Projects, Looking Ahead

I was thinking I would get pictures around the yard for another yard tour over at the garden blog, but there's not much green to show.  I took some pictures yesterday, but what you see here is all that we have coming up so far, and a bit more behind the stairs.  There are tulips here, too, but the rabbits are eating them as fast as they grow.




I've been itching to get outside and get things done but winter will not go away.  We got more snow again last night, half as much as last post and it melted twice as fast late this morning.  I didn't get a picture but you know what it looks like.  I also read this morning that the last time Madison hit 60ºF was December 4, a very long stretch, indeed.  But I am starting to see hints of green in the lawn and buds on the trees.  We may end up skipping spring again this year and going right into summer.

Basil and Hamish have a birthday coming up on April 20th and they're getting a new cat tree so I had to build a stabilizing base for it, so I got out in the coldness of the garage and cut and sanded a piece of plywood so I can stain and finish it in the basement.  A base adds weight and width to the bottom and keeps it much more stable during leaping take-offs and landings.  The cat tree we bought is the same as the one we have in the front windows now, but the beige carpet wasn't available anymore so we had to get brown.  This is the most sturdy and roomy cat tree we've seen and the cats love it so no more cheap ones for us.  The one in the house will be moved to the porch and the one on the porch will either be thrown away or given to another cat that could use it.

Another project I've been itching to get to is building the fire pit in the back yard.  The smallest fire ring I've been able to find is 28 inches, I bought it a few weeks ago on sale and saved 20 bucks, but the screen cover was still not in stock as of today when I was at the store.  I'd like to put the ring together but I have nowhere to put it so for the time being it is taking up space on my workbench in the garage.  I also checked out the blocks I want to use around the fire ring.  I'm going to use blocks that are more the size and shape of bricks rather than the larger landscape blocks to keep the footprint smaller.  No rush yet though, because before I start anything I need to get the back yard rolled to get all the little bumps and ankle-twisters flattened.  I've already talked to a guy about that, but I think he wants to wait for it to warm up a little.  Then I have to dig out the area and level it, add sand and pound it down, and start building.  I will be using an adhesive to keep the blocks together.  The earlier I get this done the earlier we can warm up by the fire!

April Snow and More

We woke up to a fresh blanket of snow today.  A quick check of the calendar confirms it is the month of April and is officially Spring.  Humph.  Yesterday afternoon I stopped at the local bar to have a drink and spoke with a city employee who said he has driven the snow plows for 20 years and he's never had to plow in April.  Well, I hope he didn't stay and drink too much because I'm sure he was out in the wee hours plowing snow.  This was a rather large system over the upper Midwest yesterday and last night, and we got pretty lucky with mostly rain yesterday and then overnight when the temperatures plummeted most of the snow went north of us.  The system was headed east, and the east has already been pummeled with snow this spring.  Good luck to 'em.  Our snow mostly melted by the time I got home, though I'm sure it will linger in the shady spots.

I took this picture as I set out to work this morning.  I've been taking vacation days until I get a steroid shot in the back next week Tuesday but I couldn't get today off so instead of finagling it off I just sucked it up and went in.  I got through it but I'm growing to hate my work chair lots, luckily we'll be getting new ones soon.  I usually take some vacation time in the spring anyway, normally sometime in May.  I'm just taking it early this year due to circumstances, I guess.

Another thing to note is that just a day or two after my last post the ice on Lake Monona was gone from view.  I'm not sure about the larger Lake Mendota, there may be a bit in the middle over there yet but if so it should be short lived.

Hang in there, people, actual spring will show up eventually.  We have a few plants coming up in the flowerbeds by the porch.  I'll have time, so I may post a picture tour over at the garden blog soon.

Lake Monona Ice Views - Part 3

I took photos back in December from Olbrich Park looking out over Lake Monona as the ice sheet was forming, and again in January as the ice was fully formed and there were even people out ice fishing, now here we are again as the ice melts this spring.  Kind of full circle, I'm sure there will be pictures of the lake over the summer in normal posts so there won't be a part 4.



Just to keep from cluttering up the homepage with another long post, more pictures after the break!

Latest LIVE Listening Pleasure 29 - The Harp Twins*

Saturday night my wife Kate and I ventured south of Madison to the city of Stoughton and their Opera House to see The Harp Twins.  Before we get to the main attraction, this is the first time we've been to this venue, and it is different than others I've visited.  It opened in 1901, fell into disrepair in the 50's, and sporadic renovations began in the 80's until a few years ago being declared fit for another century.  From what I understand, it is run by volunteers and has many donors and members.  I found it to be a beautiful place, and I liked the smaller size.  The venue allows no video and no flash photography.  There is no food or drink allowed, which is just as well as the only bathrooms are in the basement, 77 narrow stairs away, I counted on the way back up, then several more stairs down to our seats.  Overall, another beautiful local venue to see a show, though the shows here usually tend toward the older crowd - and remember to take your best, softest seat cushion or pillow you have, for the wooden seats are from 1900, hand-carved and harder than concrete.



