Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. Since much of my news these days relates to trying to age gracefully, this series might be called The Geezer Gazette.]
816/25
Aloha!
I hope you are all enjoying your summer, despite the upsetting domestic and international news these days, as well as the crazy weather in many parts of the world. We have had somewhat drier conditions here, but it still has been cloudy a lot of the time. We're on our way to our fifth month in a row that our pv production has been in the hole. At least the warmer nights have kept our pool comfy.
We played golf on Wednesday for the last time before we return from our mainland trip. It was a pretty good round, despite an embarrassing and slightly bloody mishap on the 2nd hole. I was doing very well
up to that point, and I was close to the green in fewer shots that usual. As we do often at Makalei, I had driven the cart to a place that made for a shorter walk after finishing the hole. This tends to speed things up because the other player(s) can be chipping and putting while I reposition the cart. Unfortunately this meant I had to walk down an embankment to get to my ball, and on the way I slipped on a patch of dirt, fell backward on my ass (the embarrassing part) and skinned my right arm that I used to break my fall (the bloody part). This was partly a result of my delusional still-20-something brain telling my geezer body that it could function like it used to, and my body saying "Oh yeah?" Anyway, I staunched the flow of blood with tissues and bravely
finished the hole. Back at the cart we washed off the wound with bottled water, dried it as best we could with a paper towel, and slathered on some alcohol hand cleaner to disinfect it temporarily. I kept going for the rest of the day and did quite well (by my standards), finishing with 4 bogeys. At home I thoroughly washed my wounds, soaked them with vinegar, then coated them with antibiotic ointment. So far so good -- no sign of infection -- but the scabs shout "geezer-guy walkin' here!"
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| Skid Marks |
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| My First Wedgie |
finished the hole. Back at the cart we washed off the wound with bottled water, dried it as best we could with a paper towel, and slathered on some alcohol hand cleaner to disinfect it temporarily. I kept going for the rest of the day and did quite well (by my standards), finishing with 4 bogeys. At home I thoroughly washed my wounds, soaked them with vinegar, then coated them with antibiotic ointment. So far so good -- no sign of infection -- but the scabs shout "geezer-guy walkin' here!"
On a more positive note. my home maintenance project this week was successfully fixing a problem with our pool robot. This little guy is a marvel of engineering. It runs entirely off our vacuum return line, no electricity or electronic parts at all. Water and debris are sucked through an opening in the bottom of the robot, travel through a hose to a port in the side of the pool, and from there to the filtration system. The robot travels all over the bottom and sides of the pool, driven entirely by hydraulic action. The water flowing through it turns a turbine that powers "feet" on each side, and a mysterious gear box deep in its innards randomly varies which foot gets more power, causing it to turn left and right. It is also
engineered so that every part of the robot can be replaced easily, and I've learned how to do this over the years. About a month ago the robot started favoring left turns, which results in inefficient coverage because it twists its tube into a knot. There are a few reasons for this problem, but I narrowed it down to the need to replace several parts inside. I ordered them online and this week I took the robot apart, installed the new parts, and voila, back to normal. Total cost about $50, labor free (well, a good beer that afternoon was perfect payment).
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| Rodney The Robot |
engineered so that every part of the robot can be replaced easily, and I've learned how to do this over the years. About a month ago the robot started favoring left turns, which results in inefficient coverage because it twists its tube into a knot. There are a few reasons for this problem, but I narrowed it down to the need to replace several parts inside. I ordered them online and this week I took the robot apart, installed the new parts, and voila, back to normal. Total cost about $50, labor free (well, a good beer that afternoon was perfect payment).
We've finished making our travel plans for our trip to the Northwest, and we're in prep mode around the house. Since this is just a two week trip, we don't have to be as thorough as we normally are when we're gone a month or more. We're getting kind of excited -- this is our first trip since last spring when we went to Yosemite and Las Vegas. One potential wrinkle in our plans, though, is that there have been a number of wildfires in the area we are visiting. We're hoping this won't lead to a repeat of last summer, when fires and smoke in Canada made for very unpleasant conditions. We've learned over the years, though, that plans and reality don't always coincide, and more often than not a mismatch leads to positive experiences, not negative ones. In fact, on-the-fly problem solving is one of the aspects of independent travel that we value highly.
Ok, that's it for this week. I'll check in again when we return. Carpe Vitam
2 comments:
Probably spotty smoke conditions, so you likely can avoid it from what I hear from family up there. Our own smoke at home has been more expected than reality. The same is true of heat, had two days here of enveloping fog all the way up the mountain to our house. Not a common August experience. More global weirding I suspect.
Congratulations on fixing the robot. Congratulations, also, on fixing yourself on the second hole. I had a similar mishap last week. Our front sidewalk is precariously close to a steep, ten-foot hill leading to a sidewalk and the street. I slipped and fell fast toward the sidewalk. Fortunately (although it was bloody) my fall was broken by a large rosebush. What is the moral of this story?
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