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Yeah, I was thinking 31 for a minute. He might be able to get a waiver for the services other than the Marines. When I worked in Army Recruiting in the 90's, we tried waivers for everything.
 
It's our first summer in this house. We spent months watching peaches grow on our peach tree in our back yard. Fuzzy green and hard, waiting for them to start looking like peaches. We thought something might be wrong with the soil, or figured maybe it's an ornamental breed or something. They just weren't ripening.

Then all of a sudden this week they started turning yellow, and the sides facing south turned orange then red. Then we found one that had softened up, so we took it inside, cut it up, and ate it.

Oh my God, it was the best peach I'd ever had. And then this weekend every other peach on the tree ripened as well. We're picking them as fast as we can eat them, and I've been eating four or five a day, maybe more. So far my digestive tract has been cooperative with this arrangement but I know I might be pushing my luck.

But they're just so good I can't stop. Every time I'm in the back yard I wander over and see if there's a perfect one within reach. Grabbing a ripe peach right off a tree and biting into it, and it's warm from the sun and gushing with sweet nectar... Quite an experience. Sharing it with a toothless baby is fun too.
 
Thanks, Shan. Sometimes I feel bad about myself since I don't have an official job and I need to do more around here. I just need to get my energy back up again. I know I need to cut back on the sugars and carbs but those are my favorite foods. LOL.

My brother and I both tried to join the army when we were younger. I was rejected because of my heart problems and my brother was rejected because of his foot-- in his teens he stepped on a plastic grate around a pool. The grate broke and he fell & it broke his foot & toes in 6 different places. It was really bad. And the doctors were such idiots about it. Kept jabbing his foot with a needle and asking if it hurt. I held his hand and talked about video games and comic books with him to distract him. There's still a funny story about when he was being wheeled in for surgery: A little backstory is that he was heavy but had very pink lips and a somewhat feminine face. Particularly in Asia they thought he was a girl. They would think he was my sister. He also had breasts from being fat, no facial hair yet, and his voice hadn't changed. He has very pretty hair that develops little ringlets when it gets long. Anyway, nurse asked him "Do you have a brazier you'd like to remove?" and he said "I'm not that kind of guy!" she then looked at his chart and apologized. Fortunately, he doesn't have any insecurities about his masculinity (or lack thereof) so he found it funny.

He apparently used both pressure cookers to make his bbq sauce. Left the inner pot thingies in & around the sink for me to clean. Fun times.

Today I've washed some dishes, cleaned the counters, found an infected wound on one of the cats so I squeezed the pus out, cleaned it with hydrogen peroxide, and put antibiotic on it. He wasn't happy about it, but it needed to be done. My brother actually fed the cats. I've been trying to break up cat fights. Senator Snugglebum is being particularly obnoxious today with going after cats. Rupert was smart enough to run to me so I could protect him.

Flyover, the peaches sound delicious! We used to live not too far from a peach orchard when we were in California. We used to get some large very juicy sweet peaches. Never found any that good since. Kind of like how none of the storebought tomatoes are ever as good as the ones my late friend Cordell grew. He had heirloom tomatoes and took very good care of his garden. I would bring him "barnyard fertilizer" left by the cows.

I made myself get up and actually cook for Mom since I feel bad about all the frozen meals. Corned beef hash with eggs. One of these days I will keep the yolks in tact. Last time I cooked it one of the eggs was double-yolked. I'm having to re-learn how to cook things on the new cooktop since it's different from the NuWave. It doesn't have temperature listings-- just numbers 1 through 8 and no way to vary in between. NuWave would tell me exact temperature and let me change temp in increments of 5°.

