Time is flying. Can't imagine why.

Lots are happening. Not very exciting though. We have company coming to visit the end of April, Amy from EMF has a meeting in TX so she is spending a weekend with us. We are excited about the visit to come. We will be taking her up to the Dallas area for her meeting and we will proceed from there on to Bristol for the summer. So our migration is about to start. One big problem with our life style is dealing with mail. When we headed out of CA we did not have an address to get mail delivered to. Mindy said we could use their address. I did a change of address to her address and for the past year she has been receiving mail for us. I know it has to get old. One year has passed and she still is getting our mail and now we have two other addresses where mail can arrive. It is hard to get it when you are not there. We paid a large amount of money to the USPS to forward our mail once a week to Mindy for 6 months as we did not have an address in Bristol to send it to. Anyway we have finally signed up for a mail forwarding service for full time rv'ers. It is a sweet solution that is about half the cost of USPS. Having an address to get mail and have it forwarded to us is only the tip of the iceberg when dealing with the problem. We have mail coming to 3 addresses that needs to go to one address. This requires an address change take place. So I set out to tackle this problem. So far I have spent days on this and am about 2/3rds the way done as best I can tell. Identifying all the mail and potential mail we get and then finding out what is required to change the address and getting it done is quite the chore. Most are now changable thru the internet. However to do this you have to have an account on the internet for each entity. So I have been taking care of business and having to keep track of every where I have been so I can do it again should the need exist. I think I could write a book on the subject of changing addresses. My list got so long of addresses to change that I ended up sub dividing the list to make it more managable. I ended up with 3 priorities for getting the address changed. P1 had all currently active accounts/subscriptions etc and TX specific items. P2 was TN specific items. I figure I could change these later as we are headed there soon so we can access the mail box. Note our friend Ken has been taking care of our mail box there. P3 is items that we still get mail from but are no longer active entities, like AARP, Good Neighbor Sam, etc. We have not renewed our relatonships with these folks but continue to receive mail monthly from them trying to get us to renew. AARP has been doing this for over a year now. You would think they would get a clue, especially since I sent them a note saying I disagree with their position on health care coverage and would not be renewing. I think they have spent more in postage then it cost to join. I guess they would have been better off just renewing our membership for free. NOTE to AARP, read your return mail. I really don't know what to do about this category as changing the address may make them think I am interested in getting their mail. Sorry Mindy I think those items may keep hitting your box for awhile longer. Just pitch it. After several days, I have one more p1 item to get changed and I even have a few P2 items done. I am tired of this project but it must be done, so I press on but the pase is slowing as the more challenging ones are facing me. I feel procrastination pressing in all around me, I must resist. We had a water leak in TX in the kitchen. The drain pipe in the kitchen sink popped apart and I was running the dish washer. Most of the water actually got down the drain but enough didn't so the cabinet constructed of particle board got a bit mushy. The cabinet was ordered but never got to the house. It finally arrived and today we are getting our new cabinet put in. Finally! Cam comes over today so this will present a challenge as he likes to go to the kitchen and climb into the cabinets that are empty. Yes empty. We have empty cabinets that are a fertle play ground for Cam. So today I must get creative and block the kitchen. I just love a challenge. So it is about time for me to wake up and get busy preparing for our Cam visit. I have this part almost down pat. Raise window shades so Cam doesn't pull on them. Block off the pantry area where Cam could get into stuff we don't want him to, like Lizzie's food and water, not to mention our trash can. Sweep the floors to make sure there is nothing for him to stuff into his mouth. Close off rooms that are not child proof. Like grandma and grandpa's bedroom. Too many old people pills in that room. We love Cam's visits, he is so much fun. I really enjoy nap time as well. Cam naps and grandpa naps. Naps are good. I have rambled enough for having nothing going on. I hope to be more interesting in the next post.

Happy Birthday to Ed today?

Stock market down 250+ points
Nuke plants in Japan are in the process of self destructing
US economy is in the toilet and the flush plunger is half way down while Washington points fingers at each other instead addressing the REAL problem.
One person is addressing the problem and now the unions are waging war on him.
.....
Oh, wait, Cam is coming over. Yee ha, fun day. I'll deal with the above ya hoo's later!

Good day in Austin. Lovely weather.

Hay, we did a little running today and came home. A couple of days ago we purchased a long picture frame that looks like a film strip and you put pictures in each frame of the film. The images for one of them was 1.5 inches by 2 inches so I had to create a sheet of picture paper with a bunch of shrunk down pictures on them. It turned out cute. All Cameron. The second one was like a film strip only the frames are 4x6 images. A lot easier to setup. Yep all Cameron. Both strips are hanging in our family room. Really cute.

Then I decided to make egg salad again. Boiled a dozen eggs. Lost one that cracked during the boiling. Had a nice eggsalid on toast for dinner. Not bad if I do say so myself.

Cleaned up some of the junk laying around the house now that my pictures are mostly done. We have one frame that holds like 18 4x6 pictures. We have to decide what we will put in it. Maybe different homes or something like that.

Made for a satisifying day. Pictures of the pictures to follow. Maybe a quick video. What do you think?

I suspect my ways will never change.

