A prime example of marital miscommunication

I think Mrs ERJ is getting just a little bit too interested in my manufacturing enterprise.

We had an agreement where I promised to shrink the shelf space by using the components I have on hand by turning them into finished assemblies. The finished assemblies take just about half as much space, by volume, as the components. 

"I saw a new box in front of the garage today. I thought we had an agreement.  What is the story?" she asked me.

"Well, dear, the brass cups are sold in one size of package and the pewter inserts come in a different sized package." I explained.

"And so..." she asked, raising one eyebrow askew.

"The very best price for brass cups are the ones that are sold in packages of 1423 and they come from a gun range in Texas" I explained.

"And the pewter inserts?" she asked.

"The best price for those are from a fellow out in Idaho who sells in packages of 719" I informed her. 

"I don't see what the problem is. Buy one package of brass cups and two bags of pewter inserts" she said.

I sighed. "It is a sin to waste anything. Can't you see, that will leave me with fifteen extra pewter inserts!" I objected.

Mrs ERJ chewed on that for a minute. "How long do you think it will be before the counts of the brass cups and the pewter inserts line up?" she asked.

"I really can't tell ya, honey. I thought I would be completely done with the 9mil Buger Cups in September and would be assembling Short-and-Weak and JMB's design now."  

***Satire*** 

Mrs ERJ is WAY too smart to pull the wool over her eyes like that. 

***End Disclaimer*** 

A little bit of coughee early in the morming

I slept for about five hours. Sleeping on my back was a non-starter because it made me cough. I woke up a little after 2 a.m. My temp was an improbable 95.7 F.

Lots of thick, stringy phlegm everywhere. The first half-hour awake involved making a cup of coffee and very productive coughing. Temp at 4:30 was a more plausible 97.9 F.

No enlarged lymph nodes yet, so my body's immune system does not recognize that I am sick. I expect that to change over the next 48 hours. I consider enlarged lymph nodes to be a positive sign. It means the fire-fighters are scrambling to jump on the ladder and pumper trucks. 

Mrs ERJ is still in bed and is coughing every couple of minutes.

I am working at staying hydrated and taking guafenesin which is a mucus thinner. My goal is to make it easy for my lungs to keep clearing out the mucus.

Fiddling around at the reloading table is on the docket for today. That counts as light work. A huge note of thanks to my neighbor who lives south of me. He reminded me that making miniature brass-and-pewter artifacts gives me joy and purpose.

Bonus image

 

...be a shame if something happened to it.

"Nice business (home, race-horse, city), it would be a shame if something happened to it."

The latest Tic-Tok star from Minneapolis was a (former) DIE, oppressed-group trainer. She claimed that she was "in the tech industry" but she was really one of the collectors of the Danegeld.

Trump's administration eviscerated WOKE, DIE-centric funding. Lacking ANY ORGANIC DEMAND for their services, thousands of trainers found themselves unemployed. From 100k/year to unemployed and unemployable.

They proved amenable to interfering with ICE enforcing the law. Minneapolis politicians, Law Enforcement and Judges proved amenable to letting them do that. They saw an opportunity and they took it.

What hangs in the balance is the question of how the larger part of America interprets events. Are our immigration laws arbitrary, capricious and unconstitutional? If so, why did Congress pass them?

Are ICE agents performing their sworn duties in ways that can be described as "drunk and disorderly"? Are they being criminally reckless as they discharge their sworn duties?

Are the protesters and "observers" motivated by something other than pure, altruistic concern for the illegal immigrants who ICE are collecting to be processed as Federal laws require? 

When those protestors demand "...an opportunity for dialog..." do they really mean "Submit. The only voice that is valid are ours." If you are a student whose grades are at the mercy of a teacher, surely it is more the second than the first.

Historically, the thugs in the protection racket were treated very harshly by their former victims but the pain and humiliation the thugs endured paled beside the punishments that were heaped upon the traitors and quislings who sold-out their fellow countrymen.

That would be the governors and mayors and cops and judges and news media who looked the other way, perhaps for a piece of the action or some other advantage.

Karma comes with compound interest. 

Influenza A

Quicksilver drank 150ml (about six ounces) of Gatorade, the kind with real sugar, at 7:15 a.m.

She was pretty perky until about 8:00 a.m. Then she started to wilt. Her temp was 102.1 F.

She turned up her nose at the Gatorade. SB keeps her on a short leash for sweets, so she readily guzzles sweet drinks. I was concerned about dehydration. She had not urinated for more than 12 hours.

She told me that her throat hurt. I gave her 160mg of acetaminophen (5ml or one teaspoon of suspension) at approximately 8:30 a.m. By weight, I could have given her 250 mg (8ml of suspension).

At 9:30 her temp was up to 103.3 and she refused to drink the Gatorade. Having her temperature rise that quickly was spooky. I called her family doctor and they had a time slot for 10:15. 

I informed Mrs ERJ and she magically found a popsicle.

I felt foolish as Quicksilver rallied on the way to the doctor. The popsicle was like magic.

