COMPUTER CLUB MEETS TOMMOROW AT 1:00PM

RON THOMAS

THE computer club meets tommorow. This will be just an informal gathering to test the waters and see what ideas can be exchanged in a coffee drinking , popcorn eating environment. I hope we resist the gavel and president thing and just meet as interested friends helping one another enjoy the computing experience.

Formal classes in stuff that interests a group can be talked about but this will not be that. One person told me they won't come because they can't learn anything with out seeing it. Well, I'm hoping that those of you who have laptops will bring them so points can be illustrated.

One thing I'm hoping to see us talk about is a way to acquire high speed internet installed in the clubhouse. If we can do that then we can work on getting a LAN set up. (LOCAL AREA NETWORK) With a LAN we can connect all private computers and all clubhouse computers together so that they can share the one high speed internet connection and be on the internet simultaneously and go wherever they want on the internet independant of each other. In addition each of the LAN connected computers can share the same printer and can have print jobs lined up (this is called a que=pronounced Q). The TV in the book reading area can be hooked to the LAN and it can display any LAN connected computer's pictures and music albumns. The music from the computer then can be played over the high fidelity system of the TV.

We can talk about neat free downloads we know about such as PICASA. The problems we have been having with our computers. Learn computer jargon so we can talk to our grandkids on the same wavelength... be a hip Grandma so to speak. We can talk about computer repairs we know about. You see ... we will just be sharing information and if everything works well we will all be yaking in different conversations about what we know and what we want to know... For me this sounds like fun. If it does to you too don't be intimidated by being a beginner. There is nothing one who knows something enjoys more than showing it to someone else who doesn't.

Consider this... When we were all children folks used to walk by on the sidewalk and chat with their neighbors and kids played well into the evening on front and back lawns. When our generation grew older there was no time for this. We had to make a living and were tired at the end of our 12 to 16 hour days. That took a toll on just neighborily visiting. Now folks say they want to be left alone to do their own thing. Well I don't and some folks are like me we thirst for that time when neighbor visited neighbor and talked about..... about .... stuff. Be involved find an activity that you like and start a club today.

WOOD WORKERS.. NEED VOLUNTEERS
Upholsters and Sewers we need you

RON THOMAS

So you like making fine furniture or making things work right? You've got all that equipment in your garage for cuttin and measurin but your running low on projects? Are you now? How would you like to fix some problems with the clubhouse that would make it nicer for the residents?


Well! Do we have a deal for you...


The couches in the clubhouse present a terrible problem for many of our residents. They sit so low that people with knee and back problems often have to have assistance getting in and out of them. That is a significant number of folks here. The net result is that they don't get used much. We want to change that. The solution is simple enough ...Just raise them up enough to cure the problem. We want to do it in a way that doesn't look homemade so what we need are those guys with a knack for making really nice stuff. At the same time if there are folks with upholstery experience maybe we can give them a face lift too.


Don't know how to do this stuff but want to learn? If we get enough volunteers maybe we can help one another? Don't be skeptical.. We aren't ... Everytime a worthwhile project has called for volunteers in the park a lot of willing hands have shown up and that's just a true fact.


Woodworkers and "make it work" guys that are not interested in this project we have another for you... We are going to need some casters put on the ping pong table legs so that even a 98lb lady can push the table out of the way when we need to.

Jim Dodds makes an Observation...

from an email from Jim...

Sunday 1:41 AM....
Paramedics/Ambulance lost again, not once but twice....see if they find the address on the third time by my house.



Sunday 1:47 AM.....
they are still speeding up and down the streets......
don't that STOP and make you think !!!!



frilling 60 more seconds may mean death.........


Sunday 1:51 AM
went outside tried to flag them down, didn't stop, to busy trying find whatever the address is they are looking for, came back inside wrote this, see them speeding by again.

