DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Jul 25 - 07:31 PM

The cats are fine — or at least no trouble to any humans — when punters are looking at the house. Watson sprawls on my bed on top of the quilt, and Isobel vanishes. When I got home today, I could see that she had been on my bed under the quilt.

I have already received an offer that I don’t love because the prospects don’t even have their own house listed yet. Their proposed price is in the right ballpark, but what do I do if they can’t sell?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 03 Jul 25 - 06:26 PM

Charmion, how are you wrangling Watson and Isobel while the house is on the market?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jul 25 - 06:10 PM

I've just poked through the photos at Charmion's house - it's nice to see the rooms you've talked about and the pieces of furniture discussed. The music room, that Mission style bed frame, the place where your patio was disrupted for the work and how tidy the basement looks now, the kitchen after the renovations, etc. I love that huge tree in the back corner. Good luck with all of the fuss of having the house listed and being viewed. It's a plan to emulate: decluttering, renovating, and getting set to sell. #Props

I put in a garden pretty soon after moving into this house, and most years I've grown tomatoes and often there are some ripe by the first day of summer. We formed a welcome-to-summer tradition of the Soltice BLT. Or as close as we could come to it. Today my daughter and I had a picnic at a shaded table on her museum grounds (today is heavily overcast, so not scorching hot like most of July). I toasted the gluten-free bread ahead, sliced the super-ripe homegrown tomato, cut up lettuce, bacon fried and in its own box, had a squirt bottle of mayo, and when it is assembled, the magic touch of squashing the sandwich together at the end (my daughter insists I squash her sandwich - "It's how the love gets in.") The sandwiches were excellent and that tomato did not disappoint. You simply cannot purchase a tomato in a store that tastes like one ripened on the vine in the yard. I had a spare tomato that went home with her and will be sliced for her wife's July 4 faux-meat burger.

Last week we talked about the lack of fruit on her tomato plants and I reminded her about using the blossom set product (I have Green Light "Tomato Bloom Spray") you can spray on the flowers. Most of the fruit that forms has no seeds but is otherwise good. She apparently went nuts and got all of the flowers she could find. She tells me her plants are now loaded with fruit (last year she didn't have many, and was determined to do better this year). I pace myself; I also don't have a lot of fruit, but about once a week I go spray more blooms to spread out the harvest. This stuff has been around forever, and is a gardener's best friend if the crop looks like it is going to be scant.

Working on a few things this afternoon so I can take the next couple of days off from the work-from-home job. I need to get into the sewing studio tonight.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Jul 25 - 04:49 PM

My house is listed: Charmion's house

Already the realtor has held an open house for all the other agents in town, and one party of punters came to see the place this morning. Two more parties are coming tomorrow morning.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 03 Jul 25 - 10:43 AM

--- Ach: make that "prowl-by visits". The dishes have gone, so now also the temptation to tarry. The hedgehogs will just have to grub up our neighbour's front lawn for worms again.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 03 Jul 25 - 10:40 AM

We've had the odd "are you home?" visits, but nothing anywhere near permanent yet. I suspect Ptolemy didn't subscribe Herself to the Cat-Whisper Support Network after all, or had let our membership lapse. In compensation, there's more birds around in the garden now, starting (of course) with our neighbourhood robin.

The last cat carrier, and Ptol's litter tray and cat basket, got taken away yesterday, ironically by a chap who'd just been adopted by a stray cat*. End of an Era; it's changed the entire shape of our day.

Oh, and our neighbourhood blackbird thinks it's Clint Eastwood. It'll be singing Evensong for us, and it'll slip in the yodel from the theme tune of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly when I least suspect it.

* It had been going back and forth across the garden on a daily basis for a while, then one day decided to stop with them.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jul 25 - 09:06 AM

I don't think you get a say in the scheduling as far as the arrival date. I never did, at any rate. My last two cats presented themselves and that was that. My first and third dogs, also (though Zeke was a stray for only a couple of hours, when he turned up I knew if I couldn't find the owners he would stay with me. Who knew that a year later he would come for a long visit and stay 12 years.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Jul 25 - 08:11 AM

A small black cat has been visiting my patio door lately, driving Isobel utterly mad with territorial rage that she takes out on Watson, claws to the fore and swearing up a storm. Surely the Cat Distribution System isn’t trying to send me yet another black cat? The felines currently in residence are the fifth and sixth black cats to live with me since 1988.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jul 25 - 11:22 PM

I saw that one today.

