I didn't treat or stain my wood fence/Torii Gate/or raised garden beds = this past year they all turned colors from their beautiful wood color to gray. It really irks me, I should have stained them = wished I had.











This is fascinating!!! When I was midway in the pregnancy with my younger son I (was originally carrying twins) and started to miscarry. The doctor put me on strict bedrest. Well, of course I was praying through it; and picked up the Bible and started reading it from the Old Testament. You are absolutely right, there are (and yes on Song of Solomon; I was surprised by that too = it was almost instructional!) so many aspects of it that are never touched on in Sunday School classes growing up.

Your story line sounds really interesting!

Yeah, but now we're talking about wood completely subjected to the elements; getting rained on plus sunshine. That will definitely turn it grey. The inside of the garage, or shed as you call it, is covered from rain and sun and will not turn grey. That's why the ten-year-old insides of the original walls are still yellow

Well they sure still look gorgeous, that is why I asked if you preserved them. I really wish I had done something with mine, hate the gray.







The Torii Gate in better days ...

Nice gate!

There might be a way. If you sand it down a bit you may get the lighter tone back and then of course treat the wood in your preferred way.

Ooh, Thanks for that tip!!!! I will def try that!!! * I plumbed it so it "rains" from the top bar down to the half done water feature below it, I still need to finish that water feature too.

Thanks, mALX! The Bible is certainly not a children's book, and I suppose if it is to be presented to children, it needs softening around the corners, so to speak. The more reason to read it as an adult, corners and all.

My book is not about the Bible as such, but the Faith has a presence in it. And obviously, it is some other fictional Faith, it just happens to be based on similar scriptures, sort of like the Roman gods were very much like the Greek gods even though the two systems evolved independently. I am not even saying we are on Earth... It is some other fictional world that may resemble ours in some ways... convergence is a common phenomenon in the Universe, it appears.

Bold: (as it always has been assumed to be and probably is = symmetry hidden within asymmetry/fractal universe). Your book sounds Awesome!

Project: phone in this year’s property assessment
Status: Done

Piece of cake. The aftermath? Not so much. While attempting to move my e-mailed assessment receipt from the INBOX to a special sub-folder specifically for property assessment receipts, it instead disappeared. Searching every individual email sub-folder (I have lots of them) failed to find it. Nor had it been mistakenly deleted or sent to SPAM. Admitting defeat, I was about to call the county assessment office and have them re-email the receipt. I then remembered that I had downloaded a copy of the receipt to my hard drive prior to the move attempt, so am okay.


Project: order 2026 auto tags online
Status: Done

Did so soon after calling in my assessment. No issues here, so far as I know.


Project: Recover from a potentially serious SNAFU
Status: I think I'm okay now <crosses fingers>

After finishing the above, I decided to began collecting info for this year's tax returns. The only official tax related info I've received thus far is from Social Security. But I know for certain I’ll need info from my previous returns. This is when I discovered that my file-copies aren’t where they should be. A long, thorough search failed to unearth them. I did, however, eventually find a number of support documents that should have been stapled to the back of those missing copies.

I began wondering whether I had prepared and filed tax returns at all, a scary proposition. I normally do my taxes during February, soon after receiving final input documentation. Late January through early March last year is exactly when I suffered from a severe ailment. Who knows what I might and might not have done during that period?!

Thankfully, I was able to prove that I had indeed prepared and submitted tax-year 2024 returns by finding refund entries for both Federal and State tax within my computerized bank account ledger.

That settled, I launched Turbo Tax 2025, opened those returns, and printed out new file-copies for both Federal and State. (Official return forms and cover pages only. I didn’t bother printing worksheets and the like.) I still haven’t the foggiest idea why I didn’t print out file copies when I ought to have, assuming that’s what happened.


Project: Walk city utility bill payment to City Hall
Status: Postponed

This is a rain day. I’ll do it this coming Monday.


Project: Exercise Walk
Status: Cancelled

Again, it’s a rain day. Since last year’s severe ailment, I’ve been more careful about exposing myself to “risky” weather, despite that ailment not being weather-triggered.

Project: stay fit
Status: iffy

Late last year I revised my exercise-walk route, increasing its distance from 2.65 miles to 2.95 miles. Just when I was getting used to the new route, we were hit with a string of days that were too cold and/or wet and/or windy to walk outdoors. A too-short return to decent walking weather followed. Our winter storm then set in. It has kept me indoors almost the whole of two weeks. I was at last able to resume outdoor walks the day before yesterday. Alas, yesterday was again too cold, as is today. Good news: it will supposedly hit 60°F tomorrow!

I have not been idle during this cold spell, walking an hour indoors as often as not, to the detriment of my already ancient and decrepit carpet. It was tough going at first, being difficult to remain focused and enthusiastic within such a cramped space. Things went better once it dawned on me that I can play music through my living room audio system, which hasn't been turned on in a good eight to ten years, for the duration of my walks. It helps that one of my all-time favorite recordings is a set of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas performed on fortepiano by Ronald Brautigam. Each disc is crammed to the max with music, seventy to eighty minutes per disc, more than enough time to get in a complete walk.

I've also stuck to my now-normal weighted exercise schedule, which, for good or ill, was reduced to once every three days following last year's pneumonia/sepsis. One bright spot: instead of the three sets of 15 full pushups I used to do each session, I now do those same three sets plus six to eight sets of "knee pushups," utilizing two hand grip positions on my "pushup board" that are too difficult for me during full pushups.

