It was 13 years ago when I bought my first smartphone. Manufactured by HTC and sold by SPRINT, the model was called EVO. History records this was one of their most popular models. I loved that phone as it took really nice photos and started my introduction to texting. That EVO traveled half-way around the world with me.
When Samsung released their Galaxy Note series, I retired the EVO and from time to time brought it out to charge the battery. I needed an alarm clock and setup the EVO to do that. All the other functions were turned off and it was in battery saver mode. I only needed to recharge the battery every 10 days to 2 weeks. It has a soft green silicone non-slip case that keeps it from slipping off the nightstand.
This weekend, like normal, I charged it and when I removed the USB connector, the charging light remained on. Something is wrong... Usually the phone is in standby mode and when I lit up the screen, it gasped it's last breath and everything went dark.
My EVO has died...
For now, I pulled my Galaxy Note II (that replaced the EVO) from storage and set it up as an alarm clock. The Note doesn't have a case and will probably slip out of my hand when I grab it from the night stand, so I can get a cheap case... or I could buy a used EVO from eBAY for $10 and reuse the case I already have.
I'm leaning toward the used EVO and not the Note.
The Foo Fighters are back in the studio and on the road with drummer Josh Freese.
In this rehearsal video, Josh blasts out some beats like he's been in the band for years.
Freese — a session and live drummer has performed with everyone from Guns N’ Roses and Nine Inch Nails to Paramore and Devo.
He replaces Taylor Hawkins, who died just over a year ago while on tour in Bogotá, Colombia.
I'm back from the Farmer's Market... unscathed. The snow-birds have gone back North so it's now possible to stop and put something in your cart without having someone jab your ankles with their cart.
That doesn't mean it's not busy, especially for a Saturday afternoon.
The highlight was when a woman had her cart cross-ways in the intersection of two aisles. She was oblivious that her cart was blocking the path of no less than 7 people. So, one guy straightened her cart and moved it about four feet from it's location. As she turned and realized her cart had been moved, the man spoke and said "Your cart was blocking the aisle so I moved it here" as he pointed to it four feet away.
Yeah... she was annoyed. The audacity of him moving her cart! She grabbed control and pulled it back to the location it was before he moved it and let him know "Oh, you're so rude."
I was done shopping and headed to the registers. She was ahead of me and appeared to be going to the front of the store as well. But, she kept looking over her shoulder as if she was ready to 'tangle' with me!
Thanks, but no thanks...
Growing a banana tree from a banana. That doesn't happen, right? I'm told the only way to grow a banana tree is small trees that sprout from a larger tree. This farming information comes from people who lived in banana growing countries.
When my family moved to Florida, there were a few banana trees growing over the septic tank. The distance down until you hit cement was about 2 feet and the trees uprooted during a hurricane. We didn't replant them so no more bananas in my back yard.
Some 40 years later, my son-in-law started growing bananas that he got from a private pilot who traveled to Venezuela. The pilot brought the small trees over himself. The variety were short 'finger bananas' that were tasty. He was able quickly grow 20 trees and gave me a few small trees.
I cleared an area in my back yard, added top soil and fertilizer, watered them daily... Wow, Banana trees started growing like crazy! A year later, I'm expecting to see some fruit. Two years later, I'm expecting to see some fruit. Three years later, I'm expecting to see some fruit. But nothing.
One weekend, I was doing a yard sale and a woman who introduces herself as the daughter of my neighbor asks about the banana crop. I revealed nothing so far. She said I was using the wrong nutrient. Fertilizer from Home Depot is what I told her. No... she told me I had to put my garbage in the ground... especially eggshells.
She asked for some small trees that I gladly gave her and she said she would return to see the progress. The reason for the yard sale was to get ready to sell my house. I never connected with her again.
The woman who bought my place was Hispanic and loved my huge mango tree and a few years growth of banana trees. Sadly, when I drove by, the banana trees were gone and the mango tree was much, much smaller than when I left.
So, here I am 3 years later, living in a condo community that doesn't allow for any fruit trees. My neighbor is growing papaya and the landscaping crew pulls his trees around the time they bear fruit. Bastards.
On YouTube, I found there are several videos describing how to grow a banana tree from a banana. Eureka! It can be done and they all have nearly the same method.
As long as they are less than 8 feet high, I can grow them on my back screened in porch that get lots of afternoon sunlight. When I have enough, I'll transplant them behind the tall shrubs near the canal along the golf course.
Now, the realty as many of the YouTube photos are 100% BS, you cannot grow a stalk of 30 bananas on a tree that is less than 3 feet tall. Not on planet earth, so I'll have to do the discovery myself. If this doesn't work, I'll go to a plant nursery and buy a tree and start the process all over again.
I'm getting a history lesson today about Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII of England. Sadly in 1536 at the age of 35 she was beheaded.
There are a few paintings of her, none were impressive... but I found a video that did her story and at the end they did some computer animations of what she would have looked like in modern times. The suggested creation (at 20 minutes into the video) is stunning.
If you don't have time for the video, the comparison is here:
From this website:
On Wednesday, it was my suggestion that the guys in the model helicopter group have a barbecue this holiday weekend. The new canopy was installed two weeks ago and the last barbecue was many months ago. We always talk about having them in the fall or spring when the weather isn't too hot or cold.
It was 'touch & go' as Thursday and Friday rained most of the day. We had a cold front push through on Saturday and the morning temperature was 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
Some people were working on Monday so it was decided to do the event on Sunday.
We are all on a group text so it was decided who would get what so we didn't have too much of the same.
I brought the watermelon, baked beans, sauteed onions. To offer something different than hotdogs and hamburgers, I made some scrambled eggs, cooked mushrooms and Italian sausage on the side. Those items got eaten while people were waiting for the grill to be setup.
