DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jun 24 - 11:25 PM

You're doing better than I am, though I have made progress at increasing the protein in my diet, with fewer carbs, and staying at my daily limits. I need to get more exercise.

Patty, are you far away from the fire danger? Your field trip to Colorado may let you cool off, but take the long way around if you have to on your way back home. How is your prospective property as far as fire services? A local fire department, or volunteer one? Stay safe out there!

Listing small items on eBay this evening. About to call it quits to go read.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: pattyClink
Date: 19 Jun 24 - 11:21 AM

Good morning from Isleta Pueblo near Albuquerque. There was a small fire burning west of town last night but no danger here. People very concerned about Ruidoso, so many people love the area or know people there.   

But our travels were far away, only affected by a bit of smoke haze traveling on the winds as we got near ABQ.   Hope a rain front comes through the state very soon.

Splendid time to be in Colorado, 70 degree days, 50 degree nights. We made 3 trips up from South Fork through Creede and to the Last Chance Mine. You start out following the Rio Grande where it is a clear tumbling trout stream, then climb into the mountains, fresh evergreen scented air, lupines blooming, very blessed to get to do that.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Jun 24 - 08:28 PM

Patty, I did a quick look at that mine. Silver - means there can be any number of other interesting related minerals around. Is there an old tailings area that people are allowed to dig through? I've hiked up to mines in the Cascade Mountains and found small samples that were discarded in the mine operation. I've made any number of hikes up Vesper Peak in Washington, twice to climb the peak (it's a lovely climb and at the front of the range to have a great view of not only other mountains but of the Puget Sound area and across to the Olympics). On the route up I always was picking up crystals and minerals (you can't leave them along the way to find on the way down - that never works). I've also made the trip in order to hike around the modern copper mine tailings and higher up to an old garnet mine. (The copper mine is a shaft; the garnet mine was a surface operation, as far as I could tell.)

Charmion, does summer aggravate your allergies or asthma? The smoke from fires last year, for example? Pollen, dust, and heat itself (with associated lower humidity)?

Today I used up fridge stuff for another batch of my yellow squash casserole (without pasta). Onion, bell pepper, garlic, oregano, and olive oil are the base. I used two types of sausage (Italian and a local pork sausage with lots of black pepper), along with a batch of diced portobello mushrooms. Tomato paste thinned to sauce consistency, and some red wine (a few spoons of it scooped out of a jar in the freezer). Came out great and will be meals for the next few days. I also thawed a chunk of baguette to make a half-size bread pudding. The amount of bread and sugar is small compared to milk, eggs, butter, and dates, so not as bad as many other desserts. In my evening reading I'm learning more about the science of fat and oil (and polyunsaturated vs saturated) in diet, and my next book will be Grain Brain by Perlmutter and Loberg. And looking into the science of cholesterol-lowering statins.

More eBay stuff listed as I push to clear the front room and plan to move in furniture from my sewing studio. This will be a full summer of work, but worth the trouble. Selling these things on eBay supports paying off the heat pump loan faster since I expect the larger heat pump to die one of these days. Our weather now is warm, but it's weather we're used to (if the big heat pump goes out I may sleep on a cot in my office until replacement). The New England states that are getting our typical June temperatures seem to be suffering; later in the summer our temperatures will be 15 to 20 degrees higher and really miserable.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: pattyClink
Date: 20 Jun 24 - 12:03 PM

Well that casserole sounds great. I've been eating either 'road food' or 'feast food' lately, neither too good for me. We hit two of the better restaurants near Creede, well worth it as a special event but no good as a regular thing.

The mine has several things going on; most people come for mine tours, but there's rock and mineral sales tables, a jewelry and gift shop, and access to tailings. As a club we were given access to the 'better' half of the tailings, 1/2 mile down a switchback road, which contained a lot of 'sowbelly agate' and pale amethyst. I might have done better in the other half looking for micros; just got some cuprite and silver-bearing galena, and who knows what I'll find in vugs when I do some splitting. Paid no entry fee, just $2 a pound for my bucket of keepers which came in at $20.   

