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Praetorium Honoris

Saturday, July 16, 2022

Summertime Blues


It's Friday (as I write), a very lovely, though warm, Friday. Warm as in the upper 70s, lower 80s, not much in the way of humidity, I'll take it.

This summer has been mild so far, reasonable temperatures and lower humidity than is usual. Not much rain, you can see that the grass is browning up. The Missus Herself wants to water the Hell out of it, I say let nature takes its course.

We had a couple of pretty hot days with beastly humidity this past week. Tough to sleep with only a fan, which is all we've got now.

The Missus Herself convinced me to put in a ductless central air system. She found a guy who, while cheap and probably good at his job, isn't licensed in Little Rhody. Makes me nervous that does, so we went in a different direction. A couple of grand more but with licensed people doing things on the up and up. 

Bottom line though is that instead of having central air now, we won't get it until August. Which I'm okay with, the system cools and heats, which means we should probably save money not having to use as much oil this winter.

We didn't put the window units in, but we will probably do that soon. Right now it's cool, later it is going to get hotter, not Texas hot mind you, but hot enough to drive me into an air conditioned environment.

Yup, no fictional post today, I just don't feel like writing today, maybe not tomorrow either. The Muse worked overtime last week and I'm happy with the results. I don't want to push it, you can't force creativity.

Had my mid-year review on Thursday, it went well, at least from my perspective. The people I work directly for like what I'm doing, and that's all I really care about, corporate can continue with their bullshit woke nonsense to their hearts content, I ain't playing.

That's right, homey don't play that.¹

But I did get some interesting news, my section manager's Dad (good engineer by the way, I've worked with him in the past) is a state senator. Apparently Little Rhody is phasing out income taxes on military pensions over the next five years. Little Rhody is, from what I understand, only one of four states that tax military pensions. How 'bout dat? I had no ideer.²


The Portulaca grandiflora (my favorite flower for those keeping score at home) are approaching full bloom this time of year. A little late as I recall it, but everything has seemed to lag this summer. Some summers are like that.

So that's it from me. I'll post something tomorrow, might continue the war, might not, depends on how the mood strikes me. I like to let the story line simmer at times. (My excuse for being lazy.)

Be seeing you.³



¹ Some of you might remember the Wayans brothers and the show In Living Color. That's where that comes from. Great show, I miss it.
² A phrase Buck was fond of, damn it I miss that guy.
³ From another great TV program, "The Prisoner" with Patrick McGoohan.

40 comments:

  1. There are a number of good things about "The Prisoner", but for me the best was that there was a definite story arc and then it was over. With no dragging on for years with steadily decreasing writing quality and falling into repeating the same episodes with only cosmetic changes.

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    1. I've noticed that with other British shows, follows a definite story line and when it's over, it's over.

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    2. Though the last episode was a tad bit of a head scratcher. Now I'll have to find it and rewatch the series to figure out why I was confused for so many years.

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    3. "The Prisoner" was superb television. The sort-of setup, (variously titled "Secret Agent", "Danger Man", and ... I forget) was a good puzzle-chase show, a parade of people who became famous.

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    4. Beans, if you find it, let me know. I haven't watched it since the early 80s.

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    5. If you have an (sc)Amazon subscription, you can watch it through them. Or buy it in hard DVD for waaaay too much or $50ish depending on which way you get it. Blue Ray version is far cheaper than regular DVD. Only 17 episodes and it left me with a lasting negative impression of weather balloons.

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    6. I meant to say, you can watch it for free from Amazon.

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    7. Beans the 1st - Ouch on buying it, free with ads it is. (FreeVee, harrumph.)

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  2. Our lack of rainfall started 3-4 weeks ago, the grass crunches when walked on but at least the mowing chores have been cut down. Cherry tomatoes are doing quite nicely as are the onions.

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    1. We're starting to crunch as well. I remember a summer here some few years back where I mowed the lawn in mid-June, then didn't have to touch it again until late-August, and that was just to cut down the taller weeds!

      By July 4th the weather was blazing hot and going outside during the day was best left to the proverbial "mad dogs and Englishmen"!

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  3. I hope I'm speaking for everyone, but I think we can wait - impatiently, squirming; but yeah! give her a rest.
    We had a white elephant on LI built before the turn of the 20th. I put in a very weird ductless AC (this was back in the '70s) and the summer nights became quite bearable; we had far more of our kid's friends for sleep-overs than vice versa. Electric bill was high for several months, but...

