While posting my complaint about Amazon's non delivery I must have said something out loud.  The delivery that had been postponed to the 9th (same one supposed to be here yesterday) is now coming today.  I think Alexa heard me say something about going IRL to get what I wanted.  

 

There's a music group by that name. Texas Flood. True Texas rock and roll.

But today it is where we are rather than someone playing guitar. The floods down south have worked their way up here. We are perfectly safe. The summer after we moved into this house it rained like this and flooded all around so I know we are not in a dangerous place. But not so much for new houses down the valley from us. I tried to get a picture this morning of the South Fork of the San Gabriel river. It has, as they say, spilled its banks.

About 15 years ago it rained like it is now. It was June and It just kept coming. I used to ride my bike on the back roads around here and frequented one that cut across the river in a couple of places, low water crossings. After the rains the Georgetown lake backed up 15 miles or so and the water that I was riding across when it was dribbling slowly over the crossing was now at a high water mark of 20 or so feet up the trees on it's bank. The whole valley below us was flooded. It was pretty amazing to see and note after it had receeded by the remnants on the trees.

I don't think we're going to be near that now but it is trying hard. A couple of more days with rain like this morning would do it. Our back yard is typically dry but we are downhill from the rest of the houses on our street and next to a storm drain that has, apparently, backed up.



I'm listening to a pretty serious rumble of thunder that is rolling down the valley just like the river so we might not be done yet.

Earlier I drove down to get some bagels and crossed over the San Gabriel.  I've been watching for the past year or so as they built a development on the banks of the river remembering, as I do, that the water had flooded up those very banks not so long ago.  It has not reached the lower houses yet but I suspect the people in them are reviewing their flood insurance or, more likely, their lack of it.  

I was going to write more but this computer is too slow and stops when I start to type at times so rather than do something with it I'll regret, I'll stop.

The little Chrome mini Asus is not the same as my PC.  But I got a near top of the line workstation when I got my Lenovo and then added ram and a faster solid state drive.  Alas the security architecture was not up to Win 11 standards.

This Celeron mini is not the same.  I think it is mostly in the graphics which would make sense.  Without looking I'm sure it has a graphics chip that is OK by normal standards but is not quick by my PC standards so there is a lag when I open something.  I'll get used to it.  Not like I need speed for any reason.  And nearly everything I need is the same as I was already using so no real function change.

My IT friend gave me a monitor he had sitting around but the plug is display port and the mini only has one display port available currently in use.  So I need an adapter HDMI to display port.  I got one from Amazon same day and, of course, it was male to female rather than the other way round.  I'm out of practice so I didn't notice.  New one ordered will be here tomorrow.  Then I'll be back going with two monitors and will be much happier.  Once I have that I'll pull everything apart and assemble it neatly and run the wires right and make it pretty.  Then I'll be even happier.

Dana's infection looks a bit worse today but we now have a plan.  Her normal care physician called us this afternoon and we mulled over the options.  She created a referral for a CT scan so we can see that there is or is not infection and if so it is 1 - surface and skin and muscle or 2 - progressed to the bone.  That latter one is a possibility that we're not going to deal with at the moment.  If the former then we're starting, tomorrow, an antibiotic that should fix the problem.  I think it is possible that she's had the infection now since her original surgery and it is just hanging on.  She had a reaction to the antibiotic they were giving her and they just stopped rather than try something else.  She is sensitive to a lot of the antibiotic choices so it is hard to find one that doesn't cause a problem.

I feel like we at least have a plan and some momentum.

Meanwhile she's moving pretty well.  She cleaned out the flower beds today and was proud of herself.  She'll be iced and hurting tomorrow but it was good for her to accomplish something physical without too much pain.

I played pickleball and will take a couple of days off again this week.  Probably will bike around some tomorrow but mostly rest and enjoy Wimbledon.

I received my $300 from SoFi today and immediately applied it to my Google store so now I've only got a couple of months to pay off the interest free loan.  I could have easily put that money into an interest bearing account and paid off Google slowly but I do so love not having any debt at all and will be back there shortly.

My PC will be insecure in a couple of months so I finally did what I've been thinking about for years and moved to a Chromebook.  Actually a Chrome ASUS mini computer.  It came today and in typical Google fashion I was fully up, updated and signed in as I am now in about 20 minutes.  Longest thing was the initial download and getting my Jelly KB and mouse to connect.  I did get that to work but may end up moving back to the logitec.  The Jelly is OK but once I went ergonomic all the other keyboards seem so tiny and cramped.  The Jelly is a backup and will still work and be here for me but I think I'll go back to Logitec.

