DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 12:21 PM

Wearing a mask is a constant reminder of the threat -- not a bad thing in itself. People convalescing with COVID, or who have merely been in contact with the bug, should wear masks if only to remind them to wash their hands often and keep away from others until they are fully recovered, or they have tested negative throughout the incubation period.

More than a century of clinical experience has shown that masks inhibit the spread of all kinds of diseases, which is why medical personnel wear them when working over open wounds. As an asthmatic of long standing, I appreciate any effort or measure that reduces my exposure to the flipping COMMON COLD, which can reduce me to a quivering, barking wreck in two days flat.

So I'm on Team Mask.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 07:45 PM

I’m quite happy with Environment Canada, thank you.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 11 Sep 23 - 10:47 AM

First choir practice tonight, so seven file boxes of music are stacked near the garage door for an efficient exit. God forbid the house should catch fire while the gangway is so thoroughly blocked.

The swimming pool at the YMCA was supposed to open today, but no -- tomorrow at the earliest. Consequently, no pool class until Wednesday.


My hips feel stiff these days, so I downloaded a walking-challenge program to my phone yesterday in the hope that I will get off my butt more often. Summer is waning, so I don't have the excuse/reason of steamy heat to justify logging extra hours in the comfy chair.

The app is one of those couch-to-10K (steps, not kilometres) things. If it does what it says on the tin, and my rickety feet don't give trouble, I'll "do" Hadrian's Wall (145 km) on a treadmill at the Y gym over the winter.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Sep 23 - 10:44 AM

The Getaway organizers want everyone in attendance to prove inoculation and to test negative before and during the event.I emailed my Province of Ontario vaccination certificate to the registrar with a question: Are five anti-COVID jabs good enough, although the most recent was almost a year ago, or must I get jabbed again before attending? I ask this because the Ministry of Health has a new vaccine, developed to target the latest variant, and it won't be distributed until late October. I don't fancy getting jabbed twice if I don't have to.

Beautiful weather in Perth County this week, markedly less hot and definitely chilly at night. I switched the thermostat from Cool to Heat on Thursday, when I arose to personal gooseflesh and an indoor temperature of 17.5C. Within half an hour, both cats were ensconced in meatloaf position on top of floor vents.

My personal fitness program is going well so far -- extended walks every day, greatly encouraged by conditions outside. Also, my annual bout of autumnal hay-fever has subsided, so I can huff all that delicious fresh air without wheezing and sneezing. The tourists are still in town, however, supporting the theory that man remains vile even when every prospect pleases.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 19 Sep 23 - 01:15 PM

I still have a couple of silk dress lengths -- large pieces of fabric from which to make dresses -- dating from the 1980s, and a swath of blue Chinese damask from the '50s that would once have made a wonderful jacket lining. Not so sure about that now -- its pattern (coolies and pagodas) would not please the modern taste.

But I don't wear dresses much any more, let alone dresses expensively tailored from fabric that must not go in the washing machine. What's more, I have no idea where I would find a dressmaker willing to take on such a project now. So the fabric remains at the bottom of the barrack box full of clothing that I have yet to face parting with, such as two wedding dresses (both mine) and my father's dressing gown.

Someone should draw up some Rules of Decluttering, starting with the Law of Tenure, to wit: The longer an item has been in your possession, the harder it is to part with.

Charmion's Corollary to the Law of Tenure: If an item is inherited, the difficulty of parting with it increases geometrically with every generation through which it has passed.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 19 Sep 23 - 02:04 PM

In re: Smallpox vaccination scars.

Like most southern Canadians of my age, I was vaccinated against smallpox as a toddler. At the age of 17, I was vaccinated again because I was going to France and had no documentary record of the original dose. In those days, a Canadian had to prove inoculation against smallpox after most foreign travel; only the United States, the United Kingdom and maybe the Nordic countries were exempt. Definitely not France.

Then I joined the armed forces and got vaccinated yet again, despite my fresh scar and the official record booklet that went with it. Each recruit was assumed to be an immunological tabula rasa, and we were inoculated against almost everything from mumps to yellow fever. Not cholera or plague, however, because the shots then available for those diseases gave only about six months of protection ( yellow fever was good for 10 years). Any deployment to a notorious hotbed (e.g., Congo) was always preceded by an extended visit to the warrant officer in the Preventive Medicine section.

So I once had three of those little round scars, two on the left shoulder and one on the right. Only the most recent, from 1974, is barely discernible now; the others have faded out of existence.

As for needle parades at school -- every year, from Grade One to Grade Six, with the entire school lined up for the village doctor and a nurse from the Carleton County public health office. It was a combined dose of typhoid, paratyphoid, tetanus and diphtheria (TABTD) and a separate needle for polio -- no oral vaccines on sugar cubes for us! The MMR vaccine -- targeting measles, mumps and rubella -- appeared well after I had survived all three diseases and left school. I've heard that, in Ontario, inoculation campaigns have even whooping cough and chicken pox on the run.