This evening when I was leaving the house where I am cat sitting there was a cat on the front lawn that is almost identical, color, size, and build, to one that I know I left behind in the house. It took me by surprise. And it had me wondering of any of Ptolemy's friends have stopped by to say hello or inquire after meals?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 02 Jul 25 - 06:16 PM

In memory of Ptolemy:

Laser Danger, from XKCD.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jul 25 - 12:23 PM

The glider is back on the front porch, covered with a deeply-discounted tarp from Harbor Freight (bright blue). That means the side door is much easier to access, though there is a stack of large flattened boxes that used to be held in place against the wall by the glider. If Charmion were closer I'd send them to her for the next phase of the changing houses exercise.

Ms. Argiope is not interested in butterflies. The small one tossed onto the web this morning was examined closely by her, then dropped to the porch. She's as picky an eater as my blue heeler. A lizard will find and enjoy it.

Trash day is tomorrow and in advance will be a ruthless cleaning of the main fridge and the small fridge of things that are just never eaten and don't really belong in the compost.

Today would have been a good day to mow except it is at air quality level orange. Maybe tomorrow. I have my eye on a number of seedlings to dig out of the gardens so this afternoon or evening I'll head out with the shovel and remove them. Cutting them off at the base never works, they always grow back. I met the gardener at my cat sitting gig house yesterday, and I asked her what her rate is for weeding. I wonder if I hired her (or a local teen) with a bounty on each of these hackberry and pecan saplings, $1 per tree with the roots dug out, how much it would cost me? It would be possible to dig a whole bunch in an hour or two.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 01 Jul 25 - 12:49 PM

It’s Dominion Day, or Canada Day if you swing that way. I’m doing the laundry and not much else, in anticipation of my world going sideways on Thursday. The agent sent me a link to the photographer’s website, and he did an amazing job — I’d buy the joint all over again but I can’t afford it. I sign her paperwork tomorrow, and then they post the listing and put the sign on my lawn.

I’m so ready to think about something — anything — that isn’t selling the house.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Jun 25 - 11:17 PM

Another trip to the gym this evening, between the last two cat runs, and I have finally figured out why I seemed to be short on socks. There were five pair tucked into the gym bag and the pool bag. Now they're back in my dresser drawer, and an extra pair of walking shoes is in the shoe rack in the closet. Since I have an appointment tomorrow where I want to be cleaned up and have clean hair, and I wanted to kill some time between the cat feedings, I not only spent time on the recumbent bike listening to an audiobook I took my evening shower there. I was doing that last summer to save water (so I could put more on the garden). They have great water pressure and huge showerheads.

I get free access to a gym that normally has a fairly expensive monthly fee through the Silver Sneakers program as part of my state-paid health insurance. It promotes exercise and healthy habits as a way to maintain health. I wonder if our health insurance will continue to be robust in the days ahead.

The roofers next door had bits of plastic wrappers and paper linings of things drifting into my front yard and garden this afternoon. On my way out to feed cats I stopped the SUV and got out and picked up a couple of pieces and spoke to the guy working on that side of their house - "this is a food garden. Please be careful picking up anything that might have blown into it." I'll see in the morning, but I think he was going to comply - a polite young man.

The funny thing about the work next door is that there were nine vehicles parked in the street because the workers each drove themselves here (in past years they would arrive in just a couple of company vehicles - so the contractors aren't providing transport now.) One of them parked right in front of my Italian Stone Pine and as I was headed out mid-afternoon a man was taking a nap under it; he had a cushion of some sort and a cooler beside him, but he was tucked under the full shade of my tree. I don't mind he was in my yard and I'm glad someone was enjoying the shade. That's why I planted a street tree.

In the natural history porch goings-on department, I put water in the dog pan on the back patio again, but have a couple of rocks in it after we had a juvenile toad drowning earlier in the season. I know the big old toads really love a good midnight soak, so didn't want to deprive them of that treat.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 30 Jun 25 - 03:25 PM

RIP Ptolemy. *Sniff*

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 30 Jun 25 - 12:39 PM

The photographer has left, and I’ve almost finished un-stashing stuff I had to hide from the camera. I still haven’t signed anything with the agent …

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Jun 25 - 10:03 AM

All things considered, that's a good way to go. Congratulations and condolences, Ptolemy. My late Poppy offers a ghostly salute from her spot on the floor at the intersection of the halls. She could always keep track of me and the doors from there. When they leave on their own there is no questioning if the time was right. ❤ 🐭 ❤🐭 🐁 ❤ (See Alt-Codes for critter html codes.)

