Here I am almost done with December and 2019. 
Earlier this month I was down with the flu, for about a week and then recovery took just as long. I canceled a metal workshop I was to teach and just slept, read, and zoned. I had not caught the flu or other bug that floats around during Winter in several years so I guess my time was due.

The year has flown by. 

We have been here for 2+ years now and we have settled into a route of sorts - I go to work weekdays and Erich takes care of the house, the cars, Cowboy Boots and me; on weekends he relaxes and I am in my studio.

Friends from California are getting ready to move to the area, early next year which will be nice as we have know them for as long as we have been married. 

I am planning my retirement from the day job - 2 years and counting. I will work for a while to take advantage of medical insurance, socking money away in the 401K, and of course the extra income. Eventually I go to part time work so I have more time to do what I want while still having some extra income coming in. 

​Here's a calm view, from the studio back door that I took last month. 

I have now been at this day job for 6+ months and I am finally feeling like I know what is going on. 

Usually with a new job, where I am writing software, you learn about the project and application the while working. But now, I am not writing code 100% of the time; I am also supervising a team in India plus two other contractors based here in the USA and are also remote. Then there are all the meetings I attend for planning and communications - I am not use to all this and it has taken me time to adjust.

I currently spend most mornings in meetings with a half hour to an hour+  in-between where I can get some "work" done. Then I have lunch and maybe another meeting after that. I have "dark time for Laurie" from either 2 or 3 pm every day where I can take care of my actual coding work. This is not to say that I am not working in all those meetings; it is just a different type of work. 

So what is it I do during my work (dark) time?   I write business requirement documents (BRD's); writing test scripts and testing code; planning for deployments and releases; and actually writing code which is very very little compared to prior jobs. 

On the other side of this, I work a normal 8 - 5 day though some days I work through lunch only because I don't want to stop what I am doing (and I am nibbling my lunch while I do it)

Plus I am not stressed which means I have am not having the pains in my chest like I use to.  Actually I have not had a chest pain in several months (watch, I have just jinked myself) 

I am ready lots of books and really enjoying my new-ish studio and I have even begun, again, teaching some metal classes. 

And come Thanksgiving weekend, I start my countdown to retirement. I may not retire when I hit full retirement age but then I will have more options to work at a day job full time, part time or not at all and spend all my time either on weaving, knitting, quilting, temari, or metals. 

​Wow, it's been three months since I posted. So much has happened.


A friend from California has visited in May and he and his wife are getting close to retirement and have decided to relocate to this part of Texas. They are here this week now looking at home and will hopefully mover by April of next year when their lease runs out and she has retired from her job.

​

Then my sister came for a visit in June. She was in San Antonio for work and we spent the weekend seeing the area. One thing she wanted to see what an H.E.B grocery store. She use to teach marketing research and H.E.B was one of the case studies she covered, so she found it very interesting so actually see it in comparison to what she knew of them from on paper.

And I was feeling betting an working in the studio and getting deep into projects at the day job. I now lead a team of off shore developers for one project and we are pushing to get it finished before October but there was a lot of code clean up to do which I took on while the off shore team worked on other things.

​Then just over two weeks ago, while making my lunch one morning, the knife slipped and sliced open my right thumb; I was removing a pit from an avocado. Yes, I was doing it "correctly" as everyone has proceeded to tell me or send me to links on YouTube. The avocado was VERY ripe and so the pit slipped and the knife came out and went into my thumb.  Oh it bled and it was deep.
​
I now have what is called Avocado Hand. It should be noted that Bagel hand is something else.

So I wrapped it up and when to urgent care. They first cleaned it, gave me a tetanus shot, and took x-rays because there was a chance I nicked the bone, but did not, it was that deep. No stitches were put in cause I had to see a hand surgeon next.  Later in the day I was on my way to the surgeon who said I did not knick the tendon as I could flex it without pain but may have nicked the nerve since I had tingling along the side by my nail. Again no stitches were put in as they have 14 days to do surgery and IF they  had to go in, stitches would have to come out; so I butterfly bandage closed and wrapped up in elastic gauze tape and told to come back in a week.  I have now seen the doctor a second time and still have a bit of tingling along the side of my thumb but I can grip with no problem, confirming tendon is fine. So at this point it there are no guarantees the tingle would go away and since the area where it is like that is so small, the doctor doubts he might even be able to put in a stitch. This means the time and expense to do it plush the healing time are just not worth cutting my hand open. 

Let's must move on.

..get my life back under control and other times, I am learning to let it go. 

I realized that the move to Texas was more stressful than I though and I was not listening to the signals that I am (was?) ill. 

