The Monkey Wrench Gang

The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey, 1975 

Well, I finally read this book during the last of week of July 2022. It has been on my to read list since the late 1970's. I remember it being discussed in an American Studies class in 1978 as an entertaining example of the early radical environmental movement.

The book was so popular that eventually the term "monkeywrench" has come to mean any damage or sabotage to machines, activism or law-breaking to preserve environmental spaces, wildernesses, and eco-systems. It was also an interesting perspective of the Vietnam War veteran returning to the environmental devastation of his homeland in the western deserts. It was a very entertaining book.

During the time when this book came out and I put in on my to read list I was taking part in environmental and anti-nuclear power demonstrations. I was a college student at the time and took part in the activities of the Keystone Alliance. I was also an office volunteer at the anti-nuclear and safe energy group Mobilization for Survival in downtown Philly. Most of the time I worked on the mailing list. I did that for about a year and then we moved to Buffalo. I remember I did a lot of work for the anti-nuclear group the Keystone Alliance and demonstrated against nuclear reactor power plants and in particular the local Three Mile Island plant. It felt really crazy when on the morning of March 28, 1979 there was the partial meltdown at the plant. 

WOW No Wine

Last night we went to another Parkside Wine on Wednesday around the corner on Willowlawn. It was another wonderful neighborhood gathering and there was a very large turnout. Becky and I didn't drink any wine or alcohol. We each had a can of non-alcoholic hoppy lagers from Brooklyn Brewing.

We had a great time talking with neighbors and WOWs now we've brought our little cooler bag of NA beers and soda waters. I'm sure I'll have some wine at an upcoming WOW but for now it's nice to have other options.

Boosted Again

Today Becky and I each received our second Covid booster shot. I had mine in the morning at Walgreens on Hertel and Becky went out in the afternoon to the CVS. We both had appointments. We had originally planned to get this second booster later in the fall but with the kids coming to visit in August we decided to get the shot sooner than later.

We both felt OK as the day wore on except for a growing pain in the arm where the shot was given. Getting the shots today did not keep us from going over to the WOW tonight although we both refrained from drinking any alcohol for the evening. We each had a can of non-alcohol lager beer. We only stayed about an hour and a half then headed home. We did have a nice time and saw a lot of people.

Speed Hump Concerns

This email message to a city official is from our neighbor Beth who lives across the street. She outlined her complaints below and then we received a response to her comments from the principle engineer for the project. He will move the speed humps a couple of houses down the street but he defended the project as a safe and effective solution to people speeding on the streets of our neighborhood.

Megan,

Thank you very much for speaking with me this morning regarding the “Speed Humps” on Crescent Ave. and most specifically the one proposed for in front of our property at 363 Crescent.

Backstory for those of you on this email:

We received no notice or warning about this, my neighbor George from 366 Crescent came over Saturday afternoon (7/23) and told me what the pink lines meant. We had absolutely no idea. Why have we not received mailings about this, emails, etc.? How about meetings for those of us directly impacted?

I took the online survey and responded strongly opposed to the program, why was my response not even looked at if for no other reason than the placement of the speed hump. Put it in front of someone’s house who wanted the program.

While I understand that this program is meant as a positive to correct one issue – speeding (which is most likely not residents) it will affect us the longtime property owners in many more negative ways including: 

• Decrease the property value / make it more difficult to sell property with a speed hump in frontHe of the property (just having them on the street in general may negatively impact resale value of all properties)

• Noise associated with people hitting the hump
    – Daytime – will affect front porch sitting and overall quiet of the neighborhood
    – Nighttime, noise when people hit the hump, bedroom is at front of house with window directly across from the hump

• Damage over time/wear and tear on our vehicles driving over multiple of these 365 days a year to access our own properties will most certainly involve additional car repairs.  

-          Example: When turning right out of our driveway our right front wheel would hit it every time, this over time would most definitely affect alignment

-          Example: Extra wear and tear on all suspension parts and the vehicles themselves going over many of these daily

-          Example: Our son has an older manual transmission car and will be going over a minimum of 80 humps a week on his way to and from school & work just getting off and on our own street. That is roughly 4,160 times a year over the humps on his car alone. His is just one example in a household were 3 of us work, have cars, and have to come and go daily.