First off, The Harp Twins, Camille and Kennerly, mentioned during the show that they're from Chicago.  All this time I thought they were from Norway, but they do reference being Norwegian quite often and they certainly look the part.  We got there rather early after going out to dinner in Stoughton before going to the venue.  We had a nice couple right behind us, also early, that seemed as if they had been there before.  They were from the Chicago area as well and had come up for the show, though they love Wisconsin and come here often for many reasons, they said.  We got a preview of the dresses to be worn when one of the twins came out beforehand to tune the harps.  They started almost on time, probably waiting for the latecomers, starting with a Fleetwood Mac song that escapes me now, and played a string (no pun intended) of rock and metal cover songs that they arranged for the harp and one original song, and played them all very well.  The covers is how I found out about them, from the rock and metal websites posting a story when they release a new Youtube video.  Camille and Kennerly's channel is here.

In between songs they would come up to the microphone and their banter and interaction was entertaining.  While I can tell they have certain stories and jokes to say they seemed to only loosely follow them and lived in the moment.  I found them charming and funny, and very talented harpists (though I can list the harpists I know on two fingers).  The first half or more before the intermission was on the big, traditional harps, with a few with an electric and a traditional harp.  They even arranged Metallica's song 'One' for both of them to play on the same harp (get it?  One?).  When it came time to change around the stage they sent the 'crew' out to do it - themselves wearing baseball hats.  After the intermission, the second half was with the electric harps, the big traditional harps serving as a good backdrop.

Remember that couple that sat behind us?  We spoke at the intermission about the no video rule and how I noticed plenty of cameras and no one taking video, just pictures, and how I'd really like to get a song.  He then showed me that he got the entire song 'Stairway To Heaven' on video.  He said after the song ended an usher tapped him on the shoulder and scolded him, so he said he was sorry.  That emboldened me.  I didn't want to break their rules but I really did want video of just one song, at least.  I went for it in the second half and luckily got the song 'Nemo,' originally by Nightwish, on video along with plenty of banter beforehand.  Enough banter that I thought I would get that tap before they even started the song.  I kept the camera low, thankfully a young girl was in the seat in front of me, and to the side, trying to block it with my head from the usher's view.  Thankfully, I got the whole song and that tap on my shoulder never came.  I was a good boy the rest of the show.

There's not many live videos like this on Youtube that I can find of The Harp Twins, so they may be diligent about having them taken down, I'm not sure, but for that reason this video is not named as normal at this time.  It would be nice to get a lot of views (my Marilyn Manson videos are over a thousand views, combined!) but I'd rather have my video available here on my website for my readers and me.  The song starts at 2:10, and again at 2:43, you'll see.  Please forgive the rough start and the poor camera focus.

The Harp Twins, Camille and Kennerly - Nemo
* Update 5/12/2018: Video deleted at the Harp Twins' request.

Because of the no video rule I was taking a lot of pictures.  Also, because my camera on my phone is not the best at focusing I take a lot because I never know which ones will turn out.  After the LLP list below I put all the best pictures after the break.  I also recently added the full LLP list in the right column.  Now, click Read more below!

Previous LLP Posts...
LLP 1 - Pain
LLP 2 - Nightwish
LLP 3 - Die Antwoord
LLP 4 - Pain part 2
LLP 5 - Andrew Bird LIVE
LLP 6 - Nightwish part 2
LLP 7 - Paramore
LLP 8 - Newsted
LLP 9 - U.D.O. LIVE
LLP 10 - Nightwish Imaginaerum Movie
LLP 11 - Kiss
LLP 12 - Rick Springfield
LLP 13 - Hyrax
LLP 14 - In This Moment
LLP 15 - Faster Pussycat LIVE
LLP 16 - Sebastian Bach
LLP 17 - Cradle Of Thorns
LLP 18 - Amaranthe
LLP 19 - Lindemann
LLP 20 - Halestorm
LLP 21 - Garbage LIVE
LLP 22 - Arcade
LLP 23 - Nightwish LIVE
LLP 24 - Ace Frehley
LLP 25 - Darkc3ll
LLP 26 - Dementia
LLP 27 - Rammstein
LLP 28 - Marilyn Manson LIVE
LLP 29 - The Harp Twins LIVE

Back Again, And Again

I've had back issues for a long time.  This recent episode has been pretty much for all of this year.  I finally had to go to the doctor about a month ago, after nothing I tried was helping.  I spent over a hundred dollars on five different back pillows/rolls, and even gave away my very nice La-Z-Boy recliner to a friend and spent several hundred more dollars on an upright accent chair - that still needs a lumbar roll on it for me.  I've done my back exercises almost every day and have taken anti-inflammatory meds and muscle relaxers.  Still, it got worse, so I needed help.

