GOT S8 EP2 "THE THINGS I DO FOR LOVE" - - RIBS - - BIG TURKEYS

If you are not a GOT fan and or been with the series from the beginning, the start of this post will be of no never mind. 

"The Things I Do For Love" titles the latest episode of Game of Thrones. The wife and I came to the series late over a couple years ago. We started from the beginning, caught up and have been invested in the story and characters ever since. There is not a lot of good entertainment "out there" these years; however, GOT is getting it right and setting a high bar. 

This most recent episode well writes and plays out families and individuals all coming together after 8 seasons and these final moments before a long dreaded battle. And as this past week has worn on, spoilers and opinions abound.  

Jenny of Oldstones Full screen and sound up. If you recognize each clip shown here, you are a fan's fan and you will enjoy this very much.

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 RIBS AND PORK CHOPS

Mid-week pork rib smoker test. Marinated over night, smoked nearly 3 hours in the photo above and then individually wrapped in foil and back in the smoker for 3-4 more hours. Diet now does not afford my option of smothering these in BBQ sauce. Need to learn to make very low carb sauce.  

Best pork chops ever now made in the air fryer at least once a week. I find on sale when possible, two center cut chops for little money. We have them for breakfast or lunch or dinner. Salt and pepper only and about 11 minutes give or take depending on the thickness. I always pass a paring knife between the meat and bone in several places too. Helps in the full cooking. Quick, easy peasy and clean up the same.

I have shared here many cooking ideas as seasons change. It is time for the smoker and grill getting in our meal loops. Now instead of all those carbed up foods, ohhhhhhhhhhhhh I miss em, I will be sharing low carbs. 

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NEIGHBOR'S YARD WITH HUNTING SEASON NEXT WEEK. 

Apparently there is a very close by hunting trail and it could be fresh turkey breast on the table and in the freezer for him soon. No feed, they just come in and peck away in old gardens and surrounding fields. Big birds!

Check off another box for country living.

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ROBOT DOGS PULL TRUCK

A new sound and something I have never witnessed.  

I still want one.

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Mid week I awoke to early morning light, birds chirping and chirping, a slight left over rain mist, low celings on surrounding hill tops and that special fresh air that has been washed clean from over night rain. The yellow dasies on the girls final resting site is again bringing long needed color. A smile if you will. 

The driveway, having been recently swept free of sand and the yards beckon to be addressed. 

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Not sure why I have had some difficulty this past week figuring out which day it is. Quite a few times I thought the day up coming was Saturday. Or Friday. This morning I am thinking it is Saturday and my wife convinces me it is Sunday. It is and my day to post. Thought I had one more day. 

But I can still find my way home when out and about and when that goes, there will be trouble in River City. But not today. Sunday? Right!!

I appreciate the visit. 

STEM CELL INJECTION; LEFT SHOULDER - BEAR VISITS

Left shoulder, Monday last. 

Shoulders have been deteriorating due to old age and arthritis for the past  years. A little at a time. Scheduled shoulder replacement surgery twice and have canceled twice. The doctor described the procedure - likening that to a chicken wing tear down - forever set that procedure in the WTF bin. For me!

Years ago, one of our doctors told us that stem cell therapy would replace most all joint replacements with in the next 20 years. I doubted I would live long enough back then. But one thing for sure, a replaced shoulder could never benefit from that therapy.

I have learned to live with discomfort, reduction in range of motion and zero strength at arms length. A little Ibuprofen here and more Ibuprofen there and I managed. An outdoors busy day activity ahead of me was started with a dose of three Ibuprofen. I did ok.

But time had come and after asking a lot of folks and doing more and more research, I found a stem cell therapy clinic in Portsmouth, NH. I have my PA-C, family health care provider, to thank for the research help. 

I find it interesting that many healthcare folk and physical therapists are not up to speed on this procedure or close by regenerative medicine facilities . Maybe because it is out of pocket for the patient, does not bring in patients to them and or the procedure may simply be overlooked. I think this is changing fast. I think now that the interest is there in some of these health care providers. 

The injection into the shoulder joint did not hurt. A single shot of stem cells mixed with some of my enriched blood (3cc or so total) was injected into the joint. Procedure lasted 20 seconds. My son, who stood behind me and watched the procedure, said he could see the fluid go into my shoulder joint as viewed on the screen monitor. The doctor who did this procedure, along with office staff, have skill sets that are appreciated beyond words. 

