Supinators unite!

I finally figured out why my right foot would go numb so often. Dr Dorry told me that I have supination (underpronation). What’s that? My feet roll outwwards. Huh?

From stretchcoach.com:
Supination (or under-pronation) is the opposite of pronation and refers to the outward roll of the foot during normal motion. A natural amount of supination occurs during the push-off phase of the running gait as the heel lifts off the ground and the forefoot and toes are used to propel the body forward. However, excessive supination (outward rolling) places a large strain on the muscles and tendons that stabilize the ankle, and can lead to the ankle rolling completely over, resulting in an ankle sprain or total ligament rupture.

My rolling foot pinched the nerve at my pinkie toe and my foot would go numb. Solution? Proper footwear. I did a lot of searching and found this site:

18 Best Shoes for Underpronation (the Ultimate List) in 2023

http://www.reviewgem.com/best-sandals-underpronation

Now for one of the products I got.

Sanuk Beer Cozy sandals. I no longer go barefoot in or out of the house. That is VERY hard for me, I go barefoot all year.
Here they are:
Beer Cozy

Heaven on my feet.

They are a thick yoga mat material with plenty of cushion for my supinating feet. These are GREAT sandals, I would consider these at the top of my list in the future.

Thanks Sanuk!

To build a patio-Day 4

Heat.

Heat saps energy.

Making progress, but the heat is slowing us down.

 

To build a patio-Day 3

More digging…. rocks going against foundation and sand piled near chicken yard where it will replace the rich soil in there now.

To build a patio-Days 1 and 2

We are building a patio finally! We are going with a ~12’x26′ block paver patio using Nicolock 18″x18″ Heritage Slab in Heritage Slab by Nicolock in Golden Brown. We were lucky that HiWay Concrete had these special order color blocks in stock.

Our plan is 8 pavers wide parallel and 5′-8″ from the foundation for 12′ width, and 11 pavers long perpendicular to the foundation. Along the outside edge will be 8x8x16 concrete blocks as an edge with some dry stacking for semi-walls, and perhaps a pizza oven and/or fire pit at the end opposite the house. We will dig down for a 5″ dense grade base, 1″ leveling sand layer, and 2″ for the pavers. The patio will slope 1/8″ per foot away from the foundation and the 8″ concrete blocks will aid in the existing grades not being that slope; the sand can pile up against the block outside the patio. There will be two openings without the blocks, we will see how that works. The blocks will also sit on the leveling sand, so our excavation will be 16″ wider and longer.

Day 1

No pictures here, it was all layout. I set the corner location near the back step at 5 feet from the foundation and put a grade stake in. Then I located the other stake 13′-4″ along the foundation wall. We checked and double checked that both stakes were 5′ from the foundation. Once we were comfortable, we set a stake 17′- 10″ perpendicular from the first stake. Then I went into a lesson with Justin about the magic of 3-4-5 and how to use this to make sure you are square. We used 6-8-10 and then reversed to 8-6-10 to double check the stake location. Then we set the fourth corner and used the magic ratio to check all corners are perpendicular. At this stage, it isn’t critical, but close is great. We added stakes around midpoints of all sides.

Day 2
We then ran a line level on the perpendicular stakes at an arbitrary elevation and held that elevation and marked on all stakes. Then I measured down to grade on all stakes and found which corner was the highest and which lowest. With some math and planning, we decided the first stake set existing grade will be the patio block top elevation. We picked an even measurement over existing grade and marked that on the stake. We held that elevation across to the other foundation side stake and marked the middle stake. The we marked the opposite corner stakes and with math measured down the elevation drop due to slope. Then we ran lines all around the marks. Sounds complicated, but what we did was establish a plane where we use a story stake marked 9″ from the bottom, and this is where the bottom of our excavation should be everywhere.

Then we excavated one section.

Communication, communication, communication. Why is it so hard sometimes?