Critter-wise here, Cookie spent the pre-dawn hour barking at the roofers next door, before I convinced her they had been invited to declutter the top of that house. And on my front porch the hollow husk of the grasshopper is on the floor and Ms. Argiope has snagged, as I feared, one of my fireflies. I can tell by the faint colors that show through the silken binding. I didn't give her one the first night (there was one next to the porch light), but it seems she knows what she wants.

Charmion I hope the photos and listing process goes well this week. Dorothy, I suppose you can get a double whammy holiday week with Canada Day and the Fourth as bookends to the week.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 30 Jun 25 - 09:41 AM

End of an Era: Ptolemy cheated the hangman by storming the gates of Valhalla this morning, three hours before the Last Appointment we'd booked for him. Herself gave him a quick dose of his controlled substance as he was going, as he was clearly unhappy; this might explain why the backup vet* said he looked as if he'd had a peaceful end. I just hope the Viking equivalent of St Peter doesn't have the controlled-substances equivalent of a breathaliser, but methinks they're used to receiving new guests who are somewhat out to lunch.

No flowers, please, just mice.

* His usual vet was in the middle of a seriously long procedure. Ptol always had, of course, a cat's innate talent for non-human-friendly timing (cf small gifts at three in the morning).

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 29 Jun 25 - 08:57 PM

Hauled the big package off to a shipper in a further-away town yesterday, instead of waiting til Monday. To make the trip less useless, got some good books from a real bookstore run by a book 'curator', what a nice change.

Also got blessed when I tried a new thrift shop, and someone had donated a filthy but perfect bedspread and sham sized for the motorhome bed, it may have actually been for a motorhome. Was leery lest it be dry-clean-only, but it laundered beautifully. $5. Mercy or karma, not sure which. Feel like I earned it by the long hot day I spent searching last week and settling for something not quite ideal. And those things can work elsewhere on the hacienda.

Much work today in the heat. Round two of cleaning said MH in prep for photos. The dust infiltrates after each round, though we have shut down some leaks.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Jun 25 - 08:05 PM

One more trip this evening to feed cats, on one of the few days that is particularly complicated, but I pampered myself between the feeding runs. I went over to the gym I haven't been to in ages, intending a smallish "spa day" of workout and pool, but after the hour on the recumbent bike (my knees feel so good now!) I realized the pool was full of families with small children. Not great for swimming laps and I don't need to be exposed to whatever small kids have been catching these days. I'll plan to get back to the gym several days a week this summer and hopefully weekdays will be better for the pool.

I walked around the yard at midday looking at the possible bugs to tempt the porch spider. Butterflies are hard to catch, I don't want to interfere with the bees at work. An adolescent grasshopper presented itself and was carried through the house (it was deceased since when I caught I kind of squashed it). On the third toss it stuck in the web, but Ms. Argiope was pulsing she was so ? something about it. The web was bouncing like she was trying to drop the bug out. She kept her distance for hours. Later I went out and found she had embraced and wrapped it in silk and has been next to it since. It is looking rather deflated.

There are more normal activities around here also. I often call my son on the weekend, and he had said today would be good, but when I reached him this afternoon via video call I heard and saw my sister in the background making cranky sounds about a storage shed kit she was putting together in preparation for having construction on the house soon. She reminded me of me working on something that causes a struggle, and the call ended with "thank you for loaning me your son." I'm glad I could help! :)

Yesterday the last of the potatoes were harvested. This week I'll visit the nearby nursery to see what they have in stock to put in that bed next since I've finished planting everything I started from seed. All of the outdoor work stuff is more appealing, but I have to make progress on the eBay sales to clear out the front room.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Jun 25 - 11:29 PM

Sounds like you accomplished what you planned - and I have seen the styrofoam microbeads around here when I need a sturdy support in a box and must break or cut large pieces to work.

A tip if no other sources are nearby - you can buy boxes online from UHaul and you'd be surprised at the number of sizes and shapes they have. Factor it into sales, of course, and have it ahead of listing. I bought a dozen in a couple of long and low sizes to pack vintage VHS players in. It was easier than waiting for the right size box to come along. These days I go down to the village recycle bins and look to see what sizes have been dropped in (usually not flattened out).

Charmion, how are your windows looking now? Dorothy, how is your puttering around the cottage at Beaver going?

I have officially turned that spider corner into prime real estate for Ms. Argiope. I stepped out on the porch this evening and after a couple of minutes a Junebug bopped along. I caught it and tossed it into the web; I was going to take a photo and in the 15 seconds it took to pull the phone from my pocket and bring up the camera app she already had that bug fully bound. The bug is still alive - last I saw the two of them she was hovering around and the bug was kicking through the sticky layers.

