Stephen G
Well-known
How was the first blizzard in the country for you?
New York Greetings From Hill-Billy Calvin, AKA Augie
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Calzone
Gear Whore #1
One reason why I am a skinny bitch is that I don't own a snow blower. All my hill-billy neighbors have them.
I helped rescue a Honda driver named "Chuck" who got stuck. Front wheel drive isn't good enough with snow and hills. Kinda funny because it was at my corner intersection.
Renold's Hills is a country road that is a one way in and a one way out that leads to a bunch of 3 season cabins or "Camps" as they say in Vermont. I have not been able to check them out because at a certain point it is clearly marked "private property" so I don't want to give an excuse to get shot.
So I find out one of my neighbors is a gun nut. What I find interesting is that he does not hunt, so might I ask if he loves animals, and he does because he has dogs which one of them is a rescue, what does he shoot at? LOL.
Kinda funny because he is a really big guy, kind of monster sized, with a beard that looks hill billy.
So Westchester County just north of NYC was quickly declared a state of emergency. I called one of my co-workers to find out about scheduling, and my luck that no nuclides were required from my cyclotron, so Monday I called in for a vacation day.
Tuesday the patient scheduled canceled, so I took another vacation day.
So the culture here is odd, or maybe I'm the odd one. The houses are small and that of a blue collar working class neighborhood, but even so many or most have 2 car garages, but none of my neighbors actually park any of their cars or trucks in their garages, and I'm the only one that parks their car in their garage.
Know that in hill-billy fashion each house has mucho cars. Unlike Calvin-August all of they are running and are registered. You know what they say, "You know you are a hill-billy when half the cars you own don't run." This was me out on Long Island.
So I spent lots of time shoveling snow. Good thing I have a small driveway and a short walkway to the curb with now sidewalk around the front and side (corner house). As soon as I shoveled the driveway, I had to reshovel the front, so it was front to side.
It was pretty, but the wind backfilled where I had shoveled, and the City's plowing was performed well.
You see I live literally one house away from the end of the City of Peekskill, there is a buffer zone that is Dickey Brook that runs behind my back-backyard, and then a town Called Bucannon. This nest of three season cabins is Bucannon.
So Chuck will give me a tour of Renold's Hills sometime. This way I can avoid getting shot.
BTW Blue Mountain Preserve has a part that is a shooting range (guns). How hill-billy is that?
Indoors I performed "tube-rolling" on my two Mark Sampson era Matchless amps. Tube rolling is changing out tubes, because each is kinda hand built with individual properties, and in these amps all of them interact.
Know that I am a "cork sniffer," tube snob, and a bottle-head of sorts with a collection of NOS vintage tubes from around the world. Since this is a Leica site I think you can understand why I favor Germain Telefunkin 12AX7's for their precision and low noise, Amperex Bugle Boys for their top end, Mullards for their smooth mids. The NOS American Tubes and the Cold War era Russian tubes are mighty sturdy.
You can get really crazy with this stuff and I am.
So change a tube, power up, and make noise in the basement.
Also know that the tone controls on Matchless amps are all interactive, and I liken the experience of dialing in and tube rolling akin to jetting a 4 barrel carb that is a double-pumper. Mucho tweaking and fun.
These are two amps that I bought off EBAY about 15 years ago, they are worth bout double the price I paid for them, but I never see them listed ever anymore.
Mark Sampson was a drag racer who decided to build Vox amp clones because the OEM Vox amps had a reputation for overheating and catching on fire. He elevated the build quality to Mil-Spec and he created and started the boutique guitar amp industry.
My Matchless Lightning features "Shower Curtain Black" covering which is rare, special/custom order, and looks garish. Kinda my style, meaning loud in a different manner.
So anyways I love these amps. Perhaps "Maggie" does not like them, as she suggests that I should sell some of my gear since I have so much.
So I made the snowstorm into a 4 day weekend, I made a new friend (Chuck), and I learned my one neighbor is a gun-nut. It was like a snow vacation.
You should note that my neighborhood is a maze of dead ends. I see people turning around at my intersection all the time.
Met the UPS driver. He had a parcel for "Maggie" a gift from a luxury company, and had to return clothes that were lent to her from an UBER luxury brand.
Some stainless steel guitar screws came so I dressed out this replica 1949 Fender Esquire with a "Snakehead" headstock (3 on a side tuners, very unusual for Fender) made of worm eaten old barn pine with a distressed white nitro lacquer finish. The slot oval headed screws are period correct and really dress up the guitar.
I know this gets to a point where it is like the Mock-U-mentry "This Is Spinal Tap," but for so many including me this kinda stuff adds lots of meaning.