• Winter plowing and street navigation issues are bad enough now, how will the plows navigate the humps? What happens when they are damaged by the ploughs, the streets are not maintained now. How will these humps be maintained?

• We have a lot of people cycling on our street regularly including myself. The humps will make it far more dangerous for cyclists. 

Overall Comment: This program will dramatically decrease the quality of life for the residents on this street and neighborhood based on all of the above mentioned and more just to stop a few speeders. We are totally on the losing end of this program.

Common Sense Observation – The people that I see speeding thru the neighborhood do not live here. One trip down our street with the humps and they will find an alternate route. That will leave those of us living here, stuck with these humps, being negatively impacted daily on our own street while coming and going from our properties and the neighborhood we love.

A couple of General Questions:
• How long will the bumps be there? When will they be removed? What is the plan for that?
• Does the city have a vehicle repair fund for those of us affected daily by these humps and cannot select other driving routes to access our properties?
• How will you address noise issues?

• Will there be signs installed at all of the properties with the humps negatively impacting the look of this beautiful historic neighborhood?

Bottom line, we do not want the hump installed in front of our property (363 Crescent) period. I am cc’ing my next door neighbor Nicole Conroe (365 Crescent), and my neighbors George and Becky Emery (366 Crescent) who are also strongly opposed and want the hump moved as well. Nicole, George, and Becky feel free to reply with additional comments.

We look forward to hearing from you with regard to this issue.

Sincerely,

Beth Summers, 363 Crescent Ave. Buffalo NY, 14214
Cell: 716-572-8698
Email: bethwsummers@yahoo.com

NOTE: Dan at 356 Crescent mentioned he would not be opposed to having it moved in front of his house, but you would have to confirm that with him.

Good Morning, Beth - thanks for the inquiry and the number of comments. The intention of painting the proposed locations in advance of the work is to  get valuable feedback as you have provided. I have marked this proposed speed hump for a relocation in our mapping system, indicating the speed hump should be shifted south a house or two. Our field inspector will make sure to go to the site and confirm a new suitable location exists before work begins. 

The City initiated the Slow Streets program due to complaints all across the City of excessive speed on residential streets. Neighborhoods submitted applications formally requesting traffic calming and the City further surveyed the residents on the streets where the speed humps are located.  DPW has designed and installed the speed humps based on best practices across the country and we are confident that they will provide a safe and effective solution to excessive speed on residential streets.   

Take care now,

Alex

Alexander M. Bullers, P.E.
Principal Engineer, Division of Engineering
Department of Public Works, Parks & Streets

Office: (716) 851-4785

Back in the Backyard Room Again

I'm back in the backyard sunroom again sitting at the table with my laptop, writing and listening to music in the evening. Over the past several weeks it has just been too hot to sit out there the way I've been enjoying that space over the past several years. It's a little past 8pm and the outside temperature is 72 and inside the room is 79 but with a cool breeze coming through the screened windows. Very comfortable. I really missed being out here. It was just too hot last week and the week before we were in Long Lake for vacation. Before that we had another very hot week plus I had several weeks when I wasn't feeling very well and not doing a lot of writing. I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time back out here.

I do have a fan for the room and I will be using it during the coming weeks. I know it is going to be hot in August again. 

Now I have spent some time in the backyard in recent weeks sitting in a chair reading and listening to music on my portable speaker but I just wasn't spending any time in the sunroom because of the heat. Most days it was in the high 90's in that room.

I'm so glad to be sitting here again this evening as the sun goes down and the yard is full of bird sounds. 

Tour de France Ended

The 2022 Tour de France ended today in it's usual exciting fashion in the streets of Paris for the final sprint around the Arc de Triomphe and up and down the Champs Elysees. 

We enjoyed watching the Tour again this year although we did miss a week while we were in Long Lake. Fortunately all of the stage highlights are available on the NBC Sports YouTube channel. We also always enjoy the videos that highlight the wonderful scenic vistas shown throughout the three weeks of the race. We especially liked the ones from the first three stages in Denmark. 

