DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 30 Sep 23 - 06:47 PM

I’ve taken a break from the plays with the laptop and don’t know what I want to do to pass some time next. My last attempt was a go at Breakout.

I suppose I could take a longer look at the iPad mini. It is a nice device but I’ve yet to work out what I want to use it for.. That said, I got a pen for it today. I’d gone onto Amazon to look for a slimmer stylus for my phone when I stumbled on a Staetdler pencil that interested me. I also noted it said it wasn’t compatible with Apple pencils which used their own system and became curious about that. I found a genuine one at about £100 but also cheaper clones in the £10-£20 range and I got one to try. I like in. It, with the Apple OCR, seems to do a pretty good job interpretation my handwritten scrawl and although it needs charging, this is done magnetically so no cables to mess with.

Another Amazon item received today was a remote for the Yamaha soundbase under the living room tv. The power button on the tv remote switches both units on/off but occasionally, things go out of sync. It just needs the power button on the Yamaha remote pressing to restore the sync but dad lost the Yamaha remote and had been without sound for a week. Bloody parents, I wish they would be more careful. Another thing dad lost recently was his bank card which was supposed to be   kept in his wallet. I ordered him a new card and asked a carer to ensure he signed it and put it in his wallet. Of course, dad has lost his wallet now.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 14 Sep 23 - 10:51 PM

Yes, Tim is one of my three brothers.

Google offer services for people to use their map system. I think their only free one is the static api which will allow you to embed maps with plain html. They want your card on sign up regardless of your intended usage. I thought my usage would be free but after a second look, I’m not so sure. The static api allows you to place tags on maps but it wasn’t clear to me that these tags could be used as clickable links. If I had to resort to their JavaScript api, their starting point is $5 per month. Also, I found I can’t resolve all the place names that turn up on my regional extremes page to lat/long coordinates through the met office data. I found a free service that meets my needs but, if I wanted to use Google’s geolocation api, prices start at $7 per month.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 14 Sep 23 - 04:41 PM

I’ve had a play with maps since my last post here. I was going to try Google Maps but I managed to get my bank card locked during the sign up so I tried Leaflet. I’ve added some location maps to some of my weather forecast pages. I’ve also had a play around with a couple of the forecast pages. The hourly forecast one has changed quite a bit.

Nothing really to report from home but Tim’s daughter and partner in oz have had a disaster. Their house has burnt down. I believe it happened quickly and that they were fortunate to get out unscathed together with their two dogs. Their cat is thought to have perished in the blaze though.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 10 Sep 23 - 01:32 PM

Thompson, I use the UK Met Office DataPoint for my weather forecasts and observations. It just supplies data in json and xml formats so some coding is needed to make it readable. I added a chart to the UK previous day’s regional extremes page today.

Tim got me an iPad Mini for my birthday (7th). I never expected to be an owner of an Apple product          (or expected a present like that). I spent much of yesterday getting it to share data with my other devices. Google help searches led me to believe the iPad probably wasn’ t going to sync calendars with baikal so I decided to try nextcloud which I thought might work with everything. Loads of hassle with nextcloud until I stumbled on something that prompted me to take another look at baikal. I found the error, fixed it and the ipads now sharing contacts, calenders and tasks with the rest.

Annoying though. If I’d found that last page first, things would have been fixed in 15 minutes.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 07 Sep 23 - 10:41 AM

I did have a look at why the editor wouldn’t post. The cause is Mudcat’s sloppy html. The post form      is part in and part out of a table for starters. It works somehow for normal posting but when the extension does its bit, the box we put the replies in doesn’t get sent with the rest of the data. I probably could work round that but I think it would take more effort than I want for what’s only a one off experiment.

I’ve got Dave’s browser tools installed on Firefox.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 06 Sep 23 - 11:00 AM

Well I’ve had a go at a Firefox/Chrome extension to replace the Mudcat reply text area with a ( trumbowyg) wyswig editor. After some struggles, I managed to get the box in (see this png image but it won’t post or preview although the output the editor produces look fine. I think there’s some conflict between the extension code and the Mudcat code. I think I’ll just count this as one of my failures.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 04 Sep 23 - 12:40 PM

I didn’t stop with the charts although I thought I would...s I’ve added horizontal bar charts. The latest example page is here. I also had a look at 3d pie charts and stumbled on this site where the chap really has gone to town with his php generated svg charts. I looked at the xml in one of his svg pie charts and that gave me an idea to try although I’m not that pleased with my result.

I don’t know what I’ll try next. I downloaded loads of weather data files from CEDA using “bulk download” link but the files don’t contain much data and I don’t think I’ll bother with it.

I doubt there’s anything anyone would want on my computers but a brother could look through the files if he wished. The photos were an exception that I have dealt with.

