Off to the DaveCave(tm) to check email and deal with an online purchase that went bad.
I am on a couple music email lists and a guy posted offering some pieces of equipment for reasonable prices. We struck up a rapport and I PayPal'd him for one if the items (an analog sequencer-- modern design but based on the old Moog units used by Tangerine Dream and the like).
After the PayPal transaction -- Nada. Zip. Zero. Nothing.
I post on this list to see if anyone else is having the same problem and two other suckers are.
I had been cutting the guy some slack as he might have been visiting for the holidays but now I am starting to get pissed. PayPal does offer retribution so I and the other two people will be initiating that tonight. See what happens.
And if he was visiting for the holidays, he could have emailed the list stating that he was going away until X date.
Grrrrrrrrr...
Heading out to the DaveCave(tm) to check emails and work on some stuff...
Turns out all of Whatcom County had the same idea as we did. The parking lot for the theater was jammed and all of the 3D showings were sold out.
Back at home and reading the entire internet for pleasure...
Off to the DaveCave(tm)
Celebrating the Winter's Solstice with a bonfire and some nice soups.
We had informally invited people to come by for the fire and the meal but nobody showed up on this rainy cold blustery Monday night -- oh well... We now have two weeks of food in the fridge.
I made Beef Stew and also some multi-bean with ham hocks. Still loving the new Cuisinart Pressure Cooker -- one of the better $60 spent at Costco. I can go from a bag of dried beans to a completed soup in about twenty minutes. It takes a little longer as I have to wait for the hock to cool down so I can pick the meat off and add it back to the soup but still...
UPDATE: Jen also cooked her awesome tomato soup. She starts with the stuff that she got from the Andy Warhol store (the cans look just like his pictures so I know this is true), opens the can (how is that for mad cooking skillz) and puts it in a pot on the stove.
(ducking thrown ramekin) Her tomato soup seriously rocks -- sorry for forgetting to mention it!
Same thing with the Beef Stew -- I use V8 Spicy juice for the stock and it makes a lot of difference. Twenty minutes in the pressure cooker and the meat is fork tender and the spuds and vegetables are just right. The unit sits on the countertop and just, simply, works. Cleanup is a snap too as the internal cooking surfaces slide out and can be run through the dishwasher.
I am stuffed and happy. See what the email faeries have brought in.
It will be nice to have the days getting longer again -- living in the country, you really notice the difference.
Got some new stuff up on the right.
Went into a nearby town to get hay from the feed store, bucked it and then went into Bellingham to get some shelving for the store. We are starting the expansion construction -- very stoked!
The store now has a cat -- this cute bundle of fur has been hanging around the building for a week now so we have been letting it come in and hang out. He is very quiet and mellow -- most of the time you don't even know he is here.
Today, a couple came in and O.M.G. -- that is our cat! So "Scout" left with them and turned back up at the store about 45 minutes later. I set out a litter box in a corner and we will see what happens...
Ran into town with the trailer to get the four freezers. These are the units to replace the backstock freezer that died earlier this week.
Although we have a nice large trailer, it was not large enough so I had to make two trips to get all four.
Got them offloaded and unpacked; I'll get them set up in place and powered up tomorrow -- the story about letting them sit for ten hours before plugging them in is very true. Sometimes compressor oil will splash around and if the compressor tries to compress an incompressible material (the oil), it can break.
Heading out with the trailer again tomorrow to get hay for our critters -- down to the last couple bales.
Off to the DaveCave(tm) for some email...
Go into town to run some errands and come home to find about thirty spam. About 20 of them were touting the same set of websites (ones that had been already blocked over six months ago) so none of the spam attempts seceded (but they did give me a nice fresh list of IP addresses to block.
What caught my eye was that they were all directed toward posts on the Climategate fiasco.
The very fact that they are trying to lower my credibility by putting spam on these posts lowers their credibility.
Talk about being a turd in a punchbowl...
We have a display freezer out on the floor that has our frozen foods -- pizzas, meats, juice, etc...
We also have a slightly smaller freezer in our backstock area for storage. As we sell things from the display freezer, we restock from the backstock freezer.
That units compressor died last evening. Over $1K of food was thawing this morning when we opened up...
A lot of very happy Maple Falls residents went home with their groceries plus a bunch of free pizzas, deserts, cans of juice concentrate, tater tots, cool whip, frozen vegetables, etc. etc. etc.
