DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: pattyClink
Date: 02 Sep 23 - 12:42 PM

Happy Birthday, Stilly and Charmion!!

SRS, we are blowing on virtual candles and wishing you a cool and pleasant autumn.   For Charmion, safe and happy travel to the Getaway.

I have to report that I cannot get to the Getaway this year. The skin cancer saga drags on, and I will be having staples removed from my scalp that week.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Donuel
Date: 02 Sep 23 - 06:56 AM

Woof its envigorating sweater weather this morning. Our dog loved the shower probably because of the water temp. At 7 AM there is enough light to get out and about. No more 5 AM first light.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 01 Sep 23 - 09:55 PM

Dupont:

No moving violations at all but it was one dreadful mess - just looked like it was due to fall apart but kept on running- with lots of repair time by the gang and, once in a while, Canadian Tire. So glad to see it gone. R knew it would happen but squeezed the last possible bit out of it. Some people can have a car for 20 years and it still looks almost new... It was a 1986 Ranger. People (men) thought it was amazing. I refused to travel in it. My 15 year old Scion looked 100% better when the engine died.

Today - Major de-clutter. We went to the Mill - R, Joe in Big truck and myself in car. One heavy pottery wheel had a ride to the back yard here. And the guys helped me clear a large section of former pottery. I was totally unable to conceive of where/how to begin. Most went into a nearby section of the building. The trash/myriad broken and flawed pots will be trashed. Kind of traumatic; I did make a lot of pots there before the mold got me. Tomorrow R and I are going down to do the next part - moving buckets of glaze and bags of glaze materials And kiln furniture, scales........

Then we lunched at Subway and I went off to an orchard - good strawberries and apples, and then the bakery for goodies and a Greek salad for R; it was to be repeated - Excellent!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Sep 23 - 12:44 PM

The phone is connected by cable to the computer and I'm copying phone images into a file where many years of phone photos reside. A jumble together (filed by phone, and most of them by now broken into yearly folders for each phone). If I put folders of photos onto OneDrive from the computer it is of no interest to Samsung, it isn't part of their filing architecture, though it will open those files if I navigate there in the app.

The time has come to clean the kitchen. Too much stuff spread around so the horizontal surfaces are again almost unusable.

No luck at Academy Sports as far as aqua socks (at the end of the season they're out of most sizes), and I looked online to see if several other places might have them locally. Nope. I don't usually buy shoes online unless they are exactly the same make and model as something I already own, but this time I had to go to Amazon. Even sizes only and no widths, but it should work. I bought a brand I recognize the name brand of; many of their offerings come from startup or off-brand places. These are by Body Glove, a company I've bought from before for other products.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Sep 23 - 10:47 AM

My across-the-street neighbor is in his 80s; he's out puttering in the yard this morning. We've waited out this heat and finally the mornings are tolerable these days though the afternoons are still over 100^o. September is so welcome.

And I realized that for the math on the dryer I left out a charge - if I hadn't had the dryer fixed, had opted for cash to buy a new dryer, I'd have been out the $100+tax service charge to come to the house for the diagnosis. The home warranty participation would have been shrunk by that much. #HigherMath

Shirts are on hangers on the line on the porch and the sheets and towels and small stuff are on the clothesline behind the garage. For any other appliance failure I'd have someone out right away; for the dryer this time of year, it wasn't urgent.

A big declutter planned for today - I've set up to give the dogs baths. I use a hose in the back yard with a leash fastened to the patio cover post to keep them in place. Loop one end around the neck and they know not to pull. They don't love the bath but they're so frisky when it's finished.

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: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Aug 23 - 10:45 PM

Dorothy, that truck must have had a lot of moving violations to be stopped the way it was. The tank of gas may be a short-term annoyance, but it sounds like it might have been a good move. Down here in Texas older vehicles get a special protected status and license plate to go with it. My daughter-in-law has a vehicle she imported from Japan that doesn't meet modern emission and safety standards, but it is registered as an antique. She takes it to shows where people with similar cars meet. Trucks in Texas are king - too bad R didn't send it down here.

I'm following the practice that BatGoddess started ages ago and celebrating the birth week and month - I'm a couple of days younger than Charmion (I was born on Labor Day in 1954; her birthday lands on Labor Day this year). I had a small windfall after a job went a day longer than expected so I bought some last-chance ribeye steaks and will pick up a bottle of my favorite single malt Scotch to extend the celebration over several days or a couple of weeks. During my life I never imagined what it would be like to be this old, but this age in my lifetime isn't the same as this age in my parents' lifetime. I'm not sure that I can describe the difference, but I can feel it.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 31 Aug 23 - 09:04 PM

Dupont:

Would be a peculiar day that such a sum would be spent on a repair in this home! Remember my fancy stove: I would happily have paid a repair person to come but NO! R took it apart to see if he could fix it. Then "borrowed" a new stove from his cousin and trashed our wonderful stove. (This is his house; I have no rights. Beaver is mine to cherish.)

