DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Jan 23 - 01:08 PM

I compost all types of animal manure when I can get it, Maggie. That's not what I was saying. It's the potential for spreading plant diseases that bugs me. When I started my veg garden here 35 years ago I had no onion white rot. Somehow it got into my soil and I haven't been able to grow onions, shallots, leeks or garlic without losing a half to two-thirds of my crop. The black spores can lie dormant for 20 years. Unlike most UK gardeners I've managed to keep brassica clubroot at bay. I had that when I had an allotment just outside London and it devastated my crops every year. So nothing from any bought cauliflower, cabbage, kale, sprouts or broccoli goes into my heaps. The counsel of perfection is to put suspect material into the middle of fresh heaps where the heat will kill any spores, but in practice that in unachievable for most of the heap, especially the stuff nearer to the outsides. I generate so much compost from my home-grown crops, weeds and grass clippings that I should think that shop-bought trimmings would contribute less that one per cent of the bulk. My blighted potato tops go in the heaps as the spores can't survive the winter unless they're in "volunteer" potatoes, and I never worry about weeds that have seeded. As for pesticide residues, to register as an organic farmer in the UK you mustn't have used the chemicals banned for organic for at least two years. That rule is there for a reason. Many shop-bought products, including oranges, tangerines, lemons and peppers are dusted with fungicide before sale. There no definitive evidence that mere rinsing gets rid of it all.

My view on fresh chicken and rabbit droppings is that they should go on the compost heap, not straight into the soil. Small amounts of rabbit won't do any harm, but chicken is a "hot" manure which will do wonders for your heaps but not a lot for crops, and in large amounts it will do damage. The only fertiliser I ever buy is chicken manure pellets, which have already been composted. Not saying you're wrong, but I've been gardening organically for 45 years...

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jan 23 - 03:58 PM

Black onion rot is a fungal disease - you have a couple of options. If you're starting with onion sets, then I'd give a good sprinkle of corn gluten meal on the ground where you're going to plant them, stir it into the surface a bit, then put in the sets. You can't use the corn gluten meal when planting seeds because it tends to prevent germination. That's why it's a good one to apply to prevent winter weeds, and to put down when putting on the soil around bedding plants to slow weed growth around them as the season starts.

Hydrogen peroxide (the store strength 3% variety) is a good fungicide, but even at that strength it will burn the plants. You might want to spray it on the soil the day before you plant onion sets and see if that helps, then add a little to a mix so it's dilute if you ever do foliar feeding in the garden. And you could continue to sprinkle corn meal (cheaper) or corn gluten meal around your onion bed every so often as they grow. Or put corn meal in water to soak for a while then spray the "tea" directly on the plants. You might even want to try spritzing the seeds with a mix of compost tea and hydrogen peroxide before you plant (place them in the ground still moist).

Another anti-fungal treatment is potassium bicarbonate or even baking soda (bicarbonate of soda), a couple of tablespoons dissolved in a gallon of water with whatever else you're putting on the garden - compost tea, liquid organic fertilizer, etc.

It sounds like you could treat the soil ahead, treat the soil at planting and during the growth season.

The only things I don't put in my compost are plants with seeds that I absolutely don't want sprouting as volunteers around the edge. So I get rid of the datura from the front yard flower bed into the trash, the seeds can scatter everywhere and if the dogs eat them it will make them sick.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Mrrzy
Date: 11 Jan 23 - 04:01 PM

I really, really should compost.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 11 Jan 23 - 04:28 PM

It's mid-January, when Ontario is usually very cold and knee-deep in snow, but Perth County has temperatures hovering above freezing, consistent rain, and no snow at all. This has been going on since New Year's Day. I think we got the winter that should have been delivered to southern Germany.

On the other hand, I'm not eager to wear the big coat and heavy boots that are normal January kit, or to put up with chilblained fingers.

Tomorrow I have a date with a builder's estimator to talk about my bathroom. I've had a lot of asthma this winter, probably initiated by the bout of COVID I had but surely made worse by the presence of a major mould infestation to which I am very allergic. Pumping myself full of steroids and bronchodilators keeps the worst of it under control, but the drugs make me feel wobbly and tired.

I'm not doing anything interesting with compost, and the house remains full of books that need new homes. The box-seeking visit to the LCBO (liquor store) hasn't happened yet. I must admit, however, that I'm looking forward to getting shot of the works of Sir Winston Churchill -- not only his history of the Great War (four volumes) and the Second World War (six volumes), but also his biography of the Duke of Marlborough (four volumes) and his memoir about youthful adventures in South Africa. That's a lot of shelf space to devote to an ... um ... "unreliable" narrator, as they say in literary circles.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Jan 23 - 04:53 PM

What you're calling black rot is what we call neck rot, I think, which is caused by a Botrytis. White rot is completely different. It attacks the base of the plant with a soft-rot white fungal growth which soon produces the typical black spores that can persist for many years in the soil. Check out Stromatinia cepivora (syn. Sclerotium cepivorum).

