DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Feb 23 - 05:16 PM

Our seasonal snowfall this winter has been 6 millimeters.
One day Canada will grow warmer too.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: JennieG
Date: 26 Feb 23 - 05:18 PM

This Ozzie has been to Tim Horton's at Madoc! How 'bout that!

Have a dark roast for me.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Feb 23 - 01:24 AM

The stew was amazing, with a lot of broth to give it a thick soup-like quality. I had mushrooms and chicken broth in the freezer to add to it and I poured in a lot of red wine, so it was almost like a stroganoff but without the sour cream. (You can add chicken or turkey broth to a beef dish and it still tastes like beef, but don't try to add beef broth to poultry dishes.)

I've found information about resetting the laptop power management for the screen, I'll do that in the morning. I spent time sewing this evening but stopped to clean lint out of the machine and since it has been a while it took me longer than usual to remember how to reassemble the bobbin housing. It's good to go now.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Feb 23 - 05:58 AM

I've found that, in the absence of chicken broth (which we tend to call "stock"), a home-made veg stock works with almost everything. A couple of chopped-up carrots, celery sticks and shallots, boiled up for an hour with a bay leaf, a few peppercorns and a handful of fresh herbs... I have organic cubes but they are a last resort and often lead to a noticeably inferior dish.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 27 Feb 23 - 10:05 AM

Dorothy, if you do meet up for lunch, please wish Charmion "bonne route" from me. I did not rise early enough to give her a call before her departure.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Feb 23 - 10:55 AM

The wind last night nearly took my tarp cover off of the frame over the patio, so I must take myself over to Lowe's and purchase another package of bungee cords and replace a few that wore out over the last year. Two tarps overlap, one has screws holding it in place, the other is the cords. My goal for this spring will be to screw down parts of the longer top tarp at the grommets so it is more stable.

I've decided to have only one tree cut down in the back, not two. I can do the second one myself and it should keep the price a bit lower. It wouldn't have taken my friend long to do it and it won't take me that long either, but it's for another day. That way I can go forward on the main job sooner. This week I'll take down the nearby clothes line so the cross member doesn't get hit and broken during the dropping of branches.

Last year on HGTV I started watching a program in its sixth season so have plenty of episodes to catch up on. It's called Home Town and in addition to talented builders/designers, it has the town of Laurel, Mississippi, going for it. Lots of historic houses on various types of lots to work with. A couple of weeks ago an episode addressed my question "what if something really big happens when they start the work?" A house with an awful concrete basement that needed chiselling out and re-pouring. They confided then that they require each applicant to the show to have a contingency fund that is pretty big. It gives everyone a buffer that lets them go forward. One day I may redo my kitchen, but having a plan and the cash plus the contingency - that's the thing that keeps me puttering around the edges and working on fences and trees, not interior redesign.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 27 Feb 23 - 05:24 PM

I am back at home after a successfully simple drive from Ottawa. Dorothy is just as I imagined her, complete with the remnants of an American accent. The weather was perfect — for February — until about three in the afternoon, when I stopped for coffee at the Cambridge service centre. All was grey but okay when I went in, but fifteen minutes later, on opening the door to leave, I found myself in a maelstrom of snow.

From Cambridge to Stratford, highway 401 to 8 to 7, I drove slowly and very prudently, with four-way flashers on and every nerve-end firing. Visibility was terrible, ranging from about 30 metres to white-out, and the road was quickly covered. The snow fell so thickly that the SATNAV stopped receiving signals and the car’s collision-warning system kept beeping. I would have been happier in my old 1986 Golf with automatic nothing.

However, here I am in my comfy chair with the cat, so it was just another Canadian travel experience.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: pattyClink
Date: 27 Feb 23 - 11:03 PM

"Home Town", what an unlikely story that has been! I have kinfolk in Laurel, and you would hardly believe the rebirth and transformation that downtown, and the whole town, has undergone. All because a talented couple pursued their quirky little plans, and one of them did a good blog about it, a sharp producer took a chance, and over a period of several years, thousands of lives have been transformed.   

