Whirlwind Missions

Monday, January 10, 2022

Drone! Podcast! Anthony! Rest! 1.10.22

Tim A. Cummins @ 6:05 pm  

I’m not feeling great. Still stopped up and tired all the time. I’m doing my best to rest.

I’m still working on all the elements I need to fly my new drone. I’m researching the insurance for it now.

I find Eric Barker’s blog very interesting.

Jesse brought me some Thai fried rice home from work. So good.

Español!

OYB!

Cold and clear!

Great talk with my buddy Anthony this morning. He always cracks me up.

I flew my little drone around inside. Most of my practice is with simulators.

Harry!

Took some clothes to Goodwill.

Recorded a new episode of Verbal Surgery called “Mission Check.”

Took Jess to work. Will pick her up later.

Sunday, January 9, 2022

Webb! Calls! Podcast! Errands! 1.9.22

Tim A. Cummins @ 4:08 pm  

Looks like the Webb Telescope is fully deployed! Excellent news!

Español!

OYB!

Not quite as windy today.

Had a fun talk with my buddy Anthony. He had a chipmunk filter on. Not a good look.

Chatted with my Mom. Always a blessing.

Harry!

Went by Ingles to pick up distilled water. Walmart has been out.

Took some lightbulbs for my sister-in-law’s lights.

I’m not feeling great today, tired and a bit of a congestion. Yesterday, I had a headache most of the day. I didn’t go into Ann’s house because of that.

Ordered anti-freeze for Kathy’s truck.

Went to Stone Mountain to record and make calls. Downloaded the episode from this morning onto my Mac.

Rained a little over .5″.

Trimmed Kathy’s toenails and cleaned off the old paint.

My biggest symptom is feeling tired. Going to rest more.

Saturday, January 8, 2022

Leak! Anthony! Dryer! Podcast! 1.8.22

Tim A. Cummins @ 8:41 pm  

Preach.

One of the bottles leaked. Cleaned it all up.

Just keep going.


OYB!

Added some silicon sealant to the splash guard near my sink.

Windy and cold.

I thought this was interesting.

Had a good chat with my buddy Anthony.

Progress!

Got down to 55 in my room last night. Pretty chilly. I turned the heater on this morning.

Set up lunch with my treasurer Jon Paul.

The dryer worked just fine last night after the electrician checked out all the wiring. This morning, it again stopped heating up. Called the appliance guys to come take a look at the dryer. This is exactly what the old dryer was doing.

Cold but beautiful day.

I’ve had a scratchy throat and a headache most of the day.

Released Verbal Surgery -909- “Loud-O-Phone.” Turn it up!

Friday, January 7, 2022

Grandgirls! School! Dryer! 1.7.22

Tim A. Cummins @ 8:22 pm  

We got down to 25 degrees last night.

We had a lot of rain, which I assumed would freeze and be dangerous. I planned on staying home this morning.

I woke up around 6:30 AM and went outside and checked the roads.

Everything seemed dry. Made sense because it stopped raining around 6 PM which allowed the extreme wind to dry everything out. Got to Azalea to help Penelope with her school work right on time.

I’ve been keeping track of the Webb Telescope on its voyage. We are about 75% through the really hard stuff. The sunscreen was like stretching out five separate tennis courts.

Preach.

Everything being equal.

OYB!

Adelante!

Everly wanted to see how her Mama had done her hair. She only likes pig tails.

Penelope did great at online school. They particularly enjoyed the Yoga Elements.

Everly enjoyed cutting and pasting. It’s great for her to develop those skills.

Filling in the “ag” sound.

We went to Pho 24 for lunch. I had a craving for Vietnamese food.

We finished the afternoon classes, straightened up their house and came home. Later, Miles Dad came over to my house to pick them up.

Treats.

Deposited a check.

My electrician checked out the wiring for my dryer. The guys who delivered the dryer said that it wasn’t heating up and that there was a a problem with the wiring.

My guy took a look at the breaker box. Everything was perfect.

Took the outlet apart and checked that out as well. Again, perfect. No sign of overheating at all. Plugged up the new (for me!) dryer and it heated up perfectly. So good news on that! But the service call was still pricey. I knew it would be that much before they came.

I thought he did a good job and was thorough.

I’m tired. Glad it’s Friday.

Thursday, January 6, 2022

Grandgirls! School! Rain! 1.6.22

Tim A. Cummins @ 7:57 pm  

Large coyote in my neighbor’s back yard yesterday. (Not this one! This looks like it’s in S. Texas.)