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Jan 23 - 05:28 PM

Hmm. Having just checked, I think that our neck rot is not your black rot! Neck rot is a botrytis infection whereas black rot is an Aspergillus infection. Neither of them is connected to the white rot I mentioned.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jan 23 - 06:04 PM

I pulled up my browser history to find the fungus I was discussing: Black rot of onions (Aspergillus niger).

Here is a starting place about corn gluten meal and you can use the Library Topics link to bring up the alphabetical list for things like Hydrogen Peroxide and Compost Tea.

I've just returned from several trips to the back of the back yard with a tarp filled with the pruned Salvia greggii from around the front yard. I took it down completely in three places and left it standing in two others, where it is a good barrier. The cut branches are dropped over an area that was becoming a path along the back - it's private property so we don't need it looking like a path into the woods along the creek. It's 84^o right now, but supposed to cool considerably overnight, so this was a good time to do the job.

I had a call from the vet while I was working–it is good news for Pepper. That mass was a mastitis tumor that flared badly but it wasn't cancerous. If I'd gone in to have her teeth cleaned last year in the spring (they knock them out and do any other small things or trim nails at the same time) and had it removed, this wouldn't have happened, so this is on me. At the time he thought it was just a fatty tumor, but either way, it wouldn't have become this big messy expensive surgery had I acted promptly.

Hindsight is 20/20.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Jan 23 - 06:21 PM

I could be wrong but I'm not aware that the aspergillus infection is a serious issue here.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: keberoxu
Date: 11 Jan 23 - 06:53 PM

Thank goodness for good news about Pepper, Stilly.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jan 23 - 11:20 AM

Trash is picked up twice a week here and my contribution is usually small because I keep recyclables in a separate bin and take it down to the collection dumpsters at city hall every week or so.

My donation bin is next to the recycle bin and it's filling up, so I think over the weekend I'll be emptying both.

My methods to get more stuff out of here are to sell it, donate it, or throw it away. The eBay activity is started up again and it will feed itself once a few things start selling. Success breeds success.

I've managed to follow-up on some ideas and appointments that were written on bright yellow post-it notes stuck on my computer monitor. I'm leaving in a few minutes for one of those appointments and have only one note left to tend to. It's a new year that had a rocky beginning but I think I can turn it around. Now, to get a mask, put on my earrings (with closing hooks so I don't fling them off accidentally with my mask) and grab my shopping list.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 12 Jan 23 - 07:17 PM

The builder’s estimator came, and this time I just might get my bathroom squared away.

It won’t be cheap … but good service rarely is.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jan 23 - 10:30 PM

Charmion, will they have to build a plastic barrier between the bathroom and the rest of the house, to keep the mold out of the general air circulation? Will it involve connecting with the framework of the house, not just pulling out tile and sheet rock and redoing it? What will be the extent of that remodel?

This weekend a friend is coming over with some aluminum crutches, needing help trimming them down. She has Osteoporosis Imperfecta (brittle bone disease) and needs her crutches to be adult strength (versus lightweight child size) but very short. Her husband is deep into a form of dementia and is no longer able to help her, as he used to do. I'm glad she knows I'm here to help; I have my coping saw and my drill handy. She has remarked several times that it astonishes her that at this point in her life that she is considered the "able-bodied" of the two of them.

This is a friend who retired from the university, though she wasn't a victim of the awful dean as were many of us (she worked in the next building over from me). When I look at the array of friends both inside and outside my old workplace, clearly most of my friends now were met at work. I throw up my hands when the subject of where your friends should be made comes up (work or outside work); ages ago I understood that those people you met outside of work were organically the best friends (why?), but it has been my experience in an educational institution with thousands of employees that you meet people with whom you "click" because of your fields or because of similar interests. I see packs of librarians traveling and partying together; they met at work. If I return to the part of the country where I grew up, the people I know there are adults who were kids I went to high school with. Very few adults from my working life. Does this make sense? I'm questioning the validity of suggesting our friends should come from a particular part of our lives. I'm curious where each of us situates our friends in relation to our jobs or workplaces.

By way of explanation, I know why this has come up. It's in the front of my thoughts because of the departure of the almost-former dean. A psychologist friend today stated adamantly that I (all of us) need to leave the anger at her behavior behind. "Burn her in effigy. Buy a piñata in her shape and destroy it!" Good advice!

Lunch with my daughter and a trip to the gym tomorrow. Pleasant company and then a workout listening to an interesting book. That sounds like a good day.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Jan 23 - 11:43 AM

Rounding up dishes and running the dishwasher today after the messy process of making a loaf of lemon poppyseed pound cake last night. So much work and splatter to beat all of that butter with everything slowly added. I like it, though I think next time leave out the poppyseeds. They go straight for the gumline, don't they? I followed the instructions in the cookbook the first time and nearly burned out the motor of my ancient handheld egg beater. Another time, use the Kitchenaid stand mixer.

I think I have that out of my system - it was something I wanted to make over the holidays that kept getting postponed. After sampling a slice the rest is in the freezer and will be a lovely dessert when friends come over for lunch.

Also trying to get coconut out of my system. I think something came into the house with the term "natural flavorings" that was actually coconut, I can't figure out where else, but I've had my classic skin breakout after coconut this week. I've gone through the packages of things here and tossed a couple where contents were vague.

