Today I attacked cleaning Erich's car - a 2006 Subaru Baja that we used for rock hounding and road trips.
I started by emptying the glove compartment, door pockets, the front and back seat consoles, then under the front seats, behind the read seats, and in the flat bed area that has a shell on it.

Here is what I found (the big items have been put away and are not in the picture above. 
And if you are thinking, what I am thinking - "You could knock someone out, kill them and bury them with all of this" - then go right ahead!

• The compress air tank with no air
• 2 pick axes
• 3 shovels
• 4 crow bars
• 3 tarps
• 2 dozen bungie chords
• 5 flat tire repair kits
• Bleach
• 2 tie down straps
• 1 package of Industrial strength Duct (cable) ties
• 2 two gallon gas containers, no gas
• a pipe wrench
• a lead mallet
• a funnel
• an empty bottle of engine oil
• 2 - 3 dozens of Power/Energy bars that are so old they could be used for bricks
• a Geiger Counter
• 7 Dosimeters and 2 calibration units
• 2 different types of can openers (but no canned food)
• 2 cans of bug spray 
• 8 magnifying lenses
• 1 dozen roller ball pens
• 3 sharpies 
• 3 screw drivers
• a crescent wrench
• 5 heavy duty pocket knives
• 4 pairs of reading glasses
• 3 tire pressure gauges
• a roll of duct table
• a tape measure
• 5 mylar emergency blanket
• 2 lasers (red and green)
• 2 flashlights in assorted shapes and sizes 
• 7 cigarette lighters
• a fork, knife and spoon
• 2 calculators
• 2 AM/FM radios and 2 weather radios all double wrapped in aluminum foil
• batteries in all shapes and sizes and most are leaking
• foam ear plugs
• a socket wrench set
• and hundreds of pieces of nicotine gum and most so old they too could be used for bricks.

But NO guns or ammo <whew!>
And the icing on the cake - $300 in 20's!!!!!

I came to realize that my life is kinda divided into 30 some-odd year increments - like mortgages and T-Bills but I can't refinance or invest more.

Let's review why I think this.

• I lived life as a single person for 32 years before meeting Erich. Yes, I hade my parents, my sister, various roommates, boy friends (live in and not).
• Then I met Erich and we got married and lived a wonderful like together for 35+ years

That's TWO 30+ year segments.

I plan on living at least another 30+ years and with luck maybe (??) 40 as I would like to live to be at least 100.

​So what's instore for me, over the next 30 years??
I have my arts & crafts, I read, I have my friends, I would like to take long trip to Japan but what's hovering just over the horizon that would be new to me?? Only time will tell

.."being a Prepper"?  I am going with the first one since it sounds nicer and the second makes the Shop Elf sound too weird and out there.

Note: Erich was born at the end of the Great Depression and grew up during WWII so I am going with that as the reason why.

Back in late October 2022 I started to do a full house cleaning; we had been here 5+ years and I knew there was lots of stuff that we really didn't use or need despite having done a major purge for month before the move.
By New Years I had done all the big rooms - living, dining, kitchen, bedrooms, family and it was time to move onto the pantry, hall closets, the loom room, my studio and the shop elf's workshop. 

Then IT happened and everything ground to a halt. In between all the arrangements I am slowly addressing the OTHER stuff that has to be done like TAXES, grocery shopping, laundry, dishes, gassing the car, cleaning the litter box, getting the mail; it is amazing all the stuff he did for US, around the house.
Plus I have to change account names, cancel services and credit cards, etc.