I kept my passwords in a book that got lost when I was in hospital . I’m just noting passwords, PIN      numbers, etc. in a text file on my laptop now and I’ll give brothers a print out when I next see them.

I’m feeling too hot today but the temps wont be closet to yours. According to the ”extremes page I made using the met data, the hottest in the UK yesteday was St James Park at 27.8C

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 30 Aug 23 - 05:02 AM

Well I think I’ve gone as far as I want with the svg charts now. I’ve changed the co-ordinates from using margins to position a plot (it can handle multiple plots of different types in a chart as well as multiple charts per html page) to X1,Y1,X2, Y2 areas as I found the former difficult to handle as a user. I’ve sorted out (particularly with the pie labels) text alignment/positioning and made things a bit more user friendly. This would create a basic pie chart.

  require('pie.php');                                     //include file needed for pie charts
  $chart = new ChartBase(350, 300);                       //create new chart 350w, 300h
  $chart->setBackground(220, 255, 255);                   //chart bacground color rgb
  $pie = new Pie();                                       //create new pie plot
  $pie->setValues(array(50,10,40,25));                    //add values for slices
  $pie->setLegend(array("Red","Green","Blue","Orange"));  //add legend
  $pie->setTitle("Testing pie chart");                    //add title
  $chart->addPlot($pie);                                  //add pie plot to chart
  echo $chart->plot();                                    //draw chart, output to browser

I’m not sure what I’ll try next. I suppose I could see how I get on with a Javascript/ canvas version of the charts but maybe it’s time to try to think of something else.

Dad has taken well to his return to spending his daytime out of bed. He’s just come through on his wheelchair to say good morning to me. I don’t think we’ve any extra visitors today but it can get confusing just with the regulars. Cavel (care company) see me 4 times a day, mum twice a day and I think it’s 3 times for dad. They may send one or two person teams out. They always combine visits for mum with one for me but may or may not make a separate visit for dad. Then there are the district nurses who change a dressing on my back.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 26 Aug 23 - 03:07 PM

And I’m still plodding on with my charts. I’ve added exploding slices and a border when a user hovers over a slice on the pie chart. The first was easy. The second shouldn’t have been too bad but I spent a day wrestling with examples I found on Google before finding one that worked for me. It broke the tooltips on Firefox though so more searching and dead ends before reaching a solution, and one I like as it doesn’t need 3rd party scripts. I think it’s OK now.

I didn’t get round to doing mum’s council stuff today. Maybe tomorrow… Mum’s happy today btw. I think I mentioned getting her a slate clock with the numbers printed in Welsh for her birthday. She decided where she wanted it today. It’s replaced a cheap plastic clock that hung on a kitchen wall so it was a simple job which Lisa(cleaner) did for her.

Dad was taken back to his bed at about 3:45. I don’t know if that is going to be a regular(ish – carers times vary…) bed time or not but I think he’d probably have been feeling quite tired by then after all the time he’s been stuck in bed.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 18 Oct 23 - 02:21 PM

I put the light duvet on the bed today. Still no overnight frost, though; we should have had that before Thanksgiving.

This is my new gadget: Trudeau Sparkling Wine Stopper. Unlike most of the gadgets I have acquired over the last few years, I actually bought it in a local shop.

The collection of cardboard boxes in my garage has reached peak, so I will have to spend an hour I will never get back breaking them down for the recycle collection on Monday. I'm shocked -- shocked, I say! -- at how much stuff I buy on line these days, every single item painstakingly packed up, usually in a cardboard box. If the garage is full of boxes, I have been letting my fingers do too much walking through eBay and Amazon.

And then I run out of filters for the cats' water fountain. Guess where they come from? Yep -- Amazon.

Sigh.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 17 Oct 23 - 08:33 PM

A bottle with four ounces in the bottom does look like clutter, don’t it? Good excuse for a wee tipple, if one needs an excuse.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 17 Oct 23 - 07:42 PM

I have a new gadget that is definitely adding pizzazz to my quality of life. It’s a sealing cork for fizzy wine! So I can have, like, a single glass of prosecco. Like anyone has a single glass of prosecco, but I could, if I want.

At some point in the last six or seven years, I acquired a dozen bottles of champagne, real champagne, from France and everything, but from a maker I had never heard of. As fizzy white wine goes it’s tasty and refreshing, but it lacks the yeasty fresh-bread flavour that I like in a champagne. (Will ya look at her, the champagne snob!) Edmund and I would crack a bottle and drink it on the porch, or in front of the goggle box. There were still at least half a dozen bottles in the cellar when Edmund died.

When you’re on your own, fizzy wine is for company and for gifts. Because it’s like slaughtering a steer for one damned steak! But with this new gadget, I can open a bottle and have a glass, and then cork up the bottle and put it in the fridge and do it again tomorrow.

