Nu Trac – Page 10 – new life tracks – growing organic, self reliance, permaculture

podcasts and technical issues

I travel almost daily to north Georgia and the roundtrip is about 2 hours and tho NPR often has topics of interest, what I really enjoy is listening to the podcasts I have downloaded. In the early days I burned the podcasts onto cd’s which I played in the truck’s cd player, then I acquired a Sansa Clip mp3 player and played the podcasts back over a portable battery powered speaker positioned close to my ear.

One of my tech savvy sons gave me a Go Groove x2 – a bluetooth device which plugs into the cigarette lighter of my 10 year old truck and responds to bluetooth communications and wirelessly sends them to the radio on a preselected radio band, and the sound plays through the truck’s audio system.

I have a model 4 iPhone and Apple has a great podcast app which enables me to subscribe to various shows and automatically downloads details of recent podcasts so I can choose and download the full version. I can then classify the podcasts as “On-The-Go” which means they will play in the order selected. When I start up the truck the iPhone syncs with Groove which syncs with the radio and I can play, pause and advance my way through the recorded podcasts. What could be better?

And life was fine until my 8GB iPhone ran out of storage space. I did all the usual tricks – cleared out the emails, cleared out the photos, deleted unnecessary apps, deleted the error data by syncing to the desktop. And for a while I staggered on. But whenever new Apple updates were released and downloaded on the iPhone more of my available storage was sucked up and net result, I have v.little storage for new podcasts ( postscript – for my solution, which freed up 4gb of space, see update at end of blog).

So why not buy one of the more recent models which have way more storage. Well I like the Apple brand and its current model 6 is considerably bigger. Even with the weatherproof, shock absorbing, Oyster tough shell, my model 4 fits comfortably in my pocket, which will not be the case with the iPhone 6.

my current iPhone in weatherproof shell plus holster, both of which fit in my pocket

I scrounged around and found the Sansa Clip I previously used. It has 3.6GB and can store many podcasts. I connected it directly to the Groove device and played a podcast. Barely audible. Hmm I thought, maybe it would work better with bluetooth transmission to the Groove device (silly me). I purchased a portable bluetooth transmitter for $16, connected it to the Sansa and synced with the Groove. And played a podcast and the volume was equally poor. Must be something stupid I am doing. I reviewed the Sansa settings to no avail. And then I looked on the side of the Sansa and there was volume control. Turned up the volume and sound was great – on both the bluetooth transmitter and the direct connection.

the groove, bluetooth transmitter connected to Sansa and also powered by Groove — the Groove, bluetooth transmitter connected to Sansa and also powered by Groove

my current setup - Sansa with long lead to Groove. Sansa clipped to pocket lip — my current setup – Sansa with long lead to Groove. Sansa clipped to pocket lip when in use

But it is not the same as using an iPhone. With an iPhone the bluetooth works both ways – the phone sends data to the Groove and the Groove can send instructions to the phone. So when you press stop or advance to next track on the Groove the phone obeys these commands. However the Sansa is unidirectional since the sound is sent through an output port. So pressing the buttons on the Groove which are large and easy to find has no effect on the Sansa. It keeps playing. And if you want to pause or advance to another track then you have to locate the small Sansa and press the correct buttons, which is ok once you have the feel of it, though you cannot rewind but have to go to the beginning of the track if you missed something important. An advantage of using Sansa rather than iPhone is the battery life of the iPhone is preserved since it is not in bluetooth mode and not transmitting.

Now how to get the latest podcasts. For a while I used gPodder freeware to locate the podcasts, then I transferred them to Windows Media Player and synced WMP with the Sansa. Some of the podcasts appear in the music section and play sequentially. However, if the podcasts are identified as “Podcast” they are thus classified by Sansa and placed in a separate folder which is difficult to access while driving. So the trick I have learned is to review the WMP classification of the podcast and if it says “Podcast” then edit to remove this description so it appears as “Unknown Genre” and when synced it will go to the general music folder and play sequentially.

