DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Jun 23 - 11:06 AM

Any outdoor work happens in the morning or evening. Half of the fence pickets are treated, I'll do the rest after dinner. I have web work that will be best performed in a darkened room with the ceiling fan on during the heat of the day.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 28 Jun 23 - 11:45 AM

Dupont:

Arrived back before 6 pm to find R at home - had been all day as he had lacked the go-power to ...go to work! We went out for a decent meal and come home again. Shortly after which I went to bed - opened the window and there was a slightly coolish breeze.

The trip included a stop for Covid shot #5, a fill up with gas and returning books to library. Then an hour+ visit with a friend at his hilltop home, conversation, a lovely breeze, a busy chipmunk or 2 or 3, and resident bluejays. Traffic on the 401 was light but the squall warning was real and I would have pulled off if I had thought that safer. Just as I approached an En Route and had started to exit, the sky totally cleared!

It has rained enough here to keep outside plants alive. R has left the soaker hose dribbling on the Veggies. I DID remember to pick the few ripe strawberries at Beaver; did not get to netting the blueberries. If we do not get back soon, I will encourage neighbour Sue to check the strawberries as she goes by. The ones I picked are delicious!

I have mild hope, perhaps vain, that R will be able to go to Beaver for this long weekend. A friend is playing there on Friday night. He seemed a bit disappointed that I felt called to be supportive of R's BIG presentation to the City on Thurs rather than ... Today R is meeting with a presentation coach. He has only 10 minutes to get his huge message across to the bureaucrats. They already had AI shorten it! But AI left out some important aspects. 10 min? and 10 min for questions? ...!

So, now to find a decent outfit - after I recover a bit more. Still heavy weather, dark with mist or rain periodically. ---IT"S pouring out there! I ain't goin' nowhere for a while.

Thinking of Charmion's success with her home; she has accomplished so much! Marvellous! ...And I come back to bags and boxes of books - lucky I could get in the door! But R did do a laundry (can work the machine!!). I will fold and distribute ...soon.

Charmion's trip to Maryland will be beautiful for the most part. I lived much of my life in that part of PA that touches on MD.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 29 Jun 23 - 04:40 PM

I’m sick, dammit.

It’s some kind of gastro, and my entire belly feels as if I got kicked. Plus I’m weak and dizzy. It’s not COVID — I checked.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: keberoxu
Date: 29 Jun 23 - 06:44 PM

Feel better very, very soon, Charmion!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 30 Jun 23 - 10:19 AM

Dupont:

Presentation went very well; the chair let him finish even though he was a couple minutes over. His support team, and others, applauded with enthusiasm - he was actually in tears at the end so they had to applaud? I am waiting with almost bated breath for Eph to send the video!

Now back to the usual stresses - cannot find his glasses this am and cannot legally drive without them! Some sort of beeper might help?

Holiday traffic was already blocking highway before 4 pm and I found an alternate route - wending my way through dreadful traffic to a road that took me to the bridge. Took over an hour rather than 25 minutes. I went to bed at 7 pm, exhausted.

Nice morning, dry and mildly smoky. I did get an air cleaner yesterday for friend Geri and will take it down today. She could not see the mountains - Adirondacks - yesterday.

Well, the glasses were on the bedside table! And R is off to work and I shall go see Geri. Maybe get some fruit at the good orchard down there.

When I have a gut problem, apple cider vinegar often helps.

Hope for not too many fireworks on this holiday weekend and may everyone have a safe and enjoyable whichever holiday you may be having.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 30 Jun 23 - 10:48 AM

Better today, but not fully recovered. Belly is still sore and I have zero interest in food.

At least the dizzyness has ebbed enough that I can take a shower.

More old ladies get broken falling in the shower ...

I am enjoying "Faits divers" ("News items"), a French-language TV show about a provincial police squad in the townships north of Montreal. The dialogue is totally authentic -- machine-gun rapid, salted with English, and barely comprehensible except to native (i.e., Montrealais) speakers. It's very dead-pan -- funny in a not-really-funny-why-am-I-laughing way.

The only good thing about being too sick to go out is that you will keep flipping the channels until you find something worth watching, however unlikely.

Television before noon is not something I do -- kinda like fruitcake for breakfast -- but it's not even eleven o'clock and I can hardly wait to polish off Season 1.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Jun 23 - 11:12 AM

I've spent the last couple of weeks of June weaning myself off of some of the snacks that have crept into my diet. July is for repositioning - for losing the five pounds that came with the snacks. I agree with Dorothy - vinegar is great for a number of things that ail you (also helpful if you have restless legs or heartburn.) Or instead of straight vinegar, eat a pickle.

The fruit I planned to use to improve the diet has been a disaster - two boxes of peaches and a bag of pears from Costco are all rubber imitations of fruit. The peaches smell ripe but are hard and rubbery, and the pears aren't ripening, they just go from hard to rotten. Good thing I can just complain with the receipt and they'll refund it, I don't have to carry the fruit back to the store; chances are they've had lots of complaints. I'll cook the peaches and am cutting up hard pears for the dogs as their mealtime vegetable.

The high forecast here is only 99^o today. A friend needs help connecting his computer to the world (dead ethernet port, it'll be replaced with a small and inexpensive USB to Ethernet adapter), so once Amazon delivers the part I'll head over, and have other errands to run near his house. The caterpillars (at the cat sitting house) are now enclosed in a butterfly house thing to keep them from being eaten by birds or parasitized by wasps, but she needs organic parsley because they're eating hers down to the roots (her schedule isn't letting her visit the organic farm stand). And another friend has canning jars (it's time to start processing tomatoes soon.)

