Young Guys NEED To Know: If It Has Tits Or Tires, It's Gonna Give You Trouble.

Sorry, that's just how life is. Get used to it.

Another week of SSDD except it did, finally, stop raining for a couple of days. Actually nice outside. Never thought I'd think that sunny and 57 degrees was 'nice," but here we are.

Was going to take SWMBO to the All-you-can-eat Chinese place for Date Day but wound up not that hungry so we did Burger King instead. $23 for the two of us. At Burger King. Luckily she's worth it.

Last thursday it was so nice I got out on the tractor and land-planed all the driveways and even the part of the access road to the crappy neighbors. Just happy to be out and about instead of stuck in the house.

Today started working on turning the garage into a wood shop. The 'started' part was picking up all the stuff I've just thrown in there to get it out of the way until I felt it was time to take care of it. Broke down all the Amazon boxes. Put tools away. Stacked the new solar panels neatly against the wall instead of against the table saw. Started up the walk-behind weed whacker.

In other words: Cleaning Up My Mess.

We have about 15 gallons of the paint the previous owner used on the house, that we will never use since SWMBO wants different colors, that are still 'wet.' Wondering if the Habitat folks would want it? It's only been sitting in the garage 15 years...

Discovered and been on 'X' (Twitter). I could get in a lot of trouble if I let myself.

Have finished all but one 'exercise?' in Gun Club VR on the Quest 3. SWAT DLC Survive 18 is kicking my butt! Also done everything one can do in the War In the Pacific: WWI campaigns. Maxed out my squadron(s) and equipment and crew training. Now its pretty much multiplayer to fly/fight with/against others in 'real time.' Quite fun actually.

I'm going to bed.

--   Stan - Spams, Scams & Phishes Referred to Washington State Attorney

I Sure Could Use An "Infinitely Indexed Memory Bank" Sometimes.

Cause, sometimes, this getting OLD and "Senior Moments" just plain sucks. Getting tired of knowing what I want to say but drawing a blank. Not all the time, for sure, but often enough to notice.

Ah well.

Haven't really been outside in a week. Just tired of the snow covered ground and cold temps. I Hate Winter! Finally starting to warm up enough to melt what's left; but it's started raining again. And, since I hate the rain more than I hate snow ...

SWMBO took me to "Olive Garden" in Silverdale for date day. I hadn't been to Olive Garden in over 20 years. Last time I went we couldn't find anything on the menu that was particularly interesting, or tasty sounding (to me the not a pasta person) so we just quit going. But, her brother and son took her to Olive Garden last week and she (a real pasta person) liked it so she decided to drag me along for another try.

I wasn't impressed. Oh, the 'Pasta e Fagioli' (weak almost chili soup) was good. And the bowl of Spaghetti & (solid!) Meat Balls was tasty (too much to eat after the soup and (so-so) bread sticks), but that was really the only thing on the menu that sounded good to me.

I won't be going back unless SWMBO insists. Being with her, wherever, is the reason for Date Day after all...

Yeah, I know. Sounds all hunky dory. I think we're lucky (after a lot of hard work) but, occasionally, the ol' "I married her hoping she wouldn't change and she married me hoping she could change me" kicks us both in the face. Not often, thankfully. Been 40 years together now.

Anyway, not much going on. We've decided to watch the "Arrowverse" for our evening television; which means ordering a couple of complete series and getting those on the NAS. LOTS of cross-over episodes; which is why we decided to watch the 'Arrowverse' instead of just one series. Should be interesting but tv for the next year is pretty much per-ordained now. Luckily the "How to watch the Arrowverse" guide is pretty extensive and the Emby Server lets me set up playlists so I don't have to remember the order.

We don't get out much.

Oh, our Ham Club meeting was supposed to be last Thursday evening, but, it started to snow and there was a lot of chatter on the repeater about how much it was snowing so 'everyone' decided to  cancel the meeting because they didn't want to get out on the roads in the snow and, wouldn't you know it, 10 minutes later it stopped snowing completely. Figures. Very light dusting was all we got here.

I have a 4-wheel drive truck. I could have made it.

Been Snowing All Week & We Still Have Only 4"-5" In The Back Yard

Snows a lot. Melts a lot. Snows a lot. Melts a lot. But it ain't rain!

Just not enough worth writing about has been going on around here. Being stuck inside for the Winter means it's so very boring most of the time.

SWMBO and I did drive an hour to over by Shelton to try a new restaurant last date day. Their web menu listed London Broil, which SWMBO loves, but the waiter said "We don't have no London Broil but we do got steak." So She had a steak. I had the taco salad and if it hadn't been for the foo-foo lettuce (non-iceberg) it would have been almost perfect. Even the salsa had a bite without burning my face off.

