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I rose after 7 and did not leave the house until after 8. The dreams kept me out of focus for half an hour and made me want to enjoy the covers for a bit longer. Even when I finally rose, there were regrets. Coffee, Equal Exchange, was located and assembled. There were no bananas, and I did not want any food until after my walk. I had a cup of coffee, cleaned up, dressed, and headed out to Reedville Creek Park. I remembered everything I needed this time.

The walk felt better. My mind was ready to daydream, and I found the walking painless and filled with thoughts. It was the same walking before in Casablanca and in my neighborhood–I could do this without risk and enjoy it. I did five loops, and if it had been cooler instead of heating up every minute, I could have done more. My walking is back.

I have to be careful after the surgery; when I am tired, I tend to lean back. I am aware of it and stop myself. So far, there have been no falls or events that approached falling. I am better today and did over 5,000 steps today. I feel like myself, and my focus is better.

My lawn service came and cleaned up a few items, but I had not watered the lawn, and there was no need to mow today. I may water it later in the week when it is cooler (and thus, the water won’t evaporate fast from the higher temperatures and low humidity). I usually water an inch a week (water is expensive in Oregon, with only West Virginia charging more, according to sources on the Internet), and my roses get a separate watering.

I returned and began on the blog. I had half a can of peaches for breakfast. I am trying to reverse the weight gain reported by my last visits to the scale, which is a harbinger of disaster if I do not reverse the trend.

I am reading Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style and trying to clean up my style by removing useless words: very, rather, really, quite, in fact, just, so, pretty, of course, and never use “actually” again. The result of this effort was that the writing and editing of Monday’s blog took more time and effort. I was not rushed, and the clock soon entered the afternoon while I was still developing the blog’s story and wording. I defrosted lunch while I wrote by placing a frozen item in the sun. The forecast is for 100+.

The writing, editing, and reworking were finally done, and I started on lunch. I discovered it was a steak and not a pork chop I had started to defrost. F**k. I put the steak in the frig and put a pair of chops in water to defrost and then used the microwave to get the chops at least not frozen solid.

I cooked a pork chop in butter with salt and pepper; the other one will be cut up and used in a stir fry on Wednesday. I added my newly purchased herbes de Provence from a brand I had not used before. Compared to my previous experience, the spice is lighter, finer chopped, and missing fennel seeds. I poured it on, and it buried the chop. Yikes! I had to take the chop to the sink and brush off the extra. I will have to sprinkle it next time. I was able to recover and cook the chop in the non-stick frying pan (thanks, Steve) and finished it in less than half an hour. I had some green beans that were at the end of their usability. I washed them, picked them over, broke off stems, and removed bits that had moved on from being food. I steamed the salvaged beans. I then wilted them in the same pan as I cooked the pork chop. I added almond slices. I found the rest of the bread from The 649, buttered it, and sprinkled some salt on the butter. I use unsalted butter, but I like a bit of salt on my buttered bread.

Lunch was delicious, but I slightly overcooked the chop, but it was still good. The beans were good and did not need garlic, which I often add to wilted beans. The butter, herbs, salt, and flavors from the browned pork chop were enough to flavor the beans. The bread was a good addition, and there were only a few pieces. The carbohydrate count would not be too high.

I watched the last Star Wars movie (2019), The Rise of Skywalker, while cooking and later for the clean-up. I bought the last three, but I only really enjoyed the last one. I watched about half and then saw it was near 5. Time to turn off the AC to honor PGE’s request: 5-8 reduced electrical usage. I saw that Despicable Me 4 was showing at the local theater at 4:45 and headed out in 104F (40C) temperatures with little humidity (40%) to make it worse. I did not invite anyone as I feared having someone risking travel in these temperatures.

I loved the movie, but I also liked all the previous Despicable Me movies. Somehow, for me, these movies are the right mix of ridiculousness, cartoon violence, satire, and family values, plus a light dose of irony and fantasy. Each movie stands alone and never feels like a transition movie (a goal I wished Star Wars had reached). If you enjoyed the previous movies, this one is recommended.

Air Volvo was hot but cooled off with max’d AC. The sun seemed to strike less, but the air was wickedly hot (104F/40C).  I was soon home, finished the Star Wars movie, turned back on the AC, did the dishes, and read more of Dryer’s book. I decided to write the blog tonight.

