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This will be a long drawn out post. Just a fair warning for those with better ways to spend 15 minutes or so. I hadn't posted about this here, but the last couple of months have been extremely difficult for my Mother. As it happens her husband stopped making the payments on the motor home (unbenounced to her) that they lived in. To make matters worse, it was close to being paid off. She had 3 days notice of repossession (they're both in their 80's). Couldn't find a way to stop that from here. But I was able to find a used 40' bumper pull trailer in great shape, very close to her. She was able to make that purchase, and the trailer was supposed to be delivered in 3 days time. So just a short hotel stay. That turned out to actually take over 3 weeks and a $2000 hotel stay. She's on a very fixed income. Then, after locking up her old motor home and actually cutting the water and electric hook ups, the bank decided that the motor home wasn't worth repossessing. The giant slide-out had rusted frozen after nearly 20 years in the South Texas beach weather. Also with my Mother and her husband both being legally blind, they had no idea that they were living in a roach infested, mold infested, horrible environment. They had a pretty bad roof leak. My Mom has COPD, and could barely walk from one end of the 32' motorhome, to the other. So, this frozen up motor home that wouldn't start, and was going to cost almost $4000 to be removed from the RV park they live in, the bank decided to abandon at the RV park, leaving my Mother on the hook for removal. Mind you, the bank held the title, left the motorhome locked and unusable (no hook ups). After talking to several businesses, my Mother discovered that no one would even consider moving it without a title. Long story longer, the bank wasn't able to get away with their despicable activities. I fully understand that the mortgage was behind some eight thousand dollars ( however, even though he had missed 8 payments, he had made 6 payments after that. Payments that the bank had accepted). And again, they were literally a few payments away from being payed off, minus the 8 back payments. She did end up having to make rent on two lots for one month, once the new trailer was finally delivered, and the old motor home was still in the old lot space. So, to catch up... They found a company to haul away the motor home with a giant wrecker. This company charged the bank (the legal owner) space rent, while they started refurbishing the motor home. The bank settled with them for lot rent and removal fees. The bank also settled with the RV park for lot space rent (2 months) which the park gave to my Mother. The RV sales company that turned a 3 day delivery into 3 weeks has agreed to reimburse my Mother for 80% of the hotel bill, and the hook ups that they were supposed to do and didn't, which my Mom had to pay someone else to do. Also the payment on the trailer was knocked down $130 a month. They told her that to qualify for the loan, she'd need an extended warranty. Turns out that was bullshit. And she had only financed $7000, and paid cash for the other $11,000. People really like to fuck over Senior citizens! Today I got the news that my Mother qualified for Medicaid. This also qualified her for a helper to come in 14 hrs. a week to clean, do laundry and all the shopping. My Mother and her husband can't drive anymore. He's almost fully blind, and she's loosing her sight pretty quickly ( both have macular degeneration). The Dr. has told her that her COPD is vastly improved (no mold or roach poop for a few months now). And finally, South Texas has no real transit help for Seniors or handicapped individuals. The bus they paid for to get to Dr. appointments is now also covered by Medicaid. That and they qualified for Meals on Wheels (more of a logistics challenge than a financial one). So, what was a complete pain in the ass, and absolutely despicable behavior by the bank (at least in my opinion), has now turned into a bit of a rainbow after a bad storm. I can't thank my Cousin enough, who spent hour after hour moving, boxing, cleaning and redelivering all of the roach infested clothing and belongings. Also pairing down a ton of crap that they just didn't need. Happy ending!

Ready for tomorrow 😉

All that’s left is hanging the son of a bitch and seeing if it brings the wall down on top of me.

Laserguns are fun. 3e7236b1012f41508e40585029ef3fc5.mp4

I mean sure, no piece of camera gear with make one a good photographer. Camera bodies notwithstanding for a second there is something important to note here. Otters are a lot like birds: Small, fast moving and easily spooked. Otters offer the additional challenge of being under the water most of the time they're in it. To even attempt capturing one, I'd need a 400mm or longer lens on a full frame sensor. Truthfully I'd probably do better with a 500mm or 600m. Canon makes some killer primes in those focal lengths, and they each cost as much as a decent used car (400/2.8 is $12K; 500/4 is $9K; 600/4 is $13K; there's a 1200mm F/8 that's $20K.) There is a reason, in spite of living next to a hotbed of avian and aquatic (and aquatic avian) activity, I don't try to be a nature photographer. I actually did try to capture the otter, with my manual Meyer-Optic 30mm F/4 Orestegor. Handheld with no tripod: That row of bubbles is his doing. You'll have to trust me on this one as I managed exactly zero photos of him with his head out of the water.