I haven't been sleeping well; I'm stress at work for no reason; I can't focus on what's being discussed and I let me mind wander to other non-work related things; I wanted to cry for no apparent reason; and what I was eating was/is crap so I put on all the weight I lost 3 years ago PLUS more - see below  

So last week, after a month of reading a book, I started a new eating regime (It is not a diet).

Since I had thyroid cancer, it has been exceedingly difficult for me to loose weight. 2+ years ago I started walking and found that if I walked for an hour every day and really limited my calories (and was always hungry) I was able to loose weight; I eventually lost about 20 pounds. But over time not only has that 20 pounds come back but I put on a more and trying to loose it has been a horrible struggle.

Last month a friend told me about her thyroid issues and how a nutritionist told her to read a book and follow the plan detailed in the book. She has since lost 40+ pounds and the sluggish and tired feeling have gone away. So 3 weeks ago I read the book and started the plan, I was feeling good and excited to see some changes and result in the next few weeks!

So what is it that I doing?  I am following the Plant Paradox by Dr. Gundry

I do not have some of the heavy autoimmune issues many have nor do I have diabetes but as I have said, I suffer from a very sluggish metabolism. I also have tinnitus (this appeared after my torn rotator cuff surgery and a bad reaction to the anesthesia), constipation, along with feeling sluggish, brain foggy, and depression.
  
I am now one week in and so far so good. I have not done the cleanse and there a just a few minor things I have been eating that I should not per the plan, but for now, it is more about small changes versus radical one.  I am still using a small amount of soy sauce to make my roasted veg, regular milk Greek yogurt, and a vegan, gluten free, salad dressing.

I have made the decision to cook a big meal on Sunday's and eat it as "left overs" for dinner during the week. This is so I don't have to cook every night nor will I resort to frozen meals. This past week I had roasted veg (cauliflower, brussel sprouts, fennel, and asparagus) with wild Alaskan salmon; for lunch I had a spinach salad with avocado, tuna, and sheep's milk feta with that vegan salad dressing; for breakfast I had yogurt with either fresh blueberries or strawberries; and for a snack some mixed raw nuts (walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts). 

So how was my first week? Pretty good. I don't feel hungry and I am enjoying what I am eating without worrying about tracking what I eat nor how many calories and grams of protein/fat/carbs or points I consumed!  I seem to be sleeping a bit better though having the sun come through the window at 6:30 am has and will be an issue since the bedroom window faces east but with the days getting longer it will resolve it's self until next summer roles around. And yes, I had THREE amazing bowel movements this week too.  I weighed myself and I am down 4 pounds. I will now not weigh myself for a month; this is so I don't obsess over it. 

Today I am back to the supermarket for this week's shopping and then I will make a beef stew for my week's dinner and get some other cheeses to add to my snack. 
​

Last week I came  the conclusion that the way the brake system was configured, for the two beams would not work in the way it was set up when I took ownership. Being an engineer, I can usually "see how things work" or NOT and figure it out but this had me stumped. 
I had the diagram from Macomber on how to set up 2 beams with one being a drum and the other being a ratchet but the setup on my loom was different. In the Macomber diagram the drum brake was on the regular beam and the ratchet was on the sectional beam; mine was reversed. ​I eventually, by jury rigging two shorter pieces of chain together, had the ratchet brake and regular beam working - see the last three pictures in the first gallery below. 

I sent the pictures of what I had off to Eddie and Linda, at Macomber, to see what advice they could give me.

After trading a few emails, the conclusion was YES, what I had was not what was a good configuration. There were several suggestions:

• Get another drum brake and put it on the plain beam and then BOTH beams would roll when the pedal was depressed
•  Get another ratchet and pawl and pedal and put that on the sectional beam (take the drum off) and each pedal/beam combo would work. 

OR, which was my idea.. Just get each beam working independently with the one pedal and just switch out the chains. I gave the shop elf the task of getting me ONE longer piece of chain.  This morning, with a clear head and knowing that getting both beams to work with one setup, I tackled the problem - AND I WON; I have solved the problem(s).

• Using the longer, new chain, I hooked it up to the pedal and the spring on the pawl of the ratchet. When the pedal is depressed, the chain is pulled down and the pawl is opened and the beam can roll in either direction for winding on or off when the warp is advanced. 
• For the sectional beam, I hooked the springs attached to the base beam to the metal bar attached to the frame that the beam is attached to, this provides downward pressure. Then I attached the cable, which is wound around the drum and provides the pressure/fixture that keeps the beam from rotating, from the beam  frame to the metal support bar. Then the support bar was attached via another small chain (there are extra links hanging in the picture; it has been trimmed) and 2 eye bolts to the upper metal lever (not in the picture but it would be at the top).  The metal lever, not in the picture, is then attached to the pedal via another chain - this is on the other side of the cross beam and castle.  So now when the pedal is depressed, it pulls the chain down and it lifts the metal lever which pulls against those springs and that loosens the pressure the cable has on the drum and voila! the sectional beam will rotate

IN this picture, both set ups are shown so I know how to set it all up but currently the sectional beam is disconnected.

