I started with wanting to update the front entry page with something more Irish feeling, and inviting. Then, it flowed over into changing out certain other pages to bring them more in line with what I wanted to have here. Which is a more Irish themed, welcoming web site. I think I have it finally.

I also updated the Home Page, the contact page, the author bio, and the old donation page. Once I had the Entry page the way I wanted, I set my sights on the Home page. I knew it needed a make-over. Now, with an new, more Irish themed background, and some new object styling I learned about, I rewrote the second part to reflect more about who I am, and what the purpose of the web site is all about.

A friend asked me a while ago, about adding a better direct chat option, and after some consulting with my new AI friend, Gemini, We found something on the internet that allowed me to incorporate a embed app to connect a dedicated Discord Server, www.crann-na-beatha.com, with a Web Chat channel just for this web site. I tried it out myself, and it works great. So, anyone interested in having a conversation with me via Discord, can now do so. I still have the email option as well, for anyone wanting to do that. I also took out the social media links, as they were pretty useless anyway. I rarely engage with any social media platforms anymore these days anyway.

And, to add the cherry on top, I remodelled the donations page, and converted it into a Tip Jar. You won't see it at the top menu bar anymore, but there is still a "Click Me" button on the Home page, and a link in the Home Page text. that will take visitors to the Tip Jar, who may be inclined to show their generosity.

In other news, I think I may have crossed the final threshold on my all summer long server repairs. I'm not seeing anymore warnings and errors in the log files, that have been costing me hours at a time, taking me away from other things in my life. There is one pesky one that I'm keeping an eye on still, but Gemini is now assuring me that it's more of an annoyance, than something I need to worry about. Thank the Gods. I'm tired. It's time to move on.

And that brings me back to this new partnership with Goggle's AI tool, Gemini. I'm not addicted, but it has proven to be very useful in speeding up my project completions lately, and for that, I'm very grateful. I'm all about learning new things that will help me do things more efficiently. I have other things I'd rather be doing, than sitting at my IT console dealing with server errors, and managing web page updates.

To change the subject a bit. As we can feel, Autumn is here now. The cooler weather is showing itself, and the trees are responding. The leaves are turning where I am in central Virginia, and I am reading news stories that the leaves are really turning farther north. My wife loves this time of year. She loves the bright colours of the leaves when they turn, and enjoys the cooler weather. I'm all about not having to run the A/C this time of year to save on electricity. I have my solar panels, but the more wattage I can put in storage with my local electric service provider, the better I feel. Last spring, I didn't pay for electricity at all. My utility bill was less than twenty dollars a month, and that was just the admin fees, taxes and some minor infrastructure insurance. I'm all about going back to that until winter comes in January.

The same for my water bill. In about a month, I get to turn off the lawn sprinklers for another season. I've been lucky this year though. We've had a lot of rain this summer, and my sprinklers have been skipping cycles a lot more than usual. I'm all about having a lower water bill as well, given the current state of the U.S. economy. I think everyone knows how bad it's getting, so I won't get into that here today. I'm trying to keep this blog article on a happy note for once. Or maybe I should say "Upbeat."

My wife has a dear friend, who is younger than she is. They attend the same church together, and sometimes they ride share. Last night, after they returned home from one of their church meetings, this young lady, once again, asked me if I would flush out their hot water heater for them. To help you understand, her husband has a severe heart condition, and is on a waiting list for a new heart. Which, being a Chinese immigrant these days, means that he is likely at the bottom of that list. You know what that means, don't you? The likelihood of him getting a heart transplant with no money, other than some small amount of health insurance, is slim to none.

They are in dreadful financial straights because of the medical bills, and the fact that he can no longer work much, if any at all. My wife told me once a while back, that they may be in danger of losing their house. So, when she asked me again last night, if I would take a look at their gas water heater, I said yes. She offered to pay me, but I refused. Legally, because I'm not a state licensed plumber, I can't do any major repairs to their water heater. But, I can take a look and make an evaluation for them. It's the least I can do. I may not be a Christian, but I am charitable, and like to help those in need, where I can.

So, that's on my work docket for sometime next week. I would love to get back on a normal schedule, where I can write up my main article of the week for Substack and Medium.com, and have some time to write in here on the weekends. I also desperately need to get busy and start writing more chapters in my book. I've been promising myself all summer, that I would devote more time to that, and I haven't kept my promise to myself. It's been one major issue after another all summer long. I hope I'm past that crisis mode now. It looks like it, if everything remains as it is today.

