DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26

Subject: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress -
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Jul 25 - 02:35 PM

In a few posts we'll be up against the Mudcat limit for long threads, so I'm starting this to continue the discussion. I'll change the date so it's noticeable and will close the other one so it can still be opened for reading.

DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025 is the previous thread.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 31 Jul 25 - 06:26 PM

Dupont:

Well, hope I am correct here.

The weather is more to my liking today and I managed to plant a couple small plants that have been hanging in for weeks - in a pan of shallow water. Sort of brown eyed Susans from an environmental group which offered them at a nearby municipal park- very nice park with one small building - they may have workshops, and trails - only mildly developed so people can actually walk through the woods.

I could plant the other two but not wanting to do more than the back will endure. I am amazingly able to walk without hobbling today - the weather Is fantastic! Is this the only proof I need that the weather is my biggest problem. I did not walk to the river today as on Thursday am, the good bread is delivered to the produce store and, remembering that, I headed out, before BF and got a loaf of the sort R likes and a small round pumpernickel - that I like. And a few other groceries. Everyone seemed cheered by the cooler weather!

Then I came home and made myself a big BF - shocking!: a small amount of bacon, 2 small eggs scrambled with sharp cheese, and the 3 smallest pieces of pumpernickel- warmed in the hot frying pan. Terrific!

Then the planting, then reading an interesting novel - Heartwood by Amity Gaige. I am having trouble finding books at this library. I shall have to pay it a call later today or tomorrow. and search harder. I think it is closed on weekends? I could go to the one an hour away on Friday if I feel up to it, and pick up more food at the Bakery.

OK! So I had lots of veggies and a chunk of veggie Lasagna for "lupper". - after a nap. Maybe I could still walk down to the river as it is starting to cool!

Looks like Charmion has a new home! Considering the amount of clutter she has disposed of, it could be a much easier move.

Is there any reason not to let an oak seedling grow up in the front yard - 25 feet from the house? There are at least two out there I had not noticed until recently (due to my illness?) - about 18 inches tall with new growth! It would be nice if they could be moved to the back yard which could use more trees. We do not really have enough to be a buffer between us and the already in progress development. North side of house: evergreens would be best!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Jul 25 - 07:34 PM

Dorothy, if you want to move those trees do it now, don't wait. The longer they grow the harder they are to transplant.

Making my granola this evening, with a bit left on the side for a friend (without the powdered milk) to test if it helps her gut health. Now that I don't have to stop what I'm doing several times a day to run feed cats I can get a few projects taken care off, and tomorrow is a day off. Shopping and lunch with a friend probably.

A long weekend ahead and I'll see in that time how much I can clear off of the horizontal surfaces to improve the appearance of the den at least. Today was an eye-opener.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 31 Jul 25 - 08:58 PM

Dupont:

Feeling a bit elated: after my mini successes at feeling better today, and in a cooling evening!: I ventured into the little potting roomth see what I need to do to make it functional. There is clay ready to use! and I started another loaf. Neither are labeled so I shall have to fill a kiln and fire to see what is what. Once in a while, for some small things, I am organized but this last two years has not had that! I am delighted to see what I do have and recognize the possibility of actually making some pots as the weather permits. Perhaps I can, once again, Dwell in Possibilities!! Let's see what tomorrow says!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Mary G
Date: 31 Jul 25 - 09:22 PM

help. could someone please explain facebook messenger to me? I have a very important message to get off and I have found several old messages. I have groked and googled and it seems to require some huge pin from a decade ago. i hate messenger in general but this is horrible to figure out although most 8 year olds have done it.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Aug 25 - 12:15 AM

Mary, I just looked at the messages we exchanged under the last Mudcat ID you used and see we corresponded about Facebook Messenger in 2020. You were extremely leery of Facebook and not answering messages. At the time your account was somehow compromised. And I can't remember what the oddball name was you were using instead of your own for your Facebook account.

If you are on a computer and can open Facebook then you can see the Messenger symbol at the top right of any page. It's the little text balloon with the angular squiggle.

How are the security settings on your Facebook account set? If you have it as "friends only" who can read your Facebook posts and have access set (for example) so only you can see your friends, then those are the people who are most likely to use Messenger to communicate privately.

Messenger is its own freestanding app in phones and tablets, but it is wedded to Facebook on computers. Where are you using it (somehow I don't visualize you texting a lot on a smartphone)? It is connected to your Facebook account so anyone who is a friend there can contact you. You can also communicate with others outside of your friends from posts you read on Facebook.

Is any of this at all helpful? Your best bet is to sit down side-by-side with someone well-versed in this and pull up your Facebook account and have them help you with the particulars.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 01 Aug 25 - 08:19 AM

I am sitting out the 24 hours the sellers of my chosen house have to accept or reject my offer. If they accept, I will have Filipino neighbours — nice!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Aug 25 - 03:46 PM

Good cooking ahead, indeed, Charmion!

Mary, Messenger recently (as in, early this year) set up a more robust security system on Messenger with a one-time pin. Do you have a smart phone? The Facebook app is where they have parked most of the security stuff, so if, for example, you need a code to confirm you are you on any device, there is a security section on the phone's FB app to which you need to navigate to get the code. I think they wanted a six-digit pin.

Struck out again at the discount grocery as far as produce, they had that warehouse closed. More eggs on sale (I'll be eating a lot of them for a while), and they had some nice sausage links and some gluten-free buns. I love a sausage in a bun with my homemade relish or sauerkraut. In this instance, I'll be putting my fresh pickle slices on as the garnish (as much pickle or relish as meat - it can serve as a vegetable serving that way.)

On a totally non-declutter note, we've gone full-circle in our end of the neighborhood. When I first moved in (2002) the next door neighbors invited me over to dinner with their kids and the new grandbaby, Audrey. Today when I stepped next door to deliver some flowers and ripe tomatoes, I met Audrey's baby boy, six months old. How time flies in our village!

Earlier today it looked like we had weather heading our way (the ex, in his usual contrarian approach, said "it's all weather, clear or cloudy." This is one of the reasons we're better as friends and not living in the same house. He can drive me nuts). The clouds dissipated, but might form again as evening approaches. If it doesn't rain, I'm going to go spray a clay whitewash (Surround WP - "wettable powder") on my garden to help deflect the damage from the bright sun. That would be easier than the floating row cover to act as a shade cloth.

There was a huge cucumber in the garden yesterday, hiding in plain sight that should have been picked about two days earlier. I gave it to my daughter at our lunch today; she can choose to eat it herself or cut it into large pieces and skewer on a thing on a chain for the chicken run, like a large cucumber piñata. They love it and it is not only good for them, it's entertaining. (She described having to treat some kinds of wounds on her birds' feet and it had me thinking of the time I had to buy vodka and a medication to euthanize a fish that a friend of hers had somehow convinced her to care for and she passed it to me. And it was dying. I didn't want to flush it, so - anyway, now she's discovering the joys of addressing pet issues. Good thing her cat is in robust health.)

My goal for the weekend is to clear horizontal surfaces. And possibly a run to Goodwill.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 01 Aug 25 - 07:18 PM

The house is mine. Jeff the realtor will visit tomorrow to pick up my deposit cheque, so thank goodness I remembered to bring my chequebook. The building inspection is next.

Then back to Stratford to shed the excess tools from the garage and garden shed, and get ready for another Great Upheaval.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Aug 25 - 08:15 PM

Congratulations! This is all moving very quickly, and it's going to feel like an avalanche in the next 6-8 weeks. We'll watch in awe as you navigate all of it.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 01 Aug 25 - 08:38 PM

I'm watching!!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Mary G
Date: 01 Aug 25 - 09:27 PM

i am planning to see computer guy on monday, but i might not need to. i uploaded messenger app and seem to be getting messages, some about an apartment i am interested in Centralia, WA. I will be moving there in a few months or even perhaps immediately. I need to be off the peninsula with a dubious car and closer to family emergencies, which there will be. I am corresponding with someone with a too good to be true apartment and I need to figure out if it might be a scam and I would get trafficked to Cairo or somewhere. anyway, thanks for the suggestions.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Aug 25 - 10:30 PM

Mary, do you have the address of the apartment? Look it up on one of the sites like Zillow or Realtor.com. You can even google an address and see something about the history. And if you have the name of the potential landlord, enter their name into Google, or pay for one of the identity sites to give you more information. A free one that has a lot of information is https://www.fastpeoplesearch.com/.

Definitely pay attention to your instincts if you think it's "too good to be true." You might not end up in Cairo, but your bank account could be emptied or your credit compromised.

We're to the point in the summer when my feet are feeling pretty dry and rough. Soaking them in a tub of hot water with some fancy salts (a gift from a friend who knows I never buy these things for myself) and a scrub with a rough wash cloth and they feel so good. A little self-care in a week that has been nothing but running around for other people.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Aug 25 - 08:06 AM

Charmion, having been through my own Great Upheaval recently,
I kind of groan thinking of yours to come.
But the outcome will be good: family and friends nearby.
Sending strengthening thoughts your way.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 02 Aug 25 - 02:45 PM

Thanks, keb. All of us here have moved too often, so we get it. I’m very lucky to have help, and enough money! Even the cats will be taken care of, tucked up at Canada’s best feline boarding establishment. I slept well last night for the first time in months.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Aug 25 - 04:54 PM

I did most of my moving around in my late-teens through my early-30s. Seasonal work involved moving 2-3 times a year with household goods in pickup trucks (each had a steel camper shell). Then a few years with a travel trailer. Some apartments, crew houses, and dorms along the way. Fewer but bigger moves once there were inherited family antiques. Unless one is wiped out by a flood, fire, or tornado, stuff has a major influence on how we move and where it fits. How does the new place line up with the contents you have in the current house?

Food prep today on several fronts. Garden stuff that needs to be used before it spoils, marinara sauce because I've run out, the same with my crispy pecan batch. This morning I mailed a few cups of my granola to a friend who wants to try it in her continuing goal toward gut health. I may can (process in a hot water bath) a few whole tomatoes today, a pint at a time using the asparagus steamer so it doesn't involve the huge stockpot and a steam room in the kitchen. It's a point of pride to say I canned tomatoes each year, even if only a few. It means frequent washups between projects. Canning jars will go through the dishwasher in a few minutes.

I still have my eye on clearing horizontal surfaces this weekend, but it hasn't happened yet.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Aug 25 - 11:28 PM

Hours later I have finished a lot of work in the kitchen, including a cucumber/tomato/feta salad working its magic in the fridge overnight and a batch of babaghanouj is cooling. I delivered eggplant and tomatoes to a neighbor across the street, and another neighbor was walking past (her brother lives next door to me) and asked if I had any tomatoes (because her brother told her I'd given them a few). Word gets around. The table is a bit better (horizontal surface), but mostly I've addressed the fresh produce situation. Mostly, it was a day of work away from social media.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: pattyClink
Date: 03 Aug 25 - 01:00 PM

I admire all the produce-processing you are doing, it is time consuming and sounds like you have streamlined things as much as possible.

I had a small culinary step forward yesterday. Figured out how to make that pork-green-chili-potato thing that I've loved the few times I had it, and do it mostly in a little crockpot after some skillet prep, with a minimum of ingredients and fuss. Delicious.

One drawback were the chiles, bought roasted in a frozen pack from a local farm, turned out to be more 'hot' than 'medium'. I don't know if it was lazy packing on their part, or if you really just can't control an even sort of hotness in any given Hatch variety.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Aug 25 - 01:32 PM

I have some Hatch chilis that I grilled last summer then froze, I use them sparingly so they last till the next season. And agreed - "hot" is a variable quality in those peppers. I'd love to hear more about that recipe you like! A friend in Albuquerque made a green chili stew for me on a visit (it's more like a soup) that may be similar to your dish.

This morning two token pints of tomatoes were processed, and the marinara sauce is under way. When the tomatoes have any insect damage or big cracks they aren't used for canning but they're perfect for sauce. I couldn't get all of it done yesterday (too much overlap in simultaneous projects can lead to mistakes.) In yesterday's list I should have included the batch of the crispy pecans. I have to measure them out in small portions, not just eat out of the jar or I wouldn't stop, they're so addictive.

A series of checkups coming up this month. Insurance covers it, but who knows what costs or coverage will look like in the future with lunatics running the FDA, CDC, and NIH. I'm due for another COVID booster so I'll get it while I can.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Aug 25 - 05:14 PM

When starting to cook and can tomatoes, one must round them up from all of the places they get stashed. In several bowls in the fridge, containers when they've been cut up, on the window sill, in the flat on the counter. The fridge is so roomy now! A saucepan is simmering with peeled cut up blemished tomatoes to use for sauce. I still have tomatoes ripening and a selection to use for BLTs or give to people.

There was a sudden burst of thunder this afternoon announcing a gully-washer of a storm that dropped at least an inch of rain in about 20 minutes. An extra mat in front of the dog door and I'll be mopping this week. This is the Texas version of a SW desert monsoon.

Another eBay listing online and the finished box in the shelves I moved to the front hall. This new system is working well.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: pattyClink
Date: 03 Aug 25 - 09:00 PM

Good news is the peppers mellowed overnight, so the leftovers weren't too hot. Looks like it's called "caldillo" and can be done either with pork or beef. I was just reverse-engineering what I've had and hoping for the best, no official recipe was used.

Brown some pork stew meat in olive oil, put in a small crock pot if just using one pound. Cut an onion (or more for a larger batch) (vidalia this time) in vertical strips rather than rings, saute in a bit more oil til partly caramelized. Add (peeled) hatch chilis cut in large bites, no seeds, perhaps 1/2 cup worth. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, a little dried red chili (pure not chili powder), ditto ground cumin. No added liquid was necessary. Stir, set on low, walk away, 6 hours on low seemed to work fine. If you think your ingredients might be dry check on it, make sure it doesn't need a bit of water or tomato for liquid.

Serving time: either bake or steam a white potato. Scoop out of the skin, cut into chunks, stick in a soup bowl, pour the stuff over. (you could include the taters in the crock earlier,but I like the texture of this method better).

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 04 Aug 25 - 08:48 AM

I’m back in Stratford recombobulating after a stressful but rewarding week in Ottawa with Brother Andrew, SIL No. 1, and Jeff the super-realtor. The drive across southern Ontario doesn’t get easier with practice; I felt beaten with sticks when I clambered out of the car at supper-time yesterday.

The hard part is the long haul around Toronto, non-stop from the east side of Peterborough to the Cambridge North services plaza on Highway 401. The confluence of the comparatively empty (because expensive) 407 toll road with the jam-packed 401 is always difficult to navigate, not only because of the stop-and-go traffic but also because my bum bones hurt like the dickens and I would dearly like a chance to pee. Yesterday was Sunday, so the 401 was not as choked as it could be, but it was still an advanced-class challenge.

I always expect to find at least a couple of arseholes on the 401, but they weren’t in the crowd at the choke point. Driver after driver gracefully made way for others changing lanes to avoid a sub-compact sedan that had rear-ended a dead-heading truck cab (the tractor part of a tractor-trailer combination). Nobody was moving faster than 40 kph, and I’m sure everyone else was as tired and exasperated as I was, but the traffic stream flowed smoothly around the wreckage like creek water around a rock. Nobody honked.

