I actually made some chips today, first "normal" thing I've done for a
month. (Doing taxes and settling an estate is not "normal".) A
friend and neighbor at the lake wanted some clamps made to hold a
special ladder to his dock. They use it to enter the water from the
dock to go swimming.

It's a very simple project, maybe more later when I finish it. The
lake is still ice-covered but that'll change soon. They won't be
swimming in it any time soon, though. All I did today was make eight
1/2" dia stainless posts about 1" long by parting them off in the
lathe. I thru-drilled and tapped one, will do the other 7 when I
return to that task. They're like threaded standoffs. They'll mount
to an ally extrusion, and will receive stainless bolts that snug up
stainless or aluminum crosscaps that grab the ladder posts. The
extrusion fits the dock, came from the dock mfr. I made the posts out
of stainless because I don't like aluminum threads around water.
Stainless on stainless works OK.

Hm. Mary was always in the house when I was doing stuff in the shop.
If something happened, she'd eventually miss me and come out to check.
Maybe I should start calling or emailing one of the kids when I start
something out there, and then call or email again when I'm done for
the day. I never work with tools after Miller time. I never used to
carry a cellphone but I always have one in my pocket now. Not turned
on, of course. "Chatting" on the phone does not appeal to me at all.

Going shooting tomorrow with my gunsmoke luncheon & social friends,
really looking forward to that. I have technically shot since Mary
departed but I didn't know she was gone until I got home from the
range and answered the phone so that doesn't really count.

Later I'll visit my son and his girlfriend at their place for dinner.
They are very good in the kitchen, I'm learning a lot.

I was alone today and tonight but I did see people today: the dentist
and his staff, and the acupuncturist. The front desk gal at the
dentist asked how Mary was. I broke the news to her. She lost it
instantly and Dr. John, who was standing nearby, looked like he'd been
sucker punched. People liked Mary and we'd been going to that
dentist for many years.

Donna lost her hub about 4 years ago, said it took her about a year to
recover. Man, I don't like hearing that but the story is pretty
consistent across the sample of folks I've talked to. OK, so I'm
8.33% of the way, 1/4 mile into a 3 mile hike. The last half is
always easier than the first half. The longest part of an all-day (or
multi-day) journey is the first two hours.

I tried out the new veggie steamer and rice cooker last evening.
Excellent! The rice cooker made perfect rice with no operator
intervention. The veggie steamer overcooked the asparagus but it was
uniformly overcooked. I just need to back off the time a bit. Nuked
aspergrass is never cooked uniformly; the stems or stalks are
underdone when the heads are done to overdone. Steam is better.
Countertop appliance is better than stovetop for me because it has a
timer; I can be outside grilling stuff and the steamer will shut
itself off at a preset time.

Still takin' things one day at a time. Some days are better than
others.

Don Foreman wrote:
I actually made some chips today, first "normal" thing I've done for a
month. (Doing taxes and settling an estate is not "normal".) A
friend and neighbor at the lake wanted some clamps made to hold a
special ladder to his dock. They use it to enter the water from the
dock to go swimming.

Sad for folks who never take the opportunity to make something!


(...)

The longest part of an all-day (or multi-day) journey is the first
two hours.

Ain't that the truth!

(...)

I tried out the new veggie steamer and rice cooker last evening.
Excellent! The rice cooker made perfect rice with no operator
intervention. The veggie steamer overcooked the asparagus but it was
uniformly overcooked. I just need to back off the time a bit. Nuked
aspergrass is never cooked uniformly; the stems or stalks are
underdone when the heads are done to overdone. Steam is better.
Countertop appliance is better than stovetop for me because it has a
timer; I can be outside grilling stuff and the steamer will shut
itself off at a preset time.

I'm using my new electric grill/panini maker outside to cook
bacon or ground beef. That keeps the atmosphere in the house
agreeable.

Still takin' things one day at a time. Some days are better than
others.

And that is quite normal.

You sound more positive overall and that is a great thing!

--Winston

Don Foreman wrote:

Hm. Mary was always in the house when I was doing stuff in the shop.
If something happened, she'd eventually miss me and come out to check.
Maybe I should start calling or emailing one of the kids when I start
something out there, and then call or email again when I'm done for
the day. I never work with tools after Miller time. I never used to
carry a cellphone but I always have one in my pocket now. Not turned
on, of course. "Chatting" on the phone does not appeal to me at all.