More of the den has been scrubbed, so easy with that battery operated big spinning brush.

I know the next nine days here are going to feel like your styrofoam storm is running through my life; cat sitting begins and there are a number of other appointments sprinkled through the week.

I'm taking a weekend (at least) off from any politics and I set up FB with a filter to block names and events. If you use Facebook Purity (download from this site, not the Chrome extension store where there are some fakes) you can filter keywords from your newsfeed. I set that up and compared Chrome (with the filters) to Firfox and there is a big difference. It just doesn't let the political stuff load. (On FB itself they refer to themselves as "Fluff Busting Purity" because FB blocks any references to their actual name. It's an odd arrangement, but it works.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 27 Jun 25 - 11:07 PM

Chaos, total chaos. The living room looks like a little funnel cloud came through. Took forever to pack up an instrument for shipment so now there is styrofoam bits and and cardboard and bubble wrap everywhere, and still didn't make the deadline for UPS.

I was delighted the selling process worked, a friend in a bind needed to raise some funds. But it was a lot of work, and crafting an oversized box took way longer than it should have. Note to self, never publish the listing til the item is packed for shipment.

And tomorrow's plans have just blown up. You never know how a day is going to go...

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Jun 25 - 11:25 AM

Mademoiselle Argiope (kind of rhymes with Calliope) has, over the course of the last few days, moved her web closer to the house each night. From under the soffit over the front walk to the inside corner next to the door, so that now when I open the security gate the web wobbles. The test will come tomorrow to see if she tries to locate inside the security gate or if she backs off some and settles in the mid-range next to the string of lights that turns on at dusk. Perhaps I should change the lighting pattern to a steady glow and she will move closer again. Do spiders get motion sickness from flickering lights? Clearly she's looking for the optimal spot, so experimentation and learning seems to be part of the process. (She builds a new web every night, after eating the old one.)

Kitchen items and 10 pounds of flour have left the porch, and though it will just look like an ordinary porch to someone who is never here, I suspect the postal carrier and the Amazon driver will notice it is clear of leaf litter and tracked dirt. The cooler with bottled water will head out for the hottest time of year soon. I used to have a porch swing out there but the sun was hard on it; I may move it back out for the rest of the summer and get a new tarp to cover it.

The next segment of den floor is scrubbed and drying, chairs arrayed around the spot. A drawback to this work is that it makes the house very humid.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 27 Jun 25 - 10:50 AM

The window-washer is hard at work downstairs. Upstairs, the improvement is startling.

Because I'm chicken on ladders, the upstairs windows haven't been washed since before we bought this house. Therefore, they had at least eight years' accumulation of airborne grunge.

In my next abode, I'll indulge in an annual splurge on clean windows. As luxuries go, it ranks well above a spa visit, and probably costs about the same.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Jun 25 - 12:06 AM

I did a couple of more segments of the den floor. I'm doing small enough sections so I can set chairs around each area to keep the dogs from retracking through it until its dry.

I have a taker for most of the kitchen items I listed today on the buy nothing page, the surplus will go in the laundry room bin for Goodwill later. She's interested in baking - I should add a bonus of the last few pounds of wheat flour that I never use anymore.

I'm doing the gray water bucket brigade from the kitchen sink now; as I wash hands, rinse plates or let the water run till hot, it collects in a bucket. It goes on potted plants, garden plants, and several trips out a day is often enough to avoid having to go with the hose in the evening.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Jun 25 - 04:47 PM

The porch looks much better but I think the last of the chalk went to the art teacher donations. Perhaps a boxed area lined out with painter's tape and write my request on the tape with a Sharpie.

Today I sent a fax and made calls to my representatives, and now I need to set that aside and work on my own things. Let the stress have a break.

eBay has to top the list of things to do, clearing out via sales and donation are the top two methods of declutter right now. I have a small batch to list this afternoon on the free page.

The first week in July is packed full of appointments and cat comings-and-goings, but sometimes those are my most efficient weeks, when everything ends up being planned out.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 26 Jun 25 - 10:52 AM

the world is full of mysteries, as the adage says

One Of Life's Little Mysteries.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 26 Jun 25 - 10:43 AM

> Why? It’s a mystery

Perhaps the delivery persons are following orders. They're not paid enough to have initiative, and may in fact get disciplined for showing it.

