Garage Sailing in Sun Valley again...

We went up to see Roberta, Pam's sister, again. We love to check out the garage sales and thrift stores up there in the rich folks country. There are a lot of the super rich up there and sometimes you can find a real nice item just by being in the right place at the right time. And, so far, each time that we have been up there checking out the sales, we have came away with some item that made it worth while.

We weren't going to go up there last weekend, but at the last minute, we did end up going to check out the sales. We didn’t find much in the garage sales but did get a real find in a thrift store. I was checking out these two chairs there. It looked totally out of place where they were. They had just arrived that morning from a local designer gallery. I guess the gallery wanted to write them off as one had been damaged and repaired but was loose again. They were wood with very nice arms and were reasonably stable.

The designer gallery that they came from was very high ticket. We drove by the gallery later on and we were impressed. I would never go in there to buy anything as it looked quite expensive. I would assume the chairs were worth at least $ 250 each in the gallery, considering they cater to the rich folks there. The chairs have a very large seating area, being larger than I am, which is pretty unusual. They have curved arm ends and were finished to look old. I have never seen a wooden chair that was too large for me before. There is a picture of them below...

Anyway, I asked how much they were and was told if I buy them then, they were $25 each. I about fell over. Come to find out, the reason that they wanted them out of there was that they were afraid that the owner, who would be there on Monday would get on their case for selling them so cheap. I wasn’t looking for any chairs but these were too good to pass up. It was a hassle to get them to Pam’s sister's house, but then to get them home, Pam was able to get both of them into the back seat of the Lincoln. Then, I loosened the repair on one of them by trying to put the seat back so I could fit into the seat. I couldn't get the drivers seat back far enough to get in and barely got into the passenger seat. But, they did get home and now I have to reglue the one that came loose.

We are going to put them in the pool room. I tried a cushion from our other dining chairs, which is large for them, and they will work after we attach some straps to keep them in place. They look great in there as the pool chairs are always large like these.

Speaking of pool, the new Men's league is coming along well. We played our second set of matches over the past two weeks. The played the Blair team and did OK. The first week, I got 2 games and last week I got 3 games. I have to keep in mind not to let good players have opportunities by me not playing as safe as I should.

So, tonight is our first match playing our third team. It is at the Rainbow Lounge and we should be able to do well against them based on the past. But, we haven't seen their team yet so there is always the possibility of new and better players than in the past.

Business is going along. We just picked up a new dealer from Singapore. So far they have been a pain to work with, but we have resolved all the details now and are waiting for them to send our payment to the bank so we can ship their order.

All is going along pretty well. Pam is having trouble with her hands. They are swelling up when she does any sort of work with them. She just cleaned the carpets with a carpet cleaner we got at Costco, I think, and it/they really did a great job on the carpets. After over two years of new dog training, it was in pretty rough shape and it looks great again now. A great job was done by Pam and the machine!

Getting Ready for Winter...

It's getting colder and will soon be winter here in DaHo. There are still a few warm days between the colder ones, which are just nature's way of screwing with you before the really cold weather hits.

The folks that manage the landscaping sprinkler systems came and blew them out and shut them down. This is so there isn't any water in the plastic lines that will break them when it freezes. It also tells all the plants that the fun is over and its time to sleep for the winter.

Last weekend we finally had the big garage sale. Due to the weather, we had it on the patio. It went pretty well. We sold most of the stuff and took the rest of it down to a local salvation army sort of place. It was a real hassle to do, but it is finally done and all is good.

I got a new machine to let me do headstands. I have been doing headstands for years as part of my yoga, but it still put pressure on my body, and more importantly my back, as my weight was on my shoulders and therefor still put pressure on my back. In this new system, I hang by my feet so it opens up my spine. I have only used it a couple of times so far, but I think it will be great for my back problem where my discs are compressed. I sincerely hope it will resolve having to have any more of the spinal injections in the future.

Yesterday was the election and all went well. I am sorry that PROP 19 in Kalifornia didn't pass. I would have loved to see how that would have changed the growing disaster there. It will be interesting to see how the growing demand for resources is resolved there. It will be a preview of what will happen all over down the road.

I started my Men's Pool League a couple of weeks ago. I did 2 for 4 games the first week an 3 for 4 last week. We shall have to see how tonight goes...

Well, I must go as I still have a lot to do getting the upstairs orfices finished. That is about all there is here in DaHo...

Cold Weather is on the Way...