In the end the snowstorm was peaceful and relaxing. For content we shot in our back-backyard. EZ-PZ.
Take note that the weatherproofing on the SL2 was wonderful. No worries about messing up the camera. Also I can shoot with gloves on. The ergonomics are that great.
I shot some MM shots with my 28 Cron to dovument the house. I also loaded back the batteries into my SL2-MOT film camera to get that going again.
11 months and 2 days till I retire. I am so relaxed.
"I only come to work to rest," I say.
BTW if I went into work Monday I would have been stranded. Metro North stopped running at 3:00 PM.
Calvin-August
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
MFM,
The pronounced side effects from the second injection I did not experience.
The only side effect was the shoulder soreness where I was injected, but this was less than the first injection, and any sorenness happened about 12 hours later around dinner time, as I got injected around 8:30 AM.
I think the key was that two days before Friday's injection, meaning Wednesday, I went to bed an hour early and did the same Thursday.
What also contributed to having a rested and strong immune system was eating well and exercising.
I followed the recomenations of fortifying and boosting my immune system and it seemed to work. Also I had both injections into my right shoulder.
I am a flirt, don't tell "Maggie", but I have a mole/birthmark on my right shoulder that I call my "Mark of Hercules" because Hercules had the same mole on his right shoulder.
The nurse liked my story. We talked about all the conehead like duds that we have to work with that don't laugh at jokes, have no sense of humor, nor any personality.
Her husband was in the Army and she share with me that like Phil he got all these vaccines.
Anyways she mentioned that I made her day because I was the most interesting patient and she expects the rest to be stiffs.
Augie
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
I was just going home, "minding my own business" doing my usual commute yesterday. I walked to Grand Central and had 10 minutes before catching the 4:14 to Poughkeepsie, and I went to the bathroom in the lower level of Grand Central.
As usual the bathroom was crowded. The usual amount of homeless grooming themselves, regular people like me, and of course a good sampling of crazies.
I walked up to the last urinal in a row of six. The other 5 were occupied, and the one I used was set closer to the floor designed for little boys or men that were very well endowed.
So we hear someone moaning out as if in pain. It kinda sounds like a little kid, so after I relieve myself I observe a fellow pisser look around in a good samaritan kinda way for some hurt kid. I look around too, but we don't see anything.
So then I hear the voice say, "That feels so good," and I suddenly become aware that it is not some kid, but a woman.
How raunchy is that?
Evidently some woman was in a dirty filthy stall in the mens room surrounded by men getting worked on and getting a workout.
I'm pretty certain that this woman as one of those that was vocal, coaching, and giving instruction, and finishing as a screamer, but I had a train to catch.
I would miss the decisive moment. LOL. Oh-well.
Anyways I can only imagine what was going on or being performed in that stall.
Anyways this was a reminder of NYC in the seventies where ranchy sex was everywhere. In midtown you could witness people doing it in-between parked cars. Street walkers were abundant, and sex was basically on the street.
Cal
As usual the bathroom was crowded. The usual amount of homeless grooming themselves, regular people like me, and of course a good sampling of crazies.
I walked up to the last urinal in a row of six. The other 5 were occupied, and the one I used was set closer to the floor designed for little boys or men that were very well endowed.
So we hear someone moaning out as if in pain. It kinda sounds like a little kid, so after I relieve myself I observe a fellow pisser look around in a good samaritan kinda way for some hurt kid. I look around too, but we don't see anything.
So then I hear the voice say, "That feels so good," and I suddenly become aware that it is not some kid, but a woman.
How raunchy is that?
Evidently some woman was in a dirty filthy stall in the mens room surrounded by men getting worked on and getting a workout.
I'm pretty certain that this woman as one of those that was vocal, coaching, and giving instruction, and finishing as a screamer, but I had a train to catch.
I would miss the decisive moment. LOL. Oh-well.
Anyways I can only imagine what was going on or being performed in that stall.
Anyways this was a reminder of NYC in the seventies where ranchy sex was everywhere. In midtown you could witness people doing it in-between parked cars. Street walkers were abundant, and sex was basically on the street.
Cal
Austintatious
Well-known
New York, New York.....the city so nice....they named it twice. 😀
Nokton48
Veteran
Cal,
You need to load XX into that SL-2 MOT. I am dusting off my two Minolta SR-M's and checking and replacing batteries. Now you can really and actually drive nails with those bodies. Speaking of tank-like construction/weapon.