And that no-name champagne makes a killer Aperol spritz, and is amazing in a champagne cocktail or a French 75.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Oct 23 - 09:31 AM

In Stratford (Ontario!), masks are still common at large venues most people can’t avoid, especially supermarkets and big-box stores. I also see them at church, where singing happens. All of this makes perfect sense to me.

The plexiglass shields recently disappeared from the cashiers’ stations at Zehr’s and Sobey’s, the supermarkets I patronise the most. They can’t have been cheap to install, so I would like to know the business case for scrapping them.

For years, I have resisted air travel because I typically get off the plane with a cold I did not have on boarding, which means suffering with bronchitis is a foreign country. Now that COVID is apparently with us for the long haul, I definitely won’t fly for any reason short of a dire emergency, even after the full slate of available jabs, and with every intention of keeping up with each new vaccine. If that means I never see Europe again, I’m cool with that. (Maybe I’d go by sea. If a money tree were to spring up in my back yard.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 13 Oct 23 - 08:14 AM

Stilly, that cough, and the need to sit up to get any sleep at all, mean you have bronchitis. Have you seen any kind of medic about it?

Check the colour of the stuff that comes up when you cough; if it’s yellow to green, there’s a bacterial infection cooking in your lungs, and an antibiotic drug is called for.

I’ve been there way too often.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Oct 23 - 05:02 PM

I don't bounce as i did in my youth, that's for sure, and my lack of depth perception (only one eye that works) can get me into trouble in dim light. The restaurant was one of those burger places with booths that you step up into, and -- not seeing the difference in floor level -- I forgot to step down when scrambling out. Then my heel caught the edge of the invisible step, and over I went. Not fun; the bruises hurt for days.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Oct 23 - 01:45 PM

Having almost rested up from my American odyssey of last week, on Sunday I took off to Windsor for Thanksgiving dinner with SIL 2 and her family, including three grandsons who are still in the feral cat phase of childhood. Windsor is three hours’ drive from Stratford, so today I’m resting up from the road trip encore.

Autumnal weather has finally arrived. It took long enough; last Wednesday, when I crossed the border at Queenston Heights, southwestern Ontario was sweltering under a heat wave that had hovered around 30°C for a week. Conditions like that after the equinox are very unusual. We should have had our first frost by now, but the dreary rain phase — normal in mid-September — has only just begun.

Two weeks ago I fell in a poorly-lit restaurant, acquiring a couple of huge bruises that are just beginning to heal. At the allergist’s office this morning, I revealed one of them when I pulled up my sleeve for the needle and then had to spend ten minutes reassuring the nurse that I’m okay etc, etc, etc. Good thing she didn’t see the saucer-sized purple blotch on my thigh, where I hit the floor first! The damage would have been a lot worse if I hadn’t done a paratrooper’s tuck-and-roll landing to avoid the furniture.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 05 Oct 23 - 10:22 PM

I am so happy to be back at home.

The Getaway is objectively wonderful, and I love the people I see there. But getting there, and getting home again, is most definitely not even half the fun. Or any of the fun, come to think of it.

When I made the trip with Edmund, I had the pleasure of his company, of course, but I also benefited from his efforts to read maps and road signs, watch for over-caffeinated Porsches, enter data in the SATNAV, keep me supplied with Altoids, and find eating establishments that would do better than provide mere calories. He would also carry the guitar despite the military rule of “one man, one kit”. On my own, I was bossed around by the SATNAV and seemed unable to locate a McDonald’s with an operational milkshake machine.

Next year, I’ll fly.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 02 Oct 23 - 03:41 PM

Heading home from the Getaway. For tonight, I’m in an over-priced, hyper-decorated bed-and-breakfast in Gettysburg PA. The owners have so crammed every room with Victorian doo-dads that there’s nowhere to sit and the guitar has to share the bed.

Speaking of the bed, it’s much better than what I encountered at the Super 8 in Manassas, which was like concrete. With the constant slamming of car doors outside, I might as well have been sleeping in the parking lot.

When they invent the Star Trek transporter, I’ll be one of the first in line. Getting there (anywhere) is definitely NOT half the fun.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 25 Sep 23 - 10:15 AM

I'm getting ready to be away from home for a week and a bit. Very twitchy -- clearly tense about the prospect of crossing the border and travelling so far alone for the first time since (holy Dinah!) the mid-1980s.

The itinerary is very relaxed, with lots of time to rest, find a loo, get lost, and otherwise make retrograde progress. I have only one deadline: arrive at the West River Retreat Center (sic) by supper-time on Friday. The cats will be fine, with an experienced cat-visitor coming in every day. I have plenty of money. What in blazes is my problem?

My last major task before leaving is finishing the minutes from the last choir board meeting. Surely I'll settle down when that's done.