For almost 2 months gPodder worked well for me. And then I experienced problems. An uninvited screen appeared to inform me that a new podcast was available for downloading, and the screen kept appearing and ignored all my changes to preferences to make it go away. And next the downloading function ceased operating. So I spent some time familiarizing myself with iTunes and now it works great for me and automatically populates the folder used by WMP.

So, with Sansa connected directly to Groove with a long cable and clipped to the inside of my top pocket I can reach for it with one hand and pause and play and advance the tracks without taking my eyes off the road. Happy days have returned.

Update (October 2015)

And finally I figured how to increase capacity/storage on my Apple 4s (md439ll/a). I had tried everything and was deleting apps just to allow the phone to function. It didn’t make sense – what was using all the capacity? The phone is described as having 8GB and I had just a few apps and had <50MB available. The solution I eventually found, was quite simple. First I backed up all my data to iTunes -my contacts were being saved in the Cloud and I changed this to iTunes. Then I did a restore where I erased all content and settings. Then I synced with iTunes and downloaded all the data from iTunes back to the phone. And I miraculously had>4GB available. I downloaded the apps I had erased and as of now there is 5.2GB available of which about 1GB has been used, so I now have 4.2GB additional capacity. I surmise that whenever I did an IOS update the phone saved a copy of the superseded IOS and when I did the recent restore all these obsolete versions were deleted. Just a guess. But the phone is now fine for my needs and yes, I will continue using Sansa for my podcasts.

my dog Trudy

We had a Scottie, Angus, who died from melanoma at age 11. We missed him and decided our next dog would not be pedigreed, we would find a Heinz 57 perhaps less susceptible to inbreeding diseases and, anyhow, we are not into status dogs, or cars. So Trudy it was, a year old female terrier hound mix who had been tried and rejected at (at least) 2 homes and sidled up to us at the Atlanta Pet Rescue and promptly rolled onto her back – utter submissiveness and desperate to be adopted. After 2 days my wife said this was the worst decision of her life – several shoes, a good carpet and some furniture destroyed and non stop scratching. But the scratching stopped when her diet was changed (my wife is a dietitian) and, as she settled down the destruction stopped and she became our lovable companion. Now 11 years later she accompanies me every day to our north Georgia location, routs out the rabbits and groundhogs with her excellent nose, loves the walks, and tho her eyesight (particularly night vision) is fading makes for an excellent guard dog for the chickens. And knows how to tweak our guilt by staring intently at my wife late evening to motivate her for a walk.

And then this past Saturday things went wrong. The early morning walk was fine. By 10am she was unsteady on her feet and I had to carry her and load her into the car for the trip to the farm. The vet was booked Sat pm but could see her Sun pm or Monday. By 6pm Saturday she had difficulty standing and by 10pm she could not stand at all. What could it be? Spinal injury – but she was fine in the morning. Perhaps when we were out she had climbed the stairs and fallen down the stairs and injured herself. But she did not seem in pain and there was no swelling of her hind legs, which were the unstable part and earlier had kept giving in. Perhaps a snake bite to the rear right leg but again no sign of swelling. Sudden onset of arthritis? A nasty tick disease? A stroke? Bladder stone? A stroke or a growth pressing on her spinal nerves and numbing her legs? The only bit of encouragement was that she seemed otherwise fine – alert, breathing steady, nose cold, reasonable appetite. Since she weighs around 47lbs and couldn’t move I devised a way to ambulate her outdoors. A large towel around her body spread between her front and rear legs and me lifting the towel ends and her vertically so she was right side up with 4 legs pointing down. Then lowering her on the grass outside and encouraging her to “pee-pee”, but to no avail. There is a lot on the internet and the stuff we read Saturday night counseled an immediate visit to the emergency room. I decided not to do this.