And that takes me to now. Thanks for reading.

Preface: Last night, I read the first pages of Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style and found the first demand there. No longer use these words and fragments: very, rather, really, quite, in fact, just, so, pretty, of course, and never use “actually” again. I will resist these words and fragments in my writing. Of course, I look forward to quite enjoying another of Dryer’s demands, so please enjoy my revised text. I have kept my revisions visible.

I tried to rise early on Monday, but I am retired, and I think there is a law (a cosmic law) that requires retired people to sleep in on Monday. I got started before 7, winking at the law as I wanted to walk before it got hot. But, I still have not reached that place where the walking does not impact me; my legs and feet were unsure and tight. I made liberal coffee and ate the last banana (when the temperature forecast is below 99, I will shop again–I do not want an unplanned version of Bananas Foster in the Air Volvo cargo hold!

I tried to write the blog the night before but, instead, decided to sleep and finish it in the morning. So, I rushed to finish the final paragraphs. Typing in WordPress’s editor while drinking coffee, I rushed to finish the completing paragraphs. I added a few photos from my iPhone. I try to remember to record a photo or two to better remember the day. I posted the URL to the newest blog entry on Facebook and then sent an email to a list of folks who get a separate update. WordPress allows folks to subscribe to get alerts when I update the blog, but that requires creating a free account; not everyone feels safe doing that.

With that done, I boarded Air Volvo, remembering my phone, summer hat, eye drops, emergency inhaler, and eye protection. I also brought coffee in an insulated Yeti-brand cup as the morning was still clawing my mind. I have not been able to reach my usual sharpness since the surgery (I found the clarity on Tuesday, so I am back; I am restored). I struggled in the hot sun and still had leg and back pain, but I made four loops at Reedville Creek Park. I returned to the Volvo Cave via Air Volvo, looking at the tennis players at the Park, who never appeared to be impacted by the sun or temperature, in pure awe. I might have to learn that sport to become immune to the sun and temperatures! Wow!

Back at the house, I received an update from Portland General Electric (PGE) requesting that I reduce my electricity use by a measurable amount from my usual usage. PGE asked folks to volunteer to do this on peak days. Monday, 5-8, was such a day. I plan to turn off the AC and get dinner out, leaving the house with minimal power usage for the Internet connection and a few clocks. I get a small credit for achieving these results. PGE can then avoid having to buy expensive power or burn natural gas (Oregon has no coal-based power plants) to make up for the shortfall.

It was time to learn. I am not an expert on Wi-Fi (it is “Wi-Fi” according to Microsoft’s Style Guide—yes, they have one) and certainly know little about connecting an Arduino to the local Wi-Fi. More Google searches, and I find an excellent source with examples, a step-by-step through the code (Oh yes, teach me), and progressively more and more complex examples: deepbluembedded.com. With this and other examples provided by ESP updates to the Arduino IDE, I began to understand.

F**k (certainly better than “Of course”), nothing worked. I downloaded programs and could get the Wi-Fi scanning code to see my network, but nothing would connect. Not being an expert, I should have been warned by the scanning program that something basic was wrong. My super-powerful home network was rated at 80, which is a very bad connection, weak signal; I did not know that high numbers are bad.

I added LEDs with appropriate resistors–220Ω–(all old-style through-hole and bought in bulk) to my breadboard to control via a cool web server app reached by an IP address once I get the connection to work. I copied this program from Deep Blue Embedded. My copied programs did not connect to my local network and get an IP number assigned. I removed the wires to the LEDs, worried I broke or shorted something, and there was still no connection. No change.

I set the network credentials to trash values and got the same results. That means something more fundamental was failing. Years of f**king up computer systems and unf**king them had me follow my usual “We are f**k’d” process. I created a new program. I carefully harvest parts of programs that worked and create my own version of the code (My C is not as good as my Python; I now carefully indent C, and I am very happy that brackets are supplied by the IDE, and I forget my semicolons). I know what this code is supposed to do. It does not work; it never connects. But the scanning program does, which means the includes and setup is correct in my code/sketch (“sketch” is what an Arduino C program is called in the IDE). You know you are missing something obvious when you are telling a computer, “Why can’t you see it?”.