Two weeks ago, a metals friend called me; she was distraught need help. She called me because she did not know what to do but I might be able to. 

Here is the background... 
Months ago she had her website redesigned but it wasn't until this month that she realized that her sales had not only fallen off, a lot!; but her position in various search engine results had gone from the first page to page 7 or higher. After a few hours of research it was apparent that the website redesign killed the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) because the pages had been renamed and redirects had not been setup; the website description and keywords had not been configured correctly and more geeky stuff. 

To put it nicely, her web programmer (I will not call them a developer, see below for more) gave a lame answer about not knowing how to fix it. 

Note: a programmer, in my book, is someone who will do what you ask without thinking off the consequences and as a result bugs and other issues can result. A developer will do what you ask and more; they will make suggestions about possible improvements, will raise a flag if an issue is found and will also care about your final product and business. 

So there were two choices - either I fix it or find someone who could.  I was asked to fix it. 

It took a week of working for an hours or two in the evening and a full Saturday but the changes and a few improvements were made and they were published.

Then we waited.... 

..Slowly over the course of the next two weeks, her website rose in the rankings and now, depending on the search terms, her website is back in the results and traffic to the site in 15 days was double that is was for the entire prior month. 

Being a good developer and consultant (in a prior life) I have now sent a follow up document on my thoughts about how the website should be moved to a more advanced platform (it is currently just HTML and JavaScript) and what enhancements could be implemented with the platform change.  I did this on my own time 'cause that's what friends and good consultants do and we don't expect to be hired because of it. 

The Loom Room, yes we have given what was the back bedroom a name, is still a bit of a mess but yesterday I started the loom upgrade. The parts I ordered from Macomber arrived earlier in the week so I decided to start on the loom this weekend. 

To start I replaced the aprons. This entails removing the old apron(s) and the staples that attach it to the beam. I used a set of pliers to grab onto the staple and to pull it out but in many cases it was impossible to get a grip on it so I actually ripped the apron off the beam; thus allowing a needle nose pliers to get under it and then I could push it up a bit until the regular pliers could grab it and remove it.

Then I placed the old apron on top of the new apron and using a colored pencil, I transferred the placement of the staple. Since the line of where the apron is was to be placed was still visible on the beam, I then put the first and last staple in using a hammer and needle nose pliers to hold the staple. Then I worked my way across the beam, driving in the staples into the existing holes. 

The next task was to replace the old, crumbly pad on the beater and under the jack levers.  The pads on the beater were held by tack nails and so they were easy to remove by just pulling them out. The pads under the jack levers were glued on and with just a slight tug they peeled off. Getting to these was also easy since I had removed the heddle frames so all the jack levers were in the up position. I just laid down a line of glue and placed the new ones where the old ones had been but due to the jack levers being up, I could not use them to apply pressure to hold the pads in position until the glue dried so I used painters tape to hold them down and prevent them from sliding.

Next up was restringing the sectional beam. I put my raddle on the edge of the castle and then ran strings from each hook in a section up to the raddle and back to the hook and then tying it off. Afterwards I wrapped each string around the beam and hooked it on a post so they are tidy and not hanging loose.

The last and frustrating bit was hooking up the brake system. The loom has 2 beams one regular and one sectional, the regular beam has a ratchet and pawl break and the sectional has a drum/friction break.  The sectional beam was hooked up to the release pedal when the loom was moved to the house but I could not get the beam to rotate when the release pedal was depressed AND some of the eye bolts were bent and it just looked like it had been put together to hold it and not to necessarily work.  I pulled out a diagram from a Macomber document of how to setup a second beam with a drum break and how my loom is configured does not match; in the diagram the drum break is on the top beam and mine is on the bottom.  I worked on this for over an hour and could not get a functioning configuration with the sectional beam and drum brake hooked to the release pedal. ​

Then I decided to take the original pictures and I sent them to Macomber along with my questions about how do I get the drum break to work and do I need to move things around to accomplish this? I expect to hear from later next week.

In the mean time, I did work on hooking the regular beam to the release brake, and that works like a charm; there wasn't a chain long enough to do this so i used 2 small chains and a S hook in between.

Finally, using painters tape, taped the cable for the drum brake down so it isn't flopping around and I put the extra chains, eye bolts, wing nuts and springs in a bag until I can configure everything properly

Here is the final picture of the loom. I put the beater bar back on and put one of the new reeds in.
Today I am putting the new inset eye heddles on the frames and I will re-hang them. 