The best moments video of the Tour de France 2022

And Then Sick Again... My Voice

And I keep getting sick. This my fifth time this spring and summer. It has all been very similar except this time I lost my voice too. I've gotten very hoarse. It has been many years since something like this has happened to me due to a cold. 

I started feeling this cold a couple of days after we got back from our vacation in Long Lake with the family. I didn't feel anything wrong while we were up there. I can only imagine that I got it from being around the grandchildren for a week. This seems to be a pattern and all five times I've been sick has been after being with the kids. It was a very gradual cold that developed when we got back and got worse as the week wore on. 

We hosted a Parkside WOW on Wednesday in our backyard. I took a Covid home test that morning which was negative. We were ready to cancel the WOW. It was a hot day and there was a threat of rain. And I was sick. I was coughing a lot and my voice was noticeably very rough. Lots of people commented on it. 

I've been taking a lot of over the counter cold medicines again and I've been very gradually getting better. It just seems to be a long process. I want to get completely better by next week when Katie, Todd, Henry, Clara and Violet will be coming to town and staying with us for a couple of weeks. 

My voice is gradually getting better.

Fade Into You - On Stage

This is another one of a new series of On Stage mixes of live music. I put this group together to play at our Wine on Wednesday backyard gathering of neighbors but this one did not get to be played that night. It would have worked fine that night or any other night for that matter.

These mixes were all edited as one file using Audacity software where I blended the songs together. With the crowd sounds the set of music would sound like it was one concert with multiple groups. There were several other On Stage file mixes I played that WOW night along with a couple of the new ones. I got some nice comments from some of the folks who were paying attention to the music.  

Making these mixes was a lot of fun. I quickly threw this together and ran it through the file editing software. It starts off with one of my all time favorite songs from Mazzy Star that came out in 1993. 

1. Mazzy Star - Fade Into You
2. Band of Horses - No One's Gonna Love You
3. Coldplay - In My Place
4. Leonard Cohen - So Long Marianne
5. The Cure - Lovesong
6. Squeeze - Goodbye Girl
7. R.E.M. - So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)
8. Crowded House - Something So Strong
9. Dave Edmunds - Girls Talk
10. Chris Isaak - Somebody's Crying
11. The Jayhawks - Blue
12. Paul McCartney - Blackbird
13. Cat Stevens - Heard Headed Woman
14. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
15. Bob Dylan - Ballad of a Thin Man
16. Eric Clapton - Bell Bottom Blues
17. Hall & Oates - She's Gone
18. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Free Fallin'

Speed Humps Coming Soon

We got this flyer today on the windshield of our car. About three weeks ago a city worker was spray painting the marks on the street near our house and I went out and talked to him to find out what was going on. The guy was very talkative and filled me in on the scheduled plans. He said the work would be done sometime in August.

I talked with some neighbors about the speed humps and many are not very happy with having one in front of their homes. They feel they are dangerous to their vehicles and could also negatively impact property values. Some will be calling city hall this coming week to complain.

Becky doesn't like having one of them so close to our house that it will affect us every time we come and go in and out of our driveway. On the other hand I have sat on our front porch and have seen the constant speeding cars and trucks coming down our street all day and especially at rush hour. I think it may be somewhat amusing to watch these commuters navigate the new speed humps throughout the neighborhood. We will certainly see how this all shakes out.

Do Not Disturb

The phone settings... still getting used to this new phone. Over the past few days I was missing both regular phone calls and video chats from Katie and Sean. I knew something was wrong and I began exploring the obvious phone settings for sounds and notifications. I found the setting volume slide bar for phone rings was greyed out.

I started this hunt for settings after I saw that this evening Sean had called me for a video chat with Andrew. I was near my phone and should have heard it. I called him and left a message for him to call me back and that I was having some trouble with my phone not ringing. 

A little while later I was sitting at the kitchen table with my phone next to me and I saw a phone call from Sean coming in. It was completely silent. Coincidently at the time Sean called I was searching Google for settings information about my Google Pixel 6 phone. Sean was also searching the settings too.