Dorothy, the hearing loss you describe is common in my family, and I fully expect to develop it myself over the next fifteen years if I live that long. The only coping method we have found is to avoid large groups and noisy places -- even church if the organ will be played -- and get a one-on-one briefing after public meetings and other gatherings for information. Yes, it's limiting, but my elders managed it by organizing the younger generation to provide those briefings and by writing a hell of a lot of letters. Without children and grandchildren to depend on, I'll have to find other means when it happens to me.

My elder brother -- an ex-artillery officer -- also suffers from the kind of deafness that comes from exposure to loud noise and explosions. His hearing aids meet about half his needs, and I'm impressed by his efforts to hide his frustration. One of my brothers-in-law is a retired plumber who worked in a Chrysler assembly plant for decades. He manages his hearing loss, now nearly total, with hearing aids (again, only partially effective) and by using headphones to listen to radio, podcasts and audiobooks.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 19 Sep 23 - 09:39 PM

I just pitched a great stack of Ordnance Survey maps of Wales and Michelin maps of France and Germany into the recycle box. The battlefield map of the Ypres salient is somehow still in the box …

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 19 Sep 23 - 02:04 PM

In re: Smallpox vaccination scars.

Like most southern Canadians of my age, I was vaccinated against smallpox as a toddler. At the age of 17, I was vaccinated again because I was going to France and had no documentary record of the original dose. In those days, a Canadian had to prove inoculation against smallpox after most foreign travel; only the United States, the United Kingdom and maybe the Nordic countries were exempt. Definitely not France.

Then I joined the armed forces and got vaccinated yet again, despite my fresh scar and the official record booklet that went with it. Each recruit was assumed to be an immunological tabula rasa, and we were inoculated against almost everything from mumps to yellow fever. Not cholera or plague, however, because the shots then available for those diseases gave only about six months of protection ( yellow fever was good for 10 years). Any deployment to a notorious hotbed (e.g., Congo) was always preceded by an extended visit to the warrant officer in the Preventive Medicine section.

So I once had three of those little round scars, two on the left shoulder and one on the right. Only the most recent, from 1974, is barely discernible now; the others have faded out of existence.

As for needle parades at school -- every year, from Grade One to Grade Six, with the entire school lined up for the village doctor and a nurse from the Carleton County public health office. It was a combined dose of typhoid, paratyphoid, tetanus and diphtheria (TABTD) and a separate needle for polio -- no oral vaccines on sugar cubes for us! The MMR vaccine -- targeting measles, mumps and rubella -- appeared well after I had survived all three diseases and left school. I've heard that, in Ontario, inoculation campaigns have even whooping cough and chicken pox on the run.

At age eight, when I was In Grade Four, I had whooping cough, rubella, and a full-blown case of red measles, all within a span of about eight months. No wonder I never really learned how to calculate with vulgar fractions.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 19 Sep 23 - 01:15 PM

I still have a couple of silk dress lengths -- large pieces of fabric from which to make dresses -- dating from the 1980s, and a swath of blue Chinese damask from the '50s that would once have made a wonderful jacket lining. Not so sure about that now -- its pattern (coolies and pagodas) would not please the modern taste.

But I don't wear dresses much any more, let alone dresses expensively tailored from fabric that must not go in the washing machine. What's more, I have no idea where I would find a dressmaker willing to take on such a project now. So the fabric remains at the bottom of the barrack box full of clothing that I have yet to face parting with, such as two wedding dresses (both mine) and my father's dressing gown.

Someone should draw up some Rules of Decluttering, starting with the Law of Tenure, to wit: The longer an item has been in your possession, the harder it is to part with.

Charmion's Corollary to the Law of Tenure: If an item is inherited, the difficulty of parting with it increases geometrically with every generation through which it has passed.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Sep 23 - 10:44 AM

The Getaway organizers want everyone in attendance to prove inoculation and to test negative before and during the event.I emailed my Province of Ontario vaccination certificate to the registrar with a question: Are five anti-COVID jabs good enough, although the most recent was almost a year ago, or must I get jabbed again before attending? I ask this because the Ministry of Health has a new vaccine, developed to target the latest variant, and it won't be distributed until late October. I don't fancy getting jabbed twice if I don't have to.

Beautiful weather in Perth County this week, markedly less hot and definitely chilly at night. I switched the thermostat from Cool to Heat on Thursday, when I arose to personal gooseflesh and an indoor temperature of 17.5C. Within half an hour, both cats were ensconced in meatloaf position on top of floor vents.

