Damned Poultry

 The early part of the morning followed its usual path. Coffee and tea were consumed, breakfast was eaten, and we made ourselves ready to address the day.

I updated the accounts, and then we drove into the village so that Di could return some packages, post some letters, and collect her meds. Once home, I waded through a small pile of ironing. It was during this exercise that Zoe and Ellie dropped by. Ellie had a few marks which she put down to mosquito bites and also a sore arm that she put down to all of the cartwheels she had been turning. Zoe had arranged an appointment at the doctor's.

After lunch, we sat in the cool of the living room and enjoyed some Kindle-time. It was during this that Zoe phoned. It turned out that Ellie had a dose of chickenpox and was feeling particularly sorry for herself (as you would expect). At least she has a couple of weeks to get over it before returning to school. In the meantime, we can play "join the dots" on Ellie's tummy!

We are due to go away later in the week. We are staying in the New Forest - if we can get there. This week's dreadful heathland fires are blocking many of the obvious routes to our destination. It is pointless trying to second-guess what will happen over the next couple of days, but hopefully the Fire Brigade will manage to get things under control.

In and Out and Celebrate

 Today has been a bit of a yo-yo. We were up and about soon after seven, and the day started in its normal fashion. (I am assuming, here, that taking Jasper to the vet is a normal exercise, now!) We got him to the vet in time for his 10:00 appointment, but he wasn't seen until 10:30, by which time he was getting somewhat stressed. He seems to have stabilised after his recent troubles and isn't now due back until next month.

Back home, we cracked on with various domestic activities and even managed some Kindle time. Mid-afternoon, however, we were back in the car and heading for Chichester. Di had her appointment with the surgeon to review her progress. The appointment went well. He was delighted with her progress and signed her off. She was told the joint would continue to improve for the next 6-8 weeks, and then more slowly for the next 18 months. After that, it will be as good as it will get. His comment was that she can now do anything she feels comfortable with, and that there will be days when it aches because she has pushed too far, but not to worry that she has done or could do any damage. This was excellent news, and we are delighted with the outcome.

Today was also Zoe's birthday. She's changed a bit over the years!

Kim had been round to see her during the day, and they went out with Ellie and Poppy to Hotham Park.

We met up in the early evening and took them to Fino's in Felpham. We had a lovely meal, with Di choosing the Lasagne while I chose a Tagliata (beef slices on a salad).

Everyone dined well, and we had a lovely time. We took the birthday girl home just after eight.

Early Celebration

I was up at 6:30 and had a quiet hour or so with the overnight news and social media. Once we were both up and about and breakfast was finished, I returned to my study to complete the analysis of all of the photos in the photo library. Because of the sheer scale of this, I broke the task into 17 separate chunks, each handling a range of years. It took an hour or so, but eventually the whole library was processed, and I had a series of summary files holding the details. With that done, I shut down the iMac for the day.

Tomorrow is Zoe's birthday, so today we had invited her and Ellie, and Kim and Jon to lunch. As Ellie had her friend Poppy staying, Poppy came along as well. We had a pseudo-BBQ planned. We no longer have a BBQ as such, but we had bought the usual suspects (burgers, sausages and chicken drumsticks) and I was going to prepare them in the oven. I started by drying off the chicken drumsticks and tossing them in a bit of baking powder, then mixed them with a tablespoon of vegetable oil, and dusted them with paprika and garlic powder. Forty minutes in a 200C oven did the job nicely. With the chicken done, I then set about the rest of the meat (and also prepared a sirloin steak for Di, who doesn't like BBQ).

The family all arrived, and we chatted over a glass of Prosecco while setting out the table. The whole event was very casual (as befits a BBQ). Some sat inside, and several of us sat on the patio. We all drifted in and out of the next couple of hours. Kim had made a lemon drizzle cake, which was decorated with candles and brought out for the birthday girl. As it happened, the wind blew the candles out before Zoe got to them - but the thought was there. We even sang "Happy Birthday".

