Ecobee3 Lite Wi-Fi Thermostat

I purchased my Ecobee3 lite, this past August and installed it on September first. My bills are fairly normal, September - October, $19. October - November $26. I just got my Nov. - Dec. bill -- $96! That's $30 more than the last 2 years. And, my Old Thermostat, which was over 14 years old, would run for a few hours to heat the house to 70 degrees. And, it would run for at least an hour to keep it at 70.

I retired 11 years ago and have kept my temp the same as I was working, on at 6am, off at 8am. Then On at 3pm and off at 11pm.  With my Ecobee3 lite, I keep the upper number at 69. This things says that I should save $42 per year...I am guessing if I never turn it on it just might.

All in all, I like this thermostat (because of the new tech surrounding it and working with it.). I will have to see what happens for the Dec. - Jan. bill, which, at the beginning of 2017, was only $138 and the next month was $122.

I am guessing that I have to read more on how to program my Ecobee3 lite and maybe get some of those additional sensors to help manage my heating.

More things my Kids said, Part II...

My son said something to me yesterday, to which I thought was funny, in regard to, all the technology I have acquired over the last year. I told him, “I live in the 21^st century and I love my Echo dot and all of the things I can do with it”. He, on the other hand, at 37, told me that he could live without all, or at least most of that stuff.

I went on to say that, I remember all the things that were around in the 60s, 70s and the 80s that I “knew” he knew nothing about. Of course, he said that he remember being at his grandmothers and seeing her using a rotary phone, or, watching TV with only three channels and in Black and White, with a remote control, wired to the cable box to control the channels.

That got me to thinking, he may have seen all of those wonderful things, as a very young child but, I had to live with them, use them throughout my child hood and young adult hood.

Anyway, thinking about it today, I remembered a bunch of things both my sons have said during their growing years. Here are a few that came to mind.

Upon returning home, from my mother’s home one evening, my wife and I got into a discussion about sending our son, Darien, to school. I wanted to send him to a public school because I felt that if we had to pay property taxes, for the schools, we might as well send him there.

My wife, on the other hand, felt that if he went to a private school he would get better, individual attention, learn more and overall get a better education. This turned into a minor argument that went on for about five minutes. When we got to our exit I turned to Darien, who was half asleep in the back seat and said, “Darien, what school would you like to go to?”

He thought about it for a moment, then, with a clear child-like Zen consciousness said, “Taco Bell…” That ended the discussion of school for the night. He had to laugh the rest of the way home. Come to think about it, I’m glad we did send him to a private school because he received a scholarship for the next school year.

My Sister, who was living in Boston, at the time, was in town for our annual family reunion and had not seen my oldest son, Darien, since he was two, four years prior. After the festivities were over, my family and sisters headed to my mother’s home where we reminisce about our days growing up together.

Darien, who had been watching TV with the other children, came into the kitchen, where all the grown-ups had gathered. He was tired because he was sucking his finger, which he does when he was tired or bored.

My sister turned to my son and said, “Darien, I see you’re still sucking your fingers.”

Darien responded, “Ya, but I used to suck two fingers, but I’m down to one a day, now.” If we can only get him to quit all together.

Its been a long while since my son, Kristopher, had left his terrible two’s and moved on into the, I don’t know what to call him three’s. For the last few months, he had finally started using the toilet by himself. This, by itself is nothing, but he has begun using this tactic to stay awake as long as he could.

During the Christmas holidays, I let him stay up a little longer. On the last day of the holiday he ate his dinner, had his bath and was in the bed before eight pm. He used just about every trick in the book to stay up, including the old, “it’s too hot in here,” to the old classic, “daddy I want a glass of water.”

After going into his room five times, I finally thought he had settled down. Around 10:30 my wife went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. I heard the rustle of little feet; it was Kris, hurrying to the bathroom. When I got to the door, my wife was giving Kris the old evil eye. 

That looked lasted about 20 seconds. Kris then made his way around his mother to the toilet and in a nonchalant kind of way said to his mother, “I live here too.” He finished his business, got back into bed and was asleep in 10 minutes.

            

Light up the night, or not...

I thought Christmas was celebrated “After” Thanksgiving. Heck, I saw someone buying a Christmas tree this past Friday, go figure. On another note, I stopped celebrating Christmas and most, if not all holidays a long time ago. Mainly because, my children are grown and gone. But, I digress…

I got up to go to the bathroom, around 3am, the other night and as I looked to my right, I noticed a bright light on, downstairs. I went downstairs and noticed that I had forgotten to turn off my hard drive, as it has a large, bright light on to notify me, that it is on.