I take a break, nap a little, and read a little. I am optimistic that the break will change my thinking and help me find what I am missing; a change of focus has worked before. I know the fix will be easy. I return. I started a search on Google, and there is a comment that a broken Wi-Fi module can cause this failure. The Arduino part of the microcontroller continues to work, but Wi-Fi never works. That fits–something was wrong with the Wi-Fi. I am looking for the other XIAO and am thinking about running my test program on it. I noticed the antenna was connected to it. The antenna is still in the bag for my test XIAO. F**k, it was that easy. This is not the first time a computer issue was caused by a missing or poorly attached cable (a certain shoe company once had a main system failing for a week until the cables were re-plugged in).

With the antenna attached, the XIAO connects, and my test program works with an average connect time of ten seconds, f**k. I load the cool web server app, and soon, I can control the LEDs from my Apple by connecting to the XIAO’s IP address. It’s so fun to turn the LED on and off and the other to change the brightness. This same control will work for my project. I will be harvesting the program details from deepbluembedded.com and giving them credit in my code. It all works.

You can see the screen generated by the tiny webserver on the Apple. The LEDs are lighted. The black square, larger than the XIAO, is the antenna.

It is now hot and likely higher than the 99F (37C) forecast, with the cement and asphalt radiating back the hot into the air. Pleased to have solved my issue and so learned much by trying so many things (and missing the basic computer problem of plugging in the cable–something that has plagued computer software developers since the beginning), I decide, as it is approaching 5, to head to the local Mexican place for a celebratory margarita and plate including a chicken tamale, my fav. My weight went up to 241, f**k; that is likely the last margarita for some time!

Air Volvo became burning hot inside in the hour while I enjoyed dinner in a weak but under 90 AC at the local Mexican place. Returning to the Volvo Cave, the Cave is now 82, having increased 10 degrees, and climbs to 86 before 8 when the peak usage reduction time ends. I am relieved to put on the AC just after 8. I rested and read in the heat. I was not ready for the discomfort; the air in the house was becalmed as I turned off the fan. I turned on one reading light and some music on my Amazon device, hoping the power usage would be low. PGE will send me an update in a few days if I am able to help and get my little credit.

I made popcorn in the microwave and spent only $5.99 to buy on Apple the 1980s terrible movie The Sword and the Sorcerer. I saw a review of it on YouTube and said it was one of the best of the worst movies. If you need a dose of 1980s-style sword-swinging violence and topless women, this is the movie. I am a former teen and still find it to be a terrible movie, but so bad somehow, it is good, and my inner teen loved it. The plot is so bad has gone missing for most of the movie, but it does surprise you. There is even a running gag about folks getting locked up. Can’t recommend it sober.

It is now late, and it has cooled off. I showered and was extra careful. I managed to read something that was not Homer, Dryer, and decided to try his challenge, as I mentioned. I slept and woke later to prove I had drunk all that water.

Thanks for reading. Hope the corrections were not distracting.

I rose before 7; it was not easy. It was more of a debate of various disciplines and needs: sleep versus exercising. I finally rose, started the hot water, cleaned up, dressed, and made coffee. I skipped food and boarded Air Volvo before it got later. The forecast was 99F (37C), and the sun was already heating up everything.

I arrived at Reedville Creek Park before 8, and the tennis courts were full. Young folks were getting tennis lessons. Familiar walkers were on the track. I tipped my hat to them, but soon, I was struggling with my walking. My body was still looking for cheeseburgers and not walking. I just walked, and the struggle faded, but I decided to stop at three loops.

Air Volvo took me back to the house. I finished getting ready. My new pride tie was on the hook, ready to use (I actually wore out my first one). I got my eye protection (my Bell’s palsy requires protecting the left eye from dust) and summer hat and boarded Air Volvo again. I did eat a banana with liberal coffee to have something in my stomach.

Mister Lincoln flowered in the burning heat! I took a picture of that.

I was not too early for church. Pastor Ken had a family issue and arrived just as the service started. He had little sleep. As this was the service after July 4th, we sang America and America the Beautiful. As it was already 80+, we only sang some of the verses. Church, as I imagine all un-air conditioned churches, had light attendance. I did get some hot coffee to help me wake up in the heat. Yes, I must be fully indoctrinated in the Pacific West cult of coffee to be drinking it on a 99F day!

