DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: keberoxu
Date: 29 Jun 23 - 06:44 PM

Feel better very, very soon, Charmion!

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: 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: 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: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Jun 23 - 10:34 AM

Air travel sounds horrible now, and you don't want to contribute to the body of destroyed instrument videos on YouTube (where I don't see any destroyed mandolins, but there is this).

Despite the heat I'm planting the rest of the bedding plants (started from seed) today after a discreet soak of the gardens last night (a small sprinkler running 20 minutes each in about 8 different spots; the timer beeped much of the evening.) Monday isn't a watering day, but I wasn't wasting it on turf, it was just for the veggies.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 27 Jun 23 - 07:10 AM

I’m with your mother, Stilly. When the thermometer crawls above, say, 27°C, I hunker down and avoid the great outdoors until things get sensible again.

The house looks pleasantly rational, with all stuff corralled in appropriate places and nothing in the gangways. Dust and cat hair levels are approaching unsociable, but I’m not expecting company so I’m not too bothered.

I signed up and paid for a week of music camp in the first week of August. It’s in Goderich, 80 km up Highway 8, so it will be a fair stretch to drive to and from each day, but I’d rather commute and sleep in my own bed than spend the week in a crappy motel — Goderich lodgings are typically booked years in advance for this event. But I need to play tunes, and learn a new song or two, and meet new people, so I’ll be on the road each day.

My other major adventure for this year will be at the end of September, when I will pack up the car and head south to the FSGW Getaway on the Maryland shore for the first time since before the pandemic. I’ll be gone about a week, maybe 10 days, as my SIL in Windsor wants a visit as well, and I want to avoid interstate highways as much as I can. Road-tripping on my own again after so many years — it’s a bit daunting, but the all-day lunge across Ontario to Ottawa is almost routine now, so I know I can do it.

Why not fly? Because sleeping bag, mandolin, guitar and special pillow, that’s why. (You know you’re old when a special pillow becomes a life essential.) And because I loathe modern air travel, with its constant security theatre and atmosphere of suspicion. It’s stressful in a way that I can hardly tolerate any more, far worse than hours and hours of road, keeping the car between the ditches and not getting lost.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Jun 23 - 04:51 PM

As Dorothy nets her blueberries, I prop up my tomatoes. The bushes are all leaning because with a good crop the green tomatoes are quite heavy. So many things threaten to melt away if they wilt too much, so my bucket brigade of kitchen gray water continues.

More purses and shoes out of the closet, and this evening on my cat feeding run I'll swing by Goodwill to drop off stuff. I didn't mention yesterday that DSW has gone bagless. This is a good move, though I didn't expect it and stuffed my new socks into my purse. Those big black and white bags meant for many shoe boxes were perfect for the Goodwill stuff because I could empty the whole bin into one. I'll have to keep the bags I have for reuse after depositing stuff in the donation center canvas laundry cart.

The house is 80^o and the yard is 105^o. My mother never came to visit from April through October because she doesn't like the weather much over 80 outside.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Jun 23 - 10:00 PM

Today for the museum tour I dressed in a vintage pair of dark Capri pants and knit top, and while choosing shoes I realized that I'm less likely to wear sandals now than I am to wear comfortable walking shoes (keeping in mind a description of someone falling recently, as I have also done.) My socks for walking shoes are mostly ankle length or they're short athletic socks with a brand name around the top. I stopped by DSW on my way home for some short socks that show a neutral band at the ankle.

In the closet I pulled out seasonal beach shoes and tossed several into the trash. A surgical boot also got the boot. They are too old to donate. A pair of shower flip flops are next to the back door and today I put up the portable shower head on the patio cover support by the door. I use that shower during the summer once the tap water has warmed.

Also this evening in the closet I culled the handbags that are too small to hold both the phone and wallet. The bags I use now are "office casual," keeping only a couple of small black bags for fancy events. I also weeded out some of the shoulder packs and fanny packs and will either put them on Freecycle or take them to Goodwill. The handbags I pick up to sell need to get listed, though one I have up right now hasn't excited much interest. (Finding a clearance price and then selling for half of the original price often gives a nice profit, but the one up right now may be in the wrong season. I don't pay much attention to that but perhaps shoppers do.) I'm thinking after these bags are gone I won't keep looking for more to sell.