We slept poorly that Saturday night and would wake and listen to Trudy asleep beside the bed on her old towel and blanket bed. She seemed fine. Next morning I watered the crops and she stayed inside. Normally she would be there with me. But when I went inside and she saw me, she wagged her tail vigorously. What could this be about? The she struggled to her feet and lurched forward and with a drunken gait staggered across the room before falling sideways. But she wanted out so with the towel hoist I got her outside and holding the towel to prevent her falling over, she walked about. A remarkable turnaround. And most pleasing of all, a long uninterrupted pee-pee (so no bladder stone) and an equally extended very normal looking #2 (so no major intestinal distress). Rather than rush her to the vet on Sunday which I had originally planned though it would have meant a 100 mile round trip to Atlanta for a function and then back again to the vet in north GA, I decided to take her in Monday pm. More research on the web surfaced old dog vestibular disease – an ear infection causing dizziness, could it be this? And I noticed that now when she walked she sidled up to the wall on her right. Since she kept falling to the right I assumed she was using the wall as a crutch to prevent a fall.

Monday pm we visited her regular vet. The pleasant receptionist explained they had 3 emergencies on Saturday and that was why they had been unable to see her. With hindsight I was pleased we had not gone in on an emergency basis which may have produced emergency measures. Now we all had time to consider the matter. The inspection revealed no spinal bruising, good musculature of rear legs, good foot reaction to bending tests. The blood work was “perfect”. The vet stated that her eyesight was not good, which we knew, and that animals with poor eyesight would use wall and surfaces as a guide for walking. Ok – but why the problem on Saturday and the good continuing turn around? He was initially dismissive of the ear infection suggestion since she was not holding her head to the side and her eyes were looking forward and not flitting from side to side as is apparently common with balance issues. But he noted a slight discharge in her right ear and so he provided ear drops to resolve an outer ear infection and antibiotics in case it was an inner ear infection.

Upshot is that from being unable to move on Saturday night she is now on Monday miraculously regaining form though still unsteady at times.

free ranging chicken

Our rooster and 10 hens have access to 3 paddocks. 2 of the hens regularly fly over the 6′ fence to the greener grass on the other side. Recently I have allowed all of them to go wandering around the yard beyond the paddocks. And they love it. Initially they focused on the area below the deck where seed from the bird feeders had fallen and because it is surrounded by Rose of Sharon hibiscus which provides excellent cover. Then last week I shepherded the rooster and a hen to the compost heap and the fruit orchard. The vegetable growing area is entirely fenced in and not accessible to them. The rooster inspected the orchard and then headed back to the compost where he dug a shallow hole and spread out reaching with his beak to snack.

Now a few days later he and some of the hens are back at the heap.

investigating the side of the compost heap

And near the heap they dug a sand pit where they shower themselves with kicked up dust to deter mites.

And then a few more arrived.

now it's a group dust bath — now it’s a group dust bath

Now they are truly free ranging. And I have noticed they eat less feed in the coop since, at the end of the day they have well feasted. Only negative is to watch where you walk but since I remove my outdoor shoes when entering the house this, for now, is not an issue.

2 good books, water sustainability, okra & butterfly season

I never used to read science fiction. But technology and sustainability hold my attention and I read good futuristic books on these topics. “Ghost Fleet” a technothriller on the next world war portends problems with technology and is well researched with extensive footnotes. Now I have completed my interactive Python programming course with Rice University via Coursera, I have begun my next read, the Water Knife about a water starved west beset with dust clouds and violence. Both are excellent reads.

Which brings me to water sustainability. I store about 6k gallons rainwater and I restrict my growing activities to get by on rain and harvested rainwater. This would not be possible in California (we make our annual visit to San Francisco in a few weeks) where Summer rainfall is minimal. But here in north Georgia it is possible, with some luck. My stored water is sufficient for about 3 weeks and then I need rain. And so far the rains have arrived timely. I hand water with a 3/4″ hose – takes time but for me is the most efficient method. My water is gravity fed and though it goes thro a gauze filter before entering the tanks it grows algae and would not work with drip feed unless I installed filters and increased the water pressure, which I am not prepared to do. When water runs low I have to choose where to best use it and so some will thrive while others have to endure. And it is enjoyable to see what is growing, how the pests are doing, and admire the butterflies.

look good but not so their offspring — looks good but not so the offspring

But things go wrong with the collection system and I have to watch that everything is connected and blockages removed. An endcap I had fitted to a gutter installed on a shed kept coming loose. So, effective but not attractive, I used a couple screws to hold it in place.

