More family visits ; multiple trips to Chambersburg

(posted from home)
(This post covers 16 – 31 July, 2012)

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Tuesday, 31 July -

Today I had my annual appointment with my urologist. Fun, fun, fun.
Afterwards I rode over to the nearby Starbucks for lunch then went on to Rocky Ridge for a walk.
The temperature was down to something more reasonable today but the gnats were bad. I really, really need to remember to walk at Rudy County Park or Pinchot State Park once I've had a bad day (gnat-wise) at Rocky Ridge. Today's walk was a 1:50 even though I dawdled a bit to talk to two Eagle Scout candidates rebuilding a footbridge.
That evening we watched the last two episodes and the extras for season one of 'Hell on Wheels'. I love the extras when they show something new about the story and these did not disappoint. It's amazing what the production crew went through to get this story made. The storyline and directing has some weaknesses but once you see the conditions they filmed in and the challenges they had to create the sets and the train, all is forgiven. Wow. Looking forward to season two!

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Monday, 30 July -

The goal for today was to meet with our insurance agent. We had informed him of our construction work this Spring and today was the day to review our insurance plan for the house. We spent a few hours doing a whirlwind cleanup this morning before he arrived, then spent four hours going over insurance details, listening to insurance stories, taking measurements and a new set of pictures. Good session.
That evening we worked on the web and watched a bit of the London Olympics and then an Antiques Roadshow episode.

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Sunday, 29 July -

Today was another hot one. After a morning on the web I rode the GS into town to look for a replacement television for our kitchen counter. Our old 13” Sony analog is fading and I don't think it has much life left. It has a loose connection somewhere inside and the picture changes if I walk heavily across the kitchen floor.
I took a long a tape measure and checked out the 19” and 22” flat-screen models at Best Buy. I was surprised to see that a 19” tv has a picture with only a 9” (+/-) vertical measurement. The 22” pic is only about 10 and a half inches high.
Labashi wants to be able to turn on the tv manually (i.e., without the remote) so that leaves out the Samsung.
I also was checking out the VESA-mount screw holes and was surprised to see the Samsung model had them at the top of the unit while the Toshiba has them in the middle. That points out a remarkable shortcoming for online purchase. I looked at these or very similar models on online sites and none of them had any means for me to check this. All I'd need would be zoomable photos of the back of the units. The problem for me is the space is very limited and I may have to use a swing-arm mount. The mounts don't typically have vertical adjustability so it's critical I know how the tv fits to the mount.
Looks like the Toshiba model would work so I'll have to do some more research on those models. If the one at Best Buy gets decent reviews I'll likely go with that one.
I rode on over to Lowe's and looked for high-temp paint to touch up a few spots on the Concours. There wasn't much selection there so I zipped on over to Pep Boys and Advance Auto. Selection was better but I still couldn't get anything but spray cans and I think I want to brush these particular spots.
That evening I mowed the lawn in one hard push. I was sweating quite heavily and had my glasses so badly fogged I could hardly see. But the yard looks good!
That evening we watched four episodes of 'Sensitive Skin', finishing off part one.

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Saturday, 28 July -

I spent the morning on the web researching some options for my Concours motorcycle. I then headed to town for my coffee and walk. I had my coffee and rode on to Rocky Ridge Park. At the park I first took a half-hour or so to make notes about the motorcycle-- in this case the Concours. I'm trying to decide how far to go with repairs/maintenance and perhaps an upgrade. The cycle shop found the oil leak and it's in the secondary drive so that's about a $400 fix. The decision in this case is whether I want to go ahead and have the secondary drive replaced with what's called a 'seventh gear' drive. That would be another $600 but would give me an 'overdrive' type of gearing to address a common complaint on the Concours--- a need for higher-ratio final drive. I see it also needs tires and a day's worth of elbow grease, cleanup and touch-up paint.
As I finished taking notes I heard thunder in the distance and looked up to see a storm approaching. I decided to not take a chance walking in a thunderstorm and jumped on the bike to rush home. I made it within two miles of home when rain started. Fortunately, the rain was very light. Labashi told me a heavy storm had passed just a few minutes ago so by luck I had timed it perfectly.
That evening we watched 'Riding the Rails', a documentary about children of the Depression and their lives traveling the country looking for work.