Rereading my riff on where we manage to make friends, at work or outside work, I want to add that what I'm always pleased to read here are all of the people over the countryside in two provinces who Dorothy seems to know when she describes her travels. She sets an example of how to be friendly and a good friend and (most importantly) enrich both herself and those people in the process of their conversations, however long, short, or involved it might be. Taking note of the people we meet and the in-person conversations, those are so good for us.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: pattyClink
Date: 13 Jan 23 - 12:07 PM

Friendships seem to develop with people you spend a lot of time with, work being a big one of those, or have common interests/pursuits which bring you into regular contact. Of course these situations vary throughout life; you don't stay in the PTA group for your entire lifespan, though you might keep in touch with a few of them.

All I really know is it is easier to pursue friendships in retirement because people have more time for it. The modern middle-ager is locked into work, housework, yardwork, child care, extended family, maybe religion, and usually youth sports. Who can be surprised if their only new friends in adulthood are work friends?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Jan 23 - 12:32 PM

Well... We moved from London to Cornwall 36 years ago when we had two small children. I had a teaching job in a nearby small town and our children went to the local primary school. Those were our two fast routes into making a new circle of friends. On the other hand, there are lots of stories of retirees buying up cheap homes or chalets in the south of Spain where they'd go for a few months every year (or even to live permanently) to escape the British winter. Many of them find themselves mixing with similar ageing Brit expats only and can feel lonely. There's the language barrier for many and the fact that many locals don't take kindly to incomers who are not Spanish. What's more, many of the lovely summer holiday honeypots almost completely shut down in winter. I always felt that moving to a different area to work may go down a lot better. Careful choices to be made, eh?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Jan 23 - 10:51 PM

I weeded a bunch of old calendars out of a shelf in the office closet - I mentioned them to my ex - that it was time to let these go. He suggests taking photos of the pages before recycling. It's all of the appointments the kids had, guitar lessons, field trips, doctor's appointments. I suppose that will work and they won't take up any more space. There are other papers around here to scan or photograph, I could spend a fair amount of time working on all of that.

Papers are coming out of that closet also, and I probably don't need as many file folders as are up there. After the next rain I'll set out the burn barrel to burn old bills and receipts. I bundle them a year at a time; it's time to set up this year's accordion folder and start putting the January printouts and bills in it. They're piling up on top of the printer right now.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 Jan 23 - 06:55 PM

Made it through the rest of the drawers but moved things amongst piles and did not get rid of anything.

But they close, now.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 15 Jan 23 - 07:58 AM

Drawers that close! And open again without jamming!

The true basis of household order.

I have decided to rehome the large cooking gear that I never use any more. The giant Instant Pot, the roasting pan big enough for a young emu, the cast-iron skillet that I can barely lift — it’s time to let them go. Must canvass the family …

In other news, we have snow again, but not even enough to sweep off the porch let alone bring out the town plows. If this goes on, we’ll have a drought come spring.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Donuel
Date: 15 Jan 23 - 10:15 AM

innovation
While Dal-le AI software can create art of every painting description and 3D printer cad cam can carve marble sculptures similar to Bellini it Michaelangelo, I am still creating art that AI can not create.
It is because I am combining sculpture and painting using unusual materials.
The AI database is over 800 million images and is headed way past a billion.
Today we can type a brief description and create a Van Gogh or Rembrandt painting or even animation. Easy come easy go. It may make true handmade art more valuable but diminish the need for graphic artists when good enough is all that is needed.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jan 23 - 11:01 AM

Don, how much art do you make, and is this for your personal use or for sale? My art these days still is largely the sewing of masks (I gave two new ones to a friend who was here yesterday - she still wears them religiously in public buildings, as do I.) The art in this case was choosing a new fabric color and pattern and combining the t-shirt yarn ties and a couple of colored hard acrylic beads for the adjustable ear loops.

Yesterday my mask friend from above came over with a stack of old aluminum crutches picked up at Goodwill; she has Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), is 4'3", and children's crutches aren't robust enough. Her husband used to cut down adult crutches for her, but he has a form of dementia making that work impossible, so she explained her requirements and we attacked the spare crutches (one of the current ones has a broken plastic underarm piece). We got one cobbled together by shortening an adjustable part and it involved the reciprocating saw, but that isn't easy and doesn't cut completely straight. Also that tube was molded in an oblong shape, but she had a couple of other crutches that have round adjustable tubes and it dawned on my last night to get out the little pipe cutter I've used on copper pipes. I'll be making another pair of crutches for her this week for backup and replacement crutches will become a feature of my Goodwill shopping. #ItTakesAVillage

At Goodwill last week I examined a Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) battery backup unit that was probably donated because the batteries inside need replacing. For $15 and $50 in batteries I would have a working unit and I considered buying it to use as a backup in the main part of the house for power outages (for phones and tablets and a small light). But until I replace the batteries in the hall UPS that keeps the router and modem running during a power outage there is no point in buying another. Fix what I already have first.

Time to make a list of house and garden goals for this year; I noticed the last list on the fridge didn't have things crossed off during the year but I'd managed quite a few.