Honestly, I prefer hounding alone and perusing old abandoned tailings piles on my own, but a lot of times club field trips and these fee operations are the best or only way to get access.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jun 24 - 12:12 PM

I'll note that in view of the reading I've been doing, I seem to be tilting toward the Keto diet myself, I just wasn't aware of it until I started revisiting the whole cholesterol/statins area of thought. Dr. Amen states that one side effect of statins is lowering of certain enzymes that affect mood via digesting fats. When I look up one of those in particular I see that supplementing with it when you're on statins can cause side effects of its own. Better, I think, to remove the statin than to add more stuff (all of those ads you see about taking CoQ10 if you're on statins - that's another one of them.)

The thing about the use of statins is that it's the answer to a popular idea that blood cholesterol has an effect on heart disease. It isn't backed by science; every time a study comes up that shows no connection between the two the powers that be suppress it. On page 53 in the Taubes book I'm reading now he shifts from examining the fraught science studies to show a link of fats to heart disease. For years one powerful and well-positioned researcher (Ancel Keys) had held fast to his hypothesis that saturated fat caused heart disease, but the studies weren't conclusive. He only accepted results from studies that seemed to confirm his bias. "Believing that your hypothesis must be correct before all the evidence is gathered encourages you to interpret the evidence selectively.^[24]"

After science failed to support the link, popular culture stepped in. In the 1960s counterculture ideas about humans eating less meat in order to feed the planet, and books like Erlich's The Population Bomb are where the "anti-fat, anti-meat movement evolved independent of the science.^[42]" And that is when George McGovern got involved. "It's possible to point to a single day when the controversy was shifted irrevocably in favor of Keys's hypothesis—Friday, January 14, 1977, when Senator George McGovern announced the publication of the first Dietary Goals for the United States. The document was "the first comprehensive statement by any branch of the Federal Government on risk factors in the American diet," said McGovern.^[44]" From there you look at who wrote and edited it, it wasn't the product from one of the medical research institutes, it was people still pushing Keys' hypothesis. "Once politics, the public, and the press had decided on the benefits of low-fat diets, science was left to catch up.^[53]"

I'll conclude this little book report with this: ("Most drugs have multiple actions," notes the University of Washington biostatistician Richard Kronmal. Saying that statins reduce heart-disease risk by lowering cholesterol, he adds, is like "saying that aspirin reduces heart-disease risk by reducing headaches.^[77]")

This comes from three different books I'm reading now. And I'm reminded of the few acquaintances who seemed displeased that I started statins (after resisting for years). I had the thought "it can't hurt," but over a couple of years on them, I'm realizing that they can hurt. I won't describe my symptoms here, but I've noticed changes, particularly in the last year, that have bothered me. The sleep study results may also tie into this. I've finally made the connection. While I'm forever on Levothyroxine and watching my sodium, I'm off the statins.

Resuming regular commentary: now it's out to lunch with my daughter, where I have several bins of stuff to hand over that she can use in her costume design work.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jun 24 - 06:25 PM

Patty, that was a disciplined collection day if you got out with only 10 pounds of rocks!

I don't want to scare anyone with my remarks above - I don't have heart disease so the treatment of cholesterol is simply because of the amount measured during blood tests, not because there is anything else going on. And I'm continuing to read (newer studies in particular); if my doctor protests my stopping there are other products we can look at, but she's going to have to have a good reason for trying another.

At lunch I handed over a bag of fabric and storage containers to my daughter and bagged the rest that we don't want that can stay in the SUV until my appointment to donate. And between now and then if I find anything else suitable it will join the fabric. After lunch I scanned at the museum, but I didn't make it to the gym after that because I forgot my bag of fitness clothes and shoes. It's around here somewhere.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Jun 24 - 11:49 AM

Revising the plan for craft items intended for donation: I found another box of my friend's items to go in that stash, but I am of a mind to go retrieve several gunnysacks full of mulch, so all of the boxes will be stacked neatly to the side for now.