As I stood, in my computer room noticed all of the lights on, blinking, winking and just sucking up electricity. My router, blinking, my hub, with its steady blue light just staring into space. My two printers, their light shining, one green and the other printer light, blue, and of course, my hard drive’s light so bright you probably could read a book by its light.

I looked over into the media room and noticed both of my amplified bass’s lights were on. One a steady red light and the other a blinking orange light. Orange? That’s new and different. Then there’s the red light on the Television, the eerie red light on the power strip, behind the Television. The dull circle on the DVR, which I don’t turn off because I am usually recording something and the bright gray number giving me the time, on the DVR.

Into the living room, lights were blazing there, also. I noticed the bright red numerals on a small clock, located under the Television, resting on a deep black pedestal, unseen in the dark but illuminated, slightly, by said clock.  Sitting next to the clock, my old trusty VCR. It still works and its blue numbers tell the time of day, or night.

As I circled around, I took note of the two hubs, that help control the security system and the security cameras, blue and green light tell me of their locations. The living room, itself, isn’t all that dark, only because, on the door wall, the vertical blinds swing back and forth ever so slightly, from the furnace blowing its hot breath, letting the lights on the back porch slither through and dance on the floor.

I recently installed a connected Thermostat to the living room wall by kitchen. As I passed it, it lit up, letting me know that it was 31 degrees outside and 59 degrees on the main floor, which caused the furnace to run for a few minutes, keeping the temperature at a reasonable 60 degrees, until 6:30 am.

In the Kitchen, more of the same. It’s where the energy vampires exist sucking the energy right out of the walls. Starting with the clock on the stove, to which I haven’t changed the time to daylight savings time as of yet. And, the microwave was doing its number, but without any numbers flashing. I haven’t set the clock and probably won’t, but its shines, nonetheless. To top everything off, the Wi-Fi controlled coffee pot, it’s façade lit up with its green Wi-Fi logo greeting me, letting me know that I will have a great cup of coffee when I wake up.

Bright lights, lights in the dark…

Try this one of these nights; Go downstairs, don’t turn on the lights, though, and just look around in the near darkness. Have you notice how bright it is and you don’t have lights on?

Why, I said to myself, thinking? I decided to count all of the red, green, blue and gray lights. I counted 22 of those bright diode type lights running.

I don’t know how much electricity is being used. I have seen, on the boob tube, a commercial made by the energy company,  considering I record just about everything I watch and speed through the commercials. But, I do remember the commercial, a PSA, in regard to, energy vampires, or was it energy pigs.

Now I have to figure out what to turn off and what will continue to blink or stare into the night while I sleep, just so I don’t have a humongous electric bill.  

I guess, now that I think about it, it’s my way of celebrating the Holidays, from Thanksgiving, through to New Year’s Day. And, I don’t have to put up any “Christmas” lights. They are already there, blinking throughout my house. 

They went that-away!

While out on my fitness walk today, a lady, heading my way, rolled down her window as to ask a question:

She:" Which way do go to get to Dixie?"

Me: (pointing in the opposite direction) Dixie, that way.

She: "Yeah, I going to Dixie."

Me: (pointing in the right direction) "Dixie, that way."

She: "I just dropped off my girlfriend, and I have to get back to Dixie."

Me: (Pointing, again) "Turn around and go that way."

She: "I should turn around."

Me: Yeah, follow me.""



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I hear that Toilet water is just as tasty...Hey, I'm easy to please.

Why do I feel I am easy to please? Well, because I do.

Five years ago, I purchased a water fountain so that my cats, Tom and Jerry could have fresh water to drink. I had a non-electric water fountain, with a two quart reservoir. The water in that device lasted quite a few days, but it had no filter, and Jerry, I have no idea what goes through that cat’s mind, would scoop up, in his paw, cat food and drop it into the water bowl. So, I had to clean it more often than not.

 Anyway, I got that water fountain working and Jerry loved it. Tom, on the other hand, about 10 years ago I took a 30 day drive across the country and back. My sister was kind enough to spend those days, staying at my house watching over everything and feeding the cats. For whatever reason, when I got back home, I noticed that Tom was drinking out of the toilet. I asked my sister what happened and she just shrugged her shoulders and said, “…water is water.”

A few months ago the pump on the water fountain died. From time to time, I would clean the crud from around the vents to keep the pump running. (I was watching a YouTube video the other day and found out that I could have taken the pump completely apart to clean it out. I wish I knew that then). That is probably the reason why it died, not cleaned enough and its little heart (pump) couldn’t take it.