American Eagle had a sale on those fuzzy boots so many woman and girls are wearing.
http://www.ae.com/web/browse/product.jsp?productId=0411_3228_209&catId=cat6600015
They were $15.00 and free shipping.

Got in on this deal, not a good experience with American Eagle though.

I bought to pairs of boots, one for each of my girls, both size 7. When they arrived, I surprised my daughter and wife with them.
Unfortunately, they sent one of them in size 6.
I immediately contacted them via their website asking to return and have them send the size that I ordered.
It appeared they were being appropriately responsive.
They set us up to exchange the boots. After not hearing from them for a few days,

On Jan. 18, I emailed them asking where the exchange boots were :

Hi,
I was hoping to get the boots in the size I ordered sent to me. I’m going to be pretty bummed if through your employee error, my wife doesn’t get the boots that I correctly ordered in her size.

This is what I got in return on the same day:
Whenever an item is returned to ae.com for an exchange, the merchandise is first credited to the original method of payment used to place the order. For tracking purposes, a new order is then placed and a new charge is submitted to the credit card. We apologize for any misunderstanding. For more information regarding your exchange, please call 1.888.232.4535 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) and we will be happy to assist you. —January 18

Sounds like I am getting an exchange right?

February 3 I finally contacted again after hearing nothing:
Hi,
Where are we on this. Really getting bummed here, got a pair for my wife and a pair for my daughter and only my daughter is enjoying hers while my wife waits. If only the packer put the size boot that I ordered in…

They responded the same day with:
Scott,
We have issued your return to the method of payment used on this order. Please allow 3-10 business days for this credit to post to your account. If for some reason you are not seeing this credit, please follow up with your bank as we released the funds on Jan. 18, 2015. If you have any further questions please give us a call at 1-888-232-4535.

Um, first they were exchanging the boots, now they are only crediting my credit card back. No contact from them telling me this. We were waiting for the boots with no idea AE changed what they were doing to rectify their mistake.

February 4 I replied:
I am asking where are the boots in the size I ordered? I want the boots, they were a gift. I ordered correctly. Your packer put the wrong size in. I sent them back for an exchange. Where are my boots?

They replied the same day with:
Scott,
Thank you for contacting us here at AE. I apologize for the confusion with the exchange. Please call us to replace the order for the boots. I left a note on your order for us to give you free 2 day shipping and a price match.
You may place an order by phone by calling our toll free number, 1.888.232.4535 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) and a representative will be happy to assist you in placing your order

Cool, I think. Called the number. No boots available now they tell us. Not in a larger size or a different color. Great. But there are plenty of other boots available on sale they tell us. No, not really. So wife is bummed.

Now wait a minute. Didn’t I just link to the boots above??? No idea what is going on here.

So beware, AE does not appear to be very organized or able to communicate well.

D & L Company Glow Stomp Rocket Jr.

Stomp Rocket Jr

I was searching for a toy gift for my little man who was turning 5. At some point in my research, I found a website with top toys for boys his age. On this list was the D&L Stomp Rocket Junior Glow In The Dark set which came highly recommended. I searched for this product and found it at available at Walmart online with free in store pickup. ( http://www.walmart.com/ip/D-L-Company-Glow-Stomp-Rocket-Jr./17270237 ) I was pleasantly surprised at the price (~$12.00), but a little skeptical about the quality with that price. Unfortunately, I found this product too late to make it in time for the little guy’s birthday, but it worked out better anyways. He got to open a present on his sister’s birthday this way so he was occupied while she had her day.

My little guy loved it right away…what little boy doesn’t love things that shoot stuff? It was very easy to put together and once I explained how it worked, off he went shooting rockets in the air over and over again. I was really surprised with how high the rockets flew! The quality is good. We did have one issue, one of the rockets had a slice down the side. Upon closer inspection, it looks like the foam was malformed at the factory and was really thin in this location. We put a piece of tape over the slit and it worked ok. We later contacted the company on Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/OriginalStompRocket )and they contacted us and eventually sent us a free refill pack! Later that night, my little guy said “Daddy, we have to stay up late tonight.” I asked “Why?” He said “So we can shoot of my glowing rockets!” He has since played with it by himself several times and nothing has broken.