At age eight, when I was In Grade Four, I had whooping cough, rubella, and a full-blown case of red measles, all within a span of about eight months. No wonder I never really learned how to calculate with vulgar fractions.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 19 Sep 23 - 09:39 PM

I just pitched a great stack of Ordnance Survey maps of Wales and Michelin maps of France and Germany into the recycle box. The battlefield map of the Ypres salient is somehow still in the box …

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 25 Sep 23 - 10:15 AM

I'm getting ready to be away from home for a week and a bit. Very twitchy -- clearly tense about the prospect of crossing the border and travelling so far alone for the first time since (holy Dinah!) the mid-1980s.

The itinerary is very relaxed, with lots of time to rest, find a loo, get lost, and otherwise make retrograde progress. I have only one deadline: arrive at the West River Retreat Center (sic) by supper-time on Friday. The cats will be fine, with an experienced cat-visitor coming in every day. I have plenty of money. What in blazes is my problem?

My last major task before leaving is finishing the minutes from the last choir board meeting. Surely I'll settle down when that's done.

Dorothy, the hearing loss you describe is common in my family, and I fully expect to develop it myself over the next fifteen years if I live that long. The only coping method we have found is to avoid large groups and noisy places -- even church if the organ will be played -- and get a one-on-one briefing after public meetings and other gatherings for information. Yes, it's limiting, but my elders managed it by organizing the younger generation to provide those briefings and by writing a hell of a lot of letters. Without children and grandchildren to depend on, I'll have to find other means when it happens to me.

My elder brother -- an ex-artillery officer -- also suffers from the kind of deafness that comes from exposure to loud noise and explosions. His hearing aids meet about half his needs, and I'm impressed by his efforts to hide his frustration. One of my brothers-in-law is a retired plumber who worked in a Chrysler assembly plant for decades. He manages his hearing loss, now nearly total, with hearing aids (again, only partially effective) and by using headphones to listen to radio, podcasts and audiobooks.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 02 Oct 23 - 03:41 PM

Heading home from the Getaway. For tonight, I’m in an over-priced, hyper-decorated bed-and-breakfast in Gettysburg PA. The owners have so crammed every room with Victorian doo-dads that there’s nowhere to sit and the guitar has to share the bed.

Speaking of the bed, it’s much better than what I encountered at the Super 8 in Manassas, which was like concrete. With the constant slamming of car doors outside, I might as well have been sleeping in the parking lot.

When they invent the Star Trek transporter, I’ll be one of the first in line. Getting there (anywhere) is definitely NOT half the fun.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 05 Oct 23 - 10:22 PM

I am so happy to be back at home.

The Getaway is objectively wonderful, and I love the people I see there. But getting there, and getting home again, is most definitely not even half the fun. Or any of the fun, come to think of it.

When I made the trip with Edmund, I had the pleasure of his company, of course, but I also benefited from his efforts to read maps and road signs, watch for over-caffeinated Porsches, enter data in the SATNAV, keep me supplied with Altoids, and find eating establishments that would do better than provide mere calories. He would also carry the guitar despite the military rule of “one man, one kit”. On my own, I was bossed around by the SATNAV and seemed unable to locate a McDonald’s with an operational milkshake machine.

Next year, I’ll fly.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Oct 23 - 01:45 PM

Having almost rested up from my American odyssey of last week, on Sunday I took off to Windsor for Thanksgiving dinner with SIL 2 and her family, including three grandsons who are still in the feral cat phase of childhood. Windsor is three hours’ drive from Stratford, so today I’m resting up from the road trip encore.

Autumnal weather has finally arrived. It took long enough; last Wednesday, when I crossed the border at Queenston Heights, southwestern Ontario was sweltering under a heat wave that had hovered around 30°C for a week. Conditions like that after the equinox are very unusual. We should have had our first frost by now, but the dreary rain phase — normal in mid-September — has only just begun.

Two weeks ago I fell in a poorly-lit restaurant, acquiring a couple of huge bruises that are just beginning to heal. At the allergist’s office this morning, I revealed one of them when I pulled up my sleeve for the needle and then had to spend ten minutes reassuring the nurse that I’m okay etc, etc, etc. Good thing she didn’t see the saucer-sized purple blotch on my thigh, where I hit the floor first! The damage would have been a lot worse if I hadn’t done a paratrooper’s tuck-and-roll landing to avoid the furniture.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Oct 23 - 05:02 PM

I don't bounce as i did in my youth, that's for sure, and my lack of depth perception (only one eye that works) can get me into trouble in dim light. The restaurant was one of those burger places with booths that you step up into, and -- not seeing the difference in floor level -- I forgot to step down when scrambling out. Then my heel caught the edge of the invisible step, and over I went. Not fun; the bruises hurt for days.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 13 Oct 23 - 08:14 AM

Stilly, that cough, and the need to sit up to get any sleep at all, mean you have bronchitis. Have you seen any kind of medic about it?

