Your projects, what are you working on in your free time? Options

[Acadian]

Congrats, ghastley! Hope all goes well with the new house/move, etc.

[treydog]

That's a big project, ghastley! Wishing you good fortune and a smooth transition. America's loss is England's gain....

We will have to arrange a Chorrol house-warming party for you.

[SubRosa]

Congrats on the move! Time to celebrate with some fish and chips, and a bag of crisps.

[macole]

Ghastly, congratulations on the house in England. That is some move you are planning. Here’s hoping that your move goes smoothly. You mentioned moving back to England, how long have you been away in the USA?

[mirocu]

Good luck with your project, ghastley! It sure isn't a minor one

[ghastley]

Ghastly, congratulations on the house in England. That is some move you are planning. Here’s hoping that your move goes smoothly. You mentioned moving back to England, how long have you been away in the USA?

Only 37 years. Not long enough to pick up an accent, I hope.

[Lena Wolf]

Ghastly, congratulations on the house in England. That is some move you are planning. Here’s hoping that your move goes smoothly. You mentioned moving back to England, how long have you been away in the USA?

Only 37 years. Not long enough to pick up an accent, I hope.

Just remember: it's a "car park", not a "parking lot"; it's a "pavement", not a "side walk"; and it's a plug "bank", not "list". Also, don't walk around in your pants.

Sorry, couldn't resist. Welcome back! Mind the gap now.

[Decrepit]

Project: Health/wellness/diet
Status: Ongoing, with slight snag

Since last report, I have 1) increased my near-daily exercise-walks from circa 2.34miles to circa 2.6miles, 2) added new lifts to my every-other-day lifting routine, 3) slightly increased the amount of weight I lift. That's to the good, though I'm struggling after my most recent weight-lift increase, which is to be expected.

What I didn't anticipate is that my current diet regimen, implemented early this year, around a month ago ceased to provide enough fuel to keep me at my desired weight, nor give me the energy to comfortably execute my walking/lifting sessions. It hasn't caused me to slack off, not one bit, but transformed my sessions from something I looked forward to into chores. Nor is my weight dangerously low. It's just lower than I want it to be, which doesn't help further increase muscle mass, one of my goals.

As a corrective, some weeks back I added a new side-dish to my breakfast: a blend of salmon, garlic and mushroom, flavored with black pepper, chili powder, a dab of salt, a teaspoon of EVOO, and a small amount of yellow mustard. That not proving sufficient, this week I increased my daily breakfast bacon-slice count from three to five.

It's too soon to know if this will allow me to begin regaining weight, but my last several walks/lifts went very well, almost as well as pre body-weight drop. The one disagreeable thing about all this is that each breakfast addition increases a monthly food allowance that has tended to go over budget since those changes enacted early this year. Still, ya gotta do what ya gotta do, and I have a little wiggle-room when it comes to shifting my various monthly budget locations. With this week's bacon monetary increase, that wiggle-room has further diminished, but is not yet overly worrisome.


Project: Survive Pulmonology Visit
Status: Survived

Most of my Pulmonology visits are simple six-month check-in, to tell the doc know I'm alive and kicking, and how my battle with Chronic Bronchiectasis is fairing. That happened this time. Additionally, I was subjected to chest X-rays and a breathing test, which happens once every three to four years. Depending on their outcomes, I might be subject to more strenuous and costly medical treatments. Luckily, this visit's results show that I have not substantially worsened since my last, 2019, testing. In fact, my breathing is slightly better now than then in most areas. (The doc says my Bronchiectasis remains "mild".)

[Grits]

ghastley, congratulations!! I hope project furnishings and project internet are going well.



Decrepit, fingers crossed for no follow-up tests this time!

[treydog]

Project: Adding maps to the books.

Progress: Wrestled with a "freeware with premium option" online cartography program which constantly nagged me with pop-ups for the paid version... urgh! Would have been acceptable if the program had been even slightly intuitive.

Went to the next option from the "Top 10 Fantasy Map-Making Programs" to try it. Watched some tutorials and took the plunge.

Result: Wonderdraft is 30 USD and works quite well for my needs. I was able to sketch out a usable map with terrain features, towns and cities, rivers, and trails all marked. It works in color (for the Kindle version), but also in black and white.

For those who are doing tabletop RPG campaigns, it also includes grid or hex overlays, and a wealth of symbols to enhance your map.

ETA- Here is the map.