Everyone left soon after 16:00, and after a bit of tidying up, we settled for some Kindle-time while the dishwasher did the bulk of the work.

Not quite

 I was up just after 6:30. I snuck downstairs because Di was still out for the count. I grabbed a coffee and started looking through the news. I was interested in a piece about how Sweden had reduced their influx of illegal immigrants, and another on the folly of the current PM's council house building schemes. These, I thought, would provide grist for the mill when it came to the call with the cousins. As it happened, however, it wasn't up to me to wind up Tim; his brother Chris lit his blue (or should it be red) touchpaper, and we all sat there chuckling while he went off on a predictable diatribe.

Once the call was over, I went to Zoe's to have a look at the progress that was being made on the landscaping, and to retrieve our sack barrow. I must say the garden is looking very smart, even if the slabs have just been positioned directly on the earth for now. They will have to be taken back up so that the hardcore can be put down and tamped.

When I arrived home with the sack barrow, I shifted a couple of large pots that Di wanted relocated. Once that was done, I returned to my little project. I soon discovered another anomaly that meant I had to make a small change to the program I thought I had finished yesterday. It was not quite right. It now seems to be working as required, and I have spent the rest of the day developing the second program in this suite of utilities. This program has come on very well, and I must now knuckle down on the last points of the design.

Di spent the afternoon pottering in the garden. (It's a good job we had raised beds installed when we had the garden landscaped.)

Cracked it - I think

It was Boeing Time before I got up (7:07) and went down for my coffee and to make Di a tea. The first part of the morning followed the usual pattern. As I finished my breakfast, I completed the shopping list ready for a raid on Sainsbury's.

We stopped off at the local doctor's surgery on the way to Sainsbury's, but were pleased to see that the shop looked quiet (judging by the car park). We wandered around the store, slowly but surely, filling the trolley. We have a BBQ-style lunch planned for Sunday (and Zoe's birthday). This meant getting a whole lot of stuff that we don't usually consider. We don't even have a BBQ any more, so we'll have to cook it all in the oven.

The shopping trip didn't take too long, but it took nearly as long again to stow everything away. Once that was done and I had made us some tea, we settled down for some admin. Di completed hers and was invited over to Zoe's to see the progress being made on her garden redesign. I stayed at home and finished the program that I have been writing for the last week or so. I then moved on to the next program, which will process some of the information captured by the first one. This took me the rest of the afternoon, and I still have a way to go. I am pleased, however, that I have learnt so much during this exercise. I'm sure it will prove useful in the future for other projects.

Once Di returned home (suitably impressed), I started preparing dinner. Tonight it was freshly made mixed salad with chicken Kyiv.

Out, out

 We had a normal start to the day. We are nothing if not consistent. We got on with a few domestic chores first thing, but there was no need to overdo it!

Mid-morning we launched ourselves onto the highways. The first stop was the vet's, where we had to collect some meds for Jasper. Then, much to the surprise of the car, we didn't head back home (it was, after all, getting used to the journey to the vet). Instead, we drove up through the Downs and up to Milford. We were heading for "The Refectory", where we were meeting with Jane and Trevor.

We arrived a bit early, but by the time we had used the facilities, J&T had arrived, and we settled down for a coffee. We then made our way to our table for lunch. Di chose the steak sandwich, and I had a southern fried chicken burger. With the decisions made, we got on with the important stuff - family news, general gossip, health, and Jane's proposed switch to an iPhone. In this last case, one of the things she was worried about was moving her notes from the Samsung to a new phone. I used this as an example of how Gemini (AI) could be useful, and asked it for suggestions as to how this could be achieved. It came back with a clear set of options, which I forwarded to Trevor. We had a lovely few hours chatting before saying our goodbyes and heading home.