Our matched set of Maytag dryer/washer (RED!) was purchased at a home auction- no doubt for a very low price. If one needs repairs, I would have to have a conniption fit to get it repaired or ...get a new one! R would prob come home with one he found in the trash! My plea that "I will pay for a new one!!!" would be disregarded as a whisper on the breeze.

Said cousin is moving this week. I wonder if he has a stove??? ???Will R pay him for the one we have so they can buy a new one????

I thought I had done well to get through that very tiring weekend but yesterday I slept all day; and last night also. Save for two meals of veggie stew and some time on internet. Today
I started cleaning up the plants on back deck: re-potting some and clearing up stuff. The plastic "shed" is not waterproof. Useless for the job of storing garden stuffs on the deck. I shall try to empty it and request it be moved to garage where it will stay dry!

Also weeded in the back garden and checked our one lovely pumpkin which I think is ready to come in. The squash plants have been blooming beautifully but it seems that someone has been eating the blossoms!

The front yard is blooming nicely and I think we can get through to winter without another lawn care visit! It will be challenging to bring in the Canna which have, of course, grown more roots. Fall has definitely arrived. I could just compost some but it is not in my nature to so that ---- as I repot more geraniums than I might have house room! The red flowers are so cheery! And we have, somehow, managed to kill all the Af violets save one!

This week's "chuckle": R brought home some fabric to be washed - which I did ...Then realized I washed it a couple months ago and gave it to him: "take it to town and give it to someone." This time the set of sheets is going to a thrift shop!

Lest you think our life lacks interest: He came home on Tuesday with the wonderful news that the police had taken his pick up truck off the road permanently! They would not even let him drive it two hundred yards to his property (city). It is scrapped - with a fresh tank of gas $60! The scrapper will get it. R was prepared - has another old truck on hand! I am glad and sad: I remember the evening we drove out into rural QC to look at a it and came back with that lovely clean truck. It was beautiful! And the wonderful old farm house and the nifty people we met! It has seen hard times and we cannot blame the police at all!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Aug 23 - 12:51 PM

Health issues dictate so many trips. It used to be 2 trips. The littlest guy was in pretty bad shape for a while, but now gets a midday medication that can't be given with the other meds in the morning and evening meals (has to be an hour before or after those meds). Sometimes when I have errands I stop by for that medication then swing back an hour later for the dinner meal without having made an extra trip to and from my house. Every third day there is an injection of a steroid that seems to have made a big difference for him. They are her children.

I'm still struggling to get the phone to upload any photos now. Damn Samsung, I never should have let the tablet upload screenshots, it messed up the phone settings also. Now there are stray files in my OneDrive account and it's backing up old stuff that is already in the system. I don't want to delete photos from my phone to get the phone to stop uploading, but that seems about the only way to do it. If you delete things from the "synced" Samsung folders it will by default delete them from the source folder, so you have to manage to tell it not to do that.

Dryer repair person has been and gone, my wallet is decluttered by $500 and change, and the home warranty will cover $350 of that. Sears will lower the price if I buy their year warranty for various appliances, but that would be a warranty on a warranty and the Sears one would be used before the Home Warranty (I asked). It is too much to have duplicates, and the Home one covers more things. Nothing completely covered, but takes a chunk out of the bill. It doesn't matter what type of appliance you have, though, it depends on if a new one can be bought cheap, so their replacement cost would cover the cheapest dryer at Lowe's, not the Consumer Reports best buy at Lowes. I'm having this dryer fixed and costing myself about $200 instead of taking their $350 and spending $400 more to get the better dryer at Lowe's. It's all a matter of logic and math. There is no new feature in a new dryer that is an improvement on how the old one works. It's a box of hot air, it has a moisture sensor that works, end of story.

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: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Aug 23 - 12:19 AM

My and everyone having a similar version and device was a nod to that problem - working affordable devices with comparable software and charged batteries. No batteries with paper. :)

My cat-sitting assignment was to end this evening, but after feeding the cats dinner I texted her saying they were taken care of and please let me know when she gets home. The answer was that she's returning late tomorrow. Not what her document calendar shows and not what she paid, but I can't let the cats starve for a day so I'll juggle my dryer repair appointment and cat feeding (means I have to get up really early, because the A&E—used to be Sears—folks make you block the entire day and they'll arrive at some point between 8am and 5pm.) Not even a four hour block like the cable company insists upon. I scheduled this for Thursday instead of earlier to not tangle with the three-runs a day for cats. But I'm back in the car anyway (nod to Jurassic Park).

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: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Aug 23 - 04:52 PM

I hadn't considered it, but I can see how if a conductor is making adjustments on the text for the performance that would need paper. It is possible to mark up PDF files, but that would require every performer have a level of familiarity with the software (and everyone having a similar version and device).

Today's batch of stuff to the e-waste collection station has left the garage, added to what my ex had in the trunk already, including a boxed old keyboard that announced it was "Internet Ready!"