My personal fitness program is going well so far -- extended walks every day, greatly encouraged by conditions outside. Also, my annual bout of autumnal hay-fever has subsided, so I can huff all that delicious fresh air without wheezing and sneezing. The tourists are still in town, however, supporting the theory that man remains vile even when every prospect pleases.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 11 Sep 23 - 10:47 AM

First choir practice tonight, so seven file boxes of music are stacked near the garage door for an efficient exit. God forbid the house should catch fire while the gangway is so thoroughly blocked.

The swimming pool at the YMCA was supposed to open today, but no -- tomorrow at the earliest. Consequently, no pool class until Wednesday.


My hips feel stiff these days, so I downloaded a walking-challenge program to my phone yesterday in the hope that I will get off my butt more often. Summer is waning, so I don't have the excuse/reason of steamy heat to justify logging extra hours in the comfy chair.

The app is one of those couch-to-10K (steps, not kilometres) things. If it does what it says on the tin, and my rickety feet don't give trouble, I'll "do" Hadrian's Wall (145 km) on a treadmill at the Y gym over the winter.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 07:45 PM

I’m quite happy with Environment Canada, thank you.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 12:21 PM

Wearing a mask is a constant reminder of the threat -- not a bad thing in itself. People convalescing with COVID, or who have merely been in contact with the bug, should wear masks if only to remind them to wash their hands often and keep away from others until they are fully recovered, or they have tested negative throughout the incubation period.

More than a century of clinical experience has shown that masks inhibit the spread of all kinds of diseases, which is why medical personnel wear them when working over open wounds. As an asthmatic of long standing, I appreciate any effort or measure that reduces my exposure to the flipping COMMON COLD, which can reduce me to a quivering, barking wreck in two days flat.

So I'm on Team Mask.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 08 Sep 23 - 02:18 PM

I have a new-to-me library table. It’s teak, and the clever Danes who built it circa 1960 had dining in mind but so what — it will be great for sorting music. The six-foot folding work table has retired to the garage. It can go outside for messy jobs and patio dinners, but only if it’s at ground level — too heavy for me to move downstairs by myself.

The shipment of freshly reprinted sheet music that was supposed to arrive on Wednesday is now two days late. I am highly displeased.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 06 Sep 23 - 09:07 AM

Nothing of particular interest happening here except the last day of the current heat-wave, which no Texan would consider particularly warm but hey, this is Ontario. I have kept to home since church on Sunday in the interest of not melting into the sidewalk.

Consequently, I have had time to do the laundry and actually put it away.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 04 Sep 23 - 09:11 AM

I complete my sixty-ninth trip around the sun today, and Environment Canada has a heat warning up for Perth County. Gag me.

It’s a stat holiday, however, so energy prices are as low as they ever get in Ontario. So I guess I’ll do the wash, which takes place in the nice, cool (in fact, rather chilly) basement.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 01 Sep 23 - 10:44 AM

My aunt in the Townships was married to a very interesting man (my Uncle Tom) who insisted on repairing expensive machinery himself, despite the mediocre-at-best results. He firmly believed that, if the device would run at all, it was okay.

Including the family car, after a roll-over on black ice that stove in the roof and bent the frame, among other bad things. Tom managed to get the vehicle back on the road, but declined to spend any money on it. The non-functioning windscreen wipers were a major problem as Montreal has winter, and rain all year round, but that did not move Tom to consult a garage. Finally, Aunt Pat took to driving slowly past police stations and patrol cars in the hope that a cop would look twice, react appropriately, and order the poor old crate off the road.

I don't know if her plan worked, but eventually (i.e., not nearly soon enough) the rolled car was retired to a scrapyard and a replacement was found. It was just as small and nearly as rickety as its predecessor, but at least its windscreen wipers worked.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 31 Aug 23 - 11:09 AM

Three runs a day to feed cats? That's a needy cat-household! I hope your compensation covers fuel, at least, if not time. And I'll bet you're washing dishes as well as clearing the litter-box.

I don't expect my cat-visitor to come more than once a day.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 30 Aug 23 - 05:04 PM

Another thing: my iPad cost more than a thousand bucks (Canadian, admittedly) several years ago. Ain"t no way a concert choir that does classical music can afford to outfit all its singers with tablets, even devices that aren't iPads.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 30 Aug 23 - 05:02 PM

I bet the players in Keb's string quartet use paper scores for rehearsal, marking them up liberally, and then scan the marked-up scores and transfer the PDFs to tablets for the performance so they can turn their pages with a tap of their toes.

If I could eliminate the sound of flapping pages from our concerts, I'd do it.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 30 Aug 23 - 07:30 AM

Stilly, there are two reasons why choirs still use music printed on paper.

The first is copyright — PDFs circulate and reproduce faster than bunny-rabbits, and the copyright owner doesn’t get paid. Ever.