Made it through the week until Friday with only mis-identifying the day of the week (out loud) once; for some reason yesterday felt like Monday. Maybe it was the holiday on Wednesday that threw me off.

I spent a few minutes near dusk yesterday to finish harvesting the potatoes, and now need to use the tiller to rework that bed for more crops for the summer.

More research into statins shows that while the onset of symptoms can start right away or be gradual (I'd estimate after a year they really became troublesome), the resolution once it clears your system averages about three weeks. I'm saving links and PDF copies of the articles I find helpful for future discussions with my doctor. I'm only using articles that cite their sources. Diet-wise I'm still reading, figuring out the foods most beneficial to the intersection of things going on personally. Taubes' book on Keto is on order. Since his books tend to be discourse on his reviews of the literature I hope to find more recent source material.

And on a completely different note, after last month's skunk event both dogs got a bath after which they had softer and better smelling coats, and I'm thinking the one or two a year they usually get are less frequent than I like. We're six weeks out from that last bath and at least Cookie could stand one again. I do it myself, they don't go to any groomers (I'd have to pay a premium for them to struggle with Cookie!)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Charmion
Date: 21 Jun 24 - 06:15 PM

Another unnerving email scam arrived today, this time asserting that my subscription to FedEx, Kinko's and Geek Squad services had been renewed to the tune of $349.95. Need I mention that I never had any such subscription, and indeed have never done business with any of those companies? I don't think Kinko's even operates in Canada.

The heat wave continues. I have acquired a dress of the type we used to call a "shift", made of some Space Age material that does not wrinkle, stick to me, or otherwise show evidence that I'm sweating inside it. It's the closest I'll get to comfort until the weather breaks. Oddly, we've had several spectacular thunderstorms this week that had absolutely no effect on the heat. Back in Ottawa, a frog-strangling thunderstorm usually breaks a heat wave.

Down to London and back yesterday for Great-Nephew No 3's graduation from Fanshawe College with a diploma in police foundations and investigative technique. The city's largest arena was jammed to the rafters and I found the last possible street parking spot within the city limits only half a block from the door. Between Western University and Fanshawe, convocations alone must account for a goodly proportion of London parking lot operators' annual profit. It was a cheerfully uninhibited occasion, with graduates' families and friends cheering loudly as they crossed the stage. After shaking the President's hand, each graduate was met by a capped-and-gowned official who delivered a hearty hug.

Not at all like my graduation more than 40 years ago, where I knelt before the Governor of Queen's University, who swatted me on the head with her mortarboard and pronounced me a Bachelor of Arts while a minion slung an academic hood around my neck. I don't remember any of my classmates jiving across the stage or blowing kisses while the crowd went wild. Things are better now.

The guest room closet is now full of clothes culled from the box-room, where I keep out-of-season garments and stuff I haven't yet brought myself to part with. I will pack them up and take them to Goodwill later in the summer .... Hmmm. Why wait? "Don't wait for fall, do it now!" I can also part with the hangers they're on. What fun!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Jun 24 - 08:52 PM

Charmion, most of the scam email hits the spam filter and never makes it to my inbox, but lots of calls come in daily, and I've taken up a new trick for the phone scammers. I don't answer most calls, but if I do and it's some asshole who wants to buy my house, I announce that I hope they will vote blue to elect Biden this year (and listen to THEM hang up!) Quite satisfying!

I got into the yard today and harvested most of the acorn squash and this afternoon I pruned the lower branches off of the redbud tree that I planted in the front yard a few years ago. (Three?) Now it has a more "leggy" look - you can see the lower trunk, it isn't just a mass of branches from the ground up. It looks like a small tree.