Check the colour of the stuff that comes up when you cough; if it’s yellow to green, there’s a bacterial infection cooking in your lungs, and an antibiotic drug is called for.

I’ve been there way too often.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Oct 23 - 09:31 AM

In Stratford (Ontario!), masks are still common at large venues most people can’t avoid, especially supermarkets and big-box stores. I also see them at church, where singing happens. All of this makes perfect sense to me.

The plexiglass shields recently disappeared from the cashiers’ stations at Zehr’s and Sobey’s, the supermarkets I patronise the most. They can’t have been cheap to install, so I would like to know the business case for scrapping them.

For years, I have resisted air travel because I typically get off the plane with a cold I did not have on boarding, which means suffering with bronchitis is a foreign country. Now that COVID is apparently with us for the long haul, I definitely won’t fly for any reason short of a dire emergency, even after the full slate of available jabs, and with every intention of keeping up with each new vaccine. If that means I never see Europe again, I’m cool with that. (Maybe I’d go by sea. If a money tree were to spring up in my back yard.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 17 Oct 23 - 07:42 PM

I have a new gadget that is definitely adding pizzazz to my quality of life. It’s a sealing cork for fizzy wine! So I can have, like, a single glass of prosecco. Like anyone has a single glass of prosecco, but I could, if I want.

At some point in the last six or seven years, I acquired a dozen bottles of champagne, real champagne, from France and everything, but from a maker I had never heard of. As fizzy white wine goes it’s tasty and refreshing, but it lacks the yeasty fresh-bread flavour that I like in a champagne. (Will ya look at her, the champagne snob!) Edmund and I would crack a bottle and drink it on the porch, or in front of the goggle box. There were still at least half a dozen bottles in the cellar when Edmund died.

When you’re on your own, fizzy wine is for company and for gifts. Because it’s like slaughtering a steer for one damned steak! But with this new gadget, I can open a bottle and have a glass, and then cork up the bottle and put it in the fridge and do it again tomorrow.

And that no-name champagne makes a killer Aperol spritz, and is amazing in a champagne cocktail or a French 75.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 17 Oct 23 - 08:33 PM

A bottle with four ounces in the bottom does look like clutter, don’t it? Good excuse for a wee tipple, if one needs an excuse.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 18 Oct 23 - 02:21 PM

I put the light duvet on the bed today. Still no overnight frost, though; we should have had that before Thanksgiving.

This is my new gadget: Trudeau Sparkling Wine Stopper. Unlike most of the gadgets I have acquired over the last few years, I actually bought it in a local shop.

The collection of cardboard boxes in my garage has reached peak, so I will have to spend an hour I will never get back breaking them down for the recycle collection on Monday. I'm shocked -- shocked, I say! -- at how much stuff I buy on line these days, every single item painstakingly packed up, usually in a cardboard box. If the garage is full of boxes, I have been letting my fingers do too much walking through eBay and Amazon.

And then I run out of filters for the cats' water fountain. Guess where they come from? Yep -- Amazon.

Sigh.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 26 Aug 23 - 03:07 PM

And I’m still plodding on with my charts. I’ve added exploding slices and a border when a user hovers over a slice on the pie chart. The first was easy. The second shouldn’t have been too bad but I spent a day wrestling with examples I found on Google before finding one that worked for me. It broke the tooltips on Firefox though so more searching and dead ends before reaching a solution, and one I like as it doesn’t need 3rd party scripts. I think it’s OK now.

I didn’t get round to doing mum’s council stuff today. Maybe tomorrow… Mum’s happy today btw. I think I mentioned getting her a slate clock with the numbers printed in Welsh for her birthday. She decided where she wanted it today. It’s replaced a cheap plastic clock that hung on a kitchen wall so it was a simple job which Lisa(cleaner) did for her.

Dad was taken back to his bed at about 3:45. I don’t know if that is going to be a regular(ish – carers times vary…) bed time or not but I think he’d probably have been feeling quite tired by then after all the time he’s been stuck in bed.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 30 Aug 23 - 05:02 AM

Well I think I’ve gone as far as I want with the svg charts now. I’ve changed the co-ordinates from using margins to position a plot (it can handle multiple plots of different types in a chart as well as multiple charts per html page) to X1,Y1,X2, Y2 areas as I found the former difficult to handle as a user. I’ve sorted out (particularly with the pie labels) text alignment/positioning and made things a bit more user friendly. This would create a basic pie chart.

  require('pie.php');                                     //include file needed for pie charts
  $chart = new ChartBase(350, 300);                       //create new chart 350w, 300h
  $chart->setBackground(220, 255, 255);                   //chart bacground color rgb
  $pie = new Pie();                                       //create new pie plot
  $pie->setValues(array(50,10,40,25));                    //add values for slices
  $pie->setLegend(array("Red","Green","Blue","Orange"));  //add legend
  $pie->setTitle("Testing pie chart");                    //add title
  $chart->addPlot($pie);                                  //add pie plot to chart
  echo $chart->plot();                                    //draw chart, output to browser

I’m not sure what I’ll try next. I suppose I could see how I get on with a Javascript/ canvas version of the charts but maybe it’s time to try to think of something else.

