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Where to begin? It was a crazy day, good crazy. The snow and freezing rain mainly came as Oregon mist, and despite cold temperatures (22F -5.6C), I did not let that slow me down. The other drivers on the road were confident. Apparently, for the better, one of the social changes from the pandemic is that folks do not travel with risk–they get the day off or work from home. So nobody was out that I saw that was scared or with bad tires, and everyone drove well. I did run one red-hot yellow when I could not stop, but nobody was in the way, so that was OK, and that one did not have cameras.

Pastor Wayne is in the hospital (I will not share the details here), and I spoke to his wife, Rev. Anne, and Wayne was doing well. We wish Wayne and Anne a Happy Christmas while they spend much of it a St. V Hospital!

Dondrea’s voice has become a whisper. We wish her a speedy recovery. I also heard that Harold, our Music Director at First United Methodist, fell on his way to choir practice, and we also wish him a speedy recovery.

I spent the early afternoon with Susie at the hummingbird house, and Jennifer was on for Friday–she is the live-in nursing aide. Susie seemed a bit confused, and Jennifer was worried as Susie could not feed herself and suddenly seemed to need more care than before. I have noticed a decline, and I will seek more tests in the new year after talking it over with Jennifer.

Susie did improve later, so it might be the confusion that is the Holidays.

Susie and I watched the musical Chicago, the movie version. Susie stayed awake for all of it and sang along to a few songs. We had to watch it on my laptop as I forgot the USB C converter to DVI cables. I picked Chicago because it is colorful and clear, so the laptop’s 13″ screen size was not an issue.

We watched it in the social room with Susie in a recliner and me sitting in the rocking chair. We called Leta, Susie’s mother, after the first songs in the film. Leta and Susie, using FaceTime, talked about Leta’s Christmas plans and the snow.

Susie was uncomfortable at the movie’s end and moved back to her recliner in the shared living room. I, not wanting to discover the Oregon Mist becomes ice (it did not happen), departed at 3ish with a kiss. I arrived at the Volvo Cave with the paint unchanged on Air Volvo–no unexpected stops.

I put the potatoes in the oven and found an old movie for the holidays, Now You See Me. This is a modern fantasy of magicians robbing banks and generally doing the impossible by doing nearly impossible tricks (some are clearly fantasy). It is fun and makes me want to practice again. I have some good stuff, but it fades without practice. I do mostly card tricks, as I never practiced enough to do the slight-of-hand stuff. However, I can do the magician’s patter (lying) and handle cards well.

After the potatoes, I put the sweet potatoes from a can in a glass cooking dish and added them to the 350F (177C) convection oven. Then, I watched more of the movie. After heating the glaze mix and brushing it on the ham, I put the spiral-cut ham in the oven for another 45 minutes. I also stuck the cloves in the already-cut layers and put some pineapple rings on the ham.

Lastly, I microwaved some frozen green beans and left them plain. I could have made other sides, but I wanted to keep the starches down to two. My plate of ham, potato with sour cream, green beans, and simple yam was perfect. Happy early Christmas! I would not have time until Monday to cook, so it was a treat to make dinner.

The movie was fun, but the ending is, I think, a letdown. I purchased it from Amazon’s service at $4.99. I will likely buy the just as magical sequel.

I then wrapped the presents for Christmas, just a few items and many from Barb, Susie’s sister. I also wrapped gifts for my Dungeons and Dragons group. I will drop them off over the next few days.

Next, I went back, later than I had planned, and started working on my radio project. I spliced the wires (not the main brace) and got everything working. I added code to handle changing stations, display the station, and generally do the minimum to be a radio. I got it all working, powered with a 5V 10A power supply (transformer from the wall).

I had the strangest problem when I stood up in the Ikea chair; the microprocessor crashed dead. Even leaning forward caused this. How the f**k does that work. I tried control drop (nice words for bang on it), pulled on all the wires, and nothing. But, if I slowly rose from my chair with no contact with the work table, poof. I was laughing as I tried to sneak out. No good. I rolled the chair and then stood, poof. A compression cylinder in the chair controls the wheels, and somehow it produces a signal. How bizarre. I moved the ground on the Mini Pro 328 Arduino, which did not change this.

I made a mistake; I switched the power, thinking that 9V would be OK. It was not. The blue smoke left the amp. Oops, that is no more than 5.5V for the former amp. The microprocessor worked fine, and the weird crashing stopped. Not the fix I was going for.