Blaine Kalar fwd's a funny 4 u

Blaine Kalar by email to Jacky Thomas

o: Master of the House >From: Dog >Subject: Cat > > Master: > The cat is despicable. She doesn't do any tricks and never comes when you call, and I've been there, I know she can hear you. We need to face the facts: It's time to get rid of the cat. > >Before the cat's arrival, meals were festive times. I would sit and stare attentively at your lips, trembling slightly and drooling. You would play the game of pretending to be cross and demand that I leave the area, but whenever you cooked dinner, your children would slip me food under the table. > >Now the cat is allowed to jump on the table - actually physically walk on the table! You don't yell at the cat, you just pick her up and put her back on the floor, and I know you don't see it, but she gives me a haughty look as she walks past me. > >And speaking of meals, I have always been satisfied to eat the gritty pellets of meat byproducts you bring home in the giant bags, right? >Have I ever once, ever, failed to finish a meal? But now I find out that the cat is being served lobster and salmon and crab - and she never consumes all of it. > >This means there are little containers of delectable snacks lying around and how can I be blamed for making sure they get eaten? Why do you get so mad? As long as the pet food is going to the pets isn't that what's important? > > Then there's playtime. I think we can clearly see that I am a big dog, descended from a noble line of hunters, accustomed to chasing prey and attacking it. Haven't I nearly managed to take down a few cars as they've driven past the house? The cat is about the size of a squirrel and in my view should behave like one, but when I attempt to chase her, she hunches up and spits at me! This can't be sanitary. And shouldn't she be declawed? I'm very concerned about the potential for damage to the furniture and my nose. > >Speaking of sanitation, do you realize that the cat goes to the bathroom in the house? And not in the drinking basins like you do, but in a sandbox in the basement? What are we going to say if some woman brings her baby over to play in the sandbox and the cat has been using it as a toilet? I used to police the thing for you, but you put it up out of my reach for some reason. > >I'm not the only one who believes the cat is an evil person. Here is a note from the hamster: > >To: Master of the House >From: Hamster >Subject: Cat > >Please tell cat to stop staring at me while I work. > Signed, Hamster, Department of Rodent Wheels" > >I also tried to get a note from the fish, but apparently it believes that everything happening outside its bowl is some kind of reality-TV show. > >I don't understand why the cat is allowed up on the bed and I am not. I am far more cuddly then any stupid cat. I think her purring sounds unhealthy and may be a sign of tuberculosis. > >And why doesn't she ever get a bath? She smells like saliva from licking her paws - you'd never catch me licking such ridiculous places. I often smell wonderful from rolling in road kill, yet you give me baths all the time! > >And speaking of sleeping, sometimes I'll be taking a nap and she'll come right up and lie down beside me. Usually I'm too tired to do anything about it, but then later the other dogs smell her on me and crack a lot of jokes at my expense. > >So, not to exaggerate, but the cat has brought the family to complete ruin. I am sorry I have to be the one to bring it to your attention, but now that I have, I think we can all agree that we should go back to the way it was, when I was the #1 pet. > >Yours Truly, > The Dog

Firefox Catching on.. Readership up..

ron thomas

From our statistics page...We had the most people loading the page yesterday than we have ever had. Also, the most foreign country downloads. About 130 page loads yesterday.

When we first extoled the virtues of Firefox we saw that three people started using it... Our statistics now indicate 20 people.

This gives me feedback into what folks like ... I think that you all like pictures such as the Spring time photos because that is when all the activity started. We need more photographs..

How About That Tree Picture?

RSS

ron thomas

What? What? What the heck are you yaking about now? Well you have been following my new trip to the computer to read the newspaper... Well, hardly any time at all goes by before you start hearing the initials RSS... That's computer geek speak for "REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION".

So we signed up for a free RSS FEED to see what all the hullabaloo was about. Well now, turns out this is a dandy for news readers. You select from the huge offer list of things that interest you and then they give you your own personal web page with gobs of stories from different sources. There is a discrptive sentence with each headline so that you can decide if you are interested. If you are just click and read. Your RSS FEED page is updated continuously throughout every day which means the news is current and upto date as it happens and is reported.

Sources that are offered are national such as the New York Times, wire services and a host of others. There is even a part with some of them that put your favorite blogs such as this website on the feed and everytime there is a new post it shows up on the RSS.

I am a neophyte here and like Alice in Wonderland have fallen down a fascinating rabbit hole.

Start a new club...

ron thomas

Hey what kind of a club meeting would you like to see formed? I like agates, finding, tumbling and polishing them. Fossil collecting is neat too. Any interest in calling a first ever Rock Hounds club meeting?

Tuesday computer club meeting..

ron thomas

If you are coming and you have a laptop computer bring it... It makes it easier to share stuff or troubleshoot problems. Yes Wayne bring it. Still no structured meeting... Just talking and sharing... Seeing if this a good start up club. If we have ideas and there are enough of us we can ask the Social Club to help our start up. If not , well there is always coffee and doughnuts and good company..

We would like to know (taxes)

ron thomas


We have heard around the park an interesting idea from about 3 sources now that folks are deducting that portion of their (lease rent) that is added on by the park's owners as their tax increase each year. Our folks are counting it as property tax passed on to them by the owners. This certainly seems fair to us but the IRS and state do not always share our opinion of what is fair.


So, if you have information that we could look at or someone with the tax authority we could call to get information on how to do this we would appreciate a tip. If we do find out anything that shows how to do this we will certainly let everyone know about it.

Here is Jim Rose's first picture using Picasa...
I put it here this time but soon he will be doing it himself!!

We will be talking about Picasa at the computer club meeting on Tuesday at 1:00pm

the Newspaper.. Goodbye....

ron thomas

Today I said goodbye to an old friend... The morning newspaper. I am completely using the internet now for a newspaper and it is better than it ever was. Also, it is free.. That most favorite word of the senior lifestyle.

Since a lot of people have a laptop computer it can go with you when you are traveling and you can access your favorite newspaper anywhere whether you are in Miami or Phoenix.

Now I tried this once before with Internet Explorer as a browser and it was cumbersome..But with FireFox as a browser it is a breeze and indeed easier than a paper news media.

Firefox let's you easily adjust the type size so that it fits the page and doesn't go spilling off the sides like Internet Explorer does. This means you don't have to scan left and right with the mouse as in Internet Explorer. If you need reading glasses to read the newspaper you can toss them. Firefox easily expands the type to the size that is comfortable for you. Just go to the view menu and select Type Size and increase it until you can see it just fine.