This post has been edited by treydog: Sep 14 2023, 03:49 PM

[Decrepit]

Project: Improve Health
Status: Ongoing

My forearms are sticks, as my 2023 photo attests. The other day, it came to me that none of the numerous weighted/resistance exercises I've been doing these past some months focus on forearms. A quick YT search unearth a number of forearm exercises vids. I chose one that requires dumbbells, those being what I have at home. I gave two exercises a try. Neither seemed to do anything while executing them. But, at the end my forearms stung something fierce! A good sign. I'll likely do these on the days I otherwise don't lift weights.

I've stopped doing "full" push-ups and now do "knee" push-ups. They are a struggle too, but I'm now able to lower myself almost to the floor (rather than only a few inches) without crashing to the carpet. Three sets of eight. Nine is totally beyond me.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Sep 14 2023, 09:50 PM

[Acadian]

Good on ya, Decrepit. As a lifelong gym rat, I applaud you.

[Decrepit]

Project: Improve Health
Status: Setbacks

Setback 1:
I must have done something to my back whilst helping my bro close three hard-to-reach-and-manipulate, frozen-in-place water control knobs below his kitchen sink. I did the manual labor. He held a flashlight. It proved a long, arduous process. I noticed nothing amiss during the proceedings. I noticed nothing amiss the remainder of that day. I noticed nothing amiss next morning. I noticed nothing amiss during a midday exercise walk. Then, lying on the sofa reading that afternoon, reaching for my eyeglass cleaning cloth, I was suddenly hit by intense lower back pain. The pain stayed with me the rest of that day, thankfully severe only when I did certain movements/actions.

Woke this morning to lessened pain. It bothered me during this morning's weighted-exercise workout, but not enough to force me to terminate/shorten the session. Intense pains resumed during the afternoon. What's more, its area-of-effect now extends further upward (right side only). I intend this setback to affect my workouts/walks as little as possible, but we shall see.

Setback 2:
My refrigerator stopped cooling something during the tail end of week-before-last. As its freezer compartment continued to cool normally, I spent a few days convincing myself that the reefer's seeming lack of cooling power was a figment of my imagination. Finally facing reality, I called a local appliance repair service first thing this past Wednesday morning. Was given a Friday service appointment. Come Friday, the service called and told me that the repairman was sick and not making service visits. Was rescheduled for today (Monday).

Today's visit found that the freezer compartment fan, which sends cool air to the refrigerator-proper, is dead. A new fan is on order. It'll be sometime next week before it is installed. Until then, I'm reeferless. (The good news is that fan replacement, while not inexpensive, is amongst the cheapest reefer issues to fix.)

How does this affect health????? I now eat a diet comprised almost wholly of fresh produce; meat, eggs, berries, some veggies, milk. Some of this can be safely stored in the freezer. Some can't. I've not yet figured out affordable alternates for my reefer-only items. One thing for sure, I will NOT reintroduce any "foods" jettisoned for health reasons. Yet I don't want to starve either. Maybe I'll come up with something, given time.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Oct 24 2023, 01:17 AM

[Acadian]

Sorry to hear about your back and the fridge. Hmm, you might try using a cooler and adding some ice each day (since your freezer still works). That works well on stuff like milk and other fridgables.

[Decrepit]

Sorry to hear about your back and the fridge. Hmm, you might try using a cooler and adding some ice each day (since your freezer still works). That works well on stuff like milk and other bridgeables.

I seriously considered a cooler and ice, then completely forgot about it in the heat of battle yesterday (when I went shopping). In any case, I'm not sure I can justify the expense at this point, being as the cooler should now be needed for only a week or so max, and I've run out of space to store bulky items that see little to no usage. Still, had I remembered it when it mattered yesterday afternoon, I might well have taken the plunge, were the price right.

[Decrepit]

Project: Improve Health/fitness
Status: Ongoing

Had a surprisingly good exercise-walk yesterday. My best in weeks. Maybe my best in months. Not far along brain-fog cleared, so that I was able to indulge in all sorts of mental fantasies while remaining fully aware of potential traffic hazards, all the while strutting along like a proverbial cock-of-the-walk, with a big smile on my face and a friendly wave to passing motorists (including our female mailman, a real cutie). Would that such walks come more often.

Today's walk? Meh. It went okay, with next to no struggle on the steep inclines. But there was nothing special about it. It started. It ended. It served its purpose. That's all it needs to do.

Alas, this might be the last of my comfy-weather walks. I front moves in early tomorrow, bringing appreciably colder weather and three days of rain. I'm not sure how I'll handle cold weather walking. I'm less certain how I'll handle cold-weather walking in the rain. We shall see, I reckon. (I'll obviously not attempt it should precipitation be more than a light-mild shower.)