Put a netcam in the shop, so the friends / relatives can check on you
periodically and send help if necessary. You can also setup a watchdog
timer of sorts that you set when you start working in the shop and if
you don't hit the button to reset it when the alarm goes off every 15
minutes, it emails/text messages the friends and relatives to indicate
something may be wrong.

On Apr 20, 10:18*am, "Pete C." wrote:


Put a netcam in the shop, so the friends / relatives can check on you
periodically and send help if necessary. You can also setup a watchdog
timer of sorts that you set when you start working in the shop and if
you don't hit the button to reset it when the alarm goes off every 15
minutes, it emails/text messages the friends and relatives to indicate
something may be wrong.

Sounds like a good idea. But that idea made me think of another idea.

Consider taking pictures of the projects as you make them. And since
you write well, write up a narrative on how you made them and why you
took the approach you used. Then see if Home Shop Machinist would
like the article, or collect and sell a CD or DVD of your projects.

If you do set up a netcam, maybe let the RCM people know how to access
it in addition to your relatives.

Dan

Don Foreman wrote:

Hm. Mary was always in the house when I was doing stuff in the shop.
If something happened, she'd eventually miss me and come out to check.
Maybe I should start calling or emailing one of the kids when I start
something out there, and then call or email again when I'm done for
the day. I never work with tools after Miller time. I never used to
carry a cellphone but I always have one in my pocket now. Not turned
on, of course. "Chatting" on the phone does not appeal to me at all.

When I'm doing something where there is risk that I might not be able to extract myself
like crawling down in the well pit or working in a crawl space, I give my mom or uncle a
call letting them know where I'm at and to come looking for me if I don't call them back
in a hour or so.

I've also learned the best way to have an enjoyable evening is to turn that damn cell
phone off. Most calls I get are from people that want something.

I'm glad you are getting out in the shop. It is a good sign.

Hang in there,

Wes

On Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:44:32 -0500, Don Foreman
wrote:

SNIP
Hm. Mary was always in the house when I was doing stuff in the shop.
If something happened, she'd eventually miss me and come out to check.
Maybe I should start calling or emailing one of the kids when I start
something out there, and then call or email again when I'm done for
the day. I never work with tools after Miller time. I never used to
carry a cellphone but I always have one in my pocket now. Not turned
on, of course. "Chatting" on the phone does not appeal to me at all.

BIGGER SNIP

Hey Don,

A simple suggestion until you rig up something good.....

I don't know how far away the good neighbours are, but if they are
close enough, consider an alarm clock-radio, set to any annoying
station (Hip-Hop ??) and at full volume. Place it outside and set to
go off when you think you will be done in the shop. Switch it from
ALARM to OFF as you go back in the house. If you forget to shut it
off, go push the button, and any time that they were being "serenaded"
will show neighbours that you are "up & at em", and really just
forgetful. (VBG) And if it's longer than say a minute, they should
come and have a look. A phone call from them won't do.

And of course a "911" on the cell phone is good. And from
"Neighbourhood Watch" literature... car keys with a PANIC button...
good idea at the bedside too. Of course, both these, and any plan that
requires you to "DO" something when you get in trouble, only work if
you are conscious and have at least hand & arm control and motion.

Hey, you are a really inventive guy...get something figured out, and
then get a patent !!!!! Hmmmm.... I think I'd head towards
something along the lines of "If the lights in the shop are on, I have
to perform a simple action at X time interval, and there will be an
interior only "warning" signal at Y time as a precursor. Maybe some
simple IR motion detector(s) constantly "resetting/re-initiating" the
X time, in which event the X time could be pretty short, say even as
low as 1 minute. Hey, maybe just a cheapo alarm system or one from a
garage sale (that's fun stuff to do too !!) and fiddle with it so the
IR detection works in reverse...lots of detection...no alarm, but no
detection...sound off loudly. That gets the "15 minute noise
abatement" too.

Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.

Hm. Mary was always in the house when I was doing stuff in the shop.
If something happened, she'd eventually miss me and come out to check.
Maybe I should start calling or emailing one of the kids when I start
something out there, and then call or email again when I'm done for
the day.

Create a very sensitive momentum detector that you'd wear. If you
stop moving for more than perhaps 30 seconds, it beeps and if you
don't jiggle it to reset it, it starts making phone calls / sets off
an alarm, or does something to summon help.