We were to start around noon and I headed there around 11am. The temperature in my car was 102F and I'm guessing it was 95F under the canopy... totally different weather from a day earlier.
There was a mild breeze that blew the smoke from the grill across the 3 picnic tables, but it didn't stop the flies and gnats who outnumbered us 10 to 1. We had to keep lids on the foods and fan the items that remained open.
A quick count had 18 of us and some from the nearby airplane club stopped by to say hello.
Overall it was a few hours of fun. I didn't get to fly much as I participated on the food preparation and devoting time to the actual eating!
Cleanup was easy as I'm the one who brought the large garbage bags and the county hires a truck to do weekend pickups.
Seasonally it's brutal to have Barbecues in the middle of summer. If we do another one then, I'll ask someone to bring a generator and I'll bring some fans. We can run tarps to block the side with the most sunlight, making it cooler to enjoy the weather.
As far as the flies and gnats... it would be a huge undertaking to screen off the surrounding canopies. Maybe in a future lifetime.
I'm moving some things around tonight and came across a bunch of CD's that looks like archived music I transfered to another computer. On it was several tunes of Irish Uilleann pipes.
I'll have to do a time-line one day to see when I started to study pipes and when I actually gave them up. As best as I can recall it was shortly after a roommate came over with a VCR rental of the show Riverdance. I was blown away with the solo by Davy Spillane!
I checked the song credits and started doing research on the instrument. We were in the early days of internet and materials were hard to find.
Long story short. Irish bagpipes differ from Scottish and other bagpipes in that they are driven by dry air pumped into the bellows. The others are mouth blown and the reeds are wet. The main difference is more control over the sound with Uilleann pipes with tapping and note bending.
I located a music store in Maine who had pipes from different pipemakers. 2 from America and 1 from Canada. During that time I bought and sold several sets including some made in Australia by 2 of the best pipemakers in the country.
I had no background in traditional Irish music, but I bought some video tutorials and struggled to learn the instrument. A generation earlier, I studied oboe in the school symphony and stupidly abandoned the thought of a scholarship when I changed my journey to a decade of rock music. So, in my head, the pipes should have been easy. They weren't.
Anyway, it was Davy Spillane who toured in the first Riverdance show and listening to Irish pipes again tends to pull at my heartstrings...
When Trump left the White House, he took documents that should have been turned over to the National Archives. Months of back-and-forth and a subpoena got some returned. Somewhere along the way, his lawyers said all the documents were returned, but they had wrong information. The FBI conducted a search to get the documents back and If you recall, Trump went on social media and in the news complaining about how the search was conducted.
Maybe you one of the ones who sided with Trump, not only for the way the search was conducted but that he had rights to keep the documents in question. That search was about 9 months ago.
We're not done yet.
I heard some things today that are news (to me) where some of the Mar-a-Lago staff revealed they were instructed to do a dress rehearsal of moving boxes a day before the search and at least one of Trump's attorneys was present for the search.
I didn't pay attention to the second part, which is more significant.
While Trump claimed it was a surprise, it appears Corcoran, one of his his legal advisers confirmed the date with FBI when they could meet to pick up the documents.
Did Trump know or did he not know the date they were to arrive for the search?
We do know he was away and It was stated he was watching via the surveillance cameras.
So far, none of this is looking to be in favor of Trump. At the CNN televised meeting he admitted to having the documents and believes he has the right to retain them.
Top story this afternoon: Stewart Rhodes, founder of the extremist group OATH KEEPERS was sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy in connection with the January 6th attack on the US Capitol.
His sentence is the longest that has been handed down so far in the hundreds of Capitol riot cases. A lawyer for Rhodes stated they plan to appeal his conviction.
Another music icon is gone. News today that she died peacefully after a long illness in her home near Zurich Switzerland.
One of my favorite Tina Tuner songs was from the movie THUNDERDOME.
We Don't Need Another Hero
E. Jean Carroll won her defamation suit against Donald J. Trump where the court ordered him to pay nearly $5 million. During the trial he was posting offensive comments about the woman despite the judges warning. My opinion, was the judge should have given a demand and not a request. That way, he could have been found in contempt and a night in jail would have been a clear message... they could have picked him up at the airport on his return from his Scottish golfing trip.
Right after the court decision, like nothing happened, he again defamed Carroll in a televised town meeting and again after in a rally. Obviously, he hasn't learned to STFU and on Monday, Carroll's lawyers amended the lawsuit, seeking at least $10 million more in a court filing that seeks to hold him liable for additional remarks he made
after the verdict.
How many more times...
News link:
My neighbor is in her 80's and her son living with her is in his 60's. Originally from New Jersey, they would spend winters in Florida and summers at home. COVID changed their schedule and it looks like they are going to be here year-round.
I've only seen her 3 times and one of those times, paramedics had to escort her to emergency. Her son rarely comes out too. Usually, to check mail or to get groceries. He doesn't go far as he carries oxygen, usually by a portable machine slung over his shoulder with a nasal cannula and short tubing.
I know when they are up as I hear them 'bumbling around' as early as 5am. Banging doors or walls loud enough to wake me from a sound sleep. Usually, breakfast is around 7am. I know this as I can hear them scooting their wooden chairs on the tile floor. The chair dragging is intermittent, but it actually goes on all day. Sometimes, it sounds like they are rearranging furniture and pushing the dining table back and forth a few feet.
If you have experienc dragging a chair to the table in a few 'short bursts' you probably know the sound I'm describing.
I consulted a friend about offering them some self-adhesive felt pads they could stick on the bottom of the chair legs, but I'm told that's a bad idea and I sold just tolerate the dragging noises... at least I know they are alive!
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