At my tractor building a 4″ corrugated pipe formed a u-bend, then filled with water, and broke loose. Now with screws and straps I have secured it again and tried to prevent another u-bend forming.

ignore the hose at the bottom, that feeds a lower tank with water captured from the other side of the building — ignore the pipe at the bottom which feeds a lower tank with water captured from the other side of the building

Previously I used my heavy portable drill for inserting screws. Now I use a real handy portable screwdriver which fits in my pocket and is easy to use.

a big time saver and easy to use — a big time saver and powerful enough

Tomatoes are a plenty and now the unusual okra plant is beginning to produce. It has a striking flower.

the striking okra flower — the shadowed flower and behind it, small okra pods

The flower transforms into future pods.

Which then grow into regular okra which we eat off the plant, when small, or grill with squash.

And, finally some more butterflies.

my decorative flowers in the growing area, pleasing to the eye and visitors

and my greens will soon harbor caterpillars

3 sisters, a new brush, problem = solution, food from the garden

3 sisters

3 sisters refers to the practice of growing corn, climbing beans and squash closely together with the corn providing scaffolding for the beans, the beans providing nitrogen fixing and their hairy stems dissuading insects, and the squash shading out weeds and enabling water retention by the soil. My 3 sisters appear to be doing ok, though I now realize some fine tuning is needed for next year.

You can see the beans wrapping round the stalks.

But is the corn handy scaffolding, or are the beans strangling the corn?

in some cases the aggressive been runners have encircled the corn tassels and pulled them down, hampering corn pollination

Next year I will give the corn a head start rather than plant the beans simultaneously with the corn.

a new brush

I have 2 water pumps for my rainwater harvesting operations and a couple days ago the one pump was very hesitant on the first go round and refused to start when I needed it a second time. I remember in South Africa how it was well known that women could fix electrical appliances by giving them a kick – the floor polisher doesn’t work, kick it. A well aimed kick could even start a car. So I thought what the heck and I kicked the pump and it started up and ran for a bit. And then stopped. Must be the brushes I thought. There are 2 brushes to a motor and they are easily replaced.

towards the top of the pic in the middle you can see the plug, easily undone with a screwdriver, behind which a brush resides

The first brush appeared fine with much remaining life. Could it really be the brushes I thought since the 2nd brush presumably replicated the condition of the first.

But the 2nd brush it was, u can see the broken spring which disabled the brush

I cannibalized a disabled pump (see previous posts on ice damage to water pumps) and the pump started easily. A quick inexpensive repair.

problem = solution

Transforming the problem into the solution is a permaculture mantra and discovering instances are pleasing to the audience and more so the discoverer. I have a problem with rats and mice in my coop. They are experienced tunnelers and prefer to live in chambers below the dirt floor because they are there protected from the elements, have easy access to food and water, less threatened by snakes and lots of bedding material like pine shavings and snips of plastic bags. They are fastidious home proud family members and unfairly branded rodents and vermin. However they are unwelcome in my coop and I tire of their telltale poop strewn on ledges and even in the chicken feed, so I want them out.

In the beginning I refilled their holes with excavated dirt; then I hammered stones into the hole entrances; then I bought sacks of concrete and concreted the holes. In 1 week I used the entire contents of a 60 lb bag of concrete. I then became a bit more creative. I poured water into their holes and once, a bedraggled rat charged out the hole. On other occasions, who knows, an inhabitant may have been trapped inside to a watery end. Some chambers were large and absorbed 4 gallons of water before the entrance brimmed. I know moth balls would have been effective, or so I have been told, but I did not want anything noxious in the coop. And then as I was shoveling chicken poop into a bucket – a brain wave. Save the haul to the fruit tree and just slide it into the hole. Followed by a good water drenching and a concrete cap. Maybe it will work and the labor of chicken poop disposal engineered into a triumph over the inveterate tunnelers.

food from the garden

Lots to eat these days.

here squash, beans, onions, okra and tomatoes

Supplemented with soy patties, mango chutney and sweet potato. And several glasses of zin. However, the melon which looked promising on the outside.