Dad has taken well to his return to spending his daytime out of bed. He’s just come through on his wheelchair to say good morning to me. I don’t think we’ve any extra visitors today but it can get confusing just with the regulars. Cavel (care company) see me 4 times a day, mum twice a day and I think it’s 3 times for dad. They may send one or two person teams out. They always combine visits for mum with one for me but may or may not make a separate visit for dad. Then there are the district nurses who change a dressing on my back.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 04 Sep 23 - 12:40 PM

I didn’t stop with the charts although I thought I would...s I’ve added horizontal bar charts. The latest example page is here. I also had a look at 3d pie charts and stumbled on this site where the chap really has gone to town with his php generated svg charts. I looked at the xml in one of his svg pie charts and that gave me an idea to try although I’m not that pleased with my result.

I don’t know what I’ll try next. I downloaded loads of weather data files from CEDA using “bulk download” link but the files don’t contain much data and I don’t think I’ll bother with it.

I doubt there’s anything anyone would want on my computers but a brother could look through the files if he wished. The photos were an exception that I have dealt with.

I kept my passwords in a book that got lost when I was in hospital . I’m just noting passwords, PIN      numbers, etc. in a text file on my laptop now and I’ll give brothers a print out when I next see them.

I’m feeling too hot today but the temps wont be closet to yours. According to the ”extremes page I made using the met data, the hottest in the UK yesteday was St James Park at 27.8C

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 06 Sep 23 - 11:00 AM

Well I’ve had a go at a Firefox/Chrome extension to replace the Mudcat reply text area with a ( trumbowyg) wyswig editor. After some struggles, I managed to get the box in (see this png image but it won’t post or preview although the output the editor produces look fine. I think there’s some conflict between the extension code and the Mudcat code. I think I’ll just count this as one of my failures.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 07 Sep 23 - 10:41 AM

I did have a look at why the editor wouldn’t post. The cause is Mudcat’s sloppy html. The post form      is part in and part out of a table for starters. It works somehow for normal posting but when the extension does its bit, the box we put the replies in doesn’t get sent with the rest of the data. I probably could work round that but I think it would take more effort than I want for what’s only a one off experiment.

I’ve got Dave’s browser tools installed on Firefox.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 10 Sep 23 - 01:32 PM

Thompson, I use the UK Met Office DataPoint for my weather forecasts and observations. It just supplies data in json and xml formats so some coding is needed to make it readable. I added a chart to the UK previous day’s regional extremes page today.

Tim got me an iPad Mini for my birthday (7th). I never expected to be an owner of an Apple product          (or expected a present like that). I spent much of yesterday getting it to share data with my other devices. Google help searches led me to believe the iPad probably wasn’ t going to sync calendars with baikal so I decided to try nextcloud which I thought might work with everything. Loads of hassle with nextcloud until I stumbled on something that prompted me to take another look at baikal. I found the error, fixed it and the ipads now sharing contacts, calenders and tasks with the rest.

Annoying though. If I’d found that last page first, things would have been fixed in 15 minutes.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 14 Sep 23 - 04:41 PM

I’ve had a play with maps since my last post here. I was going to try Google Maps but I managed to get my bank card locked during the sign up so I tried Leaflet. I’ve added some location maps to some of my weather forecast pages. I’ve also had a play around with a couple of the forecast pages. The hourly forecast one has changed quite a bit.

Nothing really to report from home but Tim’s daughter and partner in oz have had a disaster. Their house has burnt down. I believe it happened quickly and that they were fortunate to get out unscathed together with their two dogs. Their cat is thought to have perished in the blaze though.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 14 Sep 23 - 10:51 PM

Yes, Tim is one of my three brothers.

Google offer services for people to use their map system. I think their only free one is the static api which will allow you to embed maps with plain html. They want your card on sign up regardless of your intended usage. I thought my usage would be free but after a second look, I’m not so sure. The static api allows you to place tags on maps but it wasn’t clear to me that these tags could be used as clickable links. If I had to resort to their JavaScript api, their starting point is $5 per month. Also, I found I can’t resolve all the place names that turn up on my regional extremes page to lat/long coordinates through the met office data. I found a free service that meets my needs but, if I wanted to use Google’s geolocation api, prices start at $7 per month.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 30 Sep 23 - 06:47 PM

I’ve taken a break from the plays with the laptop and don’t know what I want to do to pass some time next. My last attempt was a go at Breakout.