We had a good run back and settled down for a quiet evening. Zoe called, just as I was shutting the laptop. Had we got a sack barrow? Well, of course. Could she borrow it? Well, of course. Could I take it round? Well, I did, and it gave me a chance to look at the progress in the back garden. I offered some encouragement and a few words of advice and then left her and Hannah to it. I think it will look very good when it is finished.

Another Quiet Day

 Seven seems to be the optimum time for starting the day at present. That's not to say that I wouldn't readily sleep for longer; it is more a case of my body bursting into life according to its own clock. After coffee, tea, and breakfast, I set about the family accounts before getting stuck into a surprisingly small pile of ironing.

I pottered for a bit before returning to my coding exercise. This, effectively, consumed the rest of the day. I am pleased to say that it seems to be remarkably robust. I still have a couple of small changes to make before moving on to start a companion program that will take the output from the first and use it to inform the Immich photo library.

Di has been working on the exercises recommended by her physio while awaiting a call from the vet, which at the time of writing hasn't occurred.

Round the corner, Hannah has started on Zoe's back garden. We await the finished article with interest.

More of the same

 There is very little to report. I was awake at 2:30 when our neighbours loaded the car to set off to the airport, but soon dropped back off to sleep. We were both up and about around seven-ish and enjoyed a quiet breakfast as we drank our morning beverages and read the overnight news.

Mid-morning, like yesterday, meant a trip to the vet. Jasper was booked in for some grooming and to have his blood pressure checked. I took my Kindle along and sat in the waiting room - my role is purely chauffeur and sherpa. Jasper is clearly not himself, so Diane is keen to get to the bottom of matters.

Back home, we called Zoe to inform her about Jasper, and she told us about the patio slabs that had just been delivered for her garden. Hannah, from Muddy Boots, is hoping to get started on the landscaping this evening.

After lunch, Di went up to rest (she hadn't slept well last night). I stayed downstairs and continued with my coding project. This consumed the rest of the afternoon. There is, of course, plenty more to do.

Bloods

We were up at the usual time... around seven-ish. It was clearly going to be a glorious day again. I really could get used to summers like this. It's very much like summer in and around Poughkeepsie.  We had the usual quiet breakfast and got on with some domestic chores.

Jasper hasn't been his usual self, and Di had managed to get an appointment at the Vet. We swept him up and put him in the carrier, then headed across to Oving. I helped carry him into the consulting room and left Di and the vet to it. They were there for a good 25 minutes, and various tests and blood tests were done. We are due back tomorrow for the results (and a bit of grooming). He has been very lethargic since we got home and really isn't eating the way he normally does.

Once home, I went off to the village to get some cash and to get my haircut. There was a new barber on duty when I arrived, and he gave me a fairly severe treatment. I'm sure it will grow back eventually! I wandered back home afterwards, having thoroughly enjoyed the first proper walk for a month or so.

I spent the afternoon writing and testing code. This always makes me feel great, even if I still have a long way to go until it is finished. Having dropped the manuals into Gemini-LM, I must say that the ability to ask AI how to do something is saving me heaps of time wading through the manuals.

Just Chilling

 Another day, another day off. I was up by seven and consumed my morning coffee and the overnight news before Di came down. She was a bit stiff after spending too much time on her feet pottering around yesterday.

Once breakfast was out of the way, I stripped the table and reduced it to normal size. We didn't put the protective cover on as Di had decided to give it a coat of wax. Meanwhile, I sorted out the bins and then attacked the top oven. It has been a while since we last cleaned it (though we don't use it much), and it was time! I stripped out the shelving and then coated the interior with oven cleaner. I dropped the shelves in the sink with a dishwasher tablet and some hot water and then left them while I went to do some coding. By the time I came back, the shelves just needed a wipe, and they were clean. The chemicals in the oven would take longer, so I returned to my coding for a couple of hours.

While I was tapping away at the keyboard, Di did some more on her Book Nook. It is coming along nicely, and makes a change from the Kindle.