In-between that I will occasionally look in his desk, closet, the pantry, or workshop and here are the things I have found that has stocked up on: (I know there will be more)

• Nicorette Gum (Coleman Ice Chest Full!!)
• Pasta (Coleman Ice Chest Full!!)
• Rice and Beans (Coleman Ice Chest Full!!)
• Batteries (Coleman Ice Chest Full!!)
• Spam
• Coffee
• Salmon
  
• Paper goods like TP and towels
• Plastic bags of all shapes and sizes
• Water - bottled and a Jerry Can
• Protein Shakes
• Protein Powders
• Vitamins and Mineral Supplements
• Geiger Counters - yes we have THREE
• LED Flashlights
• Other emergency lamp/lights
• Propane Tanks (I can use this up in the studio)
• Electronic Components: Resisters, Capacitors, etc..
• Glad ware (disposable plastic tubs)
• Stamps
• Permanent Markers
• Light Bulbs
• First Aid Items - band aides, gauze pads, tape, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, iodine tablets, Neosporin, old antibiotics cause you never know!
• Other Bathroom items - bars of soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, disposable razors, Mucinex, and more.

Update: 2023-February-06
I have now found a hoard of

• Magnifying glasses and loops
• Staples
• Post-It notes
• Solar calculators
• Highlighters
• Pentel Rolling Ball pens - red and black
• Push Pins

I might not have to buy these things for months if not YEARS!!

Well, I had my "GwtW" moment the other night.

I was watching Finding your Roots on PBS.  I won't go into the details of exactly what the episode was about but suddenly I found myself mad, crying. upset, and saying out loud - WHY NOW !!!

Coincidently my sister texted to see how I was doing, which as you can tell wasn't great, so she called and we had a great chat.  Somewhere during this Boots came into the room and settled on my lap so that also gave me comfort.

I know this will go on for a while but now I feel like I can start to move forward and take care of business.

Enjoy these pictures of the Shop Elf that were taken through the years during various trips we took

I can't watch this movie at the moment and  no women in our family can watch it without tissues being at hand. 

Why, well sit back and I will reveal the reason.

Back in my early teen years Gone with the Wind (GwtW) was going to be shown at the local movie theatre with a 2 hour intermission for lunch. It was on a weekday any my mom said I would not be going to school that day so she could take me to see it. Note 1: I like going to school but when your mom says it's a girl day why argue. My sister had done this with my mother several years earlier and before we left she said " make sure mom has tissue"; was confused as to why and this statement went in one ear and out the other. 

The day arrives and we head into town and we get popcorn and settle into our seats and soon the lights go down the curtain was raised, the opening music starts and the intro credits start to scroll. Within minutes I hear my mom sniff and as the movie went on she was sniffling more and eventually she got up and then came back with a wad of toilet paper. Note 2: It was that thin Soviet Union type of TP. Intermission soon arrived and over lunch she did not explain, when I asked about what was going on but said she would explain on the way home and that I should just enjoy the movie. During the second half the sniffling changed to actual crying. I can and do acknowledge there are sad and emotional sections I still could not comprehend what was going on with my mother. By the time the movie was over and we headed to the car her eyes were very red and her nose was raw from that toilet paper in lieu of tissues.

On the way home, I again asked what was going on and she said something like "You might not understand now, but you will when I am gone!" - WTF MOM??!! Note 3: Being a young girl in the 60's I did not actually think that but you get get it. Then she proceeded to explain that HER mom had passed away when she was 12-ish and that she had seen the movie (released in 1939) around then; I do not know if she saw it with her mother or she saw it after her mother passed but every time she watches the movie all the grief and pain wells up and she can't NOT cry. Oh, and that is how I learned that my grandmother was her step-mom making her my step-grandmother and that my uncle was her half brother; it was a very strange day.

Years later, when GwtW was released to TV (1976) my sister and I made sure she had an entire box of tissue ready.

Then my father passed in 1988 and my mother passed in 1992 and NOW I understand; I was watching a movie yesterday, it was NOT GwtW, and someone died in the movie and I started to cry and changed the channel. 

I will NOT be watching GwtW any time soon.

Picture of Carol Burnett in the curtain dress from the the famous Went with the Wind parody (1976).

​Thanksgivng was a success - Here is the run down

Gylver and Joan were set to arrive around 2pm and at 1:30 pm I put the baking potatoes in the oven at a slightly lower temp so it would be over an hour for them to be done.

I then pulled out the large platter and laid out a charcuterie board: summer sausage, cured/smoked ham, smoked cheddar, cranberry goat cheese, camembert, fig jam, sour cherry jam, assorted crackers, green grapes and strawberries and a nut mix of cashews, pecan, hazel/filberts, brazil, and almonds. 