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  4. Sarge, we started in "A/C" mode around May and probably will not be fully out of it until November.

    Climate and climate control is a funny thing. As one point we lived where temperatures were in the mid-70's and we got pleasant evening breezes. Everything was great until either a) the temperature exceeded 75 F; or 2) there were no evening breezes. Amazing how quickly things got uncomfortable.

    Congratulations on the successful review - last one, right? And that news about the military pensions sounds very good indeed.

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    1. Should be the last one, mid-year anyway. I'm sure I'll have a pro-forma annual in December but by then, who cares?

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  5. Pennsylvania doesn't tax any retirement income (for now) and that is a big deal.

    When we added the addition eighteen years ago, we listened to the contractor and added a, new for the time, split ductless AC.
    It's worked great and there is a setting where the circulating fan speeds up and slows down as needed so that you don't have the bang-bang on and off.

    Grass. Be very, very, very, careful when spot spraying weed killer, and I would strongly suggest not keeping the plastic container of week killer next to the very similar plastic container of weed and grass killer.
    (picture in your mind a lawn that has about thirty percent brown patches and the rest green)
    The good news is that the grass killing part isn't very effective and the grass is slowly returning.
    Two neighbors mentioned that they had had the same experience, and one related that he had killed an entire soccer field.

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    1. We have a lawn service do all of that chemical stuff, I won't go near it.

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  6. I hope you have better luck with the ductless than I have. Power surges took out one unit. I bought two to replace it and added Square D surge protectors at the units and in the mains box. Only one is working now. I like the concept, but the actual implementation has been a bit of a let down. The maintenance down here in the swamp is ongoing. It likes to grow mold... they are cheaper to run than the older window units were.

    Down days are nice at after a tough week. Rest easy.

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    1. Our power grid here is pretty reliable (knock on wood). Unlike Louisiana where every time we had a big thunderstorm, we'd lose power for an hour or so.

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  7. Window units for a single room are inexpensive, and allow an oasis for sleeping. They are may go-to after hurricanes before the grid comes back on line.

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  8. The Wife & I are discussing a long weekend trip (Sat to Tues) to Connecticut and Rhode Island in October and are trying to do some planning, so I have a question completely unrelated to your post. What is the best airport to fly into? I can get directs from Columbus OH to LaGuardia, Newark or Boston but I'm not sure I want to deal with the city drives. Thanks for any advice!

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    1. Fly into TF Green (PVD), just south of Providence. It's convenient to all three southern New England states. No city traffic and it's just off I-95.

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    2. Thanks! I appreciate the help!

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  9. Keep your window units. Use the house system to cool the house down to work temps, and use the window unit to chill the sleeping room to sleep temps. Unless the new house system is that friggin efficient. What SEER rating on the new ac?

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    1. Nope, this ain't Florida. Friends who have the system report very good cooling and heating. 19.2 is the SEER rating.

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    2. 19.2? Yeah, keep the window units for just in case but that will be fine. I wish my apartment a/c was above 12. I swear the unit was hand-assembled by Willis Carrier himself.

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    3. Well, we never throw anything out. Well, I don't ...

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  10. Portulaca grandiflora was my maternal grandmother's favorite flower. She always had them planted wherever she lived.

    The Prisoner was one of my favorite shows growing up. I found a place to watch the episodes online a few years ago, but lost the link.

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    1. Amazon Prime on FreeVee (which is the new name for ImDb, free with ads.)

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  11. After retirement, assuming Little Rhodey doesn't pass that income tax for veterans bill, would you ever consider leaving? The weather is nice today, but those Winters can be rough I'd guess, although you are quite used to it I'm sure.

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    1. The winters in Little Rhody aren't nearly as harsh as what I grew up with. House is paid for, why would I leave? It's possible, but not likely.

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    2. Understood. Why would you? Only if you couldn't stomach the leadership, or the taxes, but Little Rhodey isn't Cali.

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    3. We're nowhere near as messed up as California. Yet.

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  12. Fuzz here, when we sold Santa Cruz, we couldn’t get another place, smaller, for less than half of what we netted. FL was a good move. Southwest handles the transportation for kids and us.

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  13. The rains won’t come to California, leastwise not our part of the state, and today is reportedly 104°.
    So, for the past 12 days, MB and I have been chasing it from Colorado to Ohio, and savoring temps from the 70s to 80s.
    Of course, the weather isn’t our purpose for the trip, just a benefit.

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    1. I have been following your travels. Looks like a good time!

      That weather is certainly a benefit.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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