Author: wwducat

About: Writer, Technology guy, Photographer, Possibly EX-Software QA Engineer, Worker Bee. Interests: SCUBA, Working out, Friends, New Views, New Vistas, Photography
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Yesterday was exhausting!

I was on the run from about 6:30 am, one way or another.

Road construction social 2219743733.The primary goal for the day was to get the furry one to the groomer. That is always a production. It’s not that he’s a problem getting into the car. He seems to like riding. 

The trouble is that he just won’t settle down. Although yesterday coming back from the groomer he fell asleep for just a minute, sitting up, with his head on my shoulder. This gives me hope that eventually he’ll settle in the car and then have fun at our destination instead of being excited from the moment he’s in the car to the moment we’re back home.

Honestly him falling asleep like that was really cute, sweet, and made it all worth it.

The morning went like this, up at 6, coffee, then 2.5 mile walk/drag up & down the mountain. Quick shower, then trying something new so that he can be comfortable and lay down. Didn’t work! Fight through a construction zone (that I wasn’t aware of). Get him to the groomer, another walk/drag around the grooming place so that he could smell all the other dogs that had been there before. Then inside the grooming place where everyone knew his name, Not sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing.

Then run to get myself a haircut. Fight through more stupid traffic to the Target. Pick up things that I can’t get elsewhere. Stand in insane line, watch “The Usual Suspects” acting up and being assholes in the self checkout line. Get out of the store, almost get run over twice in the parking lot, while walking to the car. Hesperia has, (at last report), the worst drivers of any city in California. Fight my way through traffic again. 

Get back to the shopping plaza where the groomer is. Have a burger, well, order a burger then leave because more of “The Usual Suspects” were acting up and began trashing the place, (Ate my burger and fries in the car listening to calming music). [Note: I didn’t wait to take pictures, this one is from the internet.]

Walked 1/2 mile to the Walmart to pick up some really cheap Chinese items, stood in insanely long line to check out. Observed more of “The Usual Suspects” squabbling, yelling, and cutting in line. Got out of Walmart, walked 1/2 mile back to car, dropped off items and sat in car listening to calming music again.

Went into groomers and shopped for items necessary for the furry one. Watched said furry one being remarkably good while standing on a grooming table getting trimmed for Summer. I was trying not to be seen by him. Paid the bill. Furry one was ready to leave and I was walked/dragged around the building again.

Back in the car, fight through traffic on the freeway this time, get home, unload the clean furry one, then unloaded purchased items, put stuff away, and put car in the garage. 

I got myself a glass of water wondering why I was tired.

The now fluffy, furry one came inside and promptly took a nap in his favorite spot. I cleaned a closet.

The furry one, woke from his nap, went outside, then came back in with his favorite toy, dropped it at my feet, and wanted to play. So out we went to chase the ball around the yard.

I wish I had his energy!

Today… I’m still tired!

At least Mr. Furry is clean!

The plus side, is that during the day I didn’t hear or see one news show. I did catch that some moronic American senator was in El Salvador trying to get a deported MS13 gang member out of prison.

I’d ask WTF, but it’s pointless. The world is a madhouse, it’s easier to accept that, than it is to think about it.

I am concerned about the preponderance of “The Usual Suspects”. That stresses me out every time I go to the store.

Has Greenland decided to join the United States? Just Askin…

I hope everyone has a great Friday and excellent Easter.

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The Hum

Living where I do is generally quiet. Unless they’re doing work in the wash. Then it’s a constant beeping and grinding as heavy equipment rumbles up and down the wash moving dirt around.

We’ll not talk about the dust and debris that blows in on the wind.

But when I first moved into this house after I’d been here for about a month, suddenly there was “The Hum”. At first it was only something I could hear in the Master Bedroom. What was strange is that due to an acoustic oddity, I could only hear it in one relatively confined area in the bedroom. (Of course it happened to be on my side of the bed.) It drove me wild and disrupted my sleep. My loving partner switched sides of the bed with me, so that I could actually sleep because he couldn’t hear it.

Over time, “The Hum” grew such that I could hear it everywhere in the house and outside too.

Slowly, it stopped being a constant thing. It became intermittent and finally after years, it was gone.

I don’t actually hear “The Hum”…

That’s not entirely true, but I hear it more like the sounds you hear when you’re underwater. That soft area just behind your jaw near your earlobes. That’s where it feels like I’m hearing the sound.

For many years, I haven’t heard “The Hum”.

This morning, well before dawn, I woke with my jaw clenched, grinding my teeth. I laid there for a few moments trying to figure out what woke me up. Then I heard it. “The Hum” was back.

Only now, instead of being constant, it’s cycling up & down, then being entirely silent, then starts again. It’s like an annoying gnat buzzing around your ears that you can’t quite seem to kill. Just when you think it’s gone, buzzes into your ear canal to remind you it’s there and piss you off.

“The Hum,” is like that but worse for me. It’s right on the threshold of my hearing, just loud enough that it bothers me, but most other people can’t hear it at all. So I’m the crazy person!

I suspect that it’s originating from a water pump that’s at some distance from the house. I can hear “The Hum” very clearly inside the house, but outside it’s not as prominent.

I think it’s resonance in the ground, and somehow the house it picking it up an amplifying the sound.

The water company claims that it’s not them, I couldn’t possibly hear the pump, and drops all subsequent inquiries in the “Crazy Person” bin.

In an effort to determine if “The Hum” is originating in the house, I shut the power off. My thinking was that any and all electro-mechanical devices would power down so if “The Hum” remained, it was external, not something I was doing to myself.