I also took the key lime pie I ordered out of the fridge and put it on the counter, it arrived last week and had been in the freezer. 

On the counter I laid out 4 of each small plates, large plates, wine glasses, forks, knives, spoons.

Gyl and Joan arrived at 2:30 with the BBQ which we put in the oven with the potatoes to warm up and we sat and talked for a while.

At 3:30-ish we moved to the table and played a crazy game called FLUXX (you start with one set of rules and as you play the rules change as does the goal to win); I have 2 version one based on Doctor Who and the others is H.P. Lovecraft's The Elder Scrolls and Cthulhu.   Some where after the first game which was longer so everyone else became familiar with how to play... I brought over the charcuterie, Joan and I opened the wine and Gyl and Erich had sparkling cider. 

At 6 pm we cleared the table and served up dinner - BBQ brisket and pork roast, coleslaw, potato, butter, sour cream, more wine, water and cider along with LOTS more talking and discussions about stocks, finances, wills, trusts, being in snow storms, etc.

THEN IT WAS TIME FOR PIE and Coffee!!!!. Joan has a love of Key Lime pie which is why i researched and then ordered a pie from a place in Key West, Florida; it is one of the best to get mail order and IT WAS SOOOooooooo good.

At 9 pm we called it a night and we packed up the pie was left over (half) and it went home with Joan as well as half the leftover BBQ. 

I was in bed and asleep by 11 pm. 
And that was my day.

AWhere did October go?
I completed another enhancement to the Tooling Tracker and then took a long break. The shop elf and I started to binge watch some spy/mystery/action movies and series on Amazon:

• ​Jack Ryan - movie and Amazon series
• The Terminal List - Amazon series
• Jason Bourne - all movies
• Reacher - Amazon series (not the movies)

I rested and read 4 books in less than 4 weeks.

​AND I to played in the studio again. I have been slowly acquiring tools to use with the hydraulic press (thus the diversion with making the Tooling Tracker) and I spend some of each day making sample pressings of the various impression dies and texture samples using the rolling mill, of the texture plates and practiced making some small dishes with texture and impressions to learn how best to do that. Along the way I also semi-disassembled the rolling mill to clean and recalibrate it.

​ I am not done as I have to make some boxes, cups and dishes with texture and impressions.

Last time, I wrote about working on "a thing"; well it's almost ready for the world. 
BUT WHAT IS IT ???!!! you ask
Sit back with a cuppa and get ready for a long tale.

Several months, even before the BIG WALK, I started pondering a database where I could track the tools, I own, for the hydraulic press I have trust me; there is a never ending list of things to purchase. Yes, it's for metal geeky stuff. Some items come with a part number on them but some things, like the rolling mill texture plates and the impression dies do NOT or it's written in marker that eventually wears off. 

To solve my dilemma I started a MS Access database what would have the information I wanted and I could put pictures of the various items in the record. I won't list the fields I settle on but let's just say it's the basic info about what was bought.

After I returned from my month long vacation, somehow in the PotterUSA Facebook group (a.k.a PotterPeople) a discussion began on how do everyone keeps track of  their stuff because many people have bought things two or three times!  Some use Excel, others Word or other text document and of course the question arose about pictures to identity dies that don't have numbers or the number wore off.  I eventually chimed in with my little database application which raised many questions as most members (9.5K+) don't know me or that I write software for fun; crazy eh??  

Some people asked if I would give them "my app" but when I questioned if they knew how to use MS Access (or if they used a Windows PC) I got crickets!

Over the next week I thought about it and I realized that there was a need for an application so others could keep track of their stuff too. I put several polls in the group regarding what devices (desktop, laptop, phone, tablet) and operating system (Winx, Mac OS, Linus, iOS, Android) and oh the confusion that resulted was amazing.  I decided that this application would have to be web-based otherwise I would be spending most of my time providing installation support; upgrades would be a nightmare.

