I took some time this afternoon to address something that’s bugged me for years: the droopy snap tiedowns on the soft top that keep the sides rolled up. This top is probably 20 years old at this point, and has had a hard life, so I’m not surprised the elastic nylon they used for the tiedowns is permanently expanded and loose. The result is that the side and back of the soft top, when rolled up, hung loosely on all three sides:
I busted out my West Marine snap repair kit and put a new snap in each of the tiedowns about 1/3 of the way up. This cut out all of the slack and holds the rolls closer to the edges of the top, giving it a crisper look (and making visibility from inside the cab much better.
While I had her out in the driveway I pulled the radio out of the dashboard and chased down the reason why it hasn’t worked since the first brake workday: Alan pulled it out to test the fuel sender but the plastic wire connector on the back worked its way loose from the radio. 5 minutes of disassembly and checking wires had the radio back up and running.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
It’s official; I heard back from the doctors today and I can start taking Eliquis again and ditch the fucking needles. Thank god.
Meanwhile, I did some sleuthing and identified the model number of my missing sunglasses, Ray-Ban 4115. Apparently they aren’t available right now and I have no idea if they will be produced again; this makes me sad because they were hands down the best pair of sunglasses I’ve ever owned. I’ve got the local optometrist looking to see if they can get me a pair, but it looks like I’m going to have to find something else pretty soon.
The Venture Brothers is back for Season 7, and the AV Club has a great wrapup of 10 excellent episodes that explain why it’s such a great show. I just wish it wasn’t on at fucking midnight. Previously, previously.
Hagerty is doing a great job of producing videos with helpful information. This one is on how to use a multimeter, which took just 9 minutes to explain three fundamental principles I only now understand.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
Nikon just released a new version of its camera-mounted slide digitizer, the ES-2. For about $140, it’s a barrel that mounts to either a 40mm or 60mm Nikon lens, with a slide tray and a film negative strip holder. Looks like it’s getting decent reviews, and only recently has it actually been in stock. As I’ve mentioned before, my Dad shot slide film almost exclusively so we’ve got boxes of family history waiting to be digitized. I’d have to buy an appropriate lens to match as well, but it’s a lot better than $2K for a dedicated machine.
At the risk of this blog devolving into Bill’s Poop Watch, I’ll give you a final update on the workings of my GI tract (because that is all I’m thinking about right now): I think I had the last of the IV poops last night, which is a blessing. During my stay in the hospital they had me hooked up to an IV called a TPN, which looks like milk and apparently contains all of the vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, and other stuff that helps keep a patient alive when they can’t actually eat food. They added extra potassium to this, because apparently I was low, and I can say from experience that potassium hurts going in–and hurts worse coming out. This was further amplified by my GI tract expelling stomach acid the only place it could. So in the ranking schema, IV nutrition poops are slightly below chemo poops in terms of comfort. Especially when they’re happening every two hours.
It was great to sleep in my own bed but three weeks of getting used to rock-hard hospital beds completely fucked up my back. And the hospital schedule screwed up my circadian rhythm so I had to double-dose myself with melatonin to get to sleep before 11PM. Plus, I was stupid and decided to sleep with the windows open so I suffered through 100% humidity last night and got lousy sleep. Tonight I will set the A/C on “meat locker” and hopefully enjoy better rest.
Meanwhile, I’m a weak, achy mess. My conditioning is completely gone so I’m huffing and puffing up stairs and struggling to rise from my knees to a standing position. I’m popping ibuprofen every four hours to keep my joints from exploding. With that in mind, this morning I put my laptop in my backpack and walked down the street to Atwater’s to treat myself to another cup of decaf and a blueberry muffin as a reward for jabbing a needle of blood thinner into my leg without screaming. They have me on Enoxaparin, which calls for a subcutaneous injection into the stomach or other fatty tissue to prevent blood clots. My body fat index was low before I was in the hospital wasting away to nothing; I’m probably hovering somewhere above “skeleton” and just below “starvation” on the charts at this point. Months ago I had to administer these shots after cancer and gave up on it (when I actually had more fat) because the medicine would shoot out of my skin in a stream the moment I pulled the needle out. Why they can’t let me just take my goddamn Eliquis, I don’t know.
It was Prime day while I was laid up in Delaware, so I scrolled through the deals and found a great one on a Hero Session to replace the Hero 3 I’m selling with the drone. I used a couple of Sessions when I was in Colombia and found them very easy to use, so I’m familiar with the drawbacks and advantages of the model. I also scored a new HD Fire for Jen to replace her 3-year-old model. Unfortunately at some point my Moleskine ingested a cupful of water while on my bedside tray at the hospital and became completely ruined (as well as smelling like SHIT) so I had to reorder another one to replace it.
As mentioned in Instagram, during my absence the tomatoes in the greenhouse went absolutely nuts. And the cucumbers! I’d set up a drip hose on a timer before leaving for the beach to water everything for 15 minutes at 6AM every morning. Apparently this made everything happy, because almost all of the plants were bent double under the weight of all the fruit. The cherry plants are absolutely covered with fruit; I’d say four times the amount before we left. Even the balky heirloom plants are heavy with fruit now; I had to plant Jen’s 7′ tomato cages in the ground next to the tubs and lift the bent stalks to rest on top of each.
It’s all gotten too leggy to cut back, so we’ll just have to ride out August the way things are. I’ve got to go back out and prune everything way back (after I’d propped everything up my bowels were rumbling) and do some maintenance, but HOLY SHIT. I can’t believe it. My head is already spinning with plans for next spring–moving the tables to the center, reconfiguring the drip hoses, changing up some of the varieties, and seeing what else might grow in there.