We decided to get out of the house today and get some shopping done that we forgot to do last Friday. Came the back way, as usual, but it started to snow really hard so I had to drop speed to about half speed limit for the next 20 miles or so. Got covered in the stuff when I checked the mailbox on the way in.

My life is so hard.

Still under a Weather Advisory until 1000 tomorrow. Looks like sunny and 36 degrees for Friday.

Been spending WAY too much time on the Oculus. Love shooting down those WWI planes! And shooting Zombies in Gun Club VR. Those are the main two things I do a lot of. And 'Fly' of course. Spent a couple of hours just wandering through the mountains way down in southern South America. Love dropping in on those random small villages one can find in those isolated valleys. Surprised that Google Earth has panorama's for those way back country dirt roads most of the time. Fun! So one house along the southern western coast that had a 50 mile driveway leading to it. Man, that's the boonies!

Honestly, our lives are so much SSDD that there is just not a lot to muse on. Except for Politics SWMBO and I are getting along fabulously for being stuck indoors most of the time. We lead boring lives.

OMG! I'm A Quest 3 Red Matter 2 Video Gaming Nerd!

And I didn't even know it. Bought Red Matter 2 because I liked the graphics (it dropped to almost half price), and got hooked on the game. I have surprised myself multiple times by being able to figure out what to do; if not the reason for doing it at that time. And the graphics are cool!

I also spend a lot of time in the Slot Car & Plastic Army Men programs. And shooting down planes in the WWI game. And the Target Practice program. Killing Zombies in Gun Club VR. Some Table Tennis and Bowling (but not at the same time). VR tours on YoutubeVR. Those are fun.

And "FLY." Fly uses Google Earth graphics but allows you to 'fly' anywhere. Left control stick is movement. Right control stick is elevation and turning. I spent over an hour today checking out all the canyons around Moab, Utah. A lot of that time was spent looking at the panorama's Google has of just about every foot of public roads. It was a totally enjoyable hour spent 'sitting on my ass.'

Doctor's appointment this afternoon. He says I'm doing great physically. BP *seems* under control (128/70 for him) and I haven't had any aFib or other serious problems in awhile. So, here's hoping I stick around another 20-30 years. He ordered a blood test to check my potassium and a MRI to check for cancer. Standard test after quitting smoking for about 15 years. It's been 13 (or so) for me.

Took SWMBO along and then out to the All-You-Can-Eat Chinese place in Port Orchard so I wouldn't have to rush home and cook. Ain't no rushing around here during Rush Hour. Just ain't happening.

Oh, we didn't do anything special for Christmas since it was just the two of us and we got her present a few weeks ago. We have a 'double date' with one of her friends and her husband tomorrow evening (they really want me and her husband to be friends; but not too close friends if you know what I mean). Then we've planned to do absolutely nothing for New Years Eve but cower in the basement and hope no bullets fired into the night sky comes crashing through. And they's a LOT of bullets fired into the night sky around here.

Hope All Y'all have a Happy New Year and a great 2025!

It's A Sad Sad Day When You;re Pretty Sure You Don't Have Anything Being Delivered By Amazon.

Which I'm not sure is a comment on our Society or my life. Y'all choose.

Well, I spent the last month slowly going into the most depressive episode I've had a LONG time and I don't know why. Why I started it in the first place, that is. Damned Depression will sneak up on your ass, even while you're looking, and just bitch slap you to the stone age if possible.

SWMBO made an off-hand remark about something going on between us that, once the Depression took hold, had me delusional to the point of getting ready to move out. Ran the gambit of just being pissed/depressed to being pissed/depressed enough to leave. Not sleeping. Eating too much junk food. Just hating my life.

Self talk just wasn't working. Pretty much nothing was working.

But, finally, last night (on date day of all things) I finally realized that I wasn't being rational. Not a bit. Some of the things I was thinking just couldn't be.

So I told SWMBO what was going on with me. She took it well. Said she'd noticed that I was being weird.

And we worked it out. I feel pretty good today; but I got over 2 hours in a row sleep and fell asleep wrapped in her arms.

Very little is better than that to/for me.

But I am upset that all the 'tools' I've learned to use for my Depression didn't really work and it took me so long to recognize what was happening. It really came on slow this time. I recognize the instant mood changes but not this.

I feel sorry for SWMBO. We're at 38 years in 6 days with who knows how many more staring her in the face. Poor girl.

Anywho: Been simmering a pot of chili for 3 days now. It tastes great! Will make some cornbread and we'll be having the chili with it for dinner.

Trying some new bean recipes prepping them for freeze drying. Want to have "instant' beans in the pantry/food storage. So I'm soaking pinto, lima, navy, and small red beans (in separate jars) and will pressure pot them tomorrow and give them a try. And the winner is:

Rain & Wind today. Rained so hard my security cam picked it up. Dog still wants to go for a walk. Bye, Dog.

Anyway, just checking in. It's winter time (part of the problem) so just not much going on.