Kaimusailing

It’s Thanksgiving hangover time and also time to make the annual mention about those who finally decide to off themselves thanks to the holiday vibe. It seems during the holidays some can’t take it anymore and decide to end it. Unfortunately these days they also decide to end it for others, some who have no relation at all to the perpetrator. A recent mass shooting prompted a newsperson to say it was the six hundredth and change such shooting. Astonishing.
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I am amidst a population with individuals who are proud of their collection of guns. I’d like to insult someone without them blowing me away. We can’t even agree to disagree. A gun is just a lethal object. It’s the individual who picks it up and pulls the trigger. There is something nonhuman about pointing a loaded weapon at someone and pulling the trigger. Oh, but we need the weapons to protect our homes. Some need to wear them in public, called open carry. If you wanted to shut down society, then let some carry loaded weapons on their hip for all to see. It’s my right under the constitution, the founding fathers. I need it on my hip to shop at Walmart. Don’t try to stop me.
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The breakdown in society is taking place right before our eyes. NYC becomes RIO. The weapon bearers control the streets.
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A brief note on the NY Jets football team: Backup quarterback was given the starting role and played a magnificent game, throwing for over 300 yards and 3 touchdowns. Of course the Jets won the game over the Chicago Bears.
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News from Hawaii includes the massive Mauna Loa volcano erupting for the first time in 40 years. I was on the phone with family just last night, so this is fresh news. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has an excellent website with web cams on the rim of the caldera, it’s US Geological Service, your tax dollars at work. The last time Mauna Loa erupted it threatened the capitol city of Hilo. Residents of Kailua-Kona will also be on alert.
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I was on the Pandemic Communal Porch watching yet another viral YouTube video about the NY Jets, but Big Dave fired up his big diesel truck and slowly turned it toward me. I was watching the Jake Asman show about the benching of Jet’s quarterback Zach Wilson and the ascendancy of his backup, Mike White, but I needed wine and bread, so I ran up to the truck and said let me get my wallet. Then we took off.
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We were going to Holt Electric that specializes in armatures, motors, alternators, generators, and having heard about it, I wanted to see it. It was “old school”, lots of bins, shelves, old motors, generators, some sitting there with no tags on them, others ready to be picked up. The hours on the sign said 8:30 to 4:30, but on the door was 9:30 to 3:00, banker’s hours.
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On the way back we stopped at Best Buy and my need was an HDMI cable for audio to a sound bar I had purchased for my cheapo TV set that had terrible sound quality. This was a Black Friday deal, audio cable not included. My research indicated the cable should cost about ten bucks or even less. At the store the HDMI cables were way more expensive. There was an optical audio cable, open box item, and it was hanging on a display that had a $6.67 price. After waiting in line for a long time the clerk said “19.99” and when I protested, he said he couldn’t sell it cheaper. I said keep it.
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Dave suggested we go to the next door Walmart where I purchased an HDMI cable for $6.53. I also purchased a couple bottles of Barefoot Pinot Noir, which I recommend. David had a Black Box box of malbec, which is also good. We returned to St. Marys and the Southern River Walk restaurant. We ordered the house pinot noir at the happy hour price of $3.50 a glass, then later the upscale pinot noir at $9.00 a glass. Not that much better.
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I do not like brioche buns and this restaurant has them for all of its sandwiches except for the BLT, which comes on Texas Toast. Big Dave is from Texas. I had had the burger on Texas Toast instead of brioche bun previously and I wanted to try something without the Texas Toast oily greasy butter. It was not that bad, but I asked what the Philly Cheesesteak came on, and it was described as a sub roll, so I asked for the burger to be cut in half and served on the sub roll. They complied and it was very nice. The wait staff asked how it was and I said it should be on the menu.
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The next day I had symptoms of a head cold and took a covid test, negative. I felt bad. It was a cold this time, not a hangover. Instead of a nice warm day with sunshine and maybe getting more work done, it was a day of aches and sniffles. I was able to repair my favorite prep knife that had somehow lost its point. I trimmed it with the angle grinder with a cut off wheel, but this was slow going. I reinflated the dinghy and did a few other low impact chores. Tomorrow would bring a strong cold front with a lot of rain and wind. I had been planning on putting things away, but I was not up to the task. I would have the morning, maybe, to get everything under cover.
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The next day Komputer Ken texted me about going shopping, but I wasn’t sure I would be able to do that. I had no appetite, so it was just some coffee, and I joined Ken and Doc, of Doc’s Chop Shop, up to Harbor Freight, Hog and Bones for lunch, Walmart, and then the wind and rain hit. Indeed, this was a strong cold front that had ravaged the Mississippi valley, Alabama, and came here depleted, just rain, not much wind, no tornadoes. Back in the boatyard I remained in the car while the storm blew itself out, or in this case, rained itself out. It was over in about 30-40 minutes.
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In my shopping I gathered ingredients for Beef Bourguignon. I was not up to making it for dinner, put it away in the fridge.
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Beef Bourguignon is a standby recipe, something that is easy to concoct and respected by gourmets. It can consist of a simple beef and mirepoix recipe or be expanded into a stew with potatoes, etc. The main gist of it is to brown the beef and then stew it for about 2 hours. It is possible to make it in less time and maybe equally as good. This requires beef that is not overly tough, so something like a NY strip roast is a good candidate. The beef is seared and set aside while the other ingredients cook. The mirepoix with thyme needs to cook for a while to get the flavors to cooperate. The traditional method uses any piece of beef, the extended cooking time reduces it to fork tender. This time we are using a chuck roast.
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It’s strange that my shopping list had ingredients for Chicken Cacciatorre. This is another recipe that is easily concocted and almost always pleases the customers. I can make it next time.
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I couldn’t wait to have a peanut butter sandwich. My cold symptoms were coming and going. I had pinot noir with the sandwich, a good combination. I wondered if the wine would work OK with the beef. Normally I use a cabernet.
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I received an email from the manufacturer of the sound bar that I purchased from Amazon on Black Friday. It turns out the unit comes with a supplied optical cable. The fiasco in Best (Worst) Buy, when they wanted to charge me about 20 bucks for an open box optical cable seems hilarious. The HDMI cable I got at Walmart might be redundant.
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I used the Optima oven to make the beef bourguignon. I let it roast for 3 hours. It made enough for 4 lunch sized servings. I was still feeling ill, so didn’t have any. It will be better the next day anyway. I didn’t offer it to anyone else, didn’t want to be known as Typhoid Andy.
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We were having sunny days except for the cold front that came through and the batteries were coming back up to 100%. The charge controller then showed the solar panel voltage as 14, which would probably mean the panel circuit was open and the charge controller was showing the battery voltage. It was an easy problem to fix, a butt connector was very warm which indicated a bad connection, maybe corrosion. I opened the connection and cleaned the wire, reconnected and panel voltage jumped back up to over 40 volts.
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The sound bar installation was a snap, but it took a while to realize the red power light didn’t indicate the unit was on, it indicated the power was off. The manufacturer is Wohome. The difference in sound quality is significant. I used the supplied optical cable. If I used the HDMI cable I could have control of the sound bar from the TV set’s remote, but I don’t like that remote.
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The image is from saatchiart.com and is titled Bugs in Space, by Thiyden Padiachey of the US. It is available for purchase.