Was picked too early.

Wait maybe another week.

what’s growing

An unending bonanza of tomatoes.

some tomatoes in season - small ones are jelly bean, juliet and black cherry - large ones — some tomatoes in season – small ones are jelly bean, juliet and black cherry; – large ones are mountain fresh, mortgage lifter (mislabeled), oxheart, my own seed and big beef

The small one are more intensively flavored with black cherry (the round dark ones) leading the way. So far very little pest pressure, My recollection is the stink bugs and other tomato lovers proliferate toward the end of the season.

tomato salad with cucumbers, onions and basil

Basil are growing strongly and in the pic below you can see watermelon vines spreading in all directions and burgundy okra which have some weeks to go.

basil, water melon and okra, with some sweet potato intermixed

I again planted my peppers late (the first batch were freeze killed in the unheated greenhouse), but they are now growing well and a pepper has appeared.

I love onions and I cycle plant them every few weeks- white, yellow, purple, whatever is available.

small white onion, mild flavored. — small white onion, mild flavored, crisp texture

Beans and apples are producing well tho many of the apples have been invaded, which means less for me and the chicken, but enough.

when things go wrong

When I last mowed the grass/growth in the main chicken paddock, I left the center unmowed because the clover was in bloom and pollinators were busy. So on Tuesday I fired up the lawn tractor (see prior posts on various repairs including welding of deck) and as I did the first outer loop happened to notice a clutch of eggs in a hollow at the base of a pine tree.

Three hens participated and since no one was on patrol I assume convenience and the summer heat contributed to the decision – why sit in a hot coop with no view when you can enjoy an occasional breeze in a natural setting? I decided the eggs were not usable and buried them in a hole close to my Giant Korean pear, the most prized of my fruit trees.

the pear tree has more pears than ever and seems immune to predation and disease — my Asian pear tree has more pears than ever and seems immune to predation and disease

The next setback was to recklessly steer the lawn tractor into some high grass, reckless because I had vowed after each repair that I would nurture the tractor and not risk abuse. There was a large rock in the grass and the tractor came to a jarring stop. It started ok but made a high pitched noise when I engaged the mowing action and after I parked it in the basement I noticed that the blades had chewed up the outdoor entrance mat.

payback for abusing the lawn tractor from either bent blade or damaged housing

I removed the mower deck and noticed that the blade was bent.

But the damage was not confined to a bent blade. The blade is mounted on a jackshaft which is seated in a mandrel which is bolted to the mower deck. The jackshaft was bent.

not easily apparent but the shaft on which the blade is mounted is bent

I had no illusions that I could straighten a bent shaft. I rummaged through my workshop and found, as I vaguely recollected would be there, a new jackshaft and new mandrel which I had purchased some years ago. I installed the new jackshaft in the new mandrell and then realized that the pulley, which is seated on the jackshaft at one end (the mower blade is at the other end) required a spacer. Easy I thought, I will re-use the spacer on the old jackshaft. But I could not remove the old jackshaft from the old mandrell, despite some hefty blows with a heavy hammer. So, with a reciprocating saw I had to cut off the end of the jackshaft to release the spacer.

And then it was just a matter of putting it all together again, a familiar task. And a quick drive and mow indicated all was in order.

So what else could go wrong on a Tuesday afternoon. I happened to notice that the recently replaced attic fan was not sounding and I visited the coop and the fan was broken – the motor was dead and the propeller had detached from the shaft. Now what caused that?

fan detached from shaft — fan blade detached from shaft

I was tired and went for a quick fix – I relocated a house fan to the coop and secured it with a wire round the roof rafter.

The fan’s plug has 3 prongs and most timers only accommodate a 2 prong plug. But I have a 3 prong timer which I use with my seed heating pad and germination lights, so it was also commissioned. The house fan is remarkably quiet which I am sure the roosting chickens appreciate, but it has a lower rotation speed and will have to do for now.