The cat-visitor must have done a good job while I was gone. When I came in the front door, Watson and Isobel were curled up together in the comfy chair. They looked up and blinked at me as if I had been out half an hour, not a week.

SIL 1 put up a big travelling lunch for me with dried sausage, boiled eggs, cheese, nuts, cut-up veg and a salad kit for supper — perfect for a low-carb diet. I ate only about half of it yesterday, which is a good thing because the supermarkets are closed today for the Lammastide statutory holiday (not called that but the timing is unmistakable). I’m not ready to face the world again anyway; I need a day of feline company and orchestral music on the radio.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 04 Aug 25 - 10:09 AM

feline company and orchestral music - an excellent idea.

3 weeks ago I tripped on a typical inner city path (probably 100+ years old, patched, tree roots etc) & landed on my left eyebrow & left hand & slightly grazed my left knee! The arm of my glasses broke off & they ended up elsewhere, but probably saved my eye from horrible damage. I couldn't see properly but as my eye specialist said a few days later it would pass & it did. I also had, & maybe still have, mild concussion, I still get tired & exhausted (how strange), especially climbing up my 38 stairs.

I fell at 5.45 on a dark path on a wintery day, with street lights on the other side of the street. My friend called an ambulance, lit by the phone of a passing stranger who stayed until the crew arrived (bless his little cotton socks.) We left around 2am after I was scanned (head!) & x-rayed (hand & body), stitched (3!) etc then got a taxi up the road to my place, & she emailed me when she got home at 2.14am. I live in Sydney's entertainment quarter & the taxi driver at the rank outside a bar was very pleased to see a respectable older lady who needed a ride! He ignored people in the queue & if they were also respectable, rather than under the influence, they wouldn't have minded!

Life has been a bit quieter than normal, I've missed craft groups (eeek, I can't knit, but I can sew)! done a bit of sewing, a lot of reading & paper crosswords, adding my usual on-line jigsaws when my mouse hand wasn't so sore. And been to 2 folk clubs.

I don't know when my hand will get back to normal as I've had a bit of arthritis in both hands for years.

sandra

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 04 Aug 25 - 11:22 AM

Yowch, Sandra. Do you play fretted instruments? A fall like that could stop you playing for weeks, if not months.

Though you’re lucky to have avoided a Pott’s fracture of the wrist. They happen all the time to respectable older Canadian ladies, especially in winter when there’s ice everywhere.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Aug 25 - 12:25 PM

Sandra, that is an adventure you never want to repeat! And alas, it is where any of us could find ourselves with a simple wrong step. New glasses in the mix also, unless you had spares; please don't tell us you've taped the old arm onto the frame and are wearing them! I hope your arm and concussion (!) are feeling better soon.

This highlights why I don't wear sandals much any more, the depth of the sole (more than regular flats) means I sometimes kick things I meant to step above.

Once again Charmion's post has me pulling up Google maps to take a look at that drive. You'll have to give us the new address once the transaction is complete (no sense in jinxing it by giving it early) so I can relocate the pink heart on my map from Stratford. You're made of stern stuff to take on that drive in broad daylight any day of the week. In the times I've had to drive past Los Angeles, hemmed in by the Pacific Ocean to the west and mountains to the east and a whole lotta traffic I don't want to fool with, I usually time it by getting up in the wee hours and driving through at 4am or late late on a weekend (and the last couple of trips I was pulling a camper trailer.)

Edmund's ashes are in Ottawa, aren't they? That was a beautiful cemetery, you shared photos with us at one point on Facebook. A peaceful place to visit with a musical instrument occasionally.

Yesterday my 90-year-old across the street neighbor (the one I take cooked eggplant and okra to) called to say her son had been killed in a pedestrian/auto accident the day before. He lived in an apartment a 1/2 mile from here, just north of the freeway, and didn't have a vehicle; we frequently saw him walking down here to visit his mother so the neighbors all knew him by sight and occasional conversations (our routine is to stand in the shade of the oak in their front yard and talk, waving to cars that pass by or adding other walkers to the conversation). There is usually a lot of food offered to families at times of funerals so I'll hold off on the eggplant, but keep in touch and see what she does need. Mostly just an ear and a box of Kleenex.

The kitchen is clean this morning after a weekend of cooking, the least I can do for myself after going through so many bowls and pans and canning devices. The output is small but satisfying, and today I'll pick up the green peppers I need to make the marinara that will be frozen in 1/2 pint jars. I had to set the clock on the stove again after another heavy thunderstorm flickered the power in pre-dawn hours. So much for letting the garden dry out a bit.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 04 Aug 25 - 06:44 PM

The left arm broke off & as they are sepia coloured plastic my friend couldn't find it in the undergrowth, only the rest!! I had a spare pair at home as I bought my glasses under a two-for-one offer from an Australian company that sells one design of frames in 4 sizes - frames & lenses all Australian made & they replaced my frames in seconds!

I also wear orthotics & my sandals (expensive well built scuff-types meant for wearing with orthotics) stayed on my feet, but I did land on my front & toes! We've just gone thru (fingers crossed) a very wet period & I've been wearing my walkers more than my sandals.

I forgot to mention my physio worked on my hand yesterday & gave me some exercises. Now I just need patience.

Charmion, I'm not a musician, "just" a chorus singer (I can't hold a tune on my own & forget words!) but the folk world needs chorus singers who can sing & hum along!

Maggie, how horrible for you neighbour & you are a good neighbour & friend.

sandra

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 04 Aug 25 - 08:50 PM

The building inspection goes down on Thursday morning, and Jeff the realtor will set up a Facetime call so I can get the results directly.

Thirty years ago, I would drive that route as you suggest, Stilly, but not now. Despite the cataract surgery of 2015 and the recent laser treatment, my night vision isn’t great, and most of the loooong stretch of Highway 7 from Carleton Place to Peterborough is two-lane blacktop with deep ditches on each side. Much of it goes through bush country, with appearances by the occasional moose or black bear. Not doin’ that in the dark, no way.

If I took the 401 all the way from Kitchener to the 416 junction near Prescott, I would get no relief from the traffic even in the small hours of the morning; it rolls like the tide, 24 / 7 / 365.

Sandra, singers are musicians, too. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Aug 25 - 12:28 PM

Knock wood - so far I've been lucky with night vision being fine. I have several friends who won't drive at night any more so I am the designated driver for evening events.

As for musicians, I can read music and sing along but don't ask me to lead anything. I am always in awe of those actors and singers who can play bad singers intentionally (Meryl Streep comes to mind).

Marinara sauce accomplished with fresh and frozen ingredients. Tomatoes, onion, green pepper, garlic, herbs and seasonings, frozen sliced mushrooms, and a dollop of wine from the freezer (I keep some in there for this kind of cooking so I don't have to open a new bottle for one small use. I don't drink much wine now I know the sulfites make my skin break out.) Smells wonderful and will soon be bottled and into the freezer, in six half-pint jars.

School starts in a few days. I drove past a sign "Meet your teacher August 11" and that explains why Costco was a zoo yesterday. What do I have here that can be donated as far as school supplies? I'll look around.

The next door neighbor has paid the regular handyman/landscaper to mow the lawn of the neighbors across the street (who lost the son) - since one of the things that happens is a lot of people come to the house, that's a great offer. I've reached out to the daughter to let her know that if they do a funeral I'll plant myself out on the front swing and conspicuously watch the house. (Better out there and in view than in the house; she is a smoker and the house gets to my sinuses in a hurry.) They're not Catholic, so it wouldn't be as long a day as for the last house I watched.

At an annual check yesterday my dermatologist suggested Nutrafol for hair and nails, but that stuff is expensive (they sell it at the office, probably not at a discount). I read a few labels of that and similar products and it looks like the main ingredient in all of them in large amounts is Biotin, which can be purchased much less expensively in knockoff formulas of the proprietary blend or by itself.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: pattyClink
Date: 05 Aug 25 - 08:18 PM

Be careful with biotin and all the B-vitamins. For some bizarre reason companies are now stuffing their pills/capsules with amounts on the order of 10,000% of RDA. We all know the RDAs can sometimes be pitifully low and more is often needed, but these amounts are insane, and can give really bad side effects.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Aug 25 - 10:56 PM

Yes - agreed. I saw the large doses, and selected one close to the amount in the named formula, more than enough. Overdoing it is also a problem with iron. There is very little actually needed as a supplement, and those high doses just cause constipation. Your note is a good reminder that while the dermatologist suggested this, my GP needs to know all of my supplements.

Two more pints of tomatoes processing this evening, and the marinara is in the freezer, the lids tightened now that they're frozen. A jar of pickles and a baggie of okra delivered next door. The insanity of gardening—I could go to the grocery and buy cases of tomatoes and eggplant and cucumbers for probably less than I'll spend on the additional water that goes in the garden this summer, and without all of the work, but the satisfaction of picking and sharing and how much better it tastes (tomatoes in particular) is the motivation. I suppose it's like music or other hobbies - I can do it myself or buy it (kind of riffing on Sandra's remark about singing along and Charmion's response.)

When I went out in the back after dark to reset the sprinkler I stepped near the far end of the patio to see if that spider had her web up yet, and almost walked into the darned thing. It's huge! Clearly she has figured out the paths the dogs follow to avoid their hitting it. Earlier today the front porch spider had what looked like a small wasp. I'll have to take several looks out back to see what that one is aiming for.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Aug 25 - 12:59 AM

When I worked on the fridge I scrubbed dust off of the top of it, so I decided to continue that work at the window over the sink. The miniblinds were very dusty and after a dip in the bathtub and scrubbing each slat it looks much better and is back in place (window also washed). The sill is dusted and cleared and I worked my way around the sink area, throwing out a lot of small things, including lots of little containers of seeds I collected but now can't remember what they all are. It's disappointing at this hour to not be able to see much difference, but morning light should show the improvement.

An eBay box left the porch with the postal carrier this afternoon as I am making more progress photographing, packing, and listing these items.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 07 Aug 25 - 07:45 PM

Building inspection this morning — no red flags or showstoppers, but a few projects. Only one appliance doesn’t work, the gas fireplace. The building inspector could not get it to light up, so we will ask the sellers to have it cleaned and serviced before closing.

For those who like to visit on line, the address is 141 Inverkip Avenue in Ottawa.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Aug 25 - 11:39 PM

Nice!

I feel like I washed laundry and dishes all day, loading and emptying machines off and on several times, but the kitchen doesn't look a lot better. A contractor trash bag full of recycling was dumped off. It included the purge of plastic yogurt tubs from the potting bench that has the entry into the sunroom looking less cluttered.

We've had ozone action days with "orange" air quality so I haven't been out doing the trimming and mowing that needs doing. Right now the air quality is listed as good, so maybe tomorrow will be good to start a little in the morning (because in the afternoon it will be over 100^o).

Sandra, how is your hand feeling?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 08 Aug 25 - 06:07 AM

still sore at times. The Imaging company sent me a link to my scans - blackish shapes on blackish background, oooohhh! I'll see my Dr next week to get her eagle-eyed diagnosis.

I went to Craft group today, first time in a month! Sewing is easy, but I did more chatting & catching up than work. I undid what I sewed as it hadn't worked & started again when I got home. I've recently been turning beautiful teatowels (dishcloths) into wall hangings & the hanging sleeve was in the wrong place.

Last week I discovered I couldn't knit & had to ask a friend to finish something off for me. I make coathanger covers (12 stitches, plain knitting shoulder width) for a friend who volunteers in a hospital shop. Why should patients take home dying flowers if they can take home a handknit or something handsewn?

I started covering coathangers in the 90s & making them for the hospital shop when I met her in 2006 after I retired. Last month I sat at my folk club & COULDN'T KNIT!!!! I'm not the only knitter, but Cathy makes socks for friends or fancy stuff for her granddaughters (she doesn't need to look at what she is doing, unlike me!) & I just sat & listened & took photos.

Most of the time my hand is ok, but occasionally I knock it (usually ouch, rather than agony) but it can get sore when I clench or move it.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Aug 25 - 11:48 AM

I don't usually look at my phone if I use the bathroom before it's time to get up, but this morning very early I read a New York Times newsletter and it kept me awake for a while. I recognized myself, and my mother (where the practice came from), in the discussion about giving advice. There is a line about "doling out advice" feeling generous, "But unsolicited advice can backfire, said Alexandra Solomon, a clinical psychologist and host of the 'Reimagining Love' podcast. 'In its simplest form, it's a boundary violation,' Dr. Solomon said. You've involved yourself without an invitation, she added."

Without offering excuses or examples, I see myself here, and the combination of help and harm in relationships over the years. Why does it sometimes take so long for a clear explanation of what we're doing to come along and (hopefully!) effect change?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Aug 25 - 04:45 PM

As a moderator of a Freecycle group I was reading some of the organization's material about doing promotions each month. Like doing a back to school promotion now. I'm going to write it up and suggest the Welman Project along with putting things up for others to ask for (it needs to be worded carefully because the system looks for "hot words" in text on offers and requests).

That got me thinking about the donations I make to the Welman Project and what I have around here now. I've had a White rotary sewing machine, refurbished, on eBay for ages and the only one who wanted to buy it asked me to drop the price and pay for shipping - essentially giving it to them. I'll donate it to the teachers instead (I discussed it with my daughter, who has an SCA group who might take it if the warehouse doesn't). And there are a few other things around here that would work as classroom or break room items. My appointment to drop off is in three weeks so I'll see if local friends have things to add. I have taken over quite a bit of cloth and craft stuff in the last year, one from a house declutter (an intervention by the kids) and another from an art teacher moving out of state.

It feels good to have made a decision about this, because the box is big and in the way in the den, and this move seems to have let me look again at what's here and find more stuff that would be suitable. Such as a box with a bunch of freezer paper that weighs a ton but they might be able to distribute it a few yards at a time. What was I thinking when I struggled it to the car? It was cheap ($8) but I can't lift it by myself. Duh. I have stuff in the pantry that I use slowly but will still be there forever if I don't give some away. Ziplock baggies - something every art classroom needs. Those extra boxes of waxed paper, etc. I always forget they're in the pantry and buy more, so now there is a lot.

Charmion, a question about one of those "few projects." I think I read you don't want wall-to-wall carpets in the upstairs. What will you put down in their place? Wood, vinyl, or tile?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 08 Aug 25 - 08:23 PM

BEAVER:
Came back on Weds, saw the two sisters briefly as it was late for them- they needed to do their grocery shopping and go home, I sent out notices that I was back.

I shall keep this very short as it is uncomfortable working in the car... changed to passenger side -much better! We had rain lightly for an hour today! It is comfortably cool and humid. I have gotten the house a bit cleaner; have more energy! Long consult with my helpful neighbour Larry re him getting started on firing the lots of pots he has produced in the last while! Very exciting! And made some suggestions, including checking out the website for Harlan House, a world class pottery who lives not too far from here - an hour! Then, on this stint at the library using the internet, I read the whole thing/biography - over 70 pages! I took a weeklong course from him years ago; a marvellous person!