Pastor Ken addressed the wisdom passages in the New Testament in James’ letter. The pastor reminded us that James was known as The Just and was Jesus’s brother. James explains that Wisdom is real when it contains no trace of partiality or hypocrisy (from the New Revised Standard Version) in James 3. Pastor Ken suggested that justice is the goal (Justice: the way the world ought to be), and wisdom shows us the path to this goal.

Aside: I checked the translation and read some of the passages in Greek (with a lot of help from the Internet); I like the NRSV wording.

Pastor Ken, using words from C.S. Lewis’s Narnia, said the deep magic is that helping people makes folks happy while serving selfish interests seems to always lead to dissatisfaction. The world seems, like Narnia’s deep magic, created this way. Wisdom, when pure, helps us find justice; this process makes us better people, the world gets better, and we live better. According to Ken, this is just how God made the world. As my friends in other faiths would tell you, this is not just a Christian teaching.

I had more coffee after the service. I took Air Volvo to the Volvo Cave, picked up my laptop, and headed to The 649. There, I had Crystal and Tyler as bartenders. I had a red ale and the fondo with brats (taking some of the bread home) for lunch. I spent much of the afternoon searching for flights, a house to rent, and car rentals in East Lansing. Linda, my sister, is on vacation in mid-July, and I might need to keep Barb Wild company and help with any needs. Mom fell today, recovered, and we are concerned. No plans are set, but I may be in Michigan starting the 18th and beyond the 26th.

After I finished my lunch, I had Amaretto coffee to relax. I worked on my Dungeons and Dragons writing for a while. Next, I paid my bill and headed back. Air Volvo was very hot. I took a drink of water from a bottle and actually burned my mouth. It was so hot. Yikes!

At the Volvo Cave, I read more Homer and reached the actual poem. After reading more than 70 pages about Homer, Greek history, the structure of the Odyssey, and the translator’s notes, I was happy to read Book 1 and the famous beginning. I found Emily Wilson’s transition easy to read and liked it. Excellent.

I took the rest of the leftover taco stuff, broke up the taco shells, heated the meat, chopped carrots and celery, and made a salad. A drop of sour cream finished it. I ate this while watching YouTube videos. A piece of taco shell choked me. I managed to cough it out, and I will (again!) be more careful. Yikes!

I also reached 240 pounds today, a setback on weight loss (a gain of ten pounds, f**k!), and obviously related to the holidays and too many cheeseburgers. I will resist cookies and cheeseburgers and holiday foods. A disappointment.

Next, I returned to my electronic project. I connected everything to a breadboard; this is the prototype, which uses a breadboard and large wires. I broke the power connection to the XAIO Sense and had to solder it again. This time, I made a stronger connection on the tiny pad. My finesse with a soldering iron has returned.

I cut open the old RadioShack package (a purchase from years ago for a related project), got out an old-style transistor, and plugged that into the breadboard. I then got out a few screenshots of a circuit to control a motor I found on the Internet and then tried to make the same circuit. It looks backward to me, but I reproduced it in hookup wires, and I found a diode from my collection and placed the component to match the diagram. I buy sets of all the usual diodes, capacitors, resistors, and so on. They are cheap. I tell people I have a RadiShack in my garage now.

I looked up an Arduino example on the Internet with a Google search, copied the code, and revised it to my pin-out. I selected D9, which is usually capable of pulse width modulation (PWM) in Arduino. It is impossible to generate a signal that is not 0, 1 (O being about 0V and 1 being about 3.3V) in this hardware. Instead, a pulse can be created, which is a square wave with variable width. Thus, to send out a 50% signal, the width of the signal is 50% 0 and 50% 1.

I turned it on, and the motor spun! I changed the code to vary the setting over time, and the motor stopped, got faster, and then stopped. It is alive! The first effort is a success. It was getting late, so I stopped there.

I did order surface mount versions on Amazon. These are tiny versions of the usual components that are soldered to the surface of a PC using various processes, including baking (yes, baking). It is very hard to do this with a soldering iron. I will expand my wizardry with a soldering iron and see if I can build a tiny circuit to replace the large one on the breadboard.