She wilted again in the waiting room.

They used an IR contact-free thermometer in the exam room and she had a fever of 100. Again, I felt foolish. I guess it took the acetaminophen more than an hour to work its magic.

They took swabs. Fifteen minutes later the doctor came into the room. She was wearing a mask and rubber gloves. "Influenza, type A. The swab turned color instantly. No uncertainty. Oh, by the way, both of you already have it but don't have symptoms, yet."

The instructions include:

-Alternate ibuprofen and acetaminophen with dosing every three hours at the 7.5ml dose for each.

-Dehydration is a major concern. Pedialyte makes a popsicle that has electrolytes. Get some. Especially since popsicles seem to be the only fluid that QS is eagerly accepting.

-If O2 saturation drops below 92% for a pediatrics case, haul anatomy for the emergency room. If it drops into the 80s, call 9-1-1 (for peds cases). Those numbers are significantly higher than for adults.

--If breathing becomes labored (and the doctor lifted QS's nightshirt and showed us where her abdomen would go concave when she was laboring), head for the ER.

The doc pointed out the flesh sucking in at and below the short-ribs as shone in this VERY short video

-Pay attention to her behaviors. In kids, behavior changes happen before objective symptoms like temps and O2 levels change. That aligns with what Reltney McFee writes on his blog,"Treat the patient, not numbers".

-Nebulizing with saline is OK. It moistens nasal passages and helps mucus flow. NO ALBUTEROL unless viral pneumonia is diagnosed or there is whistling suggesting closing air passages. Albuterol will increase heart-rate which is not helpful.

-She will eat when she feels like it. The important things are to keep her hydrated and comfortable and to take care of ourselves. Being over 50 (!!!) means that we are in a high-risk category and we already had a non-trivial exposure.

The good news is that Quicksilver needed to use the restroom while we were there. At 12-noon, she produced copious amounts of evidence that she was adequately hydrated, at least for the moment.

_____silver has a fever

Southern Belle reported that Quicksilver isn't so quick this morning. _____silver has a fever.

She has been a remarkably healthy and cheerful child. My limited experience with that kind of kid is that they are not happy campers when sick.

We will see how it goes. The best outcome will be to have her fall back asleep. We have a plan and a backup plan.

Presented without comment

 

"Granny" in the Ukraine (again)

Start of video

3:05 mark, the older woman uses a tool to lift the chugunok (pot) off the fire. 

In an earlier post, Old NFO wondered why that form of kettle didn't gain acceptance on the American frontier. I think there were two reasons. Simple frying pans nested and two or three sizes could be carried in a compact package. 

There was also the issue of complexity. The mold for a simple frying pan has an upper and a lower part and an unmachined frying pan can be used for the pattern in a pinch. The mold for the chugunok requires three pieces due to the tumble-home of the shape, a left, a right and an insert (sometimes called a "core"). The insert must be nested firmly and precisely to avoid any shifting that will result in thin spots that will break. It simple a much more difficult shape to cast.

5:41 mark, sauerkraut 

 8:33 mark, burning raspberry canes

They are managing their primo-cane raspberries exclusively for the fall crop. Cutting the canes close to the ground and burning them can break disease and insect pressure. This does NOT work for raspberry varieties that only have a summer crop.

Granny is putting the boys to work.

I bit later they roast pieces of pig-fat (like bacon with no lean) by spearing it on willow sticks and cooking it over the fire.

 

This sequence runs to about the 16:30 mark

17:52 mark:  Based on the lighting, it looks like there are two families living at the farm. The house with the blue window sills and house with the red gable and large front porch.

20:30 mark: Scalding and plucking a duck.

22:24 mark: Scorching the pin-feathers 

25:15 mark: Preparing garlic for planting and then planting it. Garlic is typically planted in the fall.

Since each clove will grow to form one bulb, and since each bulb will be composed of 10-to-30 cloves, the grower must re-plant roughly one-fifteenth of his harvest every year. 

26:33 mark: The actual planting

The rows run left-to-right. That is, they are very short.

 

The utility of short rows is that you can do most of the cultivating and not walk near the plants so the soil does not get compacted.

The soil looks sandy which would account for the beautiful carrots and the scab-free potatoes.

 

She is using a wooden rake at the 27:27 mark

 

30:00 mark: Stuffing the duck with apple slices

32:00 mark: Rubbing the duck with soy sauce, paprika and horseradish sauce 

35:03 mark: Beehive maintenance

 

These look like top-bar hives. They are removing feeders.

 

What is notable is that they use scrap quilts, "shoddy" and furs to insulate the top of the hive. A major cause of hive death in the winter is condensate dripping off the top of the hive and wetting the bees. A thick layer of insulation goes a long way toward preventing that. It looks like they have a 6" to 8" dead-air space above the bars that they use for the insulation.

THis sequence ends at the 36:30 mark. If you keep bees, this ninety seconds is well worth your time.

42:28 mark: Granny is quite the singer. She ends her day mending clothing and singing softly to herself.