The solution was frustratingly obvious. I was digging deep into the phone settings when the problem was there to see by swiping down on the main screen. There is a "Do Not Disturb" image right there along with Internet, Bluetooth and Flashlight. The Do Not Disturb was highlighted in yellow which meant it was turned on. That setting blocks all sound notifications including phone rings. I tuned off that setting and the went back and looked at my phone settings for ring sounds and sure enough that slide bar was no longer greyed out. I thanked Sean profusely for pointing out the obvious. I'm sure I would have found that setting but I was really set on digging deep into the inner settings of this phone and was not looking for the obvious. Perhaps the Google search would have shown me that setting right away.

We brought Becky into the conversation on speaker phone and had a nice time talking about other things for awhile. 

Hummingbird Strife

This was something new for Becky and me. We've had hummingbirds in our gardens for many years but yesterday was the first time we have seen two hummingbirds fighting over some flowers. One of them was chasing the other away and then went back to feeding in the flower. They were mostly after the beebalm plants. This happened several times while we were sitting in our backyard chairs watching the drama. The birds were also squawking too. We both have not remembered ever hearing hummingbirds vocalizing. About an hour later we saw the action going on again and the one bird kept chasing the other away.

This afternoon we were sitting in the backyard relaxing and we saw the hummingbirds fighting again. This was the third time in two days. Last night at our neighborhood Wine on Wednesday gathering in our backyard I brought up the fighting hummingbirds to several people and nobody had ever seen that kind of activity in their own gardens. They had also not heard the sounds of the hummingbirds. 

Later on I looked up hummingbird fighting on the Internet and of course I found lots of information on what I learned was the highly aggressive and territorial behavior of hummingbirds. I was surprised. Apparently this behavior happens more often during droughts and times of limited access to plants and flowers. We just had never seen this happen before in our Buffalo gardens.

Fighting hummingbirds video from NPR

Our WOW 2022 - Hot Night

Last night we had our 2022 Parkside Wine on Wednesday. It was our first WOW hosting since 2019. The party was very successful with 34 people showing up despite the heat of the day at 88 degrees and the threat of rain which thankfully held off. The temperatures dropped as the evening went on. 

We signed up to host this WOW several months ago and in hindsight it probably wasn't a good idea to do it so soon after getting back from vacation in the Adirondacks with our family. Our vacation was set up a year ago. Well, we had four days to get ready but that time also included recovery time from our week in Long Lake with those four grandchildren. We were exhausted. I got sick with a cold too when we returned to Buffalo. 

There is always a lot of prep work for hosting one of these events that included lots of shopping and getting the backyard ready. It took a couple of days to get things ready. Becky made some cookies and some salsa along with some other snacks which were very appreciated. 

People arrived right at 7 pm and everyone was gone by 9:30. That was perfect. We cleaned up and were all done by 10. There was plenty of wine and food. And chairs too. Often at these WOWs there are never enough chairs and many people have no option but to stand around all evening. We had over 30 chairs available. It was also nice that we had the shelter of the backyard sunroom for the food table. I bug bombed the yard the previous day and we also had plenty of bug candles scattered around. It really wasn't too bad with the bugs and it had become breezy later in the evening which helped with keeping them away. It was also nice to have the lights on in the yard including the sunroom party lights.

I used our portable bluetooth speaker for the music on a flash drive. The sound was OK for this crowd but not great. I really need to upgrade the backyard speakers. It's been fine for me sitting in the sunroom with the little stereo but I really do need something better for large crowds not that we entertain these days like we used to do. 

I played some mixes on the speaker that were all live cuts that were blended together on individual mix files. The music sounded like a concert with the crowd sounds blended together to create the illusion of one long show with different bands. I got a lot of nice comments about the music. A lot of WOWs have no music at all although next week Greg and Karima will have some very nice jazz playing.

I had lots of conversations last night and although I wasn't coughing as much anymore I still had problems with my voice which everyone seemed to notice. I was glad to be able to tell them I had a negative covid test that morning.