I did not see the reverse voltage issue, but I think the diode is taking care of that. Folks with electric vehicles and hybrids do see regenerative braking. The braking of an electric motor generates a reverse current as the coil passes through a magnetic field, and this current is harvested and saved. This happens in these PWM-control builds. The PWM turns the transistor on and off at high speed (following the square wave signal from the Arduino), and this causes the motor to spin, but actually, it is being powered and not powered. At a 50% setting, the motor produces a current for about a bit less than 1/2 the time.  Diodes are often used to route this away from the microcontrollers. I have not seen this very low voltage create anything that is a problem. I usually put an LED in reverse to see the reverse voltage. It can be quite weird to see this.

I took a shower and soon was in bed near midnight and asleep before midnight. The choking incident had caused violent coughing, and I took some painkillers as it was hard to sleep. I was out before 1 with plans to raise early again.

I managed to rise around 8 and have liberal coffee and a banana. All the driving and gaming yesterday had me a little worn. I then cleaned up and dressed and headed out to Reedville Creek Park and walked about 2,200 steps on the track there, three loops. I felt better after the second loop and could have done one more, but I thought it best to stop before I started to hurt. I posted on Facebook and received quite a few positive comments. I am not doing this alone!

I returned to Air Volvo and soon was writing for hours as Friday was a busy day. I also was texting friends and surfing, so my focus was not on getting anything done at any particular time. Much of the discussion texting was about the 90+ (and soon 100+) temperatures (23C and 38C). It is hot, but my house-wide AC is working and keeps the house at about 73F (22C). I set it a bit lower at night, or the house just cools as it is still cold at night. We don’t have much humidity to keep the heat here at night, and the sky is cloudless, so the heat radiates out at night.

I stayed inside and putted around the house. I did dishes and laundry (The Machine dries using an energy-efficient approach and does not need to be vented). I read more of the 70+ page introduction for Homer’s Odyssey. I watered the roses in the back; I got out the hose I bought in the winter and uncoiled it. The roses were showing some stress and burned leaves. Susie’s little tree, a dawn redwood–I think, looked OK. Last year, I thought we lost it in the heat. It turns brown in the winter.

I went out in the heat, and Air Volvo took me to Great Clips. I waited for fifteen minutes, and then Maggie got me. She told me she had been cutting hair for forty-two years. She saw the uneven growth as the surgery had shaved some of my hair and made it work. She left some longer hair on the left side to hide the scar and short hair. She managed to shorten and clean up my look, and I paid her an extra tip for managing the unbalanced growth. I had her shorten the sideburns to draw the eye away from the scar.

For dinner, I had tacos. I ate too many. I defrosted the hamburger by putting it outside. The sun did the work in an hour or so. I browned it in a non-stick frying pan (thanks, Steve), added the low-salt packet of seasoning, and when that was cooked for a while, I added a can of salsa-ready fire-roasted tomatoes. This added kick. The mix was spicy. The damage from thrush and the nerves have reduced my ability to taste. It is slowly getting better. I think it was good. I heated the shells only for seven minutes with the cheese already in them. The assembly was non-complex, with some chopped lettuce and sour cream. They seemed good. I could not stop eating them. I managed to put away about 1/2 of them in the frig later, with more than 1/2 of the meat left.

Air Volvo took me to Richard’s in NE Portland. The traffic was light (everyone was avoiding the heat), and I arrived with less than thirty minutes of travel time. The speed often hits 70 mph (112 kph) on 26, which never happens. Of course, the tunnel had its usual sudden braking-fest.

Today, we had five players: Kathleen, Loren, Chris, and Richard (plus me). We tried Obscurio, a ghost and traitor game. I was unsure if including the two competing themes would work. The rules were simple, unlike Mysterium, the ghost game I have played before, and that got my interest.

The game has one player play the ghost, or in this case, the Grimoire, a magical, non-speaking book that can give us hints on what picture we should pick. The Grimoire has a colorful picture representing the exit door. The book player then gets two random pictures to show with little pointers to help find the correct picture representing the exit. Then, the traitor player (the non-book players, called wizards, closes their eyes) sees the book’s helpful (by opening their eyes in secret) images and markers and then picks two new images from a portfolio of other images to confuse the issue. Three more random images are added. Everyone, the wizards and the unknown traitor get the six choices and then try to pick the correct image. Of course, the traitor picks the wrong one and urges others to pick it.