Dog hair has reached explosive proportions, even as I declutter handsful per pass with the furminator. Decluttering of more solid items includes winnowing down the eBay listings - things that haven't attracted interest in a couple of months are unwrapped and go into the Goodwill bin.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Jun 23 - 11:14 PM

I fixed a friend's computer this afternoon - the AT&T tech replaced his modem/router, but that wasn't the problem. He said it was probably the Ethernet port, so I ordered a USB Ethernet adapter and was able to set it up today. Work like this is nerve-wracking for my high-functioning brain injured friend; it was one thing to add a new cable, but his computer needs the BIOS adjusted (it tries to boot to the A drive so requires some extra steps to start it.) That was too much for him for yesterday, so next visit. While on that side of the county I stopped at another friend's house for a grocery sack full of canning jars she saved for me.

My computer friend has some incredible early American antiques and also a lot of old technology around his apartment, so I offered to let him know the next time I'm going to go by the city e-waste disposal place and I'll stop by and pick up old printers, computer, CRT monitor, etc. Decluttering for friends can be tricky. He doesn't hoard this stuff, he's just very disorganized (high functioning brain injury).

Are you feeling better, Charmion?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 01 Jul 23 - 12:29 PM

I must be on the mend, Stilly, because I just finished vacuuming the parlour carpet. I have also de-furred the hardwood in the dining room and the ceramic tile in the rest of the ground floor. The clouds of cat hair rose like mini-thunderheads. No, I haven’t expunged the coffee stains in the kitchen or scrubbed the loo, but gimme a break. It’s Dominion Day.

Well, it’s still Dominion Day for me. Dunno what was wrong with it, no need to change it just because the Constitution Act finally got passed — fer petesake we still celebrate the Queen Victoria’s birthday on 24 May and the dear old soul kicked off in 1901!

Ah, fuckit. I’m evidently in a mood.

The weather is hot and sticky with thunderstorms in the forecast. The first firecracker of the holiday has yet to go off on Glendon Road, but the windows are shut and they will stay that way — not for the cats’ sake, but for me. No, I’ve never been shot at, but I did enough range time to be acutely sensitive to certain sounds and smells that don’t belong anywhere else.

BTW — Furminator? Is that your word for the silicone broom that actually separates even the finest of cat hair from textured ceramic floor tile? I have needed that word for so long. Thanks a million!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jul 23 - 02:17 PM

The Furminator™ is the brand name for a tool that pulls out the loose undercoat, but when Susie tried brushing Zeke (the chocolate Lab who has lived here since 2012) with one it broke, so she got the tool I have now. This more durable product by Oster is a ShedMonster™ De-shedding tool for long coats. It's reinforced steel to go through that coat. The squeegee broom thing is the "FURemover pet hair remover carpet rake." Except I use it on the tile floors. With the Oster tool I get one good pull through Zeke's coat then I knock the wad off on the edge of a bucket beside us, it's one-handed because I have to grip his collar so he'll stay put.

It's lovely and cooler today but I have had a background headache that takes the pleasure and the initiative to do anything out of the day. Allergies? Thoughts still dash to COVID as a possibility when anything is off, but a mild headache doesn't merit a test.

Eagle shits status updated; as of June he is getting his full amount, minus my portion, but my paperwork is back in line to be processed. They told him a year ago it takes 3 months to process retirement accounts, and they told me this week that it takes three months to process court ordered accounts. #ReadBetweenTheLines

Fireworks so far have been the performance variety, accompanying concerts held at a stadium a few miles east of me. Knock wood they haven't started yet in the neighborhood.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jul 23 - 10:11 AM

Yesterday's headache seems to have passed. I've been off of caffeine for a few months and don't miss it (except for the stronger flavor of my morning tea), and have one less source of occasional morning headaches (waiting too long to drink the first cup.) I suppose that is a form of decluttering.

Adulting first thing this morning by taking my favorite pair of gardening jeans into the sewing studio and putting a patch on under the back left pocket where there was a three inch breezy worn spot. I fear I've gone to the store several times with skin or undies showing through. Cheeky me.

The cedar pickets are dried after the preservative was painted on so this morning I'll put up the next fence panel, and later pick up more pickets and crossmembers. It's a straight level run so should take under an hour to assemble in place.

This morning to the dogs' dismay I vacuumed drifts of dog hair before feeding them. (They would prefer I make a beeline to their bowls first thing.) I'll continue brushing the dogs and add in nail trimming. I proposed a lunch date to my library retiree friends so in preparation there is a lot of clutter around that needs removal along with staying on top of the dust puppies.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 02 Jul 23 - 01:28 PM

Hot and raining hard in Stratford. Random pops and thuds outside ended fairly early last night and have not resumed — fireworks are no fun on a wet Sunday morning in Ontario.

The stomach ailment of last week (and this week, damn it) is apparently a new virus in town. One of the priests at church also had it — the kicked-in-the-belly feeling at onset is very distinctive — and has needed two weeks of recuperation to feel fully himself again. Also widowed and on his own at home, he was scared enough to go the hospital, where they tested him for all manner of weird shit and came up blank, except that he was obviously sick as a very sick thing. So, a virus.

But not *just* a virus — I think we know better than that by now. Smallpox is a virus. COVID is a virus.

I’m a bit weak (good thing no vocal acrobatics were required today at church) and I can’t eat much, not that I want to. Lunch has been a plate of carefully poached asparagus and a single small cookie. I might consider a small serving of oatmeal around tea time. There’s a chicken cutlet in the fridge that I had originally intended to eat last week, and that will be supper. More would be foolhardy.

The rain gives me all the excuse I need to spend the afternoon with an audiobook and the cats, if they choose to join me in the comfy chair.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 03 Jul 23 - 09:19 AM

That sounds like a norovirus, Charmion.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Jul 23 - 09:59 AM

Thanks, Andrew.

I read the page at your link. It says norovirus is a reportable disease (in Canada), so I pinged the priest to ask if he was tested for it when he went to the hospital.