Spirit in the Night - On Stage

This is another mix of live music I put together for our Wine on Wednesday neighborhood gathering in our backyard tonight. This was a fun mix to put together and I'm looking forward to playing it for people. For me too. Lots of my favorites live cuts from over the years.

BTW, I was at the concert at the Tower Theater in 1975 when this photo was taken.

1. Bruce Springsteen - Spirit in the Night
2. The Band - The Weight
3. George Harrison - Something
4. Bob Marley & The Wailers - No Woman, No Cry
5. Earth, Wind & Fire - Sun Goddess
6. Hall & Oates - I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) 
7. Roxy Music - Avalon
8. Crowded House - Fall At Your Feet
9. Squeeze - Tempted 
10. R.E.M. - Losing My Religion 
11. Chris Isaak - Wicked Game 
12. Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U

Heatwave

We had a heatwave here in Buffalo this past week or so but certainly nothing like the rest of the country. It looks like climate change is happening all over the world. 

Europe has been very hot and England has had temperatures into the 100's this week and of course the problem is compounded over there because only about 3% of the British population has any air conditioning. It has been weird to see people actually swimming in the lake in Hyde Park in London.

There has also been a lot of wildfires throughout Europe. The heatwave has had an impact on the current Tour de France race going on right now. They had to change some of the rules to allow the riders greater access to water.

We are hosting a Parkside Wine on Wednesday tonight and the temperatures today are forecasted to be a high of 88. Not sure how the turnout will be. 

The First Sentence

The Sixties began in the summer of 1956, ended in October of 1973 and peaked just before dawn on 1 July, 1967 during a set by Tomorrow at the UFO Club in London. 

White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s by Joe Boyd

I have a feeling after reading that first sentence that I'm going to enjoy this book. The prologue and the first chapter got me hooked. 

The author talks about the 60's ending began in 1967 and one of his examples was the white bicycles in Amsterdam that were stolen and painted another color. Apparently the white bicycles program for free access to bikes began in 1960's Amsterdam and then grew around the world. 

More on this book later.

Tangled Up In Blue - On Stage

A new mix of live music to play at our WOW this week. This is one of a new series of On Stage mixes of live music. I put this group together to play at our Wine on Wednesday backyard gathering of neighbors. These mixes were all edited as one file using Audacity software where I blended the songs together. With the crowd sounds the set of music would sound like it was one concert with multiple groups. Most of the time there is no music at a WOW but a few of us hosting insist on having some nice sounds. I plan to play the On Stage mixes all night. The last time we hosted a WOW I played jazz mixes.

The picture and the opening song from the set comes from Dylan's Live in 1975 album from the Rolling Thunder Revue tour. This was always one of my favorite Dylan songs from one of my favorite Dylan albums... Blood on the Tracks.

Lots of other great songs follow and they flow nicely together. 

• Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue
• Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
• Paul Simon - The Only Living Boy In New York
• America - A Horse With No Name
• David Bowie - Life On Mars
• Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah
• Joan Armatrading - Love and Affection
• Loggins & Messina - Danny's Song
• Peter, Paul & Mary - Don't Think Twice, It's Alright
• Paul McCartney - Every Night
• The Rolling Stones - Dead Flowers
• Leon Russell & Joe Cocker - Hummingbird
• John Lennon - Imagine
• Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale

Our Cactus Bloom... we missed it

A day or so before we left for our vacation with the family in Long Lake we noticed our cactus plant on the porch looked like it was getting ready to bloom. When we got back home we saw that it did indeed bloom while we were gone for that one special night.

That plant has been flowering recently in July every year with it's one day night night bloom. It has been blooming since 2018 but we missed it in 2019 when we were out of town. So we missed it again this year. The 2020 and 2021 blooms were nice.

Perfect Weather Week at Long Lake

We had a perfect weather week at Long Lake this year. It was sunny and warm every day and the kids were able to spend time on the beach and in the water every afternoon. Some of the mornings too. It was great weather for our hikes and for just hanging around on the porches. There were no rain days. One day was forecasted for rain so we went up to the Wild Center in Tupper Lake but it didn't rain at all there. We heard there was a rain shower in Long Lake while we were in Tupper Lake but we didn't see it. There were a couple of short rain showers late at night but it had no effect on us at all. 