Now, plumb wore out - going home to read, eat more, take pills and go to bed - tomorrow is farm markets and visits. Hope to get potting on Sunday!

Condolences to your bereft neighbour, SRS. The worst thing to lose a child!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 09 Aug 25 - 08:48 AM

Hardwood, Stilly. Pre-finished red oak, to be specific. That’s what’s on the ground floor. It’s very common in eastern Ontario, so it’s always available at good prices.

I like wood. I like it a lot, and I’m willing to pay for it when the species is right (please, no pine on the floor!) and the craftsmanship is good. A hardwood floor always looks fine, and it’s easy to maintain with minimal care and attention. Cat hair doesn’t cling to it, and it shows off my lovely Oriental rugs.

Why not vinyl? It’s plastic. Yuk. Tile? Great for kitchens, bathrooms, and spaces where wet footwear is put on and taken off, but too hard and cold for bedrooms in this hard, cold country.

I’ve been thinking about the death of your neighbour’s son. Struck and killed by a motorist, on the street where he was just minding his own pedestrian business. I’ll bet money that street has no curbs or sidewalks. So cruel, so thoughtless, so wrong.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Aug 25 - 11:54 AM

I also prefer hardwood floors, but since this house is in a flood zone, it made more sense to put in ceramic tile. And yes, with vinyl I'd be researching to find out if there is off-gassing and such, depending on hardness. I have a lot of area rugs on the tile (at the moment I have a small rug on the floor under my desk for when I kick off my shoes but Cookie has decided she must sleep on that rug, so gets nudged off of it several times a day.)

Thanks for the thoughts about Richard. The county coroner finally listed his incident. The information is less complete than it was a few years ago so there is no incident location, he died at the hospital, but I believe it is as you suggest, he was walking along a highway frontage road with no sidewalk and wasn't up on the rough beside the pavement.

The kitchen is creeping toward a more organized and less-cluttered look. I have a couple more bags of things to donate and items to offer on the Buy Nothing FB page.

I've realized that it's time to bump finishing the back yard fence (and adding a gate) to the top of my to-do list, despite the heat. It would be convenient to both households to be able to go through a gate in the back, in particular when the neighbor gives the dogs their treats. If I finish that gate, he could feed them more easily if I go out of town (going into my house via the side door means they'd gang up on him at the door, but in the yard their collars keep them a few feet back from the fence and he could feed them without being jumped on.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Aug 25 - 05:37 PM

Even with all of the robust padding in the boxes, one of the glasses in the last eBay sale broke en route. Partial refund delivered. And the next batch will have to be a separate box for each glass inside the outer box. I don't know what the post office is doing with these things to jostle them to such a degree that they break. I'll recheck the packing on any other glasses as they sell and before they ship.

This afternoon I made myself finally watch a couple of episodes of a mystery series in which I missed a few near the end of the run. I'm not good at just sitting without doing something else, so pulled out a jar of coins to count and roll, about $170 of pennies to quarters. They are now in a heavy bag to take to the bank, though as I remember from before it's difficult to just cash them in. I'll call the credit union and ask. Perhaps I can make a deposit? I am frugal enough I refuse to pour them into one of those coin counters in the grocery store that keeps about 10% of the haul. I'm out of coins and still have a few more episodes to watch, so maybe next time I'll set up in the sewing studio and work on a couple of projects. (I had thought of making $5 in coins plastic bags to hand to panhandlers at corners, along with a bottle of water, but that would probably feel like a cruel trick to them.)

The kitchen cleaning has reached a point where I can see results, so am motivated to keep going, and I'm still working on making the den worthy of visitors.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 09 Aug 25 - 06:44 PM

Beaver:
Two farm markets - not much I needed or wanted. Bought 4 Somosas from two young lads and ate two for lunch - then had a long nap! Too much! Stopped in to visit my friend at the Carriage House- where she sells my pottery - still has quite a bit so best I did not bring more!   We had a good visit - first in a long while. Then I stopped at the first Market on way home and got some nice green beans - "I need something green!" They were packing up and glad to sell one more thing.   At one market I was chatting with a fellow who lives near where I used to - cousin to my two sister/friends. His family are long term, prob a couple hundred years - I knew his parents - think I wrote up their 50the wedding anniversary for the local paper - in the 90s! He has taken on the old family farm and is rehabbing it and is raising and selling pork and beef. Guess I can get the scoop on Weds when I see the sisters/cousins.

The house is getting a bit more organized. Larry checked before he left: Does anything need fixing? He fixed the door that would not stay shut - Sue asked him! I was not worried. Good neighbours!! I realized yesterday that anyone passing on the road - 20 feet away - can look in the front window and see right through and out the back windows. That would be less than 6 a day who pass by! And nothing in the house that could not be bought at a thrift shop for $20!   The computer is not there unless I am! I have lived in an unlocked house most of my life - in rural areas. This area is still OK.

Glad that Charmion can put red oak floors in her new home - that it is still available. I remember putting it in the home we built in 1961. Got it down in time to put up a nice big Christmas tree -for the house my Dad and I designed and that we all participated in the building. I can still pick up things that drop on the floor - very carefully! But not lay a floor!

It has "cooled to 28C! Sitting in car with door open- slight, not too hot breeze. Just tolerable!

Still hoping that tomorrow will be a day for potting - first thing in the am - in the cool of the morning!

Those oak trees - may get moved; I cannot. It would be nice if they could get moved to the back yard; the bit of woods and field that were there have been decimated in prep for an oncoming development of condos.

If anyone is curious about the wedding of my grandson, pics are posted on the FB page of Sarah Bacerra, my granddaughter. I have not managed it.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: keberoxu
Date: 09 Aug 25 - 07:47 PM

I feel a little bit emotional reading Stilly's post from August 8 about giving advice, and about the boundaries thing.
There is certainly some truth in what the NYT printed.
At the same time, what seems intrusive on some occasions
can be welcome, and received gratefully, on others.
A lot depends on the person, as well,
like if you have goodwill towards the person who offers the advice.
To me, Stilly wouldn't be Stilly without the concern for others
and the closeness and intimacy she offers.

My problem is the opposite -- I keep a distance, and freeze people out.
And I envy people for whom it is natural to reach out to others.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: pattyClink
Date: 09 Aug 25 - 11:17 PM

Yes, it can be tricky knowing when to advise and when to wait for questions. I have learned to keep still a lot of the time.
And sometimes I fail to express curiosity and interest, in the spirit of not being nosy. Clearly SRS means only to be helpful so it's hard to get prickly.

Anyway, on the big bag of change. Another option, if you ever use self-checkout when going thru a big store with just a few items, you can feed in currency and coin just as you can a plastic payment card. So you might set out to use the coin up that way. The machine doesn't get annoyed if you feed in 40 quarters instead of a tenner.

If you're morally opposed to self-check, just include some of the loot in your payment to the cashier. Lots of times they can even accept 'multiple tender' where you can pay part with a card or check, part with currency.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Aug 25 - 12:37 AM

Thanks, all! I haven't followed the links in the post to the further remarks about boundaries, and one podcaster alone is one opinion, but I found the short piece instructive.

Patty, I've tried the coin thing in self-checkout, if I remember to take them with me, and so far I think Kroger down here is the only one that most often has a kind of bowl where you can most easily drop in coins. I don't shop there often, but I occasionally go in to look for the otherwise expensive cuts of beef in the last-chance bin (as a friend who used to be a butcher pointed out, it is just a bit more aged.) A couple of rolls of coins in the pocketbook make it a lot heavier in a hurry! (Does anyone else remember the old Cary Grant movie where he plays a tough guy courting a society woman? At one point a man has been threatening her - Cary takes him aside, and offscreen we hear a thud and see a bunch of nickels bounce down the stairs, from the roll he keeps in his pocket like an impromptu brass knuckles.)

Dorothy, there you are up front and center in those wedding photos! Looking good!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Aug 25 - 12:47 PM

I fed my cat-sitting friend BLTs yesterday, handed over some garden produce and a box of exam gloves that I was given that I don't use but she can use with her cat activities. A small decluttering.

The dogs pulled a bone-headed move while she was here. They're jealous of each other getting attention, and at one point when someone's ear was being scratched the other responded and they broke into a noisy scuffle under the kitchen table, clobbering it enough to knock over my friend's iced tea glass and drench mostly the floor and chair and her a little bit. What's remarkable is that this is the second story of a former university library colleague here for lunch who has had iced tea spilled on them at that table. (The first time I knocked it over.)

Some days I have trouble motivating myself to get moving, and this seems to be one of them. The end of dog days is today, but the heat will continue for at least a month or more. Yesterday I assigned myself a task for this week - finishing the fence. First, work on the leaning post, and then make decisions from there. You'd think a decision would boost my energy, but since it is a the last five feet of fence in a hot yard, not so much. I have appointments today so will start tomorrow by taking down the existing fence and taking a look at things.

The PMR has subsided, so now to keep the stress down and figure out when to start tapering the steroids. I'd really hate to be on these for the next 3.5 years. If some event should occur that would turn that new ballroom into a mausoleum, I would celebrate. Not relax, there is too much to repair, but definitely celebrate.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Mary G
Date: 11 Aug 25 - 06:35 PM

i am seriously packing for my move to centralia, wa, midway between seattle and portland. mostly for family reasons, but also i hate being where tsunamis are predicted. they also changed bus schedule so badly i can barely get out of town by bus i have a car but it is for local trips only. I do not have much -- giving away 2 exercise machines. Left with multiple bins, some vacuumed bags of clothes and bedding, and misc. things like cleaning supplies. One nice office chair is major furniture. i decided long ago i was going to live so it was easy to move..costco folding tables, twist apart microwave carts etc. I find I am as attached to my dollar tree plastic junk as i ever was to nice furniture. IT MATCHES. I hate getting rid of matching stuff worth $1 a piece. I am hoping for a nice apt in centralia that might open up soon.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Aug 25 - 12:25 AM

Mary, you sound like a candidate for shopping thrift stores once you get relocated with the little bit you've stored in bins, etc. I hope you were able to retrieve the Messenger messages you needed.

Today's trip for a doctor's appointment and a couple of friends visits resulted in four bags of art and school supplies that will go in the stash to take over to the Welman Project at the end of the month.

Tomorrow and Wednesday there is a modest chance of rain, and it continues that way over the next 10 days. It has been a peculiarly rainy summer, all things considered. I'm not complaining, just making note.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 12 Aug 25 - 09:49 AM

Yesterday was another day of major clearance, this time in the garage and the garden shed. My friend Rose, a fellow mandolin picker, is plugged in with many local organizations, including the Stratford Horticultural Society and the Avon Trail Society as well as all things trad music. She comes from a large Dutch farming family, so sharing and passing on useful stuff is in her DNA.

In the blazing heat of the afternoon, Rose made two trips to help me gather up the plethora of tools that I won't need in my next abode, from the splitting axe, rip saw and bow saw to a hose reel (with 60 feet of top-quality hose) and a bouquet of long-handled shovels, rakes and other implements of cultivation and destruction. She was particularly delighted with the mattock. We loaded all of it into her SUV and off she went with my last great accumulation of extra stuff.

I kept the small hand tools, including trowels, secateurs, clippers and loppers, that I can use without batteries or instruction manuals. I also kept the lawn sprinkler and the other hose reel with its 100 feet of hose, also of excellent quality. (I hate a cheap hose. lt's never worth the money.)

Today I started giving notice to the various utility companies. Bell Canada, Canada Post, and the local internet provider (which wants its router back) will have to wait until my last couple of days in Stratford, just to add to the complications of that already fraught week.

The big job today is a trip to London to pay Faith's school fees. Moving expenses -- especially the $10K deposit on the Ottawa house -- have put a big, fat crimp in my cash flow, so I can cover only one term now; the rest will have to wait until after the end of the month, when the money for the Stratford house lands. The university likes to be paid early, however, so Faith's tuition is going on MasterCard, which is a thing.

Meanwhile, in Ottawa, Jeff the realtor and SIL No. 1 are engaging a painter and a flooring guy, and ordering pre-finished hardwood. As quickly as it flows in, the money will flow right back out again.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Aug 25 - 11:08 AM

Charmion, you are a single woman central bank these days, keeping the Canadian economy supple and strong. And I agree with your friend Rose—the mattock, along with the spade fork, are my two favorite garden hand tools. (When it comes to big bills like tuition on the VISA or MC, I pay them that way, then pay the credit card bill in full when it comes due. Same money, but I get some points on the card rewards that way. Advice from my money savvy sister.)

Patty, how is the house and the yard and have you established a room where you can do all of those craft and hobby things, or will it be spread out in the main living area? (I'm still spread out in the den, but in a couple of weeks when two large boxes leave, I intend to finish arranging furniture and moving my eBay stuff out of that living space.)

Keb, are you comfortable with the furniture and bedding in your new apartment? Sorry to read about the paper plates and such in the dining hall, that is such a waste of materials. I'm so stingy here it may take two to three months to go through a roll of paper towels because I mostly use old wash cloths, the tattered dish towels for cleaning and small bathroom hand towels for under the dog water bucket.

Dorothy, did you get any firing of pottery done on this trip? Do you have any of your work in view on your Facebook page?

The humidity shot up this morning and a storm is moving through the region, but it looks like we're on the very bottom edge and I fear we may get only overcast skies, not rain.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: pattyClink
Date: 12 Aug 25 - 02:12 PM

Hi SRS, I am hot and covered with sweat and bits of grass. Been weedwhacking for hours, til both batteries wore out.

A whole grove of pigweed has gotten as much as 5 feet tall in one area, and is just rampant small plants everywhere else. The caltrop/goathead is on the back burner til I can get the small pigweeds either pulled up or at least whack the flower spires off before they can set a jillion seeds for next year. I did buy a gallon of industrial strength vinegar and will be experimenting with that (I will not use roundup or chemicals since I am directly above my well).

Dodder showed its ugly face last week, so I did a blitz to get that picked up before it got near the oleander etc.

Trying to save what 'good' plants I can, there is some wild portulaca that I like, some copper globe mallow, the silver nightshade, the yellow clumps of desert who-knows-what, chinese lantern.

My experiments with transplanting little chunks of cholla and prickly pear are bearing fruit, fun to see new little ears appearing on the baby plants as well as the established ones.   Hard to remember not to step on the babies as I constantly have to pull the bad weeds out the two little 'garden' beds.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: pattyClink
Date: 12 Aug 25 - 02:19 PM

Forgot to report on the house: total discouragement right now. Went ahead and put away a lot of hobby stuff I had been working on in office and living room, so I can clean and do legal and financial paperwork and stuff that is more demanding. Yesterday I did unpack and purge 3 more boxes of stuff, rearranged some utility shelves, trying to clear more space to maneuver in the office. Next focus will have to be clearing more room in the workshop so i can build a better trapdoor to the attic.   

