Home Maintenance

   I haven't written anything recently because we're in the process of painting the house and I've put in ten hour days for the last week.  Oldest son Sean has been rebuilding the storm windows and grandsons Shane and Josh have been helping with the actual paint job.  (Youngest son Dan works swing shift and his hours aren't compatible with the rest of us).  So far our time has been largely spent pressure-washing, scraping and sanding with the occasional foray into Git-Rot and Bondo.  Thankfully all of that is nearly done and we've actually started painting.
   The front gable is the most inaccessible part of the building and after I set up the scaffold (it's more secure than it looks) dw wanted to give it a try.  -- dw wants to put it on record that a sit-harness adds a good 15 pounds to a person's appearance (for me that ship has sailed) --  So dw spent a couple of hours getting some climbing exposure.  -- I was up there yesterday afternoon --  We both use a safety rope and a Gibbs ascender that I dug out of my pile of long-unused climbing stuff --
   I took the day off and  ran some errands:  Renewed my driver's license (including a new photo -- surprisingly,  it's not awful)  And since my car wouldn't start this morning, I jump-started it and drove to a battery place.  Of course it needed a new battery.  After the running around I spent the day reading. 

   When she's not on a scaffold, dw is a skilled health-care professional.  A few days ago in the course of a discussion (between the two of us) regarding health-care costs, she mentioned a place where she once worked that, as a matter of course, gave 100% oxygen to post-operation patients.  She thinks the procedure was a waste of time and money with no real health benefit.  I, however, think that the practice is a definitive explanation for the problem of SHC.  -- Spontaneous Human Combustion -- A mysterious malady where people burst into flames and keep combusting until they're charcoal.  But if someone inhales pure oxygen and then tries to light a fart:  Presto!  Bubba Brulee.

Books:  Other than the newspaper I've been too busy to read much, but I have started "Lost Discoveries" (Dick Teresi).  Blurb:  The ancient roots of modern science -- from the Babylonians to the Maya --- Which  summarizes the book.  It's interesting but the author spends way too much time erecting straw men to knock over.  (OMG, India or somebody invented the zero way before the prideful Europeans thought of it!)  It's good enough to pass the time.  DA