I prepared a pork roast for dinner, with some lovely crackling. We have enough left for me to use for dinner on Tuesday evening.

The Long Bank Holiday

 There was no hurry this morning, but we were up at more or less the same time as usual. I guess that once you reach a certain age, the body clock is in full control. We had visitors due for lunch, so we spent the morning preparing. 

Denise and Becky were joining us to celebrate Denise's retirement. She has now joined us in the "Every Day is a Bank Holiday" club. Her firm had given her a wonderful send-off to end one era, and she was coming to us to celebrate the start of the new era. Zoe and Ellie came round to join us, and Kim stopped in for a while.

We had a lovely time chatting when everyone first arrived. I, meanwhile, finished preparing lunch. For Di, it was salmon with salad, but for the rest of us, I prepared a chicken Bhuna curry, with rice and naan bread.

I was worried that I had over-catered, but need not have been concerned; everything went.

After lunch we sat around chatting some more and Denise grabbed her laptop so that I could help her set up some software on it. We also helped set up her new iPhone (though that was predominantly Becky and Zoe).

Now that Denise has retired, we hope we'll see a lot more of her, and it was a shame to see them leave early evening. We were soon on our own again, and finished the clear-up (though, to be fair, Zoe did a lot of the after-lunch clear-up). 

It was a lovely day, and it's been a quiet evening.

Physio

 We were both up around seven-ish. Coffee was made, and tea was brewed; then we sat down to absorb the overnight news and prepare for the day. When breakfast was done, there were some domestic chores to clear, and I had to look at the tumble dryer, which didn't seem to be heating up. I rooted around, cleaned the heat exchanger, and scratched my head. That seemed to do the trick, as a test load was suitably warm when the cycle finished. We will have to keep an eye on this.

I returned to my coding project, and during the remainder of the morning I managed to solve several problems that had been left overnight. Early in the afternoon, I moved it forward some more but still have some structural changes to make either this evening or at the weekend. Once they are sorted, I should be on the final leg for this program. There will, however, be a subsequent program that processes the analysis completed by the first program.

Mid-afternoon, I drove Di to Chichester for her physio session. She is doing very well, and the physio has told her that she is ahead of the "gold standard". She doesn't need to return for 4 weeks, but has been given the go-ahead to return to the Cardiac Rehab sessions if she so wishes.

Detour

We had another gentle start to the day. Being Thursday, shopping was on the schedule, and Di was eager to come along, so she was up fairly early, too. I had charged the car overnight (the first time for nearly 3 weeks), so as soon as I was dressed, I unplugged the charger and ran my analysis program against the stats. We are still paying about 2p per mile, and over the life of the car we have averaged 3.7 miles/kWh.

Lottie arrived just as we were about to leave for the shopping. We had a brief chat and then buzzed across to Sainsbury's. We arrived just as the corpse bus arrived and deposited the Zombies at the door. What joy! We were in the store for an hour or so, being caught by some neighbours who wanted a chat. When we escaped, we managed to complete the list moderately quickly.

Once home, we unpacked, had a cup of tea and then set about some lunch. I then spent the afternoon back at the codeface. As I explained yesterday, I had defined a massive detour in my original thinking and today was spent working it through. Meanwhile, Di had some Kindle time, but I spent the time coding up until it was time to prepare dinner.

Dinner guest

I had a gentle start to the day. There was no train to catch, there was no commute, there were no conference calls, and I didn't have to prepare a presentation. I have retired, and despite still having work dreams, I am still not in the slightest bit interested in going back... besides which, the current government would take most of what I earn and spaff it up the wall on ridiculous ideas, or lazy people, instead of spending it wisely.

After breakfast, I worked my way through the pile of clothing that required ironing. It didn't take me too long, but it was good to see the pile disappear. I also sent some legal documents off (electronically), so that our kids will be protected, as much as possible, from various taxes that the government have in mind.