Next Firefox has this neat feature that put your very favorite bookmarks in their own private toolbar across the top of the page. Here I put the links for the Oregonian and USA Today and a super bonus we found during this setup process a full comics page that you build with your own choices of over 100 daily cartoons from a Texas newspaper.

This morning was my launch date and I am well pleased with the result. Refinements that I will shortly include are links to my favorite national columnists. With that tool bar, when one article is finished you move on to the next. Use your mouse wheel to scroll or the down arrows on the Keyboard.

If there is interest in the comments we will definitely talk more about the how to do it.

Meanwhile I expect to show this off at the Computer club meeting at 1:00 PM on Tuesday.

Spring begins on the hill...

ron thomas

Left click a picture to enlarge it.... then come back here by using your browsers back arrow.

To save a picture ..Right click it and select "SAVE IMAGE AS" .Then give it a name and tell it to be saved in MY Pictures on your computer.

To make it your desk top picture ... right click on it and select "SET AS WALLPAPER"

Blogger..

ron thomas

I have an idea... It might work... At the very least if you have about five minutes... Well, have a look at the following link. This is the link to Blogger... The folks who make our web page possible. If you go there you are going to be able to take a tour of their site and see how easy it is to do this.


One other idea such as how to send pictures directly to our website by yourself is discussed there too. Fortunately for me my trustee side kick, Jim Rose, is always ready to try something new on his computer. He has mastered Picasa, the photo program that we have touted in several articles here on the site... He loves it. Picasa is an integral part of putting pictures on the website... Now I have asked him to download HELLO which is the next step... That also is free and has a link on the left side of the page. You will find these programs discussed on the Blogger site too.


At any rate I expect to see Jim Rose's pictures here any day now.


Just give this link a look... I'm thinking many of you with those new digital cameras are going to love this... A new hobby is waiting... I promise... We will probably be discussing stuff like this at the new computer club meeting at 1:00 pm April 12th.


Now the link:

BLOGGER

JIM DODDS SAYS..

in an email from Jim Dodds

Thursday I will be placing an order with Tiger Direct, they have some really outstanding offers right now. 120 Gb hard drives at 69.99, moitors, free cd-rw, free wireless routers, etc. DDR 1 Gb Memory, $500.00 IBM Think Pad notebooks, 4 Mega Pixel with
3x Optical Zoom $99.97
the likes. If anybody wants to be included in the order it will save on frieght over everybody ordering individually. Their site is of course www.tigerdirect.com

Today a concerned resident spoke about ...

ron thomas

Some folks stopped by to speak to me about the fact that you can enter your phone number into the Search Engine... GOOGLE. It will then tell the name and address of that phone number and draw a map to your front door. This panicked them as they had never heard of it before. They immediately contacted Google and had their information removed.


This has been around for quite awhile. As time moves forward you will know more and more about each other. Every bit of knowledge in the world is easily stored on a computer. Your particulars make it to some data base somewhere every time you fill out any kind of form... Whether it is on the internet or at a local store. Your information is a matter of public record on many government data bases.. In time someone will sell information about you to some advertising company... And so it goes... This has been referred to as the age of information and they (whoever they are) have an insatiable appetite for knowledge about you.


Personally, I don't think you can avoid having information about you on the net... Take our tiny little web site for instance. Probably several times a day or at least every two or three days everything written here is digested by scanning robots looking for names and facts and then categorizing them and then passing it on to Yahoo or MSN or Google or hundreds of other search engines. Later a person may do a search for that name or fact and it will show up. Over time our entire civilization will be at your finger tips. The only way to stop your information from reaching the search engine databases is not to give it to anybody ever.. And that is just not going to happen in my opinion. We've opened Pandora's Box and now we have to live with what came out. Just keep in mind the smallest request for information on you for whatever reason is going to go on a computer and from there it's an easy step to some company's data base.

How to keep the Gini bottled up and use her for our wishes...

ron thomas


We have this powerful gini locked up and she is forced to grant many of our whims just because we have put a lot of restraints on her. Let her loose on her own and she will wreak havoc and cause serious injury and destruction without a second thought.


Because of what happened at the clubhouse during the breakfast preparation I thought you should know more about Jeanie and how she works.. If you knew that you would know what to do next time plus you wouldn't be prone to make a mistake like I was hearing from several different directions that would just remove her constraints and let her run wild.... Beleive me you don't want to see that happen... I have and not only is it dangerous and ugly it is very scarry.


Our Jeanie has a second name... perhaps you know her by that? It's Electricity...


While cooking up the breakfast the ladies were getting pretty frustrated with the electricity because the circuit breakers kept tripping out and interrupting the cooking. First it was on then it was off... Our ladies were upset.
"Couldn't something be done?" "This wiring stinks!" "The breakers must be bad!" "They need to do something about this!" "Why don't we just upsize the circuit breakers 5 or 10 amps?"


Let's take a break here and talk about what happened and why it did. First, what is a circuit breaker and how does it work in simple language? Ever look down inside your toaster and see those glowing wires(elements) while your bread is baked into toast? Well that is what a circuit breaker does. I know you think that's crazy a circuit breaker looks like a switch it even says "ON" and "OFF" on it. Well, you are right it is a special kind of switch. Inside this circuit breaker there is a precision wire that heats up just like the toaster wire does as electricity flows through it. The more electricity that flows through that wire ...the hotter it gets. The wire, in this case, is designed to reach an exact temperature and then trip the switch off. That is what was happening. The circuit breaker was too hot and so it turned off the electricity.


