Hello wonderful readers. Ah life happens. I have some bad news and some really good news. A recap for the trouble I have had including thinking because I got a weird message on the write page of my blog I had better dump and clean then reinstall the OS and programs on both the computers causing the loss of a section of the SSD drive and a hard drive misfunctioning and reporting as half the drive being bad sectors. the bad sector problem I was able to fix with a program I had bought in January of last year. But in going over everything I explained to Ron how much faster and less bogged on high program demand the computer with the SSD was. But because the SSD was so small basically only the OS could fit on it while I had to move as many programs as possible to the secondary drive. It did cause problems with some programs like the security programs that are designed to be on the OS drive. Plus the second computer did not have an SSD and it started much slower. Ron asked me what I thought I should do. I showed him the 500 GB SSD I wanted for the computers. He agreed and I bought them plus the cables and tray needed to mount the SSD in the second computer. The SSDs work great and have improved the performance of both computers and the programs. But as I wrote at the time, I made the mistake of letting the secondary computer sit on the first screen that comes up after the install that loads the OS on to a drive. It is the one that wants the region and other information to continue. For some reason that overheated the graphics card and destroyed it. A day of testing proved that. So far about three or four days of not being on the blog or online a lot. I used the onboard graphics and put the graphics card in the video computer. I went online to Amazon where they had the card I had researched and bought for the computers last time. The old cards were priced at $175 down from $226 or such. But in the day or two before I was ready to order the price went to $199, with tax about $225. So I spent a day looking at graphics card in the price range I wanted and the size to fit the space I had. I found the best deal I could of about $264 and the card was the next step up in card models with more onboard ram and faster processing speeds. I ordered it, but that night I rethought it and, in the morning, I canceled it because I figured the card that was in there at $225 now price did everything I wanted it to do easily, and I knew it fit and the computer could power it well. So that should come on the 24th. Yes there is a big difference between the onboard graphics and the graphics card in how things look.
Which brings me to this week of troubles. My back has been getting worse and I have noticed my chair was getting lower and lower. I tried several days to raise the piston, but the piston seemed not to go to the top of its range. Then Sunday morning I sat in my chair to watch the morning programs and felt that it was wrong, with my butt far too low, the seat painful, and my knees much higher than normal it felt like. I looked at the seat and the webbing was all rotted away and torn out of the side of the seat. I figured by putting a cushion in the seat spot I could get some more time out of it, this being a hard month money wise already. But after trying to make it work for a couple of days where it made my back really hurt and I had two near sleepless nights of pain we decided to go this morning to get a new chair.
Which brings me to the good news! I looked up the chair at Staples where I bought the old one. It had lasted over 7 years or more. The chair was still priced at the original $299.99 but was currently on sale for $149.99 There was another one for $169.99 that looked very similar and so we wanted to check them out. At the store we couldn’t see anything better with the one that was more expensive, and I felt the seat did not fit me as well as the lower priced one. But the price tags said that the chair was $221 dollars. We went to the cashier who said it would ring up at the sale price, but when the young woman brought the box out to the checkout it did not, and it rang up at full price. The cashier needed the online advert to change the price back so I got out my phone and said I would look it up. As I went to open the phone, go to my browser, look up the store, look up chairs in the store … the young woman said “I have it” and showed it to the cashier. Everyone but me thought that was funny a young person got the online information faster than a nearly 60 year old man. I failed to see the humor but as I was getting my chair for $149.99 plus tax I played along. Ron put it together and I am again high up and well supported again. By the way we went with a webbed chair after we bought a very nice padded leather chair that the cats tore up just through the normal processes of jumping up in it and other things. It lasted only a short time before it looked like a reject from a horror film.
Ron is making lunch of hamburgers and french fries as neither of us had breakfast and after our nap I should be back to do comments and other blogging stuff. Below are the pictures of the old chair and the new blue one. Hugs
Scottie's Playtime 
The first part of your post related to the computers … ??!?!??!
But the rest? Glad to hear about the new chair AND the sale price!! 😊
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Hello Nan. This has been an expensive month and will be getting even more so on Monday when we take Tupac to our vet to be given a full checkup, chipping, vaccinations, and what else he needs to become a full member of our family. He was an inside cat who got turned out when the wife whose cat he was died, and the husband did not want him. For a few years he has lived outside asking everyone who he met to take him in and let him be their house cat. When we first met him was before the hurricane and we started feeding him and a feral cat that wouldn’t let anyone near him. But after the hurricane Ron couldn’t stand the cat being outside in bad weather and he and James started letting him in the family room. I knew then it was only a matter of time. The other day Ron put down a blanket in the family room on the steps into the kitchen for Tupac. I talked to Ron and gave him permission and he raced out to get a litter box and other things needed and a nice fluffy soft bed as Tupac is a thin cat like Milo was. We have been letting Odie and Tupac see each other through a gate we put up across the doorway from the kitchen to the family room. Tupac is interested but not alarmed, Odie is not happy with this other cat coming in the house and maybe stealing his thunder some. But he has stopped growling at him. It will work out, both cats had other cats around them before. But I expect a big vet bill. Already this month we have had to take 1,600 out of savings for things, but for this I can justify the costs. Hugs
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HA! Your “justification” is considerably different than mine would be!!
