 Nostalgia, DVDs, old movies, television, OTR, fandom, good news and bad, picks, pans, cute budgie stories, cute terrier stories, and anything else I can think of. Contact me at theyoungfamily (at) earthlink (dot) net . . . . . . . . . .
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» Sunday, November 17, 2024
The Dreadful Week
 There was no warning. It began fine: I had bought James a new duffle bag for our anniversary to take to dialysis (the old bag was falling apart). It has a separate compartment intended for gym shoes or a wet towel/swimsuit, and we have put his blanket in there. He doesn't really needed it, because now that he's on dialysis, he's not cold all the time. There's a compartment for his sugar-free mints, one for his snacks and visor, one for his water bottle and a juice box, one for his TV schedule, and then the inner compartment has a pocket into which he has two paperback books. The central compartment now just holds his noise-cancelling headphones (dialysis clinics are loud), his neck pillow, and his tablet (charged daily so he can watch Battlebots and whatever that Sylvester Stallone show is).Tuesday was a disaster. James twisted, thrashed, and kicked because he was in pain all night. Needless to say I didn't sleep, and we went to Hanger to get his back brace fitted in very ill tempers. As we pulled out of the driveway a car stopped in front of us and the driver got out. I've talked many times about Tucker's adversarial relationship with Max, the German Shepherd on the corner. I don't know how much I've mentioned his relationship with Champion, the German Shepherd down at the end of the street. His people rent a house in the lower cul-de-sac. I watched Champion from when he was a young dog. He has always approached Tucker with curiosity--"Oh, look, what a cute little dog!"--and Tucker approached him back with his head up and his tail wagging obligingly. It was obvious they both wanted to play together, but of course his person was walking him one way, and I was walking Tucker the other. It was Champion's owner who stopped to talk to us: Champion DIED on Monday; he said they didn't know why. We couldn't go home afterwards because James was scheduled for the bone scan at Kaiser, so we spent about a half-hour in Barnes & Noble before heading to Townpark. I was quite woozy and sick; we were going to stop at Walmart for yogurt and I was so sick we didn't. I did manage to get us a couple of treats in Bernhard's Bakery. I was feeling better Wednesday, so after finishing the Lidl/Publix/Kroger grocery route, stopped at Walmart on the way home for the yogurt. In the evening I finally bit the bullet and ordered new phones. My current cell reboots at odd times and loses connection on local streets, and it's beginning to eat battery. I got James a desert tan color and I got a red one. Maybe it will be easier to find. Then...out of nowhere, James got up Thursday morning, went out to make breakfast, and found out Tucker had vomited on the floor. Sometimes he does just get an upset stomach and vomit. But Wednesday he only ate one dog biscuit and a mouthful of rice in beef stock. He was listless and his eyes were tragic and he'd only drink if he licked it off my hands during the day. He drank more at night and ate a couple more dog biscuits. By afternoon I called Riverview and made him an appointment for the next day. Thursday Tucker wouldn't even walk down the stairs voluntarily. I scooped him up and carried him on his back in his blanket and he just lay there. He hates being held upside down. His breath was raspy. He stayed at the vet the rest of the day and overnight. He had a high fever (105℉!) and diarrhea and had IVs getting antibiotics into him and helping his dehydration. We went to pick him up but he was limp and listless on Friday. I had to feed him with Hill's Urgent Care soft food with a syringe, and this was the only time he struggled. He has a dangerously low level of white blood cells in his body, can't go near other dogs and we have to watch him because he's susceptible to sepsis. It was so bad Saturday night I had a meltdown. This is too fucking much. First it was Oliver, then James in the hospital, then James at home, then the falls, and now it's poor Tucker. I felt totally helpless. Sunday was a little better, as I did get some stuff done, but a real struggle to feed Tucker via syringe (I mean, I get it! I would hate it, too!). Labels: dogs, food, health, pets, shopping, sickness, smartphones, technology  » Sunday, July 04, 2021
Fizz Goes the Fourth