Tomorrow is predicted to be only 99 (after that it goes up again). Just as well because the dogs will be in the backyard for a while when the dryer repair person is here. This evening I need to clear stuff out of the way to be ready.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: keberoxu
Date: 30 Aug 23 - 04:10 PM

Just my own observation:
I recently attended a concert including a string quartet,
which means chamber music.
All four players had tablets, not scores,
on their music stands,
and they had those little things you click with one foot
in order to turn the page.
This was a thing I had not before seen in chamber music.

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: 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: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Aug 23 - 12:38 AM

Dorothy, I like the idea of you and others with a photo of Ruth - a mentor and friend.

Charmion, I am amazed by the amount of work that goes into your choir program and its rehearsals. I don't suppose any of them have asked for PDF copies they can load on their tablets? It would mean a lot less paper. (About 20 years ago we had the tech reviewer and now CBS Sunday Morning presenter David Pogue at my university - for his talk he requested a Steinway piano - I was prepared to read music and turn pages for him, but he had his music on a tablet he set on the music stand and didn't need any help.)

Watering plants and feeding cats for a friend over the last week has involved trying to keep plants alive under horribly hot conditions last week on Thursday through Saturday. She gets back in town tomorrow and I expect to hear questions about the curled brown edges on a few large plants - and I'll point out that they're still alive and that's about all I could manage.

Checked the mail in the post office box today. Fourteen months out from the ex's retirement and I'm still not getting a portion of the pension. The OPM folks are not just slow, they're glacial. There will be a lot of decluttering once they finally let the eagle shit.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 29 Aug 23 - 10:46 AM

Dupont:

Came back here on Tuesday, with a stop for muffins at the Hidden Gold Mine. Trying to bring the house back to a Dorothy state from the chaos of the Robin state. Every single piece of cutlery was in the sink and had to be washed, washed again harder! and then again. We agreed this would not happen again! The dishes were in a controlled state. I guess a month is too long to stay away!

Robin was still coughing badly - I washed bedding twice to avoid re-distributing whatever germs... Then decided things were improved sufficiently. His bro is also coughing and has been to clinic but no meds? R finished his anti-biotic, is coughing less but still exhausted. His cough is similar to the one I still have after ?? years from the mold at the Mill - not surprising as he got it from cleaning a dreadful building. It is in the lungs and, I believe, may never go away completely. Sometimes I do not cough for a few hours or a day or two and think all is well, then it starts again - the plague of my life. A part of me is glad he now realizes what I have gone through.

So! Basically, I came back for the Chateauguay Valley Antique Association (event). Spent a wonderful weekend of visits with people, sold enough pots to make it a "success", listened to live Country music, had a tent for the first time and... It POURED rain on Sat - a couple times! Rita (next door) and I provided shelter for all who could fit! Met a whole bunch of Rita and Dan's family - they were having a family event later. Interesting genetics! Terrific positive energy!

This is my fav event of the year - Such a wonderful community of people volunteering and selling stuff/junk/treasures. The auction took 2 days this year and R was there for most of it! Came away with a whole bunch of stuff - some for re-sale and some just because he was "helping the auctioneer" get a bid and ended up being the only bid! A beautiful Victorian love seat and chair that I am trying to figure a place for them - if only he would get rid of the UGLY ones ...

Wore a jacket all day Sunday! I never put that warm layer away! Was glad I thought to grab this light jacket on the way out the door from Beaver! This weather is just fine for me - cool, damp, sometimes sunny.

So, inch by inch, I regain energy, find us food, cook very little, weeded the gardens a little, watched a squirrel sit on the porch railing to groom then went into the large pot of cherry tomato plants to eat one and left the rest... Last eve, I opened back door to go pick in the garden and startled to two rabbits, apologized and went out later to pick the few new cherry tomatoes. We had about a quart each of Sat and Sunday, took them to event and gave most of them to Rita and family, who declared them delicious. (I do not eat raw tomatoes.) We have a pumpkin (not watermelon) slowly turning orange; guess I will make pumpkin pies.

Got a new credit card, sent to local bank after someone got the number and tried to buy stuff where I NEVER would. I got two phone calls which I immediately hung up and phoned VISA to tell them and was told everything was fine. An hour later, card was declined at two separate stores. Phoned VISA and... All is well.

Big happening was a young woman stopping to look at pottery and mentioning that her... was a potter - Kingsport, Newfoundland! "You are related to Ruth... !!!!???" (My friend who died suddenly in October - a total trauma.) We both started to cry and share our pain of loss, and I was able to find out how the widower and son are doing! Then, the "cousin" of one of Canada's top potters bought a bowl!

Then I sat and dealt with renewed grief. Ruth choked (I did not ask) a few hours after I saw her, and Fred, vibrantly alive at a folk music event. I was so elated to see her and thinking how wonderful it would be to visit now that we were "post Covid). BOOM!