Been there done that.

Great news! If this hadn’t worked, the project would have been literal toast.

OYB!


Got to the mission super early this morning. Just worked out that way.

Great to spend more time with her.

Palabras!

We had another good day with online learning. Penelope is doing great.

They gave a lot of breaks. We played games. Guess Who is a deductive reasoning and observation game.

Both girls got involved with the yoga session “Zen Kids.” This was spider motion.

When we got back from lunch we had computer problems. Eventually, Ashley and Penelope’s teacher helped me get the passwords.

It didn’t take us long to figure it out.

During one of the breaks, we rolled the ball back and forth trying to knock over a bottle.

This is art class. The teacher led them through drawing a picture of a sloth.


Everly drew me some hearts.

Round 2 of Guess Who.

Rainy afternoon. Hard freeze tonight. Doubt I’ll get out early. I’ll have to check how the weather is.

No one out.

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Drone! Grandgirls! School! Dryer! 1.5.21

Tim A. Cummins @ 8:01 pm  

I’m super careful with my stuff. When I bought my DJI Mini SE drone, I also got all the accessories that it needed. Last night I installed the landing extension arms. This raises the drone off the ground nearly an inch which allows the gimble (the part that holds the camera steady) to do its adjustments without running the lens into the ground.

I also installed the mini SD card into its slot. I still have a couple of small things I’m waiting for. In particular, the ND filters which will protect the lens of the camera from debris.

OYB!

It was great to have Kathy with me today. It was fun to see Penelope in action.

There were fourteen kids in her class on line.

I spent most of my time with Everly. We drew figures.

Penelope got a fifteen minute break about every forty five minutes.

I liked this. Thanks for the help from heaven.

We did a lot of counting and sorting.

She counted to thirty three today without stopping and only made one mistake.

I organized the after school program closet. Chucked a lot of stuff.

Here is the closet when it was pretty sell sorted. I still had a lot of cleanup to do.

Adelante!

I thought the programs for her school were pretty cool.

Penelope drew this. She said it was Kathy and me.

Everly cut these pictures out and glued them. Can you tell what these three were for? It was the example of the sounds D, E and F.

 

 

There were a bunch of kids that didn’t get to come to the Christmas Party. I had gifts for them. I didn’t want to forget them just because they had a scheduling conflict. Today I let them pick things they liked. I let everyone pick a gift, then pick a second, most got three. It seemed to work out pretty well that way.

We got our new dryer installed. I think the old dryer shorted out the outlet. We have a much newer, bigger unit so it all works out. We have the electrician coming on Friday to work on the outlet.

After the party, I helped the kids at the mission with their homework.

I sent a picture of the breaker box to the electrician. If it turns out the outlet is ok, it has to be the breaker. Since I smelled a hot wire odor when it conked out, I’m pretty sure it’s the outlet. That old dryer caused the issue.

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Grandgirls! Online School! Cupcakes! FAA! Podcast! 1.4.22

Tim A. Cummins @ 7:22 pm  

Wonderful!

Love this!

I’ve been practicing flying drones with a simulator. It’s way more challenging than I thought it’d be.

It was better weather to fly last night, but who wants to fly in the dark?

I’m thinking about working on the test for the commercial drone license. I think it could be fun. Here is some of the subject matter. It’s a pilot’s license from the FAA for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

OYB!

I went to Chamblee today to meet up with the girls. Penelope and all the kids at the mission have started on line school again. Since P and Everly have both had Covid, I’m cautiously optimistic that they have enough immunity to keep it from getting bad if they were ever exposed.

Pretty hefty schedule, although today was lighter.

I’m glad my alma mater is doing this.

It was good to touch base with my friend Tina from NAMB days. She’s helping with food distribution. I have some families that I think could use some groceries.


It took me about the same amount of time to get to Chamblee as to Global Mall.

Chilly.

I find these reports interesting.

Español!

I pushed myself to get there early just so I had the tech sussed out and Ashley could get to her staff meeting on time.

Keep going. It’s the key to success.

It’s getting to be that time of year.

I’m becoming more aware of the air space. The ATL has a LOT of air traffic. This is where the mission is in Chamblee.

Started my new year off with a Verbal Surgery BANG! Released “Climb a Cactus.”

Some fun stories.

I would say that Penelope had a very successful first day with the online classes.