This morning I woke around 4:45 when there was barking and a thud on the roof. The dogs cornered a raccoon and he/she spent an hour or so up there. I shone a light and aimed a hose at it to see if it could move - yes - and I covered the dog door to keep them in and left the kitchen hood fan running to scare it away (at one point it seemed to consider ripping the hood cover off the roof and heading down that way). Early to bed tonight.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jun 23 - 12:30 PM

I think I've got the hang of making granola now, it's no longer a major operation. The batch is doubled from the recipes I compared and picked ingredients from. It has about equal parts oats and nuts (various), and I use a mix of avocado oil and honey for the toasting and sweetness. Parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet and this batch fills it but isn't too much. Bake an hour, turn every 20 minutes, and add raisins after it finishes baking. This batch of 1/2 cup servings lasts about 3 weeks. It meets my goal of getting fiber and of eating more nuts (as a healthy snack or regular part of the diet.) It costs less than buying it at the store and doesn't have sodium and preservatives. A major objective was to have a mix that isn't too sticky or sweet, and I've reached that by doubling everything except the oil and honey.

Cat sitting this week, with a new obstacle to surmount. There was a glass storm door installed outside the main back door onto the screened-in porch. The regular door and the storm door each have installed a pet door at the same level. This was yesterday, she left today, and the cats haven't figured out how to push through both pet doors (frankly, I think the doors are so close together they're going to have to crawl under rather than just push through.) Can we have the cats accustomed to using two doors by the time she returns, or will they get stuck out on the porch in the heat? I can only handle one cat regularly, a second one I can give a few pats when his food bowl is down, the third cat I've only touched once in four years and it surprised both of us. So no picking up a cat and stuffing them through the door a few times to give the idea. (Dogs are easier to train. My pitbull Cinnamon figured out the garage door flap the first try and each time she came in I gave her a treat. She went in and out until she got all of the treats. Poppy sat in the yard unhappily, and that night she sat barking at the door until I saw Cinnamon walk out, walk around her, and back in the flap so Poppy could draft in behind her. It took Poppy four days to figure out the door. All dogs since then have seen others use it and had no problems.)

First world issues.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jun 23 - 12:11 AM

A series of storms moved through this afternoon, blinking the lights out a couple of times and at one point with a wind so fierce it looked like trees might drop large limbs. So far I've only seen some smaller limbs dangling from above.

While it was a heavily overcast afternoon, once the storm passed the sky brightened and a friend arrived to pick up a bread machine (one of my eBay stash). I conducted a master class on bread machine baking (I used my machine), going through the steps to set it up, how to load the ingredients, what to look for along the way. She left once the dough was made (on the manual setting) and I had shaped rolls. Now my batch of rolls have cooled and some will go into the freezer.

The dry ingredients for granola are mixed and tomorrow I'll whisk the oil and honey, combine it all, and bake. I also have a batch of hummus to finish.

Summer is officially here, I have a lot of yard work to do (great exercise), and I want to drop five pounds to stay at my target weight after losing so much last year. Today I had a "welcome to summer" pint of ice cream as the last splurge for a while; all of the fruit bought this week is so tempting that it makes healthy eating easy. Add to that my garden produce (tomatoes, squash, peppers, chard) and it is the season of grazing.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 23 Jun 23 - 06:59 PM

Beaver:

HEAVY Day. Decided this am that I could not cope with it. Unloaded kiln, waxed bottoms and moved pots to glazing area - QUIT! Lunch of delicious veg soup at a local cafe. Visit with Jane re improving use of consensus at Community Trust. Using libbry internet which will go off in two minutes!

Whidbey: lived there. Love my email address!

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

Dorothy, you write about your life like it feels like I conduct mine. I try to edit to make shorter paragraphs, but it feels the same.

Why are you dealing with Whidbey folks? Is that where you have a phone account? I spent a lot of time on the north end of the island at Deception Pass and on Mt. Erie that is north of the pass (we used to go there for rock climbing). I often would go home by driving the length of Whidbey then taking the ferry across to Mukilteo.

A series of errands were run today so I don't need to go out for a while. I still need to figure out the watering setup, there is one watering station that has me flummoxed: I may have to go buy the particular sprinkler I have in mind. I can't find the two that I know should be here at the house. In the FWIW category, I crossed the 3,500 threshold today on the slides I'm scanning at the museum. That means I've described the contents of three thousand five-hundred slides, and this is about 10% of the collection. Oy. There is job security here, if it was for pay.