Still raining in Stratford. A good thing.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jul 23 - 01:56 PM

It turns out that morning is not the best time to perform fence work; the sun beats down into that area between fence and garage during those early hours. Panel construction now pushed to afternoon, once the sun is behind the garage. I hung some laundry on the line and it's so hot that by the time you get to the end of the line you can go back to the beginning and take it down completely dry.

Lots of fireworks in the surrounding neighborhoods last night. They aren't as percussive as when I lived in New York City years ago; there the buildings allowed incredible reverberation of the explosions. Here I have a dog who doesn't like them and I live along a greenbelt filled with trees and dry grass as fuel.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Jul 23 - 05:25 PM

I'm about to deploy the tractor travelling lawn sprinkler that I bought at a neighborhood estate sale. A hard plastic part was missing (I didn't know at the time - the replacement arrived yesterday from Amazon) that goes over the hose at the point where you want to stop the motion and water. Going through YouTube videos seems a better option than downloading a manual - more often lately some of those manuals download sites have iffy-looking choices.

The hose is laid out in the route you want the sprinkler to travel and you set it on low or high depending on the feet per hour it travels. My goal is to keep the foundation watered this year and keep enough of the back yard watered that the dogs aren't running around on dry packed dirt. The way back part of the yard can dry out but they need some lawn to be comfortable.

Hummus for lunch today and my squash casserole tonight for dinner. Then I'll start looking for ways to use the cucumbers that are coming along fairly quickly.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jul 23 - 12:36 PM

The cast iron traveling tractor sprinkler works well, but the ancient plastic hose cart has a leaky connection. When the sprinkler turns itself off the cart connector spews water. Time to replace it, and knowing that when there is 150 feet of hose on the cart makes it almost too heavy for one person to move by herself, I won't aim for anything bigger than the 175' capacity I have now. (There's water in the hose, making it so heavy.) I find one on sale at Lowe's, so off I go. I might get away with letting this thing run a circuit near the house every couple of weeks and keep enough grass alive for the dogs and the foundation watered so the house doesn't shift as much as last year. I can use the current hose caddy in the front yard just to store the hose so it's off the ground, and it's so old no one will bother stealing it.

The new fence panel looks good, with four to go. I'll do the next one this week (the materials are in the garage.) I may require help on the last panel where the end post has been pushed crooked by the tree I took out this spring. That's a triple job - digging out the old post, cutting out the tree root, and putting in a new post.

Building a series of cucumber trellises with materials from the old fence this afternoon. Might as well get a little more use from that wood. Also - I need to research making pickles with potassium salt. It looks like a good year for pickles.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 06 Jul 23 - 01:56 PM

I suppose I might as well mention my health. No further on this please. Although I had a good spell after my cancer op in 2000, the op didn’t rid me of cancer and things I’ve been able to do have been reducing for quite some time. After a spell in hospital starting in May, I was allowed home in June and put on palliative care. As things stand, I can walk a short distance with a frame but spend most of my time in bed and am often very tired.

Coming home was “fun”. They had to clean and clear my cluttered bed/living room and make room for a hospital bed. In doing my desk area, they managed to disconnect some Internet things and I can neither get under the desk to fix everything or think of anyone I’d trust to help me. I managed to restore my Internet and LAN by buying a new Ethernet PoE smart switch, plugging it into an accessible power socket, configuring and using that instead of the one I’ve no power to. Then there were a few more hassles with other things…

I’ve mostly been playing with laptop the last few days. No real need for me doing this but as a something to do, I decided to set up postfix/dovecot on my server box. I got in quite a muddle with postfix and relaying to my ISP’s mail servers and decided some sort of test server would be handy. I failed to find anything free I liked on my short search so I’ve tried to write my own usin python aiosmtpd. Here’s a run with me sending an email to it from kmail.

(aiosmtpd) jon@jonlaptop:~/PycharmProjects/aiosmtpdtest> python main.py -a -t -d INFO --ssl tls /pi4/certs/cert.pem /pi4/certs/key.pem    
  
  Server Started 
  Listening on 0.0.0.0 8025 
  Authentication is on 
  Use tls is on 
  Debug Level is INFO 
  Using starttls: certfile: /pi4/certs/cert.pem keyfile: /pi4/certs/key.pem 
  Press Return to quit. 
  
  [2023-07-06 17:25:33,272 INFO] Peer: ('172.23.41.192', 60984) 
  [2023-07-06 17:25:33,272 INFO] ('172.23.41.192', 60984) handling connection 
  [2023-07-06 17:25:33,272 INFO] ('172.23.41.192', 60984) >> b'EHLO jonlaptop.localnet' 
  [2023-07-06 17:25:33,273 INFO] ('172.23.41.192', 60984) >> b'STARTTLS' 
  [2023-07-06 17:25:33,279 INFO] ('172.23.41.192', 60984) >> b'EHLO jonlaptop.localnet' 
  [2023-07-06 17:25:33,280 INFO] ('172.23.41.192', 60984) >> b'AUTH PLAIN ********' 
  [2023-07-06 17:25:33,313 WARNING] Session.login_data is deprecated and will be removed in version 2.0 
  [2023-07-06 17:25:33,315 INFO] ('172.23.41.192', 60984) >> b'MAIL FROM:' 
  [2023-07-06 17:25:33,316 INFO] ('172.23.41.192', 60984) sender: [e-mail] 
  [2023-07-06 17:25:33,316 INFO] ('172.23.41.192', 60984) >> b'RCPT TO:' 
  [2023-07-06 17:25:33,316 INFO] ('172.23.41.192', 60984) recip: [e-mail] 
  [2023-07-06 17:25:33,316 INFO] ('172.23.41.192', 60984) >> b'DATA' 
  Message from [e-mail] 
  Message for ['[e-mail]'] 
  Message data: 
  