It is now a delightful place to visit, where once it was a depressed town, only a sad fading shadow of past timber and oil prosperity. The power of a few people doing good work, and others believing in them. I haven't seen a ton of episodes since I am mostly catching broadcast, but, always amazed at her design ideas, and his reworking of old wood into innovative furniture.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Feb 23 - 11:38 PM

Drives like you describe can be quite memorable - I must have been about 21 when I made a snowy night drive down the freeway in Washington State - low visibility and I was at the front of a line of cars - any of them could have passed me on the left, that lane was open - but they all chose to stay in the line following along. I would have appreciated being able to follow someone but no one moved forward. That was a long ~ 10 miles for me in my VW Beetle. I pulled up the Google map of the route you described - I'm glad you didn't find yourself up to your axles in a ploughed field along the way.

I don't suppose either you or Dorothy thought to take a selfie to share of your meeting? I'm glad you were able to meet!

The new string of lights is now hanging from robust cup hooks in the attic. The string comes with a sturdy cord, lightweight bright plastic LED lights, and at each light there is a little carabiner to use for hanging. The old fluorescent in a reflective work light shield is still clamped to a 2x4 near the opening, plugged into the porcelain socket on the ceiling above the steps. I've added a socket extension (like this) into the old socket. That's where the new string of lights is plugged into a grounded switch. I wish I'd done this ages ago.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Feb 23 - 02:01 AM

Patty, that's nice to know about the Laurel connection! I never paid much attention to the earlier Fixer Upper series done by couple Joanna and Chip Gaines out of Waco, Texas, but it seems to be along the same lines. I never thought of Waco as charming when I lived nearby in Temple, but it is a tourist destination now. And agreed, I love it when Ben and his friends head into an old family barn and come back with some beautiful piece of wood with local history to turn into furniture or other features in the houses they work on. (I've also watched a dozen episodes or so of a Mother and Daughter team out of the Indianapolis area do these kinds of things, but they are house flippers and sometimes their schtick is more like an architectural high-wire act. At times it mades me wince to watch them and their crew.)

When I moved in here I found various things around that had been left behind in the attic or laundry room or forgotten in a cupboard that were incorporated into projects because it felt like a nice homage to past tenants of the house. The original couple lived here for several years but rented it out for many more years. At this point, I've lived in it longest of anyone and have made changes, though it is still a work in progress.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 28 Feb 23 - 08:45 AM

I’m no good at selfies, Stilly, so I don’t do them. Dorothy’s phone has limitations. Besides, we were too busy talking.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 28 Feb 23 - 10:13 AM

Beaver:

I, too, am not fond of selfies; never occurred to me. Glad to hear C is safely home. No surprises there; she, too, was who I was expecting.

I now avoid "Canadian driving experiences" like the plague. Enough have been survived. However, the last hour of our trip to PA was a fair equivalent - dark and rainy night on a two lane road full of Thurs night shoppers in myriad small towns, headlights magnified by rain... One of the most stressful hours of my life.

Bisque firing unloaded and bottoms waxed, all on shelves in studio waiting for me to feel like glazing and re-loading kiln. Snowy morning so no hurry as I cannot carry pots from a-Z without snow landing on them - not a good idea. Maybe that is a good excuse? I'll get there soon. Studio is warm, glazes are stirred... Motivation still catching up!

JennieG: Madoc is a long way from Oz! I hope the adventure was a good one!

Well, it was nice watching the snow fall, now to gather myself to forge ahead!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Feb 23 - 11:01 AM

*Note for those who don't take selfies: ask the well-tipped wait person if they will take a photo and hand them your phone. Chances are they'll do a great job!

A friend is coming over in a few minutes with 8 ounces of Market Spice Tea - this is the excellent variety available from the Specialty Spice Shop in Pike Place Market in Seattle - he placed an order for both of us to save on the high shipping cost they charge. I drink their decaff, which is the ONLY decaff tea I'll drink, it actually does taste as good as the original full-octane variety (I have some of that also, but only for morning consumption).