I am not good at these types of games, but I like them because they require different skills and push me out of my comfort zone. I see my fellow gamers overthink and miss. I, too, miss often. We lost, having been fooled by the traitor to waste our resources. We wrongly picked Kathleen as the traitor the first time. We correctly guessed Chris the second time. I liked it, but I thought the traitor and other features in the game made it hard to win.

We played two games of Planet Unknown, which is a tile-laying game. I managed to not have the lowest score twice. Richard crushed us, but Chris tried to catch him. In this game, you get tile pieces that you must use to improve your planet. There is a lazy Susan tile server. You rotate it on your turn to what you want. Everyone gets what is set in front of them. This means everyone plays every turn and has an excellent mechanism, which makes me recommend this game. My second play was better. Island of Cats may be a better game, but not having to wait makes this a good game for four and five players.

Air Volvo took us across Portland to take Kathleen home (using 205 this time instead of the street trek I took on Friday). Next, Air Volvo retraced its trip on 205 and soon reached the Volvo Cave without incident. Surprisingly, it was often above 70 mph (112 kph). Air Volvo reached 75 mph (120 kph) on 205!

I had a taco to go with my pills, which are not always pleasant without food. I then showered and went to bed, reading more of Homer’s introduction—there were ten pages left of it! I then slept and did not wake until just before sunrise to prove hydration.

Thank you for reading.

I find it strange that Friday, while it still gets me going, I no longer work, and Friday is just another day, so different.

I rose later than I had planned, surfed, and did some lazy things. I had liberal coffee and just a banana. For the holiday, my diet was full of cheeseburgers, hotdogs, and chips, and my weight was now 235. Hmmm. Just a banana. I cleaned up, dressed, and boarded Air Volvo later than I planned. I had stayed up late writing the blog, allowing me to start early on my walk in the cool morning air. I blew up that plan! While Reedville Creek Park was not busy, the cool was long gone. I was determined to get that third loop today, and my body (unlike Friday) felt better about this walking thing. I started and tipped my hat to the other walkers.

The Panther Marching Band, the local school across from the park, was practicing while the morning was not burning hot. I got a drum marching cadence to walk to. The rest of the band was elsewhere. But I remember days of marching and playing for the Wolfpack Laingsburg Marching Band, two things I was terrible at. I remember we would practice marching the streets of the town with the band leader, having us play when we passed enough startled residents. Even though I was terrible, it was still fun and a good memory.

I managed my third loop, and the rest of the band then showed up. But unlike Laingsburg’s band, they did not strike up with an audience. I left with them, still marching around the park. I got gas and had the car washed (I have a monthly pass that lets me wash the car once a day if I was so inclined).

I returned home and started on my electronic project. I am planning on trying to build an aquarium-sized submarine with video and remote control. But for my first version, I will use a diving bell version—just lowering a camera into an aquarium by remote control. I hope the small space will not attenuate the video signal enough to make it fail. A surface ship (not needing a water-tight container) will lower and raise the diving bell and drive around the surface. At least, that is the plan in my head for the first iteration.

But even before the construction of those items, I need a test platform to create the motor and servo controls. I have a space XIAO Sense (with a camera) and will use that to test. I might also go with this as a WiFi-connected device (then not having to learn Bluetooth controls), but that is a later decision. The main check for this morning is to make the power work for the XIAO, as that is a concern. According to the Seeed website, the XIAO can charge a 3.7V 750 mAh lithium battery via the C-USB connection, but I have 400 mAh and decided to use what I have. The C-USB is also a modem connection for the XIAO for the Arduino IDE, and my Apple M2 Airbook makes this work. I had trouble with the M1 and previous versions of the OS (I use 14.5).  I love this Airbook!

Aside: I checked that to match my current machine (upgrading to M3), an Airbook with a 15″ screen costs about $2,000. A 14″ screen Pro matching the Airbook costs $2200, not the previous $1,000 difference. But a 16″ screen system is $2,000 more and more to get the top line (a f**king lot more). I priced a newish Airbook 15″ at OWC with too low of memory and drives for $900. So I will enjoy mine, which is still worth $1000; I love the 24G memory with M2 with the extra cores. My M1 one struggled sometimes.