What I didn’t like about the cat water fountain, Jerry would stick his head under the flowing water and get his head nice and wet. Then he would come and sit on my lap. Nice. Now, with the water not flowing anymore, Jerry continued to drink from it but I would have to clean it more often because it seemed like the water looked grittier than normal. Plus, it had a ton of food and cat hair in it.

Earlier on, I had checked the internet for a business that sold the pump. At the time, I went to Amazon to check. They had a ton of pumps but none that would fit my particular cat water fountain. I didn’t manage to find a site in England. So, I kind of gave up. I felt as long as Jerry was drinking water I was happy. I noticed, a week or so ago, I had closed the toilet lid and forgotten to open it and saw Tom drinking from the cat fountain. But as soon as I opened the toilet lid, he was back. Old 

habits, apparently, never die.

This past week I tried again looking for a pump. I figured that it would totally cheaper to get a pump than buying a new water fountain, considering, that when I purchased the water fountain the price was over $50! It helped that I had had a few gift cards to bring the price down. Now, that same fountain sells for $44. At Amazon, I found the pump that works for that particular fountain, but of course, it was currently unavailable. And there was another pump but reviewers were saying that they had to jury-rig the pump so that it would fit and work.

I thought what the heck and decided to go with the company that had one. I hate to buy from companies that I have never done business with. But heck, for $14, plus shipping and handling…I needed that pump. Unlike anything from Amazon, I was told that it would take 10 to 15 days to get to me. I could wait. But, I was surprised that it only 4 days to get to me…surprise!

Anyhow, the pump is running and water is flowing. Jerry is still sticking his head under the flow and Tom is still drinking out of the toilet. Me, on the other hand, I felt like something wonderful was accomplished. Walked around with my head held high, my chest sticking out, and both thumbs up! Feeling proud that the Cat water fountain was working. Yes, I am easy to please…as long as my cats are pleased and happy, or at least one of them is.

National Novel Writing Month...

…and so it begins.

November is National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo, to those who participate. Its main goal, for writers, all around the country, is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days! I am already 2 days behind…sort of. 

My only problem or question, (to myself), do I want to participate this year? In the last four years, I have only finished one novel and it is still sitting on my desk collecting dust… (Editing cost a fortune, at least for me it does, retirement does that, sometimes, I mean, I’ve given up Lobster, caviar and Champagne and now only eat beans, beer and PB&J sandwiches for dinner, now). In 2015, I started a new novel but only completed 12k words. It sat around, (in my computer), for an entire year waiting for me to finish. 

In 2016, I started writing, again. I finished, in November with 25k words, total. What I feel so bad about, I have been day dreaming, night dreaming, thinking about my novel just about every day as to, how do I defeat this writers block? How do I have the two main characters interact? This conflict, with me, has been going on since the end of last year’s NaNoWriMo.

Do I wish to participate? Probably not. Well…maybe so. I can say, and I really feel it, I really need to WRITE this novel, finish this novel! However, where did my passion disappear too?  

Many, many years ago, I really did have a passion for writing. However, I would have to lock myself in my room, (I had two young children, annoying children, always wanting to play children and yes, and I did play with them more often than not – after I finished writing). I managed to finish three books during those turbulent times, only to have them published during the last three years. 

Do I want to participate…? I am going to write. I am going to write 50,000 words, during November – or longer. I am going to finish this novel. I have to see how my resolve is, find my muse again, and find my passion, for writing. I miss it, with a passion.

 

Way back then, I would drink and knock out a few thousand words a day. My drinking, gin, vodka and scotch days are over now. I just drink beer, but that doesn’t seem to help. Coffee seems to be my only help (hope?), and I have a few bags of coffee to get me through the month of November. 

The light is on, tomorrow I will get my bearings and…I will WRITE! 50,000 words or else!  And, now that I think about it, try my best to keep this cat off of my lap as I write. He’s so cute, sleeping on my lap. Geez…

Things Kids say...or how to make breakfast for your kids

I was watching America’s Favorite Videos, this morning, (I DVR’d it) and that particular show had a compilations of videos, in regard to, what kids say. That got me to thinking, what did my children say…some thirty years ago? I got a ton of stuff, so I wrote down some and most I just remembered.

Like one time my sister was in town and hadn’t seen my oldest son in a while, (then about seven), and said to him, “Darien, I see you are still sucking your finger.” He used to suck his two middle fingers. He answered with, “Yeah, I use to suck two fingers, I’m down to one a day, now.”

Or, what my youngest son mentioned, the one day I saw him riding in the street on his brand new bicycle, to which I won selling cookies and candy for his school. I yelled out, “Kris, if you keep riding in the street, I’m going to break your arm!” He retorted, as he rode by me, “that’s okay, I gotta another arm.”