Of course the A/C failed just as I was getting somewhere yesterday, because I had the nerve to run 3 minisplits at once. Tried throwing breakers and just running one, but no go. I guess the roof unit overheated or whatever. Did get one running in the late evening. I guess I will run one at a time.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 12 Aug 25 - 04:02 PM

I got home from London just in time to avoid a jeezly great thunderstorm that just rolled into town, darkening the sky like dusk and thrashing the trees about.

The MasterCard people don’t make a nickel on me; I haven’t paid interest on that account since Edmund went to Afghanistan. I still feel a bit weird using a credit card for major expenses like tuition but, like your sister, I read the small print in the bank paperwork and did the arithmetic.

Ah, there’s the first crack of thunder and its accompanying bolt of lightning. The rain is coming in at a good 45° angle and — oh, look! The power just went out.

I’ll post this when I have wifi again.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Aug 25 - 04:43 PM

Patty, so much going on at once! I looked up pigweed, it's a common name of a number of things - one page says it's expensive in health food stores (if it's the right kind, maybe there's a side gig growing on your property?) I pulled up a list of the organic herbicides on the site where I work - you can supercharge the vinegar by adding a bit of orange oil and liquid molasses to it (I'll email the site with the info). Other organic "fatty acid" products that can do the job (all are expensive, but you are paying to not poison yourself) include EcoSMART, Monterrey Herbicial, Scythe, and Racer. "They are non-selective herbicides that usually have to be sprayed more than once." (There is also an entry there about flame weeding, but I think we both agree, this is not the time of year to be torching the weeds! We don't want to see you in the news for starting a range fire out there.)

Back in my early Forest Service days we still had the big long two-handled scythe as part of the tools for grass and brush control. If you ever find one of those you can cancel the gym membership, that's a full body workout but works a lot faster than a string trimmer. (I see one on eBay offered as "chalet decor" - a seller who can't imagine ever putting one to use in this day and age.) This is just an observation, not advice!

I was going to trim with my battery string trimmer today, then a storm looked like it was going to blow over. Then it veered to the north. Now they say the tail end of the system might come this way. I'll go out and sprinkle dry fertilizer in the garden and either rain will soak it in or my sprinkler will in the morning.

I finished a book and have marked it off in GoodReads and I'm lagging in completing the annual challenge unless I get more time with audiobooks and doing other tasks. All but one of these books were on paper. And one is a dud - I started it and threw it into the recycle bin in disgust, but I am finished with it, so it counts.

Charmion, I struggled for years and paid a lot of interest before I managed to conquer them, one at a time, the final one with the help of a lump sum from my ex's retirement. What we know and what we can do are sometimes miles apart. But the suggestion to now do the big payments of annual bills since I can pay the cards off was timely, instead of paying directly out of bank savings I'm letting it earn a bonus.

I finished the last of the box of amazing Costco peaches. Since deciding this will be dry August I've had a bowl of peaches topped with yogurt and granola at the time I would normally have the before-dinner cocktail, as something to look forward to that time of day. Let's see if I have to buy another box of peaches or if I can go back to my usual strawberries or blueberries. Either way, no more alcohol for the time being.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 13 Aug 25 - 10:43 AM

*Agree* re two-handled scythes. Would that I'd inherited one of those from my father, along with the Ancestral Mattock. (Methinks the Grim Strimmer-User would be about as efficient as the Grim Leaf-Blower Operative.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Aug 25 - 12:12 PM

The key to using those is knowing how to sharpen them (wet stone) and keeping them that way.

I've almost finished a jigsaw puzzle that has languished on the table in the sunroom for ages. It's tough, one I'll offer up locally when I finish (I often take them to the thrift store, but there are people who collect some of these so I'll post it on FB.) One of several things I'd like to finish this week.

The artist friend I saw on Monday gave me several jars full of colored pencils and pens that have been rubber-banded together and fit into a box. I'll be looking at bags of donations for a couple of weeks so I'll keep them from commingling in the bottom of a bag (they ask you to organize them the way you'd like to receive them; I don't think it is particularly OCD of me to want each type to stay together.) It has me wondering if the project has an Amazon wish list, that would be a worthy donation in this time of continuing solicitations for donations from political types.

Another rainstorm missed us overnight, skirting neatly past our village as it clobbered the rest of the area. My sprinkling continues every couple of days. It's time to start plants that will go in the gardens for fall crops, but they can't be put out right now or they'd crisp up in the sun. I'll start them on the potting bench under the shade cloth or in the house.

There is a construction project that is staging on the opposite side of the creek from my house, and today I called the city hall to ask what it is. The person who answered the phone said it has to do with Fort Worth and they have an agreement that they can use the village property for some of the equipment. I asked what that project is, he didn't know. "Not my department." I asked which would know, and he said he could put me through to public works, upon which it went to voice mail. This might seem a normal office occurrence except city hall is a small building with about five employees and the guy could have just stuck his head out of his office door and asked someone in the next room what the project is.

Charmion, when will you have movers arrive at your house? And will they be able to move everything directly to the new house, or will it be in limbo for a bit?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 13 Aug 25 - 02:45 PM

The packers start work on 25 August, and the movers will load the truck on Wednesday, 27 August. I take possession in Ottawa on 8 September, and the floors and painting must be done before the furniture goes in. Crossing my fingers, I booked delivery for Monday, 15 September.

I just put $4K worth of red oak flooring on MasterCard. I’m gonna rack up one helluva lot of Air Miles this month.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 Aug 25 - 07:30 AM

Last week my doctor ordered a CT scan of my hand as it was still sore after almost a month. We got the results on Monday & my pinkie has a fracture near the top! Nurse bandaged it. As my sister said, poor pinkie.

I went to the Hand Clinic the next day & I was glad to get the bandage removed. The clinic was a bit of a surprise - I've never seen a doctor's room with a sewing machine & electric frypan!

She used a sheet of paper towel to measure my hand & drew a rough shape, then picked up what looked like a sheet of thick cardboard & cut it our, then fried it & molded it around my hand, snipping until it fitted

here's a commercial version of a pinkie splint!

I also have an exercise to do (10 repeats, 3 times a day) & will see her again in 2 weeks when she thinks it will be ok.

The only problem is it can be very uncomfortable & I need to take it off at times. I have a fabric thingy underneath it & sleeping was very difficult as the velcro scratched me & I had to make sure the fabric was in the right places to keep the velcro from my skin. I took it off to answer an email 7 post here & need to put it back on!

Last sentence & this are typed with with imprisoned fingers! Fortunately I use 2 fingers on each hand but I us`e mou

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 Aug 25 - 07:34 AM

oops, I somehow hit SUBMIT

as I was saying, I use mouse in my left hand & having a loaded hand is not easy.

I went to craft group today & did too much - some with brace, rest without, as it's easier (oops) - not good for healing

sandra

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 14 Aug 25 - 10:42 AM

*Sympathise* re splint, Sandra. When I had a busted right fist (the tale of which need not detain us here), my right arm was in a cast for a fortnight, and I had to learn to type using the middle finger of the right hand and the whole left hand. Somewhat later, I started using computer mice, and (being heavy-fisted at the best of times) found there was enough resisual damage that I got chronic mouse-ache; so perforce I became left-moused, despite being right-handed. And so did the rest of our household for a time, as that was where the mouse was on any computer I used.

Later again, I found I'd developed a stress fracture of the middle finger from too much heavy clicking [snip: saga about Microsoft]. So perforce I'm now ambimoustrous, to spread the load.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Aug 25 - 11:15 AM

Sandra, I have an image in my mind of a stiff pancake attached to your hand with that interesting office production method. :-)

MaJoC, what kind of mouse do you use? I've used a track ball (thumb) for so many years I can't remember how I picked it up or what I was doing that made it seem a prudent choice. My complaint isn't about my hands (now, though earlier this year with the PMR flare-up stiff hands and a mouse that didn't seem to work were the earliest clues) but with the software that comes with the trackball. They used to have a way to set it so there was a tail that you could adjust (to see where it was when moving across the screen) and set the speed. I've looked and those features are no longer available so the trackball seems sluggish.

A parcel of old Tupperware canisters left the porch this morning. I'd lowered the price again, to the point where they were going to come out of the box and go to Goodwill pretty soon. This is a slow-motion declutter.

I missed the morning trash pickup, but there wasn't much to go out. I've made a point of filling the trash can twice a week much of the summer but now need to look around for more to discard. The garage would be a good place to start.

Since I have made more donations to various political and environmental causes, and they all sell their mailing lists, I find that lots of groups are trying to get on my good side by sending me calendars for next year. They're much more attractive than what the health insurance company sends, but I have maxed out on the number of places where I can use them. I'll be offering calendars on my buy nothing group later this year. I shred most of the address labels now. This isn't a new practice, and the free stuff varies. Postcards, little pads of paper, stickers. My great aunt died in 1984 and when I worked on her estate found she got solicitations from lots of Catholic charities and they all sent her rosaries. She set them aside and I dropped them into a box as we sorted in the house; there must have been 20 pounds of beads. I don't remember what we did with them, her handyman might have taken them to a church?

The "Groovy Records" jigsaw puzzle has finally been completed. I posted a photo on FB and Instagram and offered it to a couple of Mudcat friends who stay here for a night or two on their trips through Texas. I'll be mailing it to them tomorrow, and perhaps two heads are better than one at solving it. That was the hardest puzzle I've done in a long time, but the good news is it's another thing finished this week.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: pattyClink
Date: 14 Aug 25 - 11:31 AM

Yikes, what a pain trying to rest one's hand. I thought it was hard staying off my feet or going easy on my back, but it must be very difficult to go easy while part of your hand heals.

I am in on a rest-drink water-cry break because after wasting my time suiting up in old white clothes finding the garden sprayer, and carefully loading it with the strong vinegar, couldn't pump it up and it is the usual hissing tiny leak. Just a badly made sprayer.

This must be $700 worth of sprayers that have failed over the course of my life and hub's life (we tried the expensive metal ones, no better). This one was babied for a few years, never containing anything but filtered water. And the solution? Go give more money to the same 3 companies that produce these crappy products, year after year. So sick of being cheated. Well, back to hoeing and whacking.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Aug 25 - 02:52 PM

Vinegar eats up the rubber gaskets in sprayers so I always have to empty and wash them out after every use. The last pair of sprayers I found for a good price were at Tractor Supply. You might be able to replace the gasket in your current one. Most hardware stores have little bins of gaskets.

I managed to buy a Hudson trombone sprayer on eBay after the company stopped selling them but before they became so scarce you can't find a reasonable price. But a lot of my spraying that doesn't have to cover a distance is with little hand pump canisters from Best Buy and Lowe's etc., and those last from Tractor Supply. There are a lot of these rattling around in my gardening supplies and out in the greenhouse.

Going through paper and recycling or shredding since we're under another heat advisory. The yard needs mowing, to do one morning when I roll out of bed while it's cool.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 Aug 25 - 06:22 PM

MaJo - I changed my mouse hand in the 90s after getting RSI (Repetitive strain injury - I think it also has another name.) 5 in our section of 6 overworked sufficiently to get it & our 17 year old Indigenous trainee did a lot more work, but was ok. Another colleague suggested changing mouse hand which was an effort, now I can't use it in my right hand - I tried recently!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Aug 25 - 11:36 PM

Sandra, I see several repetitive injuries listed at the Cleveland Clinic website. The main one I've heard of is carpel tunnel.

This afternoon I moved the stand mixer and Seal-a-Meal off of the counters on either side of the stove, leaving just oil bottles too tall for the cupboard, pepper mill, etc., that are used several times a day. It looks so much better. The moved items are standing on the Kitchen Queen for now, in view so I can get them easily when needed.

I listed a pair of shoes on eBay that have never been worn. (The temptation of the clearance aisles at DSW.) As I considered just offering them on the Buy Nothing page, it dawned on me that with the recent trouble in shipping vintage drinking glasses intact, I'd be foolish to miss listing something that is not going to break in transit and requires no more than a box and a label. Priced low enough to sell fairly soon.

The puzzle is boxed and ready to put in the mail tomorrow. And I realized I have several others that I finished I should offer to folks. I've started an easier 500 piece puzzle of cats playing chess, a spoof of the dogs playing poker cartoon.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 15 Aug 25 - 09:58 AM

Mouse woes: When changing handedness of mouse, do you swap the buttons to match? As it happens, I don't, and just keep my muscle memory trained appropriately; I tried swapping the button actions, and just got confused, and besides it's a hostile action when it's a customer's mouse. Your mileage may differ.

Trackballs: Do you mean those piddling little things with the one-inch balls that Logitech sell? They look cute an' all with the ball balanced on them, but I was spoilt forever for using those by the Penny and Giles tracker I used to have use of. The ball was too big to play billiards with, which meant I could nurdle around *very* precisely when needed; if I needed to get the cursor from one end of the screen to the other, I'd put my thumb down on one side of the ball, and *whang* [mimes Pete Townsend's windmill power-chord action]. Sadly, that tracker got left behind when I changed jobs, and P&G had ceased trading. A great loss.

Meanwhile, back at at the point, I use whatever mouse comes to hand; as we speak, [looks down] currently a ThinkPad traveller mouse which happens to match this laptop. Basically anything with a mouse wheel. As for the mouse-ache, that's God's way of saying I've been writing too long, as [blasphemes quietly] I have now, so I'll leave it there.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Aug 25 - 11:25 AM

Darn, I just deleted my message. I use the Logitech Ergo mouse with the thumb ball, but see a lot of others out there. In the past I would have gone over to Fry's Electronics where they always had aisles of stuff you could look over and try, but they closed a few years ago. Best Buy and Walmart just don't have the chops when it comes to selection and getting your hands on things. I use the big buttons on either side of the rubber wheel (that I use all of the time, to roll and to push down for select). It has a couple of other programmable buttons to the left of the big ones that I think I set for page up and page down but I never remember to use them.

I pulled the long hose over to water the base around the fence post I'm going to straighten, and I also need to straighten the clothesline post that was struck by a large tree branch a couple of years ago. Another bag of pea gravel and two bags of Quickrete and I'm ready for all of that. Soon. Very soon.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Aug 25 - 05:15 PM

That last post got me thinking about upgrades I've planned on this 2019 Dell computer. I haven't upgraded to Win11 yet, but soon will, but I've been meaning to add more memory (RAM) to keep up with the applications I run. I see I waited too long, it is more expensive now (effing tariffs). Also because they're not making the DDR4 now, they're shifting to DDR5, which doesn't fit my older machine. I ended up ordering from Best Buy because Amazon has too much squishy stuff going on with the providers on their site with a lot of tray market and defective pieces making their way onto the site. I'm hoping Best Buy has better inventory control. That part of it cost me about $20 more, so not too bad, but the entire purchase was about 25% more than it would have been in May or June.   

Whenever I start that project, it is going to at least kill a weekend, installing everything, and figuring out what does and doesn't still work. And because it is such a process it means I'll be pulling out disks and gear and moving stuff around. More decluttering.

