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I’m thinking of winding my wound strings on the HOG to brighten up the tone to add some treble emphasis.

It is a secrete, so don’t tell anyone. Basically you mount new strings, bring the guitar up to pitch, and then loosen the string and wind the windings tighter by cranking the ball end of the string. 2-3 turns, and the limit is about 5 turns.

Pretty much an old piano tuners trick, but utilized on a guitar to add tension.

Pretty much adds some zing to the string.

The Model “F” made of all mahogany (HOG) has a round bottom end and mucho warmth, but lacks the brilliant highs of a spruce top to project.

This trick can blend in some highs, but the feel of the action is more tension on the string as if of heavier gauge. That is the trade off.

Lately I have had gas for a smaller mahogany guitar that features scalloped braces. The Santa Cruz H13 modeled after a Gibson Nick Lucas model comes to mind, or the Otis Taylor Chicago signature model. Pretty much a flat top optimized for blues.

The Nick Lucas is a small bodied guitar with deep sides for added volume and bass response. The early versions had 13 frets clear of the body instead of 12 or 14. It kinda has a sweet spot and is mucho responsive to attack.

I just need a bit more bite to the tone. The sound already is big with a profound round bass, a warmth to the voice via midrange, but I need more bite. The string winding might get me where I need to go. The thing about the HOG is that it is a mini-jumbo in size, so it projects and has volume, but the treble is a bit choked for a blues voice.

I basically need less smoothness and more attack.

The fresh strings I put on last night won’t lie.

Cal
 
Two winds on the wound strings really opened the guitar known as “HOG” up. Dialed in and added just the right amount of treble emphasis. Sound is deep, full, and balanced.

Really brutal, and likely will make a crazy good guitar for blues.

This Model “F” has depth and richness to its voice. Kinda powerful. Huge sound. Lots of body and brought out more overtones.

A pretty remarkable guitar.

A successful experiment.

Cal
 
I forgot to report. Last Sunday “Maggie’s” daughter put their house on the market. They already have an offer at their asking price. The house is still being shown and this coming Sunday is the deadline for the last and best offer.

Basically it is such a hot market that the house will sell in a week. Could be a bidding war.

We dropped off a clothing donation at a town called Shrub Oak which is east of Peekskill after the surrounding township of Cortlandt.

The owner of the house said during the pandemic she lost most of her neighbors and only three remained.

She pointed to a house across the street that had an asking price of $550K that sold for $800K. She had real estate agents knocking on their door asking them if they want to sell.

Anyways real estate in the Hudson Valley is hot-hot-hot.

My contractor who lives higher up in the Hudson Valley reported that right now the home buying up by him is hotter than even during the pandemic.

I will repeat that Marty said the buyers are from lower Westchester and NYC.

Cal
 
Designed and built a nice trellis for our clematis. I have to make another larger version for the wisteria. The dead apple tree fell down as a surprise after a heavy rain storm. I had the idea of using the dead tree as a natural trellis. Oh-well.

I walked to the downtown for exercise with my SL2 rigged with a 35 Cron APO. Had to take a shot of a black business woman, LeFern for my editor at the Peekskill Herald. Got an invite to attend an event on May 11th for Black History Month.

The event is about preserving and celebrating African American History. Descendants of Harriet Tubman, Fredrick Douglas, Harley and Harriet Green, and John Jacob Peterson will be in attendance and will be on a panel moderated by a professor from Seton Hall.

I did a side trip to Division Street Guitars to get more heavy guitar picks. Earlier I bought a selection and pretty much matched and optimized picks to guitars. At this point I am stock piling.

I was minding my own business, but then I got an invite to play in a a band by an African drummer. Pretty much I was asked if I like to travel because they go on the road. Pretty much I was being recruited because of my look and to be part of an international band. I guess I look the part.

The stock markets today disregarded yesterdays inflation data. Today inflation is not a problem according to Wall Street. Gold also went up and is close to $2350.00 and ounce. In China the flight to safety is continuing to build a floor under gold.

Cal
 
Lately I have been eating smaller meals, but eating more frequently. Pretty much moderating intake. But also snacking as a bridge.

No message from Home Cheapo about the vermiculite arrival. I think I will stop by to check it out in person tomorrow. I need to portion out my garden mix.

