Gettysburg day trip ; Michaux ATV snow ride ; Servas interview ; heat pump checkup (and problem); first experiences with Fitbit

(posted from home)
(This post covers 1 - 20 January, 2013)

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Sunday, 20 January -

Today after my Fitbit routine and web patrol I went with Labashi to Mom’s apartment. She made breakfast for Mom and headed off to the hospital to see Dad while I began walking the halls of the retirement community. This is a massive, massive facility, most with three floors, some portions with four.... great for my purpose of accumulating steps and stairs for the day. I added 6000+ steps.
Labashi returned shortly after I got back to the apartment and wanted to go home even though she’d return in only a few hours. At home the extra walking of the last few days caught up with me and I had to take a nap.
When I woke Labashi was gone to visit with Mom. I still needed a few thousand steps. I started walking around the house but then noticed the wind had dropped outside. We had been having strong winds all day so this was a nice break.
I spent an hour walking around the property, picking up branches and a few pieces of trash the wind had blown in. This gave me the chance to look over the trees, the roof, the heat pump, the cars, etc. in an unhurried manner. No surprises, thank goodness. I finally got the step count up above 9000 and knew I’d get the rest through the evening.
Back inside I spent an hour or so with Expedition Portal’s forum and made my supper. When Labashi returned we watched ‘Revenge’. Just a few more episodes to go.

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Saturday, 19 January -

This morning I took a closer look at the Fitbit web site and spent an hour reading through the online forum, then went on with my regular web patrol.
That afternoon I rode the GS down to Starbucks, then on to Rudy Park for a walk. The Fitbit keeps me aware of step-count and I needed the walk to get anywhere near the daily goal of 10,000 steps.
I learned my walk on the 5K cross-country course at Rudy nets me 6600 steps or 2200 per mile. The unexpected part is that it also nets me a bunch of stairs. The Fitbit online record shows I did 28 floors total today, 22 of them during the walk. That’s fantastic!
That evening we continued with more ‘Revenge’.

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Friday, 18 January -

This morning I made an early trip to the grocery store for a few essentials, then took care of some overdue insurance paperwork to finish this year’s insurance renewals.
We then drove to the Galleria Mall for an indoor walk. We walked separately and according to my Fitbit we walked nearly five miles.
When we met back up Labashi told me she had just received a call about her Dad and we needed to go. Her Dad had had an appointment with his doctor and it had been determined he needed to go to the hospital for a treatment. He wasn’t in immediate danger but a room was being arranged for him and transportation was being arranged.
We drove up to the apartment and decided Labashi would take him and I’d stay with Mom and take her to dinner.
Everything went well with the admission though it took some time. In the meantime Mom and I went down to dinner at the in-house restaurant. We were joined by another resident (who we learned used to have the CB handle “Rosanne-Rosanadana-Indiana”!) and later on Labashi joined us.
That evening Labashi and I returned home and watched episodes of ‘Revenge’-- but it’s getting pretty ‘soapy’.

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Thursday, 17 January -

Today I installed the Homesitter alert-dialer (the device to warn us of freezing temperatures, a power failure, or water intrusion in our basement). Labashi helped me run the phone cable across the basement ceiling. From that point it was merely a matter of plugging things together, setting the DIP switches on the unit, programming in the phone numbers, and making test calls. The first few test calls failed and it took me a minute to figure out why. I’m using a calling card so had to program in pauses to wait for the central calling card number to answer. I didn’t read the manual closely enough and had failed to use not one but TWO asterisks to indicate a pause. Once I cleared that up and verified dialing sequences, the tests were successful.
Labashi had a problem with the TV in our bedroom. She has the TV going while ironing there. But it has suddenly developed an odd pattern on the screen. I found I could make the pattern go away by touching the cable input. I picked up a cable end from our storage unit and installed it but that didn’t help. We then noticed if we tap the side of the TV, the pattern goes away. That will do for now but I’ve now started looking for a replacement TV. If I can find a deal on a larger screen for our living room, maybe I could get an updated unit for there and swap the old one to the bedroom.
That evening we took Mom and Dad out to Olive Garden for dinner, then returned home to three episodes of ‘Revenge’- Season One.
Today was a fairly active one so I was surprised to see the Fitbit recorded only 6000 steps. I’m going to have to do better.