I suppose I could take a longer look at the iPad mini. It is a nice device but I’ve yet to work out what I want to use it for.. That said, I got a pen for it today. I’d gone onto Amazon to look for a slimmer stylus for my phone when I stumbled on a Staetdler pencil that interested me. I also noted it said it wasn’t compatible with Apple pencils which used their own system and became curious about that. I found a genuine one at about £100 but also cheaper clones in the £10-£20 range and I got one to try. I like in. It, with the Apple OCR, seems to do a pretty good job interpretation my handwritten scrawl and although it needs charging, this is done magnetically so no cables to mess with.

Another Amazon item received today was a remote for the Yamaha soundbase under the living room tv. The power button on the tv remote switches both units on/off but occasionally, things go out of sync. It just needs the power button on the Yamaha remote pressing to restore the sync but dad lost the Yamaha remote and had been without sound for a week. Bloody parents, I wish they would be more careful. Another thing dad lost recently was his bank card which was supposed to be   kept in his wallet. I ordered him a new card and asked a carer to ensure he signed it and put it in his wallet. Of course, dad has lost his wallet now.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 03 Oct 23 - 03:43 PM

The only recent device I can think of, SRS, is the very unexpected birthday present of the iPad mini from brother in oz. I’ve yet to do much with that yet except having it sit happily on my network and setting up the email accounts so its sort of ready as and when I want to play more with it. I think it will end up replacing my Samsung Galaxy Tab A8. It’s smaller size feels better suited to my current needs and it is the better machine. It’s display seems crisper to me and it feels a touch more responsive.

It is the first Apple product I’ve owned. I’ve avoided them partly because of price (and even now, don’t think I’d invest more than double say the cost of my Samsung for an iPad) and possible hardware ties as well as software ones.

Tim apparently got himself one about a month ago. He had used a Microsoft Surface Pro for a few years but he became frustrated with its handling of midi and with high end VST plugins. I gather that the iPad just did all he’d wanted straight off with no hassles. I also gather that him being so impressed with his and wanting to get me something he knew I wouldn’t normally consider buying were reasons for him getting me one.

Oh, and I did get a clone of the Apple pen for it the other day and quite like it.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 14 Oct 23 - 08:45 PM

The last time I went to a cinema was in 1980/81. A group of 4 of us, all early 20s went to watch Dumbo at the cinema in Rhos on Sea. Going to the cinema just hasn’t interested me.

My hearing’s not that great and I sometime have to ask people to repeat things as I’ve not heard them properly. I usually have subtitles on when watching tv.

I believe that digital hearing aids can be quite good as they can raise/lower frequency bands to suit the hearing loss rather than just make everything louder. They also can have different settings for different environments.

As for our NHS which was mentioned a few posts back. I don’t believe they offer the latest and greateast but I think they offer the quite reasonable rather that the seriously outdated. I think the service was dropped but Comer Hospital at least once operated what I thought was a good idea. That was a monthly drop in clinic where people could have their hearing aids servoes//repaired and retuned.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: JennieG
Date: 28 Sep 23 - 05:59 PM

I have read that glitter is the herpes of the craft world.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: pattyClink
Date: 27 Aug 23 - 02:06 PM

Oh, do wear those flip-flops in the shower, athlete's foot is still a thing! Keep a grocery or other bag in your gear bag so you can switch out pool/shower flipflops with your street shoes, keep dirt off everything else.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: pattyClink
Date: 02 Sep 23 - 12:42 PM

Happy Birthday, Stilly and Charmion!!

SRS, we are blowing on virtual candles and wishing you a cool and pleasant autumn.   For Charmion, safe and happy travel to the Getaway.

I have to report that I cannot get to the Getaway this year. The skin cancer saga drags on, and I will be having staples removed from my scalp that week.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: pattyClink
Date: 02 Sep 23 - 04:13 PM

I usually just get small basal cell cancers that are quickly handled in the dermatologist's office, but lately have 3 that require the "Moh's Procedure" where it's rounds of cutting/checking under the scope.

I perhaps need to move to a twice-a-year checkup from the annual one I had been getting by with.

If you or family are prone to skin cancers, then a regular checkup is a great thing, but I'm not sure you need to get one unless you have some spots you're concerned about.

Am now in Mississippi where my doctor(s) are, not the greatest time of year to be here weather-wise, hoping the 'dome' breaks down soon.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Donuel
Date: 02 Sep 23 - 06:56 AM

Woof its envigorating sweater weather this morning. Our dog loved the shower probably because of the water temp. At 7 AM there is enough light to get out and about. No more 5 AM first light.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Sep 23 - 01:58 PM

Today I got the flu and RSV shot. The FDA will approve the Covid variant vaccine next week so getting the shot will be up in the air for weeks.