“Maggie” caught the grandson’s cold. She took it easy today.

I was clever in using the radial arm saw to cut angles for the struts that tie the legs of my trellis so that they run on an angle slanting without any horizontals. The abbreviated pyramid is less static and seems to have a twist. Looks engineered, but I was playing around and had a challenge of avoiding interference because of the crowding of screw holes if horizontals were utilized.

I am pleased having 3 distinct Santa Cruz guitars. There is a lot of versatility and variety.

Tonight I’ll play a 50’s style Tele.

Cal
 
After today it seems that the lows will be in the 50’s and it will be safe to seed and plant. Unusually cool April after a record warm March. Only this week have the trees greened up.

Temperature swings into the mid 30’s makes it hard to plant, yet the temperature swings into the 60’s and 70’s.

I have buds on my baby white oak tree that I grew from an acorn, but I don’t know yet if it survived the winter yet. Pretty much I would like to establish it in the back-back yard to start a forest. Know that I transplanted about half a dozen maple trees that were growing around the yard to create a bit of a micro forest in the dead end.

I have to go to Home Cheapo. They sent an e-mail that the Vermiculite might arrive Thursday at our local store, but no confirmation happened. It would be great to get the beds loaded and ready today.

I love the Square Foot Garden book. Makes gardening a bit of a science and is more efficient, meaning less work, than a conventional row garden. It is great that it does not require mucho space, yet high yields are possible.

On my Santa Cruz OM some really select wood was used to build that guitar. It was provided by Dan a finger style player who somehow acquired some old growth Brazilian that featured all these black streaks of veining that is affectionately called “spyder ing.”

Anyways Santa Cruz has a stockpile of tier one and tier two grade Brazilian, but none compares to the wood on my guitar. The grain is wild and bold with all this streaking that creates mucho drama. Also this set of Brazilian was particularly heavy and resonant.

My OM has this glassy resonance on steroids. Sounds like a dreadnaught because of the bass response and volume. Mucho overtones, and at times a bit too much.

As great as the OM is the Model “F’s” are more articulate and have much better note separation. Particularly important if you play Jazz. No need for a F-hole guitar.

“Maggie” is sleeping in. My guess is she is still sick with grandson disease which is a bad cold.

I’m going to sneak out.

Cal
 
Devil Cal,
You collect and play with guitars, like I collect and play with lenses and cameras. LOL

We just completed two major home projects here; New Provia windows throughout, and new sliding Provia patio door. And a grey brick paver sidewalk, starting at our lower deck stairs (formerly grass), with grey paver sidewalk curving around, ending in a matching rectangular grey paver patio. This maximizes our enjoyment of our lovely back yard. Everybody who sees it loves it, and it is color matched to our house. Volcanic red rock (from House Cheapo) is being expanded and encircles our large movable fire pit area. So now we have the lovely spring weather coming up to enjoy outside! Now I need to figure a way to keep the herds of deer from leaving their hoofprints on the areas where I need to repair and regrow grass, the tank treads from the mini scoop bulldozer carving my wet lawn up. Lots of watering going on here. I do have some Deer Stink, maybe I will apply that.
 
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Devil Dan,

There are these electric fences that are solar powered. Depending on your stance on immigration policy it is pretty easy to have a border wall. They suggest placing a ribbon on the fence to train the deer that the fence should be avoided.

During rutting season I see deer poop and scuffs from the bucks marking territory.

No Vermiculite arrival yet, but I picked up some pruning shears for “Maggie” and loaded up on more mulch at $2.00 a 1.5 cubic foot bag. The special sale runs out on Sunday the 28th. Hurry up if you want to save money. Cheap-cheap-cheap… Load up the truck as they say.

House Cheapo has a $100.00 off sale on the Milwaukee battery powered self propelled lawn mover I covet. We are going to get it. Should save some time. Did you know that gas powered lawn movers are one of the worse polluters. I hate the noise of gas mowers.

With gas mowers you are breathing that pollution.

Cal
 
A fun day of running around doing garden errands. Bought seeds and plants.

There is a local small nursery in Shrub Oak, that is just east of Peekskill and Cortlandt that has really healthy plants for no money. Rudy also gave us not only a discount but also some stuff for free.