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Wednesday, 16 January -

This morning I messed with the FitBit Dashboard (the app on the laptop) and did some minor customization. In late morning a technician arrived to service our new heat pump. The heat pump was installed in May and we have a year’s maintenance included. If I understand correctly they need to check it out in both hot and cold weather sometime during that year.
Our tech, Steve, at first thought he was here to work on a gas furnace but said he also services heat pumps. No idea how that happened.
The air handler checked out but Steve said the overflow pan under the air handler was filled with insulation. The blown-in insulation had been added during the project after the heat-pump guys went home. I had thought the insulation guys were pretty good at their jobs so this was a surprise. Steve said the insulation in the overflow pan would just wick any water in the pan to the surrounding insulation if a leak or condensation were to develop.
After checking out the air handler we went outside. We found the compressor was making a new sound. That turned out to be, of all things, ice. Today we had just the right temperature for the very light rain we were experiencing to freeze on the fan ductwork--- I call it the nacelle --- of the compressor fan. The rotating fan blade was touching the ice as it formed.
Steve opened the cabinet and stopped the fan, then chipped away the ice interfering with the fan blade. I asked what would happen if it had continued to build to the point where the blade was stopped. The motor would sense an overload and would go into shutdown of the whole unit. If we were depending on the unit to keep the house pipes from freezing, we’d be out of luck.
Fortunately, I had elected to keep our baseboard electric heat. Early on techs had given me to option to avoid the expense of sub-panel by removing several of my baseboard-heat modules. I decided I’d rather spend a little more for the sub-panel and avoid disturbing my existing heating system. Today showed that to be a good decision. I have to option to set the baseboard heat at, say, 50 in case something like this happens. In fact, I could just turn off the heat pump and rely exclusively on the baseboard heaters.
Late that afternoon I drove over to the hardware store to pick up phone cable and a surge suppressor for the alert-dialer I’m installing tomorrow.
That evening we watched three episodes of ‘Revenge’.

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Tuesday, 15 January -

This morning we arose early to drive to Baltimore. We had an interview for membership in Servas, a world-wide organization dedicated to peace through direct cultural exchange between travelers and their hosts. Our interviewers were a husband-and-wife couple who also serve as hosts. They have also traveled extensively in the past.
Our hour-long interview went well and we had a great time chatting with the couple and learning more about the Servas organization and its procedures as well as the couple’s experiences as Servas travelers.
We finished up before noon but delayed lunch until we got back to PA. We had decided today’s the day to try Chick-Fil-A for the first time!
We had the spicy chicken sandwiches and waffle fries. The chicken was a bit too dry and the spices too acrid for my taste. The waffle fries tasted very good at first bite but cooled off way too fast, apparently because of their unique open-weave shape. I’d be willing to try a plain chicken sandwich but I sense I’m not going to become a fan.
After lunch we drove to the gun shop nearby to take a look around. I had been a member of the range a few years ago and wanted to see what changes had come. I was surprised to see the shooting lanes empty. The shop was fairly crowded for a Monday afternoon and the AR15 rack was empty. I did see an interesting Krag rifle with an original-style stock and bayonet. I wouldn’t mind having one of those. Many years ago I hunted deer with a sporterized 30-40 Krag.
We went on home and arrived before today’s rains. I received my FitBit One in the mail today so spent a half-hour setting it up.
That evening we watched two episodes of ‘Mad Men’.

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Monday, 14 January -

After a morning on the web we drove down to Rudy Park and walked for an hour and a half. We parked at the east end of the dog-run parking lot and walked to the end of the Heritage Rail Trail segment and back.
That evening we watched three episodes of ‘Revenge’.

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Sunday, 13 January -

This morning I wrote a thank-you email and looked up some of his suggestions for our visit to New Zealand.
After finishing up the December blog update and posting it (finally!!!), I worked the January blog updates. I took a break mid-afternoon and took Labashi’s car in to Starbucks for a quickie.
I caught a bit of ‘The Doors’ at the Hollywood Bowl in 1968 and had a good chuckle with Labashi about it. ‘Light My Fire’ and ‘The End’ were favorites back then for us.
That evening I caught up the blog.