I was wondering, What if artificial intelligence had a conscience?
Would it be ashamed of its creator for the bias and prejudice over meaningless things like melanin and gender?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 10:11 AM

The Cochran report still finds the efficacy of masks inconclusive in slowing the spread of Covid.
For myself there is a scenario where masks are beneficial. It is your or someone else's violent sneeze.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Sep 23 - 09:22 AM

My mother's last three paintings were self-portraits that were identical except they became progressively more blurry. That indicated to me that she like Monet and myself had Fuchs syndrome which presents with corneal fluid bubbles that make vision foggy with rainbows around light sources. Every morning around 6 to 7 AM the rainbows start, BUT because I was prompted by caters to get checked I have curative ointments that dry the eyes out back to clarity in ten minutes. It's too bad mom assumed it was just old age. Today transplants as small as 3 millimeters of fluid pump cells can cure Fuchs. I carry eye salt drops at all times just in case. I still need 250 mag glasses for close work and reading. While vision varies with fluid it does have moments where I don't need glasses or a remarkable telescopic quality appears.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Sep 23 - 08:18 AM

Endomorphins ;^/ The sore person's friend

If you don't have a smallpox vaccination scar you are not one of my peers. A Florida public health official announced that the Covid booster is not safe. Florida is now the nation's hotbed of diseases including leprosy, Covid, Dengue, malaria and Florida man insanity.

I have personally seen only one case of leprosy. It's not pretty

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Sep 23 - 07:09 AM

I got the new booster at a grocery store. It's a zinger but not bad.

T have 6 crates of art supplies but I'm reluctant to donate them yet.
The 50 canvasses and framed pictures I saved to paint over, can go.
Procrastination won. That will clear a quarter of the basement.
My back is so much better, this fall will see a mass donation of tools and sundry junk. YAY

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Aug 23 - 10:19 AM

As I was leaving to feed cats a small SUV pulled up at the curb and I spoke briefly to the woman who was here to collect the rest of the fence pickets. The spot is now clear and I hope her feet and ankles aren't too scratchy - the nearby pine tree is dropping lots of long sharp needles this summer. I need to rake them to use for mulch later on. Mostly today I need to run the soaker hose around the foundation again. Regular yard work can wait until fall.

The friend who visited yesterday delivered a couple of dead electronics (a large TV and average sized printer) that are in the garage until a weekday when my ex comes by and can take them to the recycle drop off center. When I made the call requesting he pick these up he commented that he's found a couple of more old small CRT portable TV/Radio things in his garage to recycle. Back in the day those AC/battery operated devices were helpful during tornado season when you hunkered in the hall in the middle of the house and wanted to watch the weather. Now it's all on our phones. The recycling center is very close and is annoying because they named that center for our village but our village residents can't use it. You have to show Fort Worth residency. Staging recycling this way is a more convoluted form of decluttering than usual, but whatever works.

A friend sent a recipe for mango bread that I'll try today. I have several very ripe ones in the fridge and this would be perfect. It does mean taking a healthy fruit and putting it in a more carb-filled form, but it's that or toss them because I can't eat them all right now. (I should try freezing them.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Aug 23 - 10:15 PM

Jon, do whatever is comfortable. Palliative care will give you a lot of options (my understanding from what I've read about it.) It sounds like you have your parents set up for help.

The friend shopping computers sent some questions (via email) that I've answered this evening - it is remarkable how much electronics have come down in price as they've also gone up in quality. My recommendation for a monitor and advice about a printer he bought a while back but hasn't installed have been sent (after researching specs at Dell.com.)

It's so hot. 107^o. Still. The tractor sprinkler is crawling along the turf in front of the house this evening after running the oscillating sprinkler on the driveway side (all of this hoping to help the foundation and keep a few trees alive). I'll run soaker hoses on the back and the other side tomorrow. The next few days are supposed to be cooler, around 98^o before the next heat up in early September. The summer that keeps on giving.

Interesting - this evening I was flipping through channels on Sling and landed on a documentary about a rock band called Triumph. I actually know nothing about them, but I have a story. In 1981-82 I was leading tours at a commercial cave in Kentucky; they had the best formations in the Mammoth Cave area, and were close to the highway. This group pulled their tour bus off of the Interstate and ended up going through on my tour. The fact that I had no clue who they were wasn't a big deal to them, because we had other things in common. I'd worked in New York City as an Urban Park Ranger at various big events in the parks in each borough. They had performed there, and the local crew that did the stage set up for them was the same one I'd run into for Pavarotti and Simon and Garfunkel, and a couple of others. One man in particular, a very tall handsome man who looked just like the actor Ted Lynch - we'd made friends and would hang out at those concerts. He always made lemonade that he brought in a thermos, and shared with me. What blew my high-school-age co-workers away, those who knew the group and had all wanted to take that tour, was that the band and I were laughing and comparing notes about this guy on the setup crew we all knew. I never would have used the name, but the band called him Lurch. And we all knew exactly who we meant. #SmallWorld I recognise the folks in the documentary from all of those years ago.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Aug 23 - 11:54 AM

With more virtual decluttering it has been the Clash of the Titans this weekend - Microsoft versus Samsung. A couple of weeks ago I told the tablet to store images from the tablet to my Microsoft OneDrive account, and after that my phone stopped uploading my phone photos to OneDrive. It seems Samsung set up its own nested files in OneDrive and wants to park things there. I spent time earlier this year sorting out my Camera Roll in OneDrive so the current year is loading there and past years are in their own files. So a new three-tier Samsung file is a pain in the backside.

