Category Archives: Optical

20240801-04_A busy-start-to-August

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NOTE:  This is a moderate length post (for me).  It has two (2) photos with captions, both taken by me (Bruce) with a Google Pixel 6 Pro.

 

THURSDAY 01 thru SUNDAY 04 August 2024 — Heat, rain, mosquitoes, and a busy week (BdW guests, laundry appliances, dogs, glasses, finances, and more) but no more yard work

 

Thursday 01 August … New glasses, a dead battery, more work tables, and Wild Turkeys in a tree

I got a text message yesterday that my new/remade tri-focal glasses were ready, so we made a trip to the Brighton SVS Vision Center to pick them up.  But not in the F-150.  When I tried to start it, the battery was completely dead.  It turned out that the headlight switch had been moved from the AUTO position to the Running Lights position, and left that way overnight.  Mea culpa, and I should have known, but I ignored the chime that continued when I turned off the engine last night and removed the key.  Dumb.  We took Linda’s car instead.

My new tri-focal glasses were correct this time, improving my distance vision just enough to make road signs at various distances sharper.  The reading and middle portions of the lenses were the same as before.  The optician made adjustments to the ear hooks and the nose pads until they sat correctly on my face with its slightly askew nose, which was broken many, many years ago.  I also had her look at my reading glasses.  I got the lenses there a month or so ago, but had them use an existing frame that I liked.  One of the ear covers had cracked and separated into two pieces.  She was able to heat them both up (left and right, one at a time) to remove them and replace them with new ones.  She also noticed that the nose pads were cracked and needed to be replaced, so she did that as well.  She then adjusted the ear hooks and nose pads so they sat correctly on my slightly crooked face.  No charge for the extra services.

Back home, we stopped at the barn and I retrieved a battery charger and a set of jumper cables.  The truck was in the garage.  The engine compartment is “tall”, so I placed the battery charger on the fold out platform of a 6 ft stepladder.  This allowed the battery cables to reach the battery in the engine compartment and the power cord to reach a nearby ceiling outlet.  I connected the cables, plugged in the power cord, and set the operating parameters:  AGM, 25 Amps.  The display quickly ramped up to 25.8 Amps and stayed there.  That was good news; some battery chargers will not work unless they detect at least some minimum voltage level from the battery.  I am hopeful that the battery will recover; it’s only a few years old had never been abused prior to this accidental discharge.

The bottom end of one of the Rockler Rock-Steady 32” legs with the adjustable foot installed, but not adjusted or tightened.

The Rock-Steady leg is a simple, but cleaver, design.  A flat sheet of steel is machined with various openings, both round and square, to allow other components to be attached, either with machine screws/bolts, or with carriage bolts.  The bottom end is partially slit at the mid-point to form two tabs, one slightly longer than the other.  The tabs are then bent 90 degrees, shorter one first and then the longer one.  The entire sheet is then folded along its midline, forming an angle iron, with the tabs overlapping.  The overlapping tabs are drilled to accept the adjustable feet, and the whole piece is then power-coated.

I changed into my work clothes and headed to the barn to assemble the last (for now) Rockler Rock-Steady Work Table.  I attached this one to the table along the south wall of the shop that was already attached to the Corner Table in the SE corner of the shop.  In this configuration, I will have a work surface along the south wall of the shop that is at least 20” deep and 144” (12’) long.  It will end just shy of the “protected” (no storage allowed) area in front of the shop/storeroom electrical sub-panel.  A picture will make this much clearer.

The workshop (in the barn) as seen from the entry door looking east.  The Corner Stand to the left (NE corner of the shop) has two Rock-Steady Work Stands attached.  The Corner Stand to the right (SE corner of the shop) also has two Rock-Steady Work Stands attached, plus a third Rock-Steady Work Stand along the wall on the right, which is attached to the one from the Corner Stand.

It was warm in the shop, even with a box fan running, so I got a bit sweaty and took a shower before dinner.  Having only had a muffin for breakfast, and skipping lunch, Linda made a large salad and we had an early dinner around 4 PM.