What is up with that?

So much is happening in the world. People of Japan are trashed by an earthquake and Tsunami. Now the nuke plants are close to melting down. I was listening to the reporting and thinking why they don’t have backup generators and battery systems to take care of the cooling. As it turns out they do have that. So what happened to the systems? I guess a wall of water pushing its way through the facility would cause some damage. It is so hard to consider the amount of force associated with a wall of water. The video footage is so hard to comprehend. My prayers are with them.

Then you see the union thugs brought in to praise the demo's who abandoned their posts because they did not want allow the democratic process to proceed forward. Think about this. The unions that state government belong to spend millions to put the governor in or keep a person out of the office. They end up being the dictator of the state government. How does that fit with standing up for the employees of the state? They, as best I can tell, don't represent the political positions of the majority of the union members. They are allowed to compound this situation when you can't work for the state government unless you belong to the union. If you don't have to belong to the union in some states, you are still required to contribute union dues. How is that for a funding source? Then if I heard correctly, the dues are paid for the union members by the state in some cases. So the union has guaranteed funding, and don't have to account to the members for their activities. They can put into office whomever they want that will best serve their positions with regard to politics. Sweet deal that smells rotten to me. After spending 35 years in a state where the teachers union controlled the governor’s office no matter who was in the office, I believe it is time for what Wisconsin is doing. Wake up America, our political machine is broken badly and it is about to destruct the very fabric of our society.

I would love to know how many of the people in Wisconsin protesting are from Wisconsin. Union's need new rules to run under. Do we really need unions for putlic employees?

Can I improve? Let's see.

Well March 1st is here. Time is flying. It is about time for the Blue Bonnet's and Indian paint brush to show if last year is typical. I am looking forward to shooting pictures again. Things have been brown and blah for the past couple of months. Rain has been minimal, I am hoping this doesn't keep them from showing up.

We made an appointment to visit the dentist and that all went well. I found, though, that I have a significant change in attitude that has happened. I don't like to have appointments. Having something I have to do by a certain time is an irritation. All our lives we have lived by appointments daily. You have this that must be done and that etc.
So why is it that having appointments are now irritating? I just don't understand how this could be so different in such a short time.

My little buddy on the other hand is a blast. He is so cute and I am sure he is making my days go so fast. I love watching him change daily. He is learning and at such a fast pace. I finally put child proof locks on the kitchen cabinets to keep him out of trouble. We have one cabinet that he likes to open the doors and climb into. So cute.

Linda and I are starting to explore a little more now that things are slowing around the house. We went to the airport. I have a favorite picture that I shot several years ago in Sac at the airport. It was a 737 Southwest Jet coming in for a landing. It was at about 500 feet and I shot a picture out my car window. The jet is set against a beautiful blue CA sky. I want more pictures like this, so I am scoping out the Austin Airport. I found two runrays and have a good picture shooting spot for one of them. I need to find a good spot for the longer runway. I hope to shoot some pictures soon. Will post some when I finally get them.

As we watch the world in chaos, including our country, you can't help but think about Christ's return. So much happening and earth quakes, some in places you don't really expect them to be. Is the end of the world at hand?

Hello, My name is Ed

So there is a pattern here and instead of getting better, my detarmination to update seems to be worse than ever.
I have been working hard to make our house a home here in TX. The guest room is in good shape now. It even has a mirror on the wall. No pictures yet but soooooon. My printer is working now and I have been printing and mounting pictures on the walls. 13x19 to 2x3 sizes. The bed in the guest room is reported to be one of the most comfortable beds. Mom and Dad loved the bed.
There is a make shift TV that at present that can only display what is on the DVR in the master bedroom. So limited selection. Mostly Fox Friends etc.
The Garage is actually getting straightened out, and at some point I think we could put 2 cars in it. But we only have one car so if you drive to visit us you can put your car in the garage.
It is fun putting personal pictures on the walls. We had our house staged so long in CA, like 3 or 4 years, that generic images on the wall becamse the norm.
Projects seem to stay in front of me, I am puting up window dressings at present. Famly room is done with valances only. The master bedroom will have curtains which are laying over a chair in front of me. The rod is standing in the corner. Soon to be on teh wall. Now if I could only figure out how to get the wrinkles out. Maybe I will lay them on the floor and run the steamer over them. What do you think? Good idea... Bad idea...

Attic my third home.....

Ya know, I would think that builders these days would be savy about computers. They use them daily. So why is it that they don't put in network wiring when they do the phone and coax wiring? Do they assume that everything will work using wireless. NOT!! I have just spent the past two weeks crawling around the attic through the mounds of cotton, identifing where wires, water pipes, wall headers and the like.

This house had no wiring to speak of, there were three wires sticking out of the bricks outside to bring telephone into the house. Two were cat5 and one was cat who knows. The cat5 wires went to phone jacks in the kitchen and the master bedroom. There were 4 coax lines there as well, one to each bedroom and the entertainment center. When AT&T installed our DSL service they put a box on the house and terminated the three wires for phone service.

After hours on the phone with AT&T, I ended up with the DSL modem connected to the phone line in the kitchen. Centrally located yes, good place, NO.