Each circuit breaker is sized to trip before the wire that goes through the walls to the outlets from becoming hot enough to ignite and burn the kitchen, house... whatever ... down. So, you can now see why we don't want to increase the size of the circuit breaker from say 20amps to 40 amps? Well if you don't, look at it this way.. At 20 amps the wire is as hot as it can get... At 40amps it would be cherry red and it would be in your walls heating things up.... Not a good thing.


OK ok ok.... Why did the circuit breaker heat up then? Simple... Look at all the cookers and fryers and ladies with plugged in thing a ma jigs making that mamouth breakfast. Each one has a current rating and anything that cooks stuff uses a lot of electricity (amps). Too many high electricity users on the circuit at one time.... circuit breaker heats up and trips.. Praise be that the circuit breaker worked or we would have burnt the place down.


What can be done? Well, we can see when a breaker trips it has too many devices using its wire. What you have to do is go to a remoter location (which will be on a different circuit breaker) and run an extension cord from another outlet to the kitchen and plug some of the stuff into that. That way we share the electrical load around.


Now if we used the kitchen, like we did on that day, on a regular basis it might pay to have new extra lines from new circuit breakers wired in permanently.


One other cause of this electrical problem was loose fitting recepticles. You know... That's when you plug a device in and it falls out of the recepticle. that causes a high resistance connection which... causes more electricity to be used. There are a number of them in the clubhouse and they should be replaced.

A joke ...

from kim kommando's web site...

A mushroom walked into a bar and bought everyone a drink. Said one
person at the bar,
"You're a fun guy."

This is a joke... you may have to think about it for a bit.

EAsTer Bunny is alive and well @ LVH!!

ron thomas

For all those that are young at heart. Don't dispair the Easter Bunny is alive and well at LVH. The Easter Bunny is an idea and as such does not live a mortal life such as ours but remains as long as those that think about it wish. And... folks here do wish it to be so. Conversations with many people in the park indicate they still want to beleive. Privately, some have offered to help with the gathering and distributing of those colorful plastic eggs for next year.

Perhaps that is the true, positive, legacy that JoJo Rabbit left us ... that her example will continue to be emulated in our community and the Easter Bunny will continue here.

Now we see that the JoJo Rabbit had to work way to hard showing us the way ... We are hoping that future rabbits and rabbit helpers come forward to volunteer to keep this fine traditon.

Edna Wilson's Okie Breakfast

Really bad pixs by ron thomas


Edna brought a lot of full tummies to the Hill today. In the few years we have lived here we had not seen anything of the magnitude of this feast. 54 people were served and sent on their way with a cornacopia breakfast. That included ham, chicken fried steak, fruit, sauteed onions, cowboy potatoes, biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, redeye gravy and probably more than you can think of... Edna had a crew of at least ten in the kitchen. She had about the same amount cleaning up and setting up yesterday. It was a lot of work but it also was a heck of a good time. Edna thought up the menu and was the driving force behind this effort. She is already thinking ahead to what else we might do in the future.

The ladies were pretty upset with the tripping circuit breakers in the kitchen but given the extra large volume of electrical fryers and cookers in addition to the microwave ovens... this was completely understandable. Lessons learned will see us using outlets on both sides of the clubhouse during a large event such as this. One thing we did notice is there are a number of outlets with internal weak springs and they should be replaced as they are adding to the problem and do not cost much to fix.

CLICK ON A PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT. THEN USE YOUR BROWSER'S BACK ARROW TO RETURN HERE.

Safety Warning from Milt..

an email from Milt Sadusky...

For you pellet stove users, don't rely on automatic operation. A friend left his on auto, took a plane ride, came back a few days later, and black soot was hanging from all the contiguous ceilings. Clothing, furniture and drapes and bedding suffered.

Milt

A tribute to local celebrity... JoJo Bunny

Sent in by email from Jim Dodds...

CLICK HERE

Thinking about the biggest winter electrical expense...

ron thomas

Forced air heating. Having been to air conditioning school and certified by Carrier as a refrigeration technician. Some insight into heating was also studied. That was a small part of my job in a previous life. Learning about refigeration is also learning about heating and the physics involved with it.

Getting our minds around this problem of heating may well be the biggest positive thing we can do to reduce our electric bill.

The forced air in these homes runs under the floors and comes up in vents in the floor with the idea you close the vents you don't use to conserve heat. An older repairman once told me that under the floor duct work was about the worst thing you could have. He seemed to think it had more chance of leaking than through the attic duct work. We do suspect that closing the vents to rooms you don't want to heat has its problems. The blower is configured to blow the maximum amount of air through the ducts so as you close off a floor vent you actually increase the back pressure on the fan motor causing it to work harder and use more electricity. Then too we all have only one thermostat that tracks only the air around it not the air all over the house. So the house will be hotter in some rooms and colder in others. Depending on where your thermostat is you may have to run hotter in order to heat rooms more distant from the thermostat... To make things more difficult heat rises to the highest point of the home because it is lighter than heavier cold air. This means the heater has to run even longer to heat up the area closer to the floor where we live.

