brian

I finished my final 1 October task today so now I'm ready.

Every six months I was off the fins on my AC compressor. I suspect only a very few people do it but the job isn't difficult and the fins exchange heat for the coolant in the compressor. Cleaner fins = more efficient exchange. So I take off the top spray them down with soap spray that is made to clean them and then wash it off. A little daunting first time out but I've got it down now and the only difficulty is that as an outside chore it has to be done in the morning. But it is done now and I feel accomplished.

While I was doing it I found two unusual fittings at the base of the AC. We've been living here going on seven years now and finding parts falling off the house is a little disconcerting.



Fortunately there is Google Lens. These appear to be fittings used in mig welding. I've got a friend who is a welder who will no doubt verify them but what the hell are fittings for a mig welder sitting at the base of my AC compressor 7 years after installation. And no one is likely to have been using a mig welder anywhere near this house even when it was being built.

I suspect Dana. She's sleeping but my guess is she found them and then lost track of them while washing them off or some such nonsense. Investigation in progress.

My super sleuth companion, Beaux, is on the case:



Other than that I've got nothing today until tonight's Austin FC soccer game. No PB today.

Probably a good day to do a packing exercise. See what I really want to take with me on Wednesday and see if I can still get away with carryon.

I've got a massage therapist I found in Northampton that has a couple of morning availabilities on Thursday morning. I'm debating but think I'll schedule us for post plane/pre wedding massages.

There was an article I saw this morning about a roadway in Vermont jammed with people wanting to see the trees.

This is a thing now days that every time I think about travelling really turns me off. My guess is we've just got too many people in the world now. Nearly every place worth going has report of being jammed with people going to see it. The first time I went to Hong Kong I, of course, took the tram up to Victoria Peak at night to see one of the breathtaking sights in the world. When Dana I went there must have been 10 years later we did the same. Only difference was that there were so many people crowding the rails that the overlook was far away from us and the wistful overview was kind of spoiled.

I once went to see a Monet exhibit and spent the entire time viewing the backs of peoples' heads.

I'm hoping that our trip from Hartford through the back roads of Western Massachusetts in the middle of a weekday will be reasonably traffic free. Once we get to the hotel I think we're done with the driving around. I considered staying an extra day but it will cost us almost as much to stay one day as it would to stay the other three.

I need to fall in love with the desert or somewhere that no one else wants to go but I think that place may not longer exist.

Signed: Old AND Cranky

Yeah, it's 91 degrees here and not topped out yet, I think.

I was going to wash the AC condenser, a chore I do twice a year to help ensure the efficiency of my AC.  Not that we use it much.  

Now it is too hot to go out and do it.  So I'm putting it off to Saturday morning. 

The mornings, at least, are cool here.  Sitting on the porch drinking coffee in the 60ish degree weather is such a luxury.  It stays cool enough for the first couple of hours that we can leave our door open.  Zoe used to love going in and out to her heart's content.  Beaux will too once he gets the dog door figured out.

Three pre-trip checked boxes today so far.

I sent off the wedding present.  UPS advertises that it they pack anything with their material and you ship with them they guarantee arrival or will pay for whatever you shipped.  The caveat, not included anywhere in their web site, is that you have to buy exceptionally expensive insurance.  They wanted $350 of insurance to guarantee my shipment and claimed that 'corporate' owned the web site if it was confusing.  I left.

Found an independent pack and ship place and their insurance was about $29 for the same thing.  And their packing and shipping was far less.   

Called the hotel and told them that we won't be staying that last night that costs $269.

And filled out the paperwork to drop off the dogs at the puppy hotel.  We drop them off a day early and can't pick them up until the Monday after we return.  No pickup on Sunday.  That will be kind of sad to be dogless. 

Verified, yet again, flights and car reservations.

I used to revel in all the detail of planning such a trip.  Now it is just a pain.  I'm still pretty good at it (runs in the family, we are ALL good trip planners) but I don't love it much.  

The new Pickleball place that I bought into last June opens this weekend.  No idea how it will work but it is close by so I can just run up and see what's going on without it being a big trip. 

It is an indoor facility which it nice when the weather isn't cooperating.  And I can still go to the outdoor place if it is a nice day.  I like playing outdoors but wind and rain and heat and cold make it hard sometimes.

I've only played indoors once and that was on a basketball court.  This is a pickleball only facility so it should be interesting.  I'm looking forward to having it so available. 

Beaux loves lying in the sun.

Beaux developed a cough today.  He's had his kennel cough shot (as has Toby) but there is another respiratory infection they can get so I decided to nip it in the bud.  The vet we use is less than five minutes from here and they always can make room for us.  It is a really nice place and, of course, the staff is great. 