“The Hum” never missed a beat.

The dog hears it too. He’s a lot better at ignoring it than I am. I suppose since it doesn’t represent an immediate threat, or treat he just figures it’s the price of living in the human world.

I know he hears it because if “The Hum” stops for a minute or so, then starts again he wakes up from his nap looks around, then goes back to sleep.

I’ll try wearing my AirPods with noise cancellation on. I don’t think they’ll help because where I feel the sound isn’t the ear canal. Maybe a full ear set of headphones would help.

I’d ignore “The Hum” if I could. Something about the sound disrupts my thought processes and keeps me right on the edge of being angry. The way it comes and goes makes my brain start looking for a pattern.

Sometimes, “The Hum” sounds like Morse code. With that kind of dot-dash-dot pattern, my brain thinks there’s something to decode and being on the threshold of hearing, drags my full attention to the sound even though I know it’s nothing.

I have the same problem with fluorescent lights. They all hum, and most of the time I hear them. If one is starting to go out I hear that too. One of the many reasons that school was so very difficult for me. I tried very hard to listen to the teacher, but the humming from the lights and their patterns always captured my attention more.

Incandescent light bulbs will start “ringing” about a day before they burn out. The first few years living my the other half, it drove him crazy that I’d walk in from work with light bulbs the very moment he’d turn on a light and it would flash and burn out. I think he thought I was doing something to the bulbs on purpose to freak him out.

Even LED bulbs “ring”, as do plug in transformers used to recharge devices. Braun trimmers and shavers are the loudest in this regard.

So now you know why I like to sit at the bottom of lakes, or pools, and why I like SCUBA even though that’s actually a bit noisy.

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That was interesting

We just had an earthquake.

That in and of itself isn’t surprising. What was surprising is that I got an emergency alert on my phone and watch about it. A full 10 seconds before I felt it.

Pretty slick!

The dog didn’t like it at all!

He’s wandering around trying to figure out who was stomping around in his yard.

Clearly, peeing on every fence post will scare the evil stomping giant away.

It was a pretty strong roller. The ground kept moving for a few seconds after the initial rolling motion subsided.

Hmm. There’s been a whole string of quakes in the last 1/2 hour in Julian. Looks like the strongest was a 5.2.

That’s a heck of a distance from me. What’s weird about it, it that the rolling I felt seems to have come from the opposite direction.

It’s nice to see the alert system working.

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The stock market hasn’t crashed yet.

In fact, the market looks fairly happy today. It hasn’t recovered its losses this month, but it’s nice to see green instead of red for the day.

The tech stocks I follow, are looking better. I suppose that’s because of temporary tariff exemptions on Phones, and Computers coming out of China.

It’s only temporary and I’m sure companies will be begging for extensions. They’ll probably get them. I’m sure there are some companies that are thinking all they have to do is get extensions that last long enough for Trump to term out of office.

Ultimately, this whole tariff thing may be a nothing burger. 

I hope that it puts everyone on notice that we need to bring at least some manufacturing back to the United States. I’m not holding my breath, but it would be nice.

The trouble may be that with educational standards falling for the last 20 years that have turned college classes into very expensive remedial reading academies, we literally may not have people who can design & manufacture anything. It’s possible the labor unions might be the stumbling block. Or perhaps it will be a combination of the two.

Were I a parent, I’d be encouraging my kids to go to trade or technical schools. It wouldn’t be about the expense of college. I’d be wanting my kids to be capable of getting a job that while dirty, would be in demand and useful.

Straight up manufacturing may be the next booming business sector.

At least a bunch of countries have come to the table to rethink trade practices with the United States. That may be the best we can hope for.

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Daddy took me to the vet today… I’m not amused.

You took me to the Vet and it wasn't fun!The Dog wore himself out on the trip to the Vet.

It was time for his yearly checkup and a booster shot.

He’s pissed off at me. In part because I had to scold him a little about his behavior, and I suppose he feels a little betrayed. He’s dozing and ripping some real stinkers of farts.

Thank goodness it’s warm enough that I can have the windows open. That is, until the pot head across the street lights up the first of many bongs of pot for the day.

I took him on a two mile hike before we went to the Vet and he was still “crazy dog”.

I’ve got to find some high density foam that I can lay across the back seat so that he can ride in the car comfortably. He refuses to lay down because he doesn’t quite fit in the bucket back seat wells and the little tray in the back seat makes a hump that he doesn’t like. I’m thinking some thick foam might solve the problem by smoothing the area out and not be too easily compressed. He doesn’t like feeling as though he’s sinking into anything. Unless it’s snow.

I like that he’s curious and generally sweet. He loves people and most dogs, he just wants to play. Sometimes his manners with other dogs get misunderstood as aggression but that, in most cases is cleared up pretty quickly if the other dog is more mellow. The only aggression I’ve seen is if dogs appear to be attacking us as a unit. 

In other words, if dogs run at us barking and snapping. 

I think that part of the issue was he could smell other dogs had been in the waiting room, and could hear other people that he couldn’t see.

Once he got to see other people in the office, he stopped whining and panting then gave them greetings and said hi in his sweet loving way.

He’s got a lot of energy, he’s curious in a healthy way, and he’s exhausting sometimes. I think once I’ve confirmed that he’s not having any reactions to the booster. We’re both going to take a nap.

I’ve got stuff I need to do, but we’ve both been going full tilt since 6am. Believe me, 71 pounds of high energy dog can take it out of you.