Last week a new pair of readers arrived from Zenni and after a few days of testing I like them, so I ordered another pair (a bit different so I can tell them apart) to use when I go work at the museum or other screen things around the house. The first pair lives next to the computer.

I turned on the news this afternoon to see if the Supreme Court had sent any more decisions, but no. Wednesday is the next opportunity for news of their decision regarding Trump's immunity (poppycock!). It's time to turn off the news and stop giving that felon free rent in my brain. I'll sew for a while and start the next audiobook in the Louise Penny series. Three Pines, here I come.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Jun 24 - 12:20 PM

At 11am it is already 92^o so I'm finished for now, but I took a couple of large boxes, flattened them out on the ground under a large tree in the front yard and poured two of my burlap bags of mulch over the top. I've moved some of my potted plants onto that spot and watered, and I'll move more this evening. Pretty much anything that survives this summer will have to have some kind of shade. And with those pots under the tree, the tree will get water when the pots do.

A while back my daughter brought down an odd collapsible laundry hamper that didn't work the way she hoped and suggested I put it on my free sites. I listed it yesterday and someone grabbed it a couple of hours later. I did suggest it might be good for a dorm room or RV, so it can be flattened to about the size of a textbook when not in use. In my experience the laundry hamper always has something in it and when it gets full or I run out of underwear I do laundry. Maybe the taker has something else in mind to store in it.

Charmion, were you able to get that third rug back? Will it go in the bedroom with the smaller bed and new mattress?

Shopping yesterday at Costco brought a case of sticker shock; it was a trip with my ex and for things like packages of frozen fish and a large leg of lamb, all pricey, and cases of sparkling water. My ex doesn't buy canned water himself himself, I don't know if my daughter does, but both were here last week and each went looking for a cold can and I was out. The lamb will be cut apart, remove the biggest chunks of fat and package the lean meat in ~8oz portions to freeze. When cooked it's down to about 6oz, a good portion size.   

One of the free sites had someone looking for scraps of floor tile, and he thought he'd be in town this week and could pick it up. I'll go pull that out of the garage and have it ready. I've tried offering it on the free sites before and there were no takers, so I'll jump on this one and try to unload all of it. Everything else I work on today will be indoors, it's just too hot for now.

I just read about a haboob (dust storm) traversing New Mexico. If it isn't one thing, it's another. Stay safe and dust-free, Patty!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Jun 24 - 10:06 PM

I have a taker tomorrow afternoon for a bunch of scrap porcelain floor tile, and while unloading the stack from the back corner of the garage I found 3 more boxes nearby (unopened) that I need to decide what to do with. I could put them down in my closet, or the laundry room, if I have enough. If I decide not to, I can contact this person later and offer them the rest. (This taker is someone who does artisan tile work with broken bits.) Meanwhile, one shelf in the corner of the garage is now clear.

My list of things to do indoors during the heat is growing. There are two faucets in bathrooms that need replacing (between three sinks). I need to re-do the kitchen sink faucet. There is a roller on my garage door that is wobbling and needs replacing; I have spare rollers, but figuring out the exact right spot to stop the door so I can make the exchange is a challenge (one to take to YouTube first). I replaced one a couple of years ago and don't remember how I did it. I think it has to break off before I can replace it.

While working on eBay stuff this evening (after another listing sold today) I realized I could set my laptop on the library table in the den (it has been on a bakers rack in the kitchen forever). A couple of months ago I bought an antique chair ($5) at a garage sale that now sits at that table in the den, and it is just about perfect. I can work there on various projects and watch the large TV (where the Hulu account that my son shares with me is installed). I've researched the next set of vintage glassware to sell while catching up on early episodes of Elementary, I've never seen the entire program and now I'm following along early episodes (reviewing those I have seen) before getting to those episodes new to me. It's one of the best written and most clever programs produced in the last 15 or so years. I don't remember why I didn't see the last two years of it, except it was probably because I missed episodes and like to see them in order.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Charmion
Date: 24 Jun 24 - 10:26 AM

I stooped the wrong way yesterday and strained my back. I now require the attention of Physio Guy.