The late spring was very evident in Shrub Oak today. Many trees had not greened up yet, and it is almost May.

I got my Milwaukee self propelled mower. It comes with two 12 amp hour M-18 volt batteries that I can use with my other Milwaukee power tools. These batteries are mucho expensive. It also came with a very trick dual battery rapid charger. Very-very cool.

This mower is spec’ed out for up to 3/4’ers of an acre. My property is about 1/5th acre. Overkill for sure.

I will likely use it in mulch mode because I do not fertilize, nor do I use any weed control. I do my patrol and just pull the dandelion yellow flowers so they cannot propagate. No flowers: no seeds.

KInda funny that our lawn is as nice as my neighbor’s lawn who fertilizes, spreads seeds, and I think uses some weed killer. Pretty my my neighbor, the “Monster,” is OCD about his lawn. I wonder if I annoy him yet?

Me I’m just a lazy slacker who is clever. Pretty much I’m the only crazy with a push mower, but now I the guy with the hot rod Milwaukee.

I’m still a lazy slacker. My lawn really isn’t so big, but with a powered mower that is self propelled I might be able to do my lawn in 15-20 minutes. The hard part is the slope/grade that runs along my side yard and front lawn. The self propelled action will make it EZ-PZ.

Anyways this lawn mower is kinda like a car. Full throttle in 0.7 seconds. Weighs 78 pounds. I imagine that I can use it in the fall to chop up the leaves I mulch.

BTW “Maggie” is in full blown Maggie-Mode thinking of gardening we will expand into next year. She also wants to do a garden party.

A brick commercial building I would love to buy is up for sale on Washington Street. 3,000 square feet plus a 3,000 square foot basement. If I could buy it pretty much it would be a loft like paradise. Perhaps I should play the lottery…

Anyways pretty hard to top what I already have, but this stand alone commercial building would be mighty cool.

Maggie figured out that in our retirement we wanted to go rural like say Vermont, or go urban. Both were our ideals, but really here in Peekskill, a city, where we can go country easily. The Hudson Valley has a few cities: Poughkeepsie; Hudson; Newbough; Peekskill; Kingston; but most of it is rural. Basically we have it both ways.

Another facet is that here in Peekskill the creative world is divided it seems between the old and the new. One complaint from our younger creative friends is that they feel shut out by the older creatives, but somehow Maggie and I are welcomed by both.

June 1’st and 2d are approaching. This is the date for the Peekskill Open Studios where I will go rogue and show off my “workbook” that is so big and heavy I use a hand truck to carry it around. It is not a coffee table book: it is a kitchen table book made of prints.

Then in July it is expected that a reading/spoken word event will start that will be held monthly. Time to do one of my performance readings.

Had a relaxing, but productive day that was fun. Well not a lot got done, but a lot of staging happened, and now we have a kinda mini Home Cheapo Depo in my yard with all the supplies on hand. Stockpiles of compost, peat moss, mulch and a good selection of a garden department.

We even went to Lowes today to buy stuff.

Tomorrow ends the $2.00 a bag mulch sale at Lowes and Home Cheapo. Load up the truck they say. I think I have 25 bags, 1.5 cubic feet a piece. Kinda crazy, but I like it.

Live plants are in Maggie’s “She Shack” (shed) that has part of the roof as a greenhouse.

Pretty much we are turning into farmers. BTW the yard is looking mighty pretty. In fact it has “You Suck” factor.

Cal
 
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Drove up to Poughkeepsie to attend a Farmer’s Market and walk around the downtown. Lots of historic buildings. A daydream is to buy a building with a storefront and live upstairs. Anyways, you never know…

Drove to the town of Poughkeepsie to walk around Vassar College. On our way home stopped at Fair Acre Farms to do some light food shopping.

Pretty much on a Sunday downtown Poughkeepsie is kinda empty. It is the county seat for Dutchess County, kinda like how White Plains is the county seat for Westchester.

No need to move, but if we wanted to live in a downtown…

Interesting that Poughkeepsie is the last stop on the Hudson Line. An hour and a half trip to NYC, but it also is around the midpoint between Albany and NYC. Empire State Trailway is nearby. Not far from Woodstock, Sagurtioes, or New Palz.