Hi-ho, hi-ho, this week it was off the doctor we go. Good news: cardiologist gave James a good report on Tuesday. Bad news: wound clinic wrapped James' leg in viscopaste (the zinc-based wrap that I hated) again on Wednesday. She'd already given him antibiotics "just in case." We have to go back and see her next Friday. He also picked up meds at the pharmacy and went to visit the vampires. He was supposed to give another sample, but he'd just "drained the tank," so we had to drop that off at Cumberland another day. The really bad part of both appointments is that we had to get up early on two of James' work days to get to them on time. I am not used to getting up at 7 a.m. any longer. Ended up taking a nap Tuesday, but laundry had to be done on Wednesday, and since I was awake for laundry I just stayed dressed and went to Kroger (found yogurt, so yay) and to Nam Dae Mun for sesame oil and cheap meats (although the thin steaks aren't so cheap any longer). Our usual three-day weekend was kind of a bust. James has had allergy problems off and on all spring, and had another whopper of an allergy attack very early in the week. All the post-nasal runoff had given him a sore throat. Luckily it didn't get bad until after we had done the shopping at Lidl and Publix. We figured it would be better for all if we didn't go to lunch, just in case, even though he had and still has no fever. I did run James' specimen to Kaiser and picked up some different nasal spray for him. As I was waiting to get out of the parking lot a big red-tailed hawk swooped right in front of the car and landed in a tree nearby. This makes it sound like the Cumberland office is in the woods, but it's really not. Sure was pretty, though! Saturday James had to cook his breakfast meat for the week, so I helped him do some prep of the vegetables that go in it, vacuumed where he'd have to put his desk up, put some Independence Day decorations outside, and finally unloaded/loaded/and ran the dishwasher for the fourth time this week. That dishwasher is insatiable. James also made turkey wings in the air fryer for Saturday night. I was planning Chinese barbecue ribs for the Fourth, but, alas, Dragon took the weekend off. Got wings at Zaxby's instead. Managed to do my essential Sunday chores (charging the bath electrics, sorting meds for the week, and washing towels) along with cleaning the master bathroom, and still got to watch 1776 and the two episodes of Alistair Cooke's America having to do with the Revolutionary Way and the Constitution. [A funny while I was sorting meds: I asked the Echo Dot to play "instrumental patriotic music." What I got was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing "The Hallelujah Chorus." Say...what?] Bloomberg TV was still broadcasting the Boston Pops July 4th concert this year. Unfortunately we don't have the higher tier on Dish Network any longer that gets Bloomberg TV. I didn't worry because it was supposed to be live on Bloomberg.com and I could pull that up in the Chrome browser and then use the Chromecast gadget plugged into the television to "cast" the computer screen to the TV. Well, it seems Bloomberg has some kind of barrier; when I cast to the TV all you get is a pink screen that says "Bloomberg" on it. We do have a Bloomberg feed on the Roku, but you could only see the Pops concert in a smaller screen tucked into the upper left hand corner of the screen while financial figures wildly danced on the other two-thirds of TV real estate. So here we had the concert full screen in a browser on the computer, but no way to see it. No, wait. One more try: my venerable Samsung tablet. Which does screen mirroring to our equally venerable Samsung television. And that pretty much worked perfectly. Even thought the Boston Pops concert was interrupted frequently for ads, Bloomberg left the entire end portion of the show uncut: the performance of "The 1812 Overture," the concluding "Stars and Stripes Forever" piece, and then finally the fireworks. We would have preferred the latter in HD, but beggars can't be choosers. The concert was wonderful; they didn't rely on a bunch of prima-donna celebrities, but had some great R&B singers on instead, including Mavis Staples, and also Jon Batiste, plus the Air Force Band Singing Sergeants and the Six-String Soldiers. I do not know the woman's name who sang the National Anthem, but wow: overpriced celebrities who sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at other events, please take a note from this marvelous lady! You do not need to warble, trill, or shriek to do a beautiful job. Labels: chores, health, holidays, illness, Independence Day, shopping, technology, television » Tuesday, February 06, 2018
It's a Mickey Mouse Club Life for Us...
