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Baked potatoes did pretty well in the air fryer with nice crispy skin (olive oil and sea salt). They took too long though, about 40 minutes. I think I prefer quartered over baked, more to chew. Tomorrow maybe I'll try french fries.

When I finally get to the London Broil the recommendation is to use a steak seasoning. I have some DIY knock-off Outback Steakhouse seasoning that I will use.

Since I'm into tying knots it just seemed proper to learn the bag knot for the potato bag. I haven't used my para-cord soft shackles yet. I may have to buy a boat or pickup for them.
 
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Looked out the kitchen window this morning at 6:30 and in the back yard saw a squirrel in the grass with a tail the size of a cat. No, it wasn't a squirrel, it was a baby deer. Called the wife and baby over to see, and suggested they get a better view out the lower level windows. (Baby was the reason we were awake at that time on a Saturday morning.) The lower level windows are a few inches above the lawn. The baby human was excited and very loud. The baby deer got curious and walked over. From how it stood up and shakily moved one leg at a time I would guess it had been born hours ago, there in our yard. It was the size of a beagle, and skinny of course. It walked right up to the window. If I was an "always have a phone on me, always snapping photos" kinda guy I could have framed a shot with just the heads of the deer and my baby in it: they were nose to nose with just the glass in between. Very sweet. Then the deer wandered away and is now lying in the grass next to our garden. I expect it will stay there all morning, waiting for its mom who is probably ransacking neighbors' gardens..
 
Eddie_T said:
Is your brad nailer electric or pneumatic? I am contemplating.
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Pneumatic. Porter Cable brand. I got it in a combo set that was on sale. Came with the 6gallon compressor, a 16ga nailer, an 18ga brad nailer, & a 23ga pin nailer. The compressor weighs about 30 to 32lbs. It is a bear to lug around, but the price of other nailers was higher than the price for the combo kit. Came with the hose. I thought it came with nails but apparently I was wrong. There had been 2 kits. I bought it the first time and my stuff got stolen when my friend was borrowing it. I suspect his mother stole it. She had asked to "borrow" the compressor when she'd been snooping around inside his house. He said "No" and then the compressor, nail guns, hose, & the 1k nails that came with them disappeared.
Flyover, that is a cute fawn.
I had to break up a cat fight this morning. Senator Snugglebum was peacefully sleeping on a cushy pillow near me. Yasuke came over, sat down near by, and every once in while made a sound of disapproval about Snugglebum being there. I petted them both and told Yasuke to shut up bc Snugglebum was there first. About 30min later Yasuke decided to be a jerk & slapped Snugglebum. Snugglebum was enraged and jumped on him. They were tumbling around fighting, knocking stuff over, and then out of nowhere Biscuits jumped into the fray to attack Snugglebum. They ran out of the room into the kitchen, Biscuits came zerging back in with a panicked look and jumped behind my TV. Normally when he does that, the fight is over. Princess snarled at them to tell them to stop. Snugglebum stopped for a moment, backed up, and then realized he was too angry to let it go so he hopped over the TV and started beating the snot out of Biscuits. I had to move the TV out of the way as much as I could and started petting them both and calling to Snugglebum. He finally decided to let it go and jumped over the TV to come to me. Last I saw of Biscuits he was still hiding behind the TV. He might have come out while I was asleep.

I secured more shims to the right side trim so it will fit more evenly on the wall. I was testing to see which trim I wanted to use to cover the gaps between the tops of the PVC boards and the back of the wall. I will have to use the slimmer one for the right side. Slimmer one should work for the back wall but because its not cut I couldn't dry fit. The wider strip will work on the left wall. Once I have some pieces cut I can see which options would work for the sides.

Once I can get my body moving this morning I need to find my brad nails.
 
I think I have settled on the Air Fryer I'm going to try... Only $99 at Wally World... The Shake And Bake Chicken makes me want to do that tomorrow. I'm going to do a test between this Air Fryer and my Oven and see which wins, but unless the portable is complete garbage, I will use it for Fries at least all Summer, probably just drag it outside so I don't heat the House at all.

 
Looks like a good choice. I had frozen cheeseburger sliders and fries for supper. Since the fries shrink a bit next time I'll put a few more in and rearrange them after a bit. Good eating , I seasoned with olive oil, garlic salt and Mrs Dash. I need to do a more uniform cut on the taters. I think there's a gadget somewhere around here that does that.

I'm making a little table that I can use on the deck for my induction burner, maybe my Hibach griddle and air fryer as well. It will solve the heat problem in summer and the grease splatter problem (from fajita plate and griddle) as well. I have delayed wondering how to make the top weather proof. I may just make the top removable, or make a cover for it. My buddy gave me a metal single post base to mount the top on. It will sit right in front of a receptacle so no cord length problem.
 