Recently, while talking to my oldest, he said he would call me just about every day, now it’s down to once every other week or so, he mentions to me how hungry he is, after working a grueling eight hours. When he calls, he always tells me he is hungry.

Anyway, somehow we got into to talking about pancakes. Now, this isn’t the first time he has mentioned this to me, but now I am hearing that he tells everyone about how great my pancakes were when they were little. That got me thinking about when I started my boys on the path to pancakes.

After I got divorced, 27 years ago, I had the boys every other weekend and every summer. That meant I have to bathe, dress, feed and find some way to entertain them.

On the weekends I tended to sleep late or lock myself in my room and write or work in the backyard. My boys would let me do neither, peacefully or quietly.

At the time I still didn’t know a lot about raising kids, only because they never taught it in school. Babies are okay, I know how to feed them, change their diapers, and burp them. Older kids are something else. They have a mind of their own and that’s the scary part.

Anyway, here is an example of one of those weekends.

For some reason I stayed up until four a.m. to watch a great movie. At 8:38 a.m., I know this because I always look at the clock when I hear the sound of footsteps running up the stairs.

A body was either flung or jumped into the bed onto my body with enough force to expel the air from my lungs. With a couple of swipes of a tiny hand across my ear, I woke up long enough to get my sights on the tiny culprit.

He looked into my eyes and said, “I’m hungry! I want some pancakes!” A couple of years ago I started making the kids pancakes, yes, that’s right, I can cook, a little, even if what I cook is only instant. Anyway, after ten minutes of hopping on my back, racking my ears, and prying my eyes open I got up, put on my robe and went downstairs into the kitchen.

Kris jumped into his place at the kitchen table. I turned on the television so that his attention would be diverted from me. Thirty seconds after the TV came on, his brother, Darien, entered the room. Television was his life force.

He looked at me and said, “I want some pancakes!” I had created a monster. I directed him back to his room to put his cloths on, considering he only had underwear on, with strange cartoon characters on them.

While the boys were busy, I dug through the cabinet to get the pancake mix. After a few minutes I thought, “The heck with this…,” and pulled out the old standby, oatmeal, instant of course. Out of the blue Kris says, “I want some cereal.”

There wasn’t any of his favorite available, at the time; I usually do all my grocery shopping on Sunday. So, I made his some of my favorite, Shredded Wheat ‘n’ Brand and made some oatmeal for myself.

            “Daddy, I don’t want this.” Kris said.

            “What do you mean, Kris?” I countered.

            “I want oatmeal.” He said.

I took the shredded wheat; thank goodness I didn’t put any sugar on it, and gave him the oatmeal. After one spoonful, he said, and I quote, “Daddy, could you pick out the bugs!” It had raisins and walnuts in it.

By that time Darien had returned the kitchen, “I want peaches and cream.” He said. So, I made him a bowl and made a little more for Kris, after picking out the raisins and walnuts.

            I fixed the rest of the breakfast, juice and toast, and then went downstairs to the family room to close my eyes. No such luck, Kris finished and joined me. He jumped on me and started to rack my ears again. So, I put a movie in the VCR, the one I watched, I mean, slept through, again.

            It was about that time I had finally figured out what I was doing and thought I’d share it with all you first time fathers, and those of you who have been around awhile and don’t know what to do on Saturday mornings.

            It’s quite possible I can give you a little insight, that is, for all of you who have not taken the time to learn how to make breakfast. Now, you have to make sure you follow these instructions in order. And if you miss one step go back over the list again until you get it right. I guarantee you’ll be happy and your boys, okay, girls too, will be happy.

            Step 1: First, don’t stay up late Friday night if you know the kids will there for that weekend.

            Step 2: Set up everything in the kitchen the day, or night before they get there on Saturday, like eggs? Take a guess as to how many you think you will need. Milk, for the pancakes, water, if using instant, butter, jelly, syrup, etc.

            Step 3: Make sure you have enough cereal and oatmeal, with and without raisins to satisfy your youngsters. Oh, and pancake mix too, that is, if you feel like making it, if you didn’t stay up late on Friday night.

            Step 4: Get up early enough to do what you have to do to wake up and clean yourself up, or, (Optional) the kids, then help them dress, the older kids can do this themselves.

            Step 5: If you followed step two you should have at least a carton of eggs lined up, depending on how many kids you are serving, sitting in front of you. Now, separate the eggs…not from other eggs, and place them in a bowl. Add a little milk or water; this gives the eggs a light yellow color, like in the restaurant. Beat the mixture until it’s well blended.