 Today could definitely have been classified in Mouse Club terms: Anything Can Happen Day. It didn't seem unusual at first. James got up before seven, alas unable to sleep late; I followed at eight. It was warm this morning, in the high 40s, and it was, as always, Laundry Day. I started the first load after breakfast, but before walking the dog, and then proceeded to do little things like get the last Xerox paper box out of the way in the garage (we'd sorted all the junk from the old truck into boxes), bringing in the box of garbage bags, taking completed books and magazines downstairs, repairing the buttonholes on the hood of my winter coat and the top of my winter hat, unloading and loading the dishwasher, etc. I also put away the gifts Lawsons gave us for Christmas, quite taken with the Woolrich throw; I thought it was a blanket, but it's more like a loose throw/poncho type thing with an open front. I used it going back and forth into the garage since I was in short sleeves. Somewhere along the way, around lunchtime, I checked out the weather forecast. Bad news: this warming trend continues! Warm tomorrow when it rains, then high fifties, and then more rain and back into the low 60s for the foreseeable future. While the Northeast would probably be dancing at that forecast, I was dismayed, because here it is February and I still hadn't tackled the bushes in the front yard. They are dormant right now and it's the perfect time to cut them, and I can't seem to get our lawn folks to come back in February to do them for me. Ideally I want them taken back to where they were when we moved in, little individual bushes that can regrow and we can keep them low this time, but I would settle for making them smaller and shorter. The patch that is in front of the porch annoys me most: the firecracker bush is too high and nearly blocks the view of St. Francis, and the two nandina bushes on either side of Francis are too bushy and too high and sending out runners to take over the whole bed. Which is why I abandoned anything else to be done (except the laundry), got into old clothes, found my work gloves, pulled out the hedge clipper and the heavy-duty extension cord and got to work. Now, I had a bad habit previously of not watching where my electrical cord was and chopping it eventually with the hedge clipper, but in the last five years I've tried to be mindful of it and I've kept the latest one for a while. Alas, it met its end today; I was trimming a corner, pivoted without looking, and !zap! went the cord with an acrid smell of ozone and scorching. Thankfully I had pretty much finished the two nandina bushes and the firecracker bush in front of St. Francis and only had to drag out the loppers and the secateur to finish up, and then rake up all the waste. Sadly, I did not get to the bushes to the left of the front steps (as you leave the house). I have had problems trimming them anyway, as the yard slopes on the other side of them, so I can never shorten them as much as I like, but I sure would have liked to try. Tomorrow it is going to pour rain; I don't know if I'll ever get to the store for a new power cord and get to do it. Bother. James helped me clean up the waste later on so it won't get drenched in the wet weather. Anyway, at around 2 p.m. or slightly thereafter, I was sans hedge clipper and raking up clipped branches—I really did hate to cut off those pretty red nandina berries!—when I heard some kind of odd noise coming from the south. As it got closer I thought it was geese, but it wasn't honking, more a sort of gurgling noise. I paused, looked over the back of the house, and saw an utterly ginormous flock of large birds flying overhead, and indeed they were not in the traditional Vee of the goose, nor had I ever seen such a large flock of geese before. We've had big flocks overhead, but only about fifty or sixty at the most. I watched the two separate groups that approached meet, cross each other, intertwine and turn, just like a big ballet. Then I remembered I had James' little camera in the pocket of my coat and dashed inside to grab it. They were flying right around the area of the sun, so I basically had to point and shoot because all I could see in the LED screen was my reflection, but I did get a few pictures. They swerved and soared and crossed and rearranged for another five minutes—there were at least one hundred, if not two hundred or more. I did get one close up picture that showed they were some type of crane or heron! (On Facebook later Jerry said they looked like herons; looking at my photos enlarged I think they were blue herons.) Finally it was if they had rearranged themselves sufficiently and the two groups, still separate, but still following each other, disappeared toward the northern horizon. It was so very cool, and maybe it was providential that I cut the extension cord, because I wouldn't have been able to hear them over the hedge clipper. (Click on images below to enlarge.)