Cal
 
I’m just minding my own business, but my next door neighbors are turning out to be paparazzi with their home surveillance cameras.

Part of me is joking, but part of me is serious. I know that my activities are closely watched and are being monitored and even recorded.

Anyways my ownership of owning mucho Milwaukee power tools and all the work I do in my driveway and backyard gets noted. The woman stalker in my neighborhood moved away, but now I have neighbors that are a bit intrusive.

They know “Maggie” released a book and is a celeb with about 1M followers across all her platforms. I don’t think they figured me out yet because I am more private. They are always very-very curious about us and our life.

I guess we are entertaining and interesting to them. To me a little creepy and crazy.

Cal
 
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I am mucho happy where I live now. I don’t want to ever move, but pretty much like a chess player I like to think three or four moves ahead.

There is a commercial building for sale about a quarter mile away that formally was a restaurant made of brick. 3 thousand square feet on the first floor and 3 thousand foot basement with perhaps 10 foot ceilings, loading dock, 2 car garage.

The price is not so bad at $104.00 a square foot. Pretty much a dream studio and a real cool live/work location with storefront windows in the front. Could divide front half into a gallery, rear as living space and then have a massive studio in the basement.

Anyways dreaming large for sure, but a crazy good idea. Pretty much it would be beyond a dream. It would be heaven on earth.

BTW “Maggie” likes the idea of buying a building, having a commercial space, and living above.

In Poughkeepsie there is a Garfield Place Historic District. Don’t tell Maggie, but it would be mighty cool for me. Pretty much a big project in a historic district that was formally a carriage house for the mansions on the bluff on Garfield Place. No real curb appeal, but large space in a prime neighborhood.

There is a balcony that looks down on Main Street downtown Poughkeepsie. $304K is the price of entry, but pretty much mucho space in a bonafide important historic district. Has a funky look, but that is the charm.

Has a two car garage with a flat concrete roof with a roof deck. On one street level it is three stories, on another street level only two stories. Top floor is wood, two floors below are masonary. Dates back to the 1852. On the first floor only a powder room but on the second floor two full baths and 4 bedrooms.

Evidently the basement has street access. Corner lot.

What a fun project this 1852 carriage house would be. “Don’t tell Maggie.”

Cal
 
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Bought a cycling jersey with a cool exhibitionist full zipp. Black with white graphics that looks kinda evil with vented sides.

Lightsey Cycles is now a defunked bike shop that was in Gardiner New York. The size is small which is my size.

$25.00 for a brand new bike Jersey is a good deal.

Got it at the Poughkeepsie Farmer’s Market.

Very cool.

Cal
 
Spotty rain yesterday and today in the evenings. Now the forecast looks like much of the same over the next few days.

I speculate that Poughkeepsie will be the next river city to do a “Peekskill” where it will hit a tipping point. Newbourgh I feel will get left behind. Metro North and ambitious redevelopment funded by state money is pushing Poughkeepsie towards the tipping point.

Seems like Long Island has high taxes and too much traffic congestion. Hudson Valley seems to be the growing hot market.

We discovered that we have the perfect location to go either urban (NYC) or rural. Pretty much an hour’s train ride or an hour’s car ride. Likely a better location than living further north. We have the convenience of sewers and natural gas hookups. We have an ideal central location, and we live in an artistic community.

Peekskill is only 4 square miles and a population of 25K. Poughkeepsie the city is 5 square miles with a population of 32K.

Cal
 
It topped 82 today, so it's just about time for the "technical" cloth clothes to come out for riding to work.
I haven't really said much since January, mostly because I'm quite busy, but also because I'm trying to remain professional while internalizing intense rage.
In a nutshell, the big hospital/university/insurance conglomerate which bought our hospital back in 2022, is shifting gears, consolidating and closing our program. The facility which I currently work in is one of 9 in the city and ours is the largest with up to 36 beds. The rest are only a max of 16 beds. Anyway, big HR let us know back in January that we are closing no later than June 31 and now we've been scrambling to find homes for over 30 profoundly, chronically psychotic individuals. ...along with finding jobs for ourselves. Yes, HR also invited us to "take the initiative" and apply for open positions on our employee job portal. Flooding the system with 6 graduate level therapists, 2 bachelor level therapists, over 40 behavioral techs, and a dozen RNs created a shortage and there has been no relief. Meanwhile, the big corporate includes a medical college and they are graduating folks in a couple months who will happily take jobs for less money.
Anyway, I've been able to ride to work a lot more lately and I'm getting much stronger. I beat a guy on an e bike up Spruce Street on the last leg of my ride home last week. It's about time for me to adjust my gearing to 48/19, as the 46 tooth chainring is a little spinny lately.
Phil
 