Unrelated, but something I'm so glad to have found and shared elsewhere, here is a little ditty by Irving Berlin that fits perfectly today.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Aug 25 - 09:10 AM

This week, I decided to sever my relationship with the Hewlett-Packard company and all its works, especially the Instant Ink subscription system. For more than eight years, HP has been tapping my bank account for eight to ten dollars each month, all the time claiming to save me money when the most cursory bit of arithmetic indicates that they’re lying, bigly.

But it was the HP website that pushed me over the edge. First, I was trying to change the frequency with which HP sent new ink cartridges; then, when that mission proved futile, I tried to cancel altogether. Round and round I went in a vicious circle of links, each taking me back to a page for opening a new account. I tried the chatbot, which sent me around the mulberry bush yet again, and called the help line only to be told to use the chatbot.

Finally I spotted a button that took me to a live chat with a human being, who actually — eventually! — cancelled my account. But not before wheedling at me to “update” my subscription, or buy a new model of HP printer, to which I replied “No, no, a thousand times no!” and “What part of No have I failed to convey?”

I’m sure my experience would have been different if I were American, or a business customer, but I am neither and I have no intention of changing either status to please a printer company.

So the HP LaserJet Pro 8720 is bound for the e-waste depot and I’ll buy something (anything!) else when I set up my desk again in Ottawa.

Next week will see me finally ending my relationship with the Stratford Concert Choir, dining out too often for the good of my digestion to please people who want to mark my departure, and packing the stuff that the movers won’t take. How did I accumulate four boxes of wooden matches as well as a fancy cigar lighter and a barbecue lighter? The cigar lighter was obviously Edmund’s, but all those matches look like me making sure I didn’t find myself stuck on some folk festival campsite with no way to light Edmund’s damnable Coleman stove.

I must also acquire some plastic bins for cleaning materials, which the movers will take the bins if I tape down the lids.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Aug 25 - 09:17 AM

Sorry — accidentally hit the Submit button prematurely.

The movers won’t take my Mason jars of spices and dried herbs, however, or anything alcoholic, so I must also wrap and box up the contents of the spice drawers and pack the last of the wine.

And I must consult the vet on an appropriate sedative for two aging pussycats who must spend a whole day caged in the back of a car. Elder Brother should not have to endure hours of feline arias on top of the stress of driving across the province.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Aug 25 - 11:25 AM

Companies that make it difficult to unsubscribe were in the cross-hairs of the Biden administration, meaning they're probably in the good graces of the current one. If the only way to get out is to talk to high-pressure sales folks, Biden's folks were insisting those companies put in a simple "unsubscribe" button that would work. Hasn't happened so far. I use the sales thing to my advantage every year with Sirius, telling them I want to cancel because I don't use it enough to pay $26 a month, so they extend the $7 monthly introductory fee. I had to do that to get out of Spectrum and told them they should have offered the discount when I called and asked some months earlier.

I took a couple of listings down from eBay that have languished, so those items go to the buy nothing group or to Goodwill. More stuff is ready to list, and I have a bunch more boxes to flatten as I slowly organize the front room. I have lots of cucumbers and contacted a woman I met via buy nothing and asked if she'd like some, so she'll pick them up today.

Mower is gassed up, hat and bandana ready. Into the yard I mow.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 16 Aug 25 - 02:51 PM

Hewlett-Packard haven't produced a good printer since the LaserJet 4, and the LJ4M (where the M stands for "Postscript"), which had the brick-shithouse nature. Then their management heard about the Gillette business model: their next two were the LJ4L and LJ4P (resp, "Laughable" and "Pathetic"). Happily, the LJ1010 I've got has only needed two toner cartridge changes in 20 years, but my hard-copy requirements are modest, and lyrics don't need colour.

Must go. Herself's back home, and she's channelling AC/DC again: we're drinking a whole lot of rosé.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Aug 25 - 04:33 PM

I love rosé …

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Aug 25 - 05:51 PM

I have a solid blocky laser printer that was purchased in 2005 after the house burglary when the old one went out the door. HP LaserJet 1320. I added memory to it at one point and have gone through a few high capacity cartridges, but (knock wood) it just keeps on going. Only thing that no longer works is the single sheet feeder but I've figured out a workaround. The Epson is a color printer with high capacity tanks, and though I haven't used it in the way I envisioned when I bought it, it saves me going out to Office Depot to print color letters to go in my holiday cards.

The front yard looks better but I had to stop for a cool down part way through. The back yard can wait till tomorrow. While mowing an acquaintance stopped by - when I found I was overstocked on cucumbers I reached out to see if she could use them (I'm not to the point of sneaking onto porches late at night and leaving cucumbers). I sent her home with a good recipe for refrigerator pickles, some homegrown garlic to use in her pickles, a jar of pickles I made a couple of weeks ago that are just now perfect to eat now, and some starts (corms) for growing her own garlic. Then I took bags of okra to the neighbors on each side of me. That was a major win for my refrigerator.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 16 Aug 25 - 08:09 PM

Dupont:

Back this afternoon after a pleasant 5 hour drive on a clear, 30C day. The forcast, according to my phone is an 80% chance of rain tomorrow. I started taking a large jar of water to relieve the wilting plants- even the Cherry tree! Hope tomorrow will fix that!! Nothing was wilting at Beaver! The area is rarely dry enough to walk over before July! But even very dry there.

Did not get any pots made; it was WAY too hot! But feel good about the degree of organization - will encourage work when the weather cools - which is is predicted to do now that I am here! But the plan is to go back for the long weekend, with Robin! Music events on Friday and on Sunday!

I went through two large bottles of propane in the week; all seeped out through a leaky hose that I noticed way too late! I used the toaster oven and microwave and shall wait for R to get the propane sorted. "Just get another bottle of propane and check out the hose with soapy water..." I cannot - don't dare- lift the full tank out of the car!! Ouch!

Carpal tunnel: I thought I had it years ago - common in potters, I'm told. I rested that arm for weeks while travelling and then spent a vigorous day of potting (30 years ago!! Didn't sleep and was at the door of my fav-ever chiropractor at 8 am!! "Oh, by the way, do you know anything about C.T?" "YEs, I know it is usually in the shoulders..." He worked on my shoulders and - that was also about 30 years ago. I sure miss that guy!

Serendipity: I went to the beach on Diamond Lake - but could not find it??? "Oh well, I am almost to Highland Grove (where I lived for 10 years about 25 years ago!),, I'
ll go see if anything is happening there." Sign: "Music Sunday 2-4! So I joined a very small group of old timers with guitar and banjo and the joy of music! "Oh, you're Joanne's friend Dorothy" Life in the hinterlands! Not terrific but a nice event- on the second Sunday - in my calendar! When I saw Joanne on Weds, she knew I had been there, of course!

Sadly, the Chateauguay Valley Antique Association has aged out and this year's event is at the Fairgrounds, not the beautiful Rennie Farm. (Next weekend). "If you lent anything to (the exhibit area) over the years and want it back..." So sad to see the end of a fantastic community event. The Fairgrounds ... phooey!   But we will go see. I will not take my pottery! I hope the Rennie's are OK!

Sat with my friend John at the concert in the Park on Weds. He has a cancer and mentioned that his beard is curling; my bangs have been curling; I had been wondering. Also do not need to trim my hair very often; that's nice because my shoulders don't like doing it!

John is our local folk musician; I met him in the Toronto Folklore Centre on the Saturday of Easter weekend,1977. He lives to play music - guitar, fiddle. Still plays and hosts a monthly 7to11 Cafe, encouraging young and old to enjoy.... A finer human being... When a load of logs let go and broke his leg - about 1983 - I stayed with his young daughter while he was in hospital. The phone rarely stopped ringing - "Does John need...." "He could stay with us..."   

Great!! A text that the power is out at Beaver! Well, nothing spoiled the last time. A five hour drive

Well, R kept the indoor plants alive; now I have to go make the bed with nice clean sheets!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Aug 25 - 12:52 PM

I've continued to clear kitchen counter surfaces and am enjoying the open workspaces. Ruthless shredding and recycling of papers that piled up helped.

As I prepare to upgrade to Win11 I realized my Canon scanner cable doesn't reach the new computer so have ordered a USB cable. I got a longer printer cable when I did all of this rearranging and should have addressed the scanner at the same time. This seems to be the most efficient setup I've managed in the years I've had my office in this room. The number and type of projects I work on is why so much equipment.

Before last week's dental cleaning appointment I had to take a megadose of amoxicillin (because of my knee replacements). That stuff kills the gut flora, and all week I've taken probiotics and eaten yogurt and pickles to help it return. For all of Charmion's meals out, a good probiotic or an enzyme that helps with digestion might be advisable. Don't suffer for those meals!

The donation bin in the laundry room is getting full so I'll bag those things and plan to take them by Goodwill. The key fob is still acting up, so that will be after I swing by Nissan and probably end up with a new fob, decluttering the wallet bigly.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 17 Aug 25 - 03:09 PM

Key fob: Are you sure you don't need a new battery* in it, Stilly? That happened with all but one of the keys to Herself's car, though I forget the symptoms. One bulk change later, all keys working properly. Apologies if (as usual) my brain's firing off its mouth from the hip.

* My inner pedant keeps screaming "cell", but I bow to the mass misunderstanding.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Aug 25 - 04:05 PM

I replaced it first thing, and after this happened before, I made sure I got top shelf batteries to use to keep it going longer.

I've found a service bulletin from Nissan via the interwebs that suggests the Intelligent Key needs to be resynchronized. This is one of those odd programming things that involves turning on the car, testing buttons, opening the driver's window, moving the fob out of range of the vehicle, etc.

When I finish this test, I'm going to take some cloths out and use the new window cleaner recommended in Consumer reports for car windows (no ammonia in it) and see if I can finally get a clear windshield inside and out. Consumer Reports named a couple of products, neither I'd heard of but not particularly expensive or hard to find. I swung by the hardware store yesterday to pick up one of the brands.

Looking at a program about the development of commercial fast food products. All of this that I'm not eating because of the wheat and sugar and processed foods and realizing why Americans are as fat and unhealthy as they are. Want to help our health? Put Home Economics back into the middle and high school curriculum. Teach people to cook.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Aug 25 - 07:07 PM

Key fob is working for the time being, and I've washed the SUV windows inside and out but the test will be driving conditions when the sun hits the glass just so. If the windows are clean maybe I'll go whole hog and get out the hose and wash the car this week. (Parking under trees to avoid sun heating the interior to oven temperatures results in tiny drips of sap on the paint and glass, so I do need to wash it one of these days.)

For now I'm spending the rest of the hot muggy overcast day inside because I feel a big sneeze forming inside my sinuses. This is the time for ragweed to start doing its thing.

There are enough tomatoes again for some to be canned and sauced this evening. The ragged ones (blossom end rot, bit by bugs) get scalded, peeled, and trimmed, and are great for the sauce I freeze. My winter self will thank me for the cooking I do now.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Aug 25 - 01:10 AM

Tomatoes simmered down to three pints of pureed (stick blender) goodness and ready for making marinara tomorrow. It took a couple of hours for it to reduce in volume to be perfect for sauce. I was in and out of the kitchen all evening, and though I didn't do any of my exercise videos today I feel like I got a workout. By the time I add the sauce ingredients I'll have close to three quarts to freeze. And tomorrow I'll pick one of the eggplants to bread and fry and make a fresh batch of eggplant Parmesan, using this sauce. I need to call a couple of folks to come over for dinner.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Aug 25 - 12:12 AM

I disturbed a lot of dust this evening but it only took about 10 minutes to put the new RAM cards in the computer. It took longer to dust the area and unplug everything before opening the case. And now my flatbed scanner (the older, better one) is connected to the new computer (I neglected to get a long enough USB cable when I rearranged the office some months ago). I came across a small box of tiny photos that came from my grandmother, set on the shelf there to scan. Now maybe I'll do it.

The sauce is finished, most of it frozen, and tomorrow I'll do dinner of eggplant parm. Another giant cucumber presented itself in the garden this morning. How do they do that? I look so carefully, sometimes circling the vines two or three times to pick, and then the next morning, right there in front, is a 12" cuke. The seeds are tough, but my daughter tells me that her chickens adore the seeds in these huge cucumbers. I think I have three of them to hand off tomorrow.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 19 Aug 25 - 08:48 AM

The garden shed is empty, and the garage is decluttered of most stuff that isn’t going with me to Ottawa. I made yet another run to Goodwill yesterday with a carload of miscellaneous garden stuff. Habitat for Humanity are sending a truck today for an office table, a pine nightstand, four fans, a rechargeable power drill that I have never used, a bag of assorted hand tools, a fire screen, and a set of fireplace tools. That will be the last of the clearance.

The choir computer is fighting all my efforts to add the new librarian as an admin user, and remove me. It’s a 10-year-old MacBook Pro. Apple have drastically changed their security protocols since it was first put into service, making equipment-sharing very difficult for users. The function that blocks me is a screen that says I can’t create an Apple ID for the new librarian because that action has been performed on the choir computer too often and will not be allowed again. WTAF? So the machine needs an actual Apple expert. It’s beyond me and I should just stop trying, for my own good. The new librarian will have to deal with it.

I woke up this morning at 0515 hr with the heavy, cramped feeling in my upper chest that indicates the onset of a bronchospasm. Three kinds of steroids and a jolt of broncho-dilator later I’m okay but jittery — normal for the aftermath of that dosage. But this is not a good sign; evidently, my body is fed up with the extra stress of the move on top of the usual flood of late-summer allergens. Nine days left in Stratford.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Aug 25 - 10:46 AM

Charmion, good luck with the computer. I have one here with the "good" expensive software that refused any more modifications in order to communicate via the Internet. In the parlance of automotive transmissions, this is the slave to the master cylinder; I do the work on it and cable between it and the newer computer (using a transfer cable). They will figure out something. A friend sends me stuff from his iPhone and I occasionally have to jump through Apple ID hoops. It's never pretty.

Moving is like an all day every day gym workout; stay healthy in the breathing department. Do you have a dust-fighting strategy for the remainder of the work?

I'm kicking myself that I never thought to look and see if Dell actually put in all of the RAM I ordered when I bought this machine. Turns out there was a single 8GB strip doing all of the work; I thought I had two of them for 16GB. I've put in the maximum amount now (four 16GB strips) and wonder how it will change some of the work I do. Buyer beware.

How's the house and the yard going, Patty? How is Sandra's wrist feeling? And I think the weather map showing a small tornado in southern Quebec is just Dorothy rushing around doing all of her stuff.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Mary G
Date: 19 Aug 25 - 02:31 PM

i am approved for an apartment in centralia -- just the wrong one. It is OK..later move in and it will be easier. I have not seen it..saw and claimed the other one but there was a mixup. Anyway, getting rid of stuff..nothing fancy. I am so glad I downsized sooner. i said I will have nothing that does not fold or collapse or deflate and I meant it. One office chair is the exception, and I am sure it comes apart. I have one problem and that is my tutoring. I need to make sure that I am totally covered from one place to another. I have talked to spectrum and they said they do this all the time. if bad comes to worse do you think a library would let me use a private room and their internet for a few days? that might be best solution.

car is a peninsula car and not bought to go long distances. so hopefully it will keep working till i am moved. it drives very well...has had problems starting..everything is replaced and it has been working all the time so I might be OK. I am not moving with anything vital in my car..which would be papers mostly.

well, i am looking forward to it. blocks from a library, community college, train station, safety, church. what more do I need ? would like a swimming pool nearby. Google centralia, washington if you are interested. I forgot..I am two blocks from McDonald's now and a couple of miles when I move. Oh well.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Aug 25 - 05:16 PM

Sounds like you've found a great neighborhood, Mary! And a walk two miles to McDonalds is good exercise. Chehalis and Centralia were a couple of wide spots in the road for most of their existence, but it looks like quite a lot of growth has happened in both of them. And it looks like with only a couple of freeway exits that the frontage roads do most of the heavy lifting for local traffic alongside and under I-5. That should actually make it easier and safer commuting around town.

