One of the office computers is old enough that we should retire it. After over 6 months of discussion, the board approved a new computer. I spent most of the weekend installing software and moving files. Hopefully, the day-to-day office functions are ready for use. We have two sets of security access cards. I’m holding off on changing those until we’re confident the computer is running well.

Danita and I took Bud to a dermatology appointment Wednesday. We’re down to just one more doctor appointment for Bud, in a couple of weeks. Woo-Hoo! Ed and Lynne dropped Addie and Suzanne at our house while they visited Bud Friday. We took the opportunity to set up a Zoom with Bryon and Elizabeth. All four kids seemed to enjoy it. B & E start school next week.

Mark and Jiajia visited yesterday. We had an excellent brunch and a very nice time talking. Plus we got to see their new car. It has plenty of room for a baby car seat. They were going to stop at Ikea on their way back home to look at baby furniture. Jiajia is in her new job as assistant dean. It didn’t take her long to learn what it’s like to work with faculty.

This evening we’re having the first neighborhood social function since the pandemic started. Two food trucks are visiting. We can’t all sit in the clubhouse like we used to do. Some people will sit on the porch. We have pool umbrellas set up in a couple of visitor parking areas. I’ve invited the people in our building to join us for a picnic in our driveway. All outdoors with proper social distancing, all providing our own everything (including chairs). Of course.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We had a socially distanced meal with Ed, Lynne, and their grand-girls this week. Ed and Lynne took Bud to one of his doctor appointments. They dropped Addie and Suzanne at our house. The girls largely entertained themselves. Danita prepared dinner wearing a mask, to make sure she didn’t accidentally infect the food. And I attended still another board meeting about the office computers. It was a good meeting. After about 6 months of discussion, the board approved a new computer. Then Ed & Lynne stopped on their way home and we had dinner together, socially distanced 6 feet apart, with two set of serving pieces.

Danita has personal good news this week. She took her last prednisone pill. She has some minor issues, which will hopefully slowly fade into history.

Thursday our neighbors came over. We sat on the back porch, 6 feet apart, with our own snacks and drinks, and had an evening of conversation.

WBAL TV is still not working. I re-arranged the TV antenna and found that we can record the DC station. That shows promise.

All in all, it was a good week. I hope this finds you doing well.

There’s big news this week. Huge news. Gargantuan. It’s the new TV antenna, and it is … well … big. The whole thing started when Danita couldn’t record some of her favorite shows. It turns out they were all on MeTV (channel 2.2), which is also the NBC network on channel 2.1. I looked, there was no signal for channel 2. I looked at the signal levels for other channels. They were all surprisingly marginal. I did a new channel scan. Still no signal. Obviously, our reception dropped below the threshold. I bought a new antenna. It’s meant to be mounted outdoors, but our HoA won’t allow that. I decided this antenna was large enough to find the signal if it was available. That would at least be a starting point to solve the problem. If the antenna was overkill, I could send it back.

The antenna did the trick. The Baltimore stations went from marginal to excellent, except PBS, which went to OK. And except for 11, which still had no signal. A few more channel scans later, there was finally enough signal that the TV recognized channel 11, but just barely. Sometimes we could see a picture, sometimes we couldn’t. I finally called WBAL. They said they had changed frequencies on July 1 and were having trouble with their antenna, so they were broadcasting on a backup antenna. They’re working day and night to get this fixed as soon as possible. So far, it’s been 11 days and 11 nights, and it ain’t fixed yet.

So why did WBAL TV have to change their broadcast frequency? Because mobile phones are more popular than broadcast TV. The FCC took away some of the TV bandwidth, sold it to cell phone companies, and started a “repacking” process to get all the existing TV stations to fit in the remaining channel space. The deadline for repacking was July 1. One Baltimore station apparently went out of business. Three DC stations are still working on switching to their new frequency. All of this happened during COVID. Advertising revenues are down. Weak stations sharing transmitters and working with old equipment are struggling the most. Nobody will be surprised to note that the stations having the toughest time serve minority or overtly religious communities. One would think there would be an outcry from minority communities. But I haven’t heard a single peep. Probably I’m listening to the wrong crowd, but still I’m amazed at how quiet all this is.

Anyway, our new antenna is in and apparently it’s going to stay. To give you an idea of the scale, the mounting board is 20″ x 36″. We could decide to move it into the attic, but I can’t fit my big old body into our cramped attic. If we decide to move the antenna, we’ll have to hire somebody.

Danita had a minor medical problem. She got quite a rash on her skin. She went to our medical practice emergency care. They aren’t taking appointments during COVID. It’s first come / first served. After signing in, going back to the car, and waiting 2 hours, she called to see how much longer the wait will be. They said there were 30 people in front of her. She came home and took an antihistamine. That gave a pretty dramatic improvement. Our working theory is that it was the sun block she wore to the pool.

That’s all for this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

This is getting tiresome. It has to be the quietest Independence Day since 1775. But we’re still staying the course. If we had any thoughts of loosening up, they were dispersed by Jul’s COVID scare.

The good news is we had another red letter day this week. Riderwood is allowing visits to residents in independent living. Danita and I went down to see Bud. Bud was in good spirits. Danita set up aids to visit Bud 2 hours a day 3 days a week. It was easy to see they have helped quite a bit. There was no spoiled food. The apartment was disorganized but clean. Pill compliance looked pretty good. We took Bud out for some blood work. Everything went smoothly. Friday Bud will have his first video doctor’s visit. Danita is bringing her computer. The Riderwood guest WiFi works very well. It should be interesting to see Bud’s reaction.

Our TV antenna has always been OK but marginal. This week, it went under the margin. I think it was a combination of very hot temperatures (mid-90s), very high humidity, and lots of rain this spring that brought lots of growth. The foliage and humidity are sucking up the signal. At lest that’s my story. I ordered a larger TV antenna. Let’s hope size matters.

We went to look at Anderson sliding doors this week. The doors were very nice, but the screen was not very good. The most important aspect of the deck doors to us is the screen, because that’s the only way to let fresh air in the house. So Anderson is scratched. Pella doesn’t have sliders in their showroom. (The receptionist actually tried to claim this was a COVID related issue.) This shouldn’t be that hard. If I could get away with it, I would put a wooden screen with a spring. You know the kind. You push the door open and walk through. The spring creaks as it stretches around the edge of the door. You release the door, and it bangs behind you. The best ones bounce a little and bang twice. The most important feature — a hook and eye to latch the door shut. Good times from the past.

That’s the news for this week. I hope everybody is doing well.