What have you been up to lately?

[GCoyote]

Make sure you communicate with the medical staff. Knowing exactly what hurts and when can help them devise specific pain management plans for you.
Hope things improve for you and soon, Juha. Keep us posted!

[Bigzmey]

Hang on in there Juha! We are all rooting for you.

[Ylem]

Hope you get well soon Juha, thanks for the update, keep in touch.

[turboscrew]

Here you can see, this is really rather a virtual club than just a discussion site.
And I do consider you as my friends.

[Star Dad]

Sorry I haven't posted for a while... it's been very busy here. We had a reenactment of the War of the Slaveholders Rebellion (aka the US Civil War) this past weekend at Fort Trumbull in New London, CT. I was actually surprised with the audience. I figured it was off the beaten track and the 8th CT Volunteers did not advertise it. 99% of the people just stumbled upon it - they were going to the fort to picnic or fish, The fort itself was completely obsolete, even before its restoration in the 1860s and wasn't completed until after the war. I'm a naval history presenter and I had some great conversations with people. I now have a couple of weeks with no definitive commitments (I have an outstanding video to produce of farm implements) so I am going to work on my AP equipment. Too much to do. And summer is near it's end. *panic mode*!

[Gordon]

Had all of my teeth extracted and got temporary dentures.

I'm at day 4 now and hanging in there!!! About a 7 on the pain level.

[pakarinen]

You doing 4-on-1 implants or sticking with dentures? My wife was an implant treatment coordinator after she got out of clinical dental hygiene (she still teaches it though) and there are places doing implants that don't have the expertise /experience to do a good job. Just a heads-up to do your due diligence if you go the implant route. (Especially since they charge around $40K here for full mouth.)

[Gordon]

I'm gonna stick with dentures. My sister in law has implants and swears by them. I figure at 73 years old dentures will do just fine.

[Chich]

A speedy recovery Juha and Gordon.

I have only had a sore back once, just lucky I guess. I certainly sympathize with those who have to endure it. Dental work? I am one of the odd ones who does not take freezing for any dental work up to and including root canals. I will draw the line at an extraction though - needle please Only had two removed, can't imagine them all.

Here, well just can't seem to catch a break. A few years ago I had a rare and aggressive cancer. Got through that as it was caught early and is now one of the more treatable ones. Was given the all clear about a year back. Now I find last week that I have prostate cancer. Other end of the spectrum though. One of the more common and slower cancers. It was quite a difference betwixt the two diagnosis, The first time I wasn't even allowed out of the ER to go back to the car for my coat: into an ambulance - to the airport - put on a plane - whisked to VGRH - into isolation. This time its "well given your age we should look at treatments, get some tests done and we'll book an appointment in a few weeks to discuss it".

Other than that we have been sorting and donating and chucking. We had a storage locker (don't get a storage locker kids!) and had to clear it out. OMG the amount of stuff that was "out of sight, out of mind". Do I really need the manual from an emergency evacuation course 15 years ago? or a pile of dot grids? Apparantly I once thought I did. Good to be sorting but it does seem like it will never end some days.

Take care all

Oh, and in the midst of this we also decided to tear the bathroom apart.

[515bonner]

I'm gonna stick with dentures. My sister in law has implants and swears by them. I figure at 73 years old dentures will do just fine.

I was just looking today at dental places near me to have my old dentures replaced. I had thought about implants, but holy crap! the cost is outrageous.
I'll be hitting 73 in December so yeah, dentures will do just fine....as they have for the past 25+ years. No need to mortgage the house for implants. :twocents:

[DEnc]

We recently moved to Humboldt County in northern California, with a lot having some very large redwood trees. Or so it seemed to us....

We just measured the circumference of the largest tree in the backyard, coming in at 22'. That's just under half of "Founders' Tree", the tallest of the coastal redwoods. Nonetheless it is a humbling sight to view!

Soon I hope to have my astronomy rig out after a hiatus of over a year. Needless to say, the viewable sky will be limited significantly by this baby behemoth and its brethren, but their silhouettes will be pleasant reminders of their majestic presences.

[turboscrew]

Hmm. It seems we already have astro dark here. Maybe one of these days there will be something to observe with the grab 'n go, and some energy to to do so too...

[notFritzArgelander]

Hmm. It seems we already have astro dark here. Maybe one of these days there will be something to observe with the grab 'n go, and some energy to to do so too...

Hopefully so!

[DEnc]

I use a compass when setting up at remote sites to get a leg up on polar alignment, and I use a custom plot of magnetic declination to get the correct offset for a given site. I’ve updated it over the years--not because a 0.5* change in the offset is going to make a difference, but, well, why not? Practical matters aside, it’s surprising to me that it’s changing so fast. Turns out that the rate of change has been increasing:--

https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observ ... ating_blob

[AstroBee]

Headed out tomorrow if the forecast continues to hold. Last time out was July 9th. I'm hoping for clear nights tomorrow and Saturday because that will be my last opportunity till the NEXT dark moon skies.

[pakarinen]

Planning on a dark site visit this weekend, but the forecast now says 50% chance of rain / storms. It's a few hours away, so I have to decide if I want to risk the time and gas. There's a pretty good independent bookstore on the way though.

[Butterfly Maiden]

Planning on a dark site visit this weekend, but the forecast now says 50% chance of rain / storms. It's a few hours away, so I have to decide if I want to risk the time and gas. There's a pretty good independent bookstore on the way though.

That is a tough decision Olen

On the one hand, you could decide not to risk it and the rain might never arrive. Then you would kick yourself for not going.

Or you could go and arrive to a deluge of rain. Maybe go for the riskier option, but have a good book list with you so that you could at least be able to browse out of the rain, and the journey to not be a total disaster

Please don't get mad at me though if it doesn't work out and feel that I was twisting your arm to go

[John Donne]

At the Tractor pull in Shipshewana.

[Butterfly Maiden]

It's the Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK so all roads around the Forest and to the coast will be busy.

We tend to stay at home to avoid the tourists/locals who are out and about at this time.

We can choose to go out any time we please when it is quieter, so there is no need to deal with the hassle of crowds.

A nice relaxing day in the garden is on our agenda today I think :smile:

[pakarinen]

At the Tractor pull in Shipshewana.

Wait, what? I was in Shipshe a few weeks ago and honestly, I don't think I saw one tractor, just a crapton of draft horses and horsedrawn buggies. Couldn't figure out why the sideroads had long, narrow patches in the asphalt. Then I realized that's where the horses trot and their shoes must abrade the pavement.