And speaking of XX film, The Paterson System 4 two reel, three reel, and five reel is what I used back in the seventies. The big boy will do eight rolls. So the Lazy Slacker way to do this is to throw your long tank onto your Unicolor Uniroller, it takes up a very small footprint next to your basement running water. Some thin wire and wood clothespins for hanging is what I have. Unicolor Unidrums are a very space efficent way to make fibre archival silver prints. I used to do this with tapestry finish Kodak Ektalure fibre silver paper and it was very productive.
ADOX Borax in a gallon glass bottle, ADOX replenisher in a litre glass bottle. A gallon fix, some photo flo and you are good to go. For print washing singly a tray and Kodak tray siphon works best I have found.
BTW TomA also used Paterson System 4 and Unicolor Uniroller. Plug it into an old GraLab timer and you are good to go
You need to load XX into that SL-2 MOT. I am dusting off my two Minolta SR-M's and checking and replacing batteries. Now you can really and actually drive nails with those bodies. Speaking of tank-like construction/weapon.
And speaking of XX film, The Paterson System 4 two reel, three reel, and five reel is what I used back in the seventies. The big boy will do eight rolls. So the Lazy Slacker way to do this is to throw your long tank onto your Unicolor Uniroller, it takes up a very small footprint next to your basement running water. Some thin wire and wood clothespins for hanging is what I have. Unicolor Unidrums are a very space efficent way to make fibre archival silver prints. I used to do this with tapestry finish Kodak Ektalure fibre silver paper and it was very productive.
ADOX Borax in a gallon glass bottle, ADOX replenisher in a litre glass bottle. A gallon fix, some photo flo and you are good to go. For print washing singly a tray and Kodak tray siphon works best I have found.
BTW TomA also used Paterson System 4 and Unicolor Uniroller. Plug it into an old GraLab timer and you are good to go
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Devil Dan,
I have 400 feet of XX in my work fridge. "Maggie" says we need room in our freezer for food. Phil got me the student discount on the XX.
I have to get cassettes to load still. Wish I still had all those Ilford cassettes that I gave away.
I plan on doing ADOX PQ. At B&H I bought 5 liters of Ilford fixer, but by mistake somehow they gave me a case which was two 5 liter containters. Oh-well... Of course this gets dilluted.
I like using my old school stainless steel reels. I have one tank that can hold 8 reels of 135. Then again I also have 3 gallon Kodak dip and dunk hard rubber tanks.
My basement is too restrictive, and I'm not going to cheap out. I will insulate my porch basement that is 6x15 feet as my sound proof room for wood sheding on guitar, but half the garage I will build into a 10x20 darkroom.
I will run plumbing, superinsulate, and have HVAC via a Mitsubishi heat pump. The garage already has an 80 amp service.
This is a big project. The garage floor is made of blocks. Devil Christian says with care it can be removed, and that the garage foundation is separate. I want an epoxy floor for clean room effect.
Of course "Maggie" wants stuff with the house done first, but a year from now I can get kinda crazy.
My basement is kinda rough and will never be tidy and clean enough to be a serious darkroom for me. Building out the garage allows me to build it out with that purpose and specialization.
10x20 will allow me to do lots of work.
Things are evolving, even though I'm not doing much. Eleven more months and a day till 64 and retirement.
I'll look into the UNI Drums. I already have a Uniroller thanks to you.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
"I only come to work to rest," I say.
The patient cancelled so I have an empty schedule.
I'm so relaxed and rested that I woke at 3:30 AM. I usually get up at 4:30 because I allow an hour and 5-10 minutes of walking along with and hour and 5-10 minute train commute.
This is just to get to work, and of course to go home it is the reverse.
I went into the living room and pulled out a solid bodied Telecaster. Some really great players find my playing interesting because my approach is kinda raw and lacks any formal training. I am self learned.
So I figured out some new chord substitutions that sound tasteful for "Round Midnight" the jazz classic and likely most recorded standard this morning.
Tim the Guitar Idiot C-Vant tells me that this is a difficult tune and is pretty advanced. It kinda has a lot of shifting between major and minor he tells me. Anyways it is pretty obvious that I don't know what I'm doing, and so my approach and lack of style is kinda fresh.
I'm sure my darkroom will be kinda crazy in its own way. I waited decades, so now I want to do it right.
Even with the basement constraints I love my Baby-Victorian. Seems like I found my ideal house. I love it.
I'm thinking of bringing a lap steel to work so when I'm forced to take lunch with this new timekeeping system that I can close the door to my office and practice. I don't need an amp.
Cal
The patient cancelled so I have an empty schedule.
I'm so relaxed and rested that I woke at 3:30 AM. I usually get up at 4:30 because I allow an hour and 5-10 minutes of walking along with and hour and 5-10 minute train commute.
This is just to get to work, and of course to go home it is the reverse.