The second is singers’ notes — the conductor wants the crescendo to begin precisely here and the ritardando to end precisely there, and he doesn’t like the forte marked for that passage so please change that to mezzo-forte. And don’t you dare breathe before bar 78. Tablet technology has yet to evolve to that level of subtlety, but every chorister has a pencil (never a pen!) tucked behind an ear.

The musicians who use tablets are soloists, like your piano guy, or people who don’t require a tight ensemble to make their performance work. Without a very tight ensemble, a 70-voice choir is a braying mob.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 29 Aug 23 - 09:53 AM

My volunteer job as choir librarian is perilously close to full-time this week, with preparations for the onset of the singing season. Just for shits and giggles, we are also auditioning pianists for the job of choir accompanist, so I have to prepare repertoire packages for them. Because of various human frailties, the new music for this season was not ordered until only a couple of weeks ago, so I'll be numbering and sorting copies right up to H-Hour. I am not best pleased, but things could be worse and I decline to get wound around my axle. Yet.

Today I will visit the library's basement quarters to get two file boxes full of "Messiah" scores and 80 copies of "Now Is the Month of Maying" by Thomas Morley. That'll be a bit of an upper-body workout plus plenty of stairs. Tomorrow, one of my Board colleagues will drive all the way from London to bring me three more batches of new music, 80 copies each. A fourth batch proved to have a printing error and will be delivered late -- sometime next week. First rehearsal is 11 September.

Stratford is enjoying a classic late-summer week of golden sunshine without steamy heat. The humidity is still way high -- the basement doors are too swollen to shut properly -- but night-time low temperatures are now dropping below 10 degrees Celsius, so the end is in sight. The downtown streets are still full of tourists and theatre-goers -- God forbid that a townie should wish to dine out on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday -- but we're all grateful for the money they spew around town. The theatre festival and the restaurants are why Stratford has nice things.

On Monday, I will be sixty-nine years old. It will be Labour Day, a statutory holiday, so most of the shops will be shut. Monday is also the day when the theatres are dark, so the restaurants also take their day off. Consequently, whatever celebrating gets done will take place on Saturday, when my theatre buddy Alden proposed we go out for dinner. Our reservations are depressingly early, as the rest of the diners will have tickets for something with an eight-o'clock curtain, but that's life in a tourist town in the season.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 28 Aug 23 - 04:15 PM

I turned off the bedroom fan last night, but that’s as close as I’ve come to changing seasonal gear.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Nov 23 - 09:40 PM

Plugging along this week, not making as much progress as I'd like, but I'm still moving forward. I picked up the new sewing machine today but it's not likely to be opened until tomorrow or the next day.

The SUV key fob has been AWOL a couple of times this week, giving a misaligned signal (not starting the car until I get out and get back in) and not always unlocking the car. I have a sleeve of inexpensive button style batteries that seem to be underperforming (the fob wasn't responding when I changed to one of these batteries) so I put the old battery back in with enough juice to get to Lowe's and buy some name brand batteries. The cheap ones have their use, but this isn't one of them.

Planning for the holiday meal and I'm going to set up a couple of crock pots around the kitchen so I don't have to juggle so much on the stovetop. Is anyone else doing a Thanksgiving meal this week?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Nov 23 - 10:49 AM

Feeling virtuous this morning after finishing cleaning the fridge door. Last week I did the shelves, but this morning realized the molded plastic shelves on the door (with raised front edges) were a disarray and needing a scrub, so they're done now. Years-old items tossed, and I put all of the bottled sauces on one shelf, etc. Also shifted two up into slightly better positions. I may yet tackle the freezer just to say that job is completed.

A small table will be offered on the Buy Nothing page today and I'm continuing to clean. First up this morning comes washing the throws that are draped over the couch. They're very dusty.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Nov 23 - 08:10 PM

Sometimes I think the way those links fail has to do with how the backup populates the server it's running on when it starts up. But Mudcat is limping right now, we do need to help Max do something about it.

In the days we've been offline I decided which sewing machine I want and I'll go buy it before Thanksgiving. I'm using this weekend to finish some things I need to do before I have the full distraction of that machine in the house.

I've finished the food shopping for the holiday meal (we'll probably cook it on Sunday instead of Thursday due to family schedules) and the back lawn was mowed today. My nextdoor neighbors usually have family over and are in their yard and mine won't be a distraction of tall grass next to their well-trimmed area. I have to go with the bucket and scoop to remove walking hazards if anyone wants to go outside while they're here.

Yesterday I started dusting in my bedroom and then the den, and I'll work my way through the house tomorrow so that is all finished. The next job is to wash dog beds and small rugs before sweeping and mopping. I'm putting things away and tossing stuff into the recycle bin. By the time cooking begins I hope to stage it better, not all cooked on the one day. The meal itself will be less meat and more other stuff this year, since there will be two vegetarians (out of the probably five or six of us here).