But — my health insurance was recently switched to a new carrier, and I’m fairly sure that it won’t cover treatment for this very old injury without a prescription from the doctor, which will require an appointment, which could take weeks.

Not a happy bunny today.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jun 24 - 01:00 PM

It may be an old injury but it is bothering you today. The logic of the insurance folks is non-existent, isn't it? They always say "no" first.

This morning I gathered up tile fragments that had been dropped over the back fence. I don't remember why, but it didn't disappear into the landscape so since someone is coming to get tile scraps I dug out of shelves in the garage they might as well have what amounts to about two more shoeboxes (volume) of this; it's all from the same tile work in the house.

The last of the French cobalt tumblers left the front porch this morning, now is the time to turn to vintage Libbey Duratuff Gibraltar in various lovely colors. I am glad to see robust sales of it on eBay. Years ago I was planning to sell things on eBay as a regular side business, but got sidetracked. I'll have to decide, as I sell all of this stuff now, if it is worthwhile to resume shopping for items at thrift stores and estate sales. For now though, no.

I'm considering keeping a Scandinavian tine bent wood box that came from my Mom's house. I didn't know what it was until I started researching it; the box may have been a housewarming gift when she moved to Ballard (a Norwegian neighborhood of Seattle) after she retired. With all of the stuff around here, there aren't that many Norwegian artifacts from my childhood. This could be a memento with a story (I'll have to ask my sister.)

More heat wave today, so the work continues indoors. I did the tile retrieval this morning when it was still cool.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Jun 24 - 10:51 AM

Small stack (~40 pounds) of tile is gone, and I'm considering what to move off of the floor onto that garage shelf.

This morning I was out at 8am to mow the front and be finished by 9. The trick is to mow when it's still cool but not disturb your neighbors too early. Next time I might start at 7, though, since I know at least one of the neighbors is up at dawn. It was already 87 when I quit. (I put my fitness tracker in a band around my ankle and registered about half of my daily step goal while mowing.)

Before mowing I took my sturdy step ladder to the garage, disconnected the electric garage door motor, lifted it about 24" and propped the wheelbarrow under the bottom edge (so it wouldn't roll back down and pinch fingers!) From there I could pop out the all-but-demolished door roller, slide in the new one, place it onto the edge of the track, then remove the wheelbarrow and slowly lower until the new one popped completely into the track. Reattach motor and it's good to go. Whew!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Charmion
Date: 25 Jun 24 - 08:25 PM

I'm definitely feeling better after an acupuncture treatment at the physio clinic. Still stiff and sore, and I definitely don't enjoy bending over to clear the cats' litter box, but better. And the new insurance carrier doesn't want a prescription form. Alas, the annual cap on physiotherapy is still $500, and each treatment is $70.

The garden crew came today and did their usual bang-up job, leaving the property looking loved and cared for. I now have the beginning of a yew hedge across the back of the patio; now all I have to do (famous last words) is water it every day for the rest of the summer. Most parts of the yew tree are poisonous, which is probably why they grow so well in Stratford despite rabbit depredations. At least I hope the rabbits know that yew is poisonous, because the fluffy little fuckers have nibbled to death everything else I've ever planted in that stretch of dirt, and I'm don't want to become a serial murderer of bunny-kind. The neighbours don't like them any more than I do, but I don't think they want to start finding little corpses in their gardens.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 25 Jun 24 - 09:45 PM

Dupont:

Trip to Bancroft was good: The hydro was still off when we arrived so we - very tired! - used candles and soon to bed! The trip had entailed another visit re hearing aides during which the Audiologist talked and talked and the office woman found an online instruction manual, printed it out for us and gave us clues about how she could help - Face time even! Ms Blither was not very useful but gave us a small something or other that will help turn sound up or down as required. We'll see!