Most of the rest of the day was spent working on my program to analyse the photo library. ~A huge amount of progress was made, but then I had one of those Eureka moments when I asked myself if I was approaching the problem the right way. I soon decided that I wasn't, and thus I have a lot of work building up for tomorrow.

I had bought some family-sized Turner's Pies on Monday, while in Chichester. As Zoe is home alone this week (with Ellie in Somerset with Pete), we asked her round for dinner. I prepared the chicken and ham pie with some roast potatoes and honey-roasted parsnips. We had a lovely dinner and a long chat before she headed home.

Jabs

 I was up about seven and made our morning tea and coffee while disposing of the overnight package that Jasper kindly left for me. We had a quiet breakfast before I delved into some domestic chores.

Mid-morning, I took Jasper and Di to the Vet. I would add that the treatment was for Jasper, not Di. He had his monthly arthritis jab, and I took him back to the car while Di sorted out the fees and future appointments.

Back home, after a cup of tea, I returned to my code. This, with several interruptions, took most of the rest of the day. I did, however, manage to extract the data for which I was searching. I also refined the code several times. I must say that I am rather pleased with the way it is working out. I think that in another day or so, I should have the full analysis of the photo library in place. I then have to decide what I will do with that information.

I managed a bit of Kindle time before starting on dinner. I may do some more coding this evening.

Fill in the blanks

 I was up soon after 6:30 but spent the next ten minutes clearing up after Jasper had left me an overnight parcel. It's such a lovely way to start the day! I made some tea for Di and one for me. As I was due at the dentist, I didn't want to present with coffee breath.

Never being too certain of the Chichester traffic, I arrived earlier than necessary and sat with my Kindle until Magda was ready for me. Today's adventure was to be on the receiving end of a replacement filling after I lost a large one back in January. I settled down, ready for the torture to begin. She gave me an injection, which I didn't feel. Within a minute or so, she started drilling away. I could hear it, but did not feel a thing. The old tooth was rebuilt, and I was dismissed. I had not felt a thing. I was deeply impressed (and thankful).

Leaving the dentist, I stopped off at Turner's Pies for a couple to put in the freezer. Then, I diverted to Aldi on the way home. The objective was to see if they had a good selection of wholemeal sourdough bread. It may have been advertised on their website, but it certainly wasn't available in our store. I later stopped into Sainsbury's for some freeer bags large enough for the Turner's Pies.

Back home (finally, with a coffee inside me), I returned to my study and the experiments I have been doing with the photo library. I realised that if I was about to scan the whole library, there may be other things I should check as I traversed the photographic history. The test code I wrote yesterday was adapted, and further aspects of the library were extracted so they could be tested and changed where necessary. Once I was happy with the concept, I left it. I will return during the week.

We managed some Kindle time during the afternoon, though not as much as I would have liked.

Incidentally, Ellie has gone away with Pete to Burnham-on-Sea for the week. With her new phone, we are getting plenty of updates and chatty phone calls.

Small Successes

 I woke up at seven, only to find that I had missed about a dozen messages from Ellie on her new phone. She had been begging for extra time on various apps (which we limit) but had forgotten that all my devices go into sleep mode at 22:00. She'll learn.

Once the leisurely breakfast was over, I decided to try a new toy and went to wash the car with a cordless power washer, which gets its water from a bucket. (This would be a useful feature if we had a hosepipe ban - but we don't). Having rinsed the car well, I then attacked it with a snow foam and left it to slump off before rinsing the car. I deliberately did no more than that, just to see how well it worked as a concept. I must say I was very impressed (though I really should go back and redo the roof).

After that, I spent some time in the study looking at the long-term feasibility of Immich as a replacement for Adobe Lightroom. The biggest question mark hung over the facial recognition. I have spent years trying to get that under control in Lightroom. Could this be migrated to Immich? Well, after a lot of research, the answer is yes. The details are stored, not in Lightroom, but in the photo's metadata. This isn't recognised or used by Immich, but with help from ChatGPT, I managed to import that data. Now, in the case of a couple of test photos, that's all well and good, but for 80-90,000 photos, that will need to be automated. I can feel some coding coming on!