Rather than ask for a password and user my new computer said, 'hey, I see you've got a pixel, you can just scan this code and we'll set everything up based on that authentication.  DONE!!  The coolest ever set up.

I've got a friend in the computer biz still who is going to give me a nice used monitor to replace my secondary VGA monitor (not compatible with the mini computer).  He's got a monitor and HDMI cable he's giving me for free.  So I'll be fully operational and shutting down Microsoft forever by Wednesday.  It frees up a bunch of room and wires once I pull the PC so I'll be rearranging things and will have more room in my office now.  Actually will now have room for a couch.  Thinking about it.

Meanwhile, I found out today about a new pickleball facility with four indoor courts being built near us.  I signed up as a founding member.  Air conditioned indoor courts close by.  I am ready.  

Off to cook supper.

I've never known what to say to AI chat.  There is one that you can pay $19/month for that will keep you happy and safe as a senior.  Or something like that.  In the past month or two I've asked a few questions but nothing that would qualify as a conversation.

But I thought I'd do a quick experiment and I input a kind of didactic statement to ChatGPT regarding man and God to see what it would say.  I brought out my inner Archibald MacLeash.  The AI told me how inciteful was my observation and proceeded to give me a nicely referenced discussion of my assertion.  It was fun.  I added some more information, another observation, and again was complemented on my discerning intellect.  We went back and forth some and the AI was generally very supportive and encouraging.  It was the nicest kind of place to be.  Like my teacher finally realized I deserved an A+.  I kept a copy of the exchange.

And, of course, my bullshit meter went off.  Clearly I'm brilliant but not THAT brilliant. 

So I thought I'd reverse my arguement in another session.  I opened an incognito window so the AI would not know who I was and compare the two and took the oposing view of my same statement.  This time with religion at the core of everything that might happen good in the country's future.  

And got a kind of pat on the head.  The answer was more 'Yes, but' as compared to the previous 'YES AND'.  

If Chatbot is essentially a compendium of all of the Internet and much of the written word it is an interesting thought that the result skews towards rationalism over theology or whatever the two opposites are.  

Oh, yeah, the reason I went down this path had been lost in my subconscious until I just wrote that last.  There is an AI that specilaizes in the Bible (presumably the Christain Bible but no idea which one).  My thought was that this is the ultimate echo chamber.  Using an AI to bolster arguments that allow all the ridiculous contradictions that are inherent in humanity.

That is only allowed if I do it.

It's 85 and humid right now so I'm done outside (at 10:51).  I walked the dogs and worked on the chicken coop a bit.  I cut the metal panels for the coop roof, something I've been putting off for weeks.  It was a PIA but it is done and I'm down to half a dozen things needed to finish, none of them too hard.  I'll take pictures when it is completely done.  And get the chicks.

Today and tomorrow are rest days.  I'll cut the grass tomorrow morning and do some groceries today but that's it.  I was playing pickleball yesterday and tired out quickly.  I think I was still tired from working at the shelter on Tuesday.  So I decided that today and tomorrow would be recovery days with no real exercise and minimal physical projects.  Cutting the grass takes about half an hour so it hardly counts.  

I'm going to shower and go to the store and then just rest and watch Whitechapel.  

One of the perks of moving to SoFi is that they offer up to $300 once you start direct deposits.  I think I'll end up qualifying for the maximum $300 so I'll apply that to Google Store and between that and my phone trade in of $140 that just cleared, the phone is about $90.  It is a much better phone in ways I can't much describe.  The battery charge is obviously much better than its 3 year old predecessor.  It is also quicker and better at recognizing my face and finger print.  It is nearly an identical phone feature wise.  I can hardly find anything of significance that has changed.  But it was a good time to upgrade.  My trade in was maximized and my old phone will go to a good home and not be trash sitting in my drawer.

As long as I'm upgrading I decided not to wait for Microsoft to declare my PC unsafe, which will happen in October.  My now seven year old computer is still going fine but the Win 10 is done and the security of Win 11 requires hardware that I don't have.  I'd upgrade and stay in the MS family but for that.  Much as I hate to lose the PC I'm moving to a Chrome mini Asus.  It has a ton of outputs that will support local USB drives and my two monitors with ease.  And will sit under my main monitor or mount on it or something.  Not sure how I'm doing that but it will free up a lot of space.

The only thing I lose, the only thing I use MS for really, is the ability to play Halo.  I've got a one game collection that has a half dozen Halo versions in it that I've been playing for years.  I will not like losing that but will figure out something else.  Maybe save up for an Xbox.  