We had a snack of rice and beans and also went to El Torrero after school was out.

We made a lot of progress then rested. Penelope and I caught up with the teacher’s Zoom call when we woke up. Then did one more session of work.

I moved her work station to the living room. The teacher said that my signal strength on the Zoom call was bad. Sure enough, it had a weak signal in the kitchen but full blast in the living room where the router is. I’m glad we made the effort to make the Zoom call.

Penelope is super smart.

I enjoyed taking the grandgirls to Plaza Fiesta, although we were disappointed that the playground had been closed.

They really enjoyed the cupcakes.

I’d say this crossed a line.

Harry!

I thought this was cool.

Picked up checks.

This would drive me nuts. I hope they mow lawns better than this.

Deposited checks. That’s always good.

Monday, January 3, 2022

Dryer! Batteries! Matrix! 1.3.22

Tim A. Cummins @ 8:49 pm  

Yesterday, J and I made plans to see the Matrix today at 2:45.

I had a fun talk with my Mom last night.

This was actually challenging. Duolingo has over 36 million users. There are twelve levels, Diamond being the top.

Mas Español cada dia.

It blew trees down last night.

Super cold, especially with the wind chill.

One Year Bible!

Ordered groceries.

Adalante.

My dryer went dead yesterday. I took a picture this morning of the kind of plug we do NOT need. They’ll put the three prong on it before bringing it over and hooking it up.

This is the one I picked out. It’s a Kenmore. I usually buy preowned machines. They are very popular and sell out quickly. This one was $269. With the delivery fees and hauling off the old one, it was another $75. That’s the range I was hoping for.

The smoke alarms have been chirping.

Had a chat with Ashley about Penelope’s schedule for the rest of the week. She’ll be doing remote learning at her house. That’s something very different for us. That means Everly and I will be stuck at the house. We have an hour for lunch and she’s finished at 2:00 PM. Starts at 8:00 AM.

Went to Lowes to get new batteries for the fire alarms. Sadly, the batteries didn’t fix the problem. J and I will have to take each one apart, turn the power off to the unit (with the breaker box) and then reinstall everything. At least an hour job.

It’s been quite wet. That equals mushrooms!

J and I really liked the new Matrix movie. Super good, but not for everyone.

Sunday, January 2, 2022

Spanish! Ann! Drier! 1.2.22

Tim A. Cummins @ 8:13 pm  

This was filmed near where I live.

Wisdom from Seneca.

I had this whole piece memorized at one time.

Looks interesting.

Baylor won the Sugar Bowl and we’re also Big 12 Champs. Sic em!

Words are powerful!

I studied Spanish a lot today. There’s a big competition going on on Duolingo. It’s the final round. I think I’m number six.

OYB!

Rainy.

Turning cold. I brought the pineapple and carnivores inside for the next week or so.


Downloaded the episode of Verbal Surgery that I recorded yesterday onto my Mac.

Adelante.

Soon!

My sister Ann has been having a hard time keeping up with housework with her injuries. Went over to help. Cleaned and sanitized the floors where the dogs had been. Washed and put up dishes.


Pretty much everything in here had been dirty.

Tossed a lot of nasty things into the garbage. I’ll never have pets inside the house again.

Put lightbulbs in the hall, utility room and over the stove.

After I cleaned, I washed off all the tools.

Harry!

Sadly, the drier died tonight. We didn’t get much use out of the one I brought over from Kendalls. I don’t even think it was three months.

I laid out all the clothes to dry with a fan.

Saturday, January 1, 2022

New Year’s Day! Podcast! Spanish! 1.1.22

Tim A. Cummins @ 8:20 pm  

Español!

I arranged the icons on my iPhone more efficiently. I’m pretty happy with how it is now.


Big weather system blew through.

This is a training simulation for my iPhone giving practice sessions for drone skills. It’s made by DJI, the same creator of the Mini SE which I just recently purchased.

I stayed up (barely!) till midnight to see the ball drop.



Palabras.

OYB!

My buddy Anthony has been learning how to sail. I gave him a map to Tybee Island from the UK.

I like this new app I have for Drone (Unmanned Arial Vehicle) UAV weather.

Adelante!

Cloudy with some sprinkles. Heaviest weather went south of us.

Harry!

Wrapped up my string of Christmas lights.

Neighbor slid off his driveway and made a big mess in the yard. That got seed and hay right quick.

Been studying drone info.

Too gusty today.

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