DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 15 Jun 26 - 09:40 PM

Those storage areas are great, Keb, I've seen them in more modern buildings, my building & our neighbour have 2 garages underneath - in 1917 not many people had cars! Our 4-story buildings were build on a site that had contained 4 terrace houses.

As to my current living space, I have one empty wardrobe which used to hold a few garments & a whole collection that went to a friend. All I had left was a winter jacket & 3 outfits I made back in the 70s, unfortunately these vintage fashions had shrunk in the wardrobe (tut, tut, tut) & are now heading for the charity shop.

My living room looks like a bomb hit, or maybe burglars worked it over! I'm working on 1 large project (a lap quilt) & also turning a funny tea towel (dish cloth?) into a wall hanging (cartoon cats with a book "How to train your human") I just spent a lot of time trying to find that image - no luck, but there a were zillions of amusing pics to scan!

I'm also (not) working on half a dozen (a full dozen?) other projects + I have lots of archival stuff scattered around. I'm also archivist for Australia's oldest folk club

I really must neaten the piles - one day!

I also have several bags of stuff for charity shops, a large part of those useful items went on it's way last week - WELL DONE ME!! A smaller bag will be delivered on Friday.

My place will never look like a something wonderful seen in fancy living magazines - who would want to live in a showplace?

sandra

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: pattyClink
Date: 15 Jun 26 - 10:44 PM

My living room looks like a bomb hit a music studio cum rock shop. The office will take some time to whip into shape. Once I thought about it, it was obvious the small-door-big-closet will need shelves on both sides of the doorway. I'm thinking 2x4 cleats holding up planks.

Last few days I have sorted out a lot of rock 'rough' and micros. Some got examined and labeled and stored away. Tomorrow I will take a lot of it up to share with fellow micro people, may lose half the bulk that way, may not.

And have been getting set up to take micro photos through the trinocular, a new digital camera just arrived for it. Also started setting up some equipment to help me shoot multiple exposures at small distances apart for 'focus stacking'. I'll probably have to set up an old laptop next to the scope for storing the many images, then use a thumb drive to process them on the big desktop. Don't hold your breath, I'll have to set up the photo software and processing software in Linux before any 'eye candy' gets created.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Jun 26 - 12:23 PM

patty, I still have a bunch of the Rubbermaid rails and brackets that get screwed onto the wall at each stud, brackets put in place, and I used 8 and 10" pieces of lumber. I have two in the office behind me (an upper set is narrower than the lower set, and the lower set has long brackets on the top row with a 12" plank to hold large things like a turntable and receiver). The extras in the garage came out of my office at the time of the ceiling replacement years ago and were not reinstalled, but I can't make myself give them up. Planks are also in the garage.

Most of my house looks like a bomb went off. For the last three weeks the combination of the cat gig and the regular remote web content job have been like a full-time job plus overtime. No cleaning happening here until maybe tomorrow.

A storage cage sounds practical. My aunt in Calgary had a long narrow room in the basement of her condo that was combination storage and wine cellar. A friend in a NY City apartment doesn't have storage but people put things they don't want any more in a common area in the basement, near the laundry room, and he comes up with some amazing items (that are usually sold). Here in the wide open spaces we have garages and You-store-it facilities everywhere. I determined once I moved into the house that 1. I wouldn't use a storage facility (stuff from both parents' estates was in storage for a while) and 2. I would park inside the garage and get into and out of the car without being a contortionist. So far I've managed those. There is one room in the house that is not usable for anything but storage, but I'm whittling away that content.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 16 Jun 26 - 06:12 PM

whittling is good!

One of my triumphs of finding the proper home for an item was an antique dance card I put it into an envelope & posted it to a friend who has a PHD in colonial dance & music as the late 19th century card either came from a town in England or Tasmania (the state that hangs below the continent of Australia!) She posted it & a Tasmanian friend replied her Grannie went to balls in that Town Hall.

sandra

ps. Bookmark Messy Nessy if you like filling in time reading interesting stuff! It's been a few weeks since I checked out her site, so will do so later today

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Jun 26 - 10:30 PM

The long long gig is over, and when I checked in to be sure she got in ok my friend said "the floor feels so smooth" - after I swiffered the long living/kitchen room and around her bed. There were a couple days when I wasn't able to get there for every feeding (but anticipated the bad weather and gave them stuff ahead of time) so I made up for those absences by doing some general cleaning (three weeks with three cats in charge adds up to lots of hair and dust). Mopped bathrooms and the screened porch and did some laundry, in particular stripped and remade the bed because getting home in the evening after a long trip what seems the best thing is to have fresh sheets on your own bed. I vacuumed a bedroom rug—she has a Dyson—damn that thing can suck! Nearly pulled the whole rug into the machine.

Now to decompress and work out my schedule. Dog training, yardwork, and house stuff.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 17 Jun 26 - 09:44 AM

> Chinese puzzle

--- Ah: the 14/15 puzzle. There was a version where the 14 and 15 were swapped, and Sam Loyd offerred a substantial reward for anyone who could unswap them by sliding the pieces. He knew his money was safe, as he'd proved that it was impossible. (That's the sort of thing you get to know from having read two of Martin Gardiner's books at a formative age. What I've also got is a nagging annoyance that I can't recreate the proof for myself from scratch.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Jun 26 - 12:38 PM

patty, I thought of you when I was cleaning my garage this week. There are two bulky old cardboard boxes full of rocks that my brother picked up when he was a Geology major undergraduate. Somehow they all got moved down here with my stuff to Texas. I haven't had the heart to toss them into the yard but there is no way I'm mailing 150 pounds of rock. Perhaps I'll build a small something or other next to the limestone I'm going to rearrange on my driveway (large stones left over from demolished "wing" structures at the house, it was used on the front of the house also.) I wasn't a geology major but I worked for two years in a geology lab in college, so have the same interest in gems, minerals, and rocks of all sorts. Some of the nicer pieces came into the house (he had some chert and opal from Eastern Washington, for example).