The weather is definitely getting colder here in DaHo... Soon, the sprinkler management folks will be around to blow out the sprinkler lines and turn them off for winter.

Another sign of winter around here is the ads for a local large automobile dealer to offer "Free Guns for Cars/Trucks". When you buy a new car or truck, they will give you a free gun of your choice. Actually, it is just some of your part of the deal that they hold back to buy you your toy that you may not be able to justify by itself, but it seems to work well and they always 'Give Away' a lot of free guns.

We have to do something to weatherproof the animal door as each morning the house is getting cold. Soon, it will be very cold...

Pam is cleaning out her closet. And, as I have before, I cannot believe how much stuff comes out of it. This time she has a lot of stuff that she is going to give away or sell at our garage sale. The one that we have been going to have since we moved here 7 years ago...

My health is doing well. I started doing my yoga again about a month ago and all of the good feelings from doing it are starting to happen again. My body is feeling much more flexible and all my muscles groups are feeling like they should be as they do their tasks. I am again amazed by how it makes you feel.

I do have a new thing happening that is interesting. I have had the front part of my upper left leg opened up 4 or 5 times with all the operations I have had in that region. And, I am now having a lot of the nerves that got hacked up, growing back together again. In the interim, they are generating all sorts of very weird feeling and sensations. The other day, while walking around WallMart, my left leg was getting very tired and I was getting feelings of searing heat and cold feeling like they were dripping down my leg - Very weird stuff.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a high end electronic scale, used in meat or deli counters, at a garage sale for $5. So, last weekend, we went to this sheep fair in Sun Valley and we were at this cheese booth and the guy had a much smaller version of the sale. So, was telling him about how I bought the one I have and he asked if I wanted to sell it. I told him $150, off of the top of my head, and he went for it - Way too fast. I should have asked for more...

I have been working on getting the upstairs office put together. I have been building a new computer with more power. I bought a new CPU to upgrade the office computer and even though it is from one of the widely used families of Intel processors, this one doesn't work with any of the 5 desktop computers that we have here. And, being a processor that had been opened, it was not returnable. So, I had to search for and buy a new motherboard that could use this new processor. And, because I have been building up a stock of computer parts, I ended up building a completely new system. Its a very nice one and is working very well. The old one is going to become the new test system as it has been for a year of more.

Well, that is all that I can think of right now...

Oops... I was captured by aliens and couldn't post...

OK, I wasn't captured by aliens, and don't have any good excuse for not posting to this blog, but I really was very busy and have a real good excuse. Well, maybe its not that good of an excuse, but I have been busy most of the time. It really wasn't that having a lot of stuff to do sort of busy, but more of having a lot of stuff to think about so it was like being busy. Ok, I don't have any real good excuse for not posting and I am very sorry for not keeping up on this blog. I think the real reason is that I was thinking mostly about not having posted mostly.

OK, now that I have gotten through that, I should have a lot of stuff to talk about...

Summer is gone and I really don't remember much of it. I didn't go fishing all summer. The good news is that I am finally feeling better and don't have to use the electric carts at the stores to shop anymore. I hated having to use them, but after getting use to them, they were pretty cool. I can walk now almost like a 'normal' person - most of the time. I still have some 'issues' with being physically normal, but they are getting fewer and fewer as time goes on. Hopefully, I won't have any more such events that lasted most of this year.

So, I guess I will write all this in sections. On the medical front, I had a back shot, the same type that started all of this to happen in the first place, and it was very painful but worked well - so far. My most recent medical event was having a upper and lower scope job. That was about 3 weeks ago. I went through it with flying colors, no bad stuff was discovered at all on either end. But, they had to expand my throat, where the radiation and cancer surgery was at, and I am still having acid come up from my stomach. I have not had any stomach acid problems for many years so that is not much fun. The doctor sent me home with a report with lots of pictures of my insides that are pretty weird to look at but show all good stuff. I think that is about all of the medical stuff that has happened lately.

On the business front, business is slower that it has been in the past, but every time I start to freak out about it, orders or new dealers happen. So, I guess all I need to do is stay in the freaked out mode and all will be ok, except for my stomach lining - see medical section above...

We have a new product coming out. Its a tool kit that has all sorts of tools along with our needles in it. It has been 'challenging' to get together, but all is pretty much done now and all should go well. We had to get some new tools and are now doing things that we never though we would be doing - like making up spools of line to go in the tool kits.

We did get the business area upstairs all set up for business work and that is all good. We still have more stuff to do, but all the big stuff is done and the rest can be done without outside help.

