d_thomas02 Member

So the agonizing saga of my Fitbit Charge 3 continues. Here's the recap... OK, here is the interesting part. While I'm waiting for my second warranty replacement Charge 3 to arrive I see my wife isn't wearing her Charge 2 anymore now that her heart issue has been resolved, so I think 'Why not wear both Charge 2s for…

Quick update on the treadle hammer. Picked up heavy steel in KC, not quite what I was wanting but I'll make it work. Almost have all the other steel gathered. Biggest piece left to acquire is the base plate. 1/2" x 16" x 32". 3/8" plate would work too. Thought I had it yesterday in the form of an old bank vault door. 6 ft…

I've had a Fitbit Charge HR since the model line came out. When the original died I got a Charge 2, and the only thing it lacked was swim-proof. When the Charge 3 came out and was swim-proof, I bought it. Took it diving in Cozumel with no problems. But after a couple of months I noticed the steps were way off. Since my…

Final draft on my modeling of Clay Spencer's in-line treadle hammer in Autodesk's Fusion 360. Heading to KC on Friday to pick up the heavy steel. Probably be welding on Saturday. https://youtu.be/53ci9nOaZDw

https://youtu.be/qhiebks7RBA

Roads have been covered with frozen rain the last two days and I have absolutely no reason to get out in that. So stayed in the house and have been working on the planing stages of a little long term project with my adult son. A little something for the smithy. A home built Clay Spencer Treadle Hammer. (Like the old style…

After putting it down yesterday. 90 minutes of fiddling later. That'll do.

So-so day in the smithy yesterday. Was working on a commission and it was coming along nicely. And then... I don't know. Maybe I overworked it. Anyway, I finally stopped mangling the poor thing and put it down. Going to look at it with fresh eyes this morning. Thinking I'll need to light the oxy-propane torch and start…

Had plans to get out to the smithy yesterday and light my forge... but it isn't often that I get the chance to just laze around watching movies with the family all day. I'll light that forge today for sure.

Black Friday! Whoo-hoo!! No I'm not going shopping. I'm going to light my forge and spend the day in the smithy!!

True enough, but sweating is not considered part of your normal kidney output. From a kidney stone prevention point of view, one must maintain a high level of kidney output despite any fluid losses from sweating. i.e. one must drink even more when one is sweating. This is the key deference between the "should consume 11.5…

I've heard different things about counting coffee and tea as liquid intake due to the diuretic nature of these beverages. Also sodas, not the healthiest choice for a variety of reasons. Juice can have a really high calorie load to account for, and milk is not an option for those of us with lactose intolerance (there are…

Had a weedy back lot once. Really ugly. And then one frosty morning woke up to a field of frost flowers. Neat. Thanks for bring that memory back.

Still high summer here in southwest Missouri, USA. Heat isn't abnormal, upper 80s to mid 90s F (30 to 35 C), but the humidity has been killer. Very unusual for the mid-west. Dew points above 70 F (21 C), very muggy, pushing the Heat Index over 100 F (38 C) nearly every day since mid June. Makes me think we've moved down…

Yup. She snuck in while I was playing.

Made it back into the smithy Saturday, if only for a couple of hours. https://youtu.be/-Kq_hwmoo0Y Woefully out of practice.

Followup EKG traced a normal sinus rhythm. Doc said once these thing are kicked they stay kicked and he released her from the clinic. No additional followups. B)

She doesn't dive. But she is interested in getting certified sometime in the unspecified future, after the kids have left the nest. Her follow up is in four weeks, but I don't think she'd have any restrictions on diving as long as she remains in a normal sinus rhythm.

7:28 am - Through admissions and already in the second pre-op waiting room. Waiting on her blood samples to process before they move her into the OR. 7:55 am - Just took her into the OR. I'll get updates every couple of hours. 10:02 am - First update. The doc has finished mapping and ready to insert the catheter. Things…

Thank you all.

My wife went for her post heart procedure checkup. News was not as good as we had hoped. Here is a snippet from her text to me. --- So not the greatest news. Something is still causing some weirdness (negative p waves which is not good) and he thinks it is because they couldn't trigger it because I was too far under…

Thought I'd get some time in the smithy today but then my wife decided to stay home all day and take it easy as the doc ordered. I decided to do the same. So we made a big batch of air popped popcorn and binge-watched some movies on Netflix... all day. I'll try to get in the smithy again next weekend.

Sorry for the late update. Doc saw her just before 8 AM yesterday. No issues at all overnight, just a normal sinus rhythm with no extra beats at all. He's signed the release papers and she'll have a follow up in 2 weeks. We were released just before noon. She had to stop at Schlotsky's for an original sandwich on the way…

I'm sure that was an oversimplification for my laymen ears. He could have been referring to the atrioventricular node.

Six hours in the pre-op waiting room, four hour in surgery (75 - 90% chance of successful outcome), two hours in recovery at this time (four more flat on her back before she can move around freely), she is currently in a normal heart rhythm, Doc is holding her overnight on monitors, but he is cautiously optimistic that her…

The moves and flexibility will get easier... But... At 59, I've found you can be inactive and have aches and pains or you can be very active and still have aches and pains. I prefer to be active with aches and pains.

I drink a 1 liter Gatorade during the mornings then switch to water the rest of the day. During the heat of the summer, I drink 4 to 6 liters daily (plus whatever I drink at meals).

FINALLY... managed to get into the smithy today. Second session this year. Had a dozen or so split cross blanks from the first session, so wanted to finish them. Before: (10 on the anvil and, didn't realize it when I took the photo, two more still in the bucket I had thrown them in.) During: (Photo didn't come out as clear…

Had plans to get into the smithy again Sunday, but the son's truck started dragging a rear brake (turned out to be a sticking parking brake cable, still waiting for replacement parts but truck is rolling again) and then had forgotten about delivering a sq.yd. of mulch to a neighbor during my bout with walking pneumonia so…

Yeah, guys come and guys go. While I'm fairly quiet in person, I tend to ramble on in posts. I've spliced together a couple of posts I've made to other groups explaining my process. Apologies in advance for a long rambling post. --- I like the Monthly updates and still do them on other groups. I'm kind of a numbers geek…