I went into the living room and pulled out a solid bodied Telecaster. Some really great players find my playing interesting because my approach is kinda raw and lacks any formal training. I am self learned.
So I figured out some new chord substitutions that sound tasteful for "Round Midnight" the jazz classic and likely most recorded standard this morning.
Tim the Guitar Idiot C-Vant tells me that this is a difficult tune and is pretty advanced. It kinda has a lot of shifting between major and minor he tells me. Anyways it is pretty obvious that I don't know what I'm doing, and so my approach and lack of style is kinda fresh.
I'm sure my darkroom will be kinda crazy in its own way. I waited decades, so now I want to do it right.
Even with the basement constraints I love my Baby-Victorian. Seems like I found my ideal house. I love it.
I'm thinking of bringing a lap steel to work so when I'm forced to take lunch with this new timekeeping system that I can close the door to my office and practice. I don't need an amp.
Cal
rfaspen
[insert pithy phrase here]
I was just looking at my home-built tube-based guitar amplifiers and thought of Hillbilly Calvin. I build them for fun, but don't use them. I can't play guitar but I've tried to learn baritone ukelele, but my wife doesn't like the sound of practice. Funny, because I listened to 20+ years of her piano practice...
Now, tube rolling is still something I can do. I have a couple hi-fi tube amplifiers I occasionally put into the sound system in our living room. Neither is high-end, but I've modded them to be better than original. The current system has Telefunken pre-amp and hard-to-find 7408 power tubes (lucky they all came with the unit). I recently received some tubes from a generous RFF member that I'm anxious to try in this system. They aren't Tele's, but milspec "JAN" stock. They look like good tubes. We'll see how they sound. Oh, the excitement 🙂
Rumor has it Hillbilly Cal has a fancy hi-fi system.
My woodshop is currently being occupied by another tube project I started late last year -- a small (cute) stereo amplifier for my home office. Single-ended 6AQ5's. I'm being careful not to accumulate aluminum shavings around my tools. I plan to go back to wood soon 🙂
My obsession with tube gear feeds into photography... I've tried to make images of my toys that make tubes look "sexy". I imagine its a familiar problem to commercial product photographers.
Now, tube rolling is still something I can do. I have a couple hi-fi tube amplifiers I occasionally put into the sound system in our living room. Neither is high-end, but I've modded them to be better than original. The current system has Telefunken pre-amp and hard-to-find 7408 power tubes (lucky they all came with the unit). I recently received some tubes from a generous RFF member that I'm anxious to try in this system. They aren't Tele's, but milspec "JAN" stock. They look like good tubes. We'll see how they sound. Oh, the excitement 🙂
Rumor has it Hillbilly Cal has a fancy hi-fi system.
My woodshop is currently being occupied by another tube project I started late last year -- a small (cute) stereo amplifier for my home office. Single-ended 6AQ5's. I'm being careful not to accumulate aluminum shavings around my tools. I plan to go back to wood soon 🙂
My obsession with tube gear feeds into photography... I've tried to make images of my toys that make tubes look "sexy". I imagine its a familiar problem to commercial product photographers.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
R,
I have a 300B pair of monoblocks that are the result of two events that happen about a decade apart. When I worked at Grumman I took advantage of doing a "G-Job" (meaning a "Government" job which really meant a personal project) and making these custom aluminum and brass interlocking top and bottom monoblock chassis since I had access to a full blown tool and die machine shop in a research lab and "free" materials paid for by taxpayer's dollars. Anyways these were the good old days of wasteful government spending and this was the culture.
So because I'm a delusional artist, I knew that one day I would want to build a crazy set of monoblocks, and in the meantime I had at least the chassis. The base was machined out of extruded aluminum with a perforated base for cooling, and the U-shape cover made out of tooling brass made a nice accent and my design intent was for possible grounding and shielding.
Then about a decade later I lived in South Williamsburg before it was conquered by hipsters in a loft that formally was a burlap bag factory that dates back to the 1880's. It had 14 foot ceilings and wide plank heart pine floors that were distressed.
One Christmas Eve my loft and my neighbor's duplex got broken into. They really cleaned out (literally) my neighbor's duplex. He had all the latest electronic toys, and my loft only got a quick go over.
I collected $7K from my renter's insurance. Insurance BTW did not really cover my loss and only paid about half. Basically I got robbed twice.
So I spent the $7K on buying a 300B kit, a tube pre-amp kit, and a prefab speaker kit optimized for low powered Single Ended Triodes from Doc Bottlehead.
Interesting how you mention sex and tube amps. Doc Bottlehead uses sex as a marketing tool, the pre-amp I bought is the "Foreplay." So Doc uses Constant Current sources to lower noise, and the plate voltage has a choke feed, and the iron supplied is high ended Magnaquest trannies that are hand made.