A day of running ahead, starting with a tree-planting event at a friend's house. Spring is just around the corner when the gangly delicate-but-large crane flies are bopping all over the place (in the Puget Sound area I grew up calling them "gallinippers," though a search on that generic term shows it applies to several types of insects.)

It sounds like the potting/glazing energy will come with longer days and snow melt, Dorothy. Be patient walking around on ice loaded down with heavy trays!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 28 Feb 23 - 12:29 PM

Tim Horton’s is a fast-food joint with over-worked staff who come near the tables only occasionally, to wipe crumbs off them.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 28 Feb 23 - 03:04 PM

And even more often with a dust pan and broom to put you off your food.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: JennieG
Date: 28 Feb 23 - 05:32 PM

It was a fun adventure, Dorothy! We live in Tamworth, Oz, so when visiting our Canaussian son in 2015 we included Tamworth, Ontario, in our itinerary.

It's much smaller than our town but was interesting, just the same; our population is mid 50,000 while Ontario Tamworth is about 500. We both have Peel Street but ours is the busy main drag, while the Canadian one is a quiet lane near the river. Both towns were in areas first settled in the 1820s.

Madoc was a pit stop on the way back to Toronto. After driving on it once on a previous trip, we avoided the 401 like the plague on subsequent trips.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Feb 23 - 09:34 PM

Those memorable town names can make a drive interesting. I have driven across the US a number of times, and when the trip takes me the length of Tennessee, I stop at Bucksnort, just because. At the bottom of a valley in the middle of nowhere. There is a little gas station, and I don't remember if there is a post office, but I've been known to mail postcards from interesting little towns during my travels. Chunky, Mississippi, didn't have a post office (and the name was derived from a Choctaw word, it wasn't a physical description of an individual, apparently.) Utopia, Texas, etc.

This week I will be exchanging plant material between friends. I was at a home today where the cannas were being thinned and I brought home those that were dug up (purple stalks and orange flowers). I'll trade some of those to a different friend who is going to give me some schoolhouse lilies (they don't bloom long, but they're wonderful right at the beginning of September when school is starting, hence the name.) And I have some crinum lilies to contribute to the collections of two other friends. Bright pink when they bloom. I am sorry that my discussion of blooming plants and gardening lands right when some of you are snow-bound!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 01 Mar 23 - 12:44 AM

not here!

summer is winding down, tho we still have very hot days coming next week. My fuchsia is also winding down, with one almost-open flower, 5 dead blooms & 5 teeny-tiny buds.

There have been times since I bought it in October from the supermarket when I had 12 buds & 7 flowers.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: pattyClink
Date: 01 Mar 23 - 10:54 AM

Point well taken about taking selfies. It's hard for a normal, discreet sort of person to force themselves to take group or pair photos at a reunion or meet-up.   Seems the sort of thing one's obnoxious Aunt Griselda would insist on doing.

But, after my first year of traveling, I discovered I had way too many lovely landscape and sunset shots, not enough of the people who had made the journey so memorable. So now I'm that obnoxious Aunt Griselda, although I do forget sometimes, when swept up in the experience. But I try, even if they are ragged candid shots of the campfire, or one of a friend alone if necessary. Often in tourist spots, a desperate glance will result in a fellow traveler volunteering to take the shot.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: pattyClink
Date: 01 Mar 23 - 11:00 AM

Been to Chunky! Lived nearby. Back then the highlight of the summer was a trip down to Dunn's Falls for a float on the Chunky River below the falls. Maybe the original Choctaw name was Bogue Chun-qui or something.

Other great M'sippi towns are Hot Coffee and D'Lo. And I am always tempted to get off the Louisiana exit for Tickfaw.   

Managed to snap a photo in Utah of the exit sign for Pumpernickel Valley.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Mar 23 - 11:03 AM

When I worked at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis, tourists in New York City were all very cautious about their cameras being stolen. But on an island when there is an official in uniform right there - I was frequently asked to take photos so got to use a lot of cameras taking photos for those groups. And I still do it in places like museums, parks, etc. It will sometimes be the only shot in the whole trip that they are all in.