How are our lurkers doing? Jon? Jennie? Sandra? Patty?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: keberoxu
Date: 18 Nov 23 - 04:44 PM

We're back!
THis thread didn't like it when I clicked on the number of posts,
but it responded the right way
when I clicked on the "d" next to the number of posts.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Nov 23 - 07:06 PM

There was a lot more asparagus in that bed than I thought (covered over with vines and grass), but it is all dug up and awaiting transplant to someplace easier to tend; I have a couple of spots in mind. I put some crinum lilies in the old spot; they're easier to weed than huge asparagus ferns are. They've been in a bucket all summer awaiting a time when I could get out and work and plant them without overheating. I have some light pink crinum lilies in a different bed, these are a more orange color, if I recall correctly the description from the friend who gave them to me.

The fridge is cleaned out, all shelves and drawers washed. (I didn't organize the freezer side.) I emptied a half-dozen or more old jars of pickles and preserves and tossed a bunch in the compost. And I picked up a 13.5 pound frozen turkey with no additional brine injected. I was going to do breasts, but when I was in a grocery store today I stumbled upon these and it will work. Now to load up on the root vegetables and other ingredients that go in a Thanksgiving dinner. This year I'll make more breads and veggies, less meat.

Tomorrow I have a tour at the museum where I volunteer, and maybe after a trip to the gym. With the gardening I get good exercise, primarily upper-body, so the gym offers a chance to keep the knees limber.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Nov 23 - 10:03 AM

This morning saw the removal of the summer programmable watering system (for up to four hoses) off of the back yard spigot and replaced with a simple splitter for running one or the other or both. The final shift before a heavy freeze is to remove that and put a styrofoam faucet cover and some other insulating stuff over the spigot (that is probably weeks away). And before heading out I took the new can of WD-40 with its much more convenient spray setup (I guarded and used that little red tube on the old can forever; I should have ditched it ages ago!) and got the rollers under the back sliding glass door loosened up and flowing. A friend commented last week that all I needed to do for a full-body workout was open and close that door a couple of times a day.

Yesterday the old heavy White Series 77 rotary sewing machine went into the shop for a tune up and two small repairs. And I spent a couple of hours comparing the new machines. I'm not ready to buy one yet, I have things to do here to be ready for that big change (because once that device is in the house I'll ignore everything else!) Machines have come a long way in the last 82 years. I have an even older White in a table that has a knee operation instead of foot; later I'll take it in for rewiring and a new foot and then list it on eBay. I think I can adapt the table to fit the machine I'm keeping.

I've decided it is time to remove the mess in the front corner of the house that was at one time intended to be an asparagus bed. The weedy Carolina snailseed vines have overrun it and I haven't been able to harvest any of the asparagus in a couple of years. It's a green tangle that needs to be completely dug up. Doing it this time of year means any asparagus roots I find I might be able to transplant for use next year. To someplace less compromised by the intense native vine. This job will require the spade fork and full-size mattock (and the wheelbarrow to catch all of the vines and roots).

Family have been slow to offer up their dates for our movable feast known as Thanksgiving. The long weekend has four days, we don't need to do it on Thursday, but I do need to load up on some of the basics. Must gently prod again today for an answer.

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

One dog bed already back in the front room out of circulation after Cookie tore out stuffing twice. Damn predictable dog. Perhaps I'll find a cover to protect the fuzzy material the bed is made of and try again.

My quilting friend offered helpful insight and my list is now shorter. I'll check in at the sewing machine business next week and see what they have that I can touch and test.

The front lawn got mowed this afternoon and I'll do the back tomorrow. Usually by now the weather is so cool that the turf is dormant, but not this year.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Nov 23 - 02:45 PM

I assembled an unranked list of sewing machines that do the things I need for regular sewing and additional features for some quilting activity, with links to each company and prices (some are on Amazon at deep discounts - making me wonder why there is such a difference and if there is any support if you buy off of the Big A.) A friend who has quilted for years recommended a couple of them and others I stumbled upon via reviews. Some were left off the list as way too expensive and fancy. I don't need a machine so complex that it's difficult to simply sit down and sew after going through basic tutorials. She's going to look at my list and offer suggestions as to why some features are better than others. After using an 80-year-old straight stitch machine for years any of these features are going to be magical, so the super-high end stuff of the eye-wateringly-priced machines will never be missed.

I've also found a place that I would trust as far as getting work done on the old rotary machine. I've done a lot of basic stuff, but even with manuals can only go so far when replacement parts haven't been fabricated for 50 years or more.