When I built out this system I used cryogenic ox-E-gen free copper wire to wire the amps. I made a litz line as my speaker cables using this wire.
The speaker enclosure kits were shipped from Canada. Mucho heavy MDF beautifully veneered Maple exterior that assemble with hardware that comes with IKEA furniture. Add glue and you have a two way system with eight 4 inch speakers for the woof, and a titanium tweeter.
So Doc hates flabby bass, and these speakers are very efficient and can move lots of air.
So in this loft somehow it had great acoustics. The soundstage was huge and basically it realistically recreated the place where it was recorded. Imagine the Blue Note or Village Vangard being recreated. You could hear a horn player lifting his horn in the air, or a singer changing the mike's position.
I would listen to Nora Jones, one of her early albums, and you could imagine that see is looking right at you singing to you. This kinda intamacy surely is sex.
Originally I'm from Lawn-Guy-Land. Perhaps this is why I am so annoying. A researcher discovered that Long Islanders whine 5 times that of the national average. I did not make this up. I found Long Island to be full of unhappy whiners myself, and that is why I migrated to NYC.
Long Island also has the highest concentration of single women, and I have a theory that because of all the whinning that is the culture there that men migrate like I did to escape the unhappiness, but women you know like to stay close to their mother's.
Other data is that the location of the highest concentration of single men is San Francisco, a mighty gay city.
So back on topic. "Maggie" hates my guitar playing because it is so whinny. LOL. So as you can imagine I really love the blues, and the repetition required to really step out and breakout requires lots of practice.
Now you know why I need a sound proof room. Imagine how I can exploit my whinning playing slide guitar on one of my lap steels. LOL. Also I am intent on learning all of Robert Johnson's work.
Whinny Calvin
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
So to add to my confused identity I ponder if even though Peekskill is considered a Bone-E-fied "City" that because I live literally one house from the very edge of the "City" that I might call it "The suburbs of Peekskill."
Is this hill-billy thinking?
So I have been walking over 9 miles as my commute during the workweek. Only twice did I take a cab from the Metro North train station home because of weather.
I have been lucky I figure. Even today with the rain I was so close to work when it started.
The 2015 Audi A4 with 16K miles on it I have owned for 2 months, and I only added on about 700 miles during that period. At this rate perhaps 5K miles a year.
This means that at this rate I could still be driving this car 20 years from now. They say in 2035 that gasoline powered cars will no longer be available new for sale. Gasoline powered cars are expected to be replaced by electric cars.
So my baby step would be to get a 10 Kilowatt Solar array ASAP so I can take advantage of expected Biden tax writeoffs.
The rich say, "No one ever got wealthy by paying taxes."
One of my hill-billy neighbors says the cost is the same as just paying their current bills. They see no advantage, but I do.
Cal
Is this hill-billy thinking?
So I have been walking over 9 miles as my commute during the workweek. Only twice did I take a cab from the Metro North train station home because of weather.
I have been lucky I figure. Even today with the rain I was so close to work when it started.
The 2015 Audi A4 with 16K miles on it I have owned for 2 months, and I only added on about 700 miles during that period. At this rate perhaps 5K miles a year.
This means that at this rate I could still be driving this car 20 years from now. They say in 2035 that gasoline powered cars will no longer be available new for sale. Gasoline powered cars are expected to be replaced by electric cars.
So my baby step would be to get a 10 Kilowatt Solar array ASAP so I can take advantage of expected Biden tax writeoffs.
The rich say, "No one ever got wealthy by paying taxes."
One of my hill-billy neighbors says the cost is the same as just paying their current bills. They see no advantage, but I do.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Today I decided not to wear my glasses. I'm nearsigthed so at home and work I take off my glasses, and I read without them. Basically I have to use them for driving and for shooting (focus) and seeing distances.
So I decided not to wear my glasses to be less vulnerable to an attack of anti-Asian hate crimes that are recently in the news. In one attack a man was killed, in NYC a man's face was slashed.
About a decade ago in East Harlem there were daily reports of beatings and robberies of Asians on the news almost every night. At that time East Harlem was the fastest growing Asian community in NYC due to affordable housing.
That was why I moved there: cheap rent. "Maggie" was worried that I would be attacked, but the targets of these attacks were the poorest Chinese immigrants. It was so bad at one point that I saw a cop car stationed on every corner with their lights on to show police presence.
The attacks were the result of gentrification, by a single local resident. Eventually they arrested him in New Jersey.
Yesterday we got another 6 inches of snow. I'm sick of the snow. Unlike NYC the snow lingers and is slow to melt.