Today is a fasting day and will feature a trip to the gym. The sugar from the holidays kicked in the addictive sugar-craving that adds weight, and I've about got it out of my routine again. I wonder if I could think of a few bacon-based gifts to give out next year? Or beef jerky treats with a holiday bow in a bright red gift bag? And keep that kind of snack at the house. Trouble is, I enjoy the holiday baking. :-/

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Mrrzy
Date: 15 Jan 23 - 12:24 PM

Oh, I didn't say they opened again...

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: keberoxu
Date: 15 Jan 23 - 12:49 PM

I've lost a key. Wish I could declutter it. Looked everywhere for it.
My room has a lockbox for prescription medications.
That's the key that has gone missing, an old-fashioned metal key.
The nurses' station managed to get my locked meds box opened,
and now I have to leave it unlocked.
And I will probably have to pay to have a new key cut,
as I really don't know where that key went to.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jan 23 - 01:02 PM

Keb, the easiest way to solve that mystery is to have the new key made. When you go to put it in a safe place, that's where the other one will be. It works *every* time - buy the replacement and the absentee item turns up.

So Mrrzy's drawers don't close? Then the job isn't finished. Did you consider hanging any of the drawer items in the closet? If you're not going to thin them out (do you really wear every one of those garments? Aren't there a few you pass by every time you look in the drawer?)

My hall closet is better these days; it used to be that I could open the door, stuff something straight into the dense collection of jackets, and it would stay there without a hanger, not falling to the floor. Try to remove something and the garments on either side also exited the closet. A while back I cleared out a few things that I wanted to keep but I don't personally wear. They're the extra jackets and sweaters kept in case a visitor to the house needs one. That has happened enough times that I keep these spares, but they are now in the guest room closet.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Donuel
Date: 15 Jan 23 - 01:51 PM

I started as a kid making landscapes that changed color every 5 degrees of motorized rotation. It was Paintings and sculptures until 20 years ago I prolifically decorated violins and cellos. Since then I went digital, ink cartoons and now stone. I have only kept about a dozen odds and ends and have never had any support or marketing since its a personal hobby. If its different its worth doing for me. My ancestors were probably cave painters.

Took down the tree and decorations today. This marks no more carbs till May. Also marks the start of Spring cleaning.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jan 23 - 06:04 PM

I used a long orange heavy duty extension cord in the master bath to calculate the length of a needed extension cord, routing it along the path from the wall plug to near the new bidet. I'll get a 15' black one to run down the wall, along under the sink cabinet, and back up the other side next to the commode. I settled on a simple black extension 3-prong cord that will be plugged into the plug on the far wall and won't need a surge protector because of the GFCI wall plug. When I get to the point of having the electrician in for my growing list of electrical projects, I'll have him run a line to put a plug in beside the commode.

I could stand to have both bathrooms updated with new cabinets and flooring, but they work as they are so will stay this way for now. I look forward to hearing about the work on Charmion's bathroom.

Dorothy, did you and R sell that house you had for years in Montreal? It sounded like it was in a great neighborhood (I think you posted a link to the Zillow page for it once) but it had floors that were ready to fall through and needed a lot of work and cleanup.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Jan 23 - 11:42 AM

My list of seasonal chores is growing. One regular thing I didn't do today is put out the trash because there simply wasn't enough to bother with, but I hope by Thursday to have a bag full of items discarded from the greenhouse workbench. One of the signs of spring is when local people share on Instagram their pots of soil for planting from seed; it's too early to plant outside for at least two months, but I can start a seeds-in-pots planting station. There is a garden cart in the sunroom, right now heaped with plastic containers and oddball things I should have sorted or discarded. To have space to work on the bench I first need to finish wrapping up the holiday lights . . . this is the "work backwards until you can do what you set out to do" method.

Before planting bedding plants it will be time to plant potatoes (late January) so I'll finish hauling away the pile of dead stuff from last year's garden. Okra makes quite a large pile if dry thick stems and potatoes tend to do well in the corner where I've stacked that stuff. I'm glad I finally fixed the gate next to the garden making the moving of it all easier.

Today is a bank and post office holiday in the US, but most businesses will operate normal hours. I ended up not going to the gym yesterday because I didn't have any other places I needed to go; today I have a short list that will satisfy my eco-goal to make each trip efficient. Go early enough and it might not be full with the new January members.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Jan 23 - 01:44 PM

Definitely not finished, agreed!

My closet is limited to its hangers. I got rid of all the extra hangers so now I can't hang anything up without culling. This was on purpose.

There are a lot more clothes in the closet that I never wear than are in my dresser. I got rid of most of the dresser never-wear clothes the last time I decluttered.

So good idea. I could go through the closet, cull, then move some drawer-contents to the closet...

However several piles of things I moved from shelves I was decluttering to my desk area for later decluttering, now that I have decluttered my desk, have moved back to the shelves... but in nice neat piles, sorted.

So um, maybe moving things around is not a long-term solution...

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 16 Jan 23 - 09:55 PM

I solved my clothing storage problem some years ago. I'm lucky enough to have my grandparents 1920's dressing table & wardrobe (this style - note comment about modern coathangers) & 20-odd modern padded coathangers took up too much room, so I bought five 4-tier padded metal hangers meant for shirts, which are also good for dresses. My 3 summer skirts & 2 winter skirts take up the rest of the rail in the wardrobe.

