Last night I incorporated hand-gathered landscape coordinates for a ridge top between Imperial Isle East Bridge (Roads of Cyrodiil) and the City wall into my tes4ll Imp Isle .dat file. First thing this morning I created a new set of LandscapeLOD meshes to include those coordinates. Had just enough time before breakfast to fire up Oblivion and let my OCOv2 avatar walk from Sewer Exit to that particular ridge. The new coordinates indeed make LandscapeLOD and near field representations of the ridge much closer to identical. Before, the landscapeLOD mesh depicted the ridge top as being noticeably lower. Not a profound change, but LandscapeLOD mismatches have always bothered me, even back when we could do nothing about it.

ADDENDUM:
Just corrected a potential Oblivion LoadOrder faux pas. It only this morning dawned on me that I have thus far neglected to install the mod "Active Inventory Spell", which my avatar uses to gain access to NPC gear so that he can repair it for them (and occasionally give them better weapons and armor). For some reason I mistakenly moved it to my "mods no longer needed" folder then proceeded to forget about it... until now.

Other than a morning exercise-walk, today's projects all relate to my experimental Oblivion install. I monkeyed with different shrub and freestanding grass textures, but in the end kept those already in place. I installed Sounds Of Cyrodiil with the No Disencumbered Voices patch. Maybe I misunderstand what the patch is supposed to do, but my OCOv2 avatar zoned into IC Market District to be greeting by the sound of a horde of people who weren't there. That's a lease breaker for me. Just as well, several minutes later, still in the market district, the game froze. Had to reboot the PC to get out of it. Sounds of Cyrodill was uninstalled posthaste. Some things aren't meant to be, I guess.

I felt extra crappy all day yesterday so did little other than audition two full Oblivion Landscape Texture Packs, those by Discovery1 and Lougain, the latter recommended by Bevilex. In both cases I felt the packs contain some fine textures, but in the end still prefer my cobbled together goulash of bits and pieces from various texture packs (including a few from Discovery1).

This morning I finalized and printed a Neurology Report begun Sunday, in preparation for this morning's Neurology Clinic visit.

Needing to drive into town today for the Neurology Clinic visit, I postponed Monday's grocery run and will instead do so today on the way home.

I might do a partial lawn mow this evening as the sun sets. It's getting too hot to mow sooner, except early mornings when the lawn is too wet.

Bloody 'ell, what a mess!

Yesterday afternoon I decided to tackle my PC's sound production problem, which you might recall is, or was, that the left rear speaker either produced distorted sound or no sound at all. I did the normal jiggling of connection wires/cables to no avail other than occasionalyl switches from distortion to nothing and vice versa. Decided to remove my Yamaha 4-channel power amp and substitute the amp section of an old NEC a/v receiver collecting dust on a living room shelf.

Man o man is it heavy! Which is why I've been reluctant to make the switch. Made the move easier for myself by placing a desk chair with casters next to the NEC, transferring the receiver from shelf to chair, rolling chair to the computer room, then transferring the NEC from chair to its tentative new home. Even with the chair the small amount of lifting and carrying I had to do was very nearly too much for me.

NEC in place, I removed pre-power amp bridge devices from the four channels I need to use. Installed banana plugs on all four speakers cables at the receiver end. (Neither the Yamaha amp nor the speakers themselves accept banana plugs.) Hooked up speakers. Hooked up RCA audio cables Booted computer. Switched on NEC.

Eeeeep! While clean sound emitted from all four speakers, it was accompanied by loud hum, noises and crackling. Spent the rest of the afternoon and much of the evening hoping to solve that, to no avail. In the process I replaced all speaker cables (which needed doing in any case) and rerouted cabling to avoid electrical interference is so far as that is possible (which also needed doing). Reconnected the NEC's pre and power amp sections, and attached the PCs audio cables to the NEC's External 7.1 device inputs. Nothing helped.

There came a point when I knew I was better off with the Yamaha and its one flaky channel. A regrettable lesser of evils as it were. Removed connections from the NEC, removed the NEC itself (poor back), removed banana plugs from speaker cables, put the Yamaha back in place, restored its connections to the PC, booted the PC, switched on the Yamaha.