The kitchen counter is loaded with fruit and I look forward to eating ripe peaches, pears, and oranges and when needed, cooking or preserving the ones that are a bit too ripe. My garden is producing tomatoes and I'm about to start harvesting squash. I have potatoes that were harvested last week. Today I picked up some "last day" steaks. I freeze, then grind these steaks to use in casseroles, soups, and sauces. Oh - and while I'm thinking about it - I need to look for a good pesto recipe. I want to use my basil before it is too far gone, and I'd like to freeze or can (process) pesto. No humans or canines are starving in this house.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 22 Jun 23 - 09:25 PM

Beaver:

Note to self: Netting on Bluberries tomorrow!! Alert on phone!

82F in the house. But cooler outside. We are being told there is no smoke today so I have opened two windows, with small fan pulling hot air across and out a window. And turned off the air cleaner - ahhh! quiet!

One more firing, possibly two, and I can pack up for leaving on Tuesday - after one more flu shot - 5th I think. Hope for energy to glaze the new lot of bisque in the morning. Really want to be finished! There will be a good number of smaller bowls and other items for the August show and the Carriage House in Maynooth.

The bisque firing was only about half full - with the heat, smoke and vertigo, everything I did was "get out and push". And there was not much "push"!

Washing machine: does not connect properly to faucet; one hose leaks a constant drip; cannot get it to run water into washer even though willing to deal with drip.... Too tired and wobbly to seek halp. Maybe tomorrow. Can barely breathe ... Cooler in K! Opened drape - between K and LR - and that helped! As soon as the sun goes behind hill I shall open the west window and hope the screen is tight enough!

Phoned Whidbey Telecom yesterday to check on account - No did not owe anything. A bill in today's mail! Phoned and the recording said I did not owe anything. Try to call tomorrow!

Went to Service Ontario for clarity re driver's license got the nice young woman to help me get an appointment because I find calling offices ... YOU KNOW! Two women working; the other is married to a man I have known since '89. He and his dad had a hunt camp next door, then built a nice cottage in their woods. Great neighbours! The very sweet Dad died and Grace is happily married to Ron. Nice things do happen. Showed me pic of grandson (from first marriage) real sweet 3 year old.

Looked up from computer to see a humming bird at big window! By the Big comfrey starting to bloom! There now, window open -and hope for few bugs! Bed made and How I wish the shower worked! OR RAIN!!! Dragon Flies are very busy but fewer than other years. A couple lightning bugs the other night; they,too, are endangered.

Strawberries making nice progress. I dumped lots of wood ash on them last fall. They must love it! This is the healthiest they have been. Maybe I can get back on the Friday ----Holiday weekend... ARGHHHH! Cooler

Temp is dropping in house. I feel better. Possible rain on weekend.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 22 Jun 23 - 06:53 PM

I have finished sorting CDs, and the excess are packed up and ready to leave the house.

I am quite pleased with myself.

Before I get too arrogant, however, the parlour rug needs vacuuming and the laundry must be done — one is running low on clean underpants.

But first, a beer on the porch, supper, and an evening of telly.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Jun 23 - 03:37 PM

I picked spider web out of my hair off and on for several minutes, but the spider stayed outside.

Fragments from the submersible seem to answer one big question - now the post mortem of the craft begins (has already begun, actually).

Shopping today - dog food, people food, and we are shifting from cara cara orange season to fresh peach and nectarine season. Boxes of them at Costco are usually pretty good.

Soon my daughter and I will celebrate summer with our annual BLT sandwiches. The tomatoes are ripe and there are enough for sandwich making. I'll make bread tomorrow and hopefully this will be soon. (My allotted sodium for the day will be in that sandwich!)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Jun 23 - 11:30 PM

Jennie, very nice! Charmion, I was reading about submarine communication; they seemed to excluded the most basic method that might have had them rescued by now (small buoys on light cable). I'm not going to delve further into the mechanics of it, it's too depressing. Foolhardy. And sad that they built this thing down the hill from where I grew up.

I walked out toward the greenhouse this evening and into a strong spider web. Accckkk! When I shine the flashlight out there I know about the spiders, I just forgot to look first and with the porch light on didn't have a flashlight. The spiders build webs above any dog pathway, but not to avoid people who rarely head out at night. (I say "toward" because I backed out of the web and went into the house to see if I had any spiders on me.)

The kitchen is looking good this evening considering how messy it was this afternoon. We were supposed to conserve energy through this evening, but afternoon thunderstorms cooled the area. This will be the practice all summer (and this weekend is forecast to hit 105^o). The dishwasher is running after sunset and I'll program the washer to run at 5am.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: JennieG
Date: 21 Jun 23 - 09:54 PM

Who in their right mind indeed. Just so they could say "guess where we've been, nyah nyah nyah!"?