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Saturday, 12 January-

Today Labashi got me on a research effort to find a fire-safe for our important document and for those of her parents. I had a hard time finding anything and we were planning to walk today so I suggested we hit a few stores where I’ve seen them on our way to the park.
We went to Staples, Office Max, Harbor Freight, Lowe’s, and Home Depot before finding an acceptable one. I had thought we’d want a small file-safe but they were too heavy and bulky. We ended up with a Sentry 2300 from Home Depot. It’s small enough to carry to the van if we have to bug out, can withstand fire for a half-hour, and is waterproof. We elected to go with a key rather than an electronic lock.
We had 60-degree-plus temperatures at Rudy Park for our walk. I walked in short sleeves and was comfortable most of the time, though a bit chilly when the wind picked up a bit.
After the walk we went to Chili’s for shrimp fajitas, our regular meal there.

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Friday, 11 January-

I spent much of today catching up the blog for the month of December. i’m having more and more trouble getting it done. I’ve generally been able to post within a two-week timeframe but didn’t post November’s until well into December. And I’m going to be even later with December’s.
I also posted pictures of my first van and my MGA to Facebook today. The van was a 69 Chevy which I had painted in Dad’s garage. What a foreign-looking thing it was!

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Thursday, 10 January -

Today was a good day for an ATV ride. Labashi went up to visit her parents and I took Mocha Joe and the ATV trailer to the ATV lot on the east side of Michaux State Forest.
I was surprised to find an ice-covered parking lot and trail. The winter ATV trails include what is in summer the Piney Mountain Road. That makes a much nicer trail than the never-ending football-sized rocks of much of the main ATV trail.
I rode out the Piney Mountain Road to an intersection where I could ride down to the main trail. I recognized the area from previous trips and it’s perhaps my favorite trail. With the leaves off the trees I had plenty to look at and drove along slowly, watching for tracks and trying to understand the lay of the land below and above. There are several intermediate-level trails branching off but I didn’t want to try them in the snow and riding alone.
I went back to the Piney Mountain Road and continued south. After several miles I came upon three trucks parked along the road.... two pickups and a logging truck. A Road Closed sign was in the road so I turned back. I’m guessing there was some type of logging activity down the side trail which connects to the main ATV trail, though I couldn’t hear a chainsaw or equipment running.
Back at the loading area I started to put things in order for loading. I needed a pen to fill out my log book and had to get one out of the van. As I came back I fell on the ice and hit my head on the ice. I fell heavily on my hip and shoulder and hit my head enough to knock off my hat but not enough to see stars. I got up immediately and went on about my business.
After loading up the trailer I headed home and made it just before dark. I had a bit of stiffness in my shoulder, hip, and neck so took a few ibuprofen. I believe I was very lucky not to have done any lasting damage.
That evening we watched the documentary ‘Alice Neel’. She was a well-known portrait artist in New York and we like a lot of her work.

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Wednesday, 9 January -

I spent the morning writing a letter to a friend, seeking a recommendation for a membership application to Servas. We hope to meet with Servas members in New Zealand as part of a ‘cultural exchange’. It will be interesting to see if we get into discussions about politics, gun control, nuclear disarmament, rugby, etc.
I wasn’t feeling great today so it was okay with me that my tentative plans to go ATV riding fell through because of a light rain. Temperatures were supposed to be in the mid-Fifties but hardly got out of the thirties.

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Tuesday, 8 January -

After a morning on the web we went over to Pinchot State Park for a walk. We went up the Ridge Trail for some exposure to mud and rocks in the hiking boots we’ll be using in New Zealand. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of wet hiking there.
On the way home we stopped at Bob’s Weld Shop, a Honda Powersports dealer to see if I could get a battery-charging cable for my generator. I was very surprised to find it cheaper than the ones I’d seen on the web. I checked prices on generators and the model I have is $100 less here than the cheapest I could find on the web. Really?
We then stopped at Cycle Tech to pick up the Concours. The bevel-gear oil leak is fixed, new tires installed, an inspection and oil change done. Cost was just short of $900. I had planned for the tires and regular maintenance but the oil leak had been a $300 surprise.