But it also reminds me of the description of an empty rubbish receptacle on a pavement, surrounded by a ring of the rubbish that should have been in it. When I first read that, I thought mebbe the rubbish-bearing oiks couldn't throw straight, but it might have been just a "stuff you" comment by said oiks. Or an outdoor Tracy Emin installation.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 26 Jun 25 - 09:33 AM

Stilly, I have a table on my porch that should attract parcels — it’s right beside the front door, under the mailbox — but generally doesn’t. Most parcels are found on the porch floor, often carefully propped against the door. Why? It’s a mystery.

I have only a couple of the stager’s tasks left to do. I’ll wait till Monday morning on a couple of them so the rooms are still usable; for example, she wants me to turn my computer desk around to face the wall, although in that position I can’t plug in the computer.

But the lawn’s getting shaggy. Must stir up Max-next-door.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Jun 25 - 11:57 PM

Zygocactus. Hmmm. Over here they're called xmas cactus, thanksgiving cactus, and such for the time of year they bloom, usually cool months.

I have started tackling the den floor and will do zones of a few square feet at a time. The doorway at the back of the room came first, with furniture moved also to get under them. I also took the rotating brush out to the front porch and scrubbed the area around the door, and I hope when it dries it will look more inviting. I'm thinking of taking a piece of sidewalk chalk and drawing a square and putting "parcels here" for those delivery folks who drop boxes right in front of the door in plain view of the street so I have to shove it with the security door. There's a much better spot about three feet to the right of there, screened by shrubs and a few cinderblocks.

Dog beds and small rugs are finished, it took the washer a while to get the load into balance (I had to take out a couple of things and run them separately on spin and rinse.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Jun 25 - 06:43 PM

I've had a load ready for weeks to go to my favourite recycling place (Reverse Garbage - choosing to reuse since 1975) but the week before Easter the trip was cancelled when the friend who was coming out of his way to collect me did his back in. He was helping chop down some small trees to get a friend's property ready for our Easter music camp. ps. he is an engineer who has done a lot of similar work, not just a weekend DIY-er! This time he had a toilet blockage to sort out so we SNIFFFFFED very loudly when he arrived for rehearsal! He had wet hair & claimed he'd had 3 showers! The blockage was almost cleared, he just needed to buy some useful thingy in the morning but as he is Mr Music he didn't have time to get it.

Blockage would be cleared by now so I expect to get everything off my wooden trunk and away next week! The trunk is under the window & it will be easier to water my plants - the window faces north & is is filled with 9 zygocactus & the 6 winter plants are flowering!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Mary G
Date: 25 Jun 25 - 05:56 PM

Re: rental cars. Take a picture incl license plates. Likewise going to airport parking or street parking, from all sides, incl. numbers, street signs etc. For decluttering, I am pretty near minimalism but I am suffering trying to get rid of a $3 curtain rod. I do not need it. I did not know I had it. But my brain is saying it is a perfectly good rod, I might need it someday, money does not grow on trees etc. I got rid of a mop by learning it against a pole with a free sign. A sack of OK but not great clothing to a woman who collects for homeless. A very nice suitcase to a young staff person at the camp I volunteer at. I got rid of several bags of decent clothes to our thrift shop. I am packing for Ryanair with tiny luggage requirements. Lots will be stuffed in pockets. I am going to Lourdes and have to figure out how to bring several large bottles of holy water back. Have paid for extra bag on Ryanair.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Jun 25 - 01:03 PM

In the for-what-it's-worth category of the end stages of beloved pets, there is no perfect answer. The last two cats were euthanized when it was clear the treatments they were getting were making them miserable. It was even harder with them, because the kids were here and were heartbroken also. With dogs, I realized with the Labrador retriever last year that I had waited too long, thinking I'd get a sign from him as far as lost appetite. Labs never stop eating (he was veering toward a bowl of cat food on the ground outside the clinic as I took him in that last time.) It was the lack of joy for him that was the decider; when he couldn't get up by himself to go out to the fence for the pre-dawn treat, I knew it was time. The old catahoula got it just right - she was shaky for a week or two at the most, then died in her sleep in her favorite spot. I kept the pitbull comfortable with steroids but when she stopped eating, it was time. When you know it is coming you've already started the grieving process, so ask yourself if you're trying to spare your heart or their pain. And as hard as it is, it's best for them if you're there at the end. [Dabs tears and blows nose.]

There has been a bit of dog drama here, with Pepper not eating any of her food yesterday morning or evening. I've mixed a dry food she prefers with a food she no longer prefers, but she turned her nose up at it as well as the separate bowl of veggies. Even broccoli last night. I made a note to call the vet this morning for a checkup, then thought "we've done this before." So this morning I gave her a bowl of just the food she prefers with the broccoli on the side and she ate everything. Duh.