Phil,

That’s a pretty rough treatment. I have been laid off twice. At the end of the Cold War I volunteered for a lay off because of the rumor of loosing servants pay. I needed that money to go to grad school to get my journalism degree. Pretty much I took off for a year to attend grad school full time. I ended up completing my two year program in a year and a half.

Sounds like a tough situation, as you described.

Hang in there…

Cal
 
Work around the house today. Actually looking forward to it. I get to test drive my new Milwaukee mower.

Seems like the weather turned finally towards spring. Remember last year we had one of the longest growing seasons on record. This year seems like a delayed start, but we were behind in our planning and preparedness. Oh-well, next year will be better.

Perhaps I will have the time to wash the car. The grandson polluted the back seat with all kinds of food crumbs.

Had just enough cobblestones to extend a bed, but now I have to dig them in and remove some sod to prep a bed.

I have a planter to build for the dwarf spruce out of reclaimed Canadian pallet lumber. Formally this was used as a tiny Christmas Tree.

Still waiting on the Vermiculite…

Life is slightly messy with so many open ended items, but none are big tasks. A sense of accomplishment at the end of a day is easily achieved.

I need to build a wisteria tower to replace the dead tree that fell down. Need to get the lumber on hand and buy more screws.

There is more wood to split…

Love the warm weather. I don’t mind sweating.

The 1912 Baby-Victorian is getting mighty cute and the climbing roses are topping out over the pergola. The boxwoods are now hedges that need to be pruned.

I have 25 bags of mulch to distribute, but first I need to extend the beds. This probably I will do first, mulch, and then do the lawn.

Cal
 
My SL2 lay dormant for a while with no battery. I think eventually the camera somehow reset to the original firmware version 1.0 that is mucho old.

Now version 6.0 is installed. Pretty much it seems like a faster autofocus, brighter VF’er and screen, and a slightly different menu.

Got some expert advice about my attic. The bad is that it is structurally lightly built and is not really up to speed for much more than some storage. Could be reinforced, but not really cost effective. Knee walls would add some strength, but then the space becomes tiny and not worth the effort. Oh-well.

My attic is not vented, so pretty much there is a tipping point if I seal the attic doing a “Calzone-Job” pretty much I would create a moisture and condensation problem due to a lack of breathing. Modernizing or using modern technics only can go so far.

Perhaps the good news is that pretty much all I have to do is insulate the roof with Rock Wool and install my vapor barrier, and I’m done. Not so big a job and not expensive. No combustible rigid foam, and no need to add a layer of sheet rock for fireproofing. Pretty much the attic would be for storage.

My garage would make a wonderful studio, but the cost of doing half is so close to doing a full conversion. Mixed feelings because I like protecting the truck and the Audi. I want to keep them both a long time.

Know that up here I’m the only person I know that uses their garage as intended to park a car.

So I could store some stuff from the basement in the attic, to make space for a darkroom. The front porch is a space that is only three seasons.

What to do? Anyways I did a lot in my 650 square foot luxury apartment, but that was not the best. The best would be build out the garage…

The garage would be 400 square feet with high ceilings. Already have 100 amp service.

Hmmm…

Cal
 
Physical therapy, some socializing at Peekskill Coffee, and then some gardening.

I used my new Milwaukee mower, and it pretty much made our lawn look like a golf course. I suddenly realized how limiting the Friskar push mower is. The Milwaukee used about 3/4 of the batterie’s power. Usually it takes a few charges for a battery to get conditioned.

Usually mowing the lawn takes some effort, and pretty much it is a workout.

The house is looking groomed. I am pleased

The day started overcast, but turned out to be a really nice spring day.

A doctor’s appointment tomorrow for “Maggie.” Seems like non stop medical maintenance when you get old.

Cal
 
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