I log on to Sparkfun’s website (my spare amp has already pined for testing, and I would rather leave it that way than unsolder all of that), and why yes, I would like that new (slightly cheaper) better amp. Yes, I will get the USB C-to-serial connectors. Those new microprocessors for $35 with built-in LEDs and recharge and LiPo battery handling would be great. Soon, I qualified for free shipping.

The radio will need some work next year.

I put away the ham. I finally unpacked the rest of the glassware from Glenda and Gene and hand-washed some of it. I put most of the ham and other goodies in the new containers. Just some ham on the ham bone was left. I loaded it all into the frig.

I did the dishes (i.e., rinsed and put them in the dishwasher). I cleaned up, had a snack, and took my meds. I head to bed; it is already past midnight and Christmas Eve.

Happy Advent day 23rd! Here is O Little Town of Bethlehem for our next “door” to open.

Shabbat music I found on the Internet, not knowing that much about this area, is here.

Going backward, I went to bed near midnight. I decided to work on my radio, went into the cold garage, and got my soldering iron, wire, and various jumpers. I even have tiny ones that can connect to a little post. I also found my radio brake-out boards from Sparkfun. Apparently, I found three different versions of Sparkfund Si4703 radio in my overflowing draws of electronic stuff. One may be a weatherboard; I remember they made a special weather info alert board. I found that a board had already added pins soldered and was in a breadboard when I found it–useful. One was still in the original bag.

I reviewed the program and managed to connect the IO device to the USB, and then that, a legacy USB, I connected through a converter to USB ‘C.’ Sadly, I will have to spend twenty bucks to get a 3.3V and 5V FIDI in ‘C’ and get some play ‘C’ USB cables to keep up with the changing world. However, I was able to change the program and made a few revisions, mostly commenting out code to no effect.

The radio connects to a station, Charlie FM–playing all Christmas music, but there is a terrible pulsing in the sound. I checked, and the speakers, when plugged into my Apple, are good–I used a universal connector for the speakers when I did the rebuild in 2019, making testing easy. The stereo amplifier is also good. The amp is another nifty breakout from Sparkfun with a nice nob to adjust volume with other options broken out if you need more control. It is based on the LM4853 Boomer® IC. This is a good choice if you need an amp for a project and want something that just works. The chip sells for about $2.50 and is an SMD package (the days of hole-through soldering are fading), but I am not ready to invest in SMD and am happy to keep buying breakouts.

Note: My hands are steady, my solder iron is high quality, and magnifying devices are something I am used to. I could do the SMD tiny work. But I enjoy the old-school feel of components with wires.

Returning to the challenge, I unsoldered the radio board thinking the pulsing, which I heard, was interference from the 1/2 inch of space it has from the microcontroller, an Arduino Mini Pro 328. My skills with solder iron return, but removing wires is never easy. I use my spare hands, a device with pinchers to hold things, and the iron to let me pull the wires.

I then take the other Si4703 and use all the excellent micro jumpers to connect it back to the microcontroller and run power directly to the source (worried that I have a signal from Arduino that was powering the Si4703 before). Again, I get the same pulsing! Puke. The pulsing is about 1/2 a second, close to the speed of the Arduino processing loop.

I reprogram the Arduino with a delay, and the pulsing nearly disappears. Crap–it was the software. Yes, typo in the code. I missed it, and the central loop control is resetting instead of setting the radio station. That is precisely what I thought yesterday. I connect new wires to the old board, and they go back into the holes easier than coming out. I then use the jumpers and connect the old radio breakout, and it works–no pulse. Well, puke.

Friday, I will splice the wires and return the radio to working. I will then program the rest of the logic in Arduino ‘C’ Language. Not Python for this one.

Moving backward, when I arrived, there was a package for me. The Smiths plus Jason had sent me NYC bagels from Zabars. I now had one pack of each flavor I love, adding theirs to Joyce’s. Thank you! It also comes with an apron in Orange Zabar color.

At the last moment, I also received a Kickstarter art project that I was planning for Cat. It just made it. I opened it, removed my copy, left another copy in the black tissue paper, resealed the box, and addressed it to Cat in NYC. So it will be there waiting for her on her return. No need to fly it back in her luggage.