So that was a busy Tuesday afternoon. And as luck would have it on Wednesday night a violent storm hit the area and a semi-tornado uprooted 2 of my oak trees which fell across the road and brought down the power line and caused a 3 hour neighborhood blackout. It also leveled most of my corn and did other damage, but that may be a post for another day. On the upside, I will have fire wood for winter.

a walk round the yard

The week of rains around July 4 really helped me out. My rainwater tanks with capacity of 6,000 gals were empty and I was planning to pump from a disused well, when the rains arrived. Solid drenching rains and my tanks are full.

The Rose of Sharon hibiscus is in flower again – it must produce prolific pollen since all types of insects visit it, though the most industrious as usual are the bumblebee. I was sorry to read that raised temps are adversely affecting them.

Rose of Sharon grows promiscuously around the deck and provides cover for feeding birds

hibiscus d — and a perch for seeding offspring

Between my apple trees I have a growing strip perhaps 5ft wide and 60ft long. This is my second year and results are looking better. My pattern for the “3 sisters” (actually 4 since I have corn, squash, beans and peas) is to have the squash on the outside where they catch the sun and the corn rows intermingled with rows of beans/peas.

the corn is still young but a pyrmadical shape with squash squatting on the sides

squash snaring the sun, behind is the corn

Every year my squash are felled by a nasty base borer and this year will probably be no different. However each day we pick and enjoy the young squash and hope for more.

and the squash flower tempting all who pass

Tomatoes are doing well. No surprise that the heirloom varieties taste the best and at this time the Black Cherry is delicious. Ukraine Purple which did well last year is off to a poor start, though it is early days. I am pleased to see that MOS (my own variety – from seed collected last year) is looking strong, though still some time away from harvesting.

MOS tomato - my own seed is growing well — MOS tomato – my own seed is growing well

And to keep things cheerful and not take myself too seriously I always intersperse the beds with sunny sunflowers, the taller the better. I remove their lower leaves so the food producers can access the sun.

And finally in a bed with a few tomatoes and California peppers, I planted some flower seed, and how cheerful they look.

some gracious flowers, not to promote bio diversity but because they are nice

catch me if I let you

A senior credit manager once told me: “Catch me once, shame on you, catch me twice, shame on me.” Which may be fine in the world of relationships but for the consumer in this information filled internet world the maxim should be: “Catch me once, shame on me!” Last week 2 incidents when I was almost caught and by “caught” I mean taken advantage of.

Ever since I rebuilt my Troy Bilt chipper shredder engine (model # 47330) in August 2013- see post on seized engine repair it has performed flawlessly. Except that prior to the seizure the gas tank leaked when filled>50% and I solved this my keeping gas levels down until it began leaking at the bottom where the fuel hose is and stank out the garage. I did my research and the cheapest replacement for the same tank was $76 ouch! for a plastic 4 qt fuel tank! But I bought it because fuel on your hands and vapor in the air is not good and complaints were mounting. I could have cobbled something together with another fuel tank but didn’t want to mess with it. That was the cheapest price new and it fitted perfectly and quickly and was done. And I wasn’t caught – a vendor can charge whatever and the consumer can buy or not buy.

I was chipping the remains of a poplar tree – soft wood and easy going, and noticed the chipper was not as chipper (sorry – cheerful) as usual. When using equipment, if something ails, I now investigate early. The drive belt had stretched with use and the top pulley was carving a hole through the cover creating a lot of heat and slowing the engine down.

at the top of the cover you can see the hole carved by the pulley

Below is shown the arrangement of the pulleys. The right pulley is the drive pulley connected to the engine, the left pulley turns the shredder/chipper mechanism and the top pulley is spring loaded and takes up the slack as the belt lengthens.

3 pulleys - the top, spring loaded pulley carved the hole in the cover — 3 pulleys – the top, spring loaded pulley carved the hole in the cover

I input the model # and located the part # and googled it and found prices for a new 38″ belt ranging north of $25, delivered. Seemed a lot for a belt? So I googled some more and a helpful poster in response to a question on the belt, said Gates V-Belt #6838 was an acceptable replacement. Per belt specs, outside circumference was 38″ and outside circumference of my used belt was 40″, which made sense since my belt had stretched. The width of the new belt was 0.5″ which corresponded to my belt. My favorite auto store wanted $15.99 and WalMart advertised for $11.17. I visited the local WalMart, where I buy my oil and filters, and discovered it does not carry belts. The big internet retailer “A” offered the part for $11.17 (after tax $11.95) and I ordered using my prime account with delivery in 2 days. My point is that a lot of manufacturers use standard parts. If you buy the part using the manufacturers part # it will often cost more than if you can locate the standard part’s part #. This may void the warranty but for me, with my old, old equipment this is not an issue. And Gates is a well known belt manufacturer so the quality of the replacement is not an issue either.