I also got some inspiration to work on the Sketchup drawing of the bathroom and laundry room plan. I was still learning how to use the program when I first drew it up so I made a lot of mistakes-- stuff not squared up, had some measurements wrong, didn't know about grouping stuff to make it easier to see. So I looked at my notes on measurements as well as stuff from the original sketch and next to the two rooms I sketched a brand new one that is much cleaner. I grouped walls so I can hide them to see stuff, grouped objects to make it easier to move them, etc. I drew out the plan for the shaving shelf (still need to figure out the best height). Put the triple wall switch starting at 48" above the floor (which was the recommended height). Found a recessed medicine cabinet object that looks similar to the one we have that I'm planning to use-- but I need to get measurements of the one we have and resize the one in the sketch. It's not as hard to move stuff over now that I've figured out how to do things. I even drew in some pipes. Added outlets and switches where I want them (at least general location). Still need to pull the vanity mirror and vanity from another sketchup file to plug in. And the tp holder I designed needs to be imported. Can't seem to figure out how to import bc it doesn't recognize my password. But I can open more than one instance of sketchup, copy something, and paste in to another instance.

Probably boring the hell out of everyone with this. LOL.
 
I just need to get my energy back up again. I know I need to cut back on the sugars and carbs but those are my favorite foods.
I'd bet if you thought about it you'd realize you have favorite foods in other categories too, stuff from the perimeter of the grocery store and not the middle aisles.

Also, I was reading a little about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome because I'd heard of it but never really thought twice about it, and I found some studies linking it to toxoplasmosis, which is a risk when you live with lots of cats. Maybe not what you want to hear...
 
It's our first summer in this house. We spent months watching peaches grow on our peach tree in our back yard. Fuzzy green and hard, waiting for them to start looking like peaches. We thought something might be wrong with the soil, or figured maybe it's an ornamental breed or something. They just weren't ripening.

Then all of a sudden this week they started turning yellow, and the sides facing south turned orange then red. Then we found one that had softened up, so we took it inside, cut it up, and ate it.

Oh my God, it was the best peach I'd ever had. And then this weekend every other peach on the tree ripened as well. We're picking them as fast as we can eat them, and I've been eating four or five a day, maybe more. So far my digestive tract has been cooperative with this arrangement but I know I might be pushing my luck.

But they're just so good I can't stop. Every time I'm in the back yard I wander over and see if there's a perfect one within reach. Grabbing a ripe peach right off a tree and biting into it, and it's warm from the sun and gushing with sweet nectar... Quite an experience. Sharing it with a toothless baby is fun too.
When we first moved into our house in NJ, there was a small overgrown slope just about 25 feet from our back door. I went ou there one day and started to clear that area. There was a small tree, maybe about ten feet long growing sideways because of all the vines holding it down. I lopped it off about three feet from the base with every intention of pulling it up. For some unknown reason, I looked at it and decided to stand it up and see what turned up. It turned out to be a pear tree, and a few years later I was getting pears that (of course) were fantastic. In the following years I shared the pears with the bears who ate the pears at the bottom of the tree and the squirrels that ate the ones at the top. There were times I was lucky to get a few from the middle of the tree. Eventually the tree outgrew it's fruit bearing age. But I always wondered if that tree was saying thanks for sparing it.
 
I have an Apricot tree that's 8 years old, so this year would be supposedly when it's supposed to start producing. I needed another one, so I planted one close by. I have gotten 1 apricot off the old one, but nothing else. The same is true for my 2 pear trees that I planted. I got one pear. My Cherry trees give me buckets, but it's all bird food because the lawn pesticides are so thick, I won't eat any of it.
 
I have fibromyalgia (it's been hard to accept because of patients I have cared for.... and others I have known with the diagnosis......
Anywho, it can be very debilitating. Last week when I helped load the 2 very heavy couches, and then I loaded 11 55 gallon contractor bags, and then gutters and soffit materials and such, I paid for it for 3 solid days later. I'm fine day of...... but then for a minimum of 72 hours later, I feel like I have a case of the flu. Tons of muscle pain, fatigue, headaches. I absolutely hate it; but.... I have allowed so many things in life rule how I felt and who I was and what I wanted, that I still do physical things that I want to do, however I have to plan to be pretty useless for several days later. Dependent on the project, I can try to break it down into smaller pieces, but sometimes I prefer to just work 1000% to get it done and over with, and then feel like death warmed over after that.