SRS, a pic of my blocks laid out can be found here. They will soon be pinned to the sheet underneath so they can stay in place while being moved; that's our spare bed, and we will have someone sleeping in it next week.

That's also where I waffle on about life in general, and I always finish with a quote from my 1885 etiquette book.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 21 Jun 23 - 08:57 PM

Evidently, the submersible lost power. That means no propulsion, no steering, no ability to surface. Controls don’t matter without power.

Submarines are strictly for experts. That means graduates of HMS Dolphin and similar naval establishments.

Who in their right mind? Good question.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Jun 23 - 07:57 PM

That seems like what would happen if no controls were on board, or if no cable were attached - but who in their right mind would get into that thing if it wasn't operable to the extent needed to descend and ascend safely? Or have small buoys to launch to signal with?

One way to avoid bringing extra stuff into the house is to simply not go out. My shopping list is growing, but nothing has completely run out (dog food, for example). Tomorrow.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 21 Jun 23 - 06:55 PM

Search area? Drift, Stilly. That submersible is literally rolling in the deep.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Jun 23 - 06:13 PM

It's an out-of-sorts day; though overcast, the weather is still hot and muggy, and indoors I've battled with the Office Depot software to load a designed card onto their site. (I may have to redo the art and add a lot of "bleed" on two sides because they can't seem to offer an accurately trimmed card.) And that submersible is still missing - regardless of who is on board, that is a wretched way to die. Banging noises are reported today. (How did the search area end up the size of Connecticut when it was lowered off of a ship above the Titanic?)

In the kitchen there is progress. The freezer had most of the ingredients for my nacho mix: beef, peppers and tomatoes. I need to make room so this summer's stuff can go in there. I'm trying a ground chipotle that is smoky enough to be noticable. Badia brand (lots of stores have it) will probably have some heat (it's cooking now, I haven't tasted it yet).

A good sign out my kitchen window this afternoon was a gray cat prowling through my vegetable garden. Some years the rodents burrow in and attack potatoes and veggies near the ground. I have a bag of hair brushed off of the dogs to poke around the plants as a repellent. The cat who lived two doors up used to come hunt here regularly, I don't know whose this one is.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jun 23 - 11:18 PM

Jennie, I hope you post a photo of your quilt blocks someplace where we can find them.

I have seen bluejays do the same kind of dive-bombing as Charmion and Jennie describe; my experience of red-winged blackbirds is more benign.

The cable tech today was efficient (if awkward when moving a long ladder - he nearly hooked the power line to the house) and reports that the problem isn't here, it is in the line that feeds to my house and to nextdoor, and someone else will check out the lines and we're back where we started. I handed him a much-appreciated bottle of water as he was leaving. The girls didn't appreciate being locked in but Zeke was out in the yard with me and the tech and the sweet old galoot played fetch with one of his bumpers (meant for this game - we haven't had them out for ages because Cookie grabs them and runs off). I kept him in the shade and he didn't go more than a dozen feet in any direction to retrieve it, but he enjoyed the game. Old dogs are so sweet.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: JennieG
Date: 20 Jun 23 - 06:10 PM

Charmion, in Oz we don't have your red-winged blackbirds - but we have magpies. In late winter/early spring they are quite territorial in defending their nests, and many places have signs saying "Caution - Magpie Swooping". They don't like cyclists, and they have a good memory for anyone who has ever chased them (usually small boys) to exact revenge because they can recognise faces.

Ozzie magpies are different to magpies in other countries - one of the most joyous sounds of Oz is magpies carolling.

I have just finished de-cluttering some of my quilting fabric into quilt blocks. When they are sewn together, and it is layered and stitched together, it will be a proper quilt, and those fabrics will be done.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jun 23 - 05:16 PM

Unhappy dogs as we wait for the cable guy to arrive. One dog is in the hall bathroom and one in the kennel, with the old lab asleep on his bed as usual. I'll make sure no gates are left open that would allow the deaf old guy to wander out. As I wait I have been picking up around the house and cleaning the kitchen. I'm at my computer now where I can see the street. Still no Spectrum truck.

Coffee grounds are good for repelling snails and slugs and I had a several-years-old jar of ground coffee in the freezer to discard so the contents are now sprinkled around in the veggie garden. (I picked up fresh coffee yesterday for the freezer.) The few visitors who drink coffee are infrequent enough that it would go stale between visits otherwise. I sprinkled some over the area where the garlic came out - I'm going to fill that spot with a pepper that grew from seed so keeping snails away from a tender young plant is helpful.