            Step 6: A small pan should already be on the stove, keep step two in mind. Put a pat of butter into the pan, for those of you who are a little health conscious, use Pam, then turn the burner to number five, medium if you are using gas.

            Step 7: Put a large skillet on the stove, step two guys! – On the right burner, if left handed, the left burner. Repeat step six.

            Step 8: Take the pancake mix out of the refrigerator, are you paying attention? Step two should be firmly planted in your minds by now, stir it, just a little so it will be ready to pour.

            Step 9: Okay, now pour the eggs into the small pan; the pan should now be hot and ready.

            Step 10: pour the pancake mix into the skillet, but make them no bigger than four inches, silver dollars sized if you feel lucky. This is so you can get more in the pan at one time. For those of you who feel a little macho this morning, you can make them at least as big as the pan. But, it’s easier to flip them when they are small and the kids will like that size too.

            Step 11: Your eggs should now be solid on the bottom. Now, lift the pan, then lift one edge of the eggs with a spoon and let the gooey part run underneath. Repeat the same thing on the other side of the egg. Where there is no more egg goo to run underneath, scramble them suckers.

            Step 12: By now your pancake should be done on one side. With your spatula at the ready, slide it under the pancake and flip it over onto its undone side. Again, you macho dads won’t need a spatula, just take the whole pan and flip the pancake into the air, then catch it in the pan.

            Step 13: Everything should be ready by now. The finished pancakes should be on a plate. Butter each of the pancakes, add syrup…but only if they ask…this is because they might want grape jelly on it or nothing at all, like how my son Kris likes em. Now add a little pepper to the eggs and serve then whole shebang hot.

            Now, if your kids say they don’t want that great breakfast you just made, serve them the cold cereal and eat all the eggs and pancakes yourself.

            If by chance you happen to forget steps one and two, the local pancake house is open for your convenience. Remember you’ll be happier and the little ones will love you even more if you do the above steps in order. That is if you can outguess them little buggers. 

Michigan, I'm staying put...

I was just watching a video, by Popular Science, in regard to living, in the U.S. in 2100. Most of the US, East and West coast, especially Florida, will be under water. Cat 4 and 5 hurricanes will blanket the east coast, from the north to the south. Fires and droughts will hit the Southwest, West and Northwest and a great deal of the Mid-West. Tornado's will populate the plains and parts of the Mid-west. The only place left, where there are the least calamities, according to the video is...Michigan! I guess I'm not moving.

Automatic things...

There are way too many things I don't know about that work, automatically, on my car, automatic things. Last night I found out, the windshield wipers automatically come on when water hits the windshield. The high beams come on when it gets too dark on a curve. And when you make a left turn or a right turn, lights on the side come on to light your way, left and right. Those are a few of the many automatic things that I have noticed, over the last five months I've owned my automobile. I think I am going to have to read the owner's manual again.

Thoughts of my Day...

Thought of the day: I just realized something, as I am digging in my front yard, I drove to a city in the northern part of lower Michigan and it took 2 and a half hours to get there. On my way home from work, it takes 2 hours and 20 minutes, of only 41 miles...Weird, huh.

Of all of the flowers there is a...Look a squirrel!!

I was sitting on my front porch today and saw a squirrel run across my neighbor's grass, trying to cross the street. He got to the curb, hesitated for a few moments and decided to run across the street as soon as a car was coming. I was thinking, this isn't going to end well and I am not going to go out into the street with a shovel and scoop up its mangled body.

Surprisingly, the car missed the big(little) dummy by inches, considering that the guy driving decided to slow down as soon as it got very close to the squirrel.

Anyway, that got me to thinking of a few squirrel encounters over my lifetime. Most of which were when I was living in a duplex in Detroit way back in the middle 90s.

The first time; this was before camera phones. I did have a camera, but I didn't feel like going and getting to film this strange squirrel. I was lying on my bed and I hear this strange noise in the backyard, mind you, behind my home was a Little Caesar's Pizza place.

So, I got up from my bed and looked out the window. climbing up the tree, backwards was a squirrel with a whole pizza in its tiny mouth! I guess the pizza was just sauce and cheese. If that is what you like, go for it.

The second time; I was sitting on my front porch drinking a Gin and Tonic, smoking a cigar, when all of a sudden I hear a muffled thud and loud, "Whoomph", the sound you make when you get the wind knocked out of you. Across the street, a squirrel had a misstep and fell out of a tree onto the sidewalk.  A minute or two later, it shook itself and proceeded on its way like nothing had happened. And I am the one sitting there drinking.