Heavy rain early this morning has postponed the yard work I was hoping to start today. I have a bit of running to do but will wait until the puddles have drained from the roads before leaving. Until then, the house looks like the inside of a goat's stomach, so I can start picking up.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 01 Mar 23 - 08:08 PM

Beaver:

Pottery firing -another lot today. Leaving tomorrow after the kiln is cool enough to unload. I will open it a bit as early as I feel like trekking outside. And, yes, I was very careful on the frozen snow with those trays of precious pots! Only three or four to a tray, so not very heavy. Oh, the first firing was just fine, happily!

Car is partly loaded so morning will be packing pots when they are cool enough, changing the bed, batten down the hatches, and get the remainder into car; trip to library (5 min away) and back down route 62 to the 401. Others hate it but I do not find it odious, except near Toronto. Love my cruise control. 5 hours to other home, stocked up with stuffs from Local store.

Never been to Tamworth, that I noticed. I will keep an eye out. Sometimes we explore.

Took note, just now, of a music event in Belleville at noon on 18 March! A friend is involved. I could manage that on a trip either direction with some planning - in my calendar.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Mar 23 - 10:39 PM

Dorothy, it sounds like you've got that mischief managed as far as transporting your pots to the kiln. Have a good drive back to Dupont!

Patty, I do envy you the mobility you have right now, to explore the places you pass through if you wish. The parts of towns that speak to me are those places where I can see that people have made a space their own and have a garden or workplace that suits them. They aren't usually in the neighborhoods on the beautiful homes tours, but they're interesting. I remember Chunky as being small and utilitarian, and we didn't have much time to drive through, but spending more time would have been welcome.

Back here in North Texas, after the thunderstorms passed the ex and I made a trip to the discount gourmet warehouse store for the Wednesday Market and we were not disappointed: I came away with lots of fruits and veggies (and to make the purchases worthwhile I need to manage to eat all of it!). Pineapple, mango, apples, cucumbers, and four bags of Romaine hearts. One of those Romaine hearts is gone with dinner tonight. Cauliflower for me or (more likely) for the dogs. I buy a lot of produce to add to their dried dog food so they get moisture and fiber every day. I cook veggies for the dogs (you often get more nutrition from cooked stuff) and they really love it because when it's cooked it tells them "people food." I watch when they eat - they always scarf down the veggies before the dry food.

Today I picked up two of a fruit I have never tried before - Dragonfruit - and I have a page of results on YouTube telling me how to cut and eat it. Trying new fruit is akin to the trying of new taco stands and restaurants - getting a bit out of my comfort zone to find new and interesting foods. Out of curiosity I asked a Mexican friend yesterday about these taquerias that are near our neighborhood - turns out the one I liked best is owned by the in-laws of the guy who works with him (who will be here to cut down a large tree in the yard on Friday). It's a small world.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: pattyClink
Date: 02 Mar 23 - 10:55 AM

I passed a small stainless steel food truck as I drove thru Tularosa, New Mexico on Tuesday.   Something told me to turn around and try it. It was "Tularosa Tacos", where the food offered was in an aluminum cake tin with lid, a set of 3 tacos. Of course I tried the variety combo. These were small, steamed, corn tortillas, doubled, I guess for strength. One soft taco was stuffed with freshly grilled carne asada, another sauteed chicken chunks, another was pork with a hint of pineapple. Fresh salsa, pico de gallo including fresh Hatch chilis, and a bit of sort of creamy sauce apparently involving farm cheese.

Oh my goodness, made you want to slap your mama!

You take a chance on stopping for random food trucks, but, seems like 3 out of 4 times it's worth it.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Mar 23 - 04:18 PM

Good for you, Patty! Once I started looking for them, those food trucks are all around here. The neighborhood has enough vacant parking lots that they stagger themselves up and down this part of town - so the pecking order is to go to full-service sit-down restaurants with a wide menu ($$), to go to a taqueria with a limited but very good small menu ($), or to stop by one of the food trucks that has a really tiny menu ($). I noticed one with camarón (shrimp) that I'm tempted to try if I can find it again. They're set up most often in the evenings and have little neon signs on them and strings of lights to catch your eye.