My dumbbells are becoming a bit too easy to use on most, but not all, lifts. Alas, they are one-piece units, so can't be added to. Not yet sure what I'm going to do about it, beyond finding some way to slightly increase weightage. Weights have gotten way more expensive than when I bought mine many decades ago! I own a barbell rod plus a very minuscule amount of weightage to put on it. Acquiring a couple more weights for it would partially solve the issue. But, I have no barbell bench and nowhere to place/store one. (Which is likely why I got rid of my old bench and most of my weights years ago.)

Lastly, I've a set of exercise bands on order, which will hopefully expand my workout possibilities without eating up free space I don't have.

[Decrepit]

Project: Fix refrigerator
Status: Huzzah!

I am remiss in reporting that my reefer's broken freezer fan was replaced midday this past Friday. All's well again, food storage wise. To the minus, October's food expenditure went way over budget, thanks to having to throw out and replace lots of items that require constant refrigeration to remain edible, which is almost the whole of what I eat. Come to think on it, tomatoes might now be my sole food item (discounting spices) that don't require refrigeration/freezing. No, wrong! EVOO too doesn't require refrigeration. Nor do avocados, though I find that, beyond a certain point, they tend to become too mushy if not store in the fridge.


Project: Improve fitness/wellness
Status: It's cooooooooooold outside

Cold weather has set in . . . a few days later than predicted, but it's here. These past two days I've bundled myself in sweatpants with shorts over them, heavy tee-shirt with sweatshirt over it and field jacket above that, heavy full-face beanie, gloves, shoes and thick mid-calve socks. That combo worked reasonably well Sunday, but proved a bit too warm yesterday.

Yesterday's walk wasn't the best. Besides slightly overdressing, the backs of my thighs were stiff and sore the first two-thirds of the walk. When they settled down, my knees began to bother me. My timing for the course, which I walked in full, was 5-7min slower than normal. Thankfully, today is our last overly cold day for a while. Tomorrow's temps are predicted to be around ten degrees warmer than today's. That's still on the cold side, but far more bearable. At the very least I hope to dispense with the full-face beanie (but wear a "normal" beanie) and maybe even the field jacket, though I'm not holding my breath.

[Acadian]

Glad you got that pesky fridge fixed.

Same on having to carefully select the best walking uniform for the weather as it is getting cold here also. This morning I was in a sweatshirt with waist jacket, sweatpants, ski mittens, watchcap and scarf.

[Decrepit]

Project: Trim tree branches away from house roof
Status: Stage One complete

I should have done this NLT last year. First setback: learning that my brother had irredeemably totaled his chainsaw during a recent bush trimming. Researching chainsaws, I settled on a battery-powered Royobi and bought one at our local Home Depot. Second setback: Home Depot was out of the model I wanted. Was told it would be in-store ready for pick-up in around a week. That week ended up being two months. By then, late spring had morphed into summer, too hot for me to be doing any extensive heavy yard work. I decided to hold off until Autumn.

Setback three: Come, Autumn, I was hit with frequent episodes of vertigo. By the time those were comfortably behind me, it was too cold for yard work.

Setback four: This Spring, I was so committed to improving my health via diet changes and exercise that I all-but-totally forgot about tree trimming.

This mid-Autumn I remembered the trimming project. Inspecting the tree and my roof showed that I was now living on borrowed time. My original plan this whole time was to borrow a neighbor's ladder, climb atop the roof, and bring down offending branches. The problem? Each time I worked myself up to borrowing a ladder and getting to cutting, reality set in. I'm ludicrously afraid of heights. Working atop a roof is an almost-certain disaster waiting to happen. At the very least, I'd likely need someone to help me down at the end.

As it turns out, I didn't need to climb atop the roof. A neighbor loaned me what I'll term a Tree Trimmer, a mini chainsaw perched atop a long pole, with controls at the opposite end. This, along with a conventional A-frame ladder, let me do what needed doing. It took forever; from just after lunch, which I didn't eat, until supper. What took so long wasn't the cutting itself, but trying to drag cut branches off the roof. Had I been able to work atop the roof, I suspect the project would have been finished in maybe a fourth the time. Be that as it may, finished it is. The roof is safe for another some years. Surprisingly, my only physical setbacks are a very stiff and sore neck and minor upper-back stiffness.

I still need to cut up the several piles of branches lying roughly where they fell, and stack them neatly on the driveway. That's another long project. A project with no sense of urgency involved. It can be done when I get around to it. That means fairly soon, as cold weather is rapidly settling in.

(Next time that tree needs major trimming, I'll likely bring the whole thing to the ground, assuming I still have the strength for it.)

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Nov 18 2023, 05:10 PM

[Acadian]

Good job, Decrepit. I'm picking away at tree trimming this winter as well.