After research I disconnected the two accounts then reinstalled, and in the end I left a Samsung folder on the OneDrive that I labeled "Samsung - Don't Use" and have turned off Samsung's sync ability to OneDrive. I also turned it off in the tablet where this started. For now I'll manually move photos from the phone to Camera Roll. I pay for OneDrive so there is no point in shifting to Google or DropBox for phone photo backup. But damn, that Samsung software is pushy. What is frustrating is that until now, the Samsung phone automatically updated the photos in the Camera Roll file.

The library app "returned" the audiobook I was listening to; with fewer trips to the gym it's taking longer to read. There's a wait list so I'll get it back in a couple of weeks. I'm at the gym more this week and with so much foundation watering at the house I'm changing my routine at the gym and showering there. Might as well use a little less water at the house. This morning I dug around for some flip flops to wear in the shower—is athlete's foot a thing any more in public showers?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Aug 23 - 12:19 PM

Trouble with most flip flops is that they're slippery. It looks like aquasocks are on clearance this time of year (at Academy Sports). Part of this is also me edging closer to using the pool. With each part of the gym I use it means more stuff in the gym bag.

Dorothy - how is Robin doing? Has he finally cleared out the lung congestion? For those of you in northern areas, are you getting out sweaters or changing the bedding yet? We're entering hurricane season in the south, so far hitting way south Texas and parts of Florida. No sweaters yet. And in the fall tornadoes can be more active.

Time to research a new dryer - it tumbles and blows but there is not heat. The old one was purchased in 2002 and I've done some repairs but the heating element is a bigger deal. If the thermostats weren't working it would get too hot, but with no heat it's the element (my rudimentary diagnostic information). A new element costs $180, plus the installation service call, but I looked at my most recent Consumer Reports PDF about dryers (from 2017) and even then new dryers were costing a lot. Maybe a repair is worthwhile. Home Warranty folks will be consulted before I call the repair guy. I'm fine with keeping the old one in service for as long as possible.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Aug 23 - 12:39 AM

Three loaves of mango bread are cooling; this soda bread is one of those wet ones, lots of oil (even though I reduced it and used applesauce for half of it), and more cake- than bread-like. Too hot to try now.

As hot as it has been outside I keep the thermostat in the house pretty warm (80), so baking that bread was enough to bring up a sweat because I didn't push the air conditioning down to compensate for the oven. Not a great time of year for baking.

Laundry is drying on hangers and a few pieces are on the clothesline outside; must call to see about the dryer repair. It isn't just that the dryer needs repair, it means in preparation I have to empty everything on that side of the room around it. Shelves, donation bin, and a bonus: on the other side of the doorway into the laundry room is where my gardening cart sits, next to the potting bench, both in the way of an appliance being moved in and out of the house.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Aug 23 - 12:38 AM

Dorothy, I like the idea of you and others with a photo of Ruth - a mentor and friend.

Charmion, I am amazed by the amount of work that goes into your choir program and its rehearsals. I don't suppose any of them have asked for PDF copies they can load on their tablets? It would mean a lot less paper. (About 20 years ago we had the tech reviewer and now CBS Sunday Morning presenter David Pogue at my university - for his talk he requested a Steinway piano - I was prepared to read music and turn pages for him, but he had his music on a tablet he set on the music stand and didn't need any help.)

Watering plants and feeding cats for a friend over the last week has involved trying to keep plants alive under horribly hot conditions last week on Thursday through Saturday. She gets back in town tomorrow and I expect to hear questions about the curled brown edges on a few large plants - and I'll point out that they're still alive and that's about all I could manage.

Checked the mail in the post office box today. Fourteen months out from the ex's retirement and I'm still not getting a portion of the pension. The OPM folks are not just slow, they're glacial. There will be a lot of decluttering once they finally let the eagle shit.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Aug 23 - 04:52 PM

I hadn't considered it, but I can see how if a conductor is making adjustments on the text for the performance that would need paper. It is possible to mark up PDF files, but that would require every performer have a level of familiarity with the software (and everyone having a similar version and device).

Today's batch of stuff to the e-waste collection station has left the garage, added to what my ex had in the trunk already, including a boxed old keyboard that announced it was "Internet Ready!"

Tomorrow is predicted to be only 99 (after that it goes up again). Just as well because the dogs will be in the backyard for a while when the dryer repair person is here. This evening I need to clear stuff out of the way to be ready.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Aug 23 - 12:19 AM

My and everyone having a similar version and device was a nod to that problem - working affordable devices with comparable software and charged batteries. No batteries with paper. :)

My cat-sitting assignment was to end this evening, but after feeding the cats dinner I texted her saying they were taken care of and please let me know when she gets home. The answer was that she's returning late tomorrow. Not what her document calendar shows and not what she paid, but I can't let the cats starve for a day so I'll juggle my dryer repair appointment and cat feeding (means I have to get up really early, because the A&E—used to be Sears—folks make you block the entire day and they'll arrive at some point between 8am and 5pm.) Not even a four hour block like the cable company insists upon. I scheduled this for Thursday instead of earlier to not tangle with the three-runs a day for cats. But I'm back in the car anyway (nod to Jurassic Park).