Before this, I enjoyed driving in the snow back from Portland. The ice did not show until Air Volvo’s four-wheel drive turned on in the 26 to 217 ramp. After that, I managed to keep going straight on pure ice. The windshield wipers were frozen, so I stopped and discovered the parking lot was covered in ice. I had to hold on to Air Volvo to be safe. I cleaned off the ice and then reached home without incident. The walkways were icy. I got out the de-icer and sprinkled everything. I then went over to my neighbors and told them I was safe and had plenty of liquor and de-icer. I spread de-icer on their walkways. If the storm got worse, we could just drink it away!

Before that, I met Evan and Miriah in Portland for dinner. Cold weather does not faze me, and Air Volvo is unstoppable (traction devices are in the cargo hold). I could almost hear the Volvo computer giggle–it loves snow. Also, the Oregonians mainly had run away, and the roads included only drivers who seemed to know how to handle the snowy conditions.

We met at Double Mountain Taphouse, which serves food too. I picked Mariah up at her house, the first time I had seen the new place. A small but nicely refreshed home on a lot for a house twice its size. When I got out to pick up Mariah’s trash can that had blown down, I learned that it was 24F (-4.4C) with a constant 20 mph wind which sent my hat flying. I quickly recovered my hat and then got back in the Air Volvo. The wind chill took the feeling to 4F (-15.5C), which is nasty, and my face burned a bit.

We drove to the place, and I parked nowhere near trees.

At dinner, we chatted about cars, and Evan said we had reached the 30-minute limit and changed subjects. We had a beer, just one for me as I did not want to enjoy the driving too much, and the pizza was good. This was our Christmas dinner together, and at the end, we wished everyone Merry Christmas. I dropped Mariah off at her cute house and drove home in light traffic (it was dark), crossing a beautiful Portland all lighted up. The giant lighted martini glass with olive was visible up on the hills–a tradition. I listened to the radio and sang Christmas songs while the snow whirled. The Volvo was pleased, and it might have been singing along.

Before this, I was at the hummingbird house. Susie and I watched the Count of Monte Cristo movie, her fav, and she stayed awake for the film. We watched the movie on the monitor I kept there and played it on my Mac; we use the social room for this, and Susie gets a recliner. So I sat in Susie’s rocking chair. Unforently, I spilled Susie Ensure, strawberry, on the Apple computer. I managed to clean it up before it did any permanent damage.

The Smiths plus Jason called while we were setting up. David did comment that Ensure does not work on Apples. They were crossing the Coastal Mountains to do Christmas in their beach house. Their girls, Cat and Tasha, had flown in, plus Jason, Tasha’s hubby. Cat was over Covid, so they could do their plans. We chatted for a while; they had beat the storm to the pass and would be safe soon in the Beach House. I was jealous–I love the ocean, but we will be staying here in icy Beaverton/Aloha/Tigard/Portland.

We called Leta, Susie’s mother, and connected with her on FaceTime. Susie and Leta talked about the weather and Christmas plans (and cookies). I also heard from Evan, who wanted to meet (as discussed above), and some text from Mariah. After two hours, plus interruptions and spilled Ensure events, Susie was uncomfortable and sleepy. I left with a kiss, heading to Portland, and Susie was happy to have spent a long time together. My only plan for Thursday was to hang out with Susie.

I also gassed up Air Volvo (I have not gone EV yet) and was happy to see gas down to 4.09, but it was cheaper everywhere except my area. Growl.

Before this, I was writing my blog and making coffee at the house. I had one of the NYC bagels that Joyce supplied with a banana. This is with liberal coffee made in my French press. My coughing is faded, but it seems to be a sinuous drainage thing now, and it picks up towards the end of the day. I have to keep blowing my nose non-stop.

I slept until eight and felt better. However, my back is hurting, and I decided to put exercising off until the cough is better.

Thanks for reading.

I found this well-done video of It is Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas for our 22nd day of Advent.

Feel free to call or send cards. Susie resides at:

Allegiance Senior Care

Adult Foster Care Home

9925 SW 82nd. Ave.

Portland, Oregon 97223

The house phone number: (503) 246-4116

The morning started with me for the first time in my memory of sleeping in and having little on my schedule for the day. My paid time off started today, planned initially as my prep day for a now-rescheduled colonoscopy. I had managed to sleep, and the coughing and wheezing are fading, and I would say it is all now sinus based.

Sleeping in after 8 was good, as I had trouble sleeping the night before. I felt much better, and the coughing jag did not resurface on Wednesday. I felt better, and the exhaustion also faded.

