2024 Quick Daily Posts

[richardandtracy]

Over lunch I was curious to see why the PC's CPU i5-12th generation and i5-14th generation CPU's were available but not the i5-13th generation I have. It turns out that the 13th generation CPU has a serious instability issue caused by over-voltage and corrosion. Some of the effects are similar to the ones I have had.

Oh Bother & Blow. Now with 3 possible causes (Motherboard dead, Disk drives dead or CPU dead) I suspect this is going to be a spendy project to fix. They would, naturally, be the most expensive components in the PC - barring only the graphics card.

Regards,

Richard

[Serinde]

Suspect you are correct. Mr S (a computer person, retired) agrees. Oh, dear! But something nice for you behind the bar at the S & G.

[Serinde]

Just checking that there really haven’t been any new posts for 3 days!

[Mabel Figworthy]

There were some on Wednesday, that's only two days ago!

[richardandtracy]

Having so much fun in the lead up to my Dad's funeral. Naturally taking 4 days out from work comes when we're VERY busy and can't afford to have anyone out at all without a cascade effect through jobs...

I have a fair idea what my weekend's going to involve, and while I could work 24hrs a day & still be behind, I'm going to limit to 4 or 5 hours over the weekend.

Regards,

Richard

[Serinde]

@ Mabel: never said I could count!

@ Richard: Naturally, the timing can always be better, but that’s not in anyone’s gift. Limiting your work over the weekend is a good idea. I’m thinking of you all.

[Roland]

Richard, I may have missed post about your dad. I’m so sorry.


I went yesterday for a tooth extraction. The tooth came out in pieces, so it was a slow process. The freezing made it a painless process, but not so painless today. I have prescription pain meds, and antibiotic.

Skye hasn’t left my side since I got home.

[richardandtracy]

I'm back from scattering my dad's ashes.

Feel somewhat battered, I must admit. My brother, his fiancée & best friend came over from Spain on Tuesday. As my brother's foot is still injured from falling through the balcony in September, his best friend drove down from Heathrow. It seems obligatory to speak Spanish at 2x or 3x the speed of English, and it's exhausting to be in the same room. My brother and fiancée are bilingual, but prefer Spanish, and brother's Spanish best friend speaks limited English.
Tracy stayed at home looking after our cats, as our eldest (Squeaky) is now 19, and not in the best of health. We're concerned he'll not cope with a cattery.
Took my girls down with me, arriving after picking up food for the wake from South Molton on the way. Total elapsed time, 7hrs 30mins. Got to my dad's house before my brother.

On the day of the scattering, drove back to South Molton, and then took progressively narrower lanes until the hedges brushed both sides of my van at the same time, with grass brushing the underside in the middle of the lane. Then, in through a field gate, down a private track through several fields, and we arrived at the green burial site. Only natural materials allowed... The site is at the top of a field, fenced off from the cattle by a single strand electric fence. There are arrays of small trees and a few wooden stakes, nothing like a traditional cemetery, and not one headstone. Lovely view across a valley, with grassy fields surrounded by hedges all the way to the horizon. And a perfect view of the rainclouds as they swept in. It stayed dry for the scattering, and rained 5 minutes later.
Seven members of my step mother's family came to the scattering, and all got to my dad's house for the wake before my brother or I. The amount of food I had bought looked stupendous, but it almost all went between the 13 of us. The volume, at times, was overwhelming and my youngest needed to retreat, not feeling great with so many strangers around.

Thursday saw my brother head back to Spain. He left at 10am, didn't get to their place in Madrid until 10pm UK time. That day, I had valuers and house clearance people in. Pfft. Beautiful weather, no cloud to be seen at all in the morning. In the afternoon we enjoyed Combe Martin beach in a rare beautiful Devon day.

We came back to Kent on Friday before closure of the M25 for bridge works. The journey, a mere 8 hours 20 minutes for 250 miles. At the end of it my right leg was agonizing, and the knee quite swollen. Long drives, even in comfortable vehicles, really don't suit me. It's much better at nearly full throttle, where I'm not trying to keep my foot off the floor - it was all the roadworks that caused the pain where the speed limit was between 30 and 50mph for at least 100 miles of the 250 mile journey. Went to bed after a mug of tea and slept through from 6:30pm Friday to 7am Saturday.

MIL needed more food on Saturday, so Tracy and I did our duty. Pretty sure MIL has had a series of mini strokes in the last week. It's all in keeping with Vascular Dementia, and the left side of her upper lip is a bit droopy, with her left hand marginally less strong than it was. She's also had a number of hallucinations, all of which are impossible, but very real to her. Exactly the same symptoms as FIL displayed 4 years ago, and are depressingly familiar. She seems to be following the same path, possibly slightly more slowly, that FIL did, and that led to the death of the person before the body. Really don't want to go there again, it's absolutely awful.