Having cleaned and de-schmutzed the loom last weekend - this took at least 4 hours on Saturday.
I then spent quite a bit of time working on that list, from last week, purchasing things I wanted/needed.

First I sent off a list of replacement parts I needed, to Macomber and after a few episodes of email and telephone tag, they are now ordered and paid for and should be here in a week or two. 

I then went looking for a raddle. Yes, I could make one or buy one from Macomber but I wanted to see what one would cost since, if it was a reasonable price; why not purchase it. I did some Googling and i found a 3D printed raddle that is in sections, so you can get as long or as short a length that you need. I bought 6 - 6" sections, 2 - 2.5" sections, and 2 ends for clamping it to the loom. 

Then I found beautiful turned Warp Weights, which I knew I would need eventually. I have in the past used old film canisters but these are just to sexy to pass up.

Then I went looking for a warping board but not a warping board. I did not want a warping board that is large, bulky and has to be hung on a wall or take up too much room when not in use. Since I also have a rigid heddle loom and it came with ONE warping peg, I went looking for more that I could use with a table. Lo and behold a large peg system does exist! Again, a hand crafted, made in America, maple warping peg set. This is enough to get me started but I might need a few extra single pegs for when I do a really long warp.

​Lastly I purchased insert eye heddles, which I think are better when doing rugs as the larger eyes are easier to slay and don't abrade the rug warp at all. To fund these I took ALL 2,000 flat, standard, heddles off the frames and bundled them in groups of 100; the counting and bundling took at least another 4 hours; and sold some of the on Facebook. Along the way I found 5 repair heddles, so they were set aside for if/when I need them. I sold over 600 of the flat heddle and I only purchased 100 insert eye heddles but that's enough to get me started.

Now, while I wait, I am playing with my weaving software, which I have not touched in 5 years, to plan my first project.

This past week I have started to assess the loom, below are lots of pictures of what I found and it basically comes down to this. It needs to be cleaned and only some minor work done to it.  YES, I could weave on it right now but with a wee bit of love and attention before I start any projects, would be beneficial.

NOTE: A lot of this information in the Sarah Haskell's Macomber Looms Manual, which is worth the $12.50 it costs. 

So here is what I am going to do. 

• Remove the eye bolts and springs which connect the back beam breaks to the break pedal, this is so I can open the back beam and lay it on the floor (done last weekend)
• Remove the treadle hooks and harnesses from the loom (done last weekend)
• Open the front and back beams (done last weekend)
• Remove the reed from the beater and remove the beater bar from the loom (done last weekend)
• Remove the old cotton warp from the sectional back beam (did that last weekend and it was very dust packed) 
• Remove the old tape from the treadles so they can be cleaned and washed
• Wipe down all the chains that hold the heddle harnesses and that connect the treadles to the jacks
• Wipe/wash all the wood with Murphy's Oil Soap as recommended by other Macomber loom owners
• Apply daubs of Vaseline to the jacks where the bronze bushings meet the metal rod known as the Jack post
• Apply silicone spray to the lamm and jack rods so they glide through the wood slots 
• Wipe down the break drum on the sectional beam and inspect the ratchet on the regular beam
• Remove the heddles on the 8 harnesses and set aside any bent heddles. Wipe the harnesses down, apply silicone to the harness tops and bottoms so the heddles, when put back on, glide smoothly.
• Remove the old bumper pads from the beater bar - these will be replaced with new ones
• Remove old pads from under the upper jacks each side of the castle
• Remove the skirts from the front and back beams - they are functional yet old, yellow and bordering on crumbling
• Remove the felt strip from the top and bottom grooves of the beater where the reed sits, need to confirm this with Macomber!
• Clean the 3 reeds (10, 12, 15 dent)

Then I have to order the following, probably next week:

• Bumper Pads for the beater
• Beater Handle (new to me) as the beater does not have one
• Felt strips for the reed holder in the beater
• Pads for under the upper jacks 
• Front and Rear Skirts
• New strings for the sectional beam - I may have to make these
• Wheels (new to me) as the loom does not have them and it would make moving it, for cleaning under it, easier
• Extra Treadle Hooks

Of course after I am done cleaning, I then get to put it all back together, after the replacement parts arrive, why do this twice!

There are things I need but I don't want to order just yet as they maybe given to me when the rest of the accessories are sorted by the person I bought the loom from

• Warping board
• Tension box
• Raddle, for use with the regular beam or I will make one
• Extra treadle hooks, there were only 10 in use when I bought the loom
• Handles for the drum and ratchet brakes
• Maybe get a 5 dent reed since rug warps are thicker and a finer dent reed can be abrasive!
• Insert eye heddles, I had them on my other loom and like them better for rug warps

Having had my second cuppa coffee, it is now time to start the cleaning