I spent some time in the garden. We have a large circular table with a glass top over the woven tabletop. Something has hit this glass, and it has shattered into millions of pieces. (It was laminated glass.) I made a concerted effort to shovel up all of the shards and dump them into sturdy cardboard boxes for disposal. I suspect we will be finding more shards forever, but the bulk is cleaned up.

A quiet evening is planned... dentist in the morning!

Playing

 I was up soon after seven. Yes, I admit it. I was lazy. I sorted out some tea for Diane and settled down with a coffee and the overnight news. When Di came down (a coffee was ready for her), I went up to shower and dress before the usual call with my cousins.

After the call, I settled down to experiment. ChatGPT held my hand as I installed Docker Desktop on the iMac, and then we spent a couple of hours (or so) installing Immich in the Docker container. Immich is an open-source (free) photo library manager. In the work that I am doing to ensure my family have everything they need to know when I have gone, I realised that the current "Adobe Lightroom" is a monthly expense they don't really need. So I asked what the alternatives might be. Immich came out as the best alternative. With Docker ready to receive Immich, I paused.

Zoe came round. She had bought Ellie a new iPhone and wanted me to put a screen protector on. We sat and chatted as I sorted out the protector. We also added WhatsApp and made sure that the "Find My" location app allowed us to see where Ellie was. It took a bit longer than we had expected, but once it was done, Zoe took the new phone across to Ellie (as she is going away with Pete for the next week).

I returned to Immich. It took most of the afternoon to install and test each feature. Eventually, it was in total control of a test folder filled with random photos and videos from the last 10 years. It's not perfect, but it is pretty close to it. If only it would import the facial recognition data from Adobe Lightroom. I have left that as a challenge for ChatGPT to solve (even though I expect I will have to write some code if we decide it is feasible). I want to solve as many problems as possible before I let it loose on my full photo library of nearly 90,000 photos and videos.

Physio

 I was up early again. In fact, I'm beginning to admit that this is not early; it is my usual time. So it was that soon after 6:30, I was making coffee and tea and preparing to read the overnight news. By 7:30, Di too was up and about. After a lengthy breakfast, we moved into the day.

I had a few minor domestic chores to complete (most involved cleaning up after Jasper). Once that was out of the way, I returned to my estate planning. This is moving towards completion, but it is also flagging areas where there are alternative approaches to my current strategies. I will have to examine these in detail, with an eye to the future and how I should optimise things for Diane and the girls.

This afternoon, we had to go into Chichester for Di's Physio appointment. He is very impressed with her progress and said that she is well ahead of expectations in terms of recovery. I am not, in the slightest, surprised.

When we got back from physio, we had a quiet hour with our Kindles before I started on dinner.

Construction

 I was up early again. I was greeted by an overnight package from Jasper that needed immediate attention, but I could then make some coffee and tea. Having finished her tea, Di pottered downstairs at about 7:30, and I set about my morning ablutions and made breakfast.

I drove around to Sainsbury's just after 9:00 and had a really pleasant shopping experience. The shop was fairly empty, and I could whizz about without let or hindrance. I seemed to be home and unloading in no time.

I managed to get some more of my "estate planning" document completed, but have a lot still to do.

Kim popped in to see us during the morning, and we had a lovely chat. I was able to explain the Probate Trust to her (as she will be one of the trustees). She's currently working one night a week at the hostel for disturbed young adults. Listening to her tales, she is certainly having some challenges.

We managed some Kindle time after lunch, then Di returned to the construction of the Book Nook. Progress is slow, but it's steady, and it is already looking really good.

I suspect there are several more hours of work over the next few days to get it finished.