I have a small pic of her on my bureau to which I say, "Good morning, Ruth!". Erin has it on her wall to greet in the morning. A more beautiful human than Ruth - equal perhaps but not more... She was the epitome of loving, sharing, giving, helping, caring...

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: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Aug 23 - 12:39 AM

Three loaves of mango bread are cooling; this soda bread is one of those wet ones, lots of oil (even though I reduced it and used applesauce for half of it), and more cake- than bread-like. Too hot to try now.

As hot as it has been outside I keep the thermostat in the house pretty warm (80), so baking that bread was enough to bring up a sweat because I didn't push the air conditioning down to compensate for the oven. Not a great time of year for baking.

Laundry is drying on hangers and a few pieces are on the clothesline outside; must call to see about the dryer repair. It isn't just that the dryer needs repair, it means in preparation I have to empty everything on that side of the room around it. Shelves, donation bin, and a bonus: on the other side of the doorway into the laundry room is where my gardening cart sits, next to the potting bench, both in the way of an appliance being moved in and out of the house.

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: 28 Aug 23 - 12:19 PM

Trouble with most flip flops is that they're slippery. It looks like aquasocks are on clearance this time of year (at Academy Sports). Part of this is also me edging closer to using the pool. With each part of the gym I use it means more stuff in the gym bag.

Dorothy - how is Robin doing? Has he finally cleared out the lung congestion? For those of you in northern areas, are you getting out sweaters or changing the bedding yet? We're entering hurricane season in the south, so far hitting way south Texas and parts of Florida. No sweaters yet. And in the fall tornadoes can be more active.

Time to research a new dryer - it tumbles and blows but there is not heat. The old one was purchased in 2002 and I've done some repairs but the heating element is a bigger deal. If the thermostats weren't working it would get too hot, but with no heat it's the element (my rudimentary diagnostic information). A new element costs $180, plus the installation service call, but I looked at my most recent Consumer Reports PDF about dryers (from 2017) and even then new dryers were costing a lot. Maybe a repair is worthwhile. Home Warranty folks will be consulted before I call the repair guy. I'm fine with keeping the old one in service for as long as possible.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: pattyClink
Date: 27 Aug 23 - 02:06 PM

Oh, do wear those flip-flops in the shower, athlete's foot is still a thing! Keep a grocery or other bag in your gear bag so you can switch out pool/shower flipflops with your street shoes, keep dirt off everything else.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Aug 23 - 11:54 AM

With more virtual decluttering it has been the Clash of the Titans this weekend - Microsoft versus Samsung. A couple of weeks ago I told the tablet to store images from the tablet to my Microsoft OneDrive account, and after that my phone stopped uploading my phone photos to OneDrive. It seems Samsung set up its own nested files in OneDrive and wants to park things there. I spent time earlier this year sorting out my Camera Roll in OneDrive so the current year is loading there and past years are in their own files. So a new three-tier Samsung file is a pain in the backside.

After research I disconnected the two accounts then reinstalled, and in the end I left a Samsung folder on the OneDrive that I labeled "Samsung - Don't Use" and have turned off Samsung's sync ability to OneDrive. I also turned it off in the tablet where this started. For now I'll manually move photos from the phone to Camera Roll. I pay for OneDrive so there is no point in shifting to Google or DropBox for phone photo backup. But damn, that Samsung software is pushy. What is frustrating is that until now, the Samsung phone automatically updated the photos in the Camera Roll file.

The library app "returned" the audiobook I was listening to; with fewer trips to the gym it's taking longer to read. There's a wait list so I'll get it back in a couple of weeks. I'm at the gym more this week and with so much foundation watering at the house I'm changing my routine at the gym and showering there. Might as well use a little less water at the house. This morning I dug around for some flip flops to wear in the shower—is athlete's foot a thing any more in public showers?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Senoufou
Date: 27 Aug 23 - 02:34 AM

Our village is having an event on 9th September called The Lyng Fling. (Village is called Lyng). It includes several activities including selling your unwanted 'clutter', which interests me. (A bit like a car-boot sale, but on the Village Hall field, with tables provided)
We have some stuff we could sell, including lots of clothes that no longer fit. Husband is fatter now, and I've lost weight. We have a portable clothes rail to display the clothes on, so we could probably sell the lot. Or maybe we could swap our clothes hee hee! I could wear all his sporty football tops and he could wear my capacious flowery summer trousers.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Aug 23 - 10:15 PM

Jon, do whatever is comfortable. Palliative care will give you a lot of options (my understanding from what I've read about it.) It sounds like you have your parents set up for help.

The friend shopping computers sent some questions (via email) that I've answered this evening - it is remarkable how much electronics have come down in price as they've also gone up in quality. My recommendation for a monitor and advice about a printer he bought a while back but hasn't installed have been sent (after researching specs at Dell.com.)

It's so hot. 107^o. Still. The tractor sprinkler is crawling along the turf in front of the house this evening after running the oscillating sprinkler on the driveway side (all of this hoping to help the foundation and keep a few trees alive). I'll run soaker hoses on the back and the other side tomorrow. The next few days are supposed to be cooler, around 98^o before the next heat up in early September. The summer that keeps on giving.