My grandparents managed with the wardrobe plus the dressing table with 5 drawers, but I also have off season clothes in an old suitcase. I have one summer 1970s midi-flared skirt I can no longer wear (shrunk in the wardrobe as a friend said when she gave me 2 winter velvet hippie skirts some years back!) which I can almost wear again. I won't get rid of it as I made what was supposed to be a 6-10" braid when I was learning bobbin lace back in the early 80s, but kept going for several metres & put it around the hem!

Of course there are a lot of other stuff I have, especially embroideries & craft items I've made over the years. I've given away bits & pieces but there re still too many items, as well as too much craft material & lots of other stuff that needs new homes. Stuff has slowly dripped out, but that doesn't really empty the dam, good thing I live in a 4-room apartment, & not a 4 bedroom house!

My cousin has 2 daughters & is taking family stuff, including items made by our Great Grandmother & Great Aunt, but I can't give her all my embroideries & other craft, unless one of her daughters turns out to be a crafty maid! fingers crossed

sandra (who has been very slowly downsizing for at least 5 years without visible effect)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Jan 23 - 10:38 PM

Sandra, we should all compare notes and do a summertime "secret santa" and send garments that might be worn but other Mudcatters. It would involve measurements since sizes don't mean much these days. I have a couple of skirts like the one you mention, lovely, and it would be nice if someone could wear them.

I have a covered bin in the laundry room that I drop things into as I decide they need to go. Last year there was a long gap in donations and in late 2022 I realized that a couple of the things in the donation for the last six months bin now fit. Everything else left the house.

The gym was getting crowded today so I stayed only 45 minutes; I'm switching from just recumbent bike to half bike, half treadmill. I also let the treadmill run on a slight incline and I can feel it in my hips this evening. I was able to make the trip efficient by picking up free mulch at the city park mulch bunker before the gym and on the way home stopped to pick up the 15' extension cord I need.

The dogs have created a forest floor again in the den, with lots of chewed up tree branches; fortunately, that mess is confined to that room. Now that Pepper is past the oozing part of her surgery recovery I can put my nice Persian rug down in my bedroom. I've missed it now that it's winter with cold tile floors.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Jan 23 - 07:39 AM

I have what I impolitely call my Ethnic pile.

It has all the things that should go back to where they came from.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 18 Jan 23 - 12:07 AM

My mother had a Mobile Muddle. It was the heap of homeless stuff that migrated from room to room, waxing and waning but never quite getting tidied away. I would come home on leave and make a move to deal with it, and Mum would shut me down as soon as she realized what I was up to. Much as she complained about it, she liked the muddle or perhaps just preferred not to live without it.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Senoufou
Date: 18 Jan 23 - 02:26 AM

Husband is moving back in with me in three days' time (whoopee!) and he's been coming round with stacks of stuff. Yesterday it was two large bags of washing. I had no idea he owned so many sets of underwear, socks, shirts etc. but I set to work after he left and it's now all washed, dried and neatly folded on his bed.
Personally, I hate 'stuff' and like a simple, uncluttered environment. But everyone is different, and I'm determined to 'grit my teeth' and let him fill our bungalow to the ceilings if that's what he wants.
He's bringing his absolutely massive TV over on Saturday when he moves in. It's like a cinema screen (I hate it) but he's going to mount it on the wall of his study, so I can watch my little TV in the sitting room.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jan 23 - 11:00 AM

Senoufou, my ex lives in a house that I never liked but was the only one he would accept when we moved to town years ago (he was the one with the income - who said "any house you want" except it wasn't). Upon divorce I moved out and let him keep the house (versus selling and splitting the income) because I wanted my kids to have their neighborhood network in place when they stayed with him. The house is spotless and almost empty, but you should see the garage: that's the Dorian Gray portrait that shows the accumulation and clutter, stacked and piled in boxes. A few years ago he cleared it enough down the middle so he could park his car in there, but other than that, it still needs a lot of work.

It seems to be a season for changing out batteries. My outside thermometer was blinking red desperately, the television remotes are unhappy, and (shhhh!) I should have changed out the smoke detectors with the most recent time change (here they suggest doing it annually on one of those changes to or from Standard Time, but I lose track of which one I used as my reminder. Must leave a note on one of the detectors.) I also ordered a couple of boxes basic batteries from Amazon. I also have some rechargeable ones that I put in devices where I'm sure I'll notice it's rechargeable and not accidentally throw them away. The next battery to tackle is ordering replacement insides for the hall UPS that supports the router and modem.

I've unfurled the new long extension cord to let it relax before I take hammer and nails into the bathroom to tack it into position under the built-in cabinet along the kick board area.