I never used to
carry a cellphone but I always have one in my pocket now. Not turned
on, of course. "Chatting" on the phone does not appeal to me at all.

Mine is off unless I'm making a call or expecting one. Calls are just
interruptions to something else I'd rather be doing.

RWL

I won't work in my shop without my cell phone.

One day I had about 800 pounds more or less of sheet and plate
steel lean over on me. I was trying to drag out a sheet behind
and got the overweight stack just off center.

It pinned me between a surface grinder and the stack.

I was able to peal off some but not the heavy ones with one
hand. Cell call to beloved in the house and between ourselves
and my knowledge got the steel off me.

Phew.

Martin

On 4/20/2011 9:18 AM, Pete C. wrote:

Don Foreman wrote:

Hm. Mary was always in the house when I was doing stuff in the shop.
If something happened, she'd eventually miss me and come out to check.
Maybe I should start calling or emailing one of the kids when I start
something out there, and then call or email again when I'm done for
the day. I never work with tools after Miller time. I never used to
carry a cellphone but I always have one in my pocket now. Not turned
on, of course. "Chatting" on the phone does not appeal to me at all.

Put a netcam in the shop, so the friends / relatives can check on you
periodically and send help if necessary. You can also setup a watchdog
timer of sorts that you set when you start working in the shop and if
you don't hit the button to reset it when the alarm goes off every 15
minutes, it emails/text messages the friends and relatives to indicate
something may be wrong.

GeoLane at PTD dot NET GeoLane at PTD dot NET wrote:
Don wrote:

I never used to
carry a cellphone but I always have one in my pocket now. Not turned
on, of course. "Chatting" on the phone does not appeal to me at all.

Mine is off unless I'm making a call or expecting one. Calls are just
interruptions to something else I'd rather be doing.

I can't understand why everybody seems to be on the phone all the time.
Once, while walking to the corner store, I was waiting for the "WALK"
signal, and some car was waiting for the traffic to clear or whatever;
it had two people in it, and they were both talking on the phone. I
remarked to them, "Please tell my you're not talking to EACH OTHER!!!"

They laughed. :-)

Cheers!
Rich

Remember just because you press the OFF button doesn't mean
it is OFF. It has to stay on in reduced mode - still GPS...
and keyboard scan to read your ON button when you press it.

So track you they can. Just not chat with you.
I don't know if MOM's software can track with the phone off,
but I suspect so.

Martin

On 4/20/2011 11:46 PM, Rich Grise wrote:
GeoLane at PTD dot NETGeoLane at PTD dot NET wrote:
Don wrote:

I never used to
carry a cellphone but I always have one in my pocket now. Not turned
on, of course. "Chatting" on the phone does not appeal to me at all.

Mine is off unless I'm making a call or expecting one. Calls are just
interruptions to something else I'd rather be doing.

I can't understand why everybody seems to be on the phone all the time.
Once, while walking to the corner store, I was waiting for the "WALK"
signal, and some car was waiting for the traffic to clear or whatever;
it had two people in it, and they were both talking on the phone. I
remarked to them, "Please tell my you're not talking to EACH OTHER!!!"

They laughed. :-)

Cheers!
Rich

On Wed, 20 Apr 2011 22:35:27 -0400, GeoLane at PTD dot NET GeoLane at
PTD dot NET wrote:



Create a very sensitive momentum detector that you'd wear. If you
stop moving for more than perhaps 30 seconds, it beeps and if you
don't jiggle it to reset it, it starts making phone calls / sets off
an alarm, or does something to summon help.

SERIOUSLY, GeoLane? (My kids love shreiking "SERIOUSLY, Foreman?"
Mary also called me Foreman most of the time.

A goal is to regain the ability to stop moving for more than 30
seconds and up to a couple of hours. I no longer have a Mary hand to
hold in the recliner next to me in front of the TV while one or both
of us nods in and out. I've not been watching much TV recently. I
do the news at 10, that's about it.

Rich Grise wrote:

Once, while walking to the corner store, I was waiting for the "WALK"
signal, and some car was waiting for the traffic to clear or whatever;
it had two people in it, and they were both talking on the phone. I
remarked to them, "Please tell my you're not talking to EACH OTHER!!!"