From the kitchen, I proceed to string up wires using pvc utility poles to provide network access to the various areas that I needed service. Bedroom, Family room both ends, master bedroom.
Along with these wires I decided to put my dvr security cameras up to evaluate the location I wanted to place cameras. So now my home is starting to look like a ruarl road with wires running everywhere.

There are lots of devices that want to chat on the internet for updates etc., not to mention my computers. I decided to make my network center in the master closet. It is where the security alarm system is centered and there is a phone line there so I can connect the DSL modem. Behind this wall is the family room entertainment center. Also this was the place I determend I wanted my security cameras. They can see the entry doors front and back.

I cut a hole 14+ x 14+ inches for the wiring box for my network. I got a good look at the dropped ceiling area over the entertainment center. It was a nice area wide open for wiring. I took advantage of that and installed 4 network drops in the entertainment area. I could also mount my cameras and run the wires through this area. A great start for networking.

It took two days to get my dsl modem to work correctly in the closet. I ended disconnecting the wires running to the kitchen and master bedroom to get the service stabilized. While I was at it I tied the wires from the kitchen and master bedroom together to use as a network drop between the two. One of those, I did it because I could, for no particular reason.

After several weeks of having wires strung around the house with pvc pipe holding them out of the way of a certain grandson and some old folks shuffeling feet, It was finally time to get wires in the walls and disassemble my temporary wiring.

I scanned for studs in the walls, I think I used two batteries in this process. I was amazed and dumbfounded to find fireblocks between every stud. This is not normal where I lived for 35 years. I finally decided to drive over to another community where my builder was actively building. I wanted to see what a house in the tooth pick stage looked like. Maybe it would answer some questions. I found one and jumped out of the car and camera in hand started snapping pictures. I was half way throu the house before I realized that the floor plan was our house. I slowed down and started taking more detailed pictures. Since these are cookie cutter houses, I figured it would be worth while.

Early the next morning, like 4 AM. I was going thru the pictures using an application that allowed me to quickly zoom to 100% and even 400% size. I was evaluating the structure. The more I saw the more I wondered if I could get wires inside the walls in some places. I finally had a plan in my head and had made enough trips to Lowes, Home Depot and Frys to collect enough stuff to do the job, I THOUGHT.

My plan, after consulting friends around the country, was to place some plywood flooring around the attic so I could make many trips with ease. I purchased 4 4x8 sheets of ply wood and had them ripped into 2 x 8 sheets. It took me one whole day to get all that into the attic. I was thinking 16 inch centers and 8 feet long would work well. I then found out that our house is built with 24" centers, not 16". I proceded to rip the 8 foot boards to 4 feet. A lot easier to manage when in the attic.

I took a simple broom and started moving the insulation out of the way. New problems arrise. Power wires run over the top. Putting plywood down would pinch the wires, I was not going to do that. So back to the hardware store. I picked up some strips of wood to place on the rafters so the wires would be protected. Now I start laying my yellow brick road. Very slow going. lots of hazards along the way. Can lights in the kitchen were the first. I had to shift my path about 12 feet into the process when I ran into an AC duct. Fortunately the AC ducts are attached to the rafters so I could go under them. Several days later, I finally reached my primary destination, the closet in the master bedroom. I had already cut a hole in the wall and mounted a box to hold all my nice wires.

Another handy recommendation from my cool friends was to poke a wire through the ceiling where I needed to run wiring. This worked great. I put 4 wires through and when I got into the attic I started spotting the wires. It made my job of finding wall headers and drilling a lot easier.
The work begun but still I was concurned about the ability to get wires down the walls with cross bracing. My first hole was into my box. No problem there as the box is mounted at the ceiling.

Now the fun begins. The easiest wire to run is in Cameron's room. It backs up to the master closet. I cut a hole in the wall to mount a low voltage wiring frame. I sat a lamp next to the hole hoping that when I drill the hole in the attic I would see light. I stretch over from my yellow brick road and drill a hole in the header. Light was visible, but not directly. The stud in the wall half way up was there. I figured I would have to use a long drill bit extension to drill through the block. I put it in the wall but never hit the stud. This was baffeling as I expected it to be 4 feet below me. My drill shaft was 5' long. I pulled it out and then put in a rod that was 10' long. it went down until I had 2 fee showing. I was at the floor. I put my wire down the hole and it went down 8'. Piece of cake.

Now the challenging holes were to come. Across the family room where my computer desk is setup and down the wall in the master bedroom is for the tv in there. The master bedroom has 3 walls which are outside. Fire breaks and insulation for sure. The 4th wall is full of doors and other stuff. After studying the pictures above, I though I may have a chance in the corner of the inside wall but it meets a hip joint in the roof so space would be limited. I pre-cut holes in the walls for the wire termination, made my way across the attic to the remote areas using temporary plywood steps and was able to get the wires down the walls. It is amazing how the insulation seems shallower then before I started.

It took days but finally I was able to tear down my utility poles in the house. I have one more drop to pull in the guest bedroom. I have two more security cameras to install for the outside so my work is on going.

The house is returning to normal slowly and now I can start thinking about my next mission, should I choose to accept it!