DEFENDER - CATFISH - KALI - HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS COOKIES - PASSIVE CELL PHONE SPEAKERS - 3D PRINTING - JIBBER JABBER

 

"George" is top shelf in my book. Belongs to a friend. Cannot take my eyes off this photo.

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Fresh catfish fried in bacon grease. Seasoned with homemade Cajun fixins. 

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Kali visits the Fox Hat Farm over Thanksgiving. Thanks "K". 

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It is the season in our kitchen. This is the second batch of homemade Christmas cookies this past week. The table has been cleared once already of my wife's homemade family cookies, shipped and delivered to Dallas. Wife's brothers and sisters appreciate the cookies that their mom and grandmother always made. 

I keep waiting for one or two of these to fall on the floor.

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PASSIVE CELL PHONE SPEAKERS

The Bambu Lab A1 Mini has been running for a few weeks know. Seven iterations in the photo above trying to improve my design. There are many ideas on the web and I have taken to a basic rectangular box.

I want quality sound and volume increase.

I want simplicity and a design that will fit and look good on a working desktop.

I want function in the form of setting in and removing a cell phone.

I want most all cell phones folks have (with cases) to fit. 

I want feedback from those with whom I share these first 3d prints to help me improve design and function through testing and everyday use.

I purchased the .stl file for the stand above about a month ago. It works so well that my wife has adopted it on her desk. Increases volume, small footprint, and she likes it. I have learned a lot watching her use this. Hands-free talking while working at the computer. She no longer has to hold on to the phone for conversation. 

Even though the one I have designed will now work for her, I doubt she will give this one up. She can also lay her phone in landscape position for charging. My design does not offer a charging option.

No matter how well my stand produces sound, if it is cumbersome to use, no one will use it. If it does not fit/look good on a desk top, and function easily on a desk top, no one will use it. 

A work in progress, but I am hopeful that folks who test for me find that my design works and adds to the use of their of their cell phones while talking and while listening to music. Time will tell. Bottom line, I am happy with this final design, function and build.

And, I am having so much fun with 3d printing, I am considering adding another 3d printer. The biggest boost may have come from my wife who suggested we change one of the small bedrooms to become a "man cave." Her words. It would help to have a bigger build plate for printing multiple copies at one time. A man cave has lots of potential.

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JIBBER JABBER 

East Texas weather has been mild comparatively speaking. Cold enough for us to bundle up and keep the fireplace lit. But not New England cold with snow and ice. 

Thanksgiving was just her, me and a large turkey. A few days of turkey, gravy and other leftovers worked well. We talk of not doing a big turkey anymore, but have landed on keeping with traditions as long as we can. We have heard too many stories of younger folk opting for less. Both my wife and I are hardened with hanging on to many of the old ways we have grown up with. Meals on wheels will arrive soon enough, but not this year. 

The Christmas spirit has wormed its way into our home now. It feels very good and we are thankful in the simplest of ways. 

Thanks for the visit this week.

 

CHOCOLATE PIE - HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT PROJECT - CATFISH(ING) - MOVING FROM THE BIG CITY

 FOR BREAKFAST

Not delicate or quality pie slicing techniques. Twisting turning motion from the pie tin to the plate. Slice delivered with a downward twist on the front. 

Not homemade. Store bought. Neighbors bought an extra while shopping down south. Wife said to. As for me, I will not buy one. Simple: I cannot quit eating once I start. It is painful to turn my back and try to find something to occupy my mind and time. Distractions! Will power is zero!

I imagine piemakers with extrusion guns full of chocolate pie filling and one with the same of whipped topping. A machine then finishes it off with chocolate sprinkles. Then boxing, storing and shipping. Eight bucks. I would pay $50 on the street corner. So best never to bring one home.. 

I forget about it soon enough. But not this past Easter Sunday. Set it in the fridge Saturday night and it sat there for 9 hours. Waiting. I refused to open the door and make eye contact. And I could not sneak a midnight taste as the queen bee would know in the morning.

In a world gone mad, we can still find a chocolate pie.

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  EAST TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR PROJECT COMPLETION

How did your junior year teenage daughters/sons do with their high school project this past school year? 

This 17 year-old east Texas high school young man did quite well don't ya think?

All built/welded from scratch!!

Schools open! Teachers teaching! Kids achieving! Kids learning! Who knew?

Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

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HOLDS 16,000 LBS. FIRMLY TO ANY CEMENT PAD

STAINLESS STEEL 1 GALLON MILK CONTAINER. CREAM RESTING ON TOP

   

A throw back to days of old. Many a weekend visiting my grandparents farm and helping haul large pales of milk from the barn to the cooling creek. Grandma sending me back down to the creek to skim a few pints of cream off the tops for her kitchen cooking.

EAST TEXAS CATFISH(ING) "Teach a man/woman to fish." It's true!

Easter weekend. Fishing, like hunting, for sustenance. 

Family freezers now full of fish fillets for a year. Neatly stored along with hunting seasons deer meat.

Look at the tip of the front fin of the cat fish and see the brighter solid bone from the inner fin towards the tip. That tip is a razor sharp needle and will easily draw blood if grabbing the fish incorrectly or, quite often, when the fish flip flops while trying to handle it. 

East Texas norm of frying cat fish is dragging the fillet through corn meal and then into the frying pan. Folks here love it. But the bride and I are used to a light batter on fish and prefer to use a tempura mix. We have been told that 7 UP mixed in self-rising flour works well too. 

Catfish are good eats!!

Scraps please!

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HOMEMADE ROLLS 

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PHOTO WORTHY

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Wrap up.

For the 5 years that I have been blogging, I have often run across comments and folks exploring ideas of leaving the big cities and finding an out of the way place where living and common sense prevail. Where an individual family can still become self-sufficient. Where an economy is working and employment available for anyone who wants to work. Like minded people. 

We, too, were looking (3 years) but more from a retirement point of view. Then C19. 

Timelines changed for many reasons.  The last year of blogging here covers all of this. 

I see the same concerns/discussions today. Folks looking to move. But how to? Can we? Where do we go? These question plus hundreds more come into play and each have to be addressed.

Bottom line. All parties have to make the commitment. All have to work all the changes and problems to over come. All parties need to be ready for a mix of failures and successes. Be able to leave things behind. People behind. Family behind.  All will be weighed against what the new future can hold, longterm. Anyone dragging their feet will all but foil the attempt at what the new future can hold. Know this to the "Nth" degree.

A very good friend of mine told me a story of starting this kind of serious conversation with his wife and she broke down in tears at the idea. That was good information. Best to find all of this out at the get go.  

You will have to accept the idea that life/living can get worst in the move. Life/living can get better in the move. BUT it probably should not be the same as what you are living now. 

Have the hardest of conversations. Lay the whole deck of cards out on the table. See where that leads. Do not rush into the move. If you can visit the places you are considering. Spend a day or two driving the area. Money and time well spent. Moving somewhere only to find out it was a major life mistake can best be solved by spending some time in that local. 

Grandpa Charles and Grandma Rose left Russia separately with nothing but a small bag and the clothes on their backs. They were healthy, had excellent hard work skill sets and left everything behind for the coming to America. Everything they knew and loved in Russia was given up for the prospects of a new life.  They met each other in Chicago, she as a mail-order bride working off the indebtedness rather than marry the man who bought her, he to escape the life under the Czar

 

We can all achieve anything we think we are big enough to do.

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Situational Awareness: A good read and re-visit of keeping our heads up.

Thanks for the visit this week. I appreciate. Have a blessed week.