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Good Morning One and All...
Well, made it to the USA and back, and unfortunately the only things that are cheaper are gas and booze... I was surprised the prices are exactly the same but would be a lot more because of the exchange...

We exchanged $1000 and got back about $725... Quite the difference... Lorie bought some clothing and little things... I bought two bottles to bring home, 2 - 1.75 bottles of Gin and Vodka, which cost me a total of $55 for both. I bought a 1.75 bottle of Gin a few weeks ago and it cost me $65 for one bottle... So, that was great to get 2 of them for less than one bottle here... and gas, well we are paying today $1.60 a litre, and there are approx 3.5 litres in a gallon, and I got gas down there for $3.55 a gallon, the same gas here would cost me...$5.60 So saved some there also...

Not doing soo well right now... Going through a little withdrawal from my pain drugs right now... Ran out 2 days ago, and my drugstore doesn't open again till Tuesday... Started yesterday, with the anxiety, scratching, chills, sweats... and LOTS of pain...

So, don't have a lot else to report right now... Will catch up with you kids in a few days... Hope YOU all have a good one, and we'll talk soon...

Cheers~
 
Yesterday afternoon I went to the pool with one of the kids and my wife called and told me the fawn had gotten up and was bleating and running around in a panic, then taken off to I-don't-know-where. That's the last anyone saw of it. It's probably in the bellies of a few turkey vultures by now I expect.

I got some advice on another forum about my cactus and after re-potting it and pruning one bad-looking limb it seems to be doing a bit better. Less emaciated, color returning.

Rendered bacon fat (with bacon as the byproduct) and cooked cheesy grits this morning. My son ate a bowl and a half of grits, a strip of bacon, and then slumped over across two chairs. TKO for grits and bacon in 2 rounds.

Hopefully will get a chance to lift weights today. Didn't get to yesterday, which always feels weird.
 
Redneck, that's definitely 2 good reasons to visit, the exchange has been that way as long as I can remember. When I wasn't even 21 we would go up to Victoria / Vancouver and drink, but it was a shock that WE THOUGHT we were getting a GREAT DEAL! until we figured out the exchange, or that the Canadian bar owners figured out how to set the prices so we were paying the same.

It was fun to walk in a Bar though, like we were BREAKING THE LAW! BREAKING THE LAW!

It's rare to go on a shopping trip here and not see Alberta plates, sometimes Saskatchewan. I figured it was people scouting for property, had no idea the Liquor and Gas were cheaper.

Sorry about the withdrawals... That can be brutal for anything, even just trying to quit Coffee. Have you tried Acupuncture or Acupressure? You can do the Acupressure yourself...

Look up whatever pain you have here, maybe there's a remedy... Good Luck man.

https://www.earthclinic.com/cures/pain.html
 
Spicoli43 said:
withdrawals... That can be brutal for anything, even just trying to quit Coffee.
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Tell me about it! I've been gradually -- VERY gradually, and not linearly -- tapering down from 2-3 cups to one or fewer cups per day. Right now I'm averaging one and change. This morning I drank about 4 oz and felt okay, but man around 1pm I felt beat and brewed another cup for myself.

I hope in 5-10 years to no longer be a daily coffee drinker.
 
Flyover said:
Tell me about it! I've been gradually -- VERY gradually, and not linearly -- tapering down from 2-3 cups to one or fewer cups per day. Right now I'm averaging one and change. This morning I drank about 4 oz and felt okay, but man around 1pm I felt beat and brewed another cup for myself.

I hope in 5-10 years to no longer be a daily coffee drinker.
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Yeah, I go shopping once a week for groceries, and always say that the morning after I won't drink any Coffee, and etc. etc. for a few days to get used to it before I have to go get groceries again. I always fail because I want the Coffee.

This time though, I'm going to take Ashwaganda, which is an Adaptogenic, which supposedly gives enough energy to take the place of Coffee. I just have to commit to doing that for 4 days at least and then trying to drive on the back roads to wherever without going on a normal trip because I am THAT BAD at driving without Coffee...

Tapering down is the way to quit anything though, but my involuntary commands always make a 30 ounce tumbler of Coffee and I am finished with it before I know I started practically.

I have quit everything cold turkey over the years... Fast Food, Alcohol several times, Chewing, Smoking etc... The one and only stimulant that I cannot claim success with is Coffee. I don't even get to the tapering off part.
 
I switched from coffee to tea for a time. The tea filled the habit of having something to sip but I finally quit tea as it wasn't as satisfying. Tea doesn't have any body to it, just hot water. I tried hot chocolate but it was too good and has way too many calories. I have never tried tea with cream that might have helped.