The temperature is 100^o and the weather station says it feels like 115^o. I believe it.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 20 Jun 23 - 01:52 PM

Beaver:

It has been a rough couple weeks: I had a spell of vertigo at Marg's and then it continued, off and on, until a few days ago when I remembered that Apple cider Vinegar in my water could help. It has and today I was able to get up feeling good at 8am and washed the not correct glaze off the unfired bowls. Thinking after I got started that it might have been better to just throw new bowls but they are done and drying on this beautiful dry-so-far day.

Other days I was able to get an hour or two of work done in the late afternoon/early eve. So I still have time to get the new stuff dry to be bisqued and then two glaze firings OR I Could do a glaze firing tomorrow while things are still drying and after I re-sieve the essential glaze. YES!

Yesterday I decided that going outside is still not healthy so bought an N95 mask to wear outdoors with the thought that my respiratory system does not like bad air. The clerk as the store said the smoke was gone; I walked outside and could smell it and commented to an older man "This does not smell the way air in North Hastings is supposed to!" He agreed. Most people may not notice but, for me, getting home to Beaver is largely about the air - getting out of the car and deep breaths of fresh clean air! There is none for this last couple weeks so I have stayed indoors with the air cleaner except for shopping. RAIN!!! is needed.

The strawberries are progressing - a number of green berries.There was some good rain here before I got back. Hope for a good bunch to take to QC next week. R has a big presentation to the City next Weds and I am asked to attend. To wear???? Only one dress that fits and bro hates it. Tough! Beats shorts and a T!

Might be some rhubarb - it does not seem to be happy this year.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jun 23 - 01:41 PM

Internet testing day two: the Internet service itself was off for a while today. When it came back the VPN wasn't connecting to Mudcat properly, partly because Mudcat is rarely a secure site and because I need to look into the IP vs Cookie tracking. A Spectrum tech is coming out today to check the system. Oy. The last guy was very new to the job and so slow it was agonizing (plus I had to keep the dogs in the hall bathroom because he kept going back and forth from the house to the yard.)

This morning I harvested a few of the garlic bulbs from the new location in the garden next to the kitchen door; I left others in the ground because over the course of the year they'll grow from the single ping pong ball-sized bulbs into the many-cloved version of elephant garlic. I'm still digging garlic sprouts from the old location around the heat pump to put into this part of the garden. The oregano and basil also need harvesting and drying (the house will smell like an Italian restaurant for the next week at least.)

Recycling and Goodwill donations need to be dropped off this week. Dog food needs ordering or (if they no longer have free delivery over $50) pick up at the store. A friend has a case of canning jars for me, but that is part of a cycle, it isn't re-cluttering, considering how many jars I give away (or loan to the neighbors).

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 20 Jun 23 - 01:36 PM

I'm finally sorting out the music CDs.

A friend dropped over the visit yesterday evening. Before I so much as asked if she had a mouth, I conscripted her to help me carry the last basement bookcase up to the library-cum-music room, thus completing the row of Ikea Billy bookcases on the east wall. I have six shelf inserts that permit a six-shelf 60-cm Billy to accommodate 7.2 shelf-metres of CDs. When the six double shelves for CDs are full, that's my limit.

Edmund's younger brother has already relieved me of a significant quantity -- most notably everything by Bob Dylan, John Prine and Johnny Cash -- so the task is not as daunting as it was two years ago, but it's no bagatelle. When the sheep and goats have been separated, I'll box up the goats for the music booth at the next parish rummage sale, which has been known to feature tactical shoving.

With the last bookcase in place, last night's visit was great. We sat on the porch and killed a bottle of wine while we watched the neighbours walk their dogs.

Speaking of wildlife, I got clobbered the other day by Dive-Bomber Dave, a terrifically territorial red-wing blackbird who lives in a tree overhanging the path beside the Avon River. He nailed me a good one, probably with both feet as well as his pointy little beak, and I have three minor lacerations on my pate and bloodstains down the back of my shirt to remember him by. Brave little blighter!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jun 23 - 12:08 AM

Patty, I sent you a PM.

Two days before summer starts and the temperature today was 101^o. I waited till near sunset to mow a swath of the back yard. I'm to that point of the summer where I place a bucket in the kitchen sink to catch rinse water and several times a day head out to pour gray water around plants in the garden and in the pots that dry out so quickly.

I'm watching the squash and tomato plants now as they begin producing, and the eggplants that were put in late are finally putting out new leaves. At the nursery there was only one remaining tray of eggplant bedding plants that were all dry and puny. But the two I brought home are recovering now. Okra are almost big enough to put in the garden (I started them from seed). They need hot weather to really thrive.