Tempus Fugit

Latin (tem-pu̇s-ˈfü-git): Time Flies

Category: Grab Bag

Stuff about stuff

  • Symington Symphony

    Symington Symphony

    It’s been a warm dry spring ahead of the May long weekend and if things had been more normal we’d be sipping our morning coffee on the deck at the lake.

    But things are not normal

    So, here we are, sipping coffee in the back yard.

    The view is not quite the same and neither are the sounds. In fact, the sounds are probably the most annoying and something I’m trying to adjust to so I’m calling them the “Symington Symphony” just to put a positive spin on it.

    We live close to Symington Yards and when they are busy there is a lot of piercing high frequency squealing from the brakes on the rail cars which is quite something. Mix that in with the pretty much non-stop hum/roar of the traffic on Lagimodiere Blvd, a few sirens for good measure, and you have your symphony.

    With the Ontario border being closed until at least June 2nd, this will be the first time ever that we have not opened the cottage on or before the May long weekend. I get the idea about limiting travel and unfortunately we’re being controlled down to the lowest common denominator because some people just can’t follow some common sense guidelines.

    For us, we can load up, take the bypass around Kenora, never have to go into town, and come home the same way and most likely see less people that we do now here in Winnipeg, which is almost nobody anyway.

    However, with the OPP successfully blocking access on Hwy #1 at the border there is really no workaround. Some people we know have been permitted the one 24hr visit to your property to check on winter damage or make repairs. Some, on the 2nd trip have been turned back so it seems they are taking names and checking a list. 🙁

    Hopefully, on June 2nd they will relax the border issue and lake season at the cottage will resume in somewhat of a normal fashion. Looking forward to trying out my new Oarboard with the help of Des’s SUP!

  • A Reminder

    A Reminder

    With COVID in general and especially after being on a 14 day lockdown after traveling to Toronto there is a lot of isolation, not seeing the family and more texting!

    So, made a few a few adjustments to my phone to “see” the ones I love more often. ?

  • A Smile

    A Smile

    I’m reading this devotional and this picture comes up every day.

    It always brings a smile to my face. ? What is she thinking?

  • Me and CAR-T

    Me and CAR-T

    As some readers will know I’m about to get CAR-T therapy for the lymphoma cancer. In short, this involved extracting some of my T-cells, genetically modifying them into CAR-T cells, growing more of these special cells and infusing the new CAR-T cells back into my body.

    Yeah, that’s right I’ll be genetically re-engineered and there is no turning back. Once they are in my body they will replicate and become “the new normal” a “living medicine”.

    How do I feel about that? Well, at this point it’s the only currently available shot at a cure so I’m doing it. Unlike other treatments like chemotherapy the drugs do their work and leave your system hopefully without any lasting negative side effects. This is different. The new cells will be a part of me, a “living” medication that will hunt down and destroy the lymphoma cancer cells. I was feeling a little so so about all this, until this morning.

    My day starts out with devotions using the youversion app. The first thing I read every day is “The Story” which is an introduction, the verse of the day, a video of someone explaining the verse of the day, and a prayer. Today’s verse was Isaiah 43:19 and it was explained by Levi Lusko.

    Right at the end of the explanation Levi says “… your (my) good God is seeking to do something new inside of you (me)”.

    Do something new inside of me?!?! Something like new T-cells? Like CAR-T cells? It just struck me hard in a very literal sense. I made a note of the thought in my journal and moved on to the next devotion.

    I really should not have been reading this next devotion today. I’d gotten behind and I should have read it yesterday. But, here I am reading this.

    “then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ.”
    ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:7‬ ‭TPT‬‬
    https://www.bible.com/1849/php.4.7.tpt

    There are coincidences and then there are God arranged circumstances. To me this was a God thing. These two insights, back to back, it was like God speaking to me. God is making a path in the wilderness, a river in the desert, a way where there seems to be no way for me to receive this treatment and He is doing something new inside of me, literally and making the answers known to me.

    “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”
    ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43:19‬ ‭NLT‬‬
    https://www.bible.com/116/isa.43.19.nlt

    The result? I’m at peace with the treatment that is coming up in a few weeks. God is it it, He is with me, He is a good God.

  • Thoughts for the Day

    Perhaps, every day.

    A shameless copy of a devotion that really resonated with me.

    Joshua summoned all Israel, “…you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed.” – Joshua 23:14

    Joshua spent most of his life enduring adversity, setbacks, and disappointment. And yet, he never stopped believing that God would keep His promises. By the end of his life, Joshua saw God’s faithfulness come to pass, which is why he told the Israelites to recognize and remember God’s promises. 

    The thoughts you fill your mind with are crucial because what you cling to influences your worldview. 

    If you choose to dwell on God’s promises, you start to recognize God’s blessings during uncertain times. Plus, trusting that God will redeem your present pain equips you to walk forward in faith and keep on fighting. 

    As you walk forward today, reflect on some of God’s promises, and let them transform the way you think: 

    God will sustain you.

    God’s peace will guard your heart. 

    God delights over you with singing. 

    God will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. 

    God is your refuge and strength, your help in times of need. 

    In all things, you are more than a conqueror because God loves you. 

    God will never leave you or forsake you. 

    God’s perfect love casts out all your fear. 

    Nothing can separate you from God’s love. 