My day's activities were cut short due to weather - not the ice and snow of the nothernmost members, but the springtime churn of moisture on warm days that can lead to tornadoes and hail and all manner of damage. I left my volunteering early (the museum is also closing early) and didn't follow-up with my usual session at the gym. I have plenty of picking up to do around here. This morning I got up on a ladder and reattached my patio cover tarp or I'd be bound to lose it in this storm.

Time to put the thundershirt on Pepper and get out ahead of this to see if it helps her.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Mar 23 - 05:33 PM

Hang in there, Pepper. And Stilly, and Cookie. And Zeke who is deaf ... but I suppose Zeke can feel vibrations or something when it's stormy.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Mar 23 - 08:13 AM

Snowpocalypse is heading my way, again. “Winter Storm Warning!” shrieks the Environment Canada website in a red banner across the top of the screen. Sure, of course we’re facing another storm — it’s freakin’ March, and we live within spitting distance of four Great Lakes. It’s Canada, in late winter. It snows. Relax.

In other news, I’m waiting on two people to come and pick up large items that I don't need or want. If all goes well, I will soon be rid of three full-height bookcases and Edmund’s rolling composter. Cross your fingers!

Also, now that I have a stock of sturdy boxes, items bound for Goodwill are heading out the door. First up: Edmund’s accumulation of hats, size way too large for most people. They’re packed and ready to go.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Mar 23 - 09:41 AM

The weather that passed through down here last night seems to be the tail end of what is approaching to clobber everyone in the north as well. Will your visitors be carrying bookcases out in a blizzard? That composter would have had a welcome home here, but the trip to pick it up would be a hefty one!

The big backyard hackberry that is in danger of falling on (take your pick) the garage, the greenhouse, the dog kennel (or all three simultaneously) or the fence or the tree next door or even smashing into the yard next door and taking the fence with it is coming out today. Conditions are sodden out there, my handiman friend offered to do the job yesterday but wind was threatening and I had appointments. Now it looks like yesterday might have been easier because the winds didn't really start till about 5:30 and it was still dry. Hindsight is 20:20.

We have a couple of more days of dry weather before the next rain passes through so I suspect this weekend will be one for digging in the yard. It needs at least today to dry out a bit before I try it.

The dogs bark periodically when something thumps out back - I'll take photos of the tree removal progress, partly based on when they make a fuss so I can go out to look. They're in the house today, for obvious reasons - mostly they'd be underfoot, but also the gate will be open and Zeke doesn't have a collar to keep him in the yard.

It goes pretty fast, though this tree is much taller and a larger volume of wood to haul to the dump than the last tree he took out, a pine in the front yard. Too bad we don't have a chipper, I'd have a lifetime supply of mulch. As it is, I'm still getting mulch a few blocks away where that neighbor had a regular tree company come in to do work with the chipper truck they bring along. They left the chips for her but she has way more than she can use. My guy may be taking this to the recycling company nearby - they have a big chipper. That would be better than the dump.

Another paroxysm of barking - time to head out to see what's up (or down).

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Mar 23 - 12:39 PM

I will keep a few rounds from the thickest part of the tree to use as either seats or (more likely) perches for Cookie. The nearby wood waste recycling plant will grind up the rest. Antonio laughs that they'll give him back his trees when he goes to buy mulch. But the size of equipment needed to grind all of this landscape material is such that charging to receive the raw stuff as well as selling finished mulch is the only way to keep the equipment paid for. I'm good with that. They undercut the cost of taking it to the dump so they keep raw material coming their way.

It's cool and muddy in the yard but the sky is a glorious clear blue. It's beautiful to be working out there right now. We took a break - closed the gate and let the dogs out to investigate and take care of business.

