That's the Way It Crumbles, Cookie-Wise

Marie Mallory said:

These last couple months of being 'restrained' have done on number on me both mentally and physically.

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Me too. I keep saying I'm going to start walking but never get around to it. It is a great exercise, especially if you pick up the pace a little, and not just mosey.

Nancy Hart said:

Me too. I keep saying I'm going to start walking but never get around to it. It is a great exercise, especially if you pick up the pace a little, and not just mosey.

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I know how that is too Nancy. Sometimes it is hard to get in gear, huh?
I think of saying like , "the journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step".
If that doesn't work, I get drastic and remind myself a Bible quote, " whatever thy doest ,do with all thy might, there will be plenty of rest in the grave where thou goest".
I hope soon you'll do whatever you want.

My biggest motivation is music. It makes me want to move.Heading out now for my walk, thanks for reminding me.

Haven't started the actual venting yet. Breaking it down into small parts.

1/5/26: Move the 8' step ladder from the basement to the first floor
1/6/26: Move it from the first floor to the 2nd

That's where I stopped. Not looking forward to the rest.

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1/16: Finally climbed up into the attic, wearing knee pads. Crawled to the far west side of the house on narrow boards in the dark with a flashlight. The knee pads would slip off the boards and twist around my knees. If you stepped on an overhanging edge, the board would tilt up like a teeter-totter. Pulled batts of insulation back from the crack in the last 2 bays and crawled out ASAP.

1/20: Removed the fan, again. The only access to insulation from below is a little 3" x 4" hole on the side of the fan housing. Tried reaching up and back over top to try and pull out more insulation, but you can't get very far unless you have a pretzel shaped arm. Held a strip of toilet paper up to that hole and the air pulls it in (weakly) without any fan going, so there must be an open air path upward.

1/22: Put the fan back together. It runs even quieter now. Sounds exactly the same with, or without, hearing aids.

The only thing left is to take the ladder back to the basement. I should have removed the fan first and put a flashlight above the fan housing, before going up there (without knee pads). It wouldn't do any good, except if I saw the light from above, it would make me happy.

The company makes a new upgraded motor/fan blade for this model fan for only $24. I ordered it. I'm gambling that the motor will go bad before I die. Putting in a new fan would require tearing out enough ceiling to have major drywall repair.

I've set a record in the timely filing of income taxes that will be hard to break. Georgia isn't even processing state returns until Monday, and IRS only started 3 days ago.

Totally free, both Federal and 1 state, using Cash App Taxes (formerly Credit Karma). What's the catch? You have to enroll in Cash Apps. It's similar to Paypal, but not as widely accepted. You don't have to use that feature at all.

I e-filed for the first time last year using TurboTax (long story). I hate TT, not because of the software, but because of their deceptive advertising and business practices, and now forcing people to use Windows 11.

Cash App Taxes has been removed from the list of approved software providers on the IRS website. How petty. I'll go with H&R Block software instead, if Intuit is allowed to buy out Cash Apps Taxes and "deep six" it by this DOJ. .. LINK

I discovered another feature on this Ranger --- AEIS (Auto Engine Idle Shutdown). "The engine will typically turn off after 30 minutes of idling in Park, or as soon as 5 to 15 minutes depending on specific vehicle settings." I think mine is set less than 30 minutes.

During the storm about a half-inch of solid ice had formed overnight on the windshield. I thought it would melt off the next day, but it only got worse, more drizzle. You could not walk on the driveway anyway---also solid ice. The roads cleared up by the 3rd day because of the sunshine on blacktop, but the ice was still on the windshield. Late that night it occurred to me there could be a situation where I'd have to drive in the morning. Like if I slipped on the ice and broke my wrist? I should get the ice off the windshield.

Turned the engine on with the defrost going strong, left it running with the parking brake on and went inside. It shut itself off after I don't know how long (AEIS). It didn't seem like 30 minutes. The second time I tried, it honked its horn at me after just a few minutes, who knows why. So I gave up because I didn't want to wake the next-door neighbors. Was able to pry off large chunks of ice, enough so you could see out the front.

This is certainly not something I would do every day, but it would be nice to be able to do it once every 5 years, say, after an ice storm, without the vehicle telling me "No, you can't do that!" There is a way to turn AEIS off, but it's like Auto Start/Stop, you have to reset it every time you crank up. Five years from now I wouldn't remember how to disable it anyway. This would have been a straightforward job with the old Ranger.

It's been a slow start to the diet, but the last 2 days have been encouraging. Set a daily calorie target around 1250. I'm on day 25.



Part of the problem might have been a head cold that began around day 10. I never knew this: "Body water retention during a head cold usually lasts for the duration of the infection, typically 7 or more days." Downloaded gnuplot (free plotting software) and fit a regression line.


Based on actual data, maintenance calories are only about 1665/day. That seems low. I need to start moving more.

The 2 lowest pitched strings on the guitar broke a few days after I tuned it. I wasn't even touching it whenever it happened. These are wrapped steel strings, both original. I have new strings but never got around to replacing them.



Left arm won't go high enough to reach the frets now. This might be a good time to try and learn to play left-handed. I always thought it would be easier anyway. (Not that I could play it right-handed either. Just thinking.)