Counting the pennies...

I drive by this tree on the way to my doctor's office.  I think it is the epitome of the level of storms that Fort Wayne has.

I took this while sitting at the light.  I would like to find a place to park and take a better photo.

You know, if I am not careful, I do believe I could develop a phobia of storms.  Now, I do not need any other fears, nor do I want them.  However, it is really, really, really difficult to maintain my equanimity whilst lightening strikes so close as to flicker the power and rain comes down in veritable walls of water.  The winds are quite fierce and the thunder most deafening.  A great many trees have been lost in Fort Wayne this summer.  That is a great loss to the city ... especially when such old trees are being felled by the weather ... and I wonder how many of the trees will actually be replaced.  Surely the city's groundskeeping budget has been strained beyond its capacity.

The last of my lilies is blooming.  I sure do like the contrast with the plain yellow ones I have.

The grape vine is laden with fruit.  Some of the older grapes are starting to spoil and so the back corner of my yard is quite redolent.

We have had such warm weather that I have not been able to enjoy the airing porch as I had envisioned last fall.  I know that once summer ends, I can spend whole days out there, if I want.  For now, whenever there is a brief respite from the sweltering heat, I spend some time enjoying the sunsets.

This summer, I have finally found the sweet spot on my thermostat: 69 degrees.  I would prefer 68.  That one degree makes a tremendous difference for my physical comfort, however that one degree is the difference between the AC cycling on all day long or remaining primarily off.   Even though we have had much hotter weather this summer, I still have a lower electricity bill.  The one for July just tickles me pink it is so low ... relatively.  Pennies.  Counting the pennies.  Nearly 2,600 of them!

Overnight, to cool my bedroom enough, I have it set to 63.  The first floor of the house retains the cold air fairly well and, sometimes, that means the AC does not come back on during the day at all.  Like I said, I have found the sweet spot, for me, for my thermostat.

Do you think that I am capable of television repair?  It looks like that I might could only need to replace the backlight inverter (either the master or the slave) on my television, a part that is about $60.  However, I need to successfully conduct the flashlight test to ensure that I have identified the problem.  I have not yet successfully conducted the flashlight test because I do not actually understand the flashlight test.

Another way to determine if one of the two inverter boards is bad is to look for the "black" bar on a tiny chip that should be silver.  Well, uhm, I actually cannot see such a tiny thing to determine if it is still silver or now black.  So, I am not certain, at this point, if a television repair is possible.

Yes, I Googled.
Yes, I watched You Tube videos.
Yes, I am still confused.

And, yes, my head still hurts.  Terribly so.