I'm glad I have All-Wheel drive on the Audi A4. Between the hills and snow you really can't live without it.
I sealed up the chute in the ceilingless hallway. I have a stack of insulation R-19 and R30 for a total of R49 as if this 32" by 42" opening by the stairs was a full blown attic.
With the extra bates of R30 I'll insilate the sills on the basement where there are 2x10's (full sized).
MFM and Devil Christian were both helpful in pointing me to insulate at least the ceiling of the basement. Kinda like an attic with a cold roof, except it is my basement. It seems insulating the walls is problematic due to mold and condensation issues. My solution is to isolate the cold spaces from my living space.
I took Maggie into town to go see a hair stylist on Main Street. The Baby Victorian on the very edge of the city is 1.9 miles to Main Street. The owner of the salon says that most of his customers are refugees from NYC mostly from Brooklyn that fled due to Covid.
Not far away going east on Main Street is Cortlandt Town Center where East Main Street turns into a massive gang of strip malls with all the big box stores. The drive from my house is pleasent and about 6-7 miles which is good for the car. In two months I added 700 miles to the odometer.
In northern Westchester towns that are away from the Metro North were at one time summer homes that had modest 3 season cabins. Mohegan Lake where the Cortland Town Center is was once one of them.
Recently I had my first experience entering a Walmart. What a crazy place, but I felt very out of place. I'm not really a typical consumer, and I guess I tend to buy less but spend more on luxury goods as my lifestyle.
Leica, Rolex, Audi, Panerai, Paul Smith and Patagonia are my brands.
In the bread aisle I pointed out to "Maggie" they only sold "white" bread. LOL. Anyways I felt very out of place. Boy did I feel like a hill-billy. LOL.
I wonder if the customers in Walmart wondered where that skinny old vintage hipster was doing in their store. Anyways for me it was an experience that was like visiting another country, and I can tell you that I really did not blend in. All these decades and I was never ever in a Walmart before.
Today I get Covid tested again. Maggie gets her second Vaccine injection next Monday.
The bonus of not wearing glasses is that they don't fog up when I'm wearing a mask.
Calvin-August
So I decided not to wear my glasses to be less vulnerable to an attack of anti-Asian hate crimes that are recently in the news. In one attack a man was killed, in NYC a man's face was slashed.
About a decade ago in East Harlem there were daily reports of beatings and robberies of Asians on the news almost every night. At that time East Harlem was the fastest growing Asian community in NYC due to affordable housing.
That was why I moved there: cheap rent. "Maggie" was worried that I would be attacked, but the targets of these attacks were the poorest Chinese immigrants. It was so bad at one point that I saw a cop car stationed on every corner with their lights on to show police presence.
The attacks were the result of gentrification, by a single local resident. Eventually they arrested him in New Jersey.
Yesterday we got another 6 inches of snow. I'm sick of the snow. Unlike NYC the snow lingers and is slow to melt.
I'm glad I have All-Wheel drive on the Audi A4. Between the hills and snow you really can't live without it.
I sealed up the chute in the ceilingless hallway. I have a stack of insulation R-19 and R30 for a total of R49 as if this 32" by 42" opening by the stairs was a full blown attic.
With the extra bates of R30 I'll insilate the sills on the basement where there are 2x10's (full sized).
MFM and Devil Christian were both helpful in pointing me to insulate at least the ceiling of the basement. Kinda like an attic with a cold roof, except it is my basement. It seems insulating the walls is problematic due to mold and condensation issues. My solution is to isolate the cold spaces from my living space.
I took Maggie into town to go see a hair stylist on Main Street. The Baby Victorian on the very edge of the city is 1.9 miles to Main Street. The owner of the salon says that most of his customers are refugees from NYC mostly from Brooklyn that fled due to Covid.
Not far away going east on Main Street is Cortlandt Town Center where East Main Street turns into a massive gang of strip malls with all the big box stores. The drive from my house is pleasent and about 6-7 miles which is good for the car. In two months I added 700 miles to the odometer.
In northern Westchester towns that are away from the Metro North were at one time summer homes that had modest 3 season cabins. Mohegan Lake where the Cortland Town Center is was once one of them.
Recently I had my first experience entering a Walmart. What a crazy place, but I felt very out of place. I'm not really a typical consumer, and I guess I tend to buy less but spend more on luxury goods as my lifestyle.
Leica, Rolex, Audi, Panerai, Paul Smith and Patagonia are my brands.
In the bread aisle I pointed out to "Maggie" they only sold "white" bread. LOL. Anyways I felt very out of place. Boy did I feel like a hill-billy. LOL.
