Whenever I come into the house to get Dani, Uma always smiles. Maybe it’s knowing Dani will be leaving, but over the time I have known these amazing people, I have had the most interesting conversations with her. I will say something to her to be friendly and the next thing I know, she is off on a conversation telling me about something. Like the first time I met her, she started telling me how she fell out of the attic.

So, the other day, as Dani was getting ready to leave, she started telling me how she will be going on a trip at the end of the month to Orlando, Florida for a class reunion for some medical university. I honestly think everyone in her family, expect maybe her daughter, is in the medical profession. Somewhere in the conversation, and I really cannot remember how this came up, she said sleeping on the floor is better than sleeping on a bed.

She didn’t give me time to look baffled, and said all floors are the same, whereas every bed is different. I honestly cannot think of a way to refute that, so I just said, “Well, I guess that’s true.”

During this conversation, she kept fidgeting with a belt. It was black and shiny and was about 3″ wide. I was going to ask her what she was doing with that belt, but she beat me to it. She said she went to such and such store and this belt was priced at $60, but the price was cut to $20, then it was also half off. So, she got a $60 belt for 10. She seemed quite pleased as she continued trying to figure out a way to wear it.

Some time back, she mentioned something about smiling. I really do not remember, and probably didn’t understand it at the time, but I told her I never smile because I am German. This caused her conversation to tangent off about how handsome the Germen men are. How she went to Hamburg and was just mesmerized how handsome they are.

I never know what to expect when I am there, but I know I can trigger some interesting, and sometimes thought provoking conversation when I talk to her. If she is sitting in front of the TV in the wheelchair she doesn’t have to use anymore, but does so because it is comfortable, I know whatever I say will take off sideways.

And one of the many things I learned from Life, is sideways conversations are the best. I first learned that in the amazing continent of Africa.

Their house has a huge backyard with an old, but beautiful fountain. In days past, Uma told me they had many parties in back and she wants to do that again. So, I got out there and got the lighting repaired and got the fountain running again. The tile work in the fountain needs to be repaired and I understand a company has ordered the tiles necessary.

She told me, that once it’s all fixed, she wants to have parties out there again and invite me to make everyone laugh. That itself is a funny thought. I wonder if I will get to eat any of the food.

Most of you may find this post a little boring, so just pretend you find it interesting and read on.

I‘ve always love working with electrical and mechanical gadgets, so when I acquired my Dad’s old generator, I was delighted to get it hooked up. I changed out the oil, gassed it up and replaced the fuel filter. Living in this part of the country, there is always a possibility to lose power for possibly a week or more. With the hurricane Beryl heading to the Gulf Coast, I quickly completed the setup, but Beryl meandered off towards Houston.

But it is completed and ready for any situation, other than nuclear war.

A couple of years ago, I upgraded the electrical service on the house and replaced the electrical panel in the garage that feeds all the single circuits in the house. I installed a separate breaker in the panel to use as the generator feed, and added a receptacle in the garage for the generator to connect to.

And since I like cool gadgets found on eBay that are cheap, I added a panel with instruments in it so I can monitor the generator output while in use.

Next step was to add markers in the panel to show which breakers to turn off during the generator use. The pretty pink (or whatever color they are) are the breakers to be on during use.

If you look at the image above, there is a metal thing that must be in the up position for the generator to feed the panel. It also forces the main breaker into the `off’ position so the generator will not back-feed in to the incoming service.

The breakers with the pretty dots feed my kitchen refrigerator, microwave, the garage circuit and a small lighting circuit. Once the system is in use, I will run the generator intermittently for about an hour or so. It will actually depend on the refrigerator. I have WIFI thermometers in both sides of the unit and when the freezer section gets too warm, I will crank the generator up until it reaches a satisfactory temperature.

Once the generator is running, I will open the garage door, back out the vehicle and open an additional window with a fan in it, to remove the exhaust.

Now, all that is left is sit with whiskey and wait for power to drop out, and hope it’s not nuclear war.