I heard from the transplanted friend who is now in North Carolina. She has found a rental for a year while they hunt for a house they want to buy or a place to build. Got a congratulations from her on getting her almond verbena to start sprouting new stems. The ultimate success in this first year of the transplant is if it sends out any blooms.

More housework today. Wash small rugs and more floor mopping.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 25 Jun 25 - 12:15 PM

Many thanks for that comment about Ptol, Charmion. Herself was amused.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 25 Jun 25 - 11:46 AM

Photographs Monday.

Tuesday is Dominion / Canada Day, so I assume the listing will go live on Wednesday.

Ptolemy sounds like a cat who won't quit till the last dog is hung.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 25 Jun 25 - 11:41 AM

Cat News: Ptolemy's on the way out, but the little offender is worse than a West-End celebrity --- every time we decide that That's That, he stages another brief comeback. Herself is oscillating between it being cruel to keep him going, and it being unkind to call Time on him early, which isn't doing her own health much good: to reduce her stress levels, she's actually given up doomwatching rolling-news TV.*

More next week when the cat-friendly vet returns from holiday, if Ptol doesn't pop his claws first.

* It didn't help that the State-Sponsored Suicide Bill was going through the House of Commons last week, but that's a different argument for another thread.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 25 Jun 25 - 07:44 AM

Cleaners are coming today to scrub out the house; window-washers on Friday. I proposed Saturday for photographs, hoping that could mean listing on Monday. The agent has yet to reply, but I’m betting she will agree.

It’s raining lightly now, and today’s forecast high is a mere 28°C. The new grass in my side lawn is now long enough to mow.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jun 25 - 10:54 PM

Progress today on several fronts. Dusted, mopped, and vacuumed the master suite, hall, and hall bathroom (all long overdue). Trimmed along the south side of the house and installed a new soaker hose, then ran a successful test on a timer. Flattened quite a few boxes that had accumulated in the den and came across an odd little garden light that seems to have arrived here via a few padded boxes from the home of my cat sitting gig (she saved them for me because they're particularly good for shipping glasses and I still have quite a few to list on eBay). I'll take that back to her this weekend when the next cat sitting job starts.

I also picked the first two eggplants ready in the garden and in the morning I'll make one of them into a batch of breaded fried eggplant and take across the street to my neighbor who loves it and has been in poor health for quite a while. The second one will go into a batch of babaghanouj. Normally I would eat it with pita bread, but I'll use it with toasted gluten free bread (I have quite a few loaves in the freezer.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jun 25 - 03:51 PM

Yesterday afternoon I noticed a web under the front porch soffit of what is locally called a "zipper spider" - the yellow and black Argiope that is an intrepid day and nighttime hunter. The zigzag thing is extra silk (called a "stabilimentum") making these guys easy to spot. And there is a wasp today trying to build a nest about 12 inches to the left of that web. I'm thinking Darwin in the form of a hungry spider will take care of that wasp.

I await the arrival of a step-down brass ring or adapter I can use on the camera to add a couple of my existing specialty filters to the gear for the new camera. Once this is set up it's time for the next camera sale of the first big digital I used. Still works, has lots of pieces and parts, takes up a lot of space (relatively speaking for a camera).

This morning I started emptying one of the two 55+ gallon water tanks I have in the corner by my potting table. I'm going to reconfigure the setup, make it smaller. I may end up with an extra rain barrel to send to my daughter's house. With as many projects as she has going on up there, water sources need to be spread around. (And speaking of water - I just heard the village public works guy at the curb, checking on the readings of the newly installed water meter. I'll go take a look later to see if it has any symbols I should know about.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Jun 25 - 05:54 PM

Awww. A car in the shop is never convenient; I always worry I won't remember what the rental is I'm driving and will lose track of it. And I still miss the standard transmissions I used to drive. (When you buy used cars there is a lot less selection in things like that.)

I took a small gift from the garden to my medical appointment today, a half-dozen of same "new potato" size red lasodas. Since last year I didn't have a garden, this is a nice marker of progress health-wise after the statins were stopped.

There was a side trip to the favorite Goodwill store, but I left empty handed. That after noticing a foot controller for an old sewing machine that was by itself, and finding the machine across the room and putting them back together. And noticing a vintage Noritake china set from Japan and putting all of bowls and plates and saucers with the gravy boat. People buy those to sell on eBay, might as well make it easier. It won't be me. (I was reminded that I have a bunch of vintage Russel Wright melamine I should sell myself.) #OCD at the Goodwill.