Late back on the road, I drove madly to the little cheese factory to pick up the pre-ordered peanut butter cookies; It closes at 5 and at a couple minutes before five, he phoned and begged, "We're just getting off the 401..." We were there at 5:03 and the gracious woman gave him the precious cookies! The next cheese factory closes at 6 and although I drove - scared the daylights out of R - we were there at 6 and they were closed up tight! ---We went there on Monday and got our cheese and the nice women told us we could call next time!

So much for wild rides! We slowed down and got a bite to eat Quickly! and I messaged a friend, "We can be there at 7:15" that was deemed ok for a short visit --- not so short! When R saw the gorgeous canoe! and we had our tea on the new back deck that juts out into the forest in a lovely curve. We all sat and watched the birds and enjoyed the bug free!!! evening with scintillating conversation! About an hour of delight and then went on so our friend could get to the open mike at a nearby Legion.

Arrived at Beaver just before dark, found the candles and looked at the freezer ---TOMORROW! But tomorrow we did town stuff - farmer's market, visit with our friends to see their welding - very fine! Then to the Carriage House to see Pat and talk and receive some cash for sold pots - not much but that's ok. Then to Lake St. Peter for the community event - an evening of conversation and music AND I had brought a few things for the "Take what you want" tables - gone! And we went home to Electricity!! and BED!

We had left the freezer plugged in so clearing it was not as bad as Mush! Took everything out on the porch and emptied spoiled stuff into a bucket which R took out to the swamp and dumped it. The bread is deemed OK. I got it into the frig, which had been mostly empty and R cleaned out the freezer and left it open until I go back again and need to use it.

On Monday, we hit the cheese factory and then stopped for tea with a woman who lived ten years on the same property where I spent ten years- my fantasy home! "Someday I'm going to live at the end of a road with no Hydro"! I did and then Lisa did - when she sold it she had enough money to get her Master's degree in Art! A welder and photographer.

I plan to go back next week; will have a months supply of meds. The trip showed that I CAN drive it myself! And no more med visits until end of August!!!

NOW my ears hurt from the aides so I am taking a break! I would like to get my money back and be rid of the blither. And, hopefully get some in Montreal. I had no idea it was going to be important to be closer, and think it would not be so difficult if that woman listened, and let us have answers we understand!

Today I spent a length of time trying to find more info on the company - reviews of how other people felt. I wanted something like Consumer Reports does but found nothing at all.

Surviving the hot spells with lots of opening and closing of windows and use of a fan. And the attic trapdoor open enough to let hot air rise out the "chimney" in the roof.

And the antihistamine has alleviating my coughing incredibly!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Jun 24 - 10:49 AM

Dorothy! What a gush of news! It sounds like all cylinders are firing in your world! I don't envy you cleaning those freezers, but those cheese and cookie shops - oh, my! And the visit on that new deck sounds devine.

I subscribe to Consumer Reports, and while they don't release their comparison guides as neatly as they used to in the print form, I pulled up my account and it says they have hearing aid brands and retailers. I just found an article about over the counter (but they also talk about prescription) hearing aids and I think there will be a couple of buying guides. At any rate, I can save these as PDF files and get them to you.

The recently adopted process of getting off of the computer earlier has several benefits. I'm reading more long form material (books, articles, journals) instead of skimming things on a screen and it feels like it is resetting my brain. What I'm reading is a mix of things, but the nutrition information is top importance and very helpful. I've also shared some of it to my son who has a problem with migraines and an answer is suggested in my reading (get off of wheat - he was my kid who ate exclusively flour products for the first five years of his life.)

Last night I had the TV on across the room, I wasn't sitting and watching it, I was 20 feet away treating it like a radio with occasional photos - and I photographed three sets of stuff for eBay listings. I'll process the photos during the day and get them listed before I am off of the screens again.