The second situation was the remote car key was not working. The car is 8 years old and I replaced the key just a couple years ago. CR2016 is the battery #. The local Publix carries watch batteries but was out. The local Kroger doesn’t. We are mid 90’s now in Georgia and this was getting frustrating. I visited the local shoe repair store to have my favorite shoes repaired. My better half said this was ridiculous, I should just buy a new pair. And then a recent WSJ article 060315 said having good shoes repaired was sound strategy. So I felt good with this endorsement and while in the store noticed it had a watch repair section. I asked the guy behind the counter if he carried this battery. He found a battery and as to price said $10. Noting my reaction, he said $10 was when he replaced the battery in a watch and for just the battery – $7. Now I want to support the small guy but $7 is too much. As I headed for the door he said $5.

So back to the big internet retailer “A”, where some diligence was needed. Lots of CR2016 battery suppliers but how many came in shrink wrapped, date stamped packs? Apparently the life should be around 10 years and I figure the reason the last replacement faded after 2 years was it might have been old stock to start with. (I did not check for a date when I purchased it). So I ordered a Sony 20 piece, blister packed and apparently date stamped package, from a high rated supplier for $8.40 with 2 day delivery. I would have been happy to pay $3 for a battery but $7 was being caught and I was not in the desert desperate for water.

the new battery, date stamped 2024! from a well known manufacturer!

At this point you may be saying – “much ado about nothing, what’s in a few dollars?” So a snippet from last Saturday’s run at the river where we are training, sort of, for the July 4, 10k in Atlanta, which is the largest attended 10k in the world. My buddy “Jack” a former engineer now retired, objected when I said there was minimal inflation today. A few days earlier a new capacitor for the outside compressor unit of his a/c cost him $190. I asked if that included the labor and Jack said with labor included, the cost was $350. I mentioned I had replaced several caps on outdoor compressors and each one cost <$30. To which Jack said they just got back from a trip, temps were in the 90’s and wife insisted on an immediate repair. Which is fine but the price of caps has not increased, though the cost of an emergency repair may well have. My point is, if you can make repairs safely (and this is a big IF) then watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves.

simple lunch

It being Father’s Day I was permitted to prepare lunch for the two of us. A rare event – usually I gather the produce and wash the dishes. I kept it simple. I like onions and garlic and have a lot growing.

one of my onion beds. you can also spot some chard and small collard in foreground

I also gathered large chard and collard leaves. I chopped the onions into 0.5″ segments including the green stems and also peeled and chopped the garlic. The mound went into a pan, with olive oil to gently saute.

The chard and collard I hand washed keeping a sharp lookout for green camouflaged caterpillars. Then into a pot with a lick of olive oil and some water and gentle heat with the lid retaining and accelerating the steaming. Turning occasionally and temperature low to avoid burning with a dash of vinegar and pepper to finish.

When the onions and garlic had softened, but not too much, I added 5 of our free range eggs, just whisked. Then keeping temperatures around medium I turned the scrambled eggs, onion and garlic combination with a spatula until it was done. But not too done.

To me it all tasted great. The onions, garlic and greens retained their crunchiness. And I even earned an “ok” which is high praise. I should have added turnip greens for extra flavoring and kale – next time. On the side were some fresh picked beans. The beans reminded me of recent press about “blue zones” and the prominent role beans play in longevity diets (WSJ 052215 “Want Great Longevity and Health? It Takes a Village”).

Not high cuisine but healthy enough and all from my place, chemicals free. Tonight we will eat out with one of our sons to celebrate Father’s Day.