On the minus side, I'm now roughly ten pounds heavier than I want to be. My best guess is that it has something to do with all the antibiotics I've been taking since my bout of pneumonia/sepsis. I doubt it's diet-related, since what and how much I eat hasn't changed since switching to carnivore in late 2022 to early 2023. Be that as it may, my hope is that my new pulmonologist, the old one having retired at the end of 2025, will okay me to go off antibiotics when I see her later this month.

Good on ya, Decrepit!

Sounds a bit similar to my own routine. I transitioned from going out to the gym to home during covid and found out I like it better. I do strength 3x/week consisting of using the (Chuck Norris) Total Gym for upper body, a floor routine for mid body and squats for lower body. I also walk 2 miles four days a week. During the warm weather, I walk 2 miles outdoors (18 minute pace). During cool weather I walk indoors. Fortunately I have an open floor plan with tile so no worries about wearing a track in carpet. I set the microwave timer to 18 min and go till it stops, then repeat later in the day. I found breaking the indoor walks into 2 sessions much more palatable than one longer session.

Project: Prepare and submit tax year 2025 Federal and State income tax returns
Status: done

TurboTax is even more of a pain to use than in previous years. Income entry is less intuitive. Brave Browser's AI-generated comment confirms it and, thankfully, told me how to navigate the new method. I didn't make things easy on myself by not being able to locate paper copies of last year's car registration fee and real estate tax payment. On a positive note, the standard deduction, which I always take, increased enough this year to give me my largest federal refund in quite some time. On the other hand, my state refund shrank by a modest amount.

Breaking news: TurboTax just let me know that my federal e-filed return has been accepted by the IRS.

Nice to have that done, is it not?

I'm not expecting the last thing I need for mine until the end of Feb.

One of my yearly tax prep fears is that I'll submit my completed return, then days or weeks later receive an income statement that I totally forgot about. Thankfully, that hasn't happened...yet.

Project: Health & Fitness
Status: workout addition

A few weeks ago I got to wondering if it is possible for me to genuflect (kneel on one knee) and rise to a standing position without the aid of my arms/hands and without destroying my knees during the drop. To my happy surprise, I can. It ain't elegant. No one's going to hire me as an extra in a mass knighting scene. My knees indeed took a beating early on, but my drops are becoming more gentle with practice. Rises are occasionally scary and, oddly or not, have a different feel depending on which leg does the brunt of the lifting.

I don't practice genuflecting as part of my established workouts, but instead whenever I remember to do them during the day. Which, alas, means that I don't do them every day, my memory being what it is...or isn't.

Normally with any lung issues they will give you a course of steroids = which will cause you to gain tangible weight without any differences in diet. Since you were being treated for your lungs, this is probably the culprit.







Whether you can genuflect and rise up without holding onto anything or not, it is important that you DO have something sturdy nearby you can grasp onto if suddenly needed just in case. That way you can exercise the muscles still, but safely.

Just last week I lost a close neighbor from a fall where he hit his head, (not even that hard a hit, but a small vein in his brain started a slow leak and he was dead in a week from the fall).

His wife fell last year (also not a big fall) and broke her hip. She had barely healed from it when her husband fell. Bones and veins lose strength over time, and you have to keep that in mind that even a small fall at later ages can have serious consequences. (I do not know the ages of my neighbors that I am discussing, but I would guess in their 70's or possibly early to mid 80's = which I am sure is older than you, but they were in seemingly robust health until last year).

Your doctor can do tests to measure your bone density and not sure how they can test veins for strength of the vein walls, but it is something to keep up with if you are at an age where you may be at more risk.

1) lungs and steroids:
Yes, the Dulera I take daily has a steroidal component. That said, I've been on Dulera for well over ten years and kept my weight in check after going carnivore until being put on vaporized steroid treatments following last year's hospital stay.

2) bone density testing:
The year before last, I got a letter from Medicare telling me of the necessity for people my age to have bone density tested. I'd been thinking of doing so ever since going carnivore and beginning a "strenuous" workout regimen. During my next PCP appointment, I showed him the letter and said I wanted the test. He tried to set it up but was told by Medicare that they wouldn't cover it. So much for that. Ironically, about two months later I received another letter from Medicare saying I should be tested. Go figure.

Project: Exercise-Walk timing
Status: A-OK

I timed today's walk. I wasn't expecting perfection, what with cold, wet, and windy weather keeping me indoors too many days. To my happy surprise, the 2.95-mile walk clocked in at exactly 3 mph, my target speed!

That is funny about the Medicare, lol. Typical government functioning? Lol. I am pretty sure the vaporized steroid treatments could be helping you with gaining weight. Still, you looked really great in your pics, so the weight isn't hurting your physique at all, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Project: Health and Fitness
Status: <sighs>

This wasn't one of my better days, exercise-wise. Nor was it amongst my worst. It started on a positive note, with all sets of pushups going quite well. Easier than usual, truth be told. But the rest of my various exercises were more of a struggle than I'm used to. One I actually ended early. This afternoon's walk wasn't great either, but in my defense, this was my first walk in a new pair of walking shoes. They definitely need breaking in!

Project: Get ready to vote
Status: as ready as I'm going to be

We've primaries and a few final elections, plus one initiative, coming up early next month. This morning I looked up and printed out a sample ballot for my area, looked up info on all candidates, and then marked my choices on the sample. I'll carry it with me to the poles.