60+ year old thread.

Beautiful and so cute!

Hope it works out for you!

So, my wife listens to a early AM show and they had a segment on how gas prices are lower. In the last month the price of gas went up 23 cents a gallon at my local BJ's station. I guess Maryland was not part of the sampling for the report.

I like the Honda mowers. I have picked up two of them for free and a simple tune up and oil change put the mowers back in serviceable condition. Both mowers were around 20 years old.

Yesterday was decent overall. My primary doctor was pleased with my progress. I am waiting for the bloodwork to get back to me. I also have an account with LabCorp, so I am able to download results in a PDF form. I talked to the primary Doctor about a shoulder problem, so I have a referral for therapy. I have already made an appointment for therapy, actually 3 appointments were made.

The ENT doctor went well too. I have a loss of hearing in the right ear which makes both ears at the same level now. He wants me to get an MRI to rule out benign tumor. I have a referral and will make the appointment today.

Based on the new hearing test Costco reprogrammed my hearing aids and they are working a lot better. Maybe too well, it will take some time to get used tom the new clarity.

Today is a take it easy day. Picking up lunch for my lunch partner at Panera today and will deliver it to him and my cousin. My wife and I will dine with them for lunch. I start work as an early voting judge tomorrow so, I need to get to bed early.

 

Good Morning Porch Pals & Sue! Just waiting for the rumbles to get closer, and thrilled that there are no warnings this time! Made a successful truck trip on Wednesday to New Branunfels and San Marcos without issues or drips. That made me happy. Other than that, just home Putz on the agenda.

 

sixtys/wannabes/grandparents. We'll be seeing one of our grandchildren this weekend, looking forward to it.

I remember when Honda sold the world's most overbuilt riding mower with its liquid cooled engine and all sorts of other engineering niceties. We have a Honda generator, which cost more than other brands when we bought it. But it also worked without fail, unlike the Chinese one before it that didn't even last a year.

Speaking of generators, we finally decided earlier this year to move to a whole house unit. The smaller Honda doesn't let us run everything, which wasn't as much of an issue until the garage went in. It took 8 months for the generator to arrive but it's out there now, just waiting for the propane folks to do their thing. Naturally our power went out yesterday for 14 hours! I guess that's one way to get the gas out of the old unit...

 

Oh yeah. After early voting, I saw this creation while getting a Blizzard.

 

Good morning. Digging through the past few pages I glad to hear we are enjoying some cooler fall weather and getting ready for winter. I've shut down my sprinkler system and blown out the lines. My drains are old and I don't trust them draining all the way. I've been doing some side hustle work for a general contractor friend. He had me take my 30 gal compressor around and blow out line for 3 preschools close by. I've also winterized the exterior drinking fountains. Last year one school installed an inside designed refrigerated unit outside under a patio. They just turned off the water. The holding tank froze and ruined it. Those aren't cheap. I blew out the unit in hopes it doesn't freeze this year. Off today to do more side hustle jobs in home repair. It's a good little extra money while retired. The wife isn't complaining so far.

Last week I did walk up the trail to a small reservoir by my house. I had a rattlesnake shake at me while it was moving slow by the trail. They are looking for dens to live out the winter. I didn't take a picture of it but thought this picture was worthy of a computer background. Have a great day all.

 

Well it appears the Roku box we've been using with our ancient (easy to use and does everything we want) TV is no longer being "supported". We've already lost Amazon Prime and Hulu, and got a notice that Disney will be unavailable soon.

Free TV has been great. The Netflix model with our daughter able to put us on her service has been wonderful. Between that and an antenna we have no costs at all for the content we get.

So the new Roku boxes don't have connections that will fit on the old TV. Go figure...

Looks like we are in the market for a new TV. The questions become... what will satisfy our needs best? We won't be going to cable or dish no matter what. Is there a present day TV that works well with antenna? Is the Roku feature being built into the TV a good option? Or is it better to buy a TV without Roku and buy the box separately? What are the questions that I should be asking, but I don't know enough to ask them?

Analog guy in a digital world. I feel like I'm being forced to use tech to tell me how to count change... instead of just counting change.

 

Just got back from the Honda dealer...

