Never thought retirement would be like this

CeeCee, it's supposed to be clear here right up until the time it starts, then get partly cloudy. I don't have glasses either.

maggiemae: How's the eclipse going to be near you? Doing anything special?
 
The worst things that could go wrong during the total solar eclipse — and how to be prepared
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I cannot believe all the "hype" the media is making over this eclipse! I think the traffic will be the biggest news maker! We need to mow grass tomorrow, so maybe while the sun is covered, it would be a good time! But since it is not suppose to last too long, we will have to rush! LOL

I have been a "slug" for the past couple of weeks. I hate August because I am sick of summer and the heat and humidity! I am anticipating a change in the season.
 
maggiemae said:
I have been a "slug" for the past couple of weeks. I hate August because I am sick of summer and the heat and humidity! I am anticipating a change in the season.
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Yes, me too. Except for the rain earlier, I can't even blame the weather. Normally I like summer, but it's just been such an unusual spring and summer so far in terms of weird things happening. I really have to snap out of it.

Get that lawn mowed. Put your thumbs down and rev that Honda up to high speed. You have less than 3 minutes to finish tomorrow. LOL

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8/19: 1140 calories
8/20: 1230 ​...."
8/21: 1350 ​...."
 
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Did get a look at the eclipse, just a few minutes ago. It was somewhat awesome. What I liked better was I had a dr's appointment this morning. Absolutely no traffic coming or going, Hit every green light, it was like I was a float in the parade. Everybody outside standing in parking lots, sitting on lawns or the curb. I waved like a candidate for office, I doubt anyone noticed.
 
Roadwarrior said:
...I waved like a candidate for office, I doubt anyone noticed.
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LOL! You have a good sense of humor, RW!

My verdict on the eclipse. It got dark enough so that all the photocell yard lights came on. Cars driving by had their lights on too. Not sure if that was necessary, automatic, or just showing off. But it only lasted maybe a minute, and then it brightened up again. It's amazing how much light a tiny sliver of the sun can put out. Other than that minute, you couldn't tell much difference from a cloudy day.

If I had known how it was going to go off, I'd probably have driven north the 6 miles, maybe even on to Clemson. That was in the center. Could have timed it to get up there and then just turned around and come back, not have to hang around. Maybe next time! Ha! Ha!

One thing I remember now about the '84 eclipse, they had poured a fairly new sidewalk out front of our building, no stains yet. It was a tree lined sidewalk. Either the bugs had bitten holes in the leaves, or else just the gaps between the leaves, behaved like pinhole cameras, and there were thousands of little suns all over the sidewalk. I suppose that would happen every day. I just never noticed it before.:confused:
 
Roadwarrior, you made me laugh! Just got a little dark here but the one thing we did notice was how there was no noise. We have lots of birds making sounds all day long around here along with the crickets. It was total quiet! Oh well, got that done, now on to the next big event, whatever that is!
 
maggiemae said:
... Oh well, got that done, now on to the next big event, whatever that is!
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Ha! That sounds like me all year so far. Did you get your lawn mowed?

maggiemae said:
... Just got a little dark here but the one thing we did notice was how there was no noise. We have lots of birds making sounds all day long around here along with the crickets. It was total quiet! ...
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The only odd thing I noticed was the hummingbirds, and it may have been just a coincidence. I've never seen them very active during midday when it's the hottest, during the summer. They usually start carrying on late afternoon into evening. They were really flying around during the eclipse. You almost had to dodge them when you walked past the feeder. Didn't hang around long enough to see if they stopped. (The eclipse peaked at approx 2:38 pm here.)
 
Back to West Virginia. (I can't stop :() The history of this region is fascinating to me.

Ran across two more pictures. First is "Springtown," in Tyler County - the nickname given to the string of residences and businesses that popped up all along Indian Creek due to oil production. The second is the town of Alvy. No dates. The first was probably from the late 1800's. The second looks a little newer.

?...
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Last sentence of caption reads: In this picture, a central steam plant was used to pump several wells in the surrounding hills. (McCoy)

You can see the spokes, like a wagon wheel, coming from that building in the center. How in the world does that work? Answer explained in Low-Tech Magazine.