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Friday, 27 July -

This morning our guests (Labashi's brother and family) took us out to brunch at the Bob Evans restaurant in New Cumberland. After our return home they packed up and headed for a week at the Delaware shore and then more family in the Washington, DC area. Great visit!
The recent changes to the house worked out very well. The central air was a godsend in the excessive heat we've had this week. And the new bathroom has turned our guest room into a nice motel room for our guests and completely erased the sense of too many people in a small shared space.
Our guests left around noon and we spent the rest of the day on the web. I had a few small financial tasks to handle and then caught up the offline blog.


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Thursday, 26 July -

Today Labashi and I saw our guests off to another day at Hershey Park and then drove to Chambersburg to finalize arrangements for a burial plot. We listened to the 'Retraction' episode of 'This American Life' on the way there. This was the retraction of an earlier show where Mike Daisey had done his theatrical piece which in effect accused Apple of allowing mistreatment of Chinese workers. The retraction was itself well done.
We had a late lunch at the local Quiznos and listened to another 'This American Life' episode on the way home. Labashi dropped me off at Cycle Tech to pick up the Concours. This is my older bike which has an oil leak. The shop found the leak but doesn't have time to work on it right now. I'm in no rush for the fix since the Concours is my winter bike and the weather is too hot to comfortably ride it for now. I brought it home and will check back in a month or so to schedule a fix.
That evening we worked on the web.

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Wednesday, 25 July -

Today Labashi went along to Hershey Park with our visitors. They left mid-morning and around noon I headed over to the shooting range. I shot two boxes of shells and found I can indeed get shots on paper if I take my time. I tend to push the trigger right and a bit low unless I take my time. I need to work on that.
I then rode from the shooting range to Pinchot State Park and walked from the east-side parking lot to the dam and back-- about an hour and a half of walking. I was surprised to have no problems with bugs in the woods along the lake.
We had such a pretty day today that I wanted a motorcycle ride so took the GS into the US-30 Starbucks for a light supper-- actually just a caramel macchiatto and biscotti.
That evening we watched 'Hell on Wheels' episodes on disc 2.

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Tuesday, 24 July -

Today our visitors went to Hershey Park for the day. They left in time for the 1000 opening but didn't return until 2300. I was amazed they could last so long on such a hot day.
I spent much of the day on the F650GS. I went into town on an errand then hit the Backwoods gun shop at Columbia (just checking the gun cases) and then picked up a supply of Doubleshot Lights at the Park City mall Starbucks.
Shortly after leaving the Park City Mall I was caught in a ferocious thunderstorm but found a convenient overpass to sit it out with another biker. The storm passed quickly and the sun came out and dried out my clothes as I rode.
I rode to Rudy Park and walked the 5K course in quite strong sun but at least I didn't have any bug problems.
That evening we watched 'Hell on Wheels'- disc 2.

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Monday, 23 July -

Today we took Labashi's brother's family to Chambersburg to see where the family had grown up. We took a walk at Caledonia, then toured around town to the hospital, high school, and their two old residences.
We then drove on to Mechanicsburg to see Mom and Dad. We took the boys geocaching while the adults caught up. As we left the apartment we had a few drops of rain but the rain stopped long enough for us to find the first cache. But at the second a thunderstorm came up just as we got to Ground Zero (the cache location) so we had to abandon.
We then went out to dinner with the adults at Texas Roadhouse before returning for more stories and chat.

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Sunday, 22 July -

We slept in Mocha Joe in Maypo's driveway last night and were quite comfortable. After chatting a bit and playing some fierce ping-pong, we took the kids geocaching again. Today we found our first five-star hide at 'Holy Diver' but we DNF'd at Vaulting that Yurchenko.
When we returned to the house, Maypo was kept busy taking kids rides on the golf cart.
By mid-afternoon it was time for us to get on home for our incoming guests.
Labashi's second brother and his wife and kids arrived that evening.

