[wardancer]

Originally Posted by OLChemist

I've gotten to be such a wimp. Just reading about those temperatures hurts. *Rose cringes and whines over thins morning's 24F start.*

Rose , I moved to Austin in 1982. My first year there we had snow and temps in the 20s ! Super cold for Austinites ! I was working in long sleeve flannel shirts and sometimes a jacket and the locals thought I was the toughest guy they ever saw ! LOL
11 years later I moved back to Kansas. The first winter back I nearly froze to death ! Could not put on enough layers ! LOL
Now I'm pretty acclimated again ! It was 21f this morning and we fed horses just in a regular coat , knowing it will warm up throughout the day. I have gear for colder , just didn't need it today. It took about an hour to get the pipe thawed out......wasn't terrible !

[ches]

15 F deg here. Cat is still in the utility room where it is warm.

[OLChemist]

Five days into Swift - the Mostly Unguided Tour, I'm finally starting to get *useful* things to work.

I threw the two year old Swift Apprentice e-book in the virtual trash. (I do miss the emotional release of being able to hear the thud as several pounds of paper meets the circular file.) The language had just changed too much since 2017. Half the tutorials wouldn't compile without a bunch of detective work to find out what has replaced a given function.

I bookmarked Swift.org, fired up StackOverflow and the Apple Developers Connection websites, and just started to convert one of my existing ObjC programs to Swift. I'm still real shaky with throws, do and catch, guard vs if, vs if let....

Translation: The light at the end of the tunnel is still a train, but it is moving slower, LOL.

[subeeds]

Originally Posted by wardancer

Around here nothing is less than 24" underground ! Several years ago it got cold enough that the water meter froze ! But that was sub zero for a week or so. Once in a while if it's super cold for several days , the pipe running to our bathroom will freeze. It's easy to thaw with just a cord and a lightbulb or a few minutes with a heat gun ! Takes more time to get to it thru the outside crawlspace hatch and get everything out than it did to actually thaw the pipes !
Everyone stay warm !

Some places around here, you would hit water at 24". LOL! When we know it's going to get that cold, we just let the bathroom sink faucet drip just enough to keep the water moving so the pipes won't freeze. Of course, hubby has to eave a note over the sink to remind me not to turn the faucet off.

We have had nothing but gray, dreary, rainy, windy cold days the last 5 days. Temp hasn't gotten much over 52, but the drizzly rain (or the downpours) are miserable. I hate having wind chill this early in the year. Doesn't bode well for the next few months.

[OLChemist]

Chuy, some cheese grits, please.

This has been a rough week. Sunday I was working in my studio, when I bent over to pick up a dropped piece of paper. I threw my back out. I missed two days of work and had to get folks to move my computer into the downstairs break room, since I couldn't climb the steps in our elevator-less building. I'm better but still messed up. I haven't screwed my back up this badly in 20+ years -- since my postdoc days.

I haven't even been able to get out to my studio. I'm even having to get my groceries delivered because I still can't walk far enough to get my shopping done. A friend from out of town just texted that she's going to gem show over in Dallas and wanted to meet up. I can't do it. Between paying more for my food and missing my friend, I'm sulking, LOL.

[ches]

So sorry. Hope you get better. Guess you have a doctorate in Chemistry. I majored in chemistry and biology. Took some pipe organ, psychology, ethics, logic to make it look a little more diverse.

[OLChemist]

Thanks.

Originally Posted by ches

Guess you have a doctorate in Chemistry.

P-chem (physical chemistry), actually. Were you pre-med as an undergrad? I have some vague recollection of that you had worked in a medical field....

P-chem for pre-meds (and some chemists) is like chemistry is for everyone else. Almost every time I'm introduced at a party as a chemist, the person I'm being introduced to cries out "I hated chemistry in high school!" Then they go find someone else to talk to.

A couple years ago, I had to have emergency hernia surgery. In the course of the exam in the ER, the surgeon asked if I was a "doctor doctor or a PhD doctor," since I had put Dr on the forms. I told him PhD in physical chemistry. Once they had me on the table in the OR, the surgeon turns and tells his assistant and the anesthesiologist I'm a physical chemist. As I'm going to sleep, the last thing I hear is the two of them chorusing, "I hated physical chemistry in college!"