I've set up to do some sewing today, to finish a project for a friend, and I have a new one to start. Later there's a gathering of friends and I'm thinking of making a dessert to take along. I made cranapple juice this week (put frozen berries through the steam juicer) so I have fruit pulp for those rich cranberry bars. I'll keep a few here and take the rest to the party.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Mar 23 - 06:40 PM

The composter has left the property.

Huzzah!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 10:31 AM

Yesterday I swept enough sawdust into a 10-gallon bucket to super-charge my compost pile. The yard is a new place with that huge tree gone, it really opens up the space and there will be grass growing on that side of the yard again.

This weekend is forecast to be perfect gardening weather so I plan to make use of it.

I shared some plants yesterday with a friend and will digging more to take over (I gave him a big bag of canna roots and he gave me three lily bulbs. At the next place she was interested in the cannas also so I told the first friend (probably terribly ungraciously) that if I'd given him too many cannas that this second friend (who lives near him) would like some. But I realized I'll be in town early next week and will take over more of those if they want plus some crinum lily bulbs. Friends who are gardeners here trade plants from yard to yard. :)

I need to put in some cucumbers this year along with other stuff I usually plant. I want to make more pickles; I almost bought some cucumbers the other day but prefer to use the really fresh homegrown organic ones. Other than those, it will be the usual tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, okra, but it's too early to put any of those out yet.

The sewing project for a friend is at the halfway point. I've finally cut out enough pieces of everything to simply assemble them now. I have several other projects to work on also. I listened to the current audio book while sewing and may manage to finish it before renewing (it's a very long book, renewed 3 or 4 times now!)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: keberoxu
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 03:59 PM

Yesterday Stilly mentioned the storm headed for the East.
In my part of the east,
we are merely cluttered with an additional four inches of white slush.
Not the big mess we were told to expect.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 05:14 PM

eBay quandry today. I sent out a perfectly working used device and today received a refund request (purchase and original shipping cost). The return shipping (the buyer doesn't get that back) is ~ $15. I have my doubts as to what happened (impatient people can break these things), but I don't do repairs. I decided to see if I could split the shipping difference - offer the purchase refund and original split the shipping cost, but he keeps the parcel so doesn't have to pay $15 before he gets the refund. I don't do repairs, I have no use for it if he broke it. I'm not Zappos, I don't absorb all of those costs. We will see if the purchaser has a cool head and can do the math. That way I'm only out $7 instead of $15 and he is also out only $7 instead of $15.

Higher math.

I mowed the back yard today and will do the front tomorrow. I need to do some digging in the garden before it gets much later.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 09:10 PM

Aaaand … the bookcases have left the building!

It’s really quite amazing how many spiderwebs and dust bunnies can hide behind three six-foot bookcases.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 10:28 PM

Did they leave during a snowstorm? I have a visual image of people sliding down your icy front path seated on top of the bookcases.

I've cut and pinned and sewn this evening to finish a project for a friend. He asked for six masks, I think he's going to end up with about a dozen. I had a pattern from Joann's for a reversible mask to which I've added a third layer to make it more robust. I still prefer my 3D pattern, they're far more comfortable, but it's what the client wants that matters. Elastic ear loops and no nose-wires for glasses wearers. It's the fabric that matters.

I'm getting close to the end of a novel I've listened to for ages. Silly me, I have a print copy of it but still prefer the audiobook; I move a bookmark through the paper copy so I can sometimes look at the words on the page. Next month I have to renew my public library card so I want to finish this before I have to jump through those hoops (I use the water bill from my ex to show that I'm still in the city limits and can use the library.)

More gardening tomorrow.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Mar 23 - 11:30 AM

My gardening hand tools were spread all over the house and out buildings, with the lion's share propped against a wall in the garage. A few were behind the door to the sunroom. They are now back where they started in a dedicated spot in the corner of the greenhouse.