At night we needed to sleep with a blanket when it got very chilly just how we like it up there. In the mornings we had to put some warm clothes on and also in the evenings when we went down to the camp fire to hang out and listen to the loons.

This was especially nice since it was so hot everywhere else. Katie and Todd were going back to 90 degree weather in Philly after our vacation.

This week this year was probably the best weather week we might have ever had in the Adirondacks in all the time we've been going up there for vacations. We also had perfect driving weather going there and coming back today.

We booked the same cabins for the same time next year. 

When She Woke

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan, 2011

Read this during a week in mid July 2022. I had read her earlier novel Mudbound in May of this year and enjoyed it enough to want to read her second novel right away and especially since this one was so timely at this moment in time. 

The plot of this novel is a dystopian reimagining of The Scarlet Letter set in a future theocratic America that is recovering from a pandemic and has overturned Roe vs Wade. Women who have had an abortion are considered murderers and as such are given a genetic procedure that dyes their skin red. In this near future Christian America criminals are dyed the skin color to indicate their crime and are called "chromes".

I read this book very quickly right after the Supreme Court overruled Roe V Wade. I thought it was a very well written and thought out book that covered the issues of women's rights in a country run by a Christian totalitarian government. One of the plot lines is the smuggling of women out of the country to Canada to get abortions or have their chrome reversed using an underground railroad. It was a very fascinating story under the current circumstances. 

Date Night in Long Lake

Becky and I did a date night in Long Lake. The two of us went down to the Long View Lodge for a nice quiet dinner. The restaurant was busy but we got a good table in the dining room alongside a window overlooking the lake. We originally wanted to sit on the patio but the only tables available were in the direct evening sunlight. It was also rather buggy so we were happy where we were in the dining room. 

The food was wonderful and especially the starter dish that we shared which was a corn and tomato salad. Spectacular.

I ordered an IPA draft from Zero Gravity Brewing. I had just had a couple of Zero Gravity non-alcohol IPAs recently and I was really interested in having a real one. It tasted great and then I went on to the Untappd beer app and discovered I previously had a Zero Gravity IPA a year ago right here in the Long View Lodge. I told this story to the waiter who had a nice laugh about the serendipity. 

We watched the kids a couple of times so Katie and Todd and then Sean and Ashley could have a date night dinner (or lunch). 

Someday Becky and I should get a room and stay at this lodge for some time.

Buttermilk Falls 2022

We make a trip to Buttermilk Falls every time we go to Long Lake and this year was certainly no exception. So on Monday morning we drove down the lake for about five miles and spent some time at the falls. We have had a long history over the years at that spot and once again we took some photos of us standing on the rock overlooking the falls. Valerie took this one. After that little hike in the woods we went back to our cabins for a little lunch ad then on to the beach for the afternoon. Later o we all gathered together for a nice group pasta dinner. Overall a very fine day.

Going to Long Lake

We had been looking forward to this vacation in Long Lake all year. It was going to be very special this year for our family. Last year we made arrangements to take a group of cabins in early July of 2022 because a family that had been coming to Sunset Point regularly for decades was no longer able to make their annual vacation. We grabbed the cabins.

So we had three cabins reserved and then we expanded to four when Karen said she wanted to come too. All year we were excited about taking the kids to Long Lake. Katie, Todd, Henry, Clara and Violet would be in cabin #2 and Sean, Ashley and Andrew would be in #4. Karen, Davo and the girls would be in cabin #1. Becky and I would be in a small cabin down by the beach. Later Val and Bobby would join us in cabin #10. 

Unfortunately a couple of months ago Karen had to cancel her stay because of a back problem and surgery. We were all very disappointed. We then took cabin #1. We had stayed in that cabin before and were very familiar with it. We had also stayed in #2 and #4 also in previous years.

We are very excited about this vacation with our four grandchildren and we have been packing all week. Happily ready to hit the road tomorrow.