I wrote the blog, making it a long one, which made me later for my visit to Susie. Unfortunately, I was made even later by the holiday traffic. It took me twice as long to traverse Beaverton, and I was locked into full streets on Hall Blvd as it approached Washington Square Mall. With snow in the forecast for Thursday and Friday, especially in the higher altitudes, it was the last chance to do that last shopping, so the roads are full.

I reached Susie a bit late, and we sorted the cookies from Leta; I picked out some for Susie that was safe for her and her favorites. The rest were put out for folks to try. Jennifer and her husband, the live-in nurse aides, tried a few.

Susie and I moved to the social room and watched an Opera, Le Comte Ory. This is a comic opera with very unusual music, almost sounding like a modern musical at times–except in French. It is one of my favorites; this version is done by the MET in NYC and is one of the more approachable operas, and it has a happy ending (except the lecherous Comte Ory never gets the girl).

We stopped halfway and chatted with Leta, Susie’s mother. We also got calls from Dondrea and Evan, who were happy to speak with Susie. Later we broke for Leta’s cookies, and Susie had some fudge; I had two of my favorites too. While sitting for the opera, after two hours plus breaks, Susie was ready to take a break and rest.

Jennifer got Susie arranged in her bed in her room, and I stayed another hour. I brought Susie’s rocking chair from the house (she had had it before we were married) and sat in it. Susie was thrilled to see her rocker. It will stay in the hummingbird house now.

While Susie rested, I sent out the e-gifts from Heifer International. I ordered bees for folks who needed help in the name of some of our family. I sent a e-card to the folks I had purchased in their honor–no carbon burned for this. I sent a Hope Basket to Hope and Misha as they did not get a fruitcake.

Susie agreed that she would like some small bottles of Wild Turkey for Christmas from me. So with that settled and Susie mainly sleeping, I left with a kiss (and one more of Leta’s cookies) and found that the traffic was worse–I did not know it could be this bad.

It took me an hour to return home–usually a twenty-five-minute trip. I had no lunch, and it was already 5ish. I got the mail and plugged in my laptop to charge. Next, I headed to the local sushi place, Sushi Zen, and got a place next to the track. I had miso soup, hot tea, and various raw items. The selection was limited, but I soon found what I wanted. The place filled up, and I was crowded at the counter and decided to leave. I am still uncomfortable with anyone sitting next to me that I don’t know.

Next, after circling for five minutes, I found a parking spot near the local liquor store. Oregon is a controlled state, so there is only one store in a wide area. Thus, getting into a store on a Wednesday night before Christmas can be difficult. I wanted to make this the only trip, so I also purchased many flavored items, such as Grand Marais, for cooking. I found miniature Wild Turkey bottles for Susie and her favorite, the reserve version. It was more expensive than the last time I bought it, about a year ago.

I got this home, tried the Irish Cream, rested, and woke up an hour later. I was tired, and the drink put me right out.

I had some potato chips and watched Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, which, to me, seems the only movie in the Fantastic Beast series to capture the original feeling of the film. It could be watched stand-alone as it is so well put together that it leaves nothing to previous movies.

I did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen while watching the movie.

Next, I searched through my too-vast collection of electronics (it needs to be thinned out) for a USB to FTDI connector. The tiny machines I use in my radio, and some other excellent hardware do not have a USB connector but a direct connection. I used to have a pile of them, but they are small and likely found their way into various boxes of things I started. I also had to find a 3.3-voltage one, not 5V, and after twenty minutes, I found one still stuck on a device for a failed lightning detector project (the hardware does not seem to work well). I am ready to work on my radio now.

Time seemed, as usual on a PTO day, to evaporate, and it was late. So I decided to just read and finish the Poppy War. The book did not go where I expected it to go and, to me, has a comic book-like dark story–more Gen Z than I am used to. So no Tolkien-like fantasy or Space Opera good vs. evil, but troubled folks and terrible war. I was looking for a brain cookie, which this does not qualify for, but I thought it a good story once I let the book go where it wanted and tried not to be grumpy or annoyed. A dark tale that reminds me of the later tragic Elric books and the Mind MGMT comic I just read. Interesting and hard to recommend, but good in its own way.