So our forced air heating has these problems:

• Duct work that may leak under the house and waste heat. Especially from back pressure.
  
• Duct work that may spread dust and mold through out the home.
• One thermostat for the entire house.
• Rising heat to the ceiling of the home.

You might consider .. The question do you really need to heat the entire house in the winter? You could probably make the case that if you had company coming then yeah maybe so. Most of the time though it's your wife and you or in some cases those that live alone have only have one person. Where do you spend the most time? Maybe you might consider just heating those spaces you need with a local heater? A ceiling fan in that same area would cause a convection effect that would circulate the hot air down from those vaulted ceilings causing the air to mix better and less heating to be needed. A local heater would need to have a thermostat and it may be a good deal to have one in the ceiling fan also. One heater mentioned below even can be controlled with what looks like a channel changer.

Here are some ideas we have seen folks implementing around the park... We aren't to sure how they have worked out but being pioneers and being the first in the neighborhood to try new solutions perhaps they will comment on what they have discovered.

Wood pellet stoves... We have seen Bob Abbott has installed one in his garage. Dan and Sue Wilson have one installed also. Wayne and Liz Hill have one that has given them some problems. Jim Rose has purchased one and it will be installed in June. I have seen other smoke stacks in the neighborhood and wonder if there are others willing to share what it costs to buy and operate one and what kind of maintenance and drawbacks they have found. What are the positive aspects of these stoves?

Simulated Electric fire place with thermostat and fan .... When we first moved here I saw one of these at Sam Wilcox's home. I thought it was the coolest thing and copied its layout to build a faux fire place for my daughter. But thinking about it now I think there may be merit in this heater. Not only is it very realistic and the fire looks as real as any you have ever seen but it is a heater with a blower and can be operated by a remote controller. It can also be thermostatically controlled and works off any wall outlet...Just plug it in and go. It doesn't need to be vented either. You can even take it with you if you move.

We are fishing for men or women...

ron thomas

Every so often I cast a call for writers... here on the website. I present my case and tell how ez it is and then I wait hopefully like Charlie Brown running up to the football to give it a kick while Lucy holds it for him.... Of course Lucy pulls the ball just as he kicks and Charlie lands on is back.


The website has one writer... me. and every so often Cleda Hampton. It is a strain to come up with something new every day but I have created a habit and seem to be able to do it ok. It's just that I know some of you could write but you don't. It would be so much more interesting if you did. Some day someone will have to take this over. It makes sense that if you would like to write here you will have to make a start sometime. Why not now? I notice that many of the strips with our website address (URL) have been taken from the bulletin board. The statistics that we watch show between 60 and a 100 page loads a day. So we know we are being read.



So, here is the deal... This is supposed to be a team blog. Team members join and are given access to the writing portion of this website. They write when and about whatever they like subject to the three rules that as team editor I referee...

• Make the Golden rule your guide for what you write.
• No political articles of a Republican vs Democrat, right vs left nature. Here we all are just Americans.
• No religious prosteletizing.

If those rules don't upset you and you would like to write just drop me an email at
teckron@hotmail.com and I will get you all set up. Don't worry about not being able to understand how to do it... I'll walk you through it... It's very easy, I promise.

NEW! COMPUTER CLUB...

RON THOMAS

We are launching a new club here at LVH. It will be the first ever meeting of the LVH Computer club. Tuesday, April12, at 1pm.


The rules.. aren't any yet. We are thinking it will be an informal place to come and talk computer and learn from one another. Spin offs could be group gaming and networking. We don't know where we are going but we do know we are going to have fun. We know that there are 4 people who essentially said why don't we give this a try? So, to those 4 here 'tis. What ya gonna do now?

This is not meant to be a man thing... all genders are welcome. This is not an elitist club.... rank beginer through accomplished guru are all welcome.. The more the merrier. The main start-up problem will be if we can con someone into bringing do-nuts and Larry to set out extra coffee.


See you there RT.

OKIE BREAKFAST HELP....

RON THOMAS

As Edna Wilson's " Okie Breakfast" comes to the hill this Saturday at 9am promptly...We find ourselves in need of a hand setting up for this most anticipated event.


Should you find yourself with a spare hour we could use your help this Friday setting up tables and chairs and getting all the things ready for Saturday morning. The more hands ... the more fun it will be ... come and help. This is an excellent way to get to know people and help out with what just may be the premiere breakfast of the year... We have EZ jobs and phsyical ones too. So all hands are welcome.... See you at the clubhouse at 3pm on Friday.

Today while waiting for the seminar to start..

ron thomas

I was asked the same question by a couple of people. So, thinking more folks might want to know the same here is what they asked..


"I went to web page to read something someone told me about but it wasn't there. Is something wrong with my computer?"


NOPE... The way the web page works is the latest article is posted to the top of the top of the page. You scan down to find earlier articles. After one week a post falls off the webpage and is archived. On the left side of the page you know is where all the links to various places are. There is a link near the bottom to the ARCHIVES. Every article that has ever been written on the website is stored there for you to look at when you want. However, you may find it difficult to wade through all that so right below the ARCHIVE LINK is an archive search box. If there is a word that you know appeared in the article you're looking for then type it into the box and click "Search". Our Search engine will then search the archives and return all the articles ever written on the site about that word(s) . In this case, the person should type the word.. click it and the articles about it will show up.