About a week after I saw my doctor I had a real bad weekend.  Monday was just as bad so I stayed home from work and contacted my doctor's office.  My doctor was out that week, so one of the other doctors saw me and prescribed another anti-inflammatory and a drug for the nerve pain.  She also completed the paperwork for me to be off work until I saw the neurosurgeon.  While off work I continued with exercises, and started riding our recumbent exercise bike downstairs for 30 minute sessions every day.  Over the next two weeks the pain backed off a bit, I still felt it, but it was duller than it had been.  I was happy with the progress, but still very concerned about my well-being.

I saw the neurosurgeon about my back this last week, 3 weeks after the referral.  Our visit was very brief and he was interrupted 3 times by call or text as he was also on call with the hospital.  One of the things he did manage to clarify is that it essentially is a disc pressing on my nerve, the same disc I had operated on in 2000.  It was obvious that he knew the course of action he wanted to take, a 'Left S1 Selective Nerve Root Injection.'  A steroid shot to the back.  Now it can be up to two weeks for my insurance to preauthorize the procedure before I can even schedule it, and I was told they are several weeks out scheduling.  Wonderful.  Now, my question is, since he had to review the information to approve the referral, and he had been given no new information, then why couldn't we have gotten this going earlier?  The pace of the process is painfully slow, literally.

As soon as I left I contacted my doctor again.  At this pace I needed to get back to work, and I needed more help to be able to do that.  He essentially doubled my prescription for the nerve pain meds, and that has helped more than I expected.  I still feel when the pain shoots down my leg, but it is effectively dulled, mostly.  The side effect is tiredness/fatigue, and I feel it but it's not a bad thing, really.  It takes me down a notch, where I'm just generally more relaxed.  I need something like this for all the time, I think.

So, that's where it stands.  Far from over, but I am getting by much better.  I'll have to wait and see how the shot works and go from there.

Pictures of my 2011 MRI after the break, for comparison.  I don't have any pictures of my 2000 MRI.

6 Doors 1 Wall - 2 Cats!

The original video was posted here a few years ago, and is also currently the front page video on my Scoakat YouTube Channel.  This was a spur of the moment video from this last week when the cats, Hamish(-pie) and Basil(-boo), were amicable to being momentarily trapped and as usually cute.  The white things on the door handles are stops we put on the tops of the doors usually, because they certainly know how to shut doors but actually working the handle to get out is yet to be mastered.  Hamish knows how this stuff works, scarily enough, he's just not big enough to do it, thankfully.



And this was the minimally bad thumbnail option I was given, folks, sorry.  Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Simultaneous Sun And Snow

This is something you don't see every day - or at least not at the same time on that day.  It didn't photograph well, so you have to look close at the dark areas or in front of the garage.



While most of the snow has melted, we are about average for this time of year with temps above freezing during the day and below at night.  Kate noticed some of the early plants starting to come up the other day, barely showing so far.  I just happen to look up and see this today, thought I'd share.

It's Back Again

Pain.  I've known lots of physical pain in this life.  From breaking both forearm bones in my left arm as a kid to broken toes, wisdom teeth infections, a shattered femur, neck fusion due to a disc, rotator cuff issues and two prior lower back disc surgeries.  I'm sure I'm missing something and I am skipping lesser things but that should be most of the bigger stuff.

While I've been dealing with more back issues lately, my impression was that the L5/S1 disc was bulging and putting pressure on my nerve, but it seems I was incorrect.  I had an MRI on Thursday for the fifth or sixth time in my life, I seem to have lost count.  I fully expected another disc issue but the findings were no significant difference since my last (2011) MRI, yet the L5 nerve root shows a 'significant impingement,' I'm told, which is right in line with the pain I'm having.  My next move is to await a phone call to make an appointment with a neurosurgeon.

While the pain is not quite what it was the last two times I had back surgery, it is the same pain just not quite as severe - yet.  I'd been trying to move this process along as the last two times I could only stand for short times and in excruciating pain by the time I got to the surgery and I was hoping it wouldn't get that far this time.  The MRI results, though, leave me less certain of what's to come.  It's not that I want surgery, I just want to feel normal, but knowing it's not a disc has me worried as to what exactly the problem is.  I don't know how soon I'll see the neurosurgeon but I look forward to seeing the images and hearing what they have to say.