  > From: Jon Freeman  
  > To: Jon Freeman  
  > Subject: starttls test 
  > Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2023 17:25:33 +0100 
  > Message-ID: <12239959.O9o76ZdvQC@jonlaptop> 
  > MIME-Version: 1.0 
  > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit 
  > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" 
  > 
  > Message sent to test server 
  > 
  > 
  
  End of message 
  [2023-07-06 17:25:33,317 INFO] ('172.23.41.192', 60984) >> b'QUIT' 
  [2023-07-06 17:25:33,317 INFO] ('172.23.41.192', 60984) Connection lost during _handle_client() 
  [2023-07-06 17:25:33,317 INFO] ('172.23.41.192', 60984) EOF received 
  [2023-07-06 17:25:33,317 INFO] ('172.23.41.192', 60984) connection lost

Oh well, gives me something to meddle with I suppose and I’ll have to think of something else now...

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 06 Jul 23 - 03:31 PM

Dupont:

I got sick! After delivering the air cleaner and having lunch with Geri at local restaurant in southern QC... THE local, in fact, as there is not much down her way.

I don't know when it started but I must have "caught" it as it seems similar to Charmion's - unlike anything I have had. Just stayed in bed for two days, with minimal forays for minimal food. Feeling as though the end were near...

Heat all but did me in; the A/C in BR is inadequate. Tues I felt rather OK with no energy. Weds less OK but moderately functional - that means SOME dishes got washed! Spent most of the day trying to find someone to mow the knee high grass before we are fined!

Chateauguay Chit Chat (FB) is a mixture of helpful folks and clowns. Although I was preferring to give my money to a person, in the end, I have chosen to SOS a local company suggested by the woman who does their PR. There were no rude remarks on line re this suggestion and the nice man phoned this am saying he would get back to me in a day or so! HOPE!

THEN, feeling some better and more cheerful, I spent a fortune on new filters for the two air cleaners here; next week I will spend half a fortune on the same for the cleaner at Beaver. And while I was spending, I ordered 24 loaves of bread - enough to make the shipping charge not hurt as much. But careful that I would really like the choices this time! I think there is room in the freezer now - but it would be a good idea to empty it and start fresh!?? I hope I will feel up to this "good idea"! And a new supply of the Pau d'Arco.

The "yard man" said they charge "by the minute for residential work"! He could not, however, tell me the minute rate! I really do not care! I cannot do it! Oh! R? Maybe in his sleep!

R did follow my directive, last night, to open the attic door - had to climb an iffy ladder to do so - with me hanging on to it! This 1902 house has a hot air outlet in attic, a mini chimney so the hot air can go up and out. I believe this is a Very Good Thing! He argues with me every year... It will stay open until I suggest - perhaps in late September - that it might be better to keep the warm air in the house! Maybe by then we will have a safer ladder... It was cool enough last night - at 11pm - to open the window and turn of the noisy a/c! Nice breeze even!! Closed up at 8 am.

Right now, the only thing I "know for sure" is that the world is too hot. And it is scary.

I did go to the produce store first thing this AM - back by 8:10 to beat the heat - and stocked up with veggies. A good accomplishment. May go to reg supermarket as it starts to cool in the eve.

Laundry is up to date, dishes mostly there, floors in sore need of cleaning... And I need the pottery customer to come and pick what he/she wants. Hoping to go back to Beaver by end of next week - after all the orders have arrived! Did not net the blueberries but neighbour has been enjoying the delicious strawberries.

Now, I look around and wonder what else can I manage - without moving much! I did realize this am that a cup of green tea was helping me deal better with the climate.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jul 23 - 10:02 PM

Jon, I'm sorry to read your account of this spring and your health, and thank you for trusting us with the news. I sent you a PM with contact information if it would be helpful. The programming is not something I know how to write, but as I read through at the bottom it says "connection lost." Does that mean it didn't work on your first try, or is it simply noting that the device was turned off after it ran?

Dorothy, there seems to be something going around, though this week my daughter who was ill apparently was laid low by food poisoning.

Today was a major push in the garden, with the scattering of an organic fertilizer and the application of an organic pesticide (Spinosad) in the tomatoes (they are pollinated by wind, not insects, so the only bugs I hope to kill are the leaffooted bugs - a type of stink bug - that pierce the fruit and make the tomatoes look weird and the plants less healthy.) The heat has hastened their damage. Tomorrow I'll mix up some Surround WP (it's kaolin clay that, when sprayed on, looks like you've whitewashed the plants.) It is to repel the grasshoppers I'm seeing a lot of and also hopefully slow down the LF bugs.

I'm going to try Thread, but since I have only 178 followers and follow only 370 people, it isn't going to be the whole world like on Twitter. But I'll take a look. If you know me on Facebook you should be able to find my Instagram account and that address will be the same on Thread. I just can't find a way right now to view Thread on the computer and I refuse to use it on my phone. I'll try the tablet and dumb down all of the notifications those things try to send.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 07 Jul 23 - 01:40 AM

Ah, it looks a bit odd but the disconnect messages after QUIT is normal operation. Email sending is a sort of one shot operation. The client (in this case kmail) connects to the SMTP server, attempts to send the message and then issues QUIT to disconnect from the server. This would happen with both successful and failed email attempts. In the example I posted, we can see the email I sent so we can see things went OK.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 07 Jul 23 - 04:03 AM

I'd always thought tomatoes were insect pollinated... Looking it up now I find that tomatoes are self pollinating. Apparently both bumblebees and wind can transfer the pollen to the stigma. Shaking the plants may also work. See here for example.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 07 Jul 23 - 09:58 AM

Nice to see you back on the board, Jon Freeman.

I think I might be burning off some bad karma. Yesterday, I tripped, then slipped, and fell sideways, striking my head on the frame of a steel-clad door and ending up in a heap. It was raining hard, and the surface underfoot was the wet deck of a friend’s front stoop.