Well, that certainly means spring is coming, dammit! Did not notice until I brought the dog in (my bad) tonight that Mom's lamp in the foyer was out. I figured the bulb had just burned out, but when I replaced it, it still didn't work. Oh, no! Then I noticed the lighted snowman we have as part of the winter decorations was not on, either, so I went into the garage. Sure enough the breaker had been tripped. I turned it back on, and the lamp came on. The snowman did not, but the timer on it had presumably been stopped. Sure enough, stopped at 2 p.m., which, of course, was the moment I zapped the electrical cord outside. Wait a minute, you mean the foyer plug and the heavy-duty porch plug are on the same breaker? And why didn't the GFI switch on the porch plug work instead of triggering the breaker? Odd. Anyway, finished up the evening with PBS's American Experience and "The Gilded Age." Interesting story about Henry George and more information about Coxey's Army. Labels: birds, chores, outdoors, retirement, technology, television, weather » Sunday, March 18, 2012
Sunday on the Road and in the Cold
So this morning, we can sleep.Well, sorta. James forgot to shut off his alarm. I forgot to shut off my alarm. So by the time the real alarm went off, we weren't alarmed at all, just annoyed. After breakfast and The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (really, the substitute music is too annoying; not period and too loud, sometimes overwhelming the dialog—how I hate the RIAA for making this necessary!), we drove out to Fry's. Although it was sunny and felt pleasant initially, we weren't down the road and under the sun fifteen minutes before we decided the A/C had to go on. Spring was in riot: although the Bradford pear trees are already leafed, the purple-blossomed trees were in full color and the dogwoods, which usually don't bloom until April, are already unfurling their moonshine white petals. We don't usually go out that early, so the first thing that delayed us was the after-service traffic coming out of the big church on Lower Roswell Road. There were also a lot of "Sunday drivers" out, and a half-dozen motorcyclers who made passing difficult. Traffic was pretty thick until we got out of Roswell. We had lunch at Fry's. I keep reminding myself not to do this. As usual, they had no soup, so I went with a tuna salad sandwich with only tomatoes on it. Good thing, too, as there were enough onions in it already to choke a horse. Shopping, however, was successful. I needed some DVD-R disks, and they had a good price. They had the new "Cross-Stitch and Needlework" on the magazine stand, and I also found the entire series of Land of the Lost for $15 (I hate season 3, but the entire series was half the price of seasons 1 and 2 separately). Also discovered they had a 16GB SD card at an excellent sale price. Plus I did get a new set of headphones, one level up from the ones I had. These come with a volume level and a stereo/mono switch. By the time we got home, we had a Sunday paper and headaches from the sun. James put our lamb chops under marinade and we spent the afternoon watching Wild Russia. The lamb chops were luscious later on, finished with balsamic onion sauce, pieces dipped in mint jelly, with stroganoff noodles on the side. I only had a small spoonful of these, choosing to have a long slice of French bread mopped in the juices of the lamb chops. Yum...better than filet mignon any day. Tonight was the premiere of Frozen Planet, which is being multicast on Discovery, Animal Planet, the Science Channel, and God knows what else. It's marvelous, switching from north to south poles and back again, showing not only arctic and antarctic animals, but snowfields, trees burdened by snow, exquisite ice crystals and snowflake formations, icepack breakup and glacier movement...lovely! Labels: shopping, technology, television » Monday, February 21, 2011
Sunny and Warm...Just Another February Day
 I'd like to say I accomplished great things on my holiday, but that would be such a lie. :-) Intended to get up earlier, but you know how that goes. I would be much happier if I could go to bed at 1 a.m. and get up at nine. I'm never sleepy at eleven. Night owls'r'us.The temperature was already climbing out of the fifties at ten o'clock, so I decided to go out while it was still cool. I left Schuyler watching Kathie Lee and Hoda, although I'm convinced it's going to destroy her brain—do you know neither of them knew that Abraham Lincoln's birthday was February 12? I realize you don't have to be a genius to do what they do, but honestly...elementary school stuff, guys. I put on a "Travels with Rick Steves" podcast about traveling while being respectful of local ecosystems, and went out to the Borders at East Cobb, hoping to find the new Yankee, but it's not out yet; neither is the new Early American Life. Nice to go into a Borders that isn't closing. Finished the eco-cast on the way back and started another about musical travel in Europe, a godsend waiting in line for gas at Costco, where it was 15¢ a gallon cheaper than anywhere else. At least eight cars in each lane (six lanes). Finished this at home and also listened to a "Tech Guy" podcast. Had a can of salmon for lunch. This was less than satisfactory; smelled like tuna but was bland and fishy all at the same time. I know fish is good for you, but, God, I really hate the taste. Later on cooked turkey thighs for supper, and made a rice dish we bought at Aldi, apple walnut flavor long-grain and wild rice. This had an odd scent, but tasted fine. We have a busy night tonight: it's Monday again. Once again we'll watch House and DVR Antiques Roadshow to watch at nine. Then Castle and Hawaii Five-O will DVR while we watch Harry's Law via broadcast television. Nice to know that today when you miss a television program you can find it online! There was a notice on WENNlist that both Kevin O'Rourke and John Bedford Lloyd had been on an episode of Blue Bloods. So I hitched the computer to the television, found the episode on CBS.com, and played it. The obligatory ads were very badly placed, but we were able to enjoy it. James and I even wondered if the Commissioner's shooting was a red herring and that Kevin O'Rourke's monsignor character was the real target. John Bedford Lloyd looked like a Marine; I knew it was him by that lovely voice, however! Since everything was hitched up already, I played the last of the History Detectives that GPB never showed last summer. Labels: books, computers, podcasts, shopping, technology, television » Thursday, May 20, 2010
And There Will Still Be Nothing On
» Friday, February 19, 2010
While Wandering About You Tube
Wonder what the smartphone generation makes of these films?