Lunch with an old friend and a couple of pleasant conversations while shopping add up to a good day out.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 23 Jun 25 - 01:51 PM

My car is in the shop having its backed-into side panel repaired, so I’m driving a rental (insurance pays) for a week. It’s an Audi Quattro. “Vroom, vroom!”

Except it has an automatic transmission, which kinda spoils the fun, and way too many glowing buttons on the dashboard — but none of them is SATNAV. Remembering how I got into this fix, I paid the $25 per day for extra insurance.

Little by little, I’m shedding commitments and responsibilities. A fellow chorister came round to measure up the stack of folded risers stowed in my garage, and left promising to come back next Tuesday to haul them away. Phew!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Jun 25 - 11:19 AM

Patty, it's a matter of scale. Your cow activity is equivalent to just having changed the cat litter and having them take a dump before the fresh dust even settles. :)

A race to the curb this morning with the last two defunct soaker hoses; I had scissors in hand because I'd just cut off the ends. I shoved it into the trash can just as the nice man in the yellow vest stepped down from the back of the truck to pick it up. I've been looking at one of those ugly hoses on the porch for ages now. I'll take the broom out later and sweep, and maybe even the Ryobi brush and scrub the muddy spot in front of the door.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 23 Jun 25 - 09:38 AM

Yesterday, something I never expected to spend time doing, shoveling cow chips into a wheelbarrow and dumping on the adjacent grazing land. The cows, who I seldom see any more, stood near my gate on the access road and dumped about 18 big ones. Drove around them for a week til they were dry, and disposed of them with pitchfork and shovel, before the forecast rains arrive tomorrow.

So, last night, sunset was disturbed by much mooing, they were at the gate milling around again. Really? They waited til I cleaned it up and came back???

Today's project is to get a friend's old steel guitar looked at by the guys at the music shop. Trying to raise maximum cash to help with their crisis. But I can't list it online til I have more facts about its condition.

Meanwhile, spent a few hours just putting things away around the house. So many times that is a task that I skip until it becomes a problem. I guess it is a chore that has to go on a schedule just as much as active cleaning tasks.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Jun 25 - 12:01 AM

Assembling that batch of nacho beef/beans was a good workout this evening. I had most things ready to go so once the onions and chiles were sautéed and grinding and browning the beef I could keep adding the other ingredients, and the bowls went straight into the dishwasher, a lot of back and forth. It's a versatile dish but is the opposite of a one-pot meal.

Two of the clunky old soaker hoses are in the trash can for tomorrow morning, making for a nice cleanup in the corner behind the fence where I store a few garden things.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Jun 25 - 11:00 AM

That sounds like a nice setup, Dorothy! Enjoy your time out in the countryside! Are you still doing any pots?

This weekend I've been doing some cooking ahead. 1.5x batch of granola yesterday, now in the freezer, and today a double batch of my beef nacho mix that I freeze in small jars for many future meals.

The sprinkler is set up to keep a general level of moisture in the vegetable gardens, though I'll be doing localized watering for the crops themselves to keep them thriving. It's a programmable battery operated attachment on the back yard spigot. The cucumbers are now transplanted and starting to blossom and grip the stands I put in place for them to climb. We're into the hot time of year where the long range forecast doesn't show much rain chance in the next 10 days. Now is when the planning pays off. Making sure plants have a lot of mulch to keep moisture in place after watering, and not overwatering (it ends up rotting the roots).

Today is the day to tackle the den floor and I may also give the dogs baths.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 22 Jun 25 - 10:59 AM

Beaver: Went to the "third Saturday" event in Lake St. Peter yesterday and had lots of good conversations with terrific folks, some of whom I have known since early 80s! Today is HOT and I am at the library- outside - picking up the internet - with car engine providing cooling - just for a while. Then I guess I will hole up at home - find covering for two windows to keep the heat out there! Going to 29C today.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 22 Jun 25 - 10:45 AM

Beaver!:

Having beaten the malady down to my usual cough, And flying on the fact that I managed to go to the wedding - and back again! I am spending a couple weeks in this lovely spot, visiting friends and getting re-organized - cleaning the house up after a two year hiatus - of NO energy - feels wonderful! Cancelled the mail forwarding on the premise that most addresses have been changed by now and I want to be able to receive some mail here. Sure beats sitting all day in a non- community; here I can at least go a few places - even the credit union! Where I got a staff to get me into my account - an e-transfer for a friend.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Jun 25 - 03:06 PM

Keb, hoping the mattress is sitting on a full-size plank now and not slats that might typically hold up a box spring? Otherwise you could end up with saggy points. If you decide you want the mattress to be less firm you could add one of those eggcrate toppers (they come with many thickness and firmness options). I have one on my mattress (because the mattress wasn't firm enough but the topper helped.)

