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

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.