Free TV 101 - Part 3

Part 1 here
Part 2 here

During my antenna search I found many of the stations that have gone digital now are not operating at their full power. Apparently this will change after June 12th when the “Digital Transition” kicks in. This site also offers lots of FAQ’s. One of my questions is" "can my Home Owner's Association (HOA) prevent me from putting up an outside antenna?" In my case, the answer is no --provided the antenna is no larger than a satellite dish. I suggest you check your HOA restrictions. This helps to make your decision on the type antenna you need. Everyone’s requirements will be a little different. So with this information, I was off to shop for an inside antenna at Radio Shack.

I had looked on-line and determined The Shack was my one-stop shop for various types of antennas, parts and pieces; plus, they have great return policy. Oh, did I mention I found out there’s nothing exotic about HD antennas? The companies that sell cable/satellite services would like you to believe there’s a significant cost and difficulty in receiving free TV. Turns out the folks at The Shack are very helpful explaining the modern day antenna. Gee, it looked just like the one we had at home in the early 60’s -- what a surprise!! It turns out that even the old Rabbit Ears still work well for Digital TVs. I still didn't quite get the VHF/UHF thing, but I know I want to watch free TV if possible!

We're getting into the meat and potatoes tomorrow.

Free TV 101 - Part 2

Part 1 here

Anybody tired of seeing the advertisement from Time Warner: Home of free HD and in small letters, “with a digital tier service”? How many stations do you really watch? Even better question: have one of those DVR’s? What stations do you religiously DVR? I think you will be surprised to find you probably DVR the same channels week after week. There are exceptions, particularly if you’re heavily into sports and you may be surfing and see that one show you can’t live without. Then you will skim through it and toss it anyway. With several hundred channels it’s difficult to surf and not see something that strikes your fancy!

With cable at $100+ a month, I decided to see what’s available on the antenna for free. I went to a web site, antennaweb.org. I filled in the minimal data they requested—street address and zip. It then gave me the potential list of stations I could receive with the correct antenna. A very interesting site because it lets you look at all available stations including those that are not digital yet. For my location, it gave a mix of about twenty+ stations. This site also provides a street level view that shows the approximate location of the antennas. All had unique colors beside each station identified. I assume this indicates whether I can receive them or not. So looking at this list, I went from several hundred cable stations to only about 20 over-the-air stations (if I can receive them all). It’s kind of disappointing that I didn’t see a few of my favorites – Discovery – Green Network – DIY.

But there's light at the end of the tunnel. See you again tomorrow :-)

Free TV 101 - Part I

By Ward

Who would have thought in 1960 that we would be paying for TV? What have we come to? I won’t even talk about satellite radio. In 1960 your local TV station sold antennas for about $15. You mounted them on the same pole and pointed them in two different directions to receive three or four different channels. Everyone was happy and life was a lot simpler. Today, you can subscribe to cable or satellite and receive several hundred channels for hundreds of dollars each month. What happened to free TV? Nothing --- it’s still there alive a well. When was the last time you looked?

Part 2 to come Tuesday . . .

Brasa Brazilian Steakhouse

Our anniversary dinner. First you do the hot/cold buffet. Stuff like salad, jumbo shrimp, rice and beans, chocolate drizzled strawberries . . .














Then they come around with something like 12 different kinds of meats on spears and cut off a piece for you. Pictured is not meat, but pineapple cores coated with sugar and cinnamon then blasted with a blow torch. Yummy.


Our waiter really wasn't a pupiless zombie, it's just a poor cell phone pic.

Sunday's storm

A "bowed" cell came through, with strong winds that bought down trees and power lines. I could never quite get a shot of our tree in a really good windblown position.

Beet greens for supper

I've never cooked beet greens before, and probably never would now except that I got a bunch of them in my CSA (community supported agriculture) box yesterday. Below are beet greens on the left, baby bok choy in the middle, and a humongous head of lettuce on the right. On the plate below, I've started to separate the leaves from the stems because the stems take longer to cook.

By the way, when I picked up the box yesterday, I had to ask why we were only getting beet greens. What happened to the beets? Well, these greens get pulled to thin out the beet patch. The beets are there, but they're tiny.

(Beet posing with spice bottle for perspective. Sorry about the blurry cell phone pic.)

The recipe included sauteed scallions and garlic (which also came from the CSA), then water and chopped beet greens. And it was MARVELOUS! Tasted somewhat like cabbage, but milder, and it picked up the flavors it was cooked with (onion, garlic and OIL). But a bunch (actually, 1/2 bunch) of beet green cooks down to about 1/4 of a bowlful.

(Beets posing with tea kettle for perspective.)

Yup, oily and good.


Oh yeah, last week Ward got a tick from the CSA box. This week he held it at arm's length and put it in the trunk.

Springtime in NC

My office is in one building but my work is sometimes in another. On nice days I like to walk along the lake behind the buildings; here's a tour of what I saw the other day.















The heron on the rock. He likes it there, but sometimes he's on the shore. Then, when you get close, he suddenly takes off, startling you with his prehistoric-like wings.

Nice path? Where does it lead? From the walkway to the building, actually.






Azaleas in bloom.








Momma wood duck had 10 -- count 'em -- 10.

They hang out close to shore in the shallows, then scurry down to the water and swim to the other side when you get close. Wouldn't it be nice if human babies followed so closely without needing to be herded up?

Here is one of two beaver dams. The other was dismantled last year, and this one must have been foreclosed on because I haven't seen beavers here in awhile. But you can see exactly where they dragged the logs across the path. The turtles like to hang out here in the afternoons. It's sort of like a turtle bar.


The Canadian geese are nesting, and the males can be mean. The morning after this one I got chased three times and hissed at. But there's no way to avoid walking past the nests because they build them between the water and the path. One male even came running down the walkway at me, chest all puffed out like a cat trying to look big. I didn't get his picture.



Two years ago, THIS is what I got to see. Bambi junior is watching us watching him. Several workers complained that mom ran at them when they tried to get close to the baby. Duh.