We went over and they had a look.  No temperature so whatever he has is not very advanced.  We got a shot, some steroids and some antibiotics.  He'll be fine, I'm sure. 

I'm actually really surprised that he has not developed anything else.  Considering where he came from I'm sure he's had all kinds of stuff at one time or another.  But he's eating well and it is processing and going out the other end well.

Toby has always had a problem eating.  Well, maybe it isn't Toby but whatever is the cause he sometimes won't eat and Dana gets all worried and starts hand feeding him.  You can see where that goes.  Oh, yeah, and he's overweight.

Hopefully I'll be able to hold the line here.  We have some of the highest quality dry food you can get geared to dogs over 7 years old with everything they need.  There are two bowls out all the time and I keep them full   The dogs take care of their own diet.  Beaux has gained a bit but he needed to.  I'll keep watch but I think the fix is just let them eat what they want and minimize the treats.

Fingers crossed.  It is something I've always wanted to do.  The Internet hates it but the only reason I can see that it would be a problem is that it is hard to tell if a dog is sick when one of the indicators is whether he eats or not.  

Neither dog is overeating.  Neither could care less about the other one's eating.  Zero aggression between the two.  

So we'll have to see.  Dana comes back tomorrow so the variety of opinions in the house double.

How do you tell whether a dog can hear or not? I think they make sharp noises out of his sight to look for reactions. But in a very non-reactive dog the calm disposition and lack of reaction to external stimulus looks like poor hearing.

Beaux had a yeast infection in his ears which I'm taking care of. Almost gone. AND, he just does not react. If I was as calm as he is I'd still be married to my first wife.

Toby heard something last night. Toby heard me open the garage door from all three rooms away. He's got excellent hearing and yips at the sonic level of a jet when he wants to. Last night he heard something he didn't like and I woke up to major yipping. Whatever caused the problem definitely heard it. I called out and got him to calm down and come back to bed. During all of that time Beaux had not moved.

I quietly said: "Beaux, you OK?" He raised his head, looked at me, and went back to sleep.

He was raised in an outside kennel with 64 or so other dogs. Noisy all the time. For some reason he just developed the ability to screen it all out. I'm pretty sure he can bark if he wants to. He chooses not to so far.

My guess is his hearing is fine. Not to the level of Toby's who I think can hear a door close three houses away. But normal fine.




Meanwhile, I've been killing wasps. Dana got stung a couple of days ago opening the umbrella we have outside. I'll never open another one without imagining wasps flying out of it. Natural location for a nest.

For some reason this year has been crazy for wasps. And/or yellow jackets. No matter. I wiped out eight nests today hidden in places under the soffets and, turns out, in the unoccupied chicken coup. Killing probably 50+ wasps. This is the place where Buddha and I diverge. That and fire ants. They can go be part of the ecology somewhere else. If they come around here, they are fair game and I've got the chemicals.

I just bought two more cans of that long range spray. It is highly effective. I've not been stung this year but Dana does the yard work that results in her sticking her hand in bushes and such and she's been stung several times.

All this in addition to the quarterly pesticide program we use. According to Gemini:
There appear to be more wasps in 2025 due to exceptionally favorable conditions created by a warm, dry spring and a hot summer, which allowed more queens to establish larger nests and colonies to thrive.

I'm guessing that the season will extend for the rest of October since we'll still have warm weather until then.  Or longer.  Thanksgiving at the beach?

Twice today I've heard Beaux make some noise. He has been entirely mute until today. But he was sleeping and chasing whatever it is that dogs chase in their sleep and he was kind of huffing, a quiet bark. And then again when I came home. I think he's had a voice but for whatever reason he's not felt like he could use it. But that seems to be changing.

He's also found Zoe's chair:



Zoe spent a lot of time in that chair while I was on the computer. It has now been handed down. Beaux really has moved into the house and is as comfortable as he can be.

Dana is going to Tyler tomorrow for a couple of days. Joseph is getting baptized at a church for some reason. I don't know or want to know the details but he is completely in the cult now. He knows better than to bring it here. But Dana is, of course, supportive. So she's going to see the deal.

This morning was nice weather, below 70, but it is over 90 now and that is the forecast for the next couple of weeks. One day we'll begin fall here.

Used to be Zoe would go with me everywhere in my truck and then in the Smart Car. She finally couldn't get comfortable in the seat so I stopped bringing her. Beaux went with me to the drive through and we got some drugs.



He was asking if we could have fries with those.

He's very chill with whatever is happening.  Zero nerves about anything.

Dana was cutting up something on the kitchen counter and she had their attention:



It was not even something for them.

But maybe.