Today is another unusually overcast day with a slight drizzle that should clear within the hour. I'll step out into the yard to do some more cleanup (dead plants in pots, moving plastic containers into the greenhouse, etc.). This morning I listened to a news story about a man in Canada who has to use his personal snowplow 4 times in a season to get a return on his investment (I'm guessing to make the payments equal to what he paid someone else for snow cleanup). That will never be the case down here with equipment like lawn mowers; they get used about 11 months of the year - my next mow will be to mulch leaves that I'll rake onto the turf from the curb.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 18 Jan 23 - 12:12 PM

Two dozen bottles from Edmund’s accumulation of wine have gone to become prizes at a choir fund-raiser. I don’t drink nearly enough — and neither do my friends — to work my way through it before some of the white varietals get too old to be fully palatable, and I was pleased to wave bye-bye to it.

Unfortunately, my lower back is punishing me for picking up a box of a dozen bottles, and the toothache has returned to my right sacro-iliac joint.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Jan 23 - 01:47 PM

I've always found that wine can last a lot longer than the back labels sometimes suggest. I found a four-year-old bottle of Prosecco (i.e., I bought it four years ago) last weekend that had accidentally been overlooked and it was lovely. At only 11% it should have been well off, and the label said to drink it within a year of purchase. Never give up!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 18 Jan 23 - 04:28 PM

Six dozen bottles are still collecting spiderwebs down below, Steve. Plenty for everyone. Come to think of it …

One of those bottles is a 2018 Moscati at only 7 percent abv. I’ll pop that in the fridge.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jan 23 - 05:33 PM

I'm impressed that you two 1) read the labels (beyond the basics of brand, variety, and % alcohol) and 2) keep them long enough to worry about their going bad. The only one here that I think might be old is the marsala I bought for cooking because I forget it's there and usually put in a dollop of whatever is handy when I'm cooking (I do pay attention to red or white before adding, but otherwise, it all works pretty well for cooking).

This afternoon I've finished dragging the last summer's okra plants from next to the driveway back to toss over the back fence. This is to make the back look less inviting—it isn't a public path even if it looked like it.

I've also started on a project for the front yard, the disassembly of a really old rusty wheelbarrow. I'll put the barrow part on a stack of concrete blocks, fill it with potting soil, and plant something in it. This afternoon I assessed what else needs to be done. With a couple of wrenches I'll be able to hold the bolts in place and screw off the rusted nuts. The carriage underneath needs to be removed before it will sit properly in place. Two nuts and bolts down today.

I hauled out my Dad's old crock pot and set it up with a batch of beets; ever since I burned a batch in the pressure cooker I've been gun shy about cooking that way again, as fast as it is. It took ages to clean out the pressure cooker, but the crock pot bowl is removable and easily washed.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jan 23 - 08:59 PM

I have unsubscribed a regional newspaper that I used to get because it was tied into some contract work I do; since they severed that tie last year I've left it in place, but I don't read it often. The unsubscribe routine is typical: if you want to cancel a subscription you have to call and they connect you to the sales department who talk you into a lower rate, etc. I wasn't interested so cut to the chase: "I know this is the sales department and I don't want to negotiate a price, I want to unsubscribe." So he set it up to conclude after this month's payment ends - but he did give me a helpful tip: Subscribe to various email newsletters now and I'll be able to read this stuff after the subscription ends. I did that today and built in a filter in my email to send it all to one folder. I need to now subscribe to the newspaper in the city where I live. (I used to get a physical paper every day, who knows, maybe I'll be back to that for a while.)

Each year when I call to unsubscribe from SiriusXM I know the routine - it's the sales folks, and they'll offer me an extension of the introductory offer. I listen to SiriusXM a lot more than I read this local newspaper, so I go with that $7 a month offer. I offer this up only as a tip for everyone else - there is usually a less expensive price to be found if you are willing to beard the sales staff.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Jan 23 - 03:14 PM

With the weather relatively warm these days I'm going to make a run to the lumber store and get pickets and supports for another fence panel, and bring home a couple of 2" thick boards in treated lumber to continue the work of reinforcing the sides of raised beds. While the weeds and grass are dead I might have a good shot at digging up those areas and putting down a thick layer of mulch beside the beds.

The replacement UPS battery was delivered quickly and this afternoon I'll work on that battery backup and, in the same closet, run a CAT-5 cable that is already wired to my office and change out the ends to use for data instead of a phone line. The newest lines to support blazing fast Internet are CAT-6 that go up to 1000 whatever, but I don't have that service. Though my service is faster than 100 that the line is rated for now. Hmmm. Maybe I should think about pulling some new cable one of these days.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Jan 23 - 04:52 PM

If it wasn't for visiting friends or family we wouldn't see museumland the same as new Yorkers don't go to the Statue of Liberty on their own.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Jan 23 - 05:54 PM

When I worked out at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty we heard that a lot from people - they had never been to the islands but they had out of town company who wanted to visit.

I have had an "a-ha!" moment - I'm paying for all of this fancy speed from Spectrum but running Cat5 cable in the house. It's time to update the line to the computer, to start with, and it happens Spectrum wanted an appointment next week to address some service issue. I'll ask if it's CAT7 from the point on the house to the modem, and if not, have them replace it. And I'll then use the existing cable to pull some Cat7 to serve the computer. And replace the cable from the wall to the computer. I can always think of complicated or expensive renovations to do. Good thing most of the lines are in already, I can use the existing ones to pull the new ones through and not have to spend a lot of time in the attic. It requires new jacks also.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jan 23 - 03:20 PM

The speed test available from various sites shows that the speed is considerably higher than the 100mbs rated on the existing line, but changing out the line to the computer to the higher grade may make some small difference. And if it does, I may run new line to a couple of other rooms as well. If I ever plan to sell the house the odd mix of wiring in my hall closet now might be daunting. If I cleaned it up and speeded it up, that would be helpful to all. The new battery is in the UPS and is charging for a while before I plug anything into it again.