I scrambled/lurched upright and practically ran away — my friend is a fusser, which I cannot endure. But I had a huge lump on my head and I felt progressively weirder and weirder. So I went to the hospital to get my head examined.

Fortunately, the ER was having a lull. I was triaged in no time flat and seen by the duty doc, who ordered a CT scan. All normal. I could go home, so I did. Today I’m sore but okay.

The duty doc looked familiar. Sure enough, he had the shift when Edmund died; he delivered the bad news. Recalling that night was kinda the last straw. I tottered out into the parking lot — still raining — and wept. Just howled.

Then I drove home very carefully and fed the cats.

So, another tale of small-town life.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jul 23 - 11:24 AM

Jon, my organic gardening guru friend says he used to take his morning newspaper (rolled up) and whack the tomato cages a few times on the side to stir up the pollen. With the advent of digital media I imagine he keeps his tennis racket handy for the same thing now, no point in ruining a good tablet by swinging at plants in the garden.

Charmion, what a way to get that reminder. You can't declutter the ER doctor, but perhaps that cry in the parking lot achieved much the same thing.

And does this also mean you're going to take a look at the shoes you were wearing? I've had to change how I approach steps after falling a couple of times, though it was the dog that tripped me up. I used to step across a gap at the corner in the den where there is a step down into the room, from the front hall to the bedroom hall at that corner. Pepper in her herding ways would try to scoot through as I made that corner and she knocked me off of my feet twice. I resolved to not let her put me in that position again so I now step completely down to the den level, then back up to the next hall, and when I am aware that Pepper is doing her herding thing I flex my leg back at the knee and sometimes make contact, letting her know she's doing it again. (This is separate from the time I hit the edge of the step up into the kitchen when wearing some thick-soled clogs and decided then and there to donate both of my pair to Goodwill.)

This time of year I dislike when it comes to bathing. Not that I dislike bathing, but that when it's so damned hot out any time you go outside you come back in soaked in sweat. If you shower in the morning then do anything around the yard before going somewhere polite where you might meet other people, the shower has long since lost its effect. Shower again or just change clothes? I generally shower at bedtime for more comfortable sleep and wing it through the day. I end up dressing in the morning in the clothes I know I'm going to change out of before I go do anything away from home. It does mean more laundry. The other thing I do is wash my face with just a wet washcloth (no soap) a couple of times a day (good thing I never wear cosmetics or this wouldn't work.) Otherwise your skin is more salty and the sweat stings in your eyes.

Dorothy, I love the attic vent you describe. My house used to have an attic fan to do the same thing, but when it died I didn't replace it, I had the spot covered when I put on a new roof and installed a ridge vent. What they do is cut a slim long slit into plywood layer under the shingles at the top of the house along the roof peak and put on special vents that let the heat rise out passively. Looks like this and a single line of shingles is applied over that vent to cover the plastic. The insulation on the attic floor is what keeps the house warm in the winter, the ridge vent is for letting excess heat from the sun shining down escape.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jul 23 - 06:48 PM

The pickets for the next fence panel are ready, the preservative applied this afternoon. I can get a little over two panels per can of wood preservative, and it's about $40 a can now, so factoring that into the project, the panels are about $80 each. The next picket run will be to Lowe's for the lumber and Home Depot for the preservative. I only shop at HD for things I can't get at Lowe's - HD has a political leaning that I'm not fond of, and I don't appreciate the open carry that occurs in there. I'm okay until I get to the end of the wood fence, when I'll need a couple of bags of concrete along with everything else.

My fitness tracker must think I've been sleeping all day; I used my right arm for the painting and the tracker is on my left. When I go to the gym I put on it in a band and wear it on my ankle so it keeps track of my cycling on the recumbent bike. I should probably go over this evening and exercise the rest of the body. :)

I loaded Threads into my tablet, and this afternoon I pulled up Twitter on the computer and looked at the accounts I follow to see who is on the new app. I don't know that it will amount to anything, but it has been interesting to be part of a huge migration of accounts. This is made possible by the connection to Instagram, but also because we are now so accustomed to social media accounts in general. I don't use most of the other trendy apps, but I added this because what has happened to Twitter is frustrating. It IS/was the place where a lot of breaking news appears. Threads doesn't have a trending list now and they supposedly don't do hashtags (but everyone is still putting them in - I think this is something that the users know that Meta will have to come around to. Hashtags have a role in all of this.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 08 Jul 23 - 04:15 PM

I had a big computer problem today. Mum’s been complaining she can’t get into her PC and I can’t go over to the study to sort her out. I had an idea that mum could use the spare laptop which she could take to me when stuck. I started to prepare for that today by downloading the latest kubuntu and burning it to a flash drive.

I then tried to boot from the drive using my laptop and things went wrong. Instead of getting a menu, I was just taken to a grub command line which is a bit like a dos command prompt and has its own list of commands. I then tried to boot my laptop into its installed OpenSuse and the same happened. I got a grub command prompt instead of a menu.

The problem turned out to be a corrupted EFI partition and I think it took me about 5 hours to get things working properly. I suppose it wouldn’t have been that bad if I knew what I was doing but looking things up and finding the right answers takes time.

I don’t know how I’ll feel tomorrow but I’ll aim to install to the spare laptop then. With luck, one of the carers will be able to log on to mum’s desktop to get me a connection to the LAN so I can copy some files over. Mum’s problems usually are the battery in the mouse needs changing and that she’s forgotten how to log in. Or if she is logged in, she’s forgotten or lost the desktop shortcut she has to start Chromium and take her to the jigsaw site she enjoys.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: pattyClink
Date: 08 Jul 23 - 04:56 PM

Stilly, so wish you didn't have to deal with this long siege of awful temperatures! I do know that feeling of 'wasting a bath' when sweat starts up shortly after you get spotless. Lots of men in the South slip into a 2-showers-a-day routine in this weather, and you can't blame them.

