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Finally finished the last part of my side deck that will store various water things. Making the gate hard - I kinda made things up. I think maybe I did it all backwards, but oh well - there is no other entrance to this area so the gate stoppers are visible and since it’s all on a slope the had to be cut different lengths. It works and kinda matches the hog wire. At some point I would like to put something on the gate - some art of some kind, maybe need to enlist the ping-pongers Oh and you can see the concrete slopes where it meets the deck - grinding that down was super fun!

Too many rotten bananas around so...

50yo Foxtrot Genesis 1972 Example: I was trying not to play too many 50yo albums that I am familiar with {wanting to still discover new albums to myself}, but once I played the first few seconds of this album, I could not help it. Just so good. Michael's bass is killer on this album.

I know many don't like Country music, and think it simple, hillbilly prose. And a lot of it is forgettable to be honest. But in the same way that I love early blues music, I love early country music. It's the blues of the blue collar worker. It tells of the struggle of the common man (me), and the best of it does it poetically and gracefully. Bobbie Gentry is an artist that never got the respect she deserves in my mind. In 1967, a time when "girl singers" were singing about standing by their man, and overlooking his faults, Bobbie Gentry penned "Ode to Billie Joe". A song about two teenagers that had a secret affair, got pregnant, hid it, then threw the newborn baby over a bridge to keep from being discovered. Then the boy commits suicide, because he can't live with what he's done. And she delivered that song with poetry and grace. Three years later she penned the song "Fancy", about a poor "white trash", sickly mother and her two children. One a starving infant, and the other a girl on the cusp of womanhood. The mother knows she's dying, and the only way she knows to give her daughter a chance at a better life, is to dress her up and "turn her out". I don't mean kick her out. Turning someone out is a phrase popularized by pimps, meaning to make the woman they've been grooming start turning tricks. How this woman managed to get any songs published at that time is amazing enough. Only a very few women were taken seriously as song writers. But to convince a producer to publish songs of such a serious, taboo nature is almost miraculous back then. Worth a listen if you're not familiar.

Been getting back into some 80s Texas (of Scotland.) If it was good enough for Alan Rickman ...

If people need more encouragement, she’s on Rolling Stone’s Best Nashville Country Albums list https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-country-albums-1234581876/

Bananas are my favorite fruit, next to myself.

good thing you had too many chocolate chips as well. 😋

Acoustic Sessions EP Morgan Wade 2022 https://album.link/i/1636955701 Example: Nice little EP. Strong voice and a new artist to me. A good find that I will check out a bit more.

I made chicken and veggies and beans soup, and I keep adding ingredients, so I've had enough to last all weekend and then some.

That looks fantastic Marc!

Today's breakfast menu: Fig filled pan-crepes (hybrid) with Orange zest and a side of bacon. Coffee w/ Irish Cream Liqueur.

Catching up on this loss: Soundtrack From Twin Peaks Twin Peaks 1990 https://album.link/i/374382340 Example: Opening track is so disorienting and perfect. and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me - Soundtrack Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me 1992 https://album.link/i/46734067 Example: A sad track for a sad story. RIP Angelo. Edit - and it reminds me very vividly. RIP Julee.

Not going to argue with any of that. I, too, thoroughly enjoyed it; I, too... Started this:

Just read about a company that 1) restores older Apogee ribbon speakers, and 2) makes their own in the same tech vein.... I liked some of the old Apogee's, so was nice to hear this. Clarisys Audio is the name....

nope, going to need two boxes. no easy way to stack the front end board onto the heatsinks. the 2 boards will take up much of the bottom. zero feedback generally ends up with a lower damping factor. so to boost the damping factor need more output transistors in parallel. and the sanken parts are actually 2 die in each package. and are to3p. i could go to 3 or 4 pairs of output transistors for even lower output impedance. the idea is to drive jbl m2's with the amplification they deserve. not a pair of crown industrial amps. and things like the susvara.

Went for a hike yesterday on Paine Mountain, right behind our house

Making the most of global warming and got in a ride to the coast this morning. It was 65 at 6AM...

Today has gone utterly off the rails. I am supposed to move out of the house I've been in for 22 years on Monday. The power went out an hour ago. Not fully, but a massive voltage sag. 60V coming out of the walls. My sainted, octogenarian mother is staying with me. She's been feeling ill for hours. She said she was feeling faint and asked me to call an ambulance. She list left in it. I'm staying here for now to make sure the house stays upright while National Grid defends their title as Most Incompetent Entity in the Known Universe.