The only time I spent time in Centralia was when I worked for the Forest Service in Seattle and was detailed to work at a fire in the Twisp area. They flew us there in back in little unpressurized Forest Service planes, and I fell asleep on the flight back, not doing anything about my ears. When we landed it was like there was a wooden spoon handle stuffed in my ear and it was a couple of more hours before a big yawn in the shower that the pressure equalized and it sounded like I was standing in a waterfall. Worst earache ever.

It's a good thing my daughter's chickens love the big seeds in large cucumbers because there where three more this morning. How does this happen? Surely they don't grow that fast overnight? It's getting a bit thin on tomatoes out there but if I find some blooms I'm going to use the bloom setting spray and get a few more going for fall.

The allergy season is kicking in and the air quality is poor through tomorrow evening. No mowing until later in the week, and then I'll wear a mask.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Aug 25 - 11:55 AM

Two more cat gigs penciled on the calendar in August and September. It's a lot of work and I get less of my own stuff done around the house, but the things that require me to head out get interleaved in with the feedings and I do more of those, so it works out. While I'm spending a chunk of the end of the month running back and forth to administer cat meds I hope Charmion will be p-a-c-i-n-g herself so there are no injuries or bronchial attacks during the move. (I'm guessing when everything eventually arrives at the Ottawa destination family will descend on the house and help put everything where it belongs very quickly.) My 91-year-old friend is fretting about the packing for a move to a new house soon. Her son is going to hire a couple of local women to help with the packing, and perhaps I should have her come stay with me and out of the path of the upheaval. (Supervising the work is important - and her son should be doing that this time.)

Lovely gentle rain today. I'm waiting for it pass through the region before heading to the store, letting streets dry a bit.

I spent last evening testing and researching some of the electronics here that will go on eBay. Now I'm power cleaning my ink jet printer because some of the nozzles are plugged. I print things to include in the sales (instructions, manuals) and occasionally color pages (mostly I print with the laser printer because I have tons of toner and lots of paper around here).

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 20 Aug 25 - 12:03 PM

I lost track long ago of the amount of my time and energy were disappearing into the black hole of the concert choir’s affairs. The last item is the choir’s MacBook Pro, which has the library database on it.

Apple likes its equipment to be owned and used by individual humans, not “positions” such as Choir Librarian. The user accounts are full of personal data such as name and date of birth. Drilling down to change all that, including back-up emails and phone numbers for two-factor verification, when the computer has been passed along at least twice over ten years — it’s been spectacularly irritating.

But I am almost on the objective! One more sit-down with the new librarian, and it’ll be done and I can dust the whole business off my hands. I can hardly wait.

Meanwhile, today the cats go to the vet for a check-up before going to the cattery for three weeks, and to get the correct dose of the appropriate sedative for the long drive on Monday. Watson is asprawl on my lap, but where is Isobel?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Aug 25 - 11:14 PM

The dishwasher is running after a dinner of eggplant Parmesan was accomplished. I have some leftover slices that I'll take across to the neighbor tomorrow. I had to thin my homemade sauce (a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste and 3/4 cup water, whisked) so it's at a good consistency. I'd rather have it too thick than too runny. The house smells wonderful and the kitchen is clean.

Here in Texas when a representative does a filibuster on the house floor, they have to keep talking or reading the whole time, and it can't be unrelated to the subject at hand. One of the representatives is getting ready to attempt a filibuster tomorrow so members of a group I follow have been asked to write letters on the subject and send them to the rep. I'll do that this evening.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 Aug 25 - 06:30 PM

My apartment has been decluttered of a hard stiff old mattress and its accompanying box springs.
A new mattress, with some give, has taken its place.
For some reason I was all keyed up and could not sleep well on my first night on the new mattress.
Hopefully that will pass soon.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 22 Aug 25 - 07:37 AM

A new mattress is an event! No wonder you were all keyed up, keb. Give yourself a few days to start taking it for granted.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Aug 25 - 04:50 PM

Keb, how is your hand feeling? Sleep any better last night? Do you have a good reading lamp by your bed? And has your lung thing cleared up, Charmion?

Today's errands included posting a box of three pounds of my garden okra to a friend in Michigan. She grew up in the next county south of here and a few years ago was bemoaning the lack of good okra on the shores of Lake Michigan, so as a lark I filled a priority box and shipped it. Three days later the okra was a hit and she pickled some and fried the rest. It took a couple of more years before I had enough okra to do it again (last year no garden, the year before the okra languished out there.) From here out whatever I pick will be used for pickled okra and occasional fried.

While picking okra this morning a juvenile grasshopper landed in my box, so I clonked it with my pruners and walked around to the front porch and tossed it into Ms. Argiope's web. After a couple of tries she got it. A few minutes later I opened the front door to take a look and Pepper decided to bark up a storm - when she started that the spider dropped her breakfast, it swung a few inches away in the web. Later I peeked out and she was again dining on the grasshopper, but clearly neither she nor I are fond of Pepper's barking.

Last week I rolled coins as I watched TV, and today at the credit union they said they don't take them rolled but they do have a machine in the lobby that counts and deposits the entire amount. Noisy, but it worked. In the end it only spit back two coins, a Canadian quarter and a kind of rumpled US penny. And when I went to Costco after that my bill was exactly $2 more than I put in the bank. I'm still ahead by $178 in savings, but it's funny how it doesn't feel that way. I have the empty roll papers, but if they will count it without all of the trouble, no point in rolling them.

Last night right before it started raining I sprayed the tomato bloom spray on flowers on two of the plants, hoping for some fall tomatoes. I don't know which is more unusual, still getting tomatoes here in August, or all of the small rain showers we've had this month.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 22 Aug 25 - 05:05 PM

My lung thing has resolved into a twitchier airway than I have had in years, and continuing laryngitis. My speaking voice comes and goes, averaging out in a froggy rasp, but my singing voice is just fine! Weird.

Today I have been packing up stuff the movers won’t take: spices and dried herbs in Mason jars, a dozen bottles of wine, bottles of olive oil and vinegar. The front hall is getting crowded with boxes that I hope will all fit in Dai’s and Andrew’s cars, along with the cats in their travelling kennel, two orchids, and a Christmas cactus that I raised from a pup.

Dai arrives tomorrow (Saturday) evening, and Andrew and Deb on Sunday.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: pattyClink
Date: 22 Aug 25 - 06:14 PM

SRS, you should demand a shipment of rhubarb from Michigan in return for the okra!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Aug 25 - 09:49 PM

I grew up with rhubarb in the yard in the Puget Sound area, was never really a fan. But maybe something else from up there. What else is Michigan noted for? Cheese? Apples? Maybe a shipped-frozen Chinook salmon. :-)

It seems astonishing that Charmion is just about to load up and move out. Wasn't it just a couple of months ago that this all started? Whoosh!

The back lawn closest to the house and greenhouse got mowed this afternoon. I didn't have time for more, but I did a different section last week so there's only one spot that needs mowing tomorrow. Some wasps began dive-bombing so I stopped before I was finished. There's a bad air alert up for tomorrow, but it'll only take a few minutes.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 23 Aug 25 - 08:16 AM

I’m pretty sure that rhubarb doesn’t travel well.

But I just realized that my new place has a sunny south-facing back yard, which means I can grow rhubarb again! Next spring …

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: pattyClink
Date: 23 Aug 25 - 09:15 AM

Cherries!


https://cherryhut.com/

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Aug 25 - 11:40 AM

Cherries are a favorite. Central Washington has a lot of fruit, apples and cherries in particular. We used to buy them by the case and sit around eating and seeing who could land most of their pits into the designated container in the middle of the room or porch, etc. The heartbreak in recent years was when the Aplets and Cotlets company almost closed down (just did a deep Internet dive on that history) but it seems they found a buyer (though reports say the recipe has changed some).

Thursday next week is the donation for teachers, so I'm moving everything near the back door. I may need a dolly for one of the boxes. This will be the push that lets me rearrange more of the den and hopefully move the photo cube off of the dining table and into the front room.

One of the cat sitting gigs was postponed, due to delays by the contractor on the work she wants to examine. Suddenly the week has opened up for other stuff.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 23 Aug 25 - 01:03 PM

Ottawa is too cold for Bing cherries, the sweet, dark kind that come from Washington State, but the Montmorency variety — small, sour, light red — doesn’t need as many frost-free days so it does well there. I’m not sure my new back yard is big enough for a Montmorency tree, but I can try.

My Mennonite friends came this morning to play tunes, a very welcome break from the Sturm und Drang of the move. We did not say good-bye, just au revoir until next summer, when I intend to make the trip to Goderich again.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Aug 25 - 10:45 PM

This has been a remarkably relaxing Saturday. It also wasn't super hot, like a typical August day. I managed to finish some of the regular online job stuff earlier today and am now headed into the sewing studio to iron and do some mending. I haven't worked in there in ages. This after I tracked down some 10 and 20 year old reviews for a couple of vintage electronics for eBay.

Another monster cucumber snuck into the garden overnight. I swear I look so carefully, and then pow, the next day, there it is!

Good luck with the nosy neighbor, Keb (from another thread) and the new mattress. Are you sleeping better now that you're becoming accustomed to it?

What else should we discuss that Charmion might plant in the new yard? Some espaliered peaches against one of the walls? Potatoes are a lot of fun to grow as long as the bed is well-dug so they have room to form. Strawberries in fancy pots that can be moved into the garage in the cold weather?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Aug 25 - 07:22 PM

Today seems to have become a cooking day. Steaming veggies for the dogs happens a couple of times a week, but I also made another bread pudding, and then pan-fried some eggplants (quartered lengthwise) to freeze for a recipe from Cypress that calls for a few of them on top of a pork, tomato, and onion casserole. A gift to myself for next winter.

Next comes a batch of crispy pecans (they bake very low for several hours). While they're in the oven I can pack a few jars with cucumber spears, pour over hot brine, and put them in the fridge. It's easier to give away pickles, and though so far I've managed to keep up with the crop, I think people are getting a bit tired of cucumbers. Prep time for all of these things is quick, so as long as they cook or bake without much attention it's a great way to multi-task.

Charmion, are all of the spices and Mason jars and bottles of wine packed? Patty, were you able to get rid of the dodder? That stuff is pretty awful. What is the host plant in your area?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: pattyClink
Date: 24 Aug 25 - 10:14 PM

Dug up another wheelbarrow full of goatheads this afternoon after the sun got low. Could not believe what one rain will do, I worked hard and cleaned out the goathead plants, went on a brief trip, back to square one.   

The dodder was fairly easily scooped up, I think before it had time to dig in to anything except gravel and weeds. I'll keep watching.

This week's aggravation was with the replacement spool of string trimmer line. The string that came with the nice lightweight trimmer was thin but worked very well even on tough stuff. It ran out, saw nothing identical around, and regrettably got a bad brand to replace it. Had to feed out new line about every 60 seconds.

Last night, made a stop at a different store which advertised a nice selection of brands online AT THAT STORE. Got there, only 15 varieties of the same bad brand and some expensive cartridges. Oh well. Settled for rounder and thicker, we'll load the bobbin and see how that does tomorrow.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Aug 25 - 09:37 AM

Patty, I'm fighting that battle with my new battery trimmer. The string that came in the replacement cartridges, supposedly heavy duty, wasn't much better than the lightweight stuff. I always rewind my existing cartridges, but haven't found a string I like yet to use.

The house smells amazing this evening. Brine from making fresh pickles (now in the fridge), the pecans still baking (until I head to bed in a few minutes, when they come out, close enough to the full four hours), and an umami effect from having just baked an eggplant (the babaghanouj won't be made until tomorrow; that's one set of dishes too many for today.)

Some may recall that early in the year I was fussing about the computer mouse, and realized a lot of the problem was my hands starting to show the PMR. Now that the medication has kicked in I've been researching that mouse and realize the things I want to adjust simply aren't available on this model. After lots of research I've ordered a new one, an early birthday present to myself. Something practical. I'm trying to not shop for electronics as much at Amazon so went again with Best Buy. It's my theory that Best Buy has better inventory control than Amazon does for electronics.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Aug 25 - 10:50 AM

The last one was posted this morning since Mudcat was down for a little while last night.

I will note that I have the remainder of a roll of trimmer string from the last couple of trimmers that I'm still using and, like you, am stopping every few feet to get it to extrude properly. I'll use up what I have before I buy more.

The pecans were tasted before being put in jars this morning and think I've hit on the best recipe. And smart me - I wrote it down as I worked last night so in theory it is reproduceable. They've all been good, but these are better.

Ms Argiope on the front door seems to have consumed another suitor in the last 48 hours. She positioned her web closer to the security door again and has managed to attach her web to part of the "do not disturb" postit note I put on the outside glass of the door, near her. So it is pulled up away from the glass and isn't readable. When I open the door it relaxes toward the glass. Time for a second note, placed lower? "Keep your voice down and be careful what written materials you leave on the door, this spider can read"?

Rounding up craft and office supply donations today and tomorrow to drop off Thursday. Dropping off garden produce to takers who aren't tired of it yet. I have to pick up a couple of hot peppers to start making pickled okra because mine didn't produce any fruits. The garden seems to be largely in charge of activities this summer.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 25 Aug 25 - 11:31 PM

Dupont:

Gearing up for another trip to Beaver for the long weekend - with Robin so it will only be the weekend. Lv Friday and to get there in time for John's 7-11 cafe - a sort of whoever shows up but there are often some interesting musiicians. I am still have a very hard time with this new computer. My last came to Apple help resulted in them sending me a bunch of ideas - most of this Are out of my realm of understanding.

much happening on the holiday weekend - fair markets, loggers games and a friend's home concert on Sunday.

Still recovering from Saturday's big event - the one that used to be at the Rennie's wonderful farm with lots of old time stuff and wonderfully organized, was held at the fairgrounds - not a nice venue at all - in comparison. The whole feeling was different; I shan't bother next year. Interesting, and unpleasant was the heat - 35C - and an unpleasant surprise that my friend's soaps which usually don't bother me stank to high heaven and I could not stop for a chat. My friend Geri would not go near it! The music was loud and not very country. The booths were mainly machinery sorts of stuff - almost no crafts and not of any interest. I have enough crocheted dish clothes! I ended up sitting in an antique rocking chair at a friend's booth - R bought it for our LR - now we have to make a space for it! Possibilities!