A million stem cells were injected. They double every 28 hours or so for the next six months. 1 M -2 M- 4 M- 8 M and so forth. As they do, they set to repairing and replacing cartilage in the joint. Generally speaking, stem cell therapy has a 55% to 85% success rate.

It will be a few months before I can speak to exact improvements or not. I have do's and don't over the next several months on activity and a major change in diet. Sugar is the enemy of stem cell therapy. My diet  and eating habits have to be permanent for my remaining years. I will lose weight and and that in of itself will be of great value. 

That small bag of Cheetos that use to pop up two weeks into a diet, is but a memory; a wonderful memory.

My father had a heart attack when he was around my age. The doctor told him to quit smoking or die. Dad quit smoking that day. After that he often said he would give a thousand dollars for a cigarette, but would not smoke it for a million. Perspective huh?

For me it is the similar. Either change and work improving my old age health or not.

SO, I have lived long enough to have this treatment option available to  me and associated therapies. Stem cell injection therapies are improving rapidly.

If you find that think you may be a candidate, research a top clinic in your state or nearby state. Visit the office and see for yourself if they are a fly by night facility or seriously invested in the technology and procedures. Do your home work, ask a lot of questions. They should have an already proven track record, too. 

I will know more as weeks wear on. At the end of the 6th day now; are there noticeable improvements? I think so, but these minor and simple arm movements/motions need to be repeated daily to see if, indeed, they are improved. More next post. 

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THE BEAR HAS RETURNED

I am surprised that this little bird feeder fared as well as it did.

This one has been knocked down so many times over the past years that I think it has adapted to the bears visits.

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FOUND ON ACE OF SPADES

Girl and howling wolfs.

I share this for absolutely no reason other than it puts a smile on my face.

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EASTER MORNING....

...here and a blog posted on time.  A chunklet of lamb awaits my wife's touch along with the recipe she knows. Her explanation. A string bean dish of some sort will accompany. 

Just her and me, a "Happy Easter" to each other, to friends, family and to you too.

I appreciate the visit. 

HUNTING THE SABER TOOTH CHUCK AND PRAIRIE DOG @ 50 YARDS

Winter weather has kept me from the range for months now. Saturday last was an official first outing for plinking and final zeroing in the .22 rifle. The warm sunny day was an anomaly and I was out to take advantage of that too.

After a little time on a first target for centering and a one click adjustment for windage and elevation, I decided I was ready for one-shot tests on critters at 50 yards.

As good as the rifle finally zeroed in and as good of glass as I have mounted to the rifle, I cannot hold a perfect stillness on any center shot. Close, but the rifle will do perfectly. On a bi-pod, good breathing, good trigger squeeze, good on center cross hairs, the slightest of movements I could not control, still resulted in some good shots. My goal of every-round-a-dependable-center-shot waits for another day. 

I will repeat this round of practice soon, but this time, at 100 yards. 

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TEACHING NEW SHOOTERS

I was also able to join in helping and doing a little teaching with a young group class of two dozen (20 somethings) later that day. They had requested a class from The Women's Defense League of New Hampshire. The gals teaching monthly gun classes are all NRA certified and on top of the training curve.  Fun folks to be around.

The young college students took to the instruction like ducks to water. Many had never shot a pistol before, a few others had some experience. One young gal I visited with said she had never shot before, but that her grandfather and father had rifles and were hunters. She explained that she wanted to learn safety of guns and gun use. She was also ready for the experience. Simply put, "I want to learn how to shoot a gun."

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BALLISTIC PENETRATION TEST VIDEO.   

Impressive .22lr, .22wmr and 9mm hollow point.

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FROM THE BURNING PLATFORM. A good read

“If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Peace, Montag. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information. Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they’ll be happy, because facts of that sort don’t change.” ― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

This book was published in 1953

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Thanks for the visit

FIRST WEEK OF APRIL - - OUR FINAL INVENTION (thoughts)

Day after day now more and more snow sinks into the water table or runs off in small streams. We will start the warming seasons with water tables topped off, wells full of precious fresh, drinkable water naturally filtered through layers of sand, soil and rock. 