I purchased a newly published short book by one of my favorite authors, The Red Scholar’s Wake: A Xuya Universe Romance (Xuya Universe Romances). Yes, Vietnam culture in space and an empire in a SciFi universe written by Aliette de Bodard. I started it, and my mind disappeared into mindships and a Vietnamese space-faring empire. 

Soon I fell asleep, woke, went to bed, and slept quickly after turning off the lights.

It is Day 21 of Advent, and it is time to get some Josh Groban slightly over-engineered holiday music: What Child Is This?

A bonus: Here is my fav by Josh Groban, this music from Chess: Anthem. He is the Soviet chess player in this song. While Russia is not a loved place now, this song still is great.

Feel free to call or send cards. Susie resides at:

Allegiance Senior Care

Adult Foster Care Home

9925 SW 82nd. Ave.

Portland, Oregon 97223

The house phone number: (503) 246-4116

The cough and some of the exhaustion stayed through all of Tuesday. But it was also the last working day in 2022, so I was excited to have some time off. And while it was a setback to put off the colonoscopy, I was thrilled, slightly guilty, that I had some unplanned day to enjoy in the wind-up of 2022.

The morning started at 6:15, with me deciding that I could sleep longer and nearly until 8! So I got going and managed to have coffee (liberal Equal Exchange brand), cinnamon-raisin toast, and a banana for breakfast while enjoying an hour of status meetings. Then, finally, I gleefully put in my out-of-office reply and set it to start at 5PM and go until next year’s first Tuesday.

My last status meeting on a performance issue was canceled as all the engineers and architects were already on paid time off (PTO). Thus, I instead showered and got dressed. After checking, the big project was beginning to slow down, and I was not needed for a few hours; I headed out to see Susie.

I stopped by Safeway and got some flowers. The holiday traffic was thick and slow across Beaverton. I watched the traffic camera flash as folks took the light late. I have recently paid over $300 for a Beaverton Police portrait myself in Air Volvo and was careful not to accidentally run the light.

Aside: I have daydreamed of wearing a Nixon mask, ‘driving’ a homemade cardboard car, and running through the intersection at 4AM or so, getting my photo taken with a ‘f**k you’ as my license plate number on my paper car. But I just don’t have the guts yet, to do it. It would also waste important police resources and so just a dream…But it is the Pacific Northwest with Darth Vader on a unicycle playing bag pipes that shoot fire in Portland, hum.

Returning to the narrative, Lucille was the nursing aide for today, and Susie had decided to rest after lunch instead of being in her recliner in the shared space living room. So I pulled up Susie’s wheelchair, slid the crash pad back under her bed (Susie fell out of bed before and thus always has a crash pad out when alone in the room), and sat with her. Susie was tired–she usually takes two days to recover from a busy day (Sunday was church and the Christmas party).

Susie loved her new flowers. We then called her mother and reached her on the second try. Leta and Susie discussed Leta’s Christmas travel plans, mostly driving, and that the weather there was going to become nasty in Michigan. Here, we expect a snowstorm on Thursday through Friday, just missing a White Christmas. As the schools are out and folks are on holiday, we will miss out on the snowmageddon traffic snarl that is so spectacular here (Susie and I took a three-hour trip to Beaverton and back during the last one).

Susie did nod off during the call–this is a new thing with Susie. I had to make it a short visit as it was still a working day. Also, I did not want to expose Susie to my coughing, both not risking her getting this but also it worries her. I left with a kiss and let Susie sleep some more.

I drove slowly through the holiday traffic and avoided flashing lights. Finally, I was home in the early afternoon. I checked, and so far, the project was ramping down to just a few items that needed to be done, and none of mine. The house was cold, and I had re-programmed the thermostat to run at 66F (19C) on work days, but I was home and set it back up.

I did the dishes and started the dishwasher, which will warm the kitchen. I then started on a dinner/lunch. I fried sliced mushrooms (not crowding them like Julia Childs says) in olive oil. Next, I fried sweat Johnson Company Italian-styled sausage (the locally made version, Olympia Provisions, is too harsh for my taste) in another pan. I heated Paul Newman’s Sockaruni tomato-based sauce in another pan. When the mushrooms started to brown on one side, I carefully flipped each one–well, most of them. I then lowered the heat to just warm and combined the crumbled and browned sausage bits with the mushrooms, which then boiled in the oil (physics says then you decompress, you release heat) and stirred them to not over brown (burn). I added the sauce to the same pan, and it boiled too, and I stirred until it started to combine. I set this on very low heat, but it did boil for a while, and I did stir. I cooled the pan I cooked the sausage in with running water, grabbed another pan to make pasta, and put it on the stove with water and salt. I was out of burners.