I like lemon-ginger tea but only Yogi brand. It's more expensive than coffee, about 25¢/cup the last time I checked. Coffee does have some health benefit such as colon cancer prevention I think. If I am going to be out for the day a scant cup of coffee will prevent the withdrawal headache w/o acting as a diuretic.

Bottom line I could quit but I guess I just don't want to. Some days I just sip tonic water but it has calories. I prolly could just switch to ice water with a dash of lime. Some desserts seem to demand a cup of coffee.
 
Redneckgrump, I'm sorry to hear you're in pain. Waiting 'til Tuesday to get your meds really sucks. Sending virtual hugs your way.

I didn't notice how low I was on my thyroid meds because there's a thing inside to absorb moisture. Normally I get an e-mail reminding me I'm low but it didn't send this time. So, I put in for a refill but it needs doctor approval and I can't get that until tomorrow at the earliest.

I was never a big fan of caffeine so it wasn't difficult for me to stop drinking things with it. Never really liked coffee that much. I'm glad because I know my sister and friends get headaches from lack of caffeine. But it gave me arrhythmia and made me feel like my chest was going to explode so that made it easier.

I realized the brad nails I got were the wrong size so I went to HD to get the correct size. Did a little dance unintentionally with another customer who was looking for the same thing. We kept thinking the other was going to go a different way and kept stepping in the same direction and then laughed about it. I managed to find the nails and showed him where they were.

I was going to try to set stuff up to use them but my body noped out on me as soon as I started getting out of the truck. Felt like I could barely move.
Currently resting with a cat on my lap.
 
It was steak and eggs, biscuits and grits for supper. I put the grits on to boil, cut off a piece of London broil, seasoned it and set it aside. I air fried a couple of frozen biscuits and placed them in a warm oven. I put the steak in the air fryer and started the eggs when the steak was about half done. Then I remembered that I hadn't brushed the steak with olive oil before seasoning. It turned out pretty well though the steak was just a bit over cooked. It was medium well rather than medium rare. I will err on the other side with the timer next time so I am not distracted from flipping the over-easy eggs. Now as I reflect I realize no other beverage would have complimented that meal as well as coffee.
 
Didn't do much today as it's my own day off mid work week. I made some beefy vegetable soup, I used 80/20 ground beef this time and it turned out pretty good. I washed 3 loads of laundry and crazily enough..... I ACTUALLY FOLDED my clothes. I have a horrible habit of leaving them in the dryer during my work week, maybe I have turned a new leaf.
I bought some glassware storage containers to use for leftovers and am looking for more to meal prep with. In listening to that audiobook Dirty Genes, I decided to give it a try to not use plastic containers anymore. We will see how it goes.
I do not like coffee, however... I have quite the addiction for International Delight Mocha iced coffee. I have always wondered why I didn't feel a huge difference with caffiene consumption, turns out that I am a slow metabolized of caffiene so basically. I am always caffienated. I do need to quit drinking it, however.... I just don't have the desire currently.

I took Tuesday off so that my riding lawn mower could be picked up and taken in for a recall repair. The closest place is over an hour away and they are charging MTD $500 to pick it up and deliver it when done. I am going to call tomorrow and see if I can get them to sharpen my blade and do the yearly maintenance while they have it (I will pay for that). They said they would have it for like 3 weeks.... so my yard is going to be ridiculous.

Speaking of yards.... weird angle because the neighbors were swimming in their new pool, but this was taken yesterday morning. Lots more dead vegetation.

20230609_095444.jpg

I am hopeful for at least a couple of productive days while i am off this coming week. My dumpster wont get emptied this week because i havent had time to toss anything since I wirk 12 hours shifts. My son would toss stuff for me, but he would literally toss anything and everything without regard to me needing anything. He definitely would use no discretion lol.
 
Shan, on those lists I referred to before, whenever "Do laundry" is an item on those lists I don't allow myself to cross it off until the clothes are put away. My trick for making myself do that is to take the basket of clean clothes to my bed and invert it on top of my bed. Even if I don't put away the clothes right then, this means I cannot go to bed without removing the basket, which means a pile of clothes on my bed which then have to be put away. Putting away clothes is not hard and never takes more than 10 or 15 minutes. (If it does, your hamper/laundry basket is too big, and/or your system of storing your clothes is stupid and needs to be overhauled.)

BTW I never fold clothes, that's a sucker's game.

Today I finished the back for the dresser. Tomorrow if I am not too busy with work I will assemble the whole thing, which will also involve drilling pilot holes/screwing parts together, as well as emptying and removing the old dresser and then stocking the new one.
 
I'm 2 hours into the 2.6hr interview Lex Fridman recently conducted with Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg is an impressively nuanced thinker, but I worry at the lack of depth in his thinking, at least on the topic of human social connection.
 
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