Interesting - this evening I was flipping through channels on Sling and landed on a documentary about a rock band called Triumph. I actually know nothing about them, but I have a story. In 1981-82 I was leading tours at a commercial cave in Kentucky; they had the best formations in the Mammoth Cave area, and were close to the highway. This group pulled their tour bus off of the Interstate and ended up going through on my tour. The fact that I had no clue who they were wasn't a big deal to them, because we had other things in common. I'd worked in New York City as an Urban Park Ranger at various big events in the parks in each borough. They had performed there, and the local crew that did the stage set up for them was the same one I'd run into for Pavarotti and Simon and Garfunkel, and a couple of others. One man in particular, a very tall handsome man who looked just like the actor Ted Lynch - we'd made friends and would hang out at those concerts. He always made lemonade that he brought in a thermos, and shared with me. What blew my high-school-age co-workers away, those who knew the group and had all wanted to take that tour, was that the band and I were laughing and comparing notes about this guy on the setup crew we all knew. I never would have used the name, but the band called him Lurch. And we all knew exactly who we meant. #SmallWorld I recognise the folks in the documentary from all of those years ago.

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: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Aug 23 - 10:19 AM

As I was leaving to feed cats a small SUV pulled up at the curb and I spoke briefly to the woman who was here to collect the rest of the fence pickets. The spot is now clear and I hope her feet and ankles aren't too scratchy - the nearby pine tree is dropping lots of long sharp needles this summer. I need to rake them to use for mulch later on. Mostly today I need to run the soaker hose around the foundation again. Regular yard work can wait until fall.

The friend who visited yesterday delivered a couple of dead electronics (a large TV and average sized printer) that are in the garage until a weekday when my ex comes by and can take them to the recycle drop off center. When I made the call requesting he pick these up he commented that he's found a couple of more old small CRT portable TV/Radio things in his garage to recycle. Back in the day those AC/battery operated devices were helpful during tornado season when you hunkered in the hall in the middle of the house and wanted to watch the weather. Now it's all on our phones. The recycling center is very close and is annoying because they named that center for our village but our village residents can't use it. You have to show Fort Worth residency. Staging recycling this way is a more convoluted form of decluttering than usual, but whatever works.

A friend sent a recipe for mango bread that I'll try today. I have several very ripe ones in the fridge and this would be perfect. It does mean taking a healthy fruit and putting it in a more carb-filled form, but it's that or toss them because I can't eat them all right now. (I should try freezing them.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 26 Aug 23 - 05:09 AM

Progress has been made with dad at last. The carers got him out of bed this morning and he's sitting in his wheelchair in the living room as I type this.

I ought to sort mum's care payments out today. The council sent a letter addressed to both of us. That surprised me as I wasn't involved in her assessment and haven't (at least not that I remember) agreed to be involved but I guess they know mum's mental capacity isn't that good. The easy part is that the council just want bank statements. The hard parts will be explaining to mum that the free period they give when the care starts has come to an end and she now has to pay a contribution and that I think the figures on her assessment are wrong and she's likely to have to pay more than the letter says.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Aug 23 - 11:32 PM

A friend spent the afternoon here as we discussed options on computers as he shopped for a new one. I think another friend will be able to help set it up (no point in paying Dell to do it). The whole time he was here Cookie kept trying to sneak in for cuddles and scratches, and he loved it. I think he likes to come here as much to play with the dogs as to visit with me.

For the next three days we have a warning from the ERCOT folks (in the news, especially since the freeze in 2021) that they will be particularly hot, so don't use major appliances during the day. If not, rolling brown-outs. We're in late August, this will end eventually, but this summer isn't going down without a struggle.

I've ordered dog food because my trip to the store today (the day after they always get their weekly dog food order) was a bust and I left empty-handed. Tonight I ordered it online and they'll deliver to the store where I'll pick it up in a couple of days (no shipping charges this way). This, along with computer shopping and other stuff today let me work my way through a short list of tasks, so I managed to tackle four of the six. The "Ivy Lee Method" is an experiment these days (a list of six things, and move those incomplete to the next day's list). It isn't working quite the way Mr. Lee intended.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Aug 23 - 10:38 PM

I finished hemming the second panel of the new pair of "rod pocket" curtains I bought for my bedroom window. The first drapes about 1/4" above the floor, but by hemming the second one at an identical length, it drags on the floor by about 1/4". Darn. However, I'm not rehemming that drape, I just stuck a 1/2" shim under the thick wooden rod in its support on the long side. It isn't noticeable and saves me a lot of work.

I also washed the window and after taking down the mini-blind I spread it out on the patio and hosed off the dust. The tile floor was mopped and I've rearranged the Mission Oak rocker near the window. With a healthy pothos plant on the windowsill visible through the sheer panels it has a fresh look.