Freezers and Refrigerators..

ron thomas


Your freezer and refrigerator come under the heading of inefficient users of power because of the motors that drive their compressors. Remember that motor driven electrical devices are about 60% efficient with the 40% being lost to heat? Yet, modern day refigeration devices have improved their efficiency through better insulation of the box.

If we were to color the air inside the refrigerator or freezer so that we could see it when we opened the door we would see the air inside rapidly fall to the floor of the kitchen only to be replaced with warm air from the kitchen. Cold air is heavy and would fall out... warm air is lighter and rushes in to fill the void. You can see as soon as you close the door the refrigerator or freezer is going to turn on to bring the temperature of the new air down to where you have set its thermostat.


The more times we open our unit the more it will run and the more it will cost. Because the refrig/freezer is well insulated it will stay off longer if we don't open it. So if we change our behavior to know what it is we are after and try to keep it closed as much as possible we will realize a savings.


All that said, if you are thinking of buying a new freezer which would you think would be more efficient a chest freezer or an upright? If you answered a chest freezer you are correct. If you remember our above example about coloring the air and watching it slide to the floor when we opened the door of our upright refrig/freezer because cold air is heavier than warm air? Think now about opening the lid of the chest freezer. The cold air stays in the box because it is heavier. Therefore, this type of freezer is more efficient.

Since the insulation in modern freezers and refrigerators is more efficient than those of older days I am planning to experiment with placing a timer on them to cause them to stay off during the sleeping hours of the night and rely on that insulation to keep them within temperature parameters. The starting and stopping of the compressor motors on these units is pretty expensive....

Recapping, change your habits on how you get in your refrigerator or freezer as little as possible. Chest freezers run less than uprights. A timer to keep your unit off during sleeping hours may help but needs more experimentation.

A side note... if your units run all the time.. something is wrong. The gaskets are leaking or the unit is old and not cooling well do to a loss of freeon. Usually the cheaper course of action in this case is to buy a new one.. pay attention to its Energy Rating sticker if you do.

Next Winter be prepared for higher electric bills...

ron thomas


The newspaper has been full of stories of late about the sale of the Columbia River generating facilities which provide power to the Northwest. They are currently in receivership from the Enron debacle. Several attempts are being made to buy them by different organizations but thus far none have succeeded.


From following this story we think it is not unreasonable to assume that our electric rates will continue to rise steeply. There probably isn't much we can do about it as individuals but cut our consumption of electricity and hope that less use translates enough savings to offset the higher costs. We have our strength in that we are retired and have time as an ally. A younger family has work, school and family concerns which means they will end up paying the higher price.


So we are hoping to provoke a discussion of ideas that we can all undertake in the next few months to cut our consumption and reduce our power bills. Having been an Electircian for 40 years I've put my thinking cap on and will put some ideas out there for you to think about. For your part we would like to hear ideas that you have... Maybe you don't understand how stuff works but you could have an idea that someone else can flesh out the how to do it. So all ideas are welcome.

First let me point out what power consumption means... Used power is measured in watts. So the more watts you use the more you will pay. What we need to do then is cut our usage of watts. There are two kinds of watts usage. One kind is very inefficient and the other is pretty efficient. The inefficient kind wastes about 40% of the watts it uses in radiated heat. For the homeowner that translates to any device that you use that is run by an electric motor. Such as, a clothes dryer, refrigerator,hand tools, washing machine, dishwasher, freezer, forced air heating, table saws, fans and the like. The less you can restrict their use the more you will cut down on your bill. After all they are wasting 40% of what they use.

The more efficient users of power are those things that generate light and heat. But be wary here because efficent does not translate into savings. For instance which is more cost effective a 40watt light bulb or a 60 watt light bulb? If you said a 40 watt bulb you are correct. But here is a trick that you probably don't know... The brightness, the amount of light a bulb emits is not measured in watts!!! That means in some circumstances a 40 watt bulb will actually provide more light than a 60 watt bulb!!! Here is your first cost cutting opportunity! Go to Wal-Mart and look at the different ratings of the light bulbs and see the difference for yourself.... Here's what to look for.... The brighteness of a light is measured in LUMENS. The more lumens the brighter the light. For instance an incandescent light bulb of 40 watts will have fewer lumens than a fluorescent one of the same size. This will allow you to pick a smaller power(wattage) consuming bulb to get the same amount of light you now have. Cha-Ching.

Next ... We discuss water heaters and freezers..

It was a dark day on the hill...

ron thomas

Rain and wind chased the Easter Bunny away from LVH and the egg hiding did not happen.... Or so we thought. That Bunny is one determined rabbit. I don't know how he found out about the pigeon hole mailboxs in the clubhouse but there were eggs chucked into every one of them. Looks like he did a good job this year despite the weather. Looked to me like he even left them for folks who signed up not to get them. I guess he figured out the crows wouldn't be able to come into the clubhouse and snatch them. What a generous bunny.