A replacement compressor for this unit is $3K. The freezer itself is 45 years old and replacement parts are no longer made. A new freezer is about $10K
Tomorrow, I am heading into the local Sears store and seeing what kinds of upright freezers are available. They may not be as well constructed as a unit that managed to last 45 years but they will see us through to next summer when we are making money again (the business is very seasonal).
Fun times being a small business owner -- maybe I can get some stimulus money...
The direct measurement outside shows a temperature of 23 degrees but when I normalize it to fit the recline, it turns out to be a balmy 74 with soft zephyrs wafting in from the north.
There is that anomalous precipitation of ice crystals than needs to be incorporated into the next generation of climate models but since we don't allow for it with this model, I'll just ignore the four inches that have accumulated.
Hide the decline? There is no decline to hide. It is delightful out and I have some wonderful ocean-front property in Colorado to sell to you.
Now about my grant money for 2010...
Many thanks to reader Geran Imo for the reminder that when I had posted about the four degree temperatures recently, I had forgotten to normalize them.
There is no decline. None at all.
In fact, it is in the mid-seventies and wonderfully balmy.
I was wondering why my initial temperature readings were so low all the while I was not having to use any suplimental heat or dress accordingly. In fact, I have all the windows open for a nice warm breeze.
We now return to our normal state of delusion...
One to three inches of white stuff are predicted and it is starting to snow as I type.
Heading out to the DaveCave(tm) and the shop to build some fires - plan on working out there this afternoon and they both take an hour or so to warm up.
Not as cold as it has been -- ground and air temperature is a balmy 29 degrees...
With all the talk about Iran's "peaceful" nuclear programs, I was thinking today.
What moron sold them the yellowcake in the first place...
Nothing big -- a run into town for some banking and some hardware and Costco, then neither of us were into what was lurking in the fridge so we went out to a local roadhouse and Jen had Country Fried Steak with sausage gravy and I had an open-faced hot turkey sandwich.
We are fat and happy.
Going to surf a little and then head out to the DaveCave(tm) to see what the email fairies have brought in.
The weather is finally moderating -- cloudy and overcast at 25 degrees; a welcome change from the single digits. Snow due in a day or so.
Wonderful group of people -- only one employee was not able to make it (they have a newborn child).
Devoured nine large pizzas and many pints of wonderful beer with only a slice or two left over.
And we did not have to clean up...
Ground temperature is five degrees, air temp is eight. The night sky is drop-dead gorgeous -- the milky way is crystalline, the stars are beacons of light. One of the best nights for seeing in a long long time.
Four degrees out now.
As for the expression -- it comes from early Naval terminology.
Cannon balls were stacked by each cannon in a pyramid and held in place with a metal jig called a monkey. Since you are dealing with black powder, you do not want any sparks. Metal hitting against other metal or stone can strike a spark so a non-ferrous metals was used.
There is a differential rate of expansion and contraction and when the brass got cold enough, the balls would pop out of the jig. Hence...
Ground temperature is fifteen. Air temperature is seventeen.
Sky is dead clear so it is going to get even colder when the sun goes down.
I love this place but every so often, you get the distinct impression that Mother Nature really is trying to kill you...
Temps are at 17 degrees and the wind is 15 gusting to 25.
Not a night to be outside...
Our critters have lots of feed, water and shelter so they are fine.
Perfect night for astronomy -- dead clear, no moon and the air is so clear that the lights of Abbotsford are not visible from here -- normally there is a dull glow to the north. We get about 10 nights like this per year so I do not have a large scope. Oh well...
NOT...
Got some low-grade stomach bug that had been nosing around my immune system for the last day to two. Feels like 30% of my brain processing power has been removed and that I have eaten a couple pounds of portland cement. Little bit of a sore throat.
Two years ago, I had something like this right around the time I had to run the store payroll. Had to run the checks four times until I got everything right and then, I forgot to sign them. Had to drive into Bellingham for one employee as neither of us had noticed the omission -- everyone else caught the error...
Off to the DaveCave(tm) and an early bedtime...
Forty nine spam attempts last night.
All caught, all from known spam IP addresses.
Some internet entrepreneur you are, living in your mom's basement masturbating to the latest Adam Lambert video.
Fscking looser...
Just got back from the local Chamber of Commerce's Annual General Meeting. Fun to sit down and talk with people that we generally wave to in passing.
For a small sleepy community 30 miles from anywhere, things can be busy at times...
Heading off to the DaveCave(tm) for email.
More later -- a good auction but I wish I had about 3,000 sq ft more shop space...
Had the thought that the first Climate Scientist that comes clean will retain a lot of credibility in the real world.
Who will that be... JH?