As we were eating, Linda noticed a lone Wild Turkey resting at the base on one of our large White Pine trees to the east of the valley for our walk-out basement door.  We thought that was odd, but it seemed to be okay.  As we were clearing the table, I saw a small turkey (jake) drop out of the tree, and then another one.  I called Linda over, and we watched the entire flock, including the other adult, drift down out of the tree.  So, it wasn’t a lone turkey after all; it was our usual flock of 10.  It was the second time this week that I had seen them in a tree, and the first for Linda.

 

Friday 02 August … Boondockers, bus chat, and financial chat

Rick (BdW PeachyTravel) was out this morning with their dog, Barkley, and we had a nice chat.  They pulled out before I left to meet Chuck S. at 11:30 AM for lunch at Leo’s Coney Island in S. Lyon.

Chuck and I had a lot to catch up on, and occupied a booth for three (3) hours!  The restaurant was busiest from noon to 1 PM, but had open seats the whole time there, and no one suggested we should move on.  It rained off and on while driving there, while we visited, and on the drive home.  By 5 PM we had a lot of standing water in the usual low spots around our property.

During the afternoon, I got a call from Kishen, one of our financial advisors at Stifel-Nicolaus.  We had a nice chat and made an investment decision.  We have been 100% satisfied with this company and the specific team of people we work with directly.  Sometime during the day, Linda also talked to Nan (of Paul & Nancy) regarding the cruise we are all taking in early December.

BdW guest Marcia B was supposed to arrive today for a 2-night stay, but cancelled last night.  It happens, and cancelations are never a problem for us as long as we know.  We are also RVers, and we understand that things can happen, even at the last minute, that change travel plans.

 

Saturday 03 August … A birthday and party planning

Today was our son’s 46th birthday (1978).  Linda wanted to have the family over to celebrate, but today was not convenient, so it was set up for tomorrow.   I do not recall what I did today, but it probably included a trip to Recycle Livingston to get rid of our household recyclables, doing laundry, and working at my desk.  The mosquitos have been very bad, so we have temporarily eschewed working on the property.  Linda spent a good part of the day preparing for the family get-together.  That included cleaning the house, a trip to the grocery store, and preparing food.  At some point, I brought chairs up from the basement and we put the expansion leaf in the dining room table.

 

Sunday 04 August …  A family gathering and a birthday celebration

Linda arranged a family gathering for today at our house to celebrate our son’s birthday.  Brendan was there (of course) with his daughters (Sadie and Madeline) and our daughter, Meghan, was there with her husband, Chris.  Brendan’s wife, Shawna, whose birthday was in 11 more days, had previously made plans to go out of town for a weekend with her girlfriends.  She was missed, but everyone still enjoyed themselves.  Our daughter made a vegan peanut-butter chocolate cake for dessert; vegan for us and peanut-butter/chocolate for her brother.  It was amazing.

When everyone had left, we just relaxed.  In the evening, we continued watching the NBC recap of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

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20240715-21_Vision_&_Hearing

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NOTE:  This shorter post contains one (1) photo with caption, taken by me (Bruce) with a Google Pixel 6 Pro.

 

MONDAY 15 and TUESDAY 16 July 2024 — Vision and Hearing

 

Monday 15 … Optical

By today, Linda was well on her way to recovery from her cold.  I was also a lot better, but definitely not fully recovered yet.  We had another fairly easy day, but I did test my new tri-focal glasses as well as my previous pair (from at least 8 years ago).  I was only interested in the distance portion of the lenses, as the reading and arm’s length prescriptions in my new glasses were fine.

My test setup consisted of a box of cat litter as a target; a white box with a solid blue panel, with white letters.  The large letters were ~ 3/4” high and the small letters were ~ 1/4” high.  I set the box on our patio table facing east so it was illuminated by the morning sun.  Beyond the box were bushes and trees at various distances, all well-illuminated.  I estimated the farthest trees to be about 130 feet beyond the target.  I secured the free end of my 100-foot tape measure at the front edge of the target and un-reeled it along the deck to the far east end, which turned out to be 70 feet.