What comes in the package? There are two rigid plastic pieces that slide together to form the stand. A small bolt and wing nut are included to fasten the flexible tube to the stand. The air chamber is already attached to the flexible tube, so once you figure out how the stand goes together, the toy is ready to rock and roll within 5 minutes.

Assembled

Closeup

How does it work? Your little one puts one of the foam rockets on the end of the tube attached to the stand. Then then jump up in the air and land on the air chamber, which forces the air in the chamber through the flexible tube with the rocket on the end. The air needs someplace to go, so it forces the rocket off the end of the tube and high into the air.

Setting it up

3..2..1..launch

Where can it go wrong? As with any projectile toy, it can be aimed at brothers, sisters, and pets. Fortunately, the rockets are made of very soft foam so they cause no injury when your little one decides to be a wise guy.

I highly recommend this product. The price is right. The quality is good. The fun factor is great. And our experience with the company backing their product was nothing less than stellar. My son gives this product 100 thumbs up.

I don’t have 100 thumbs.

I received no compensation for this review, it was all done on my own. As much as I will call out products that I believe fall short of promises, I will also point out products that I believe are great.

You Make Your Own Mead? – A Cyser story

So I was lucky enough to get my hands on some of the honey a bunch of my homebrew club members went in on. I got a gallon of wildflower honey.

The honey, a bit crystalized

Since the honey was crystalized, and I got it in a Lowes bucket, I decided I would heat my honey up and pasteurize it. Transferring it from the bucket was fun, but I thought up a good system that worked. I boiled a little water in a pan, and dipped my metal spoon in it to heat it up. Then the hot spoon scooped out the honey easily into another pan.

The honey, ready to be liquified

The pan I used for heating the spoon now contained a liquid that tasted too good to go to waste, so I poured it into some jars with tea bags to make a honey tea. I also rinsed out all containers that had honey in them with the hot tea later.

Tea!

I bloomed two packets of US-05 in a pint of apple juice straight from the container.

Bloom little yeasties, bloom!

So I heated up 8 pounds of the wildflower honey in a big double boiler formed by two stainless steel pots. I got the honey up to 170ish by the time it all liquified.

The honey was a lot easier to handle once it is liquified.

While the honey heated up, I dumped 1/2 of four of the apple juice 1/2 gallon containers into the fermenter. The other halves got shook up with the 1# of brown sugar split between them. Lots of aeration. The remaining four apple juice containers were half emptied and each remaining half shook up before being dumped in the fermenter. Once the honey was liquified, in it went too and I used my new 24″ stainless steel whisk to mix it up good. Yeast went in with the first 1/3 of the staggered yeast nutrient schedule, then it went down to my fermentation chamber set at 65F.

Here is the must ready for yeast!

I liquified the additional honey from the gallon.

The rest of the honey.

I woke up to a nice foamy krausen on the must today.

The second addition of the staggered yeast nutrients went in on this fluffy pillow.

Recipe summary:
8# wildflower honey
4 gallons apple juice Ascorbic Acid the only preservative
US-05 yeast
Staggered Yeast Nutrient Schedule

One of our ladies has left us for the big chicken coop in the sky

Sadly, when Justin went to close up the chickens yesterday evening and found one of our old ladies had died. It looks like she laid down her head and peacefully closed her eyes for good. I’m pretty sure it was the chicken we had living in our house when she was sick. Good bye chicky, thank you for all the eggs you gave us.

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 10,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 17 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Front page of the local paper

http://wareham-ma.villagesoup.com/p/fond-memories-facebook-bring-angel-to-wareham/936120

My tribute to my brother has turned into a Pay it Forward event that has exploded locally and even gone across to the other coast.

Floored.