The last one was kind of sad, sort of. I like cats. I've had as many as 20 cats in my lifetime. As I was sitting on my front porch, as I usually did, every day, drinking and lighting up another stogie, the neighborhood cat was bouncing by dragging a squirrel in its tiny mouth. I know that this particular cat just had kittens, a while before, and was going to feed them or herself some fresh meat. I hope it wasn't the squirrel that likes pizza. It's a cat eat squirrel world out there.

Red and black sexy...

I have been trying to declutter this house for the last few days. I found a ton of my "first" manuscripts...throw away or not? They are just extra paper, stacking up and just in the way, for now. I have most of them, if not all of them on disk and backed up on drives...

On top of that, I just found a pair of Red and black sexy thong underwear and two diamond studs. What's going here? I guess I should keep looking (decluttering), this house, and see what else I can find.



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Bats, bats, everywhere...

Here's something you don't see every -- night. Early this morning, Tom, my crazy cat, was going nuts and kept running to the window and trying to get through the blinds. Something outside was causing him to flip out and destroy my blinds to find out what was going on, outside. I raised the blinds and he jumped on the ledge and as I looked up I saw as many as five or six things fly by. Silent as they flew by they happen to be bats. This went on for 10 more minutes. I have been meaning to put a bat house in my backyard for the last few years maybe I should start and get that house built, now."



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I gotta be losing my mind...

I've really got to quit drinking...I was making a veggie burger. I put the pattie in the microwave to heat it up. I got the bread, pasted it with mayo (with olive oil), sliced a tomato, I put a slice of Swiss cheese, a slice of onion, mushrooms, and a blanket of spinach onto one slice of bread. 
I then assembled the sandwich but couldn't find the plate to put the sandwich on, which had the veggie pattie on it. Then I realized that I had forgotten to take the veggie pattie out of the microwave and put the veggie pattie in between the bread with all the other goodies. 
I am beginning to think it's not the drinking(coffee) but I am just losing my mind! Old age must be catching up with me. I need to play more games that stretch my mind! Or quit drinking!!

Something new...scary!

"I learned something new yesterday: I have been trying to get my Lane Keeping system to work. (I should read the manual, if you know what I mean). I found a little button on the stalk of my turn signal, so I clicked it on. And the Lane keeping System came on...yaaaaaa!

As I was moving into another lane, I kind of forgot about the system, I started moving and the steering wheel kind of locked up, it wouldn't let me move to the next lane. That scared the heck out me, driving at 70 mph! I thought it was supposed to beep, or buzz or something, but lock the steering wheel? Geez...#FoMoCo #Ford #Escape



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Sound or no sound...Eh, what was the question?

"I think I am losing my mind or I am drinking too...Anyway, the power is out so I set up the generator to power a couple of things, like this computer. I turned it on and noticed that there was no sound. I messed around with it trying to turn the sound back on. I even went to my guest page and see if it was working there. Nothing, no sound.
 Because it, the computer, was turned off improperly, I figured that maybe the sound driver was lost.
So, I was going to find the reset, restore point and go back earlier today and see if that was going to work.
I stood up to close the blinds, because the sun was blaring in the window and noticed that the external speakers were not on. I then noticed that the speakers were not plugged into the cord from the generator. Needless to say, I unplugged the speaker, took it out of the computer and of course there be SOUND! I gotta stop drinking or start eating more brain food. GEEZ..."



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Echo Dot, do you hear me now?

Fred Green: "I guess I should give up drinking: I have an Alexa Echo Dot in my kitchen and two others around the house. The wake word is "Computer" for the two others, and Alexa for the Kitchen Dot. I went into the kitchen and wanted to turn on the coffee-maker, I yelled, "Computer, brew coffee." nothing happened, so I went over to it and yelled into the darn thing, "brew coffee".

Nothing. I proceed to unplug it, then plug it back in, gave it a command, nothing. I was thinking it was going deaf and I was going to write a review on Amazon and tell them this thing died after 3 months.
I had to push the button to turn on the coffee pot and turn on the light in the kitchen. A couple hours later I realized that I was supposed to say, "Alexa, brew coffee". I kept saying "Computer" and of course it ignored me. I really gotta quit drinking..."



'via Blog this'

Coffee don't leave me now...

"Geez...it looks like I am going to have to quit drinking coffee for a bit. That ulcer has come back and coffee agitates it. Oh well...Tea is just going to have to do for the time being."



'via Blog this'

Duck!

Why is it that when a bad guy unload 2 clips of bullets into Superman the bullets all bounce off of him with ease. But when the bad guy throws his gun at Superman he ducks? What's up with that?

