Rusty's Ramblings

[Geo]

The biggest gift for me hasn't arrived yet, more on that later.

A new boat?

[Rusty Edge]

The biggest gift for me hasn't arrived yet, more on that later.

A new boat?

HAH! No. We're of the opinion that it's better to rent a boat when and where it's needed, and skip the storage and maintenance costs. HOWEVER- since everything is so bound in tradition in her family, we use the boat to haul stuff there and back. It's just that other family members use it now. It's a john boat. The virtue is that it's low to the water. That's good for the primitive cane polls we use, with limited lines. The problem is that the boat is lower than the dock, and hard for older people to enter and exit.

Arrived today-
https://www.traegergrills.com/pellet-grills/pro-series/780-575-pellet-grill

Yes. It's a smart grill. Yes, there are synching challenges. But it will be a great grill even if it never works with my phone.
------------------

I did at least manage to get the outside tree and shrub lights removed, and the remaining lights re-connected. Also another Keen smart vent arrived. Synch & installation was pretty quick and easy.

[E_T]

You might look into a small dolly or something, to help with moving things around.  might help keep your back in better shape,,,

[Rusty Edge]

You might look into a small dolly or something, to help with moving things around.  might help keep your back in better shape,,,

Good point. Actually I have a dolly and a couple different hand trucks, I just need to remember to use them. I'll go put one of them where I can see it every time I'm in the garage right now. Thanks.

For this the hardware delivery guy had a lift gate on his van, the lawn was frozen around the side of the house, and I had set up a pallet as a ramp onto the back deck, combined with a ramp I'd made for the dog when she was recovering from ACL surgery.
So it was pretty easy for him to bring it around, and I didn't handle anything heavier than a pallet.

[Geo]

So it was pretty easy for him to bring it around, and I didn't handle anything heavier than a pallet.

would be proud of you: +2 Efficiency

I think there was a john boat moored at the climbers cliff I visited last summer in Finland. It was there to move rappelling climbers back to the main cliff.

[Rusty Edge]

I'm home from my travels.

While I was in Cozumel, I took a tour which stopped at a chocolate store/tour and a Mayan melipona stingless bee place. The chocolate art had a guy in Mayan garb speaking the language ( or so they said) and making an official greeting complete with incense. Then we went on to see a model Mayan house, which was basically dominated by a shrine to the dead. My favorite part was the bar tender selling chocolate coladas. The chocolate was great, but over priced. Bought several bars anyway.

At the bee place there was also a Mayan guy in costume speaking the language and smudging us with smoke as a blessing, but I think he was really just bee-proofing us. The bee area was also a sculpture garden of Mayan gods, which I found more interesting than the masks. I didn't know that these New World bees were smaller and stingless. They produce far less honey, although it seems to be concentrated. After we tasted some of it squeezed from plastic drive in ketchup type bottles onto wooden dixie cup type ice cream spoons, my wife noticed I had bees on me. Actually there were two perched upon my eye glasses, which were against my chest hanging from a lanyard. They were eating a drop of honey which had spilled. They took their time and did a thorough job. I figure it belonged to them to begin with.

They also had some sculpture buy a Mayan artist authorized to make images of the gods. I liked the stuff, but it didn't pass my "where would you put it?" test. It would simply be out of place in my home, and I don't think it would be respectful to either my religion or that of the Mayans to wear a carving of a god as a necklace. My wife did buy various medicinal honey products. 

Unorthodox would have found the day interesting.

[Lorizael]

Neat!

The chocolate art had a guy in Mayan garb speaking the language ( or so they said)

I thought it was the case that we don't reeeaaaally know what the ("original/ancient") language sounded like.

[Geo]

Okay, that was an interesting story, Rusty. Thanks for sharing.

[Rusty Edge]

Neat!

The chocolate art had a guy in Mayan garb speaking the language ( or so they said)

I thought it was the case that we don't reeeaaaally know what the ("original/ancient") language sounded like.

That was always  my understanding, or that only two dozen scholars can approximate it, but these people claimed to be original descendants from isolated villages. For what it's worth they did resemble pre-Colombian artwork in profile, so probably not so genetically diluted. 

My sense of the tone of the language is that it had a macho kind of Maori sound to it. Or maybe it was the black make-up/tattoos that suggested the comparison. To be fair, I'm hearing impaired and musically "tone deaf" when I could hear, so I'm a poor witness. Even so, it wasn't like the soft murmurings of western native North American languages I was expecting.

Oh. I should clarify that while these bees are stingless, they can still bite like ants. They aren't defenseless.

[Geo]

Oh. I should clarify that while these bees are stingless, they can still bite like ants. They aren't defenseless.

I suppose that means the bee doesn't die after it bit something.

[Rusty Edge]

Okay. Travels resulted in mild sickness, followed by sinus infection, followed by bronchitis. Nothing out of the ordinary for me, really. It's the usual sequence of things.

Now I'm dealing with a new wrinkle. Tooth ache since Friday afternoon. I've had clean check-ups since I started the diet and cut out most carbs. Trouble is I can't isolate the pain. Usually right side top. Sometimes lower right. Once in a while on the left. It can be front, back, or middle. I thought maybe it was receding gums and temperature sensitivity.

My dentist is in Hawaii, so I got referred to another and they fit me in at lunch time yesterday. So of course while I was hitting the Aleve, rum, and Anbesol over the weekend and still getting stabs and jolts in my teeth. Yesterday I laid off of the drugs, but didn't have the pains by comparison. Of course, I wasn't eating or drinking much unless it was between room and body temperature. Dentist tapped and probed and x-rayed. Nothing. I authorized a complete set of x-rays, figuring it would reveal or rule out an abscess, or be needed before a root canal. More tapping and probing. Still nothing. Dentist said if the cause is dental and not sinus or neurological, the pain will focus and I'll know which tooth. It could be a nerve dying beneath a crown. At least my gums are healthy, my teeth are solidly in place, and there's no abscesses.

I've been able to simply ignore the pain from a tooth whenever one broke off. But these random stabs grab my attention every time. Grrrrr!

[E_T]

When I still had my teeth, I would always (and still do, mind you) drink through a straw.  This way, you get the hot or cold drink past the teeth and swallowed before it has much of a chance to spread out and really hit the teeth.

[Rusty Edge]

When I still had my teeth, I would always (and still do, mind you) drink through a straw.  This way, you get the hot or cold drink past the teeth and swallowed before it has much of a chance to spread out and really hit the teeth.

Thanks for the reminder!

[Geo]

When I still had my teeth, I would always (and still do, mind you) drink through a straw.  This way, you get the hot or cold drink past the teeth and swallowed before it has much of a chance to spread out and really hit the teeth.

I got one word for you, one word: (micro)plastics!

[Rusty Edge]

Saw my dentist today and he personally cleaned my teeth and probed, tapped, etc.

Diagnosis- TMJ and he made me a mouth guard and told me to cut out caffeine. I have taken up coffee drinking since starting my diet because it's the easiest way to order an unsweetened beverage that doesn't taste like chlorine, and it's supposed to have some health benefits. I had an issue with TMJ 15 years ago, so it's credible.

The mystery was what would make me clench and grind my teeth as I slept, when I'm retired and have no bosses or deadlines or financial stress, and my health is the best it's been in 10 years? Especially in the last 10 days?

FORNICATING [Sleezebag]!