After this weekend we have a mild "cold front" coming through and are expecting 3-4 days in the high 90s. It's so hot out there that every day I put out two bottles of water in a cooler on the front porch for the mail carrier or any other delivery person. There wasn't any mail or parcels today but both bottles of water were gone, so he must have needed some extra to finish the route. (That's fine - I want him to stay healthy!)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 24 Aug 23 - 01:02 PM

A large subset of my extended family is in the Eastern Townships, including my last surviving aunt (my mother's sister), who lives with one of her daughters in Knowlton, the village widely believed to be the prototype of Three Pines.

I"m not sure how Penny gets around the fact that the Quebec government does its utmost to abolish English-language place names. In real life, that village would have a French or indigenous name by now.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Aug 23 - 12:31 PM

SCA = Society for Creative Anachronism

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Aug 23 - 12:13 PM

The book is number six in the Louise Penny Inspector Gamache series Bury Your Dead. I'm posting a link to it on the UK site called Fantastic Fiction - that's where I go to see what order books were published in (and to see if the name changed from one country to another or from one print run to another).

I wish I had a basement, but they rarely build them in this part of the country. As it is I have a foundation riddled with cracks that expand in the summer heat, so I water around the outsides of the house to try to keep the soil fairly stable. It is again failing, but I keep trying.

Gift giving - something people would like, would use, that won't collect dust or need to be returned. For years now I've alternated making a couple of Puerto Rican dishes and every year it is delivered to my ex. A consumable item that goes in the freezer in meal-size portions. To make it more interesting the whole family sometimes gets together to make these dishes, though we have more than once concluded that there were too many cooks in the kitchen, and one year they burned rice to the bottom of my lovely enamel cast iron pan and there are still marks all of these years later. Three years ago after one particularly messy home-cooking session I added a notation in my calendar for the next year "no cooking. Order takeout this year" and we got Chinese and Italian food for the family meal.

For the kids I shop off of the list they provide (and sometimes nagging happens before I get the list) and I try to also send consumable things that are not gag gifts, but silly. A few reams of printer paper; 10 pounds of a good Basmati rice. A pie or cake handed over in a nice pie or cake pan to take home with them. And I have found some really great things in Thrift stores. One year I found a rolled up entire tanned and dyed cowhide at Goodwill for $17. I didn't know for sure it was intact until my daughter opened it and rolled it out. She and her housemates do a lot of costume making (Anime and SCA, in particular, but for various conventions) and they fell on that like the prize that it was. Sometimes buying different types of zip ties and velcro straps for stocking stuffers has them giddy at the prospect of projects ahead. My son and his partner bought a house a couple of years ago so for the first year it was cash to buy some of the furnishings they needed (and shopped mostly estate sales for those.)

For me, I try to not buy things I need for myself and just add a couple to my list. I've gotten drill bits, a vacuum cleaner, a food processor, things I needed (replacing an old one, never adding to a collection). Mostly the holidays are about our getting together and the gifts are an entertaining part of the day. It's the meal that really counts with us.

Now I'm headed out to deliver a bottle of ancient but still usable achiote seed and a chunk of copper with lots of patina to my daughter for different projects at her house this week. She is making a pre-Columbian batch of tamales for an SCA session (turkey was in the new world, so the meat isn't the usual beef or chicken or pork in modern tamales) and is trying to do most of it. She didn't grow or grind the corn, she does have limits to the verisimilitude she will achieve. (The copper is for someone trying to create an ancient turquoise paint color.) With the varied interests of my kids and their partners, gift giving is a way to participate in and support those interests.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 24 Aug 23 - 10:51 AM

For birthday and Christmas presents, I tried asking my parents just to get a goat or something for a charity a couple of times. It never really worked out as they insisted I must have something although I suppose a charity did benefit.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 24 Aug 23 - 10:01 AM

What's your Montreal-based book, Stilly?

It's foggy and damp in Stratford today, with wind and rain in the forecast. Not chilly, though; the overnight low is supposed to be 19 degrees Celsius. That means an unpleasantly sticky day with no relief at night despite the rain. Crap.

My basement smells musty -- diagnostic sign of a damp summer. Not a lot I can do about that.

With September approaching like the noon freight, I'm neck-deep in preparations for the onset of choir season. The library-cum-music room is cluttered with file boxes full of carefully sorted sheet music and the study is crowded with copies of the Mass In Time of War by Joseph Haydn that need bar numbers inserted. Each score is 76 pages long, and each page has three staves of music ... I can finish a score in 15 minutes flat, but I've had practice. The five people to whom I farmed out 10 copies each will have to work up to that speed.

Elder Brother phoned this morning to ask what I want for my birthday. "Nothing," I said; at this point in my life, any material item that enters the house, however beautiful or lovingly chosen, is more of a problem than a solution. Such a First World privilege situation to find myself in! But it's madness -- and wasteful madness, at that -- to declutter with one hand while hauling in stuff with the other.