Jerker Line Systems

"From the 1860s to 1940s, many oil wells were pumped by a technology that originates in a sixteenth-century (really?) power transmission system used in the mining industry. One engine operated up to 45 pumps in different locations, each up to a mile away. Power was transmitted by means of wooden rods or steel cables that moved back and forth, snaking through the landscape. The system was so efficient that an engine used for pumping an oil well could operate a whole cluster of pump jacks. The technology still operates in a handful of small oil fields."

Video of jerker line system in Canada (needs a little grease)


One with steel lines

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Wooden lines up the side of a steep hill

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"In the wake of Virginia’s secession, a convention of delegates from western Virginia met in Wheeling in 1861 for the purpose of forming the “State of Kanawha,” which incorporated 39 counties. The name honored a Native American tribe and a major state river of the same name. When the constitution for the proposed state was finalized in 1862, however, the name had changed to the more generic West Virginia".
8 Things You May Not Know About West Virginia
 
Got new eyeglasses yesterday. Had been putting it off for months. This was just another pair with the same prescription, because some kind of coating on the lenses of the old ones had crazed, and you couldn't see clearly through it. Those were not cheap lenses either---progressive Hoya lenses. Anyway, these are perfect! No adjustment period at all. Larger lenses have finally come back into style, more suitable to progressives. It's been at least 20 years those tiny glasses have been in style. :p

Probably mentioned this before, but I argued with the optometrist about the prescription ( and won :)). I told him I couldn't read road signs far enough ahead to be useful, so last time he took me to a window and did the "Which is better, A or B?" routine while focusing on a sign across the street, maybe 200 feet away. It made a difference of at least 0.5 units (diopters?) in the Rx as I recall. This is the best prescription ever. I could probably see all the way to Atlanta now, if the ground were level and the letters were big enough. Just kidding.

I think they still don't realize it's different if you have monofocal IOL's (lenses from cataract surgery). You have zero ability to focus at all then, it's all up to your eyeglass lenses to do the job. Someone needs to invent a better method for prescriptions. It's been the same for decades. There must be a reason for it. :confused:

Hope my optometrist doesn't retire. I'd hate to have to break in a new one. :)
 
With my age & health issues my Vantage plan wants me to have an annual checkup by an ophthalmologist, there's 3 partners they sound like a law firm, but they are thorough. Last time they dilated my eyes, (everything was fine a little cataract indication but nothing to worry about, huh?). They forgot to give me those little dark 'kids' shades. I walked out into the bright sun (another unusual event in the NW). Luckily my wife tagged along I had to put my hand on her shoulder & stumble back to the car. She drove.

The only thing positive about the visit was that they have little containers sit out on every desk with some really nice advertising ball point pens. It's my only way to defray my co-pay, I try for at least 5 before leaving.

Without going back & try to figure out what all the WV pics are for, let me say that area is my heritage, My g-grandma left her husband in Pedro, OH, walked across the bridge into KY caught a train. Took her oldest & youngest (my grandma) out west to live with her lover. When he passed his kids kicked her, her son & my grandma out in the cold. That's where my grandpa came to the rescue. Married her had 8 children, 7 boys (one my dad), 1 girl. Dad said she reminded him of 'Granny' on the 'Beverly Hillbillies' carried a pistol in her apron, smoked a pipe.

Years later my family finally got to meet one of our distant cousins, a doctor who was practicing somewhere in WV. He liked to snow ski, my parents lived in the snow skiing capitol of the US or so the brochures said. Had some interesting conversations with him, but since have lost touch.
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NancyNGA said:
Matrix was so nice to put in this diary section. I'm going to start one. I'll just give a very brief background for now. Please feel free to post comments if you want.

I'm 68 years old and retired almost 12 years ago. I live in an urban area in NE Georgia. In 1995 my parents left Florida and put a mobile home on some vacant land I bought years ago out in the country near where I live. At the time they were in their late 70's and I was worried about them living so far away. No brothers and sisters. My father died in 2006. He was the one who fixed everything around the house---carpentry, plumbing, electrical, you name it.

I've since learned to do a lot repairs because I hate the hassle of trying to hire someone, people not showing up, not always good work. Discovered I really like to learn to do things like that, and will continue as long as I am physically able. So this diary will probably have a lot of DIY projects in it. Repairs never seem to end when you are responsible for maintaining two households.

I tend to overthink writing posts to forums, so I'm just going to hit the SUBMIT button now and hope it makes sense. More later....
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Georgia must be pretty country. I used to try to do things myself and did do many things myself. But I discovered that I am not a mechanic, or a carpenter. I lean toward science, often my logic helped me with a project or two. But, just as often it screwed things up. I would rather read and analyze the writing of other theorists.

