Kudos - Part Two

 You might remember that I wrote back on the 16th about our microwave going kaput and that GE was sending a technician to service it free of charge.  Today was the day, and I'm pleased to report that we have a working microwave again.

I had suspected a capacitor and it turned out I was right, but it took the technician a long time to actually see the problem.  He had to uninstall the microwave, remove all the covers and run it naked for a few minutes before we ever saw it arc. Luckily, he had the right replacement on his truck and we are back in business.

Honey's Latest

 

Here's Honey's latest jigsaw puzzle.  

I love the beautiful house and the jacaranda tree.  

Rain

 And the word of God comes down from above like rain falling from the skies to the earth - - - and the result is mud.

Sure Fire, Guaranteed Weight Loss

 

I lost almost ten pounds over the weekend.  

Actually, between noon  Sunday and three a.m. Monday, I dropped nine lbs. and a couple ounces.  It was all the result of the prep for a colonoscopy I had yesterday.

The colonoscopy went well, and I was told that my innards are in fine shape - could win prizes - and they presented me with proof - a souvenir brochure or portfolio with a couple dozen close-up full-color photos of portions of my anatomy that I had never had any interest in actually seeing.

The doctor also cheerfully informed me that I could check colonoscopies off my bucket list.  After my age they are no longer a recommended routine diagnostic procedure - or maybe I'm just old enough that if anything's wrong down there nobody cares. 

It Can Wait

 

AT&T is the sponsor of a public service ad campaign discouraging texting while driving.  In many of their ads  folks have written "It can wait" on their palms.

There is one ad running on Direct TV when you pause the program you are watching.  It features fourteen people holding their hands up displaying "It can wait" on their palms.  What struck me about the ad is that while only about 10% of the world's population is left handed, 13 out of 14 people in the ad have the slogan written on their right hand.  That means either the images are reversed like selfies in the mirror, or they had help writing the slogans on their hands. 

It probably shouldn't matter, and maybe nobody else noticed or cares, but when I see the ad, that's all I see.

How Did He Die Again?

It is truly one of the great unsolved mysteries of the universe, but - if your warm-ups/sweat pants have pockets - whenever you wash them they will come out of the drier with the pockets wrong-side-out.

Always.

It never fails.

Usually, I put them back where they belong before folding the pants and putting them in my dresser drawer. The operative word here is usually.

This morning, I got out of bed and while still half asleep, I grabbed a pair of sweat pants out of the drawer.  I put my left leg in and had started shoving my right leg in when my foot went into the hole left by the inverted pocket, and I dropped like a rock.

There's not much space between the bed and the dresser so I didn't fall far.  I bounced off the dresser and landed flat on my back on the bed.  I really wasn't any worse for wear, but I definitely wasn't half asleep anymore.

I was telling Honey about it later, and we were laughing about it when she said -

"How did your husband die?"

"Put his foot in his pocket."

 

Baptism 2020

 

Kudos to GE

 

Last year when we were replacing all of our appliances that were damaged by Imelda, we bought a new  under-the-counter microwave.  The old one wasn't damaged by the flood, but we had never been totally satisfied with it and wanted a replacement.

Sunday, the new microwave started making a popping noise - not just when it was cooking but after it was off.  I unplugged it because we didn't know what was going on - just knew it wasn't supposed to do that - and didn't want to burn the house down.

The microwave came with a one year warranty.  The problem was that we purchased it on November 9, 2019.

I called GE Customer Service - yes, they are actually open on Sunday - and explained that although we paid for the microwave on the 9th, the invoice indicated that it wasn't scheduled for delivery until 11/23.  I asked if there was any wiggle room on their one year from date of purchase warranty.  The lady I was talking to thought that there should be, but had to check with her supervisor.

A minute later, she came back on the line and told me it would be totally covered - parts and labor- and scheduled an appointment for a technician to come out.

Refugees Welcome - Missionaries Not So Much

 Much as I hate to admit it, Texas ain't Heaven.  

Still, it has a lot going for it.  So much so that it has become a destination for thousands of corporations and individuals from other states.  The business-friendly atmosphere and the lack of a state income tax have become a major draw for folks coming from everywhere from the rust belt to the Silicon Valley.  Just last week it was announced that NASDAC is currently contemplating moving here from New York.

Normally, I would say the influx is a good thing.  The problem is that all these folks seem determined to import all the things that made life in Michigan or New York or California so untenable.  

We Texans are a proud bunch, and overall, we're pretty darn satisfied with our state the way it is. We don't really care how you did things back where you came from, so - 

Welcome to Texas, Now Shut the Hell Up!

Advice

 

ARCOM

 

On this Veteran's Day, I'm thinking back on my time in the military.

I was drafted in 1966 at the height of the Viet Nam war, but never went more than 200 miles from home - Ft. Polk, Louisiana for basic training, then Ft. Hood, Texas for the remainder of my time in service.

On arrival at Ft. Hood I was assigned an E-8 (master sergeant) slot - I was the radio/tv section of the 2nd Armored Division public information office -so I made all promotions in minimum time.  Later, as head of the radio/tv section for III Corps and Ft Hood, I made Specialist 5 (E-5) after only 13 months in the Army.  That wasn't that unusual in a war zone, but almost unheard of stateside.

Shortly before my discharge, I was awarded the Army Commendation Medal.  The accompanying paperwork cites the fact that I created and hosted Post Time, a nightly radio show from Ft. Hood, broadcast on a local Killeen, Texas radio station.  What it doesn't say, and what probably was the real reason for the award, was that I also ghost wrote speeches for Ft. Hood's commanding general.

Theta

 

Theta formed in the Atlantic overnight, becoming the 29th named storm of the 2020 hurricane season, and breaking the record for the most named storms in a year.

When I told Honey about it this morning, she said "Well, damn Donald Trump anyway."

                                          -0-

I broke up laughing.  

If you don't get the joke, consider that during the presidential campaign Joe Biden and his surrogates blamed Trump for everything from forest fires in California to the hurricanes that hit the gulf coast.

Timing

 

Hibernation

 

Considering the state the country is in at the moment, this limerick might be considered political, but it much more than that.  It is how I actually deal with all sorts of situations – drives my wife nuts.

It there’s one thing I despise – no, HATE

It’s having to sit around and wait

Joyous anticipation or dread

It’s easier to take myself to bed

To fall asleep, to hibernate

Traffic

 Here at the old Boggy Thicket we enjoy an abundance of wildlife - hundreds of birds and squirrels all day long.  And it doesn't stop when the sun goes down.

Over the summer, we had nightly visits by an opossum that Honey named Lucy.  She would show up every evening between eight and nine o'clock. Usually she would come in from the back, wander around the yard for five  or ten minutes, then leave by crawling under the front gate.  About once a week she would make the tour in reverse just to keep things interesting.

About a month ago, we started getting nightly visits from a young raccoon.  We called him/her Bandit.  Not very original, but it had a habit of climbing a few feet up a big oak tree and then peeking at us from behind the trunk.  The look on its face as it peeked around the tree made you know it was up to something mischievous if not downright nefarious.  Our suspicions were justified as it eventually knocked one of our hummingbird feeders to the ground and emptied it of nectar.

Last night we had a new visitor.  I looked up to see a skunk come around the side of the  pergola, not more than five feet from where Honey was sitting.  It either wasn't aware that we were there, or it simply didn't care.  It ambled toward the front of the yard then followed the fence line toward the south.  Once it got out of the light, I lost it entirely.  I have no idea when or how it got out of the yard.

We know there are skunks out there - our neighbor just the other side of the drainage ditch was complaining a couple weeks ago about her dogs having a run-in with a skunk - but in all our years here that was the very first skunk we have ever seen in our yard. 

Election

 

The voting is over, but God only knows when the results will be final. Not a big surprise, but not what I wanted.

National elections are huge cumbersome things, and it's a wonder they work at all.  Holding a presidential election is like trying to put an inflated balloon into a coke bottle while wearing oven mitts and balancing on a surf board.  Every state has its own set of rules and procedures, and that fact alone almost guarantees that someone is going to be sure they are being cheated and head screaming to the courts.

If that wasn't enough, every four years one side or the other calls for the abolition of the Electoral College. 

In some ways I can see their point - it doesn't seem fair that the vote of some riverboat guide in Montana would effectively have seven or eight times the weight of the vote of a music teacher from Brooklyn, but it has to in order for everyone in the USA to have their say.  Without the Electoral College, all presidential elections would be determined by New York and California.  All those of us in between could do would be stand by and watch.  

Yes, our electoral system is a confusing mess and it doesn't always give the results we want - there's the fact that approximately half the votes in any election are cast by people of below-average intelligence - but it is the best system anywhere in the world.

Hot Water

 I waited a couple of days to be sure it was fixed, but our water heater is now working like a charm.

The help desk guy at Rheem was true to his word and overnighted the part he said would fix our water heater.  It got here about 10 a.m. on Saturday.  What he sent was a new control valve assembly.  

I was distressed to see that it did not come with a new thermocouple, but it turned out that I wasn't as right about the problem as I'd thought.  The thermocouple was working normally - the problem was the way the control valve read/reacted to the signal.

Once the new valve was installed, the water heater went back to working like a new water heater should.