The orecchiette pasta is my favorite, and it takes longer to cook than you expect. It is also tricky to test as the little ‘ears’ fill with water and will dump hot water on you if you are not careful when you grab one to try. A few of the ears did stick together, but I liked a bit of chewy pasta, so I dumped it when it tasted cooked. I then combined all the items into the pasta cooking pan. I had a marvelous lunch. I packed the rest as leftovers in the glass wear that Gene and Glenda got me a few months ago.

I did some research on digital music formats. I learned that there is a special MusicXML standard to encode printed music. I looked at what was available in Python, and there were interfaces to read and write to the format. There was even a MIDI conversion to play the music but not display it. Apparently, the rendering was left to purchased packages and a few open packages. Unfortunately, no Python rendering engine could show the music in the traditional paper format. Still thinking about this.

I found it interesting that music can be encoded in XML format. I have considered the XML a near AI-like use as it creates a context for information. What else is intelligence but providing context to the information?

Guides to Music Formats, USA Government

I went back to watching email, text, and Slack channels for work, but the coughing got worse. I took various meds and finally took an anti-coughing prescription. I was soon sleepy and went to read more of the Poppy Wars. I was out at about 4ish and woke again at 7PM!

I got up and started watching the rest of the animated film, The Rise of the Guardians, a holiday movie and one of the first digital animated features. I had cheese and crackers with a bit of shaved ham. The coughing was non-stop.

I tried to rest and find that sleep. The dream before was not pleasant. I was with Susie on a subway, trying to get home for the holidays. Susie got on a train, and the doors closed before I could get on. I discovered I had no ticket and had to find a ticket machine. Then, I could not find a matching train that Susie had taken. I was searching for the ticket machine and Susie’s train. Not a restful sleep! Sleep did not come.

Instead of resting, I grabbed my stamp collection and all the purchases for the last few months. I put the new stamps in their places, filling some cheaper-to-fill locations. I did acquire at an impossibly low price a Scott 1 American stamp as a Christmas gift. Unfortunately, I could not find the matching Scott 1 Confederate stamp (beat-up and cheap due to the condition), so that might wait until next Christmas. I did find the new Columbian $5 1892 stamp that I also acquired at an auction at a low price (not cheap, but low compared to the retail $3,750 usual price for mint). It is a proof stamp from the sets supplied to the post office in 1892 (instead of the posters you see now) to show the new stamps. Proofs, like coins, are perfectly printed versions but not valid for use in the mail. I find the proofs are often priced a 1/10 of the original, are in perfect condition, and are rarer than the original. Who would not want that?

Note: I put a link to the Swedish Tiger site for stamps for those who would like to see these stamps. The proof I have is often thinned by sanding, perforated by hand, and then sold as the original–a counterfeit you must watch out for in these insanely expensive USA stamps. The site has an example of one of these.

I went back online and found some still cheap spots not filled, bid on cheap stamps to fill that, and sort of stocking stuffers for myself.

It may not be your thing, but it distracted me from coughing, and adding all these items to my collection album was fun. I still use the now slightly beat-up, USA stamp album Leta bought for me years ago. I also have an antique partial USA Revenue album I bought partially filled (at an excellent price) and have been adding to it for years. I added my old original Harris Album (from so far back I will not want to calculate the age of those pages) for the Confederate and Canal Zone. I thus collect all USA stamps now.

After that, I tried to sleep, but sleep did not come. So I went out to the garage and got my old radio I rebuilt. Unfortunately, the last time I worked on it, something went wrong, and I ran out of time to work on it. That was in 2019. Well, there have been a few years of crazy that I did not plan for (as obviously, neither did world governments have a plan), but I really wanted it to work.

I have removed the high-voltage tubes and the ruined mono-speaker in the radio with new digital components and set an LED display behind the original glass. Now we are running on a fun (and safe) 5V DC, and the components mostly have that regulated down to a stable 3.3 volts. The stereo amplifier can make the speakers loud at 5V. The display works, and the speakers and amplifier work with it, plugging nicely into my Apple. Testing the software and the volume control works which are programmed. Unfortunately, there appears to be a software issue as I checked the simple wiring to the breakout of the radio chip: Si4703. This chip is the base for all those expensive radios you see for sale (most of those high-end radios are an expensive antennae and overpriced analog to digital conversion of the nobs and buttons). The breakout is about $25 at Sparkfun. The mini pro Arduino is $11 and is also a Sparkfun product that runs everything and even could regulate the power (a really cool tiny board smaller than an American quarter). The amplifier is also from Sparkfun, another $11.