Since I work mostly with Microsoft technology the tech stack I chose is MS SQL Server 2019 with MS SQL Server Management Studio, Visual Studio 2022 as the IDE for coding with the following: .net (Core) 6; ASP.NET with Razor Pages; Entity Framework (for db operations); Bootstrap for the styling; jQuery/javaScript for front end stuff; and various other packages for all sorts of functionality. 

It took about 2 weeks to all this out and then I sat down and created a clean Virtual Machine (VM) on my  development laptop so I could then begin installing all the software I would need. 

To cut a very, very, long story down to just a long story; I resurrected a framework I built 2 years about and upgraded the various backend software to be the most recent. Then I started the real building of the database tables, configuring the UI with a menu, logo and other static pages; then on to the pages where all the user interaction would take place as well as pages for me, the admin/webmaster would manage the site. I also had to make it so a user would only see their stuff - including adding, editing, deleting, viewing and printing. 

This week, the majority of the code was complete so I bought a domain and setup an account with a hosting provider; configured the email system; setup PayPal, Buy Me a Coffee, and Stripe for donations. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that the application is DonationWare - I am hoping to cover operating costs. I also have it so sample data is seeding into each user account so a user can see how it would work. 

It's now been 3.5 weeks, I have been working on it EVERY DAY of the week, since I started and I just pushed the Alpha version to the remote server and I have been working on/with it to find things that need to fixed. 

During this time I have posted pictures of what the app will look like, in the Facebook group and I have some very excited people looking forward to it. I have a long list of things yet to do to make some parts of administration easier but that can be worked on after I do the first release which I hope will be next week. 

No, I am not doing a 2020 recap. 
I thought I would end out the month and year with a recap of how this was my year of electronics. 

First my phone started to act up so I replace it with a Moto Razr, which is one of the newer folding phones. I do like the smaller form factor when it's folded and the screen is great when open.

Then my personal development machine refused to boot. The SSD drive some how died. Not only did I get a new drive put in, I went for almost a Terabyte of space because the cost we not much more. 

THEN my fun laptop decided to also start acting up. I replaced the battery since it was over 5 years old but the internal power charging would work somedays and not others. I then bought a new model and sold the old one off on eBay with full disclosure.

AND THEN I realized I needed/wanted a new FitBit because the one, I can't see the display when I am outside.

AND THEN my mini-tablet (android) that I use for an e-book reader truly died; it's deader than a brick. I found a nice 7" tablet on sale which is actually a smidge smaller then then old one but has a bigger screen.  

Note: before moving to Texas, my mac died and was replace AND the shop elf got a new computer too and so, with luck next year we will NOT be purchasing any electronics!

Yup, the last day and I figured I should write something to get a post this month. 
Much has happened.

• I got my COVID booster shot and was not feeling well for 4 solid days and it took a full week for me to feel ok. I had head aches, light sensitivity, all over aches, fever, and chilllllls plus lack of appetite. Then there was the pee-ing. I do drink at least 2 liters of water a day but I think I was in the bathroom once per hour even though the night thus pissing more than I drank.
• I fell behind on the walking training because of the down week from the above booster shot. I am almost back on schedule; I am currently walking about 5 miles and not feeling completely wiped out afterwards.
• For my big walk, I bought my rain gear, pants and jacket, for the trip as I need it now so I can still go for my walks when it rains. I also bought a few other things like an emergency whistle, blister/foot first aide kit, a small vacuum bottle so I can carry a cuppa coffee with me for a break in the afternoon, and a midge net to put over my head so they don't go up my nose, in my ears, eyes, or mouth. I still have many other things to gather which I won't go into here.
• Also for the trip I found I CAN use my mobile phone in the UK for a small fee, daily which won't have extra long distance or international fees. Thus I will be able to call home or Mike and Elisa of Scotland; which allow me to check in daily. 
• Though I have stopped the pandemic stats, I have read 4 books this month but made no progress on the quilt for my niece.

Here is a picture of the Craigellachie Bridge which crosses the River_Spey. I will go over this bridge on my second day of walking.