I wish I could declutter my compulsive habit of looking at real estate advertisements. I'm pretty sure I do it because I don't know how long I can or should stay in this house, and because I don't feel rooted in Stratford. Due to daily perusal of on-line listings, I can tell you almost precisely what a two-bedroom condo flat or a three-bedroom condo row house costs in Ottawa or London (Ontario), plus or minus ten percent. Clearly, my subconscious mind is heavily preoccupied with my housing situation, like a squirrel that can't stop chewing on wiring in the attic.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 24 Aug 23 - 01:12 AM

Google Charts is more of a programmer/web developer thing but it could be quite handy if you wanted a chart on a web page. Here are some pie charts for you: my gd png version, my svg version and a much fancier google version. For the Google one, I used:

var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([
    ['Book',       'Count'], 
    ['Matthew',    34], 
    ['Mark',       18], 
    ['Luke',       22], 
    ['John',       15], 
    ]); 
  
  var options = { 
    title: 'Word Count', 
    pieSliceText: 'value', 
    height: '400', 
    width: '500', 
    slices: { 
              3: {offset: 0.1}, 
          }, 
  }; 

Putting stuff in the JavaScript code probably looks a bit odd to you but it’s OK if you keep the brackets and commas as they are in the examples and a lot of what you might want to change is quite clear.

I’ve never used a FAX machine but back when we were on dial up Internet and I had a Fax Modem, I used to have a program which could do Fax and act as an answer phone. Reading of Faxes got me racking my brains trying to remember what the machine in our offices at Hotpoint was. Then I remembered it was a Telex machine.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Aug 23 - 08:33 PM

Bug bites? I won't go outdoors at this time of year unless I'm plastered in 50% DEET. It's harmless and it's 100% effective. It will dissolve the colour off your plastic carrier bags, however.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Aug 23 - 07:30 PM

Good job moving the clutter soon, Jon, and interesting about your work with charts. I had never seen the Google Charts utility before - I'll take some time with it later (it has been duly bookmarked with my other productivity programs).

I shared a couple of useful tools with a Facebook acquaintance this week; I think I've mentioned Capital One Shopping, a browser extension and phone app that automatically looks for lower prices for the exact item you're shopping for, and will also look for discounts and coupons. First time I used it I was shopping for an LLBean windbreaker (ages since it was cool enough to wear it!) and it automatically found a $17-off coupon and applied it. The other is a website that has been around for a long time - I think I've been using this for 20 years. It is GotFreeFax and it works in the US and Canada. From their FAQs:

Q: Do you support fax to international or off-shore destinations?

A: GotFreeFax.com free fax service and US/Canada premium service support sending faxes to the US Continental 48 states, Alaska, Hawaii, and Canada only (off-shore and other international destinations are not supported).

GotFreeFax.com international fax service supports sending faxes to over 200 countries and regions.

You don't need a fax machine, you upload your document or PDF or jpg to the site, give them the fax number of the recipient, and they check your email to be sure it works then send the document. Three pages and a cover sheet are free, or you can enter content into a text box on the site; lots of ways of using it and there two free a day. If you need to send longer or more of them the costs are reasonable.

The ex and I had lunch with our daughter, and my decluttering today was to take the freshly-laundered muslin curtains to her and as expected, she can use it. Often there are layers within costumes where things are stabilized or attached to give them the right hang or drape, and while in good condition, the color is probably irregular from years in the window so wouldn't be used for outerwear (unless she's making a costume meant to look aged.)

The woman who wants the fence pickets collected part of the stack today, but couldn't get them all. She's returning on Saturday morning for the rest, so that's one more thing I don't have to fool with for bulky waste.

I start cat sitting tomorrow, for a week this time, so I'll plan a few trips to the gym after my midday trips to her house. I haven't been to the gym for the last two weeks and I've missed the book I'm currently listening to. It's set during a Montreal winter, so quite a mental change of venue from Texas in August!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Aug 23 - 07:11 PM

They may combine a Covid booster with the flu shot. Then there is the new RSV Vaccine.
I won't hedge with short sleeves again. Bug bites!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Aug 23 - 06:31 PM

And its just been more charts for me. I took a break from my stuff to look at Google Charts which offers a vast array of charts and options. I struggled to work out what to put for the rows and columns for the JSON format I wanted to try for a couple of line charts but found it straightforward otherwise. Back to my stuff, I’ve produced a svg version of what I had (except the pie with a shadow to give a bit of a 3d look) as I thought scalable graphics would be nicer than the pngs. I found svg easy for the lines, circles and rectangles I wanted but producing paths for the pie slices was a bit tricky. A nice surprise for me was that you can embed <A> links in them. I’ve used that with the help of Bootstrap (when I finally got it to work…) to produce much quicker responses when the mouse hovers over a point or area on a chart. In the svg, for example for a rectangle on bar chart, all I need is:

<a title="[data to display] data-toggle="tooltip">
    <rect x="[start x]" y="[start y] width="[rect width] height="[rect height]" stroke = "black" fill="[bar color] ></a>