Remember what I said about being pulled away? Once again, I got pulled away from completing something. In this case, this blog post. As I was writing away, my wife calls from the local Home Depot garden section, asking me to drop everything and bring my little truck over to pick up some garden soil and winter fertiliser, because it's on sale right now. So, off I went. Several hours later, after loading her garden materials, unloading it, then helping her do some heavy garden work, stopping long enough to eat a mid day meal, and set up the mix to make a loaf of bread in the bread maker, I can now sit down and finish this post.

That's been a typical day for me this summer, and now into early Autumn. I start one of my projects, and unless it's an emergency (like the internet going down), I get pulled away to help someone else.

I'm such a nice guy. I do have to keep being nice though. My wife won't tolerate me not being nice. She has, on more than one occasion during our years together, let me know when I wasn't being nice. She has this way about her that just makes me back down and drop my anger. I guess that's why we're such a good match. I protect her, and she protects me from myself.

In the wider world, everything is heading for the breaking point. I keep watching the economic analysts, and they're all saying the same thing now. This war-not war with Iran will likely bring down the U.S. economy, if things don't stop soon. The world is starting to run real short of diesel, aviation fuel, gasoline, and oil in general. Which could bring on a global depression not seen since before WWII.

I'm beginning to think that the only thing that will save the U.S. now, is if the democrats can win big in November, and start shutting Trump down by cutting off his taxpayer money. Do I think that will happen? I think the democrats will win big, but will Trump and company go slinking off into a dark corner somewhere until 2028? You can bet they won't. I think that once all of those new congress people manage to get sworn in and start doing their jobs, that's when the real fighting will begin. It's going to be a rough couple of years ahead, and maybe beyond 2028.

I really do think that a major recession is coming. Some would argue that the U.S. is already in one, but the government is denying it. What do you think? With the prices of groceries and petroleum going up and up, making everything else go up in price, the only thing left in order for it to be a true recession, are mass layoffs. Which we haven't seen, yet. The U.S. labour market is stagnate right now. Not gaining, or losing much in that area, but, you need growth in order to survive. It's not looking good, and with Trump denying everything by lying about it, and Scott Bessent working behind him trying to put more fingers in the proverbial dam as the economic water just keeps springing more leaks, things will continue to escalate until something gives. And it will. I'm sure of it.

Until it does, I'm going to continue working as I have been. Doing what household repairs I can, and keeping my IT infrastructure intact. We've taken to stocking up on non-perishables now. I try to stay about a month ahead, as much as I can, while watching prices and availability more and more as things get worse. I listen to the news, and try to glean what I can from what news media I can find. One of the things that is missing from main stream news, is the state of America's agriculture industry.

Very few are talking about all of the farmers being forced into bankruptcy because of the price of fuel and Trump's tariff wars. I see snippets about the corporate farmers complaining about the loss of their soy bean markets, but no one is talking about the rest of the industry. What about America's wheat and other grains? What about the fresh, frozen and canned vegetables that are eaten by regular people? How many people even know where their vegetables come from?

I've started looking into possibly visiting a local farmer's market. I haven't ventured yet, but I've been looking. Once I start seeing prolonged shortages in my local grocery store, I will definitely go find them. Maybe that's going to be our future someday soon. Purchasing our food from local growers because the big chain grocers will run out of things to sell once the trucks stop delivering it from the warehouses, which will also be largely empty. Maybe that won't be such a bad thing.

That's a thought for another day. But, definitely worth considering. Maybe we should go back to the days of the local stores. Where families ran local stores, supplied by local wholesalers. It would certainly clear up some of the mess we're in now. What do you think?

Time to go for another week. I will work on enticing people to come visit me here at crann na beatha. Especially since I remodelled the place. I hope the new Discord server provides some incentive to come hang out with me. Maybe we can even create a little online community away from the main stream. I have done all I can to the Discord server to keep out the internet trolls because I want to make this a family friendly environment. We'll see how that works out. I hope to see my friends there, as soon as I let everyone know about it.

Be well everyone. I wish all of you who read these musings many blessings over the coming week. Sláinte