Songs 1983

Recently I was doing some reorganization of mixes, putting them in directories on my hard drive and making backup copies on portable drives. Over the years I've made many mixes based on particular years ranging from 1956 until when I stopped accumulating new music in 2016. Each mix was about an hour long and were focused on the music in my collection released in a particular year. Some years had more mixes than others. They were not best of mixes or attempts to provide an overview of the music released that year. They were all very personal and solely based on music in my collection from the year and it had to be music that made a significant impression on me. Lots of deep cuts too.

Well, I then realized I never made mixes for the years 1983 and 1985. I was surprised because those years were during the time when I was spinning records in a bar and must have just not gotten around to doing those years which were also very well represented in my collection.

So in late June I began working on the Songs 1983 mixes and I knew this was going to take some time. As usual I started with a playlist in iTunes from my collection and opened up a search for the year in music. That process was always my starting point. I also opened up Wikipedia for the year in music which gave me a focus and helped me narrow down the music to just what was in my collection but it was good to see what I was omitting too. 

I really did have a lot of music from 1983 and I was enjoying going back and listening to some of the music that I hadn't heard in awhile. Lots of old favorites too. 

Also during my recent reorganization I was coming across a lot of old mixes that I had put through the Audacity file editor to create blended mixes. I had done a lot of that back when I was uploading mix files to Mixcloud. I decided to do that again for these new mixes I was making for Songs 1983 but that will be later in the process. Right now I'm going through the year and creating a group of mixes a little over an hour long. 

When I get back from our vacation in the Adirondacks I'll focus more on this project and then when it is finished I'll move on to 1985. 

Update: The Songs 1983 Mix List

The New Grill

This evening we finally used our new grill for the first time. Becky grilled some chicken. We got a phone call from Home Depot late yesterday afternoon telling us it was ready to pick up. We went over there in the evening around 6:30 pm and had it home a little after 7. It was a good quiet time to go. Someone on the staff helped us get it into the car and then Becky and I got it out in the driveway, wheeled it into the backyard and then carried it up on to the back porch one step and a time. It was smaller than the last one but seemed heavier. Maybe we're older. 

Mix Cloud Again

I recently started posting some of my mixes again on the Mixcloud site. At one point about ten years ago I had several hundred mixes on the site and I had links to them on some of my social media sites. Then there were problems with copyright infringement and I received a notice that I was out of compliance. There was no information that detailed anything but just a generalized threat. I decided then that it wasn't worth it and around 2015 I closed my account and took down all of my mixes.

The really big difference with posting mixes on that site was in making the mix one file. I actually enjoyed doing that although it was a number of extra steps in the mix making process if I wanted to post to Mixcloud. That was another reason I stopped at that time.

Apparently a couple of years ago Mixcloud overcame the copyright issues and most of the users pay a fee to be on the site which is then used to pay artists. There are a lot of professional disc jockeys that host their shows on this site.

So I signed up again and created a new account on the free service. I've posted a handful of mixes and will see if it is worth having them on that site. I have the app on my phone and tablet which enables me to play mixes just as I would on Spotify except instead of individual songs it is a one file mix. I posted some of these mixes on a couple of FB music groups I belong to. 

Here is a link to my Mixcloud page. 

An NA IPA

I've been cutting back on my alcohol intake recently especially since I was sick and not feeling well throughout a lot of the spring this year. Becky had already stopped drinking alcohol most of the time and would only have a single glass of wine or a beer on occasion. I didn't have anything to drink at all for a couple of weeks and especially during the time before that when I was getting bad colds regularly over the course of a few months. 

So I started drinking some non-alcoholic beers along with my regular craft beers. Mixing it up. There have been a lot of actually really good NA beers available in our local grocery stores. There have been some wonderful hoppy NA beers and now there are even good NA IPAs like this one from Zero Gravity Brewing that I have been enjoying. 

Both Katie and Sean have also been drinking NA beers over the past year and when we have been together it has been nice to share that option. We have been getting ready for our week up in Long Lake with Kate and Sean with their families and we have been packing plenty of NA beers and sodas. I'll have a nice assortment of regular craft beers too but I will be mixing them up with NA beers and soda water drinks. 