Nay, for that they would have texted each other

I had a similar moment. Down the street from me, single mom.
Erik, 13, mowed my lawn. Mike, 18, used to mow my lawn, but
was too busy chasing girls. Mike bought an old car, and had
a loud muffler. He brought it to my place, we patched it
with some sheet metal. He checked his brakes, one day. Left
his four way wrench. About two weeks later, his Mom stopped
by.

After the pleasantries, I mentioned he'd left his wrench
here. She said "you didn't hear?". No, I'm always the last
to hear. He and three buddies were speeding, and wrecked. He
was in the back seat, not wearing a lap belt. He was the
only one killed.

I'm sad to hear of your loss. I know life will never be the
same. I think of Mike now and again, probably less often
than you think of Mary. Carrying a cell phone is wise, and
also working only while clear headed.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Don Foreman" wrote in
message ...
I actually made some chips today, first "normal" thing I've
done for a
month. (Doing taxes and settling an estate is not
"normal".) A
friend and neighbor at the lake wanted some clamps made to
hold a
special ladder to his dock. They use it to enter the water
from the
dock to go swimming.

It's a very simple project, maybe more later when I finish
it. The
lake is still ice-covered but that'll change soon. They
won't be
swimming in it any time soon, though. All I did today was
make eight
1/2" dia stainless posts about 1" long by parting them off
in the
lathe. I thru-drilled and tapped one, will do the other 7
when I
return to that task. They're like threaded standoffs.
They'll mount
to an ally extrusion, and will receive stainless bolts that
snug up
stainless or aluminum crosscaps that grab the ladder posts.
The
extrusion fits the dock, came from the dock mfr. I made the
posts out
of stainless because I don't like aluminum threads around
water.
Stainless on stainless works OK.

Hm. Mary was always in the house when I was doing stuff in
the shop.
If something happened, she'd eventually miss me and come out
to check.
Maybe I should start calling or emailing one of the kids
when I start
something out there, and then call or email again when I'm
done for
the day. I never work with tools after Miller time. I
never used to
carry a cellphone but I always have one in my pocket now.
Not turned
on, of course. "Chatting" on the phone does not appeal to
me at all.

Going shooting tomorrow with my gunsmoke luncheon & social
friends,
really looking forward to that. I have technically shot
since Mary
departed but I didn't know she was gone until I got home
from the
range and answered the phone so that doesn't really count.

Later I'll visit my son and his girlfriend at their place
for dinner.
They are very good in the kitchen, I'm learning a lot.

I was alone today and tonight but I did see people today:
the dentist
and his staff, and the acupuncturist. The front desk gal
at the
dentist asked how Mary was. I broke the news to her. She
lost it
instantly and Dr. John, who was standing nearby, looked like
he'd been
sucker punched. People liked Mary and we'd been going to
that
dentist for many years.

Donna lost her hub about 4 years ago, said it took her about
a year to
recover. Man, I don't like hearing that but the story is
pretty
consistent across the sample of folks I've talked to. OK,
so I'm
8.33% of the way, 1/4 mile into a 3 mile hike. The last
half is
always easier than the first half. The longest part of an
all-day (or
multi-day) journey is the first two hours.

I tried out the new veggie steamer and rice cooker last
evening.
Excellent! The rice cooker made perfect rice with no
operator
intervention. The veggie steamer overcooked the asparagus
but it was
uniformly overcooked. I just need to back off the time a
bit. Nuked
aspergrass is never cooked uniformly; the stems or stalks
are
underdone when the heads are done to overdone. Steam is
better.
Countertop appliance is better than stovetop for me because
it has a
timer; I can be outside grilling stuff and the steamer will
shut
itself off at a preset time.

Still takin' things one day at a time. Some days are
better than
others.

"Help, I'm machining, and can't get up!"

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Brian Lawson" wrote in message
...


And of course a "911" on the cell phone is good. And from
"Neighbourhood Watch" literature... car keys with a PANIC
button...
good idea at the bedside too. Of course, both these, and any
plan that
requires you to "DO" something when you get in trouble, only
work if
you are conscious and have at least hand & arm control and
motion.

Fire departments have that kind of thing.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


GeoLane at PTD dot NET wrote in message
...

Create a very sensitive momentum detector that you'd wear.
If you
stop moving for more than perhaps 30 seconds, it beeps and
if you
don't jiggle it to reset it, it starts making phone calls /
sets off
an alarm, or does something to summon help.