I wonder if the customers in Walmart wondered where that skinny old vintage hipster was doing in their store. Anyways for me it was an experience that was like visiting another country, and I can tell you that I really did not blend in. All these decades and I was never ever in a Walmart before.
Today I get Covid tested again. Maggie gets her second Vaccine injection next Monday.
The bonus of not wearing glasses is that they don't fog up when I'm wearing a mask.
Calvin-August
Range-rover
Veteran
Walmart really has great prices, they had one in white plains but closed, seems there
was a thing over parking or other things that mess that up. I just purchased two pairs
of Wrangler jean there at $17.00 each and at my size I need 36 length pant's really
helps.
was a thing over parking or other things that mess that up. I just purchased two pairs
of Wrangler jean there at $17.00 each and at my size I need 36 length pant's really
helps.
rfaspen
[insert pithy phrase here]
I went to a Walmart in 2009. It was different, but I remember K-Mart stores.... my mom used to drag me there every fall for school supplies.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Bob,
You too are a skinny bitch. LOL.
These Paul Smith jeans float on me and underneath I wear Patagonia R1 Long Johns. I can pull my pants off without opening the button and zipper, and they hang low on my hips like I just got out of prison "Ghetto Style."
They are a 30 inch waist, but I likely would fit a 28 inch waist comfortably. Even my Paul Smith rock climbing knickers that are a size 28 waist have a casual fit.
My problem with clothes is that I fit boy's sizes.
They say another storm Tuesday into Wednesday with 6 more inches in Peekskill. There seems to be a second punch that is Thursday into Friday, but it is too early to speak of accumulations.
Augie the Mountain Man
benlees
Well-known
Congrats! My first experience of Walmart was in Jerseyville, IL in '97. As a Canadian open to the 'merican experience I found it insane. Never seen so much cheap stuff (I bought some underpants!) The crew I was with were in search of AC to have some respite... Not sure if we were refreshed or not! Had a similar experience going to a Costco in Montana!
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
R,
I felt like a man who fell to earth in Walmart.
Kinda cute, but in the early 1970's My friend Richie to me to his summer home in Belgrade Lakes Maine which is about 50-80 miles from the state capitol Agusta.
We were around 15-16 back then and in the country store that was the gas station and Post Office this little boy yells to his mom, "Momy-momy look at that man" pointing at me.
Richie was laughing and the mother was embarrassed. Evidently the little boy never ever saw a non white person ever before.
How Hill-Billy is that? When I saw the movie E.T. I knew just how he felt. It was like I came from another planet.
Interesting backstory is that Richie's parents were conservative Jesus freaks, and that Richie dressed like a pimp in silk pants and platform shoes as if he were Superfly even though he was a white boy.
Sadly Richie I would learn drank himself to death. I miss him.
It was with Richie in 1975 that we hitch hike to Miami from New York, me with $14.00, and Richie with $25.00, for midwinter recess. Two weeks on the road, no money, no cares, and this freedom most people never know.
On a Miami beach we hear someone calling us a bunch of jerks so we go over to give someone a beating and it was someone we both knew from high school that had run away from home.
These two weeks were our real life rendition of "On The Road." BTW I-95 was considered back then the most dangerous place in the U.S. to hitch hike.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Ben,
Since I grew up poor, I knew cheap clothes.
I have marks/scars of poverty like hoarding.
Today I see value in owning less and I buy to keep not consume.
I learned not to waste money: cheap; cheap; cheap; and cheap. I like to spend my money once and buy quality, durability, or long life utility.
Poverty is like constant punishment.
Kinda funny how we men will wear underwear with holes in it. Kinda like dogs marking territory. That Patagonia underwear can last a decade. I'm wearing a pair that could likely be 10-12 years old. So far no holes. LOL.
Cal
Range-rover
Veteran
**Gear Alert**
Now that I'm a Fuji guy, I decided to try to sell my Canon 5D I have and decided
to get a Sony A700 camera, I need the camera shake reduction inside the camera
that all the lenses I get have it. Why you ask, since all the problems I had last year
I need it my hand are kinda messed up.
Now that I'm a Fuji guy, I decided to try to sell my Canon 5D I have and decided
to get a Sony A700 camera, I need the camera shake reduction inside the camera
that all the lenses I get have it. Why you ask, since all the problems I had last year
I need it my hand are kinda messed up.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
I am skitzing out. An art dealer once said I have too many ideas, and things keep on evolving.
So this morning I measured to one open space in the basement that has a full 7 foot ceiling height, and I can fit a 6x9 which could be isolated from the basement walls and ceiling as a free standing isolation booth/sound room.
I plan on insulating the basement ceiling, and since I have full sized 2x10's I can do a R-30 (8 1/4 inch) and still have an air gap.