Another pass through the pantry has revealed a way-old big canister of powdered Gatorade that I mix up to drink in gardening season, especially during the summer (the salt content helps avoid cramps overnight). It's mostly sugar, though, and I'm going to set this can aside and once the garden is going I'll mix it up in water and pour as a fertilizer—it would be a missed opportunity to send it to the landfill. This also works with soft drinks, old milk, etc. (Milk helps fight fungal diseases like powdery mildew).

In a drawer I found a couple of the small bungee cords I've been needing, and in my mind's eye I can see the container I've been looking for, but either I put it away so safely it will never turn up or I used them all and recycled the container. I'll pick up some more (Lowe's had a good price).

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 05 Mar 23 - 01:33 PM

In southwestern Ontario, a late-winter storm is likely to be violent and dangerous, but they don’t last long. Friday’s weather bomb lasted until sometime after midnight, but stopped abruptly when the system rolled past Toronto and headed down the St. Laurence River. When the sun came up, the temperature was already above freezing. The cloud cover thinned and vanished by noon, and by suppertime the sky was a clear blue.

Nick’s Snow Removal keeps my driveway clear all winter for the princely sum of $650.00 Canadian — a screaming deal. I shovel the footpath myself, just to keep up the skill. By the time the new owners of the bookcases showed up, the strong sun of the afternoon had made away with the last vestiges of snow on the footpath and the third of the driveway closest to the house.

So, no quaint Cornelius Krieghoff scene of “Canadians Moving Bookcases in Blizzard Conditions”.

(If you don’t know about Krieghoff, he did Currier & Ives-type paintings of country life in Quebec, where it was apparently always winter.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: JennieG
Date: 05 Mar 23 - 04:08 PM

I looked up Cornelius Krieghoff, Charmion.....I bet life in wintery Quebec wasn't always as jolly as he makes it look!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 05 Mar 23 - 05:52 PM

You got that right, Jennie. Imagine the outback of Oz during the 19th century, but sub-Arctic.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Mar 23 - 10:01 AM

The goal for the garden is to have a thick layer of mulch on the path around raised beds, keeping weeds at bay, so yesterday I started that digging around the upper end of the garden plot. I've tried putting down cardboard and mulch over existing weeds, but they break through, so the weeds are coming out. The first bed will be planted with potatoes this week, and I'll work my way down the hill past three more raised beds. I have lots of places around the yard to dig and things to plant. In addition to a vegetable garden there are canna lilies, schoolhouse lilies, and asparagus (it needs its own bed so it can come back every year).

The house is the inside of a goat's stomach with everything in a state of flux. So many projects underway. My attempt to turn bar soap into liquid is at the testing stage - I had a second foaming dispenser jar under the sink that is now holding the slurry. Not sure this will work, I'll probably have to find a pump bottle to use. I'm sure I kept one, I always do. "I might be able to use this for something else" and it gets tucked under the sink or into the laundry room somewhere.

I've ordered a hose guard cable protector thing to run across the driveway in front of the garage door. This will eliminate the need for a very long hose to run around the garage (to avoid driving across it). These guards aren't cheap, but I will be able to do more with the hose with it in place.

Last summer I bought a large bag of corn and flax chips that I've just tossed because they're several months out of date. The size of the bag is off-putting; I was thinking I should wait to open it when I have people over to go through it quickly and there it stays forgotten on the shelf. Aldi's offerings are more practical, small bags of similar products that I'm more likely to open (and if I don't less expensive when it's tossed later.) For months I've been working to draw down the large surplus here, in particular in the pantry and the large freezer. This means sticking mostly to fresh fruit and veggies when I shop, or things I'll consume fairly quickly. I am making progress.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Mar 23 - 12:06 AM

The ADHD tests today were essentially a form of audible and visual drip-drip-drip water torture, really meant for children, not adults. At this point they prove that one aspect of the condition is the ability to hyperfocus to complete tasks. Since I'm not hyperactive but have the "executive function" problem of distraction, we'll discuss this further. Meanwhile, my house is full of unfinished projects. I need to make a list.