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Saturday, 21 July -

Today we drove to Chambersburg to visit with family. My brother Orat came down from the Rochester area this morning and brought along my niece and her two kids. We took the kids geocaching and had a great time being out and about and searching for treasure.
That evening we went into town to see 'The Burning Of Chambersburg', a re-creation of the famous event of July, 1863. Lights and fog machines were used to simulate the burning of the courthouse and the 'diamond' (town square) after the durty rebs tried to ransom the town for $100,000 in gold or $500,000 in Yankee greenbacks. The rebs claimed they were only trying to collect reparations for the awful damage the Yanks had done in the Shenandoah Valley. Predictably, the staid citizens of Chambersburg once again refused to pay the ransom and their town was burned.


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Friday, 20 July -

I spent the morning running the vaccuum and dusting for our visitors while Labashi did some touch-up painting on the barn. We have squirrels or birds scraping paint off the storage barn at the roof line. We've never seen them in action so it's only conjecture what is doing the damage. I thought at first it was woodpeckers but don't see any evidence of beetles or holes.
That afternoon we went over to Mom and Dad's to help Dad with a reorganization project. He want to move his stereo and CD player and relocate a cabinet. That only took an hour because he had it well planned out and everything fit into place easily.
That evening we watched three episodes of 'Louie'.

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Thursday, 19 July -

I finished up cleaning up my old office today. I ran the vacuum and put in the air mattress and tried to envision what deviltry a child might get into. I removed several breakables and Dad's old machete, doubled the picture-hanging wires, and removed several extension cords and the TV cable.

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Wednesday, 18 July -

I continued working in my office today. I removed old lights I don't want to see again and finally got around to hanging four pieces of artwork I've had leaning against the wall for a long time.
I resolved a problem left to me by the contractors. The insulation guys had put a long batt of insulation above the access door to the attic. That may have been the best way to insulate it but that also made it difficult for me to get the access door open. I cut the batt to the size of the access door to allow the door to simply be lifted with the smaller batt on it and set aside to clear the way.

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Tuesday, 17 July -

I did some more work in my office today. I fired up my old laptop and went through the charade of updating its security software and letting it run its scan. I still have a few old files on there and need to get them moved, then get rid of that old beast.
I spent and inordinate amount of time clearing off the desk and going through the shelves in that room. I had old versions of software, old maps and brochures, etc to throw out and organize the rest.
Late in the day I rode the GS down to Rocky Ridge for a walk. I was attacked by gnats and didn't enjoy that one.

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Monday, 16 July -

Today I started cleanup of my office in preparation for visitors. Labashi asked me to make space for a blow-up mattress for one of the children of our visitors coming at the end of the week. I knew this was a pretty big job since the room still hadn't been properly cleaned after the construction work in May. We had pushed things together and stacked up boxes to get things out of the way for the workmen who had to go up through this room' closet to the attic.
The biggest item was an old reading chair which would be a pain to get out of the room and downstairs until it could be sold on Craigslist.
I made a run into town for banker's boxes to organize old files and then emptied two very large and unwieldy boxes and a milk-crate of files into them and loaded them into the car to take to the storage unit. I also took an older TV-VCR combo unit and a small cabinet to the car for delivery to the Salvation Army.
We struggled a bit to get the chair outside to the patio and paused to take pictures for a Craigslist ad when we noticed it was really in worse condition than we realized. We ended up putting it out in the yard with a FREE sign and it was gone within the hour. We had been thinking we'd sell it for $35 or so but we figured we'd have to spend a couple of hours photographing it and posting an ad, answering inquiries, and showing it to prospective buyers only to be offered less for it. So we were glad to see it go.
That evening I saw a news piece on unclaimed property and did some searches on our family naems and those of a few friends. Surprisingly I found hits on five names. I sent emails to each of them to let them know there was unclaimed property in their names.
That evening we watched a few 'Louie' episodes.

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