I think women have been overlooked as people who can do what you have done. I believe we all have our niche in a sense. You say you liked to learn to do repairs. Don't you get a feeling of, "Yes!, I did it. Come over and have a look." My mother was a world champion fly tier. She was also a renown fisherman when women barely fished at all.

What did you do for a living before you retired? I was unable to escape the medical profession. It was like God said, "This is it kid. This is your calling. Don't fight it." My mother told me once that I had said, at the age of 5, I wanted to be a doctor. For Christmas once she got me a nurses kit. It was prophetic. I became a nurse when I was in the military.

I have worked in every level of government. What I mean by that is that I worked for towns, cities, states and the federal government. I have held a variety of different jobs from park attendant to medical case manager. I also have a degree in Sociology. This helped me as cross training. I retired from the Veteran's Administration, in a veteran's hospital.

I wanted to go on to become a Sociologist. I wrote half a book my last year of college and was accepted into a masters level program, but the economy was so bad back in the early 80s that it was all we could do to support us. The funny part of it was that I have roughly achieved a masters level education in a very broad spectrum of subjects. You know, its like, "look what I did!"

It broke my heart that I could not go farther in my education. No more of this. Don't want to be a downer. This is supposed to be light. "I see the light!, but it blinded me."

In any case, I grew up in Oregon when it was still wide open. I loved fishing. One of my fondest memories is of sitting next to a stream, in a pasture, on a mat of intense green. It was spring, the first thing in the morning, no sound but the slow moving water. I was 16 years old. There was a peace on me so profound that this one of those memories that has stayed with me all these years. I caught a nice trout while sitting there. It was like God was making that moment as perfect as it could be.

I cannot help but believe that Heaven will be like that. I later became an artist. My early paintings were my memories of pastures, small streams next to the forest with mountains in the background. I feel like Monet who lost his vision finally.

I met a famous artist once. Her name was Zoe Mozert. I think that is the right spelling. She did a piece that hangs in the Smithsonian called "The Three Graces". Zoe was a famous pastel artist in the 40s. She used to do paintings of the stars which G Is used to hang in their lockers. Pin up girls. Zoe was totally blind when I met her. I remember thinking how horrible that probably was for her. Now I am going blind myself.

I have got to stop. I am literally writing a book. All I wanted to say was, it looks like you are doing well and that is great.
 
Roadwarrior said:
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The only thing positive about the visit was that they have little containers sit out on every desk with some really nice advertising ball point pens. It's my only way to defray my co-pay, I try for at least 5 before leaving.
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There you go again, making me laugh, RW.

I know what you mean about the glare afterward. Even worse if it's raining. I had to drive home in an afternoon shower once, dilated without those glasses. Thought I'd never make it.

Here's what I think about most, but not all, routine checkups. If something is wrong you will feel it. I can tell when something is off. Haven't been to the eye doctor in 2+ years. They keep bugging me with postcards. Not going to do it until I can't see well again.

Some things have no symptoms. I know what those things are. They are a different story.
 
Uncontrolable said:
I no longer have a problem with glasses. They can no longer improve my vision. So I have the same Rx until it doesn't work any longer.

There are some new advances. You can wear a camera and have the images show up on a screen in your glasses. There are some genetic advances that might be able to turn your eyes young again. But, they haven't released those yet. But, that is really coming. I am sure they will max out their profits and us poor people won't be able to afford it. Boy, am I on the "poor me" pot. Never mind! I am no longer afraid! I am saying this in the voice of Capt. Kirk. I love the written word. You can go off in any direction. Ya Hah! See, I just did John Wayne. This is so much fun. Talk to you later.
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I'm sorry uncontrolable. I am very lucky, and I know it. Hope telling my daily stories doesn't annoy people. I just hate to talk negative all the time, even if there were things to complain about, and I don't have any, by comparison. Before I retired I was better at it.

I enjoy your words. Seems like a lot of people talk past each other. I'm not a very good conversationalist in real life *or* here. Not enough practice. :playful:
 
A lot of good things to think about uncontrolable. Got to go run an errand. Type at you later. :eek:nthego:

And I've had 4 blocked telemarketer calls on the house phone already this morning. What's going on?!!
 

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