Now both rear and FRONT left speakers produced distorted sound! Nothing I tried fixed it. I had one last trick up my sleeve, one I did NOT want to resort to since it forces me to run in 2-channel mode. By then it was well past 2300, too late to try my last remaining option and get any sleep at all. Went to bed. Managed maybe 2 1/2 hrs shuteye.

Starting back in before breakfast, Removed connections from the Yamaha, removed the Yamaha, restored banana plugs to speaker cables (sigh), yet again set the NEC in place, hooked up speakers. Here comes the difference. Rather than use RCA cabling to connect PC to NEC I opted for S/PDIF, with its regrettable 2-channel limit. Fired up the PC. Configured PC for S/PDIF. Switched on the Yamaha. Set Yamaha to use its S/PDIF input. Tested. Clean sound. No dead channels, hum, noise or distortions. Success, with the big caveat of losing discrete 4-channel mode.

I can still utilize my two rear speakers thanks to the NECs many surround-sound options. Applying one of those makes music and speech every bit as good as, and often better than, the PCs discrete 4-channel mode. The bummer, and its a major bummer, is that I've lost all sense of directionality for sounds emanating to the rear in Oblivion, and I assume Minecraft and other games. That's gonna be hard to swallow. Very hard.

As if all this isn't enough....all of a sudden my PC monitor will not wake from sleep mode! The computer itself wakes just fine. Not that it matters. All I can do is switch the PC power supply off and on, wait a few seconds and turn on the computer. The monitor responds normally to a cold boot, until the first time it enters sleep mode, when the cycle begins anew. Disabling monitor sleep in Win10 power options does not prevent the monitor from sleeping and not waking. What a mess. Which is where we came in.

*snip*
The semi good new is that, near the end of the day yesterday, I forgot to switch off the monitor yet it woke from sleep when the PC did. The semi bad news is that that happened with the monitor still set to not sleep at all.

Took an exercise-walk at 0600. Excessive heat warning later today. At 0600 temp was tolerable but boy was it muggy! Heart reading circa 15min following return: Blood Pressure 96/58, Pulse 73.

Didn't feel well all yesterday so did no projects to speak of. Ordered two six-foot PC 3.5mm to RCA audio cables off Amazon, along with a neck pillow which will almost certainly prove as ineffective as all such devices I've tried. As to the PC cables, replacing mine is something I ought to have done before swapping the Yamaha power amp for the NEC receiver earlier this week. The PC audio cables I used up to the switch are a jerry-rigged affair, consisting of several short RCA cables linked together then connected the the PC 3.5mm audio cable. Those RCA cables are likely 25-35 years old and weren't best quality when new. For some odd reason it never dawned on me to replace 'em with something better until yesterday...likely too late from them to solve my PC audio dilemma, assuming cabling contributed to it, which might not be the case.

Once the new cables arrive I might or might not experiment further with the Yamaha. One thing for sure. I am NOT lifting the NEC again for any reason unless experiments prove I can safely return to the Yamaha with full discrete four-channel sound restored.

Yesterday evening I studied how to use both Oblivion Reloaded and an ENB together, but couldn't maintain focus long enough to understand instructions.

Almost forgot. One reason I placed an order with Amazon yesterday was to buy a set of casters for a contemplated PC case rolling base attachment. Was already in the process of putting the order together when I decided to take a quick break and grab something from a section of kitchen pantry I use to house misc. "project" items such as glues, electrical and other tape and so on. Rummaging through that cabinet's far rear corner I miraculously unearthed a set of four casters of the exact size and type needed. I had no idea they existed. Prolly been in that corner the better part of two decades if not longer.

An unexpected project.

Come 0501 this morning I hobbled from computer room to kitchen to prepare my meager breakfast...to be greeted by a mouse perched atop a cabinet by my loaf of bread. It scurried off lickety split. I examined the loaf closely and found no evidence that the mouse had damaged its protective wrapper but only confined itself to food crumbs of various sorts outside the packaging. I prepared and ate breakfast, downed the first of my morning medicines, brushed and gargled, dug out four long neglected mouse traps and an ancient jar of conventional peanut butter kept to bait them, baited, positioned and set the traps, and went about my business.