 

My son bought a new Honda mower and was having a problem with it surging, constantly changing RPMs rapidly when it was started. He'd gotten so frustrated that he didn't use the mower. I was curious so I started it and sure enough it was changing RPMs. I left the machine running... and suddenly it quit the odd behavior and began to run smoothly. It doesn't do it anymore.

I understand that this is a common problem with Hondas. Could it be as simple as Honda making the machine go through a break in period for a short time with a surging engine? Some kind of programmed, short term anomaly that self fixes after enough time? I have no idea.

 

Possibly a bad wax cartridge in the autochoke

 

Does that "go away" when the machine warms up significantly? Is it designed to?

I've never heard of one. Is it like the traditional problems associated with muffler bearings? (Just kidding)

 

Travlr, The new, even cheap, smart TVs come with streaming operating systems (OS) built right in. No need for an external Roku device. The 2 most common are Samsung OS and Roku OS. I have TVs with each. Both OS's will allow you to download a streaming service app just fine. The already come pre-downloaded with most popular ones like Netflix, Prime, Disney, Hulu, etc. I had to buy a fuboTV subscription to watch the sports I wanted. Each was easy to download and install the fubo app. Roku OS is more common on more TV brands. I have a cheap TCL TV with Roku OS. I just installed a HiSense TV in the neighbors house with a Roku OS. Only Samsung TV's will have the Samsung OS. I don't find a problem with either OS's. The Roku is a little more intuitive but not by much.

 

Do you know anything about antenna capabilities? Are there TVs with better antenna reception, and how do I identify them?

 

I have a Honda mower similar to that, less than 2 years old, bought it new that started doing exactly that same thing. With Ethanol fuel, even though they claim it's okay for that mower, the low speed jet clogs way too easily. There are several videos on You Tube about it. I pulled the carb off and with a simple can of carb cleaner had it running smooth less than 15 minutes later. No problems since and I'm trying to keep some Ethanol free gas around just for the mower.

 

Afternoon all:

We aren't doing too well at deer hunting so far this year , and then off to the dentist this afternoon.

That is a beautiful picture Bryan.

 

The cartridge sets the choke and as it warms up the wax softens and releases it so to speak. Normally they work fine and lots of manufacturers use that method. Just wonder if he lucked into a bad cartridge

 

Seems to be working fine ever since the long warm-up, so I think the problem got solved.

 

Per se; the TV's don't have preferred antenna, BUT the type of antenna will make a difference. And the best type for your area will depend on what you can get. This is a handy guide to start:

DTV Reception Maps | Federal Communications Commission (fcc.gov)

After that, you can Google the best buy for you.

 

Go here to see what you can expect:
https://www.antennaweb.org/

 

Here's one for us "older" Porch residents. A while back, I complained about some high copays on Rx. I even messaged the Rx end of United Health Care. TECHNICALLY, I was in the "donut hole", so I had copay of like 60% on that Tier 4 drug. Once paperwork caught up, I realized they were correct, and forgot about complaining anymore. Turns out, even though the proposed government changes to drug benefits are "starting 2023", and more involved with Insulin than anything else - SOMETHING DID CHANGE. And that means your coverage DID change.

• The Rx drug list (formulary) normally changes on Jan 1, BUT it can change anytime. And our list changed a bunch!
• Of course, that can change prices under your plan!
• I'm not positive if this created a new Tier 5, for expensive and special use drugs, but that is what is Tier 5 on our list.
• My drugs were "Non-preferred" Tier 4, which was a healthy percentage averaging around 60% when in the hole
• My drugs are NOW "Preferred Brand" Tier 3, which (immediately) means my copy is now $47 per Rx.
• Which means they "overcharged" me during my previous payments, SO I GOT A REFUND IN THE MAIL YESTERDAY! No, of course I didn't get any explanation - I had to look all this up today.
• (Tier 1 & 2 are still generic - little or no cost)
• (Those "$5 copay" you see from manufacturers are NOT valid for Medicare patients. Any money that your Rx Service can get out of them is reflected in an "Other" category when I see my costs on the EOB statements).

So, got an expensive drug? Get online and see what your carriers might have done with it!

 

^^^^ this site also has a good section on antenna types, @Travlr . I been there^^^^