That day totally exhausted me so yesterday was mostly in bed and today   fell asleep reading, then switched to computer. OOPS! have not checked emails... Someone real might even send me one!

And, I have no idea what "dodder" is?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Aug 25 - 12:08 AM

Dodder from Wikipedia. It's a parasitic plant (lots of species of them) and lots of host plants.

Sounds like that rocking chair got a good trial run before you took it home.

Running some produce to a friend tomorrow on the way to lunch with my daughter. She'll also get some produce. Both of them have art supplies to add to my Thursday donation for teachers.

This evening I'll do some photographing of eBay stuff. I'm trying to finish the computer work earlier in the evenings so I can read or sew or do other stuff away from screens. Last night I ironed a bunch of fabric scraps that had filled two of my laundry zipper bags (for delicates). I was wondering where they got to then realized I'd never emptied them from a few weeks ago. It was nice to listen to the radio and iron.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 26 Aug 25 - 05:37 PM

In fact, everything is packed, and the truck is due tomorrow morning between nine and ten. The cats have been successfully moved to the cattery near Ottawa (yay brothers!), and are booked to stay until 17 September, when the floors and painting will be finished and the furniture in place.

More tomorrow, when the cleaners have been in.

ch

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Aug 25 - 06:48 PM

You're making my head spin with the speed at which this is happening! I have a sense, though, that having paced yourself for several years to clear out the unused and duplicate items made a huge difference in how quickly you've been able to manage this now. Props to you!

More teacher donations picked up today, produce dropped off, and a bit of shopping. Chicken prices have gone way up. It's good that I've always cooked from scratch, and it will continue to be a virtue as tariffs and cross-border nonsense churns through the marketplace. And next year I may expand the garden.

I'm closer to being ready to install Win11. Before I do that I'll have to clear the physical desktop and put tags on each cable to ID what it goes to, because I'm pretty sure all of that is going to be fussed with.

More photos today.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Aug 25 - 12:00 AM

New mouse arrived and installed. It's like running the Enterprise after spending ages in the Shuttlecraft. It does a lot of stuff I don't need (or won't remember it can do) but there may be a feature that removes the need for the transfer cable between the new and old computer. I've done enough for now, I'll sleep on it and in the morning when I'm fresh I'll turn on both and see what is up. (I wasted so much time trying to get the cursor of the last one to land on the things I wanted it to land on. Time I can't get back, but I'll enjoy the dexterity of this one.)

The documentation in the box required a magnifying glass to make it out, and I ended up going to the website for the info anyway. Once I decide what customizations to leave in place I'll print the diagrams for those as well as general information.

Granola fixings are mostly measured out and tomorrow I'll stir it all together and make a fresh batch, and I got the peppers I need for pickled okra. I'm getting enough per day now that I can make some by the weekend.

I've found a few more things here for donation, including items not claimed on the local buy nothing page. Another pass through the sewing studio (I need to revisit the sewing patterns) and I have some embroidery and rug hooking kits from my mom's house that I'll never use - they can use them as is or be repurposed.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 27 Aug 25 - 09:14 AM

I saw the hand physio today https://sydneyhandtherapy.com.au/services/ & she used an angle measuring gadget to see how my pinkie was going & was pleased.

I won't need to wear the splint so much & have 2 new exercises to do & will see her again in a fortnight.

this is the exercise I've been doing https://www.nth.nhs.uk/resources/hand-therapy-trigger-finger/
One new exercise involves squeezing play doh, & I need to buy some tomorrow! The other is tenting, putting 4 fingertips on the table & moving them back & forward. 3 fingertips work perfectly ...

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Aug 25 - 11:46 AM

That's excellent news, Sandra! It's remarkably distracting to have fingers or hands in general not work the way we're accustomed to.

An explosion of dog hair this week proves what I've always thought - brushing them just makes the problem worse. But there isn't another answer. Brush the dog and vacuum the house for the time-being.

Once the cleaners have been in are you locking the door and leaving, Charmion? Where will you stay for the next three weeks?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 27 Aug 25 - 12:03 PM

Just this morning I was wondering what would be left to do tomorrow besides handing in the wifi router. Ha! I should have known better.

The movers arrived bang on time at 0900 hr and worked almost frantically for about two and a half hours, almost finishing the clearance of the second floor. Hmmm; this will take longer than I expected, and longer than the buyers will like. (They are pushing hard.) Nancy the cleaner is due just about now, and she can start upstairs.

But the ground floor is still chock-a-bloc, and the basement, and the garage.

Closing deadline is tomorrow at 1800 hr. I will need all the time I can get. (Paging Dr Parkinson!)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Aug 25 - 01:36 PM

Jobs like that seem to go slow, until they don't, and it all ends at a gallop. I bet they're staging stuff on the ground floor so they can pack it tightly in the truck, and once they have figured out what order to load everything it will all slide in quickly.

You don't own your router?

Cleared out a few program not being used in the old computer, pivoted to go pick okra and spray Neem on the damned stinkbugs cavorting on tomatoes, and am back in now a bit sweaty but ready to finish the job of connecting the computers via the new mouse.

The sewing machine is out of the shipping container and ready to go to the teachers tomorrow. That thing was well-packed. Now to put away all of the packing stuff for another sale.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Aug 25 - 06:05 PM

I used the transfer cable to move updates from the Microsoft Update Calendar to the old HP computer, but got only one to work. A search resulted in information about how to create a USB drive to load data for the newest 22H2 version; I fear everything else on that drive is now toast. Something is happening and I'll watch and wait. The result (hopefully) will be an off-line computer up-to-date enough to install the new mouse and allow files to be moved between two computers with the mouse. Faster than setting up the cable.

I'll vacuum the SUV before packing the donation items. Then I need to vacuum the house to clear the dog hair conflagration. Trash day tomorrow and I've tossed a bunch of toiletries that were ancient and forgotten under the sink. No point in emptying old plastic bottles to recycle, it's all going to the dump.

Granola is baking. I overloaded the baking sheet, but with high sides of parchment paper (stapled at the corners) I can do a 1.5 batch recipe at once.

Charmion, did you set aside a glass and bottle of that wine you were going to pack for a celebration of this job getting finished?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 27 Aug 25 - 07:58 PM

I am now lounging luxuriously in my friend Ruth’s sitting room, full of salmon and roasted cauliflower and pinot grigio.

The house is empty and clean, well ahead of the deadline.

When the truck was pulling away, the boss cleaner informed me that the movers had neglected to pack the kitchen cutlery, and the microwave — sans turntable — had also been left behind. So the microwave and the cutlery have been added to the contents of my car. I’ll just rattle down the road out of Perth County.

Tomorrow, I have some legal stuff to tend to, and I must hand in my post box keys. Yes, Stilly, I don’t own my modem; renting is the norm in Canada.

Despite the efficiency and good will of the various professionals engaged, this whole experience has been exhausting beyond belief.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: keberoxu
Date: 27 Aug 25 - 08:27 PM

Exhaustion, I have no doubt,
but Charmion should also feel satisfied with all that is accomplished.
Brava!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Aug 25 - 05:19 AM

Have someplace to go tomorrow so you're planning to get up early? Then this is the place to live! See by my time stamp (an hour ahead of my CDT zone) that we have once again had a skunk event and I am up way before dawn. I woke to a skunk spray smell and realized I'd better check. Just one dog this time, the intrepid Cookie, and it was a glancing blow. AND she hadn't brought it into the house yet. Whew.

I had tomorrow (now today) intended to deaccession a 3x5 rug that protected the floor carpet in the back of the SUV (new one put in place yesterday). It was rolled up in the trash can, but since Cookie is spending the night in the yard or garage, it is now folded as a dog-sized mat in the dog stall. She didn't get the full hit this time and has been sprayed with Skunk Odor Remover so the smell is neutralized, but after sunup both dogs will get baths. Right now the spiders are working the space overnight and I don't need to be doing 3am baths. (I toured the yard for carcasses with the flashlight and found two more very large popcorn-shaped spiders working zones around the clothesline and dog kennel). The back porch spider has stayed above the fray and is still tending her web, tonight moved conveniently a bit to the side in the corner.

I've wound down now so am going back to bed. I'll spray my shorts leg before putting these in the laundry because Cookie bopped me with her skunked face before I started spraying her.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Aug 25 - 08:02 AM

An update on the availability of a Covid booster vaccine is in a state of confusion and unknowns, according to npr.
What is known is that it is still for immunosuppressed people over 65 and elders over 75.
RFK has not recommended vaccines for children under 2 or pregnant women and may advise against all Covid vaccines. There is blowback from the Pediatric Association and Obstetrics. The CDC is no longer a reliable central source of information due to MAGAism..

------------

Eating fermented foods is good for your body. Coffee or chocolate are fortunately fermented foods so if you hate kimchi or saurkraut, you are in luck.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 28 Aug 25 - 10:46 AM

USB drives: if it's a flash drive, Stilly, you may be right about it being borked. Flash drives have a longer mean time to first failure than spinning rust, but said first failure is more often fatal. That's the trouble with relying on things which are reliable .... once you do, they aren't.

Treat it as read-only, and you may be able to recover things it hasn't eaten. Apologies if I've got this round my neck as usual. I've got a size 16 in mouths.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Aug 25 - 10:50 AM

I saw my pharmacist yesterday and using speculative math he guesses as early as the first week in September they might see some doses delivered to the store.

Not how I intended to spend the day so far, but this morning I dressed in gardening stuff and gave Cookie a bath out in the yard. Pepper's bath can wait till I'm back home from running around (and to the list of stops I'll add the pet store for new collars).

I checked out the garage carefully last night, but it seems there was no skunk activity inside. The vacuum cleaner is still out there after starting cleaning the SUV.

Is the house officially handed over, Charmion?

MaJoC, thanks for the tip. I hadn't plugged it in again yet to see what is on it. I suspect Windows wiped it before loading the OS.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Aug 25 - 02:28 PM

My home is located in a spot convenient to the highway - until it isn't. As I left for an appointment 5 minutes away I realized the freeway westbound was a parking lot because of an accident near the highway entrance. So onto the frontage road and finally to the parallel road to head west, but just as the light changed to let me escape the neighborhood, the rail road bars came down for a long freight train and I had to again turn around and get to a bridge across the tracks. Past the high school out for lunch. 30 minutes later I was too late for my appointment. Ugg. At least I was next to the pet store for new collars and got gas or the trip would have been a total waste.

The score today is 50/50 for the things I planned and the things that fell through. I think I need a nap.

The SUV is looking good and I'll finish that vacuuming this afternoon.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 28 Aug 25 - 02:44 PM

On my last day in Stratford, a classic heavy lake-effect squall rolled into town and dumped lots and lots of water on us while I was trotting around doing my last errands. Fortunately I was wearing a Marmot rain jacket, but I don’t have rain pants so I returned to Ruth’s house in dripping jeans.

The house money has landed, so I paid off my bloated credit card bill.

Tomorrow promises to be as wet as today. Okay, that’s just my luck. Let’s hope that the 401 between Kitchener and the entry to 407 is not totally choked … But who am I kidding? The Friday before Labour Day is always mad. Wish me luck!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 28 Aug 25 - 03:22 PM

Nous vous attendons !

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Aug 25 - 04:09 PM

Enjoy those air miles!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 29 Aug 25 - 07:37 AM

Bonne route!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 30 Aug 25 - 08:55 AM

I arrived bang on time at Brother Andrew’s house yesterday (in the shank of rush hour), and slept soundly for what feels like the first time in weeks. It’s raining in Ottawa and a bit chilly, just as well because I have no particular place to go until this afternoon when I should run out to the cattery with food for Watson and Isobel and, incidentally, to check up on my furry house-mates.

Other than that, nothing to report but another tactical bound completed.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: keberoxu
Date: 30 Aug 25 - 09:22 AM

Well done, Charmion!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Aug 25 - 01:21 PM

Indeed! I believe we were collectively holding our breaths until we heard from you at the next stop in this relocation journey.

Heavy rain here today, but a two-run cat gig came up and I've been navigating roads with ponded water. Since I was out I stopped for dog food for the fussy one, and back here, had to go pick okra. Everything else can wait a day, but not okra. Another trip in an hour with a couple of stops and I'm in for the long weekend.

As I described on the Win10 thread, while trying to install the new mouse to work on the old computer I found a way to upgrade it (even offline). And out of curiosity plugged in the ethernet cable and after six years mute, it connects! The upgrade obviously repaired the dodgy setting that refused to connect after three repairs. I don't want this computer online all of the time so got a WiFi adapter that I can plug in when I want to tie into the home network (the ethernet cable was a tripping hazard). It results in two extra older computers that can't be updated to Win11. Oh, well.

Last night I purged a lot of old stuff on the sunroom potting table and adjacent rolling restaurant kitchen cart, and hope to compress the contents so I can retire the cart. Tossed dozens of old seed packets in a large IKEA sock sorter, ancient bottles of dried up stuff, and a gazillion sprinkler and hose accouterments. The cart will go into the garage. The sorter, a water transfer pump, and more are on a growing stack I'll offer first to my daughter, then to the buy nothing group.

Since I'm sure my friend will never read this, I'll note that the little kitty is failing pretty fast now. He's to the point of getting subcutaneous saline twice a week to help clear his kidneys, on lots of medications, and is now refusing most food, even with the application of an appetite stimulant. The fridge has more than a half-dozen plastic covered plates of food he didn't finish and lots of cans she tried to tempt him with. He's not in pain and he still enjoys cuddling, so no judgement here.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 31 Aug 25 - 09:27 AM

Sitting on Brother Andrew’s sofa after another sound sleep, deep into my second cup of coffee, I realize that I’m recovering from months of low- to high-grade anxiety. I have little to do next week, as I don’t take possession of the new house until 8 September, so I can fart about with stupid stuff like updating my bus pass and ordering new cheques — while acknowledging that only Olde Phartes still use cheques. (They’re handy for major money moves like paying the contractor who just repaired your foundation.)

Once east of Toronto and heading through Frontenac County on the 401, I was struck by how different the landscape is from the inter-lakes region of southwest Ontario. The massed trees are darker and greyer, due to the prevalence of conifers in the mix and the lack of broadleaf hardwoods like walnut, chestnut, hickory, sycamore and the larger species of oak. The rocks and soil are greyer, too, and the fields are stony — Frontenac is a salient of Canadian Shield that extends to Lake Ontario, separating the Ottawa Valley from the rest of the province.

It’s not the smiling, fertile countryside of Wellington and Perth counties, where the farmers are millionaires despite being deep in perpetual debt, but it’s home.

Incidentally, now that I’m back on my native heath, my hay-fever is backing off. When I got up today, my nose wasn’t even itchy, let alone dripping, and I’m not coughing so badly.