Red light problem...

ron thomas


Last night John & Mary Spangler's red light went off. Their neighbors the Kalar's saw it and called the paramedics. John and Mary live next door to the Furgason's and Bob Abbott on NE56th st.


Here is what happened... Their red light went off a little before 2:00am. There was no reason for it to have activated. John said the transceiver was in a kitchen drawer which would make the light non operational. Theroretically a neighbor could have set it off but his neighbors don't use the code that he has. That leaves me with kind of a, "I don't know how that happened"... Kind of explanation. This has happened one other time in the last three years and we don't know what caused either one.


Marilyn Kalar saw the light. She lives on the hill overlooking the Spangler home. She called 911 and reported it. Soon the paramedics came to the park but took a wrong turn on Evergreen. Marylin jumped in her car and ran after them finally, catching up to them over by the Rose's and Hart's homes and told them they were in the wrong place.


The paramedics then ended up over at John and Mary's home where they banged on the door. John roused out of sleep went to the door where the paramedic stood with defibulator and medical equipment and said , "We're here"... John said that he could see that but did they know where they were?... Then is when John finds out about the red light flashing. The paramedics return to the barn and John is trying to get the red light out. Can't get it out because the switch has reprogrammed itself. So he puts a plastic bucket over the light (it's raining cats and dogs all the while) But the red light blasts right through the bucket. Next a garbage bag over it. Still can see it. Finally John puts a towel and 2 garbage bags over the light and peace returns to the neighborhood.


Fast Forward to the Easter Brunch this morning ... We get the story of what happened so when we get home I call John and Mary and offer to kill the monster. We fixed it soon after we got there.



To the good side:

• The light was seen and reported by a neighbor.

• The paramedics found the house eventually.
• The neighbor watched for the paramedics and steered them to the right home.
  

To the bad side:

• The light went off by itself.. With no reason that we can see why.
• It could not be turned off.
• Paramedics responded unnecessarily.
• Paramedics did not know where to go and had to be chased down.

Herein lies some interesting questions about how we view the red light emergency system.

• Should 911 be called first if a red light is seen?
• Should the person reporting a red light keep a watch out and make sure the paramedics get to the right spot?
• If a light can't be turned off ... 99% of the time it has to do with the keychain remote switch having been deprogrammed by the user holding the button down too long. A good reason to come to Mondays Seminar on how to fix your red light.
• Paramedics are not familiar with our communities numbering and street system. I've been thinking we could change that with a little effort at City Hall by giving our streets and courts different names.
• Should we have a group of volunteers that are so familiar with the red light that they can be called to take care of problems like this? How do we get these people?
  

Are the Picture Collages... How about the links?

ron thomas


You've seen the groupings of pictures showing up on the page now? Just look below. Do these add anything to your experience of reading this blog? Or not? After we add a new theme picture on top do you want to be able to comment on it? Do you think we should keep the same picture for a long time or change it out often or not have one at all?

Do you use the links on the left?

Veryyyy Interesting 

Remember Time....

from an email sent by Blaine Kalar (Kay-ler)...


I haven't thought about "fender skirts" in years. When I was a kid, I considered it such a funny term. Made me think of a car in a dress. Thinking about "fender skirts" started me thinking about other words that quietly disappear from our language with hardly a notice.

Like "curb feelers" and "steering knobs." Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally went that direction first. Any kids will probably have to find some elderly person over 50 to explain some of these terms to you.

Remember "Continental kits?" They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire covers that were supposed to make any car as cool as a Lincoln Continental.

When did we quit calling them "emergency brakes?" At some point "parking brake" became the proper term. But I miss the hint of drama that went with "emergency brake."

I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone who would call the accelerator the "foot feed."

Didn't you ever wait at the street for your daddy to come home, so you could ride the "running board" up to the house?

Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth but never anymore "store-bought." Of course, just about everything is store-bought these days. But once it was bragging material to have a store-bought dress or a store-bought bag of candy.

"Coast to coast" is a phrase that once held all sorts of excitement and now means almost nothing. Now we take the term "worldwide" for granted. This floors me.

On a smaller scale, "wall-to-wall" was once a magical term in our homes. In the '50s, everyone covered his or her hardwood floors with, wow, wall-to-wall carpeting! Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors. Go figure.

When's the last time you heard the quaint phrase "in a family way?" It's hard to imagine that the word "pregnant" was once considered a little too graphic, a little too clinical for use in polite company. So we had all that talk about stork visits and "being in a family way" or simply "expecting."

Apparently "brassiere" is a word no longer in usage. I said it the other day and my daughter cracked up. I guess it's just "bra" now. "Unmentionables" probably wouldn't be understood at all.

It's hard to recall that this word was once said in a whisper -"divorce." And no one is called a "divorcee" anymore. Certainly not a "gay divorcee."

Come to think of it, "confirmed bachelors" and "career girls" are long gone, too.

I always loved going to the "picture show," but I considered "movie" an affectation.

Most of these words go back to the '50s, but here's a pure-'60s word I came across the other day  "rat fink." Ooh, what a nasty put-down!

Here's a word I miss  "percolator." That was just a fun word to say. And what was it replaced with? "Coffeemaker." How dull. Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this.