Following my daily exercise-walk, a shower, dressing for my weekly grocery run and downing the rest of my morning meds I made my first trap check. One had been tripped but didn't snare a victim. I reset it. That's where things stand.

I plan to keep to keep traps in place a solid week after snaring the mouse just in case.

As for my morning walk, in went as well as can be expected. What with the mouse issue on my mind I forgot to take a heart reading until after showering and dressing.

Circa 0945 addendum:
Just checked mouse traps. The trapped that triggered earlier triggered again. This time it caught a mouse. I suspected that trap would be the one that gets 'em (if more than one). Haven't disposed of the corpse yet. Will do so after finishing this update. I'll reset the trap just in case. Hurrah for peanut butter. It's never failed me as a mouse lure, even now with that jar being 15yrs expired.

The mouse sighting = Ew, but the poor mouse! I hate those traps! However, the 15 years expired peanut butter may have poisoned him anyway, so ...

News Bulletin: Decrepit snares second mouse in same trap!

Having eaten a restaurant lunch, today's supper consisted of a whole Fuji Apple and a glass of water to down my evening migraine preventative dosage. The meal, such as it was, was consumed at the PC. Once finished eating I went to the kitchen for my evening medicated inhaler treatment. Looked over at the trap, to see a snared mouse in its death throes. Must have sprung the trap just before I entered the room. By the time I finished inhaler treatment, brushed and gargled the rodent was dead. The trap is now re-baited and reset and awaits its next victim.

Speaking of mouse sightings, my most memorable rodent confrontation occurred years ago on that same kitchen counter top. It too was a breakfast encounter. As yesterday, I left the computer room to prepare my meal. As yesterday, my wrapped bread loaf sat at one end of the counter, one-half to two-thirds consumed, its wire-tied "open end" toward me. I picked to up to undo its fastening and grab a slice for toasting. The bag seemed unduly heavy. It started swaying on its own. I looked down to see long gray tail protruding from its opposite end. I was so startled I dropped the loaf on the counter top. The mouse must have been startled too. It made no attempt to escape. I recovered my wits before it did. Grabbed the loaf, rushed outside, and flung it onto the lawn. Once the sun was up I retrieved the now mouseless loaf and trashed it. I don't recall what I did about bread the rest of that week, assuming it wasn't a Grocery Run day. I suspect it might have been one of those weeks when I had two loaves on hand, as happens every now and then. Come to think on it, I was still a working man of sorts at the time. If that ruined bread was my only loaf that week I surely would have picked up more on the way home from my employment????

I prefer the mouse in the bag tossed out on the lawn story to the one dying a horrible death, urk. But having lived out in the country, I learned a trick about mice (because you can't avoid them coming into the house to stay warm in the winter when you live in the country) = I keep my bread in the freezer. When I go to make a sandwich I pull out just the pieces I need and lay them on the plate separated. They thaw in under a minute and taste just as fresh as the day they left the bakery. No mice can get at the bread that way; so no food waste.

I also use old glass jars or plastic tubs (like the tubs coffee comes in) to store my flour and sugar or keep it in the refrigerator; same with cereal. There is nothing inside for the mice to get to, so they end up either finding a better situation with a neighboring house, or they try to sneak into the outdoor cat food bowls = become the outdoor cat's problem. (or rather, next meal).

If I had known about peanut butter, I might have put a dab of it in the middle of the road in the winter, lol. See if that drew them away from my house! (I moved into the city last year, so don't have to worry about mice anymore).

Bread in the freezer? Seems an odd combo to me. If mice continue to be a problem I've give it a shot. Tastes as fresh as newly baked bread? I'm not sure I remember what newly baked bread tastes like.

That same trap snared a third mouse last night. Noticed it on the way to bed. No further caught mice or triggered traps since then.

The freezer keeps the bread fresh as the day it was bought; which should have been the same day it was made if you shop in any regular grocery store. The pieces of bread are thin and dense, thaw in a minute or less; no ice crystals to melt or ruin the texture of the bread. (it won't make the bread soggy at all).

Doh!

All yesterday no further mice were snared. I thought the matter over and done with. Just made my first trap check of the day. Another rodent has been snared. How many of the bloody things are there?