The pain sucks, and they're not handing out the good painkillers like they used to.  I've taken lots of opioids when needed, and very long ago I told my doctor that if I need a painkiller I'll take nothing less than, say, vicodin or oxycodone and such, as anything less never did anything to help me.  Popping them left and right at times and while I've never felt the slightest twinge of addiction you do need to keep up on your stool softeners while taking them!  And with nerve pain even opioids are relatively ineffective so I have been taking nothing.  My doctor did give me a round of prednisone that I finished today but that has done nothing for me.  I'm in a holding pattern of dealing with the pain as best I can until I can't anymore.  Welcome back, old friend.

Winter Rain*

The weather started to turn a bit warmer last weekend, enough so that we got our bikes down to the shop to beat the rush and get them tuned up for spring - more on that in a bit.  And thank goodness it has been warmer the last couple days with all the non-stop rain we've gotten, or else this would be a very large amount of snow - or ice.  Icy weather is not very far north of us.



My wife picked up the rugs downstairs but the ground is still frozen so as of yet there has been no water in the basement.  Water runs downhill, however, and neighbor Dave's yard is definitely a low spot.  Much more water and he may need to borrow the next neighbor's kayaks (by the garage).

As I mentioned, we took the bikes in to a nearby bike shop on Sunday, Revolution Cycles, and as I am writing this I received a call that they are ready to be picked up.  At least they fully understand the weather so it may be a few days until we get there.

I took a few pictures along the way.  First, a stretch of the Capital City Trail that I've posted pictures of before, but without the massive wildflowers on the left and the community gardens on the right it looks a bit stark compared to summer.  We usually see the bike paths getting plowed before our street is cleared.  Madison has a great reputation as a bicycle-friendly city, and people take advantage of it year round.

The Goodman Community Center's splash pad looks rather depressing in winter.  Oh well, we're on the down side, anyway.  Spring can show up any time now, as far as I'm concerned.

And as for why I'm not at work this weekday afternoon?  Post will be coming soon.  Here's a hint - S1.

*Update, 21 Feb, after the break:

Dishwasher Conclusion & Tech Support

On Thursday I worked for a couple hours in the morning and was home in plenty of time for the installation window I was given.  Before long, I received a call from the installers.  No, they weren't on their way, they were calling to see if I had the dishwasher delivered to the house because they couldn't find it at the store.  No, it's not here, they said they would look further and call back.  I called the store manager that helped me out last week and left him a message.  This had to get done today.  Soon they called back, they found it under a different sales number, probably the original.  I called and left a message for the manager that they found it, I never did get a call back from him but he may have been looking for my dishwasher!

Soon enough the installers were here.  They asked about the prior one as they were removing it, checked it over, and found that it had been wired incorrectly.  They asked if I wanted them to put it back in or install the new one, I said to just go ahead with the new one.  Installation went smoothly and we finally had our fully functioning dishwasher after weeks of hand washing.  The only thing that bugged me, and I let them know, is that when unboxing the new unit they ripped off a rubber flap that hangs down under the door and behind the kick plate.  They said it was just to try and keep noise down but doesn't really do anything but get in the way.  I expressed my displeasure, but accepted the new unit.  They left and I soon had the first load washing. 

So, this dishwasher saga is complete.  I still don't feel real good about the transaction, but at least I feel good about the product and the large retail establishment.  The installation crews, on the other hand, I don't feel good about.  The first crew installed it incorrectly and the second took a liberty with my product that I did not appreciate.  But it is done.

                                   *                      *                      *                      *

What you should see.

Shortly before they arrived to install the dishwasher I initiated contact with Microsoft tech support.  I've mentioned here a few times how a recent (well, before the holidays) Windows update changed my display to darker than it should be and I had no option to make it brighter.  When I restart the computer, I can watch the picture on my lock screen jump from regular to dark as it is starting up.  I've researched online, asked people, and cursed Microsoft under my breath (and aloud) several times.  I just can't fix it.

What I see - There is no brightness control.

I was put in contact with "Bryan," who seemed confidant we could resolve the issue.  He remoted in on the computer, and I watched as he looked at and tried all the things I did.  He did several scans and things that took time, so I was able to go back and forth from the computer to the dishwasher installers in the kitchen.  Scans found nothing.  Drivers did nothing.  Finally we did a full reinstall of Windows 10.  This was going to take a lot of time so Bryan could not stay, but he was confident this would fix it but I was given a number to call with my case number if not.  After the reinstall - nothing changed.  After several hours the computer was exactly as it was before.  Short of buying a new computer I don't know what else to try.

Update!  When I went to look it up again today for writing this, there is now a note on this help screen:


So it seems they are finally acknowledging that it is not there for some users.  But my monitor is already at 100% brightness.  Now what?  I hate to do it, but I think I'll have to call tech support back again...