How To Use A Telephone (1927) Remember Jeff and little Timmy "cranking" the phone to call Jenny? Wonder what happened to Jenny when dial came along? How to Dial a Rotary Phone "Dial Comes to Town" part 1 and part 2 Finally, here's a film about being able to...gasp!...dial long distance directly without need of an operator! I remember in the "long ago" days of the early 60s of my dad calling the operator to speak "station to station" with his brother in Beverly or his sister in Peabody ("person-to-person" was more expensive). (Even earlier in long distance history, you had to call the operator to arrange the connection for your long distance call; once she established the connection, she would call you back.) Nation at Your Fingertips Labels: technology » Friday, January 30, 2009
Celebrate the Ads
Super Bowl Commercials: Get Out the 3-D Glasses
In a related story: what's big at the Consumer Electronics Show. Labels: electronics, technology » Thursday, January 29, 2009
Oh, The Things Seen Through These Lenses!
They just interviewed this guy on the news; he lives in Winder, Georgia. This is "a Web site dedicated to the collection, restoration, and preservation of classic broadcast television equipment."
Eyes of a Generation Wicked cool... Labels: technology, television » Saturday, September 08, 2007
Micro-WOW!
I suppose as someone who grew up in the age of the transistor radio I shouldn't be so surprised. Suddenly radio went from the dark-brown AM-only Bakelite box that was on our kitchen counter bringing us Salty Brine's list of school closings on a snow day to something just twice the size of a deck of cards playing both AM and FM. (I remember Mom's little leather-cased transistor that she took to work with her to listen to Dick Pace and Jack Comley on "Talk Back" while she linked and looped innumerable pieces of jewelry.)
But yesterday when I stopped by Office Max to see about the MicroSD cards they had on sale it took me a while to get my mind wrapped around the idea of this gadget. My phone has a slot for a MicroSD card, you see, and I thought it might be useful to have a card for storage of pictures and even some MP3s. Office Max had a two gigabyte card on sale for $30. There it sat, in the blister pack, next to the adapter that would allow it to fit an SD slot. They also had a reader that supports 20 other types of memory cards besides the SD, and which plugs into the computer with a short USB cable. I bought both, brought them home, and just stared at the MicroSD in awe. It's 3/4 inch long and 1/2 inch wide and the part that goes into the phone is the thickness of a credit card (the opposite end has a slightly wider edge so you can pull it out of the phone with your thumbnail). Holy cow! Two gigabytes on this tiny card. Absolutely freakin' amazing. Labels: computers, technology » Friday, December 01, 2006
Electronics'R'Funny, DVD Edition
"When last we met," I reported our original Cyberhome DVD player (let's call it "Fred") had apparently given up the ghost. We got up one morning to find that our Hi-Def TV feed had gone haywire on the color and "Fred" was only giving us a vertical blue line.
The Hi-Def feed was okay by the next day, but "Fred" seemed shot, with the same blue line. So while I was out today, I went to see if Brandsmart had any more and what they were selling it for. I didn't find any Cyberhomes. When I got home and checked online, I could find the brand on Amazon, but not at any "box" stores. Doing a bit more searching, I found Best Buy had apparently quit carrying them since they were getting so many complaints. Well, whatever. I would just swap out the nonworking unit with the one in the guest room (let's call the bedroom unit "Barney"). Brandsmart has another little DVD player, an eTEC, that we could buy instead. Meanwhile, we really aren't expecting any guests who will want to watch DVDs (we had bought the DVD player in the guest room for my mom anyway). So I pulled out "Fred" and installed "Barney" under the television. I had wondered if something was wrong with the S-video cable leading into the unit, but "Barney" worked flawlessly. Just to see, I set up "Fred" up in the bedroom and turned it on. Darned if "Fred" didn't work fine now. So either perhaps the S-video cable was loose in "Fred" or perhaps the S-video connection in the unit was bad, since it is hitched up to the television in the bedroom with RCA cables instead. Who knows? :-) Labels: technology |
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