Why don't you offer the box springs on a buy nothing or Freecycle page? Then they'll come pick it up at no cost to you. I am a moderator on a local Freecycle page, it's pretty straightforward and there are few complaints (mostly if someone tries to offer things for sale instead of free). I'm less big on the Buy Nothing group because it uses a phone app that I'm not interested in, or on Facebook, that I don't think you use, and they're very picky about the boundaries of the area they serve. Not a group in your area? They ask you to set one up - nope. A bonus to the Freecycle group: I've made several friends in the last few years through those pages.

My son and his partner have had a bug for a few days and realized their COVID tests were expired, so are getting more. I looked through my tests here and all are expired, one is marginally useable if needed soon. I've disassembled the boxes for recycling or trash and ordered (for a cost) a box of COVID and flu tests. The federal FDA COVID site is awash with trash and conspiracy theories now and an outright libelous account about Dr. Fauci. "Cleanup on aisle 47."

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 Jun 25 - 02:13 PM

Yesterday, I did a major declutter with my bed.
The bed frame is new;
I already had a mattress and a box-springs set.
When the bed frame was installed, I had the movers
layer the box-springs under the mattress on the bed frame.

Well, yesterday I extricated the box springs.
Now the mattress sits on top of the bed frame.
The box-springs are on the floor next to the bed.

Eventually I will have to get the box out altogether, I suppose
that means calling 1-800-GOT-JUNK again.
But for now it is enough that the bed itself is workable.

With the box-springs, the bed was just too high, dangerously so.
And everything had this teetering feeling when I lay on top.
Now the bed feels firm and solid
and the height is easy to get on and off of.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Jun 25 - 12:25 PM

I suppose the art could be moved now and avoid the request to move it when the photographer arrives and realizes the disparity in positions. The yard sounds lovely! A friend gave me a gerbera daisy that is in a pot next to some sweet potato vines on the front porch, and the color is a remarkably beautiful accent to the deep purple leaves nearby. Otherwise I have a few flowers here and there on the driveway side of the house. The hibiscus has just started blooming and the new cannas bloom one at a time. The other side looks great, those cannas are lovely. Once I get the new soaker hoses set up again they'll stay that way. And after this season the driveway cannas will move to the other side to a third canna bed.

Yesterday I picked up a fresh filet of Copper River salmon as part of my annual acknowledgement of the season and a reminder of how much my mother enjoyed it (her last meal). That was baked this morning as a high protein breakfast, and while it was good, the frozen wild sockeye I eat regularly is its equal. (The filet almost slipped out of my hands and I caught it against my t-shirt; I'll be changing the shirt in a few minutes to avoid the blooming fish aura all day.)

The vegetable garden sprinklers are set up on the timer and I tested them last night and this morning. Now is the time to keep the string trimmer handy and regularly cut the grass around the vegetable garden or it becomes a jungle. That's the tradeoff for automating the watering and not doing spots by hand.

This morning I exchanged the new PVC flap for the old PVC flap in the dog door. It fits the opening perfectly and will, for a while, keep out more of the mosquitoes and warm air that otherwise seeps in around the warped one. The last replacement was in 2022, so pretty durable (and there is no longer a puppy chewing on it.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 21 Jun 25 - 10:20 AM

My bedroom curtains are doubled — plain off-white next to the window, and multicoloured on top (the inside side). This arrangement provides blackout so people can sleep past dawn, and keeps the heat out in summer and cold draughts out in winter. The stager thinks the top curtains darken the room! Of course they do — that’s their job. Sigh.

She also wants me to shift the bedroom chests of drawers sideways a couple of feet to make the rooms look bigger to the camera, although in each room that will make the gap between the chest of drawers and the bed uncomfortably narrow and the pictures on the walls will look totally random.

The new grass is doing well except in a couple of spots where the tracked vehicles dug in with particular enthusiasm.

Weather here is hot and steamy, with somewhat less smoke in the air although news reports indicate no slackening of wildfires to the north and west. A red peony that I “temporarily” moved from one flowerbed to another years ago has just surprised me with its first exuberant show of blossom since I came to this house, and the rosebush and clematis vine will soon be in full bloom. With any luck, the garden will be fully dressed when the realtor’s photographer comes.