In other news, I spent a goodly portion of the day yesterday added and configuring an ENB for my experimental Oblivion build. I'm not yet quite content with sunny daytime outdoor visuals, which seem somewhat colorless and occasionally washed out. (I'm a fan of the rich, vibrant coloring achievable with vanilla Oblivion.) That said, evening exterior views can be quite impressive, especially under certain atmospheric conditions. Inclement weather looks to be a marked improvement over vanilla. Was pleased with the combo of ENB, Oblivion Reloaded, Cava Obscura and Real Lights when I observed my OCOv2 avatar explore Vilverin.

I've a couple of screenshots in the appropriate sub-forums captured with the ENB in place. Admittedly, the Vilverin doesn't do what I saw in-game justice. The IC night scene, on the other hand, is a fair representation of in-game visuals. (The cascading water seen at distance along the district wall loses something by being deprived of motion.)

As of Thursday I’ve been involved in a project I call, “Who would like to have these cats?”

Wednesday afternoon I heard meowing coming from the storm drain, and was totally suckered into coming over to investigate. A cute little cat jumped out, not needing rescue from the evil cat-eating sewer at all, and followed me home.

Then on Thursday, this happened.

Here is their four-days-old picture.

So today is a vet trip followed by hopefully dropping them off at a friend’s who said they will foster them. If she has bad test results, we make a new plan.

What color would you say she is? I have been filling out a ton of forms hoping to find an owner, and apparently “brown” is not descriptive enough.

As of Thursday I’ve been involved in a project I call, “Who would like to have these cats?”

Wednesday afternoon I heard meowing coming from the storm drain, and was totally suckered into coming over to investigate. A cute little cat jumped out, not needing rescue from the evil cat-eating sewer at all, and followed me home.

Then on Thursday, this happened.

Here is their four-days-old picture.

So today is a vet trip followed by hopefully dropping them off at a friend’s who said they will foster them. If she has bad test results, we make a new plan.

What color would you say she is? I have been filling out a ton of forms hoping to find an owner, and apparently “brown” is not descriptive enough.



ADDED: Oh! Decrepit, if you can wait a few weeks, I will mail a seven-member rodent removal team to your house!

As of Thursday I’ve been involved in a project I call, “Who would like to have these cats?”

Wednesday afternoon I heard meowing coming from the storm drain, and was totally suckered into coming over to investigate. A cute little cat jumped out, not needing rescue from the evil cat-eating sewer at all, and followed me home.

Then on Thursday, this happened.

Here is their four-days-old picture.

So today is a vet trip followed by hopefully dropping them off at a friend’s who said they will foster them. If she has bad test results, we make a new plan.

What color would you say she is? I have been filling out a ton of forms hoping to find an owner, and apparently “brown” is not descriptive enough.



ADDED: Oh! Decrepit, if you can wait a few weeks, I will mail a seven-member rodent removal team to your house!

Mom is known as a tortoiseshell tabby. The others are two orange tabbies, one cream self, and what looks like two brown tabbies and a black self, though I wouldn't be surprised if they have some oranges on them, in which case the tabbies would be tortie tabbies like mom and the dark one would be a tortoiseshell.

Mom is known as a tortoiseshell tabby. The others are two orange tabbies, one cream self, and what looks like two brown tabbies and a black self, though I wouldn't be surprised if they have some oranges on them, in which case the tabbies would be tortie tabbies like mom and the dark one would be a tortoiseshell.

Hopefully those kitties end up in good homes.


I am currently working on a presentation for one of my places of employment. The PowerPoint itself isn't related to my job, but my job every so often has what are called "Lunch & Learns" where you can talk about whatever subject you want (within a few parameters). This is my second one that I am doing.

The topic I've chosen is how the U.S. Constitution came about along with notable parts of it and some amendments (although mostly focused on its origins). I'm avidly into U.S. history--which I'm sure is a shocker based on my current avatar--and history in general is incredibly important and interesting. I chose this topic in particular because it is one of my favorite topics and it is one that gets really oversimplified when it is being taught or discussed. Thus, I want to pour into the intricacies of the story (which is way more interesting than the simplified version).