The other day we were over Dave and Donna's for their holiday cookout and I brought an assortment of NA beers and some regular craft beers. Most of the beers there were not very good although Dave did start me out with a very nice Carlsberg Danish Pilsner. We were at Dave's for about five and a half hours during which I had that pilsner, then a NA IPA, a Founders Solid Gold Lager and then at the end of the night another NA IPA. I felt really good the next day.

Lately, like this evening, I've been having one regular beer followed by an NA or sometimes just sipping on a can of fruit flavored soda water.

Porch Painting

This past winter was rough on our porches. Both front and back. The front steps were especially bad because of a roof leak that had recently dripped water directly on the steps and caused the paint to chip away. The roof was fixed in early spring and I needed to get a coat of paint on the steps along with the rest of the porch. 

The back porch was almost as bad and there was large areas of peeling paint. I couldn't get to either project as the spring advanced toward summer and then I was sick for several weeks and did not have a lot of energy. Then towards the end of June I got going. I spent a day scrapping and then priming the front porch steps. I would leave the rest of the porch for later. I really wanted to get the really bad sections done first. 

Meanwhile Becky went to Home Depot and picked up a gallon of blue paint for the front porch and a gallon of green paint for the back porch. I had some old primer that I was able to use for both the front and back. 

Over the course of a couple of days I painted the front porch steps with two coats of paint. The steps look really good. When we get back from our vacation in the Adirondacks with the kids I will finish the front porch. I'll break it up into a couple of sections and get that done. There is also some repair work to do on the wood on either end that will take a little more effort and take some time.

After scrapping and priming the back porch I put a couple of coats of paint down. It looks good. I mainly concentrated on the floor boards and some of the railings. I didn't put fresh paint on every surface because it didn't really need it everywhere. The porch also gets roughed up very quickly every year and needs some painting touch up every other year or so. Doing the back porch was also always a problem because of all of the tree debris that comes down in the spring and into the summer. Even now in early July it still drops stuff everyday and would land all over any wet paint. It also rained a few days that kept me from putting down one coat or another. 

Well, the back porch is done now and looking good. 

This Will Not Pass

This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America's Future by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, 2022

June 23 to July 2

These two New York Times reporters wrote a shocking definitive account of the 2020 election and the first year of Biden's presidency with an amazing amount of detail about the pandemic responses and the attack on the Capitol on January 6th by Trump supporters.

The book details Trump's attack on the 2020 elections and his campaign of vengeance against Republicans not following his lead on his assault on our democracy.

There was a lot in the book about the early Biden and Harris administration but I found that to be nowhere near as compelling as the insurrection of Trump terrorists, the assault on democracy and the botched response to the pandemic. The section on the Democrats was really about a group of aging politicians trying to hold the country together against the radical rightwing oligarchs and their religious zealot allies. Personally I think it is time for the younger generation of progressives to rise up and lead the nation forward against the maga fascists 

Overall this is a very good book written by some great reporters at a time when a lot of former Trump Administration officials are writing their own books with their own versions of what happened to America during their time of responsibility. Many of them are now critical of Trump but they were (and still are) cowards who let the worst of Trump damage our nation.

Tour de France 2022

The Tour de France started yesterday afternoon. It was on my radar to watch the first stage at 2 pm but I forgot until that evening. I saw that NBC had a YouTube channel devoted to the tour and so last night before we went to bed we watched some of the Stage 1 highlights which was in Copenhagen Denmark. It turned out to be a very rainy, foggy day which was a little bit of a disappointment because I really like watching the towns and countryside and was looking forward to seeing some of Copenhagen. There were several crashes on those slick rainy streets but still interesting to watch.

Today Stage 2 was on from 8 am until about noon and we had the TV on the entire time watching it off and on. We watch the tour a lot because of the scenery and the ride along the North Sea coast of Denmark was spectacular. Towards the end of the stage they raced across a very large bridge and causeway between land masses. There were amazing views and lots of wind for the riders. A very entertaining stage.

Tomorrow they will be in Denmark for one more day before moving on to France for the rest of the race. Hopefully we can watch more of the race next week when we are in Long Lake and then the following week when we return home.