WHY...

Why do my cats love to sit or sleep within and around my shoes…?

Why do my cats throw-up in my shoes?

Why do my cats, especially Jerry, only wants to sit on my lap when I am writing, like right now?

Why does Jerry want to sit on my lap when Tom is resting peacefully on my lap?

Why is Tom sitting in that box, one of those awful cat traps?

Why is it when I don’t get up early enough, Tom goes into the bathroom and knocks over the trashcan?

Why when the alarm goes off, 60 seconds later when I open my eyes, Tom is inches from my face?

Why does Tom punch me in the mouth the second thing after the alarm goes off? Oh right, he’s hungry.

Why does Tom argue with me every day? I can’t get him to shut up.

Why does Tom eat out of Jerry’s bowl and Jerry eats out of Tom’s bowl, when no one is looking?

Why, first thing in the morning, is Tom’s bowl empty and Jerry’s half filled?

Why is it when I sleep on my side, and I am only four inches wide at my shoulders, and Jerry only has four feet, why does he take eight steps to walk over me?

Why do I let my cats walk all over me?

Why does Tom sleep between my legs, when I like to roll from my left to my right in the middle of the night? Oh, now I remember, because he knows I will lay there and not kick him off my bed.

Why, when Tom sleeps between my legs, do I slowly as I can slide my leg by Tom so I don’t wake him, causing my leg to cramp up every time?

Why is it when I am watching TV and both or one or the other, is sitting on my lap and I have to go to the bathroom, I just sit there and suffer, because I don’t want to wake them because they are so cute?

Why do these cats eat plastic? Especially when I forget to put the bags up? I don’t need a sick cat on my hands.

Why do I hear Jerry, and sometimes Tom, run from the kitchen, around the living room, then up the stairs into the bedroom and back downstairs and in the Media room like nothing has happened?

Why does Tom run up the stairs, like a madman, (mad cat), jump up onto my bed and use his claws to stop? My down blanket is down 50% of its feathers.  I have sewn it up so many times the comforter is starting to look like Frankenstein’s blanket!

Why does Tom always try to hump Jerry? Heck, they were both neutered when they were young. So where does that come from?

Why does Tom hump Jerry? That’s when the fight starts.

Why do Tom and Jerry start to play and a minute later…the fight starts?

Why does Jerry always grab the door knob to the basement, and then look at me? Oh right, I usually, without fail, get up and open the door.

Why when I open the basement door Jerry never goes down? Tom, on the other hand, runs from were ever he is and charges down into the basement. I wonder what the heck are they doing down there?

Why is it that when Jerry goes down the stairs, after sitting in front of the door for about 10 minutes he goes down into the basement, then runs back upstairs like something is chasing him? Oh wait, its Tom chasing him.

Why are Tom and Jerry so funny at times? Oh right, they’re cats!

Why do I love Tom and Jerry? Oh yeah, because…cats!

Phone home...

(2) Facebook: "I really gotta quit drinking. My home phone hasn't been working since this past Monday. So I called my number and I was told that my line had been disconnected. Called a couple more times with the same results.
I thought I would try again today, but this time I happen to look at the number I was calling. It was not my number, had been calling the wrong number all this week. Geez..."



'via Blog this'

I am going to become a...

"I decided, starting tomorrow I am going to become a doctor! I will also do my first surgery tomorrow on anybody who wants me to provide my surgical skills. I figure, if Trump can Place inexperienced people in positions and they have no idea what to do why can't I be a doctor, A surgeon? I'm just saying..."



'via Blog this'

the bad Back...

Day 2, my back held hostage. I know me better than...funny, though, I have worked out 40 out of the last 50 day, but, and here is your big "but", I have done nothing for my core. No wonder my back is hurting as bad as it today. Oh well... Where is my Motrin?



'via Blog this'

I just gotta know one thing...

"I just gotta know one thing; you can eat just about everything on this planet, but why is it when you eat spinach you alway have a piece spinach stuck to your teeth??"



'via Blog this'

NO More JUNK FOOD!

OMG!! I have gained 18 pounds since Christmas and 8 in the last 10 days! (And it's not muscle). Considering I joined Planet Fitness and I have worked out 25 out of 31 days in January. I emptied the trash this past Sunday and found 3 empty large bags of chips. Plus, I took the past week off so I could just relax and let my body...relax.

Anyway, I have finished of the rest of those chips, and I finished, this morning, the rest of those cookies. I am going back to the old ways and eat the way I did the past 3 years, no more junk food! For real! NO more junk food! I gotta get rid of those last 18 pounds and more if I can.

20 words that once meant something very different...