I like cats, however.... my moms inability to see how much chaos and.trouble they can cause to a home as made me not want to ever have one again..... which is sad, because I know how much joy they can bring. But the cat piss is just not worth it.

@flyovmake some peach ice cream! It is delicious. Or some peach cobbler!
 
shan, have you looked into leaky gut syndrome? You might see relief by healing the gut, since most Autoimmune reactions (purposely not calling them diseases) are a result of the guts.

I know you probably know that, but I also know you probably have 10,000,000 medical terms floating around your brain constantly because of your job.

I would do a 3-5 day Grass Fed Bone Broth and Water fast for the sheer fun of it and see what happens.
 
make some peach ice cream! It is delicious. Or some peach cobbler!
My wife had both those ideas. I love peach ice cream, but we don't have an ice cream maker, and it seems like a lot of work; for now we are content with peach smoothies. As for cobbler, I've had some really amazing peach cobbler before, but it doesn't beat plain old fresh peaches.
 
Just watching Afghanistan implode. Got REAL close, as in a phone call away from going there, but went to Iraq instead. Interesting how the entire Media is throwing old Joe under the Bus. That's called coordination by the person in charge of the Liberal media, Nancy Pelosi.

Will Kamala take the job? she's TERRIFIED of that possibility. Next up is Nancy herself, and she REALLY wants the ultimate power.

"Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f**k things up"...


_Barack Obama
 
I've had the chronic fatigue since before I had a lot of cats. It stemmed from getting mono and then a rare chronic recurring Epstein-Barr Virus.

Shan, I have the same thing where if I'm active 1 day I'll be down for the next day or several days.

Today I went to the dentist for my fillings and cleaning. The cleaning was worse than the filling. The cleaning tool kept hitting my gums. Honestly, the worst part of the whole thing was that my nose started to itch and I couldn't scratch it. It was driving me batty. The dentist is a total sweetheart. Her assistant's back was hurting so she lowered the seat I was on to make the assistant more comfortable (even though it was more awkward for the dentist).

I got a weird reaction to the numbing stuff that I've never had before-- my skin itches but it's numb so scratching does nothing. My brother said he's had that before, but it's the first time I've had it itch.

I wish there had been a mirror so I could have seen what they were doing. I just saw a bunch of instruments going toward my face. Apparently she had to put a band around one of my teeth to get it filled because it had broken so badly. But, it's now taken care of and next Thursday I'm getting another one that broke filled.

They warned me my teeth/gums may be sore later but they also thought I would need pain meds after having a tooth pulled and I didn't.

Meanwhile, I couldn't sleep because I knew I had to get up for the appointment so I ended up playing around in Sketchup more. I was frustrated that they had the wrong wallset for the Sterling Performa 3d model at 3dwarehouse so I made my own. It has some problems with the shape of the shelves (I could not figure out how to get the curves to go the way I wanted). I think if I remembered a tutorial I saw I might have been able to do it, but internet was out. I might revise it more later. I'm Ok with the sides at least. Some of the detail doesn't show up properly though. It looks better than the wrong version though.

I still need to add some more details like wall-mounted soap dispensers, shampoo dispensers (wall-mounted as well), another shelf above the recessed medicine cabinet to have an LED light shining down. One of the benefits of using Sketchup and having precise measurements is that I realized I would have to move the plumbing slightly to not conflict with the dryer vent. The pedestal is 15" high and the vent is in the center of the dryer with the center of the hole 3 7/16" high. That plus the pedestal and the slight gap between them was putting it so the trap arm of the standpipe was in the way (at least with how I had planned the plumbing).