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Monday, 7 January -

Today it was back to trip prep. I’ve been thinking of buying a multi-mode alert system with phone dialer for the house while we’re away. We have the security system and motion-detection, etc, but we’ve twice come home to a flooded basement and once to a weeks-long power outage that affected only our house. And for this trip we’ll also have to be wary of freezing temperatures.
Several months ago I found two relatively cheap phone-dialer systems, one by Reliance and one by Control Products. They’re similar in function in that they both dial out after detecting a temperature below 45, a power loss, or water (at the contacts).
They’re similar in features and price so at first I couldn’t decide. Reviews of them are similar. Today I found the manuals online and read through them. Well, heck, this isn’t a tough decision after all. One allows only 12 digits of stored phone numbers and doesn’t have a way to put pauses in the phone dialing sequence. I need those for the calling-card.
While ordering I also took a look through New Zealand guides and downloaded a sample chapter of an outdoors-oriented one and read through it. By the end of the day I ordered the alert/dialer and the ‘New Zealand Frenzy’ books for both North and South islands.


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Sunday, 6 January -

I took my regular Sunday ride-and-walk today. I’ve more or less abandoned my old favorite Starbucks in East York for the new one in North York. It’s a bit closer to home but it’s a much nicer motorcycle ride. I can get to it via back roads and in fact have a half-dozen or so backroad routes to it. I can ride the back roads for about two-thirds of the way to the old one but then it’s city traffic the rest of the way.
Afterwards I walked at Rocky Ridge for two hours. The trail was a bit muddy here and there and but I was pleasantly surprised to find most of it dry.
The day was a colder one and on those days my back gets sore and muscles stiffen in the latter part of the walk and especially on the ride home. I have to get off the bike slowly at home, have a couple of ibuprofen, and warm up.

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Saturday, 5 January -

Today we drove to Gettysburg for the Annie Leibovitz exhibit at the National Military Park.
At the park we first watched the excellent film about the battle, then went upstairs to the Cyclorama. Upon seeing it I remembered we had seen this painting on our honeymoon over 40 years ago. We were slow to leave and found ourselves alone in the room with our hose. She sensed our reticence to leave and asked if we had questions. I asked if she had favorite scenes in the painting and she gave us a private ten-minute tour of her five or six favorites. Wonderful!
Afterwards, we loved seeing photos of the old Cyclorama building in the lobby and photos of other cycloramas around the world.
The painting looks really great. Labashi says she remembers seeing seams in the painting the last time but there are no seams now and the painting is bright and new-looking. I’m so glad we went.
We then spent an hour in the museum hallway with the Leibovitz exhibit. I was surprised to see it consisted of photos of belongings and locations of associated with a variety of historical figures. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Elvis, Ansel Adams, Eleanor Roosevelt, and a dozen or so others. Interesting....
On the way home we went out of our way to Restaurant Sidney in East Berlin only to find it doesn’t open until 1700 on Saturdays. I swear I’ve been there mid-day before on Saturdays. We went on home and spent the evening watching YouTube videos of New Zealand.

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Friday, 4 January -

Today we drove to Chambersburg and met our Colorado buddy at the Main Street Deli for lunch. We then walked to an art exhibit on south main street, this an exhibit of miniature paintings.
After picking our favorites, we walked back to the square to the Heritage Center for a long-delayed tour.
On the way back home Labashi and I stopped at the Gander Mountain store for some fox urine. Labashi uses it around our barn to keep the groundhogs, skunks, and possums away.
We also stopped at the King’s Gap Country Store so I could introduce Labashi to the cheese wheel. We bought two pounds of the extra-pungent white cheddar this store is known for.
That evening we watched ‘Modern Family’ disc 3.

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Thursday, 3 January -

After a morning on the web I did my regular Starbucks-Rocky Ridge trip. Weather has improved in the last day or so (temperature-wise) and I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

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Wednesday, 2 January -

Today the thought of our upcoming New Zealand vacation caused us to walk at Rudy Park again. We’ll have to be careful of over-doing it, though. We don’t need to be nursing an injury in the middle of a spectacular trip!

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Tuesday, 1 January -

Happy New Year!
We had planned to join our friend from Colorado (visiting family in Chambersburg) on a First Day walk at King’s Gap State Park. But she had to cancel because of family obligations.
We were in the mood for a walk so drove down to Rudy Park and walked for two hours.


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