It has been quite a couple of days. I awoke yesterday to a message from eBay saying the shipment of my 5D Mark IV was undeliverable because of an incomplete address and was being sent back to the seller. I skipped coffee and went to the post office. I waited in line and the very nice lady behind the counter told me that said error message was auto-generated by the system and my package would arrive that afternoon or the next day (today). Back at home I received several worried emails and a phone call from the seller. He was well meaning, but of questionable competence. He had a representative from the USPS on speakerphone and had me explain what I knew. I told him I'd contact him when I received the package. Well, today the package arrived. That's an EOS 5D Mark IV, battery and charger, BG-E20 battery grip, and an EF 85mm F/1.8 lens. Each item is carefully covered in bubble wrap but then left loose to rattle around in the box while being shipped from Mississippi. There was no filler in the box at all. No packing peanuts, no expanding foam. Not even an old T-shirt. I would pack an AM radio better to ship it cross town, never mind a couple grand in camera equipment cross country. I gingerly unpacked everything and there were no obvious marks. The battery was dead so I put it on the charger. I attached the 85mm F/1.8 and tried to focus. I couldn't hit infinity focus to save my life. I attached my OG 50mm F/1.8 (not the STM, but the original 1986 model.) Same deal. I tried my totally manual focus 135mm F/2.8 Orestor. Could not hit infinity focus. I took the lens off and inspected the focus scree and mirror. Both seemed fine and not broken or otherwise detached. Hours and minutes crept by as I waited for the battery to charge. I got several emails from eBay and the seller. I ignored all of them. To make sure I wasn't losing (what was left of) my mind, I dug out my Rebel K2 film body and attached all of the above mentioned lenses to it. All hit infinity focus just fine, including the new 85mm. I wondered if there was some kind of internal viewfinder calibration that the 5D IV does upon boot. Certainly it's possible that something got knocked the fuck out of alignment by the bumpy ride from MI. Finally the battery charged. I then had to face the battery grip. I've never used one before. Getting the batteries seated in it was much harder than I imagined. I considered removing the grip (as I only had one battery) and using the camera without it. It was then that I discovered that the seller has neglected to include the battery door. Canon cameras do not function without one. That means I'm married to the battery grip until I get a replacement. I managed to get the battery seated correctly in the grip, at least. Next task was the memory card. I tried ...seven CF cards, all of which are old but of good pedigree (SD Ultra and Extreme series, plus one Delkin Devices.) 5D IV rejected every single one of them. Worried, I dug up a ghetto AF Walmart "Onn" branded SD card I bought on deep discount years ago. IV liked it just fine. Then I began going through my lenses. The viewfinder was now magically working. 50mm F/1.8 Mk I was happy. 35mm F/2 has had a broken AF motor since 2009 thanks to a clumsy drunk, but I was able to manually focus and meter with it. 135mm Orestor now showed infinity focus in the viewfinder just fine. The 85mm F/1.8 also worked. Much fussing (setting time/date, turning off RAW, etc.) later and the camera works more or less as described. Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence. While this drama has been unfolding, a cute little otter has been swimming around Jernegan pond in my back yard. He pops his head up, dives and then a series of air bubbles reflect his path through the water. It's like an aquatic version of Bugs Bunny. I have failed to get a single picture of him, but he's provided considerable amusement while I've struggled with camera gear.

Steve, well worth the (less than 15 minutes) to catch up on the story with a happy-ish ending! I imagine it's b/c I was a few days late in reading up on biscuit-related post, so I didn't get any (wonderful) ideas. While I am hungry, I'll refrain from making any breakfast-related excursions for at least a day or so to make sure those next few meals find the right address.

That's amazing, Steve. Always advocate, even in situations where you have done some wrong. A lot to go through, but this looks like somewhat of a blessing in disguise. I'm glad she is through this ugliness, and wish her (them) well ongoing!

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (Prime Video Original Series Soundtrack) Hania Rani 2023 https://album.link/i/1698589835 Example: I have been waiting for the new Rani album for like six months (they released like 2 tracks in April) and it is still not out for a month and a half! Anyway, I was happy to find they dropped a soundtrack on the 4th. I have not seen the show, so no comment there, but I like the soundtrack. I do wish a lot of the works were longer. You can tell that many were written for the scene vs. writting a long composition and then just using a part of it in a scene. But I will take some Hania over no Hania.

Nice! Now I can see that's a stained cloth under it. It really did look like Burled Maple in the other pic. Love the Cherry in combination with the figured Walnut!

Many people knew him as a country singer. Some knew that for a short time he was a Beach Boy. Not many know that before his singing career took off, he was a member of The Wrecking Crew, and an extremely well respected studio guitar player. In fact, one day when The Wrecking Crew showed up for a scheduled recording session, Glen happened to be standing in front of a microphone. As members of the crew teased him for his humor, they were quite surprised to find out that they were actually there to lay down music for Glen Campbell's first album. Anyway, here's Glen picking the William Tell Overture.

another thing that gets people is not deburring their tapped holes ive had to deburr entire batches of Aavid heatsinks before

X 2 And is that a big slab of burled Maple under it? It's hard to tell if it's a stained up cloth or chunk-o-maple.

I'd go for the second one. Pretty stuff either way

Put the first coat on the Spa Towel Rack and while I was waiting for it to dry I power carved another bowl to go on top of it to hold her bath bombs.

But, how do you do sticker swaps with the other woodworkers if you bought no stickers?

It did not explode, so now a ton of sanding and some finish to make it match the bench.

Trying to burn through work bench scraps still so I built my first, rather boring end grain cutting board.

This is what happens when you drop the Festool sanders and move to Mirka. 🙂

Looking quickly, I thought you were saying that was the same board before and after. I was going to have to learn your sanding technique to get that result! 😎 Your curly walnut version is going to be awesome.

Before and after shot before sanding and finish.

Looks cool. 100% you will find a reason to hate it.

Have to build side panels for an 80s synthesizer with crappy particle board side that a friend is restoring Was going to go with curly maple but found some curly walnut in the wood pile that I think will be awesome on stage.

Just saw the Powermatic is on the big sale going on so $549 for this filter is a killer deal https://www.woodcraft.com/products/pm1250-micro-dust-afs Going to order another for myself.

Got to do a little test of the Powermatic Air Filter today. Air quality is garbage outside and I had the door open. Original air quality: 40 minutes with the Powermatic on and door closed: