Things to report

R.I.P. Friend

Some things to report since last bloggin’.

Our old kitty Friend died Friday, after a long decline. We already miss her dearly.

We are now back at three cats: Fleur and Griffin, 15-year-old sister and brother, and the new kid Betty (we think maybe 3 years old), about whose saga I’ve blogged a bit over the last few months. This crew has integrated fairly well, and peace reigns 99% of the time.

Yesterday we took a little road trip to visit my dad, who lives up north of Portland. My two sisters were there too. A lovely visit and a lively chat. That’s the first time I’ve driven that far since 2019! And the first time since November that I haven’t done my Saturday “Armadillo Radio Show.”

Today is the 3^rd espisode of my new radio show that features jazz, classical, ambient, and chill beats music: “Sunday, Randomly Chilled” on Radio Free Random, 8 a.m. Pacific, 4 p.m. UK time. No talking, just music. Usually goes for 3+ hours. Live link: mixcloud.com/live/radiofreerandom.

And finally, a shout out to our amazing new vacuum cleaner! I love it! It’s a Miele Blizzard CX-1 with a powered rug beater that you can turn on and off at the handle (off for vacuuming bare floors and throw rugs). Made especially for homes with dogs and cats. Works great on long human hairs too. Did I say I love it??

One more thing. My birthday gadget this year (next month) is a Lumix 100-300mm f/4-5.6 super zoom lens for my GX85 camera. Can’t wait to open it!

Same

We had some glorious days of warmth and sun, got some hikes in, but yesterday and today are back to rain rain rain. I’ve been on the radio a lot. That’s my report.

Rainy, radio, reclusive

I’m not sure much has changed since last blog. Rainy, radio, reclusive. Because it’s been rainy, we’ve hiked less, and because we’ve hiked less, I’ve taken fewer photos in the last couple weeks than I’d like to have. But I’ve been on the radio a LOT. Three hours seems to be the minimum duration for impromptu “pop-up” Radio Free Random shows lately, and several times I’ve sailed past the four-hour mark still having fun. And almost every transmission gathers a lovely little audience of listeners who enjoy using the chatbox. At the same time, I’ve been reclusive in terms of real-life engagement. Last November, I started going out to hear music at night, but then Betty the new kitty showed up, and her surgery and recovery removed the wind from my rocking-out sails. And I haven’t gotten back into going out again… yet.

My big news is that Radio Free Random has been selected to cover popular Southampton UK DJ Hammy’s Friday night show tomorrow! It’s a big break for my radio station, and I’m a little nervous and a lot excited! The broadcast is 1pm-5:30pm Oregon time (PDT) and 8pm-12:30am UK time (GMT). Tune in live: https://mixcloud.com/live/radiofreerandom

Yesterday I got a couple music-related items in the mail. One was a CD of Chrissie Hynde’s 2014 album Stockholm, which I’ve wanted since it came out. It’s not on Spotify or YouTube, so I finally decided to just order it. I listened to it twice all the way through last night and I love it! Her voice is one of my absolute favorites in pop music. The other item was a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M50X professional headphones. I’ve already got the M40X headphones, but I use those for RFR in my upstairs studio, and I didn’t want to keep appropriating them for recreational listening as well as more intense music-mixing in Ableton on my laptop downstairs. Also, even though I have decent earbuds, pro headphones are much preferable for long listening sessions.

Looks like we’re going to be treated to a dry and warm spell for the next few days. Hoping to get out and reestablish our hiking habit and shoot some photos!

As random does

Feb. 25, Arlie Park.

Hi, hello, howdy. The recent chessthusiam was… brief. Although if somebody wants to play me over-the-board at Cowfish, I’m down! Radio broadcasting is up, and so is my listening to other Mixcloud streams. Photography steps along, possibly my most consistent activity. I need to have a camera in my hand when we hike. It’s mostly photos of trees, but trees are cool, and occasionally I snap a great photo of some kind of wildlife; I’m getting better at birds in flight. Still considering whether a new 100-300mm lens would be good to get.

I have too many paintings, my paintings, sitting around. Time to move ‘em! I want to sell them cheap. Thinking about ways that could happen without too much work. I do know that I don’t want to ship them, so the buyers need to be local.

During last Swarm, I re-committed to mixing lelu’s and my band recordings, and I do indeed want to do that. But the enthusiasm needs to rekindle a bit brighter in me. I’m pretty bad at doing things for any other reason than that I’m fired up about them. Radio is the fire right now, and I’m listening to lots of music, auditioning tracks for my radio shows. That’s where my ears are right now.

As the weather changes and the time changes (to daylight saving on March 10), I think my brain will reshuffle, as will my passions. But as always, random is as random does. Thanks for reading.

Hiking trails / delayed chess set / Betty / too much radio / new printer

Looks like I might have another in-person over-the-board chess game this coming week! My friend Michael messaged me last night to see if I’m available Monday. Yes! When? And speaking of The Game of Kings, I got a notification yesterday that the regulation tournament chess set I ordered on January 29 “may be lost.” Last time the package was scanned, days ago, it was in West Jordan, Utah. It may be that the Pineapple Express rainstorms in California caused a big backup in the delivery system. I could request a refund and re-order, but if it does show up, I don’t want to deal with returning it. So I shall wait awhile longer.

Ice storm memories are fading into the past, and several of our favorite hiking trails have opened back up, but Buford Park/Mt. Pisgah is still closed and may be “for months,” I’ve read. Today is a big national sporting/trash culture event on TV, so we’re thinking that we’ll hike and perhaps encounter very few other humans out there. We’ll see!

Betty is continuing to integrate nicely into our household. Far fewer incidents of violence, and even some calm periods when she and the other cats are peacefully coexisting in fairly close proximity.

I kind of over-radio’d myself last week, many many hours on the air transmitting and listening to other Mixcloud stations. I think I’ll be much more chill this week and stay off the air mostly.

Totally enjoying our new (as of December) fancy inkjet printer. Looking back through blog posts, perhaps I’ve not mentioned it yet? It’s an Epson ET-8550 “lab quality” “tank” printer. No cartridges! You refill its SIX color ink tanks from bottles. In addition to regular cyan, yellow, magenta, and black, this one also has “photo black” and gray. I’ve printed many dozens of photos, and the tanks are only down about 30% if that. We bought an extra set of ink bottles when we got the printer, but at this rate I might not have to use them until next year! It’s just sipping ink. I’ve been printing out my Lightroom-processed photos on 4×6” glossy paper, and they are turning out great! Really nice to have a stack of physical photographs to look through, to show visiting friends, and to include with letters.

Thus concludes this report. Thanks for reading, and Happy Year of the Wood Dragon!