Right now, though, I'm going to have a sandwich and a shower.

This morning was busy. I went out to buy Dana an apple fritter and then came back to ride my bike for about 45 minutes and then walk the dogs. I could feel that my body was tired at the beginning of my ride. I played PB yesterday and it does add up. I'm scheduled for three busy days M-W and then will back off for Thursday and Friday and catch up some rest.

My bike shoes are good. I can move my toes. For brand new shoes that have not at all broken in they were great. So worth the money and will be the last ones I ever buy.

Today is one of my grandaughter's birthdays. She turns 17 today. Mind boggling. I've not seen her for a really long time. Nor her sister. So much water under the bridge.

Her birthday means that I now have two granddaughters that will turn 18 next spring. The other one, my son Matt's daughter, has been hidden away by her sociapathic mother for a dozen years now. My son, who still does, I think, provide child support, has not seen her in about that long either.

Things will surely change next year.

One day soon I'll be a great grandfather.

Still riding my bike and playing pickleball.

Meanwhile, here is an interesting bird we passed while walking this morning:



He didn't move away but kept pecking at the ground scarfing up whatever food he had found.

It is a blue budgie parakeet likely wild and maybe not an escapee. There is a wild population in southern Texas that gets up this way occasionally. The second time I've seen one just hanging in the wild.

The things I see on Mulberry Street.

The Ranch was pastoral. Out in the middle of nowhere and 24 dogs when it was pretty much full and most of them will stay there until the die.

The Texas Humane Heros shelter is in the middle of suburbia and has maybe 60 dogs most of them puppies or very young dogs are they are all being set up for adoption.



Your basic dog shelter. They also, of course, have the cat house.

The Ranch needed me to walk the dogs, usually six or seven a day, for 20 minutes or so including letting them go off leash for a bit in the appropriate areas.

The shelter needs to get all the dogs out of their cages for a quick walk and then into a smaller cage area to stay while their primary is being cleaned. No real time to hang out with the dogs, play with them off leash, etc. Just a morning walk and then reloacated.

Then the staff (and there were probably 15 of them, lots of summer job kids) take all the stuff out of the cages, scrup the floors with detergent, squeegee off the suds, and spray with disinfectant and then return things back to normal.

The dogs also get two more walks during the day and they work with them to socialize and play and learn.



This is Mia. 8ish months old. She is one of the dogs I walked. And:



Mr Peanut Butter who is about six months old.

Both were really nice but it was not the same at all as walking the Ranch dogs.

I participated in scrubbing and squeeging and then retired to the laundry where I helped a woman who is about my age wash bowls and toys and laundry and sort and shelve the same.

I worked for a total of 3 hours and am ready for a nap soon as I take a shower. It was just plain work. For a good cause. I'm going to commit to a couple of months and see how it goes. Not as emotionally fulfilling but that may change. I'm not so much of a puppy person as an old dog person but they really do need the help and there is a lot to do.

So we'll see how it goes Thursday.  

A week or so ago I heard an unusual banging in the washing machine.  I'd just put clothes in it so I quickly took a look.  There was my phone all turned on and bright and sitting on top of the clothes in the shallow water.  I pulled it out and dried it off and it was working fine. Then the USB charge port failed.  So I ordered another Pixel, a 9a.  During the order I said I'd trade in my Pixel 7 and answered the questions truthfully.  And they sent me an email that comes before the trade in packaging.

Then I read some Reddit and fiddled with the USB port using a needle.  NOW it works fine, actually better than before.  I don't think it was getting a full connection before but it is happening now.

SO, now what do I do?  It is Sunday so nothing has happened.  I can cancel right now and it will all be as if nothing happened.

The new phone would end up costing $486 after trade-in spread out over a couple of years at no interest.  So, really, not much.  The phone I currently have works fine but does not hold a charge.  I'm ABC, always be charging.  The 9a is getting a lot of raves so maybe it is time to upgrade anyway and my subconscious that left the phone in the washing maching was trying to tell me.  

Sigh.

Meanwhile I've thought about the Humane center and decided to go there tomorrow and talk to them in person.  I really want to walk dogs at least at first.  There is a ton of other things that they want and I might change but right now I miss walking dogs, spending time with them, getting advice and pictures.  So I'm going to ask if I can just do that one day a week and see how it goes.  I've had some good advice on doing it this way and am going to take it.

Still thinking about the phone.  

Volunteer orientation. Taking us through the cat rooms.