How are the repairs coming along? You haven’t talked much about them lately. Are you getting back to any sort of “normal” living arrangements since the hurricane? Have you given any more thought to a potential move down the road?
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Nan, it has been a slow slog that is why I have not talked about it. We have gotten names and numbers but so far no bids. Ron and James had rebuilt the back small shed and stacked what could be in it. The main shed hooked to the house off the family room had to be emptied which is 3/4ths done, and the side emptied so far had to have all the shelves and the work bench / drawers ripped out. Ron figures the shelves on the other side need to be ripped out also. ** I did tell you we lost the water heater the other day. $600 for a new one that James and ron installed so it was good they cleaned out that side of the shed as that is where the hot water goes. Ron left room where they relocated it for a house water filter system. ** As the stuff is taken out it is sorted and anything that can / should be thrown away. The reason is we have the stuff stashed in the family room from my office, plus all the sheds were already over flowing and we lost one shed to the hurricane. I wanted to just rent a storage shed or buy a shed to put the stuff in and James wanted to throw everything out calling us hoarders. We all compromised with this solution to clean out, sort, put the good to keep stuff back, and throw out the old or broken stuff not used. The reason is Ron cannot get back to finishing the family room by running the electric and all the other infrastructure to move my stuff out there along with other things.
You once asked me about mold in the house because of how often Ron and I got sick and did not feel well. We have in the past when we first bought the house found mold from broken pipes. But thought we got it all. But over the last two years Ron has found and removed sheet rock / wood that seemed to have mold and treated the areas. The main shed is on the other side of our bedroom / bathroom wall. When the guys started taking stuff out they found the walls covered with mold, the wood rotten, and the cardboard boxes decayed and moldy. Ron says he won’t store anything in cardboard in the sheds. I agree but reminded him a lot of the stuff in boxes have been there since we bought the place 15 years ago, and the wood we have no idea how long it was there. Ron has to go to home depot to get some mold killer and cleaner plus some anti-mold sealer for his power sprayer and spray the underneath of our end of the house. We have a machine that is to kill mold, I cannot remember the name or how, but while it runs and a short few hours after it removes the smell but it comes right back. There is too much for the machine alone and I don’t the output can reach under the house far. So all that is taking time.
James is working almost every day this holiday season. Maybe so co-workers with children can be there on the special days. I used to do that also, and the money for working holidays is grand. So Ron has not been able to get to rebuild the wall in the front room that got torn out. They will start that room in the new year when James will have a normal schedule and time off. They will work on that room on those days. It will require removing the tarps, working, replacing the tarps.
No one around us has had any luck getting contractors to come out to make bids either. Everyplace we call says they have a long waiting list and we get added to it. So no one has any roof repairs done or carports rebuilt yet unless the owners and friends do it themselves. The metal roof panels for carports and pan roofs are only sold in amounts of ten per customer a day, which means it takes a while to build up the amount needed. I understand that there is a huge demand and big business contractors are getting the first supplies, but it is frustrating. Hugs
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So sorry to hear things are going so slowly. But I guess after such a huge disaster, it’s to be expected. And of course there are only so many companies that can do the repairs.
As I’ve read about some of the things that James has been doing for you, I think it was actually a REALLY GOOD THING that he came to live with you guys. There’s no way that Ron could have done it all. This isn’t to say you don’t help, but your physical ailments do tend to get in the way, yes?
Anyway, it’s good that you’ve been able to return to some semblance of normal living. A long way to go, that’s for sure. But we must be thankful for small favors, as they say. 🙂
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Nan as for moving that is in the cards after we repair the home depending on how the fascist kingdom of Florida goes on making targets of the gays and other LGBTQI+. Hugs
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Reblogged this on NEW BLOG HERE >> https:/BOOKS.ESLARN-NET.DE.
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Y’know, it’s kinda been like that, since Thanksgiving; it seems like it’s always something. I’m glad you’re comfortable and back in your happy place doing your work.
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Hello Ali. The chair will help. Wednesday I have an appointment with my pain doctor to go over my new MRIs and set up spine shots. But it may take a few weeks to really get back to full steam if I ever do. I really hope to. Happy Holidays and wishing you and your family the best. Hugs
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That’s good news about your new chair, which I like really well-the color is nice!
We’ll be out for a while today; the last parent of DH’s set has passed, DH is a pallbearer along with being close with the family, but I expect to check back in later on. sigh All is well; we hate to let a person go, but it’s a relief they’re at peace, but that feels disrespectful. I’m sure everyone knows how that is! BBL, and hugs.
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