I looked at it in detail, waiting for sleep to come. I managed to get tired (finally), went to bed again, and finally slept around 2ish.

It is the twentieth day of Advent, and I thought we should go with the song Wonderful Christmastime.

Thanks for reading. Sorry, this is a bit late, but I slept in and wrote without a time bracket. I wrote until I was done.

Feel free to call or send cards. Susie resides at:

Allegiance Senior Care

Adult Foster Care Home

9925 SW 82nd. Ave.

Portland, Oregon 97223

The house phone number: (503) 246-4116

I started the biz day by calling the colonoscopy people and moving mine to March 2023. I will not risk it with the nasty cough and breathing issues. I had managed to sleep but woke exhausted, and my coughing was back in an hour after getting going.

I woke with my alarm at 6:15 and got going at 7ish, took a shower, and got going in a rush. I had a Zoom meeting at 8:05 and a Physical Therapy appointment at 10, so no break to get ready. I managed some raisin cinnamon toast and liberal coffee as the first meeting started. After that, status meetings went on for ninety minutes, and I had to head out to make my PT in Bethany right after they ended.

I made my appointment, and we just talked. Michael, the PT guy, suggested some more exercises. I also talked about my adventures moving Susie into the car, and he will offer some core exercises to help with that. I am happy so far as the pain has mostly stopped, and I seem to be able to control the pain and balance issues with the stretches and excises. I wish the cough and wheezing would halt so I could focus on the stretching and exercises.

I returned home and checked work. Nobody needed me. I rested a bit by reading and enjoyed more coughing jags. The coughing was wearing me out.

I was not interested in eating much but headed to Panera Bread at Ceder Mills in Beaverton on the way to Susie. I had a chicken almond entire sandwich and some French onion soup. The soup and sandwich made me feel a bit better.

Next, I headed slowly in heavy holiday traffic across Beaverton. I eventually reached the hummingbird house. Susie was delighted to see me. She had gotten up late and had just been put in her recliner in the shared living room. Jennifer, the nursing aide who lives there, got us a tiny piece of leftover pumpkin pie from the party on Sunday. I then helped Susie eat some; it is easy to eat and delicious–a good combination. I had some too.

We also called Leta, Susie’s mother, who had just got back from a doctor’s appointment. Her labs were good. We chatted about various holiday items for a bit on FaceTime.

Soon, my short trip needed to end. With a kiss, I left Susie resting in her chair. Susie worried about my cough as I could not hide it.

The traffic was snarled on the way back. I stopped at Safeway, after debating this as I was tired and grumpy and feeling very grinch-like, to get food and some supplies for holiday cooking. The required ham, spiral cut, is acquired. The makings for my version of pumpkin pie were purchased. I also got various soups to help with the cold. I bought makings for salad as I love salad. Pasta with sausage in a Paul Newman sauce is now possible. Again, I also paid $10 to support folks who cannot afford food–I try to do that every time I buy stuff at Safeways. It was not a massive load of groceries, but it was $200 (the ham was 35, and the cans of sweetened condensed milk were $3.50). Yes, living in the Pacific Northwest is not cheap.

I unloaded the car and put away the stuff. I then returned to work and followed along until about 4ish. After that, I read for a while.

I heated up the Lobster Bisque soup I got for dinner and had that with a bowl of potato chips with it. It seemed the right match. I watched Stranger Things on Netflix while eating, but I still can’t say I recommend the show.

I then read more of the book Poppy Wars and am becoming less enchanted with it. However, we will see if I decide to continue with the series. I might just be grumpy.

I have been fatigued all day and coughing non-stop. I will try to get some rest and decided to stay home tonight–I usually have a dark beer at Wildwood Taphouse on Monday night.

It is the 19th day of Advent, and we should do something from the Nutcracker: The Russian Dances.

Thanks for reading.

Feel free to call or send cards. Susie resides at:

Allegiance Senior Care

Adult Foster Care Home

9925 SW 82nd. Ave.

Portland, Oregon 97223

The house phone number: (503) 246-4116