Dog scan

Had to take Simba back to the vet a few days after their annual checkup. He’s been having a lot of issues with throwing up on an empty stomach the past few months. Having him on famotidine (Pepcid) has helped some, but if it’s more than 5 or 6 hours between meals, his little tummy gets upset and he ends up throwing up. Vet also suggested omeprazole (Prilosec), which we’ll probably switch him to to see if that helps more.

It’s tough to watch the poor little pup going through all that.

Lately he’s been eating pretty slowly, which is a little worrying, and there was more throwing up than usual yesterday. As all Lab owners know, any change in eating habits is a cause for concern. Fortunately I was able to get back in to the vet this morning to get him checked out again.

Simba had some upper abdomen tenderness when the vet checked him out, so some blood work and x-rays were done. Blood work indicated that Simba was anemic, which raised a concern about something going on with his spleen. There didn’t seem to be anything strikingly unusual on the x-rays. Liver and at least part of his spleen appeared normal, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything wrong. He also has some osteoarthritis going on in his thoracic spine area.

Simba’s lateral x-ray
Simba’s ventral-dorsal x-ray

Vet recommended an ultrasound to help figure out more definitively what’s going on. At this point though, I think our focus will be to just make sure Simba is as comfortable as possible. I don’t want to subject him to a major surgery at his age. He’s still getting around fairly well, and as long as we don’t let too much time go between meals, he seems pretty normal.

More thrift store finds

In addition to the audio amp find, I also managed to catch an EICO 1030 regulated power supply being wheeled out to be put on the shelf. Naturally, I had to add that to my cart as well.

EICO 1030 power supply
EICO 1030 power supply

I’m starting to accumulate a bit of a power supply collection now, it seems.

Haven’t looked inside it yet, but I did plug it in and turn it on. Made the satisfying “thunk” of a big linear transformer being energized, and the 6.3 VAC terminals were putting out about 6.5 VAC (unloaded), which seemed reasonable.

A quick look around the Internets yields hits on various audio forms, so seems like a popular piece of gear in those circles.

While I was scoping out the electronics, Connie was over in the books and found a copy of Practical Antenna Handbook by Joseph Carr, so that went into the cart as well. No such thing as too many antenna books, right?

Good shopping day at the thrift store today.

Descent into audiophile-dom

This is how it begins, right? You’re in one of your favourite thrift stores just browsing around one day, and you spot this sweet looking piece of gear just sitting there on the shelf. It’s really cool looking. Your brain (and your wife) goes “Dude, get it”. Nevermind that you don’t know the first thing about audio except that it’s something your ears detect.

So now I’m the owner of what appears to be a double sided, very slick looking audio amp.

It’s a pretty hefty unit. The only labels on the amp are the DSM logo and a name plate saying who the amp was made for.

Audio amp name plate: Custom built for William H. Moody by DSM
Audio amp name plate: Custom built for William H. Moody by DSM

All the tubes emited a nice soothing warm reddish glow when I plugged the unit in and turned it on. Guessing that’s probably a good sign.

After thinking about it for a bit, I’m realizing that each side of the amp corresponds to the left and right channel coming from each device going into the unit.

I don’t know who William H. Moody is, and it’s unlikely I’ll ever find out. Whoever he was though, he probably liked his audio.