I got into an innocuous spat with a friend on Facebook today over the use of a word. I remember hearing this word back in the 50s or 60s. The word was "Crone". As I remember it was, as I looked up in the dictionary, way back when, had something to do with the witch in "Snow White".

Anyway, my Facebook Friend introduced me to a book, "The Crone: Women of  Age, Wisdom, and Power," and stated, "The wisdom and value of older women is often marginalized in Western Culture." And that makes total sense.

I read, or I saw it on YouTube, recently, Words that had their meaning changed over many millennia. I found it interesting as I found this and many other views on how and why words were changed.

20 words that once meant something very different |:



'via Blog this'

Not feeling it today.

Fred Green - Not feeling it today. I wanted to go to the gym,...: "Not feeling it today. I wanted to go to the gym, early, but I guess I will just go to the throne room and read a book -- War and Peace -- I should feel better by the time I finish."



'via Blog this'

(3) Fred's Place

(3) Fred's Place: "Don't you hate it when a word pops into your head and you have never heard the word before, or seen the word before. And every couple minutes you think of that word. You can pronounce the word correctly...but you don't know the definition. that word I hear, in my mind; euclidean -- weird, huh?"



'via Blog this'

Ya spoiled brat...

I think I have finally spoiled Tom, my cat. (What am I talking about, I spoiled them both many years ago.) Both cats wolfed down their food at 8 am this morning. About 15 minutes ago, as I was cooking lunch he comes into the Kitchen and starts whining, and whining loud at his bowl. So, I opened another can for him. When he was finished eating that little tiny bit he decided to bug me. Now, he's sitting, on the floor, next to me Whining. He wants to sit on my lap as I type. Nope, no more sitting, he just jumped onto my lap. Now I know why I can't get any writing done.

Writing and beer go together like...

I have been writing for the last 3 hours and 40 minutes and I noticed something; I have been drinking Guinness and Stella Artois beer for the last week and today. My sister came by yesterday and brought me a case of Bud Light. Talk about awful...and I use to like Bud light.

Resolutions – substitutions; Just say no to Resolutions

It’s that time of the year again, time for Resolutions. I have posted many times that I do not make resolutions; I just plan and do the deeds. However, I say this every year and I do make a list of things that I have to do to keep my sanity, especially in the realm of writing.

I have been writing, but only posting to my blog. Why you ask? I gotta stop drinking, procrastinating and going onto Facebook, and watching sports, and…but I digress.

I am not going to get caught up in the hype of resolutions, on the first day of January. Besides, I think all resolutions are a precursor to failure. However, I personally find that there really isn’t anything wrong with failure, failure means, you at least tried.

What I am going to do, try and maybe fail, and or, try and succeed, well, there are a bunch of things that I must do for the year of 2017 and beyond. I really have to finish all of the below because, I am tired of eating PB&J every day, with water. I really miss eating steak, salmon, caviar, champagne…even though I am a vegetarian, I still miss em all.

My goals for 2017:

Finish the novel I started for NaNoWriMo, by at least by the end February, or at least sometime this year, “Marooned”. I am into about 10k words (that took me six days to write 10k words), and would love to end with at least, 60k – 70k+ words. I have had a cover created, which has inspired me to write the story, all of which is glued to a tiny portion of my brain.

 I have finished two books in my “fictional autobiography” series. Now I need to edit them and find someone to read them, for clarity. There are four more in the series to write. The main thing is to find a publisher. I would love to have this series published the old-fashioned, traditional, way. Self-publishing is not out of the question.

In past couple of months, I have come up a few new story lines, Time Sleeper, Day Runner, Comic Con and Surf's Up. My plate is getting full, and I am hungry.

I started writing a new book of poetry, Haikus. The Haiku’s are in regard to the seasons.  I was taking pictures of nature, in the spring, summer, fall and winter. I think I have all the pictures I need. Of course, a few more won’t hurt, and I have written over a hundred and fleshed out many more haiku’s. However, I have over 500 pictures, which is about the amount I would need to finish writing.

In addition, I have finished two screenplays. Now that I found out about Amazon Storywriter, it should help me focus on my story with features such as auto-formatting, import/export of my favorite file formats. They have also announced that they are now welcoming online submissions of drama series projects and are offering new expansions to their open-door submission policy.

A new Web site! I took the last one down three or so years ago. My goal is to get one up and running in the next couple of months.

On 3x5 cards, I have written out 42 stories. Most of them I wrote over 30 years or so ago. It’s time to outline those stories and get productive this years.

I have so many other goals to accomplish this year, and as of the first of January, I can’t think of any resolutions.