Then I thought of how I could run the plumbing for a darkroom sink. Nearby is the unhooked up gas hot water heater. My hot water for the house is a tankless instant on system provided by the oil furnace.
I like having a separate gas hot water heater for a darkroom with a tank for temperature control, consistency, and for archival washing. Somehow the un-needed separate hot water system became an asset, and gets me into printing and developing faster than the bigger job of setting up my garage darkroom.
So this 6x9 has a 2:3 aspect ratio which not only is a good long and skinny for a darkroom, but also follows the "Golden Mean" for good acoustics, so a second life as a practice room where I can make "noise."
I measured the small hatch in the upstairs bathroom which is the access to my attic. I have to stick with 16 inch wide insulation because the hatch opening is only about 18 inches square. Good thing that I'm a skinny bitch because it is a tight fit.
So when I peeked into the attic with the engineer during the house inspection I thought I saw lots of insulation. I must of been hallucinating. I thought I saw 2x6 or 2x8's filled with pink fiberglass, but the harsh reality is a 2x5 with perhaps only R-13.
So I'm surprised how tight the house is considering the lack of insulation. The siding is a stucco called "pebble-dash" which was developed in Roman times. Devil Christian says it is not Pebble Dash because the small stones are of crushed rock and technically are not pebbles.
So this type of siding is known to be durable, but I think it also tends to seal the house exterior pretty well.
So in the basement I'll be doing R-30 for the ceiling, and in the attic I do two layers of un-faced R-30 running perpendicular for R-60 in the attic.
The house is kinda crazy. I counted 40 windows, and that does not count the front and rear storm doors. The basement alone even has 6 windows.
But around 8:30 AM the morning light illuminates the hallway and the stained glass window, and around 4:00 PM the golden hour casts directly into the house for wonderful light and contrast. A photographer's dream.
So with R-30 in the cellar ceiling and R-60 in the attic on top of the probable R-13 the house will be rather tight and snug. The square areas are not that big. The full basement is 26x26 (676 square feet).
The porch basement is 6x15, less than 100 square feet, but that will get insulated with rigid foam.
Anyways lots of obsessive thinking...
Calvin-August
So this morning I measured to one open space in the basement that has a full 7 foot ceiling height, and I can fit a 6x9 which could be isolated from the basement walls and ceiling as a free standing isolation booth/sound room.
I plan on insulating the basement ceiling, and since I have full sized 2x10's I can do a R-30 (8 1/4 inch) and still have an air gap.
Then I thought of how I could run the plumbing for a darkroom sink. Nearby is the unhooked up gas hot water heater. My hot water for the house is a tankless instant on system provided by the oil furnace.
I like having a separate gas hot water heater for a darkroom with a tank for temperature control, consistency, and for archival washing. Somehow the un-needed separate hot water system became an asset, and gets me into printing and developing faster than the bigger job of setting up my garage darkroom.
So this 6x9 has a 2:3 aspect ratio which not only is a good long and skinny for a darkroom, but also follows the "Golden Mean" for good acoustics, so a second life as a practice room where I can make "noise."
I measured the small hatch in the upstairs bathroom which is the access to my attic. I have to stick with 16 inch wide insulation because the hatch opening is only about 18 inches square. Good thing that I'm a skinny bitch because it is a tight fit.
So when I peeked into the attic with the engineer during the house inspection I thought I saw lots of insulation. I must of been hallucinating. I thought I saw 2x6 or 2x8's filled with pink fiberglass, but the harsh reality is a 2x5 with perhaps only R-13.
So I'm surprised how tight the house is considering the lack of insulation. The siding is a stucco called "pebble-dash" which was developed in Roman times. Devil Christian says it is not Pebble Dash because the small stones are of crushed rock and technically are not pebbles.
So this type of siding is known to be durable, but I think it also tends to seal the house exterior pretty well.
So in the basement I'll be doing R-30 for the ceiling, and in the attic I do two layers of un-faced R-30 running perpendicular for R-60 in the attic.
The house is kinda crazy. I counted 40 windows, and that does not count the front and rear storm doors. The basement alone even has 6 windows.
But around 8:30 AM the morning light illuminates the hallway and the stained glass window, and around 4:00 PM the golden hour casts directly into the house for wonderful light and contrast. A photographer's dream.
So with R-30 in the cellar ceiling and R-60 in the attic on top of the probable R-13 the house will be rather tight and snug. The square areas are not that big. The full basement is 26x26 (676 square feet).
The porch basement is 6x15, less than 100 square feet, but that will get insulated with rigid foam.
Anyways lots of obsessive thinking...
Calvin-August