Two boxes ready to ship later today, and one other I'd like to send, but probably not till tomorrow. This is a bonafide declutter, ceramic pieces I kept from my Dad's house that are going to another family member who has a little and would like some more.

Harking back to earlier in the week's wine topics, I found a nice inexpensive Spanish Grenache at Costco, it even has a twist top. Bottlers are finally catching on that screw tops aren't repulsive to wine drinkers. At least, not to this wine drinker. Is the cork industry suffering? Are cork oaks prospering more now that they might be left in peace?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 20 Jan 23 - 05:23 PM

What cork they don’t put in the necks of wine bottles ends up in Birkenstocks and kitchen flooring, Stilly. I’m drinking my over-age 7% Moscato right now, and it’s delicious. It has a screw cap, a technology whose time has come.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 20 Jan 23 - 06:25 PM

Dupont:

Have gone back to read the last couple weeks. Wonder where I have been! I had to find where I left off and see what folks have been thinking/doing.

Charmion: PLEASE be sure your builder uses non-toxic materials and keeps you safe!!!

SRS: Dogs are great but… Well do you know it! Just one notch down from our children - or half a notch! I have had a bunch in my life. Each one a member of the family; each loss a heartache. But worth it in any case. Now I have two stuffies - no walking, no fur to clean up, no sweet kisses… I gave the last two away to good homes when I left Whidbey. I miss having one but the mere thought of walking a dog on icy Quebec/Ontario roads…! Also, the thought of leaving one behind; I had been adopting Senior dogs for about 15 years so they would not outlive me.

Friends: Mine are scattered across NA, many so scattered I have no idea where. Going through the archives, I found a postcard from 1984! Found him on line and on FB and PMed him. Delighted to find he is still writing, taken up art and involved in Plowshares! My first playmate just turned 90, in Hanover, NH, where my father and I took him for his first year at Dartmouth - all those years ago! He helped develop the Appalachian Trail. My newest dear friend - songwriter/poet/musician - has me thinking, contemplating, a uniquely spiritual connectedness. A gift.

That darned house! R says he is selling it; it is "for sale”. So are a number of other buildings he and bro own. Nothing ever seems to move forward. Once in a while I ask… At least I don’t have to go there and see the mess made of the yard I planted with care: Clematis. Hardy hibiscus, day Lillies… GONE! And I have started over again - with less energy. HE says he moved everything out (not all the furniture) but I feel some things are missing - but cannot bear to go there.

Just got to Mrzzy’s “Ethnic pile”!!! That sounds interesting! But prob not what I would think - like the folk dance skirt which our leader once referred to as a bedspread -“How many of you had a bedspread like that?!!” I love it! One of the things I rehomed last spring in PA was a dress we bought from an Indian booth in Old Montreal in 1970. The friend we stayed with in PA loved it!

Senoufou’s massive TV reminds me of a wonderful article my DIL wrote, “When the Black Satan Came to Our House”. She had never had a TV until my son moved in to her life!

UH OH! I am dangerously … Just smelled something …??? OH yeah!! I put ribs in oven for a long slow heat. Not sure how long or what. Using fresh ones instead of frozen ready to heat and eat… I hope this works. At least it smells enough that I shan’t forget them…. Hopefully!… They look good but I have no idea when I put them in or how much longer they need. Guess I could have sought advice… They are not burning.!! yet! ...

Caught up! Busy folks! I found enough energy to throw some pots a week or so ago. YAY!!! 8 bowls from 10 kilos of clay!!! The next morning, I barely made it out of bed. A hot bath helped but it still was a few days before I could trim 3; the other 5 are still on hold.

My goal had been to go back to Beaver this past Monday. HO!!! HO!!! I was still walking with difficulty and the pots were not ready! And now it is snowing and snowing.... Beautiful all day today! The bridge from Montreal was SLOW at 10 pm last night! Not sure if R will make it home tonight! I am thinking the trip will wait until February - after the First Friday music.

We visited friends!!!!! Last Sat we celebrated my BD (86), which R had totally forgotten! When I pointed this out to him, "What would You like to do!" The roads were not too bad so we drove down to southern QC to Chez Alain, a small neighbourhood restaurant with good food and a great staff; the kind of place you can chat with the folks at the next table, which we did! I hoped some friend might be there, but not.

Then we went to see Joe and Jessie and Theo (10). My ginger plants?? "Oh, they need LOTS of heat and light. Just keep them damp until warm weather." So I've moved them to the upstairs South window above a rad. Spring will be here ....