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Aug 23 - 12:51 PM

Health issues dictate so many trips. It used to be 2 trips. The littlest guy was in pretty bad shape for a while, but now gets a midday medication that can't be given with the other meds in the morning and evening meals (has to be an hour before or after those meds). Sometimes when I have errands I stop by for that medication then swing back an hour later for the dinner meal without having made an extra trip to and from my house. Every third day there is an injection of a steroid that seems to have made a big difference for him. They are her children.

I'm still struggling to get the phone to upload any photos now. Damn Samsung, I never should have let the tablet upload screenshots, it messed up the phone settings also. Now there are stray files in my OneDrive account and it's backing up old stuff that is already in the system. I don't want to delete photos from my phone to get the phone to stop uploading, but that seems about the only way to do it. If you delete things from the "synced" Samsung folders it will by default delete them from the source folder, so you have to manage to tell it not to do that.

Dryer repair person has been and gone, my wallet is decluttered by $500 and change, and the home warranty will cover $350 of that. Sears will lower the price if I buy their year warranty for various appliances, but that would be a warranty on a warranty and the Sears one would be used before the Home Warranty (I asked). It is too much to have duplicates, and the Home one covers more things. Nothing completely covered, but takes a chunk out of the bill. It doesn't matter what type of appliance you have, though, it depends on if a new one can be bought cheap, so their replacement cost would cover the cheapest dryer at Lowe's, not the Consumer Reports best buy at Lowes. I'm having this dryer fixed and costing myself about $200 instead of taking their $350 and spending $400 more to get the better dryer at Lowe's. It's all a matter of logic and math. There is no new feature in a new dryer that is an improvement on how the old one works. It's a box of hot air, it has a moisture sensor that works, end of story.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Aug 23 - 10:45 PM

Dorothy, that truck must have had a lot of moving violations to be stopped the way it was. The tank of gas may be a short-term annoyance, but it sounds like it might have been a good move. Down here in Texas older vehicles get a special protected status and license plate to go with it. My daughter-in-law has a vehicle she imported from Japan that doesn't meet modern emission and safety standards, but it is registered as an antique. She takes it to shows where people with similar cars meet. Trucks in Texas are king - too bad R didn't send it down here.

I'm following the practice that BatGoddess started ages ago and celebrating the birth week and month - I'm a couple of days younger than Charmion (I was born on Labor Day in 1954; her birthday lands on Labor Day this year). I had a small windfall after a job went a day longer than expected so I bought some last-chance ribeye steaks and will pick up a bottle of my favorite single malt Scotch to extend the celebration over several days or a couple of weeks. During my life I never imagined what it would be like to be this old, but this age in my lifetime isn't the same as this age in my parents' lifetime. I'm not sure that I can describe the difference, but I can feel it.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Sep 23 - 10:47 AM

My across-the-street neighbor is in his 80s; he's out puttering in the yard this morning. We've waited out this heat and finally the mornings are tolerable these days though the afternoons are still over 100^o. September is so welcome.

And I realized that for the math on the dryer I left out a charge - if I hadn't had the dryer fixed, had opted for cash to buy a new dryer, I'd have been out the $100+tax service charge to come to the house for the diagnosis. The home warranty participation would have been shrunk by that much. #HigherMath

Shirts are on hangers on the line on the porch and the sheets and towels and small stuff are on the clothesline behind the garage. For any other appliance failure I'd have someone out right away; for the dryer this time of year, it wasn't urgent.

A big declutter planned for today - I've set up to give the dogs baths. I use a hose in the back yard with a leash fastened to the patio cover post to keep them in place. Loop one end around the neck and they know not to pull. They don't love the bath but they're so frisky when it's finished.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Sep 23 - 12:44 PM

The phone is connected by cable to the computer and I'm copying phone images into a file where many years of phone photos reside. A jumble together (filed by phone, and most of them by now broken into yearly folders for each phone). If I put folders of photos onto OneDrive from the computer it is of no interest to Samsung, it isn't part of their filing architecture, though it will open those files if I navigate there in the app.

The time has come to clean the kitchen. Too much stuff spread around so the horizontal surfaces are again almost unusable.

No luck at Academy Sports as far as aqua socks (at the end of the season they're out of most sizes), and I looked online to see if several other places might have them locally. Nope. I don't usually buy shoes online unless they are exactly the same make and model as something I already own, but this time I had to go to Amazon. Even sizes only and no widths, but it should work. I bought a brand I recognize the name brand of; many of their offerings come from startup or off-brand places. These are by Body Glove, a company I've bought from before for other products.