The front panel of a box of Dr. Elsey’s Cat Litter served as the target for testing my new tri-focal glasses and comparing them to my old ones.  It was well lit with sunlight, and had both larger and smaller letters with good contrast, so it made a good target.

With Linda’s assistance, we noted how clearly I could see the letters on the target at increasing distances in 5-foot increments, starting at 5 feet from the target.  (Somewhere around 40 feet, we went to 10-foot increments up to 70 feet.)  We also noted how sharp things appeared beyond the target.  We did this first with my un-aided vision.  We then repeated this procedure with my new glasses, and then again with my old glasses.  What we found was that I could see the target fairly well without glasses out to about 45 feet, and that things farther away were less sharp, but not too blurry.  With my new glasses, everything was less sharp at every distance, getting worse with increasing distance.  With my old glasses, however, the target and everything beyond was sharper at every distance compared to my un-aided vision.

I had a return visit at 16:00 with our new optometrist at the Kellogg Eye Center (KEC) at the UofMH-BCSC.  I shared the results of my testing with the technician, and again with the optometrist.  The technician did not really seem interested in my test, re-checked my eyes, and then checked my new tri-focal glasses as well as my previous pair.  She basically told me my new glasses were fine.  Uh, no, they are not.

Fortunately, the optometrist listened carefully, took my concern seriously, and acknowledged what I needed my tri-focal glasses to do.  She re-tested my eyes and came up with a revised prescription.  She even took me to an outside window with a view of several signs in the parking lot at various and considerable distances.  She held up additional corrective lenses until I could see the signs clearly and then finalized a new prescription.  If my replacement lenses achieve the same clarity, I will be very satisfied.

Rain was in the forecast again for today and overnight, which probably meant our lawn care guy (Keith) would not be able to mow tomorrow.  Such are the vagaries of weather-dependent work.

 

Tuesday 16 … More optical, and an online Cochlear meeting

Well, it did indeed rain overnight, a lot.  We had standing water around the property and mowing the grass did not seem prudent.  Keith texted me around 8 AM to see what the situation was and we agreed that he would skip mowing our property this week.  Unfortunately for his, his makeup day is Monday, so if he cannot mow us on Tuesday (our regular day) it has to wait a week, or I have to do it.

Our Boondockers Welcome guests, Dave and Martha T., left around noon.  Their next stop was the Jellystone Family RV Resort in Frankenmuth, Michigan.  We will be there in early Fall.  When they had left, I headed to the SVS Vision Optical Center in Brighton with my new tri-focal glasses and my revised prescription.  The optician was very helpful and it did not take very long to return the glasses and get the new prescription ordered.  There will not be a charge for the replacement lenses as I was well within the 45 “no questions asked” return/adjust period.

Back home, Linda had a 4 PM online meeting with a representative from Cochlear.  There was another woman (client) in the meeting, and I sat in out of curiosity.  The meeting was conducted using Microsoft Teams, but Linda did not have to install anything on her laptop computer.  (I had to use MS Teams back in June 2022 just after we entered Canada.  I was randomly selected for a CoVID-19 test, and the test had to be monitored by someone online.  I used my iPad Pro, and had to install the MS Teams app.)  The reason for the meeting, was that Medicare covers the cost of replacing a Cochlear device every five (5) years and Linda was now eligible for a replacement.

Cochlear is always working to improve their products, and Linda was excited about getting the newest version of the external processor.  Cochlear handles the entire order and delivery process, coordinating with our BCBS Medicare Plus health insurance and with Linda’s audiologist.  The new processor will be shipped directly to our house, and will be pre-programmed with the current settings as last determined by the audiologist.  Linda had already uploaded a lot of information to Cochlear, and the purpose of the meeting was to finalize the details on what she wanted, including a choice of accessories.  Of no small importance, we learned that Linda does NOT have to return her current processor, but will retain it as a backup.

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