Theo played Ragtime on the keyboard, between playing with a neighbour and eating fresh chicken soup. They raise the chickens, grow the ginger for the tea, and the nuts - "here, try these." Theo, "home" schooled, is fluent in French and English (parents are one of each), a friend is teaching him Russian and he has picked up some Spanish from the Latins in the area. Joe and Theo are going to Colombia this summer to work on a building project. Last year they helped build something for an Inuit group north of the Arctic Circle, and learned some Inuit. This is home schooling! And he beat R at chess!

Both parents near died of Lyme disease a few years ago, due to lack of knowledgeable healthcare. Joe passed out in the ER waiting for care. (He was dying.) Jess (about 40) had a stroke, and a pocket of blood in her brain was giving her seizures - amongst others she would hear recorded music when there was NO music playing. She is still recovering from a 6 hour brain operation. I mention this to underline the need to pay heed to the ticks and to insisting on adequate health care. I had no idea the effects could be this dreadful.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jan 23 - 10:18 PM

Wow, Dorothy. That last paragraph describes a tough time. And there are ticks in the woods here; I put the expensive tick collars on the dogs for that reason, and I don't walk in the woods when the trees are in leaf.

I hope R is able to sell those properties one of these days. Lowering the price is not the favorite approach but usually works. Just to get rid of them, at this point. Think of the relief at having them off of his hands.

I've also tracked down a few friends over Facebook and Googling names in communities. I have mentally planned a "dream dinner" going back decades, that would be to have all of these people come in from different corners of the US and even the World, to meet and see if there is more in common than just being my friend. I would hope so. And all of you would be there - I'd love to meet this group in person.

On another subject, I've just sent a friend information about how to get access to the Word files she has created via her previous work software but apparently can't reach since she retired late last month. Clearly she hasn't figured out the system. I still use the software from the university where I retired four years ago, but since last year I also pay for Microsoft storage space, and it has the perk of MS Office on the side. $70 a year isn't bad for a Terabyte of storage for all of my photos from my phone. It's cheaper than paying for Dropbox ($120 a year). Dropbox offers 3T for their price, but I don't need that much space. I don't know if anyone else in our group uses their phones for work and other photos, but it is nice to have a backup.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Senoufou
Date: 21 Jan 23 - 03:12 AM

We have Lyme disease here in Norfolk UK, due to the large population of deer which carry the ticks. Many of our village dog-owners have had to remove ticks from their pooches. Rather worrying, because Lyme disease can have lasting symptoms which are difficult to treat.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Jan 23 - 10:00 AM

I concur with Dorothy about the building materials in Charmion's soon-to-be-updated bathroom. Use healthier materials where possible, even simple stuff like paint, where the off-gas as it dries can be strong for a while. The low-smell paint should become standard. And for everything else, just collecting dust as they work is a help.

Another healthy week ahead, when cat sitting trips will mean I get to the gym more often because I'll already be half-way there. I hope also for a good gardening opportunity in this upcoming week, when we have a day with a 100% chance of rain. If it rains on Tuesday then Friday when it warms will still be moist enough to dig out weeds along the edge of the garden and put down a thick layer of mulch. I happened to see and track down today a photo of a garden that shows this - it happens to be Meghan Markle's garden in California, but don't worry about that - just look at the planks around the raised beds and the heavy mulch path between. Over the years I've wanted to have something like that here. Why do I think I can finally achieve that now? It took digging out the whole side bed last fall in time for the heat pump installation to realize I could actually achieve that (the bed beside the house now is all mulch.) It means digging things out deeply and keeping new weeds down with a strong vinegar spray. Putting in the work to dig it out then walking on the mulch so it weaves together and helps keep out the weeds.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: keberoxu
Date: 22 Jan 23 - 06:29 PM

Monsieur Senoufou must have returned by now.
Is he still out of a job, Senoufou?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Jan 23 - 09:06 PM

Keb, when you use the entire name it can turn up in an Internet search. We've had a couple of Mudcatters essentially doxing other participants lately. If people don't use their own full names, please don't add it here. (WYSIWYG thought she was being clever by picking up a really unusual name from an obit and dropping the middle initial then using it as a character in the Mudcat Tavern adventures, or something along those lines. Imagine our chagrin when the family of that late professor did a search and found her prancing around Mudcat as a make-believe character.)

Yesterday I finished a handmade gift for a friend; it has taken a while to complete because it involved finding a pattern, printing it the right size, transferring to fabric, then doing a lot of close work to turn under the edges and finally stitch it onto a larger piece. A one-of-a-kind apron for a friend who originally sent some aprons that he wasn't able to use for printing. I sew on them then send them on. Into the mail tomorrow.

I'm still making masks, because I have friends who (like me) are still wearing them, and their collections need refreshing. I have three cut out this evening to work on later.

I have a busy week coming up, with volunteer activities and feeding a friend's cats. Just because one is retired doesn't mean life slows down.

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

The unscented laundry detergent I used for years disappeared from the supermarket, so I bought another brand.

Alas, it stinks, and apparently has the persistence of skunk juice.

I laundered all my singing masks yesterday. Today I sang way too much — regular eucharist in the morning and the installation of our new rector in the afternoon — and the whole time I had my nose covered with a nice, clean mask that reeks of Persil.

I would ditch the damnable detergent, but that stuff costs the earth these days.