    God’s not done with you. God’s notdone with you. God’s not done with you. 

    Pray God’s Promises: 

    God, I’m so thankful that the Scriptures are filled with Your promises. Help me to cling to what I know is true. Remind me of Your faithfulness. When I am tempted to forget what You’ve done or how You’ve shown Yourself faithful, cause my heart to remember. Keep me steadfast. Amen.

  • The Christmas Wreath

    The Christmas Wreath

    Problem Child

    This is the problem child. He came to our house for Christmas in 2019 and was perfectly well behaved. This year it seems he’s in a “terrible twos” phase.

    Shortly after taking up residence along side our front door we found him down on the ground propped up along side the car!

    The fine wire that I used to hang him up and to be virtually invisible had broken. It seems that in a strong south wind he gets a little excited and flys around banging against the house. Being a little slow, me not him, I re-hung him using the same wire but with a new safety improvement. I attached his power cord to a screw that hold the facia on. This way if he slips off his perch at least he wouldn’t hit the ground, or so I thought.

    The other night both Shirley and I were woken up at 4 a.m. by our problem child banging around in the wind. As I stood at the front window he decided he’d had enough and jumped off the house. Sure enough the safety system worked and he was now dangling around suspended from the edge of the roof. Well, I couldn’t just leave him there so I got dressed and headed out to rescue him.

    However, in the 2-3 minutes it took me to get out there he’d completed his escape and was lying on the ground in the flower bed. Not only that but he took some of his friends with him! A section of aluminium facia was also on the ground with him and about 20′ of Christmas lights were also ripped from the roof and flapping around in the breeze. Well, at 4 a.m. it’s still dark and things couldn’t get much worse so I left him there until after sunrise.

    At 9 a.m. I’m out there with a new plan to rescue the boy. The facia is hammered back into it’s original shape without looking too much the worse for wear and easily re-attached. A new 1/16″ stainless steel cable is used to secure him from above and a 150lb test line is used to secure him from below, hopefully to eliminate the flapping around in a breeze. Christmas lights are re-positioned and everything is re-connected and it seems all good.

    But we’re not done yet! This morning he’s banging around again! Pretty sure he can’t jump off the wall this time but the string holding him down has some slack in it now allowing the flapping around. So, I teach my self the Trucker’s Hitch knot, the gold standard in securing a load and keeping the string tight. So far, so good.

  • Looking Back

    Looking Back

    Since I’ve recently changed WordPress themes from DevotePress to Catch Responsive I’ve been doing a fair bit of updating and maintenance work. All this playing around with the blog got me to wondering, just when did I start this blog?

    Well, the answer is March 24, 2005 with the posting of Grid for Good. Certainly nothing spectacular but a start. From there I reviewed 10-15 of the oldest posts and it was quite interesting to see what I was doing, and thinking about at a point in time.

    However, there were some problems with the older posts. They were fine and worked at the time but now several of the links are broken due to internet content just “going away”. Also surprising, lots of really old links still work!

    I also discovered some stuff that I’d forgotten. Things like the blogs I played with before settling on this self-hosted wordpress site. I’d totally forgotten about Tempus Fugit on Blogspot and for a while I was using Tempus Fugit on WordPress.com. surprise, they are both still there.

    For photographs I started off on Picasa which morphed over to Google Photos and then finally settled on flickr.

    Back in the day photos on the blog were almost always embedded from flickr. It seems the embed code has changed over the years and while the photos are no longer showing up, there is typically still a photo title link that will take you over to flickr to see the photo. I suppose I could go back and fix this, but that would be pretty time consuming so, not likely to happen. 😉

  • Some Route 66

    Some Route 66

    Some of the photos taken during our Fall 2019 road trip to Toronto, Chicago and down a section of Route 66.

  • Zwift and a Runner

    Zwift and a Runner

    That’s me on Zwift, in the centre, blue and white jersey. As you can see I’m pushing 251 watts which is a decent effort for me. I’m on an 11% grade and doing a measly 7 kph.

    What is less obvious is that I’ve just been passed by the running dude up ahead on the right! Somewhat discouraging. Passed by a better cyclist, well OK, but a runner!!!

  • Best widget so far

    Best widget so far

    OK, so I’m a bit of an Apple fan, not quite a fan boy, but up there.

    With the latest iOS and the ability for widgets on the Home Screen I did some playing around and settled on this Apple widget at the top of my screen.

    By default it shows my 6 things in a sort of random, but also some what intelligent way.

    First thing in the morning I get a display about what apps I might want to launch, scarily predicting what I might like to do based on past usage. Then the weather, generally useful, the calendar for the day with the next 1-2 events, again useful. Top Apple News stories which is OK but I have not yet succumbed to subscribing. A Map, a bit of a mystery for me and not yet useful. And then there is the best of all!

    It’s the photo! Generally, some combination of Grandkids like today’s where we were going to the 2019 Santa Claus parade with all of them together, which is a bit of a rare event to go somewhere all together with just Shirley and I. As I recall it was like hearing cats, but a lot of fun.

    If it’s not Grandkids it’s some other photo that Apple has figured out as a “Featured Photo”. Not sure how they do that. Some of them I’ve flagged as “liked” other are well… just photos that show up.

    Always brings a smile to my face and an extra bit of happiness to my day.