I miss those made-up marketing words that were meant to sound so modern and now sound so retro. Words like "DynaFlow" and "ElectraLuxe." Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with "SpectraVision!"

Food for thought  Was there a telethon that wiped out lumbago? Nobody complains of that anymore. Maybe that's what castor oil cured, because I never hear mothers threatening their kids with castor oil anymore.

Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list. The one that grieves me most  "supper." Now everybody says "dinner." Save a great word. Invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.

Someone forwarded this to me, and I thought some of us of a "certain age" would remember most of these. Those of us that are not old enough just learned something.

A Catered Mother's Day Meal...

ron thomas

At the Social Club meeting a vote was taken to have a catered meal on Mother's Day. The way it will work is. .... There will be a $10 per person charge.


As it stands now the clubhouse can only have 80 people seated. That means there will only be 80 tickets sold to this event. Tickets must be bought before the event.
Also, if you cannot come to the clubhouse.. there will be provisions made for unlimited take out dinners and the price for ordered takeout dinners will be the same.. $10.00... Volunteers will deliver them.

The committee selling the tickets will be Jean Hart, Betty Hanus and Gloria Mazzeo.The cutoff date for ticket purchases will be April 30th in order that we get the money to the caterer on time


You may want to consider that the restaurants in town are likely to be crowded on Mother's Day. Also, the price for the meal is extremely reasonable.

Why a catered dinner? Well moms just deserve a day off from cooking don't you think?


The meal will be served on May 8th. 1:00pm social hour.... Dining at 2:00pm. This repast will be catered by our local 4 star restauranteur... Shirley's on de Bay.


The menu will be:

• Roast Beef

• Pork

• Chicken stuffed with shrimp

• Scalloped Potatoes

• Baked beans

• Salad and desserts

The Social Club has agreed to tip our servers so you won't have to have that expense... another money saving plus for you. So get your tickets or orders in now while there is still time to get a good seat.

EASTER BRUNCH POTLUCK

RON THOMAS

This Saturday at the clubhouse. Come at 11:00 am. Bring your favorite breakfast and lunch dishes to share.

Tickets will be on sale for the Mother's Day catered dinner by Shirley's on de Bay at $10 per person..

New Home on Evergreen gets a garage floor

ron thomas

Jim Jobb's home from Deer lane....

ron thomas


On the 19th we had some hefty winds 45 to 60 miles an hour according to Newport Airport weather. Looks to me like the siding on Jim's home wasn't phased in the least.

You might remember from the last article that Jim's is the first home in our community to have a plastic siding. It looks great and is guaranteed for the life of the home and never needs painting. Best of all it cost him only $7000 installed. Jim said it is guaranteed to stand up to 130mph winds.

Previous reasons sited for disapproval of this type of siding were that it could not withstand our winds. Looks good to us....

Hmmm... Four of us were having a conversation about computers.....

ron thomas

Last night at the impromptu birthday/Social Club party... four of us Dale Rice, Jim Rose, Wayne Hill and myself found ourselves staring at each other when the subject of computers came up.... There was a lot of experience there and we shared ideas about networking, Firefox, digital pictures and all sorts of stuff. One subject just rolled into another... From basic conditions to more complex things and the locations of places to buy stuff to bragging rights about how our computers were built. We talked of Wi-Fi and networking and where to find a cable.... I enjoyed it immensely.

So I'm thinking what we need is a computer club where we meet and talk computer... Help one another... not a class just an informal get together where we celebrate our interests in computing. Those that have Notebook computers could bring them and we could use them to illustrate what we are talking about. You could come with answers and with questions and we could work and play together for fun.

If it developed into something that gathers a following we could get high speed internet piped into the clubhouse and try new ideas out.


4 guys talking and having fun is one thing but a club well, I don't know. Anyone interested? I could set up a meeting... What do you think?

Social Club meeting gaveled to a close and then....

PIXS BY RON THOMAS


As Ben Davi gaveled the March Social Club meeting to a close... Wife Donna and daughter Lisa announced that it was Ben's 65th birthday today and that all present were invited to stay and celebrate his birthday with a spaghetti dinner and birthday cake. Many trays of cheese and Italian Salami were also served with dinner rolls and a fresh, crisp salad. Celebrants of who there was 37 left around 7:30 after dinner and wine and a lot of talk.

You never know what is going to happen at a Social Club meeting.

Left click on a picture to make it larger and then come back to this page with your browser's back arrow.

Jim Dodds building site for you...

Jim Dodds by email...



Jim has been building a website based on the comments from our readers over what they might like to see as a feature for our residents. Though he has not completed the site, it's under construction. The browser you use may affect what you see. For instance Jim says Firefox doesn't seem to understand what he has written in a few instances. At any rate a little kibitzing from our readers may help him with what you would like to see or what you saw that you really liked. Leave him a comment.

Here is a link to the new pages he is designing.....
New site

Charles Burke wants to share these photos with you...

You may want to make a comment to him about them..

Dungeness Crabs


Newport Docks 2004 Gray Whale

When you look at Milt's photo of Mt. St. Helens in the above picture...

ron thomas

Think of a couple of things...

• Now wouldn't that look like a flying saucer to some folks?
• Why don't we post an article after putting up a new theme picture so folks can talk about it in the comments?