Spring clean-up started and even though I notice a little bit picked up, swept up and less clutter in a few areas in the garage, there is along way to go. But it has started and each day is a little more motivating from the work done the day before. 

Our little birds are back picking up where they left off. Hit and fly, hit and fly from the feeder. Quail are back scouring new uncovered ground. There is order in the world. Bears waking up according to the news reports, they are thin and hungry. 

Mid-week I would have enjoyed my first sitting in the warm sun outside. But there was just enough breeze to kill that first perfect moment. Soon!

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PAY BY WRIST WATCH

I witnessed new technology at work this past week. The gentlemen ahead of me at the store today paid his $90 grocery bill by holding his watch over the credit card gizmo. The first time he tried it did not work. The check out gal re-set something and the second time holding his wrist upside down with watch face over the credit card gizmo, it "binged" his payment. 

I am dating myself here. I bet it is obvious to most. But to me it is Dick Tracy come true. I outwardly admitted that the technology is cool. I do think that. But I cannot wrap my mind around all of it and fear that this new technology is something I could screw up a hundred fold. 

Getting my chipped debit card into the gizmo slot and having it work is achievement for me. Remembering my pin, too. I know better to never say never, but in this case I doubt seriously I will ever be using this method of making payments. 

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PANSIES are on display and ready for sale. I could not pass up this simple photo going into WallyWorld earlier this week. Another sign that winter left overs are about gone.

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POISON IVY

The urge to get into the yard and surrounding gardens comes with these first dry warm days. And the urge to plant something has to be ignored as cold, rain and frost still have to work their way out in favor of warmer consistent weather. 

A close neighbor friend was doing just that, some yard spring clean-up and, by accident, was hit above his eyes by a bending sticker bush near poison ivy. With in a few minutes his face and eyes started to swell. An immediate helping of Benedryl, but the picture he sent me of half his face swollen with one eye completely shut was proof enough for me to reinforce having Benedryl close at hand in home/car first aid kits and in bug-out bags. These kinds of encounters can happen quickly and when we least expect it. 

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ICE OUT usually happens mid to late April. Once passage between major ports on larger lakes of water can be traveled to and from, without encountered ice, "ice out" is called. Another official box checked off of winter past.

The photo above is from one our local smaller lakes (ponds) taken last week. Late night rain storm had passed and skies clearing mid morning. A few back to back warm days and this lake will be ice free.

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TREES BUDDING 

Fuzz that protects new growth did not happen last spring. We look every season at our trees and plants that winter over. Last year, our trees did not bud like they are this early spring. Last year was also a year of little to no acorns. Makes sense.

But as temperatures played over sixty degrees this past mid-week, I could not help to notice that  trees closest to the driveway are filled to the brim with fuzzy buds. If I am reading this correctly, there should be an abundance of acorns for forest critters this year.  Cycles of life.

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OUR FINAL INVENTION Artificial intelligence and the end of the human era.

A book written by James Barrat. Published February 2015.

I started reading this book awhile back and just finished. 

"..What then is the Singularity? It is a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life will be irreversibly transformed....."  "Computing speeds double every two years...Two years after Artificial Intelligence  reaches human equivalence, their speed doubles....One year later their speed doubles again....six months....three months....1.5 months....Singularity."

Although this book is about 5 years old, I noticed skimming through his research data that discussions and predictions in this book were based 5 year old (or more) data . Generally speaking, today, much of the material covered in his book, is already a decade old. I am sure some of what is talked about in this book is very close to reality, and sooner rather than later. 

There are astounding advancements in the news weekly now from AI, Robotics and how close we are to welcoming these advanced machines into our homes, into our lives. 

(MARCH 28, 2019  2:30pm       1 Billion times 1 Billion calculations per second. Coming in 2021.  A ten second read but this is worth knowing current advancements in computer power.)

If you read daily blogs and news stories, you will continually run across headlines on current advancements in computing, robotics and having digital assistants,  Siri, Alexa or Hey Google at your voice command. They are all vying for you to invite them in. They will continue to increase their powers to answer questions and offer solutions to everyday living. 

Our Final Invention, is worth the time to read and learn. 

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Thanks for the visit this week.