I will have to but some sort of thermal barrier on top of the trap arm to make sure the heat from the dryer vent doesn't damage it.
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Anyway, I'm waiting for the numbing stuff to wear off so I can eat. Don't want to bite myself because I can't feel. Also, I can't really taste much with most of my tongue because it is partially numb.
 
I did more grocery shopping yesterday. Friend messaged me last night saying he's out of trash bags, diapers, and misc stuff and can't go to the store bc he's still got Covid. Said if I bring him the receipt later he'll pay us back. I added it to the list for Samsclub pickup. Tried to download sams app but the long and the short of it is that the app isn't supported on older android OS & I can't get newer updates bc my phone is no longer supported so I can't get the app. I will have to try to do texts or go back in and explain that the app won't load on my phone. This time I was able to add the water to my cart without being told it was "out of stock".

Got the pickup time window set up and will get my brother to go with me.

Just started sneezing so it's time to take my allergy meds.

As an aside, I ordered a little monitor stand/keyboard cover. I can tuck my keyboard under it at night to keep cats from sitting on it and messing up my computer. It can't actually hold my monitor but I will wall mount the monitor. It has 3USB ports on it and some little spots to put stuff like pens, pencils, phones, tablets, etc. I can fit my mouse in a couple of the spots. I think I will move my keyboard's plug and the cellphone charger to the tray so I don't keep hitting the end of the tether.
 
Over the past week I built a small paver patio (first time doing that) next to my garage and assembled a large metal deck box on top of it (it's not a shed, it's a deck box, in case anyone from the HOA board comes asking) and now I'm in the process of building some wooden shelves to go inside it to better use the space. Using my scavenged lumber of course.

But I probably won't make much progress on that today: any time I'm at home I need to be wrangling all three kids, to make up for the fact that I'll be spending a big chunk of the day across town, rocking out with my drummer friend. He's invited a bass player to join us this time and I can't wait! That mix of being excited and slightly intimidated because I'm not a very strong guitar player despite having been playing for 20+ years, and I know this bassist's roommate and that guy is an exceptional guitar player, probably a better singer than me too.

But anyway I'm excited. A lot of the songs we play really need bass; you can't fake it by playing the solo bass parts on the guitar's low E string. Well, you can -- it's what I've been doing until now -- but it really isn't gratifying.
 
Do you have a picture and/or link to the "deck box"? That sounds like an interesting idea. Is it a storage box or something you walk out on? If it's the latter I'm very interested in the idea. I'm looking for some solution for when we walk out through the sliding glass door and the back door. They don't need to be connected, but having some sort of landing to step out on would be nice. Right now it's straight to steps at the sliding glass door and for the back door it's cinderblocks stacked up (that are falling over).

I was pinned under cats so I played PCH (publisher's clearinghouse) games for awhile. I once won $10 from one of their scratchoffs. I know chances of winning anything again are slim to none but some of the games are fun.

Then I got up and had something to eat and started some cleaning. I cleaned counters, picked up spilled trash, and did some dishes. My brother had taken the inner things from both pressure cookers out and left them unrinsed sitting in the sink stinking because they still had stuff in them. Another pot he used had maggots in it. It had been underneath some plastic bags and I kept smelling something bad. I found it when I picked up the bags. Ugh.

I was going to do more cleaning but my back wasn't cooperating and I started to get arrhythmia for no apparent reason so I'm resting again. I'm going to get back up later and look for my cutting attachments for my Matrix to see if I can find something that I can cut boards with.

As an aside, I saw a cool hacks/tips video that had some neat ideas. I like how they transferred the mark for the wall curve on to the board. There were a few others I found useful-- although the rake thing in the image is not in the video.
 
@zannej
A deck box is a storage container, typically meant to be kept on a deck. Some are as small as an ottoman or side table but most often they are about the size of a bench and in fact some are designed to be sat on, with a cushion on top and sometimes even a backrest and arm rests. If you plug "deck box" into your search engine most of the ones you'll find are made of plastic or resin or whatever they're calling that material.

