New heating-cooling register in dining area.

I dusted off my handyman skills a few days ago, and did a job that Wendy and I have been talking about for several years.  This was to turn a vent around that sent hot and cold air into the laundry room to supply instead a good vent in the dining area of our kitchen.  We experienced the heating and cooling in the kitchen as not being adequate with only a single vent under the sink while the living room and master bedroom have two vents and seem to get almost too much air.  Also, Wendy did not think that the laundry room vent was of any value.  So, we cut a hole in the sheet rock to access the duct work, disconnected the existing register, drilled a hole in the kitchen floor right by the left side of the sliding glass, and put in a replacement register that directs a great blast of air up into the dining area of our kitchen.  Wendy can stand over this register and get quite comfortable on very hot days.

Also, before I did this work we got two bids from HC contractors--$400, not counting the sheet rock work.

VOA manual publication

To try to get more support for continuing and enlarging on our work with Venturer Officers Associations, I recently pulled together materials we have used over the last several years with the VOA in our stake, and published it into a 46 page pamphlet or manual.  It looks quite good, I think.  I used Lulu.com, the same on-line on-demand publisher that printed the several family history books for me over the last few years.

Impressive animal intelligence and cooperation

Along our walk thre were three horses, standing parallel, with the two outside animals facing the opposite way from the middle horse, whose tail was swishing and whipping around in a major way.  We guessed this was a cooperative effort to keep flies away on a hot summer morning.

Eagle project idea

Along the walk, we saw a dozen or so new birdhouses fairly high in trees along the river.  They looked home-made and we wondered who had constructed them and place them along the river walk.  We thought this might be an eagle project idea that could be replicated.

How many rock-chucks can you spot?

Walking along the SF river trail a couple of days ago, we spotted a large colony of rock chucks (yellow-bellied marmot) in big rocks along the river that had been placed there in spots to protect the banks from erosion.  They were shy but came out in droves when we stayed still.

There is a prize for the winner.

We cannot tolerate gluten any more

We have embarked on a new adventure.  Wendy has just been diagnosed with a gluten intolerance or celiac disease.  We have learned that gluten is a substance that is a part of wheat, rye and barley.  The basic problem is that for some persons the substance irritates and scars the lining of the small intestine, which results in poor nutrition, pain, and other unpleasant effects.

We are privileged now to join an exclusive little group with two other couples who sit in our own bench right behind the deacons who are passing the sacrament.  Someone in this group must bring gluten-free bread in little individualized plastic bags and in a separate tray.

We are hoping that her condition is of the less severe variety.  In the most severe form, besides the problem of ingesting gluten, even touching or perhaps breathing in microscopic particles of some substance containing gluten sets off a reaction.  One lady in our ward breaks out in a sort of hives with any kind of exposure.

And there is a new vocabulary to learn, a person having become “glutenated” or “glutenized.”  This refers to an acute reaction due to having either ingested or been exposed to gluten.

Isn't the brain wonderful?

Wendy and I have been comparing notes about our respective brains.  Each of us thinks that the other's mental capability has some special features (apps?).

I am convinced that Wendy has a thermometer in her head.  She routinely can come within a degree or two of the current temperature.  And there also is clock there somewhere so that she can sense the exact time at any moment.  She always knows the date and the day of the week without consulting anything other than querying her mental calendar.

Most remarkable is the spreadsheet in her brain which contains vital data about acquaintances.  I can picture it in my mind.  The first column contains persons’ names.  Then comes a series of columns for date of birth (probably separate entries for day, month, and year) and perhaps some miscellaneous information about that date, such as the day of the week and the time of the day or night when it occurred, perhaps also including something about odd or interesting facts associated with the birth.  Next I think is an age calculator column.  Telephone number would probably would be next.  And so forth.

This mental spreadsheet has some advanced features, like the ability to sort the entire data base by specific columns.  For example, it can provide listing of birthdays occurring during a given month or by day of the month.  I can picture Wendy mentally clicking on a column header, such as month of birth, there being a brief whirring sound, and in a  moment all of the rows are relocated, with January first, February second, etc.

In return, Wendy accuses me of having some tools in my head also.  The first is a compass.  I almost always know where true north is (no magnetic north adjustment needed) and the direction we are taking.  As a matter of fact, it is quite disconcerting to lose true north temporarily and I exhibit significant anxiety symptoms.

This compass also comes with an atlas with a full compliment of broad and detailed maps which emphasize roads, but also may be the layout for complex buildings, such as the interior of a temple.  The atlas also comes with a route calculator, like that of a GPS, that calculates the shortest distance to travel to another place, but also may take into consideration freeways vs. slower roads to suggets the best way to travel.

Finally, she thinks I have calculator in my brain which can crunch numbers to give at least close estimates of basic math problems.

Isn’t the brain a wonderful thing?