Holing up inside today doing chores while the temps reach for 98 in Utah. Tomorrow will do the last push north, supposedly I'll lose 10-15 degrees. The raft trip forecast was for night temps in high 40s, but now it's more like 58s, with 90-100 daily highs. Wasted the purchase of a cheap sleeping bag, looks like. Oh well. it'll do as a mattress.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Jul 23 - 11:15 PM

Patty, you have a standing invitation to stop by my place in Fort Worth when you're coming and going, and I hope that invitation is enough to inspire a detour from the shortest route between points one of these days. I have three dogs who love company, so I'll offer that heads-up. I promise to give you a tour of the area and we can even make a couple of day trips to spots you might not have thought about. Where are you headed that it will be that much cooler?

Jon, it sounds like you need to start making some lists and spelling out how you've set up systems around the house. I'm willing to bet that in the process of describing the systems you've put in place you'll have ideas about how to change or simplify things from this point forward. It should help you, your parents, and whoever comes in to help.

I set up the materials and tools for the fence panel, but it was still so hot at 6pm that I postponed until tomorrow early. And if I get out early enough, the neighbors would enjoy a visit from my Labrador retriever who loves them and enjoyed going through the fence last time I cut down a panel (earlier this week). They head to church by about 8:30, so I'll plan to be out an hour earlier to cut down the panel and make the opening. That way Cecil, who is 80, can have an in-his-yard visit with Zeke, who is at least 100 in people years. They meet every morning at the fence for treats, but this is the next step, this is Zeke checking out their yard. It's silly and sweet, the things people look forward to (his wife told me that Cecil is really looking forward to this.) :) I set my alarm already this evening.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 09 Jul 23 - 05:10 AM

You are right SRS in that it is something I'm aware I need to think about. When an inevitable break down occurs, I doubt they would find anyone to come in and fix things. I'm hoping I'll be able to talk this (and some other things) over with 2 of my brothers who I think should be visiting next weekend.

One perhaps fortunate thing here though is nearly all the lights can be operated manually. When I was in hospital, homeseer automation and the Alexa bits were lost because of the network disconnection under my desk and the only problem light was the study one. A carer tried fiddling with the switch and we had a colour changing study until I was able to fix things.

I suspect that the living room computer will have to go with the loss of cameras amongst other things and the LAN be simplified.

Maybe even the Honeywell Evohome heating system would be better changed to an older type set up as batteries in sensors need changing and mum doesn't understand it. It's quite simple really, each radiator has a controller on the valve which is programmed to set to the required temperature for the time of day and will open/close the valve and fire the boiler up as needed but mum, thinking something is wrong, will come and tell me, it's a cold day and that radiator is cold. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to explain to her the temperature in that room is 18C and the room is set for 18C so the radiator should be off...

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 09 Jul 23 - 09:17 AM

We've had a change of plan re the spare laptop. Mum is getting a new 17" HP Win 11 pro one that I think might be better for her.

As for the spare which despite not being Win 11 capable is a pretty decent machine... I asked my lunchtime carer if she knew of anyone that I could pass it on to. She said the school her kids go to were often looking for laptops for pupils who can't afford them, that she also knew a place for women escaping domestic violence that could be grateful for it and that she would ask around.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jul 23 - 11:09 AM

I was all set up for the fence work and as I was pulling on socks and shoes this morning I realized the noise I was hearing outside was rain! I hurried out to rescue the wet bucket of tools beside the old fence. It's now wet and humid, but this afternoon perhaps I'll do the work after the neighbors get back home from church, so Zeke can still have the visit through the gap. The initial plan was to do it early so the visit could happen before they had to leave.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 09 Jul 23 - 07:14 PM

One thing I noticed with the HP laptop I ordered for mum is that it doesn’t have an Ethernet port. Perhaps that is common now but it’s the first time I’ve noticed that. I’ve ordered a combined Ethernet/USB adapter for it just in case (perhaps unlikely with mum but…) there is ever a need for a wired connection or for more USB ports.

A big change for me and this is it will be the first computer in the household in ages that is purely Windows rather having it, if present, as an occasionally used dual boot option. This is not because I’ve lost faith in Linux which has been very stable and served us well for many years or believe that Windows is easier than her OpenSuse/KDE set up for her daily bits of usage but in case mum does need 3rd party support. It’s easy to find a repair person doing Windows round here for example but I think you would struggle to find one familiar with Linux. I’ll probably do the same with dad’s laptop...

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jul 23 - 10:09 PM

Jon, that looks like the device I ordered for my kitchen Sony laptop. It has always been WiFi, I bought it for travel and wanted it small, so got one without the Ethernet option and no DVD drive, etc. After fixing my friend's computer (dead Ethernet port) I decided to do the same thing for myself. I've spent time picking up in the kitchen, tossing things that I just won't use and don't want to try to donate, and put a few items in the box for my son. He is very fond of Tupperware and I have pieces here I never use any more.

Still no new fence panel, the afternoon is very muggy out there. I'll try again in the morning. I spoke with the neighbors, it turns out that tomorrow is his birthday and he was looking forward to my dog's visit today, so we'll do it tomorrow without the need to hurry and the old guys can have a good chat.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Senoufou
Date: 10 Jul 23 - 03:20 AM

I've been getting more and more fed up with our huge Bramley apple tree. Due to the long drought here in Norfolk, it's dropping 'windfall' apples all over the lawn. It's far too big for our little back garden, so I've asked our professional handyman/gardener neighbour to cut it down and remove the stump. He quoted me £200 (gulp!)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 10 Jul 23 - 05:43 AM

As far as I can remember, the last tree job here cost around £1000. That wasn’t felling a tree but for the removal of tree limbs that the guy we’d called for advice had said ought to come off to avoid possible problems with the house (he said the trees themselves were safe).