The thing I built is made of corrugated metal and is far too big to be sat on. Its footprint is about 6'×3' and it's about 5' tall, so think of something you could store a few adult bikes in, or a grill, or a push-behind lawn mower. Still not big enough to be called a shed (you'll back me up on that if my HOA board comes knocking!) but bigger than most conventional deck boxes, but I'm calling it a deck box anyway.

It sounds like for your back door(s) what you want is either a deck or a stone/concrete patio. Or at least some proper stairs. You could then buy a deck box to put on your deck/patio, or on the ground I suppose.

Your cinderblock arrangement sounds very unsafe: a potential trip to the ER for someone in your household, or a potential lawsuit for one of your guests. As an interim measure you could at least tighten some bailing wire in a loop around each course of blocks; this would prevent the blocks tumbling over when they are stepped on.
 
Thanks, Flyover. So the desk box was what I thought it was. LOL. I like the way you describe your deck box. Sounds like very good storage.

There are some of the plastic ones I've seen at Samsclub that are a nice size. It's big enough to put a couple of trash cans in. I considered getting one, putting or name on it, anchoring it down at the end of the road and putting our cans in it and locking it with a padlock and only unlocking it just before trash pickup, taking the cans out, and then re-locking it (and having our name on the thing). But I'm fairly certain our neighbors would break and/or steal it. There used to be a bin to put trash bags in at the end of the road but neighbors kept dumping straight up trash (despite signs saying to put either full trash cans or bags in and not just dumping loose trash) so they took it away. Neighbors are still using our stolen trash cans to put their trash out.

Which reminds me, my stolen street sign still has not been replaced and it has been over a month since I requested a replacement. So either they haven't bothered with it or it got put up and immediately stolen again.

We used to have a little brick pathway between the back door and sliding glass door but it has deteriorated. Bricks are still there but many of them sunk, became unlevel, grass & weeds grew over.

My dad had wanted a full deck back there, and I think that would be a nice idea, but would be too expensive. So two small landings coming out would be good. We don't get guests out here-- even before the pandemic. We can't even open the back door right now because my brother piled so much junk against it. But I agree, the cinderblocks are a hazard. It's something we'll have to address when we get the back door fixed. Waiting for my friend to get over Covid and for the weather to cool off a bit. Then we can finish running the waterlines.

I wanted to stay home today but Mom needs a prescription picked up.
 
I'll chip in. The Marines is free, though.
shan, have you looked into leaky gut syndrome? You might see relief by healing the gut, since most Autoimmune reactions (purposely not calling them diseases) are a result of the guts.

I know you probably know that, but I also know you probably have 10,000,000 medical terms floating around your brain constantly because of your job.

I would do a 3-5 day Grass Fed Bone Broth and Water fast for the sheer fun of it and see what happens.
I have actually been contemplating this to see the difference. I have an appointment next week to see about having my lap-band removed (I suspect havin a foreign object for 10+ years may be contributory). I will most likely convert to the gastric sleeve. However, I need to have an EGD/colonoscopy also.
I started back to work fulltime this week. Its 3- 12 hour shifts (same job). Before I had to work either 2 12s and 2 8s or 2 12s and a 16 or 5 8s... and I just can't do those, my body doesn't have enough time to recover. So I am hoping that I can do this. I will be working Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

Who is your cellphone service provider zannej? Also, that's great design work!

Flyover, that deck box sounds fantastic!

Heading into the orthopedics office for.follow up of my knee I ejection a few months ago and then off to pick up my grocery order.
 
I guess one has to read all labels.I have a gallon of AriZona Ice Tea with lemon flavor. The big label says 100% Natural however in reading the fine print ingredients I find that it contains high fructose corn syrup which is not a natural ingredient. HFCS is made from corn starch using enzymes some of which contain GMO components.
 
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