If anybody wants to see what it looks like, I'll be sure to post it when it is a final product.

First check of the day revealed a fifth mouse caught in the trap that snared the preceding four. It's been re-baited and reset and awaits its next victim. I gave the other traps a close examination. All three had been stripped of bait! They apparently aren't as sensitive as they need to be. Or mice are smarter than they ought to be. In either case those traps too are re-baited by back in place. (I might buy a couple of replacements during next week's grocery/errand run.)

ADDENDUM: I was wrong. That first mouse did indeed tear a small hole in my bread loaf, and nibbled on the crust of one slice. Noticed it while grabbing two slices for a Wowbutter sammich this lunch. I was still three or four slices away from the nibbled slice, but threw the entire loaf away anyway. I have an untouched loaf bought this past Monday to get me through the week.

No further mice caught so far.

My projects for the day consisted of waiting out power outages. The first occurred circa 0830. A robot call from Entergy said the entire town was affected, and to expect power to be restocked at around 1230. Come lunch time I didn't feel up to a Wowbutter sammich in the semi dark, so drove to town for a sit-down restaurant meal. Got home about 1215. Power had been restored. A message from Entergy on my answering machine said it was restored at 1055, ironically only a few minutes after I left the house.

Second power outage occurred 1608. Read in bed to the light of a tiny battery-powered "lantern", as I had done for during part of this morning's outage. Power restored not long ago.

Got in my exercise-walk just after 0600. Very lovely early daylight sky. Pleasantly mild temp for this time of year. Even during my unplanned lunch run it was comfortably mild.

The memory foam mattress topper arrived late yesterday. It requires 48hr expansion period before use. I'll be able to test it tomorrow evening. I expect nothing good from it. No biggie. It was relatively dirt cheap (for a memory foam topper).

Just finished the upsnazziness of the door to the back of the tractor garage. I took it down, stripped it of its hinges and knob (although it isn't really a knob) and painted the parts. Door got a lighter brown and the metal pieces turned black. It all looks really classy now

Just finished the upsnazziness of the door to the back of the tractor garage. I took it down, stripped it of its hinges and knob (although it isn't really a knob) and painted the parts. Door got a lighter brown and the metal pieces turned black. It all looks really classy now

Pics! Pics!

Pics!!! Pics !!!!!!!!!! (please?)

Bah. I knew you guys would ask


But mkey then. I'll take a pic tomorrow and then post a before/after

I remember when you first put that door in!

Me too

I was amazed it fit so perfectly when I hadn't even tried to make it fit!


Before
After
Close-up

My presentation for tomorrow is just about complete. Just putting the finishing touches on it and then I will have a final product.

Gorgeous paint job! How did you get those grooves so perfect? Awesome job!

Well, I just used a paint brush. And it's not that perfect if you come really close to it. But thanks

My presentation for tomorrow is just about complete. Just putting the finishing touches on it and then I will have a final product.

My dining room wall has grooves and a grainy wood texture (they are actual hardwood panels). It is dark blue, and I want to paint it something lighter really badly; but afraid those grooves and grainy texture will cause issues in painting it. (especially a lighter color over a darker).

Don't paint over, strip and re-prime, then paint. You might even find that the wood looks better unpainted, so then you just varnish.

That's what we did with most of the woodwork in Ghastley Towers (from which I took my handle).

Strip it, like using a scraper to remove the old layer of paint? I'll have to look up how to do that; and maybe test it on the side wall panel before tackling the long wall, lol. Thank you so much for the help!

(BTW, my Dad did that varnish thing on our house growing up, and it looked gorgeous).

Ironically, it the old paint is any good, a scrape won't be enough. You'll need a chemical (or a blowtorch/heat-gun) to get the old paint out of the grain, and then a scraper as well. The heat method basically melts the old paint just enough to pull it out like gum. The chemicals usually make a layer on top that absorbs the paint, and is easily peeled off taking the paint with it. Last time I did it, was try chemical first, then the blowtorch for the stubborn bits.

Varnished wood looks good when it's all the same wood, but some furniture was made with multiple woods with the intent to paint the result, and looks ugly when stripped. And sometimes you find it's not real wood, but a chip/fibre material that had a grain pressed into it.