of my head and that seemed to help the throbbing, which never got really bad, not bad enough to conquer me. They took good care of me. The doctor asked what kind of work I did and then decided not to put stitches in (he prefers not to use them) since, as he put it, “You work with your brain”. I did not add “not today”, but I did tell him I worked with my thumb on the keyboard. Then I said that, however, I could use my other thumb for the space bar. He said he was sure I was smart enough to figure something out. I went home seeking a “poor baby” and then some solitude and, so, I laid down in the bedroom for a little rest. That was a mistake. I fell asleep, the kind of sleep someone with Sleep Apnea has when not on a breathing machine. I keep waking up, kind of, but not enough to actually escape the grasp of my exhaustion. My brain seemed to observe all this from afar, wishing it was somewhere else. After awhile, of unknown duration, I head Jeanne say “I’ll call him gently and if he is awake …”. I never did have lunch, so I got up. Janice, our house guest, fixed the meal. I know Jeanne appreciated that. Thanks Janice. After I joined them she said I looked really bad, much worst than Kurt or Jeanne. I told her what I often say, “Any day above ground is better than any beneath”. However, I said it with a little less conviction than normal. All in all, I’m glad I am alive today but I am also glad the day is over. Now for the night. I wished I had been able to get a new nose piece for the CPAP. In the morning I go to work and I am going to feel like the lab rat that was not lucky enough to be in the control group. Actually, I don’t know how a lab rat on a bad day feels but I am sure it feels really bad. I can just hear one saying to another, “Oh, on, I’m having a really bad day, I feel like Professor Johnsey”.

And then, maybe I’m just a big baby.