On to other things. I’ve developed a couple of pressure sores and the nurses have ordered a new mattress for me that should make getting pressure sores less likely. Dad is due some new equipment tomorrow or Friday but I don’t know what he’s getting or whether there are any plans to get him out of bed to sit in the living room. They are also supposed to be collecting the Sara Stedy. This was unsuitable for the space we have to manoeuvre in and, much to mum’s annoyance, has been a big unwanted item of clutter in the living room for months.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Aug 23 - 12:23 AM

Yesterday morning I was startled to have a friend (B) banging on my side window - he had misplaced his cellphone in his house and while outside, his key got stuck in the door lock and he couldn't open it or unlock it. With only his car keys and wallet on him he drove 25 miles to my house to get help getting a locksmith. We found one who met him at the apartment 45 minutes later after he drove back home. Today I picked up B for a drive to show him where the nearby homes are of two other friends. Less than 2 miles to each one.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Aug 23 - 12:19 AM

Dorothy - I scrolled back to your report - six days later and it's still bad for R - would he consider going to an emergency room and getting checked out? It sounds like the antibiotic isn't enough.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 21 Aug 23 - 02:02 PM

Beaver:

Robin is on heavy antibiotic and sounds terrible. My burn is totally healed but today, opening a lawn chair took out my right thumb - about a two inch bloody mess but will heal - eventually. Did manage glaze firing today. And got some terrific home made soup at Farm market!

Beautiful day... No potting ...

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Aug 23 - 01:58 PM

Jon, having the same carers coming to help the whole family will give continuity to things you request for all of you, instead of piecemeal getting things done depending on whose assignment is being considered. Congratulations on making that change.

Freecycle came through with an answer to my offer of fence pickets, so I'll drag the chunks of panel down to the driveway by Monday night for her to pick up Tuesday morning. That's a lot of old wood out of the way.

The washer ran during the wee hours and shirts and pants are now hanging under the patio cover to dry. I'll take down the old curtains in my bedroom and run them through the wash before deciding if there is anything that can be done with them. I suspect that much yardage might appeal to my costume making daughter for one of her projects. Lots of costumes need linings or reinforcements where it doesn't matter what that material looks like.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 19 Aug 23 - 06:55 AM

I’m still playing with my graph code. This page shows how far I’ve got with it. I’ll probably do a bit of tidying up and leave it at that. I took the code to generate spline curves from github It’s beyond my basic (O level plus a couple of bits) maths.

Dad’s profiling bed was installed on Thursday. It looks good and should make things easier for him although I don’t know whether anyone is planning on getting him out of it to sit in the living room. I’ve been told that Cavel are taking over the contract for dad’s care from Elite so we will all have the same carers soon.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Aug 23 - 10:39 PM

A general request from ERCOT (the agency over power companies here) requested everyone reduce the amount of electricity used, so it means pushing the thermostat up (83) and using the most efficient lights only. The house is efficient with all LED lights. Hand-in-hand with less electric use is reduced water usage and being careful how water is used. I have soaker hoses around the house foundation to avoid spraying water that would otherwise evaporate. Hurricane Hilary that is bearing down on the Pacific coast and southwest won't affect the middle of the country.

Decluttering included stuffing more of the cut branches into the trash can to reduce the fuel on the yard. The vacuum ready to take to the garage for cleaning out the SUV in the morning when it's cooler.

Birdbaths are full and I've watched a lot of different types of birds visit. They don't have a lot of places to go unless they head down to the creek bank in the back of the back yard. I should head back there with the binoculars in the morning and look for activity.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Aug 23 - 11:09 PM

Today's trip east in the county for my haircut was the start of the large loop I drive to visit several stores and fulfill shopping list requests and a visit with a friend. I'll be back in town next Monday when I take him to the airport for a possibly extended stay with his twin brother. This is a dreadful summer in their family - his brother's wife is dying of metastasized breast cancer in Colorado and his sister is in southern California to be with their father as he passes away from something that is imminently fatal (I didn't ask - poor guy!) The ride to the airport is the least I can do. With heat as my only problem I'm doing well.

My trash contribution at the curb this morning was fairly light, but I'll drag more trimmed branches to the curb for Monday. They'll be gone soon. I may knock apart some of the fence panels and leave shorter pieces at the curb (great kindling for a much colder time of year), and if I get tired of looking at the weathered pickets I can pull the offers on buy-nothing and freecycle and cut them up for the curb.

A friend sent a link to an estate sale today that had a remarkable number of pieces that line up with what I have here from various great aunts' estates. Food for thought - they weren't going for high prices, even though they were in good shape. So what was the point? Time to ask the kids what they really want, and go from there.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Aug 23 - 11:30 PM

The final pickets and planks have been purchased for the final fence panel. They're laid out in the garage, awaiting wood preservative (another can was picked up today). The middle row seats are back in place and tomorrow I'll sweep and vacuum the insides and restore the usual items that ride around in the back. The next few days are going to be hotter than ever, so the work will wait.