We really haven't been doing much fun stuff. We have been up to Sun Valley a lot lately and that is usually good fun. We did some garage sailing up there and found a great item. It is a scale that you see on top of meat counters that show the customer the weight and prices. They cost over $700 new and should be worth a couple of hundred bucks on EBay. They wanted $6 for it and I got it for $5 so its a good deal. I also got a CPAP machine for sleep breathing disorders. It sold for $ 1,500 and should be worth something as it works great. I use to use one, but now with this big hole in my neck, I have no use for them.

We I have stuff to do, or at least think about so I must be off for now but will be back soon to carry on with this blog.

Vacation at Warp Speed...

Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. We just got back from a little 4 day/3 night vacation. On the ‘vacation’, we went through Yellowstone Park and Mt. Rushmore. Since funds were short and hotels were very expensive, we wanted to keep it short, but still see both of the attractions.

Close to Mt. Rushmore, we stopped at Sturgis, since they are having the annual motorcycle rally. I was completely stunned by the size of it. It took up all of the hotels, gas stations and restaurants for about a 100 mile radius. Bikes were everywhere and took up all available space. At ground zero, people were selling spots on their lawns for tents and lawns were full, stake to stake with tents. It was probably 10 times the size I thought it would be and I thought it was large.

We saw a documentary on TV about it some weeks ago, but it didn’t give you the idea of how large it really was. And, I understand there are some permanent campgrounds out of town that also hold many thousands more of people and bikes. One campground has a permanent stage and was having big name bands/attractions such as ZZ Top, Bob Dylan, etc., etc. Thousands and thousands of Harley's everywhere. We also saw many bikes with Chevrolet small block V8s in them. Crazy stuff…

While we were in Yellowstone Park we saw Old Faithful blow her cork and checked out some of Yellowstone's geothermal displays. And while waiting for some road work close to dark, we saw this very large herd of buffalo migrating from a feeding area and across a river. We were able to watch them for quite a while as we followed the pilot car.

Besides Harley's, the other thing that was everywhere was pilot cars. We must have seen 100 of them throughout the trip as they were working on the mostly mountainous roads that we went on. So, we just about saw all of the things that Yellowstone is famous for - geothermal displays, beautiful forests and Arctic plateaus, and wild animals. We didn't see much of each category, but we did see a little of each one...

We were pretty worn out by the end of the vacation, but it was great fun. Storm and Jenny and their 4 kids were great during the whole trip and there was a lot of stressful events that happened because of the time an all the bikers. We had 2 kids in our rooms most of the time.

Pam was also great during the whole trip. She was having trouble with her hands, but didn't let that stop our plans. I drove most of the time and she was very helpful in tracking down trip details and variations because of the road work, bikers, and minimal planning. At the end of the trip, when I ran out of gas, she took over and got us home while also picking up the doggies that were staying with Aunt Robertta.

I didn't realize that Yellowstone Park was so close to DaHo, being only about 4 hours away. We plan on going there again often to see its beauty when we have more time to enjoy it. This trip was fast, but we saw it all and more - real fast. It was a lot faster than stuff usually happens here in DaHo...

Summertime Blues...

It is full on summer time here. The temps are usually in the 90ies and we are having mostly clear days. We have had a couple of storms that can get pretty nasty, but they have been short lived.

In the last blog entry, I mentioned the Lincoln having air conditioning problems and then it was the house. It kept freezing up and was a real PITA for a couple of weeks. We tried to fix it by cleaning out the coils outside and changing the filters and all the usual stuff, but nothing seemed to fix it. So, we called in the experts and after a 2.5 hr visit and a charge, it seems to all be fixed and working properly again.

I have been very busy working on a new product for the business. It is going to be a complete kit of tools for working on the hollow spectra lines that our other products work on. There are a few other such products out there, but they are all created and offered by dealers, and none of them are available through a distribution channel as ours will be. We shall have to see how it goes with our dealer network. It should be available next month.

This will be the first product that we have to deal with a lot of suppliers to get all the bits in place. Its been pretty crazy for the past 2-3 weeks, but is pretty much in the bag at this point. We plan on offering it in a number for forms as we will be offering to create custom ones for our dealers. We will be co-branding them and adding new or replacing parts of our basic kits as desired by our dealers to support their customer base and/or fishery.