The job only took around an hour and my first thought was “wow, £1000 for that time”. But then I thought there were at least 3 people on the job, equipment included a chipper and a cherry picker and they left the garden tidy. I concluded that the cost was probably quite reasonable.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Jul 23 - 08:03 AM

I have had several trees taken off my small property. The big ones had to be dismembered from the top down, a task that required a hydraulic lift (cherry-picker) so a man with a chainsaw could take the upper limbs off. They could not be allowed to drop free — this is the city, not the lumbering woods — so each section to be cut was secured with guy-lines and, once free of the tree, lowered gently by the ground crew.

Not cheap, but the neighbour’s roof was safe. Also mine.

In other news, Thursday’s wallop to the head has left me with a spectacular black eye. The point of impact was at the hairline northeast (as it were) of my right eye, so I did not expect this development at all. The cognoscenti can tell that I was not punched in the face — no damage to the eye itself — but the look of the thing is so dramatic that people can’t help but stare.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Jul 23 - 11:08 AM

I had a tree removed in March, it was $1000 for two men who climbed and removed from the top down; large pieces were dropped, but very strategically and the dogs were kept in the house to avoid that nuisance or hazard to them. They dragged trunk and limbs to a trailer that was fully-packed by the time they finished and they hauled the wood about five blocks to the nearby composting and wood chip recycling area where they had to offload by hand (some trailers have a system with a chain at the back so the company can clip into it and drag everything out at once. My friend doesn't have that setup). They paid the plant to take the wood (that will be chipped and he'll probably buy some next time he buys their chips) but the drop there is much cheaper and closer than taking the wood to the dump. They were finished in about 3 hours.

Senoufou, I hate to think the whole tree is going - could you reduce it in size so you get some apples just not the whole bunch you're getting right now?

Charmion, hopefully that shiner will at least clear up faster than if you'd actually taken a punch to the eye socket.

Jon, good luck with the new computers. Do you network them so they can share information? I used to do that but every time I change a router I seem to have to change the setup, so I haven't networked the stuff. I used to be able to play videos from my computer on the various smart TVs around the house. (It involved adding apps to the Fire stick but now a couple of the TVs are smart enough they could be seen by the network themselves.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 10 Jul 23 - 11:45 AM

several years ago I fell over & ended up with a black eye that surely would have terrified unwary kids! I couldn't get up on my own so the bloke nearby said move onto my back & to raise my arms & he pulled me up & supported me to a nearby bench & called my friends who drove me home.

Speaking of downsizing as we are, I found homes for 3 major collections in the past 2 weeks. A month ago at the DanceFest I finally had the opportunity to talk to a dancer who I thought might like my library of Historic costume books & she did! She is sharing it with other dancers & musicians as she already has many of the books. These dancers & musos are always impeccably dressed at Colonial & Jane Austin balls.

The books left a huge hole in my 2 tall & wide bookcases! & a fair amount of my craft projects & supplies that sat on the floor & on a coffee table in front of the doll cabinet are now on those shelves. As several shelves are still empty more will be shelved & I do have some other empty or under-utilised shelves.

One of the musos who helped with the book moving admired my dolls in period costume & will take them!! And her adult daughter loves bears, so the mohair bears I made have a home, the dolls & bears are not going yet.

Only a few more collections to find homes for! Plus lotsa' individual items ...

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Jul 23 - 01:46 PM

Way to go, Sandra! Three cheers and a tiger!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 10 Jul 23 - 02:55 PM

Everything is on the LAN. I’ve got nfs and samba shares on the living room PC. Things shared include our pictures, tv recordings and a bit of user home space for each of us.

With Linux, I can use the Dolphin file manager to create a network folder to access files on another PC. I could also use rsync which is good for copying lots of files. I’m less sure abot Windows...

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Jul 23 - 03:37 PM

Jon, I just opened the Windows network and sharing center and see that I now have a choice to allow media streaming and when I open that the two smart TVs show up. So I've allowed it and will give it a test later. The home network is hidden to the public (always has been). This is Windows 10; I haven't bothered to update to Win11; I tend to skip the OS offerings so maybe when Win12 comes out I'll make the move.

Sandra, good job finding new homes for so many things that were in your collection!

Amazon Prime day is approaching and I'm looking at replacing the Fire Stick in my office that spends way too much time twirling and reconnecting and often dropping programs. I see a Roku device on sale - does anyone use one of those? It's just a stick. What I want is a way to view a few apps, not worry about another new account for some device I'm using. (I see it lets me stream Essentrics, my stretching program, but it says I have to download from the Roku Channel store - so it looks like another account if I get one.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: JennieG
Date: 10 Jul 23 - 05:58 PM

Well, Charmion and Sandra, I can top your black eye stories.

Back in the year 2000 I was attending a friend's 50th birthday ball (at Bundanoon, Sandra - she lived in Canberra, so it was convenient for her south coast, Sydney and Canberra friends) and one of the dances on the program was 'Postie's Jig'. Being a Scottish dance it ended with a Scottish swing - left arm around partner's waist, right arm held curved in the air while swinging. As one of the women in our set flung up her arm she connected with the bridge of my nose.

I saw stars, let me tell you. Didn't fall down, but....oh geez, it hurt.

The result was two black eyes. Yes, two. At the same time.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Jul 23 - 07:20 PM

That makes my eyes water and my nose run just to think about it, Jennie! And I think there really is such an injury that has you "seeing stars" - maybe it's the brain deciding whether to pass out or not? My chocolate Lab ran full-tilt through the back door into my knee a few years back - I didn't fall down, but damn, my vision just about shut down with the impact. Stars indeed!