Off to a good start, then.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 Aug 25 - 09:39 AM

bye-bye hay fever!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 31 Aug 25 - 11:25 AM

That "salient" goes by the name (to geologists) of "the Frontenac Arch"; it's unusual enough to have been deemed a UNESCO Biosphere_Reserve.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 31 Aug 25 - 11:28 AM

Sandra in Sydney, don't get too far out in front. It's a good idea to wait until the first snow to bid farewell to seasonal allergies around here.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Aug 25 - 11:33 AM

I love your description of the changing soil, rock, and forest types as you traveled. Recognizing the landscapes and smells you imprinted on years ago is the visceral part of going home again. Whether you can do the Thomas Wolfe part of the move is a separate issue.

The utility cart was offloaded and moved out and stuff is on the work surface or bottom shelf of the potting bench, with some free space for working on the bench. Interesting that without the cart there the view from the kitchen is clear into the sunroom, making the whole area feel larger and more open.

Time to start pickled okra. I have the ingredients and may get five or six jars from what I have picked now. This is another small batch product, make it while the pods are their freshest.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Aug 25 - 04:43 PM

There will be quite a haul going out to the curb in the trash tomorrow (few holidays off for those folks - this one they'll be working). I've accomplished a lot (not a lot by Charmion standards, but a lot for around here on a typical weekend). Next week is our quarterly bulky waste and I have some limbs to trim for that larger trash pickup.

The hot water bath is almost boiling, the brine and jars are ready, and the assembly of pickled okra is about to begin. These will be gifts for friends and neighbors, I'm not a huge fan of it myself. This is much easier now that I've cleared equipment off of the counters on both sides of the stove.

Tomorrow I start tapering the prednisone, down by one milligram, and tomorrow are Labor Day protest events - I have to pace myself to be able to protest and not bring back the PMR.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Sep 25 - 01:06 AM

The jars of okra are lovely and now labeled. They need to sit for a few weeks before the flavor is mature, then will be given to the usual folks who like them.

I'm wondering if Mary G got herself moved to the new place in Centralia? A new month may mean a new lease? And how did the move go? Is the car still running?

Today's holiday was a day for self-care, but I am working on letters for my representatives. Since we had a couple of intense rainstorms today I think not going to the Labor Day march was probably a good idea.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to sort out my cucumbers - they're bitter, and it seems to have to do with the amount of water they're getting. I thought they were too wet, but apparently not. And they don't like competition (I have four vines on the same general area). I may need to remove a couple and see if that helps.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Sep 25 - 01:42 PM

This morning I did a surgical thinning in the cucumbers, removing two of the four vining plants. One of them offered a parting gift of the largest cuke to date, a big honker tucked in behind a low wall of stones that edge the garden. The dead vines wilt very quickly and I'll cut and pull them out. It seems proximity to other plants is also part of the bitter taste problem, and they've intertwined. Who knows if pruning this late in the season will help. Adding calcium to the tomatoes helped the blossom end rot within a couple of weeks, so I have my fingers crossed.

This is the week between my daughter's and my birthdays, so it's a kind of lazy time and we'll plan to do a celebratory lunch soon. Charmion also has a birthday coming up - anything special going on? Choosing paint colors for the new bedrooms? Window coverings for the front of the house? Or do you have a plan to actually pamper yourself after the huge amount of work you've accomplished this summer?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 02 Sep 25 - 05:34 PM

Brother Andrew and SIL No 1 are taking me out for dinner at a fish place on my birthday, which is the day after tomorrow. But apart from that I’m all business this week.

Today I dealt with the bank and Bell Canada, which is the better (for me, at least) internet provider here. I also tried to straighten out my account with the company that manages the bus pass system for OC Transpo, the local public transit outfit, but failed because I could not persuade their website to cooperate with my iPad, even via Chrome instead of Apple’s native Safari browser.

So I gave up, having had enough bureaucracy for one day.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Mary G
Date: 02 Sep 25 - 09:50 PM

I won't be moving until towards the end of september. my sister and her grandson came down and moved my more important papers etc. I have a carload (not a great car so I am hoping for best) of rolling carts etc. ready to go. I got super smart and thought why don't I mail a bunch of boxes --i can have post office hold for seven days or long if i pay more. that frees up so much logistical anguish. I tutor six days a week and that complicates the move so much, especially since i have to have internet the second i finally move, but like people suggested there are probably internet sites available in centralia. i have seen a similar apartment but not this one but agent says it is nicer than first, although a bit more expensive. Everything is packed other than the flotsam and jetsam. I am looking forward to it all except the computer stuff.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Sep 25 - 10:49 PM

I've never thought of having the post office hold onto boxes. How did you stumble onto that? Are they General Delivery?

This evening there are two jars of fresh pickles cooling on the counter, made from the variety that aren't giving a bitter flavor. A bunch of old cucumbers were chopped into pieces and composted, and still lots in the fridge. Tomorrow I need to pull out all of the bowls of tomatoes and make more sauce, clearing at least one shelf-worth of space.

Blood work this afternoon with a phlebotomist with a magic touch, no nasty prick when she started. I'll go back there again. I asked her about her history, she started in 1991 "back when we were still learning about AIDS." She has had a lot of practice. The next needle I confront will be the new COVID vaccine. Soon, I hope, before they are banned by the two administration idiots practicing medicine without a license.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Sep 25 - 12:45 PM

To the bank again this morning for a draft with which to pay the movers — way too much for any other payment method available to me right now — and then to the post office to send it off to London (Ontario) by express post. “When would it get to London?” I asked the sweet young thing behind the counter. “Which London?” she asked in reply, quick as a flash. Ah, said I to myself, I’m back in the big city.

Then I went to the community centre around the corner from my new house and paid for a full-access pass good for a year. With the 20 percent veterans’ discount, it costs about the same as the YMCA in Stratford. I’ll have to retrieve my workout wear and at least one towel before I can start using the facilities, but I don’t want to put it off too long. It’s far easier to break a good habit than a bad one.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 04 Sep 25 - 09:21 AM

Charmion, you may borrow one of my OG 107 towels till you have access to yours again. ;)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Sep 25 - 10:47 AM

Sounds good - so Charmion doesn't have to throw in the towel as far as continuing her fitness activities! (And happy birthday!)

Headed out with a sharp shovel and pruners to dig out seedlings along the fence line and in the dog kennel. They're looking pretty ratty out there and are some of them too robust to knock down with the string trimmer.

Most of August I was making my half-size recipe of bread pudding (four servings). It was my treat to myself instead of having a glass of Scotch. Now to get past the bread pudding and to a lower calorie count in general. I've been low-carb all along, but I'd like to lose the five pounds I gained when the PMR started. Letters to the two state senators went out in today's mail, I still have to write to the congressman and I'll call each office (the fools in DC are going to let private companies run AI pre-approvals or decline Medicare procedures - and keep the savings. How could that possibly do anything but get people killed?) You see that it is a delicate balance to stay politically engaged but not set off the blood pressure and PMR.

Now to the garden.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: keberoxu
Date: 04 Sep 25 - 02:18 PM

Happy Birthday, Charmion!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Sep 25 - 03:55 PM

Another roofer confronted this afternoon across the street (the same company from last week where a shouting match ensued). I called Pearlie and asked about the ladder leaning on the front of her house, she said her husband had told them to go look (he has dementia, does not remember he's not supposed to say yes to anyone at the front door who is soliciting). The truck and folks came back as we spoke and since Pearlie is in a wheelchair and can't easily get to the door I put her on speakerphone and we spoke to the roofing pitch woman, who agreed to put their house on their "no soliciting" list. I think we need to make a sign to go on the front door as well. (I initially called about the ladder because I was afraid John might have gone on the roof himself!)

Seedlings pulled and cut in the back yard, only one puncture wound on some wrought iron that has a spur out of sight. Good thing I got my tetanus shot a couple of months ago. (I recently read an account of the death of Brooklyn Bridge designer John Roebling from tetanus - it was slow and dreadful.) Anyway, that was hot sweaty work but is checked off of my to-do list. I sprayed some blossoms on the tomato plants to see if a few more will set fruit. Last time I sprayed it started raining heavily moments later, so no fruit from that episode. I'm about ready to make more pickled okra. This may be the extent of my canning for this year.

Today I'll make another pass through the email and unsubscribe more political sites. The redundancy is clear, I don't need the repeated Trump crime family news.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Sep 25 - 07:29 PM

I kind of felt like a bag lady at a late lunch today, digging through my bag (and SUV console) for stashed bills to pull together a couple hundred to hand my daughter for her birthday gift. Her favorite boots tore in an odd spot and the boot repair place told her there wasn't a way to repair that (except glue, but it wouldn't last long). Dawned on me that this would be a practical gift, so when she looked up the company and style from when she bought them a few years ago on her phone, I dug around for cash. PayPal wasn't cooperating to transfer funds, but the old green spends just as well.

We are due for some weather this weekend. Suits me fine, to stay in and enjoy the rain. I may need the downtime because this afternoon I got both my seasonal flu shot and the newest COVID booster.

The Shark vacuum needs its occasional complete cleanout and soaking the foam filters inside. Then I'm going to tackle the front room, rearrange eBay items, dog beds, and flatten many more boxes. An early start on "fall cleaning," if there is such a thing. A gift to myself in my goal to eventually move bedroom furniture out of the sewing studio.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Sep 25 - 11:22 AM

Last night I emptied the fridge of several containers of ripe non-perfect tomatoes to blanch, trim, peel, and puree. I'll make more marinara today to freeze.

For my birthday weekend I opened a bottle of red wine, but half of it has gone into jars in the freezer to use for cooking. A couple of glasses were nice, but an isolated event and I'm going to continue with a dry autumn on general principles. Some of that freezer wine will be spooned into today's sauce; coming from the freezer it has a sorbet consistency, easy to scoop without thawing.

The vaccinations were gentle this time, I have only a slight tenderness at the injection sites, no general body aches, etc.

I'm continuing to make headway as I clear surfaces through the kitchen dining area and the den. We had rain this week so I have to mop up a few muddy footprints.

This week coming up will see Charmion with the keys to the new house, right? Attacking the floors and then moving in. I hope it all goes smoothly! Dorothy, where are you these days? In town or at Beaver? Patty, what is growing in your yard, and did the water line/pump/septic/whatever systems all get sorted out? (Head's up - in the fall the tarantulas go walkabout, so give them a wide berth and they'll continue to be beneficial critters on your property.) Sandra, how are your hand/wrist/fingers?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Sep 25 - 12:38 PM

I got the new variant Covid vaccine and flu shot today at Safeway.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Sep 25 - 01:18 PM

The Albertson's pharmacy I go to is in a store that for many years was a Winn Dixie, and before that, it was a Safeway. You can tell by how the building is clad with tumbled river rocks, a feature of those Safeway stores built in the 1960s and 70s. (I've always wondered if they cut each pebble in half to apply to a mortar base, instead of studding a thick base with the whole stones?)

I forgot to mention earlier that when going through the refrigerated tomatoes I found a half-dozen that are good-looking, smaller than tennis balls, for salads. I've boiled some eggs and baked a chicken breast to make a couple of chef's salads this week.

Today looks like it will stay overcast and cool, a good time to take the trimmer out to edge my way around the front yard and driveway, preparing to mow tomorrow.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: pattyClink
Date: 07 Sep 25 - 01:19 PM

Happy Birthday!

Had not considered freezing excess wine for cooking, I still have some left from a big party. Will have to try it, a bit of white wine slurpee would go well when sauteeing chicken or fish. Now if it were rose, I'd just go ahead and drink the 'frose' as they call it.   

Have had several more sessions in the yard of goathead digging, probably well over a thousand plants dug up by now, surely a result of last years out-of-hand proliferation.

But, at last the season has turned and the rampant-growth of the summer abruptly ceased, I wonder if these weeds are going by length of day rather than temperature. So now it's down to a couple of patrols weekly, and at better temperatures for working. It'll be interesting to see if the normal harmless desert plants I've been trying to spare will stay and return next year once the goathead competition is gone, and once I stopped letting the neighbor regrade so much of the yard for projects. The pigweed may take longer to beat back, but I'll be ready with acid next time.

The water and sewer are all working well right now; the gate opening motor failed but the neighbor knew how to fix it. Wish there were more reliable units than the ones commonly sold now. When he moves away, I'll either have to learn a very complex system accessed by crawling through a fence and unscrewing (not unlatching) the panel cover, or turn it off and live with manual opening.

Working hard on calorie counting and dropping a few pounds; gradually doing more scratch cooking as needed. Yesterday I stopped at a whole foods co-op and got stocked up on herbs and spices from the bulk jars. Insanely less expensive and fresher than the stuff in grocery stores. Lately people are frugaling out by stocking up on beans and rice, but overlooking the overcharging in the spice aisle.   

Also found that the little grocery in the neighboring town is back in good shape with its influx of energetic student workers, so was able to stock up there without dealing with a big chain store.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Sep 25 - 02:24 PM

Rats. Our youngest got Covid probably at work, according to a Covid test. I might avoid the hot tub and his room for a week or so.
If you were never vaccinated or infected, it could take 2 weeks to become an effective vaccine.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Sep 25 - 02:35 PM

Sorry to see that, Don. My youngest got Covid a couple of months ago (for the first time) and even with the vaccinations he still had a very sore throat (that "razor blade" variety.) Can you get Paxlovid for him?

YouTube is there for those jobs the neighbor can't help with (or at least figuring out which professional to call to have things fixed if it doesn't show you how to do it yourself.)

I picked more okra, a cucumber, and a few grape tomatoes this afternoon, then clipped all of the seed pods on the Texas Star Hibiscus. Last week I threw out all of the old seeds collected in years past because while I recognize what they are, most were fairly old. These are bagged and dated. The mature dried okra pods have the year on each with a Sharpie (they keep for a long time). A stink bug hitched a ride into the house in the produce tub, but was incapacitated and flicked into Ms. Argiope's web. I just took a peek - she is enjoying Sunday brunch.

When I reread all of the spider antics it makes me think I need to get out more.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Sep 25 - 11:53 AM

Cat sitting this week means I'll get out more. The spider is doing well on her own, seems to have in the last 24 hours caught a small dragonfly (or damselfly) and some sort of flying beetle this morning. She's looking pretty gravid right now, having dated and consumed, by my count, four males so far.

Charmion is getting an absolute fresh start this week, so it will be interesting to see where furniture and possessions go and how much more she decides to unload upon arrival at the new house. There is always problem solving in any home, but the nature of what is shared will probably change. And will there be any new hobbies or use of spaces?

Looks like a lovely week ahead, highs in the mid-90s, into the low-60s overnight. Yard work is in my near future, but so is eBay. I've shipped a couple of items recently, and eBay tells me that my 90-day total is $195. Must keep plugging along clearing out that front room.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - '25-26
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Sep 25 - 10:42 PM

I've learned that the last quarter of my year, employment-wise, is going to go through a change. My part of the operation seems to be the most productive of the various venues involved with this site, so while it stays in place, the operation will rotate 180^o. The upcoming changes means things might be easier, after a few months of fixing broken code. I know this is cryptic, but it is good news.

Is it really only Monday? It feels like the week is racing past. Charmion, where are you in the New House exercise? Dorothy, what is going on in Quebec? Who have we missed lately?