Yesterday I mixed up a batch of brine and assembled three jars of cucumber spears for fresh pickles. I'll do one more jar at least today. They're not the best cucumbers, but they're fresh and will taste good in a few weeks.

Since we're into heat index weather I worked on reinforcing a wonky Goodwill little Igloo cooler (the lid latch broke off) so it will sit on my porch with ice and bottles of water for the mail carrier and Amazon and UPS folks. The last cooler was a small barrel shaped one with a wide screw on lid and harder to open and stuff with a couple of bottles and ice. I taped on my same cobbled-together graphic of a water bottle with the message that it's for the delivery folks and thanks for working in the heat. I think this is my fourth summer of a cooler on the porch.

And right now since there is a cleared-off shelf is available in the garage I'll do a little organizing before it gets too hot.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: keberoxu
Date: 27 Jun 24 - 11:35 AM

Charmion, my guess is that rabbits know not to touch yew trees.

Around here the garden predators are deer as much as rabbits;
between the two of them they eat vegetable gardens right up.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Jun 24 - 04:43 PM

People should eat more rabbit and venison.

Going through cupboards and reducing the number of wheat products is revealing to me that I still have quite a few rice things here, though white and refined rice products are not so great for you either. Sugar is the other ingredient to reduce, and it is present in many forms as well. The emptied storage jars will now be used for interesting non-wheat types of flour as I work out a few basic recipes for bread and flatbread, to start with.

We're under a heat advisory (heat index of 112 today) so my time outside is brief, but it is possible to make progress in a few minutes if one pays attention and does just the thing you headed out to do. I have some galvanized fence posts propped up in the garage and took a few minutes to remove the attached braces that supported fence crossmembers. (Side chore: I swept up some mouse droppings from around the posts and they went out with the trash.) There's a vintage band saw in there that I've never used and I'll offer on one of the buy nothing sites (I don't know if it works - so giving it away confers no obligation to test it first - it cost me $25 at a garage sale about 20 years ago). The tiles gone, the fence posts streamlined, and that saw out of there makes a lot more room in that corner of the garage. I'll have to "walk" (wiggle and pick up one side, then the other) that saw and it's stand to get it out.

But surprise! I got ready to list the saw and looked for an operator manual online to print to include - it turns out this one was recalled in ~ 2008. So my offer now is for the non-working saw and the table and the parts with it, if someone can replace the part that isn't safe. Let's see if that walks out easily on its own.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Charmion
Date: 27 Jun 24 - 08:29 PM

Today I bought a new bathing suit. It’s size 12, and loose on the bottom end while barely adequate at the top end. I think this will be my last one-piece. The “tankini” type looks less likely to present this problem.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER *hoards *bad habits *toxic stuff - 2024
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Jun 24 - 10:19 AM

Tankini is the choice I last made and is one I'll stick with.

I've moved things around in the garage and done some modest sweeping (in order to not stir up dust from mouse droppings). There are two offers up right now, and I'm thinking about taking them both down again. I put up bags of pasta and frozen tortillas on the private FB group, thinking at the end of the month there might be a mom needing to stretch the budget. If someone does claim it I may add a jar of pasta sauce to make a meal. The bandsaw is problematic - whoever sold it to me may have known it was recalled, or maybe didn't. They could have gotten more for it by sending a part back to Ryobi for the recall offer (at the time.) I'm thinking about taking the saw mechanism off and putting the table at the curb and see if it goes away that way. I suspect it can be repurposed in a workshop. I'll give the online offers until this evening to get a response before going to plan B. All of this started because someone announced she was looking for scrap ceramic tile and I now have a more organized area where the yard and garden gear in the garage resides.

I've made progress on the eBay listings, and as I learn about some of these items I realize they are things I could focus on in the future (if I decide to go back to buying thrift store stuff to sell.) The glass has a history and old online catalogs are available to pinpoint production years. But wait - I'm trying to empty the front room so I can do other things with it, so I'm not heading out to shop any time soon.