This weekend should be good for work on the fence, giving the area a little time to dry after yesterday's rain. We are finally in fall temperatures in the mid-60s and low-70s for the next 10 days. With the cooler weather I've gotten out a couple of the cushy dog beds and given Cookie a strict scold about not shredding them. I doubt she'll cooperate, I'll have to figure ways to cover them to keep them intact. Trouble is, you go for a week or two and think you're home free, then she goes on a tear and eviscerates and scatters bed stuffing around the den.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Nov 23 - 04:53 PM

The older workhorse quad core stopped communicating with the Internet but had a whole bunch of really good free-standing expensive software. Worth more than the computer itself at that point, so I replaced the computer instead of reinstalling Windows and destroying all of the software (I had no disks for it, it came from work when we could have personal copies at home also.) It works well for things that also don't need an Internet connection, like scanning. I have a transfer cable to move contents from that to the new computer.

For years there was just one printer, the black toner laser jet, but with the addition of a high-rez photo scanner, the ink jet photo-quality printer came along. There is logic to the accumulation! (There is also a 10-year-old small WiFi laptop in the kitchen that is the emergency backup computer.)

I may also move an extra computer chair out of the office, though where it will live I'm not sure. There are times when someone joins me in there so it won't go away completely.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 09 Nov 23 - 04:41 PM

The paint stick is my favourite bookcase shim, Stilly. My library/music room contains seven bookcases, all but one shimmed with a paint stick (the four-litre length) in the middle of the front bottom edge. I'm not sure it's possible to keep house without a basket of shims and a bouquet of paint sticks.

I can't imagine housing and maintaining so much legacy computer hardware, but then I'm not only a neat freak but also allergic to extra anything except, perhaps, Wedgwood bone china. Instead of several printers, I have a plethora of coffee cups and no fewer than six teapots.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Nov 23 - 10:36 AM

We now have the rain but without the cold of Perth County. The Tarrant County version has very slick roads (road grime) after a couple of dry weeks.

It took elbow grease and WD-40 to shorten the legs on that metal stand, considering it was only eight screws, but it is short enough now that I can tuck the printers (one on the shelf and one on top) under the most active computer desk. And by rearranging the equipment for the older computer I can now work on that desktop and open either of the files under it, if needed. (I'd forgotten that the legal file has a locking upper drawer. I suppose I should empty it enough so if I have something to lock away there is free space.)

The last step was putting art back on the walls, now accomplished, and I'm looking at the empty portable shelves in front of the window. I may move the contents of a small end table onto the top shelf and move the end table out of here. It ends up an even swap - the new book shelf for this piece, and the result is better use of floor space AND access to the window sans a dog problem.

Also a note, when I turned the files and plywood desktop 90^o to the original position I brought in the level and needed to shim the side closest to the front wall. There is one 5-gallon paint stick on the file cabinet under the plywood to level the desktop. The space isn't equally lopsided, it took five 1-gallon paint sticks under the tall bookcase on the other side of the room (again by the front wall) to level it. Thank dawg for Home Depot and Lowe's free paint stir sticks!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 08 Nov 23 - 10:43 PM

Thunder and lightning now. A Perth County Particular with ice rain. So glad I’m tucked up under two cats.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Nov 23 - 05:24 PM

I fought off shards of sunshine this morning at the Botanic Garden where I spent three hours repotting trees into larger deeper containers. Also (alas) fought off bits of grit in my eyes (one at a time, but one each) from the fine compost/mulch we were using. After that I shifted tasks and used a shovel to shift soil instead of getting close with a scoop. I retrieved eyedrops from the SUV for relief, and made a note to myself: in addition to gloves and a bottle of water I'll add safety glasses to my growing BG volunteer kit. This afternoon I'm feeling the exercise in my arms and shoulders.

In daylight I can see the shifts needed to make the office flow better. I previously used a 3-shelf folding bookcase sitting on the desk next to the wall to stack equipment that is attached to the computer (scanners and VHS players for converting old videos). Taking it up instead of spreading it out. I tried to add another (missing it's lower shelf) but that is too much. Instead, the one without the lower shelf is best for the job and the first one will now sit in front of the window and should be the answer to keeping the smallest dog away from the windowsill if I open the blinds occasionally. I don't want them in here scratching the sill and barking, but I do like to let in the light sometimes. I couldn't keep cats out of any window now matter how much I tried, but I can block the dogs.

The next 2 1/2 weeks have lots and lots of cat sitting runs. I'll be going to the gym again, including checking out a new gym that opened nearby - I like the one I go to and when I'm in that part of town will still head over. It seems that Silver Sneakers will let me join more than one gym, so I'm going to give the new one a try. My goal is not to have a lot of classes or personal trainers, but for no fuss to use the equipment I prefer when I want to use it. I like access to a pool but I think the pool at the nearby place is quite small, so probably stick to my regular gym for that.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 08 Nov 23 - 03:24 PM

It’s sleeting in Stratford — winter’s first blast. Nasty.