[ches]

#1 I took physical chemistry as an elective. I really liked it. I think there was a lot of math in it, which was not my strong suit. Family Practice M. D. or, as I tell people, “I have my R.N.M.D. Degree, Red Neck Medical Doctor”. Got Major in biology and chemistry. Took pipe organ, ethics, and logic to look well rounded and not just all science. 41 years practice retired end of 2017.

[Broken Arrow]

Oh weh. I'll pray for you that your back will get ok again fast.

You are no longer a teen though you might think you are. Brains doesn't accept easily that the body isn't young any longer.

I 'll light some candles. There are other reason too, to do so.

[ches]

Good to see you, Broken Arrow

[ches]

Nihowehilepiwa yenole

Good to see you again in Shawnee

[OLChemist]

I did the well rounded thing too. A liberal arts school makes that unavoidable, LOL. Besides a healthy dose of western history, literature and philosophy I minored in studio art and took Koine (Biblical) Greek. (The Greek didn't take. All I remember is: Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος. )

Thanks, BA. I'm on the mend. But it is slow at this age. My back is now fine, but now my hips and legs are in rebellion, because I've been walking funny for a week. I have hope; the pain is moving closer to the ground. I'm hoping it will leak out my feet soon, LOL.

[ches]

Got a bad cold, and I think it is over with the girlfriend. Looks like next week Thursday, I would have 3 days without rain. I can grade the front yard and, then, call the yard treatment people. OL, do you know author, Paul I. wellman? Publisher, Indian Head Books?

[OLChemist]

I know of him and have run across his books, while plumbing the depths of various used book stores. But, I haven't read anything of his. To be honest, the fact that his novel Comancheros was the basis for one of the myriad of John Wayne westerns, that my non-Indian grandfather loved, isn't a recommendation. Staying at their house and having to play quietly on the living room floor, while Marion Robert Morrison shot down screaming "savages" on the TV isn't one of my fondest memories. I may not be being fair, but I view his work with a jaundiced eye.

Why? Is there a particular book you have in mind?

[ches]

“Western Indian Wars.”
Seems fairly pro native. Lots of lengthy footnotes. Somewhat distressing to read before bed. As is my habit, I read military history to get sleepy, and it does not bother me. I have been to Sand Creek and seen the monument there.

[Broken Arrow]

Originally Posted by OLChemist

But it is slow at this age. My back is now fine, but now my hips and legs are in rebellion, because I've been walking funny for a week. I have hope; the pain is moving closer to the ground. I'm hoping it will leak out my feet soon, LOL.

Yeah, I know very well.

You may have fun with that for a while. It can walk slowly from one point to another of the body. Ask you physotherapist.

[Broken Arrow]

Originally Posted by ches

“Western Indian Wars.”

May you have an author and ISBN number? google isn't really promising on finding a book with the title "western indian wars".

I am just reading Chancellorsville written by Sears.

[ches]

Originally Posted by Broken Arrow

May you have an author and ISBN number? google isn't really promising on finding a book with the title "western indian wars".

I am just reading Chancellorsville written by Sears.

Paul I. Wellman is the author

[ches]

Cheek’s trading Post (read gunshop) called me. Said my North American Arms Ranger 2 was in. Well, I drove 30 minutes over there out in the middle of nowhere the other side of Meador. Guess what? It was the original Ranger 1 model. The Ranger 2 has longer barrel of 2.5 inches and squared off “boot” grip. 22 magnum rimfire. Broken Arrow, it looks like a miniature Schofield break top revolver. Talk about nostslgia!!! They had a Mauser sporterized in there with plastic stock in 7x57.

[wardancer]

Originally Posted by ches

I have been to Sand Creek and seen the monument there.

My Great Grandfather Little Red Bird (Cheyenne) Lone Wolf (Kiowa name)Stacy Riggs (English name) survived that battle. Also the Wa****a River , The Dull Knife fight , and watched the Battle of the Little Big horn from the next hilltop !
Soul of the Red Man by Thomas Benton Williams copyright 1937


I want to wish everyone a great Thanksgiving ! It's always good to give thanks !