Soldering leads on a lithium battery is not without hazards. I managed that without issue. I also added pins to the holes in the tiny XIAO. This required switching to my Hako solder iron. I also got my spare hands rig to hold things. Then, I added wire strippers, wire, cutters, needlenose plyers, shrink tubes, and a heat gun, and soon, I was working my way through attaching wires to tiny pins and putting XIAO in a breadboard. I was extremely happy that my skills in soldering 5mm areas still existed. I did not burn myself, and I did not short anything. I did have to add a loop to check the tiny attachment of a lipo to the XIAO (why not an easier connection n!?) and redid it to ensure it was not shorted (a bad thing to do even at 3.7V circuits). Yes, the tooling is impressive. I used shrink tubes to prevent any shorting, which can be bad when working with Lipo batteries (fire, boom, poison gas, and very colorful).

I plugged the USB-C into the now-lipo battery-connected XIAO with an off/on switch and a spare line to power other devices at 3.7V. The used voltage is 3.3V for these devices. The four volts are used by a regulator and other protection devices. The line off of the Lipo battery cannot be shorted (back to fire, boom, etc.).

Aside: Clean, fresh water (tap) has a high resistance to electrical use: 1-5K ohms. Thus, drowning a low-voltage DC circuit in clean, fresh water will shorten but will not likely cause a battery to explode. The by-products of the short will be oxygen and hydrogen but at a non-dangerous rate. A marine (ocean or saltwater) environment is a totally different picture and would likely be unpleasant.

Everything worked (no sudden heating), and I let the XIAO run the uninteresting Blink program loaded from the Arduino IDE. I then turned on the battery (no sudden heating) and let it charge the Lipo battery. I left everything running for a while. I read more introductions to Homer (a 70+ page introduction covering all the topics I could imagine about the text). There were no issues, and after the workout of assembling all this, I decided to stop and read.

Kathleen and I revised our plans as it was too f**king hot to not have AC and selected Guardian Games to play some games. Air Volvo in the 90+ weather soon, with just some traffic, at Guardians by 2:30. There was plenty of space in the cold AC’d gaming area. I set up the solo game, Ottoman’s Sunset, with the extra time (we planned to meet about 4). This game simulates running the Ottoman Empire from 1914-1919, trying to avoid its fall. So, Sultan Wild began his odyssey of trying to hold off all the would-be invaders and keep the morale up. I had some trouble remembering the rules and suspect I had a harder time than I should have. Strangely, the Germans won a great victory on the Western Front (Verdun!), increasing morale. I managed to reach 1918 before the British and Russians took the Middle East and Caucasians from Ottoman control. The Germans sent a battleship as a gift (a true historical event) and saved me for a little longer. The morale of the Turkish people finally collapsed, and Sultan Wild was driven from the palace. Next time!

Kathleen appeared just as Sultan Wild lost. We played two Wrymspan games, with me getting lucky and getting all the end-of-game scoring dragons (and high-value) and placing them; I won by about ten points. A second game, having to move our play to a shared space as a collectible card game tournament started, was crushing for me as Kathleen scored twenty points higher than me. I made some mistakes, and Kathleen landed some excellent combinations in the last few dragons. Next, we got out Kathleen’s upgraded Quacks of Quedlinburg, and we played the two-person base game. This is a press-your-luck game, and I did blow up twice and Kathleen once. It is a fun game, and I recommend it. You need to upgrade the components to make it great (Kathleen’s game was wonderfully upgraded). I can’t claim more than dumb luck and scored a near-perfect final play, reaching the maximum with only a count of 2 for exploding and winning by just a few points. My first win in this game.

We had not had dinner, and it was approaching 8. With the hot weather, Kathleen was thinking of an ice cream shake. A local chain, Burgerville, was only a few minutes away and makes shakes by hand. I had a bacon cheeseburger and fries; Kathleen tried their excellent chicken sandwich with fries and a shake. I have played board games on their tables before; it was before the pandemic when I was last there.

Air Volvo flew us across Portland to Kathleen’s place in Milwaukee. There were no construction highway shutdowns or other events to close a bridge, so Air Volvo took 205 back (to 84-26-217-8-209-Clarion to reach home). I was soon back at the Volvo Cave.

I was tired and not willing to stay up beyond midnight to write the blog. I read and soon showered, went to bed, and then melted. I got up and set the AC to 71, and the change let me sleep (the air moved when the AC cools). I woke at 3 to prove hydration and to climb into the covers; the night was cold now.

And that takes me to now. Thanks for reading!