Finally on to today, and have just enough oomph to talk about it. You know what they say, 'A problem shared is a problem doubled.'.

Regards,

Richard.

[Roland]

Richard {{{{hugs}}}}

That is so much to deal with. Sorry to hear MIL is now following too.

[Serinde]

I'm not surprised you feel battered -- you've been through the proverbial wars. You have done everything anyone could expect under circumstances that would try the patience of a saint, all the while looking after your own family. I suppose now it's all down to dealing with paperwork and bureaucracy, which (naturally) has it's own hurtles to jump, but it's all paper and not directly people, so might be a bit more straightforward? My heart goes out to you all, especially with the news of your MIL's increasing frailty. I hope that as time goes on, we forumers can help take the weight of a little corner of the problem by way of helping. {big hugs} and muffins (food helps in these circumstances, it's a known fact)

[Mabel Figworthy]

Just reading about all the things that are assaulting you at the moment is difficuly, let alone going through them as you are. Very glad that you can come and let off a bit of steam here - any time, as there is always likely to be someone here for you!

[Serinde]

Speaking of battered, please can all of our members in Florida take the advice of state and federal agencies and look after yourselves? You are all in my thoughts.

[richardandtracy]

Absolutely.
First Helene and then Milton. Awful.

By the look of it the only buildings strong enough to withstand it are steel reinforced concrete, and then the foundations seem at risk because of the type of ground in a lot of Florida. It must be so frightening.

Regards,

Richard

[Steam.Jo]

Look after yourselves and hope you get through it unharmed.


I fear that while hurricanes are an annual feature in certain parts of the world the global warming is going to make them stronger and their season will extend. Much like here in the UK: annual rain fall has increased, the rain when it comes is much heavier over short durations and consequently we have lots of (mainly new) houses getting flooded. Local to me there has been a tendency to build on the nice flat land alongside the rivers, we still use the term "flood plain" to describe these sites but they still build. The builders put in flood defences to protect their new builds and that pushes the water onto the older properties that had never been flooded in living memory. And then there is the issues of the rising sea level that no one seems to want to think about.

I do wonder why here in the UK our press make a fuss about the US hurricane system and ignore most of the other natural disasters occurring elsewhere (unless it impacts British holiday makers).

Jo

[Steam.Jo]

The BBC Weather seems to think the South of England has moved to Florida:



I think 550 mpg winds might be a little above your usual Hurricane

Jo

[richardandtracy]

Jo, I think that's 5501 mph actually, from the little white pixel top right of the text.
I've just taken a look & got 6143mph. Wind speeds that are substantially higher than on Neptune. And on Friday they're all 6144mph, though on Saturday it drops to 3mph.



Regards,

Richard

[Steam.Jo]

Sounds like the US "got away with it" the major issue being, like here in the UK (on the BBC today), the weather forecast needs to be better so that people can make appropriate choices for themselves. The 18" of overnight rain is unbelievable

I am still convinced that the local civil authorities were probably much clearer in what they said they expected, rather than what the media actually reported. There was at least one case of untruths being stated by people "with an interest"

Jo

[richardandtracy]

MIL is now in hospital. She had a fall on Friday and an ambulance came. Her blood sugar was very low due to not eating for 2 days. We made sure she ate properly on Saturday, and then we got a phone call from the personal alarm company at 5:15 this morning.

I went round this time. Tracy had been round for most of the day on Friday, so it was my turn. MIL was on the floor in the bathroom, freezing, dizzy, hurting and had no idea how she'd got there. No immediate pain, no blood and her left leg wasn't working. I managed to get her up and sitting on the toilet lid by the simple expedient of lifting her bodily off the floor. Then wrapped her in blankets and gave her some tea. Called an ambulance.
The ambulance arrived at 8am, the crew spent a couple of hours checking her out before deciding to take her to A&E. She left A&E to go to a ward this evening for monitoring of her blood sugar levels and check her walking abilities.

Ah well. Hopefully she's safe now. (And won't repeat the in-ward fall that broke her back a couple of years ago)

Regards,

Richard.

[Serinde]

Sorry to hear this, Richard. I hope her blood sugar levels come back to normal and certainly that she regains her mobility.

[Mabel Figworthy]

Glad to hear she was not badly hurt, and that you managed to get her sitting up and wrapped up warm. And tea of course. Tea is magic.