By the way, did you ever go on college field trips and find yourself collecting everything else except the reason for the trip? I remember picking up plant samples on geology trips and rocks on botany trips.

Tidying the kitchen and decanting my bulk Davidson's tea from an acrylic canister into a glass canning jar. I discovered that the decaf Earl Grey tea had somehow degraded the acrylic that now has lots of cracks. And the spot where the package label was tucked inside the jar didn't have those cracks. There's nothing like conducting a natural science experiment in your kitchen to make you wonder about how things are made. (Yes, I'm keeping the tea. I suspect the bergamot oil is the culprit, but it tastes great.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 17 Jun 26 - 05:56 PM

You are hereby awarded a GOLD STAR for your experiment, well done!!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: pattyClink
Date: 17 Jun 26 - 06:37 PM

Well the rock pile grew instead of shrunk. Passed on a few pieces, but a claim owner of a major location was cleaning his garage out brought 100 lbs of mineralized rock to the meeting, and it was only polite to take a few nice pieces. I guess it's 'clean out the garage time' even in hot locales. A local club had a bust of a garage sale early June; seems 27 other garage sales took place the same day, who could get to them all even in nice weather?

I have a family member who stacked up some nice looking vuggy rock he excavated elsewhere into a little hill in one garden bed. It has lots of little flat terraces and nooks, and he has taken to planting viny things like pumpkins there because they don't sit in standing water and bugs have to make an effort to infiltrate the higher ground.   

I'm afraid we got graded on field trip information, so I scrambled to pay attention, take a few notes, and snap a few pics. Wish I had more pics, and lat-long for a few long-lost places. But yes, one does get interested in novel new plants, flowers, and just new landscapes, rather than structural history which is not my favorite.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jun 26 - 10:56 AM

Two pint containers of mashed bananas are out of the freezer and now the anchor ingredient in three loaves of banana bread to take to the exe's birthday lunch today. The large loaf is for him, the next smaller loaf is for our daughter, and the somewhat smaller loaf will be sliced before bagging because they will probably want samples when the loaves are handed over and they can share that one. Though I don't eat wheat now I have some good organic flour here for occasions.

My goal over the next few days is to finish mowing the yard and set up the flags for training Mango. I won't put the flags out until training starts because they need to be a novel sight to offer a strong visual clue that accompanies the noise the Invisible Fence collar makes (the first day or two) and then the shock the collar delivers once I remove the rubber prong caps. She'll be restricted to going out only on a leash during the training. Mango watches and learns from Cookie, and it will dawn on her that Cookie never approaches the fence for a reason. By the time we reach her three-month anniversary with us she should be able to go into the yard at night (I keep her in now so she doesn't go all the way to the fence if there are coyotes back behind it.)

The work in the yard will be paced according to heat, but building the walls can be a few rocks at a time. That's just as well because it means I can take a look and think about the next move. I'm going to set up a couple of crenelated gaps that large charismatic pots can stand in to be viewed from the street. I use those for decorative sweet potato vines that drape and sprawl beautifully during the growing season. I'll build the wall a little higher than before and let it serve as shade for the herb pots. Other pots will go mostly on one side of the walled area so its easier to set up a sprinkler to water them all at once. Right now they're sprawled along the driveway and sometimes get a bit dry.

Indoors, it's time to finish the clearing and setup for the kitchen faucet.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Charmion
Date: 18 Jun 26 - 02:54 PM

I am idly sprawled on the sofa with Isobel aboard, having done absolutely nothing useful in days. No cleaning, no laundry, no cooking beyond the most basic survival meals. I’ve been reading a fair bit, and I got out of the house for a long walk yesterday, but otherwise I have done nothing to justify my existence except water the orchids and make the cat happy.

The scanner gadget I bought to make .jpg files from photo negatives and slides arrived while I was away in London. I unpacked it and put it on the study table, but I feel no urge to get busy.

After years of decluttering and downsizing, and then managing the move and all the house repairs both here and in Stratford, I guess I’m finally ready for some down time.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jun 26 - 10:56 PM

You've been remarkably efficient in going through a lot of stuff that must have been particularly painful to think about or part with; taking a break is not only earned it is probably required at this point if your friends and family have any sway in that.

Finished the big cat gig Tuesday and spent the last two days working on stuff for other people. Tomorrow is mine, all mine. Heading to bed early tonight because the only way to get yard work done this week is to start at dawn. Today was treacherously hot.

patty, I've learned a new word. I looked up "vuggy" and find the description of the small cavities sometimes lined with crystals fits a number of rocks I have here that I picked up because of the attractive little crystals. We are such crows and magpies, collecting shiny objects! Today at lunch I took along a shiny object, a ring with a large piece of amber in an ornate silver mount that I never wear any more. I stuck it on my pinky to remember to take it to see if my daughter could use it. I gave her my Mom's jewelry box and the best thing in it was a long string of good-sized chunks of amber (may have been made to be taken apart for jewelry making). She wears it fairly often, and when we sat down at the restaurant she zeroed in on that ring right away, so it now has a new home.