We are also planning on taking a short trip with Storm and his family at the end of next week. We are taking a 3-4 day trip to visit Yellowstone Park and probably Mount Rushmore. I have seen Yellowstone Park many times as a kid and with my kids, but its been many years since my last time. I didn't realize that it is only about 4 hours from here. I have never been to Mt. Rushmore that I am aware of, but probably have when I was very young. The Sturgis motorcycle rally is also going on so we will probably stop past there since we are going right past it. \

The trip should be big fun. The summer just seems to be going past so fast. The business keeps me busy all the time and the weeks fly by.

Last week I got another back shot. This one was higher up than the others. The doctor showed me an X-ray of the joint and it was really squeezed on one side. I have had a lot of shots, and none of them ever hurt much. But, this one is horribly painful. I cannot remember ever having that much pain before and hope that I don't again. It seems to be much better, but I have not tested it with any long walks so I guess the trip to Yellowstone will do that for us. I just hope that it works well enough that I am not too much of a bother to everybody else...

Well, that is all I can think of to say at this point. I will be writing back after the vacation to let you know how that all went...

Back from Kalifornia...

Sorry for not keeping up with this blog for the last month. I thought I had posted this post but just found it. I guess I must have had to reboot the system before I finished. As usual, there has been so much happening here in DaHo that I haven't had time to do it. We were very busy getting ready for our first trip for over a year to Kalifornia to visit all the family and some business contacts. And then catching up with everything after coming back.

The reason for the trip was to attend Grandson Oliver's high school graduation. He is also now an official ENT and as of last Friday, he is visiting Europe with his cousin and grandmother. They flew into Switserland and will spend the next month without any preliminary plans to limit their travel.

We drove the Lincoln on the trip and shortly after it got hot in the middle of Nevada, the air condictioner went out and we traveled much of the way at temps up to 104 - big fun...

It took us about 12 hours to get to Kalifornia and we pretty worn out by the time we got there. We stayed in a Best Western hotel that was right by the Newport Freeway in the middle of everything. We are very grateful to our little Tom Tom GPS to help us get around while we were there as we had forgotten a lot of the little details needed to find everything.

We spend much of our trip time visiting Aaron and Tara and our two awesome granddaugthers, Alana and Asha. This was our first time that we had met Asha and she is really a cutie. We were there for a week and had time to visit most all of the family while there.

The main event of the trip was Oliver's graduation celebration. It was at a local community college. He had about 800 kids in his class and the event over filled the colleges football stadium. We happened to park in the wrong handicaped parking area and ended up having to walk about a quarter mile to get in. That is more than I have walked in the past year and really did me in. I am still trying to recover from it...

We visited some of our local dealers, our contact at Shimano and our product beta tester that has been instrumental in testing our products for us. We have a lot of business contacts that are local to Orange County, CA.

During the week there, our air conditioning worked well on our short trips and mostly cool weather. But, when we started our return trip, it went out again around Barstow. We stayed at the Circus Circus in Las Vegas on the way back. It is very large. I had to go from bench to bench to make it up to the room at times. We didn't do much there except for taking a taxi to the Gold and Sliver Pawn Shop that is freatured in one of our favorite TV shows on the History Channel called "Pawn Stars". There was a line outside and our taxi driver was saying that it is very popular these days. We missed all of the stars of the show by a few minutes, but it was very interesting to visit the place and see it all first hand.

Our trip back from Las Vegas was very hot and long. We were pretty much worn out by the time we got back home. But, it was very good to get back home again. Roberta, Pam's sister, had been taking care of the dogs and she had them here when we got home. It was very nice to see them and they were very happy to see us.

It took me most of a week after our return to catch up on the open orders and to finish making some changes that I have been working on...

For the 9th time, I am changing the product packaging labels on the plastic tubes. Of all the challenges that I have had to work out developing our products, the one that has caused more problems since day one has been the tube labels. I think I have fimally found some that will work good, but I have said that 8 times now and was wrong...

I have finaly found a use for the gaming steering wheel and pedal hardware that I have had for years and never had a use for. He has given me a one month subscription to IRacing, an online auto racing 'environment'. It is amazingly real and it works much better than I could have imagined. I haven't played with it too much yet, but the little part that I have use it has been big fun.

Johnny also told Pam about this device that he got for his racing environment. Its called the Butt Kicker. It is a device that you attach to your seating you use to watch movies and it turns the lower end of the sound sytem into vibrations that you can feel along with the sounds. It is pretty amazing and stuns everybody that has been over and checked out the new "TV" . I got it for Pam's birthday. But the last few days it has been acting broken so I don't know if it is a user problem or not.

Well, that is about all there is to write about here in DaHo...