I offered a small hand vacuum with a long cord on the local Buy Nothing FB page and it was gone within the hour. I need to list several plants to give away, but it's so hot it isn't the best time for planting anything. I'll probably have to keep them for now and maybe offer them later in the fall.

Heading to the gym this evening, it has been way too long since I've gotten any sustained exercise. I'll load a new audiobook before I go.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 10 Jul 23 - 07:31 PM

I show mythtv, jellyfin media server, hdhomerun dvbt2 network tuner, vbox satellite network tuner in the sharing at the moment but I've looked no further.

I use home and guest vLANs too. There is a chromecast plugged into the living room tv on the guest LAN.

I think I've gone as far as I want with mum's laptop for now. I've done all the Windows updates, removed some unwanted sotware and put LibreOffice, Firefox, Thuderbird and VLC player on it. I've also put a copy of our photos on it. I'm not sure mum needs any more software but it can be added later if required. I'll copy any files she wants from her desktop PC when someone gets me a log in on it.

Next task sometime will be to get mum using it and I'm not looking forward to that... One perhaps fortnate thing though is that the kde plasma desktop she's been using isn't that dissimilar to the Win 11 one (and I've moved the task bar to the left and made Win single click to make things closer).

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Jul 23 - 08:32 PM

We have a super pair of blokes who will spend all day reducing/removing trees to our specification, for a flat rate of £350 per day. They swing around up there like Tarzan. They'll even cut some of the wood small enough for firewood if they have time. They'll either leave or take away stuff for free, whatever we decide, and they chip all the tops. We've had to have them two or three times over the last few years as we've lost some big trees to Dutch Elm disease. They deeply understand trees are are full of good advice.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jul 23 - 12:27 AM

That sounds like a great deal, and there is probably job security for them if they do that particular kind of work all of the time. The reputation keeps them busy. My friend who took out the tree (with his wife's brother) does a variety of work, and he prefers the tree stuff before they've all leafed out. He also hires a separate subcontractor to do stump grinding if people want that. It's a small network of friends and family who parse out the work amongst themselves.

Jon, your mother is lucky that you've set all of this up, and the photos are more precious as time passes. I've done something like that, but in a Google Drive folder that is shared with my ex and our children, since we're scattered all over the place.

I checked in with my brother today after hearing about flooding in Vermont; it turns out he's back in California with his ex (he and his ex are friends, something our generation managed that our parents never did apres divorce; I think we learned from their mistakes.) The place he is leasing is above the damaging water, and the new house is on a ridge, away from the wet. For our New England lurkers, stay safe! Take an extra pair of socks and shoes if you have to go out so you don't have to spend the day with wet feet. (I'm looking at you, Keb.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: keberoxu
Date: 11 Jul 23 - 08:06 AM

I went to the bank yesterday. My usual way out from the parking lot was so badly flooded, from poor drainage, that I had to snake my way around the water to take the exit.
Today, fortunately, the sun is out, and will be for a day or two.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 11 Jul 23 - 08:21 AM

Job security but I’d think it gets hard when you get older.

I’ve got 2 brothers who worked with ropes but that was in difficult access. Both were keen rock climbers (and Tim at one time was amongst the best in the UK) so I suppose it was a natural job choice for them.

Tim went on to being a director in a difficult access company before moving out to Australia. I think he does still climb at a little bit at his daughters place. She inherited her fathers taste for climbing and, together with her partner opened up a bouldering gym in Queensland.

Paul works at an oil refinery now. He started off on ropes, etc. on the inspection side but he now has an office job in safety/inspection. Before that, one of the biggest jobs Paul worked on was the repair of the Nat West Tower after it was bombed. I think they used a platform the went round the whole building for that one.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jul 23 - 12:28 PM

BLT sandwiches are best when freshly toasted bread and fried bacon are added to the mayo and lettuce, but I'm going to try a picnic with all of the cooked and wet parts kept separate and we'll assemble sandwiches when we meet. Since my daughter's tomato plants have all green fruit I'll also give her some of my ripe tomatoes (in exchange for some peppery sausage that she picked up on her way back from Austin this weekend - there's a little BBQ joint along I-35 that has the best sausage around and we have a standing order to buy a couple of pounds any time someone goes past the place.)

Allergies are starting to become more active, and nowadays I'm trying to treat them without Sudafed, just using Flonase and Claritin generics. When it gets worse I take a Benadryl at bedtime to boost the 24-hour Claritin. (On a related note, I find that the Aldi facial tissues that used to be pretty good are a handful of pulp after one blow.) It's not like years ago when I didn't accept that I had allergies and it used to progress to horrible sinus infections. This week I was reading up about air purifiers or filters (Honeywell is on sale on Amazon Prime this week.) Dorothy, do you use something like that, and does it help?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jul 23 - 10:36 PM

All of the ingredients arrived intact and we assembled our sandwiches in the student union cafeteria at the university across the street from my daughter's museum. We were off in a corner of the room, it was sparsely populated, and when my ex and I set down the bags I said "I think we're okay with outside food here, aren't we?" and a guy sitting a couple of tables away turned and said "yes." As we assembled these sandwiches with gorgeous slices of tomato a guy moving to sit nearby watched; I was tempted to tell him that these weren't on the menu, but he settled in and the thought passed. It worked out well, and we exchanged fresh tomatoes (large ones and cherry tomatoes) for some sausage she picked up for us when she was on her way back from a conference and passed by the little BBQ joint that makes the best links of sausage (lots of coarse black pepper in it). A town where she was born and we gladly moved away when she was 15-months old. Not a nice place to live or send children to school, but great BBQ.

The next batch of cedar pickets and cross-members are in the garage and I picked up a can of wood preservative so I can paint it on before putting up the panel. Maybe by the weekend I'll be within two panels of finishing this job.