Tomorrow, more work in the yard. But also work in the sewing studio, plus one trip out. My bank seems to have crashed as far as online stuff so I may also have to drive over there since online deposit is kaput. We live in a world when all it takes is one employee clicking on the wrong PDF file in an email to crash an entire bank. I hope there isn't a ransom involved.

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

So many small projects are underway here, but I've sorted some of them to prioritize. To name just one, two boxes of Attic Dek panels need to be moved from the hall up into the attic, and there was an old box of long screws that came with a special (misplaced) drill bit that I'd like to use up there. My Ryobi bit set had one that fits, so no need to buy more screws or a new bit. Up they go.

I have the last few chapters of an audiobook that I'd really like to finish so my choices of projects today will depend on what can I do that won't distract me from the story. Not attic work (wearing headphones up there too precarious) but I can sew, and I can clean out some of the pots for this spring's planting—there is so much standing water in them now it will be mosquito central soon if I don't clear them out.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 07 Mar 23 - 12:46 PM

Two more boxes of household clag have departed: most of Edmund’s accumulation of broad-brimmed hats, off to Goodwill.

Now, suddenly, I actually have room in the closet for all of my own hats.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Mar 23 - 12:00 AM

I must start a list of multiple projects and small tasks I need to do. They seem to occur to me at times when it isn't convenient to do them, so they are forgotten again. It's time to start addressing and crossing off some of this stuff.

Today I picked up the packages of hose-protector things that will lie across the driveway like a speed bump to keep the hose from getting smashed as I come and go to the garage. When ordering I tried to calculate how long the things would be and concluded it would take two to span the width of the area I drive over with a large SUV; I think now that one will be enough and one can be returned. They're in the back of the SUV right now (two young women worked together to load the cart at Lowes and I rolled them out and just tipped the things onto the tailgate and shoved.) I'll open one box in the car and if all of the parts that come out add up to long enough, I'll leave the other to in place to return later.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Mar 23 - 08:55 AM

On Monday, the builders will start work in my mouldy bathroom. Things will be chaotic and expensive for a while.

Next week is the midterm school holiday (“March break”), so half the town will be focussed on finding ways to occupy the time and attention of their children. Late-winter trips to sub-tropical places are popular with folks who can afford them. I am always amazed at the ever-increasing number of people who seem to believe that international vacation travel is anything but an insane luxury … Oopsy, I seem to be slipping into rant mode.

Gotta take my vitamins and go to the gym. It’s snowing again. Sigh.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Mar 23 - 11:40 AM

After a 2020 pause, spring break/superspreader events seem to have grown in size. Boggles the mind. I doubt many of them even glance at the CDC advice about how to travel safely.

Good luck with the bathroom work. Will this also involve cats locked in other rooms of the house during the day? Will they pout or misbehave? Any idea how long it will take, and are there new things installed (tub or shower or commode or sink)?

I've started a list - it's a long one. I have to just pick something and do it. Easier said than done.

My daughter and I had lunch yesterday and I described an old-fashioned project I'm working on, one that the grandmother of my middle school best friend used to do. In the 1960s we'd often walk to her house after school (she lived with the grandparents). And if her grandmother wasn't cooking she was doing needlework. I asked her about the projects and she had a technique of joining two pieces of fabric, the top with a printed design (picture). Stitch around the elements of the picture she wanted to feature, then make a slit carefully through the backing and stuff the space with batting before closing that gap to create a raised relief. She framed these. As I described them my daughter's eyes widened and she grabbed her phone to pull up the Wikipedia listing for Trapunto Quilting. Well who knew? It isn't exactly the same, because this is using a print instead of a plain piece of fabric, but I'm impressed that she recognized it and gave it a name. And I'm impressed that what was old is new again for us.

It rained gently yesterday so today is a bit soggy for the yard work. Also cool, and the weekend should be nicer, so I'll look at the list and see what I can tackle in the house.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Mar 23 - 03:39 PM

Oh, yes, Stilly, there will be ripping out and replacement of all fixtures and cabinetry. Also removal of an entire tub-surround of small ceramic tiles with their mouldy grout. And remediation of the mould in the wall behind the small ceramic tiles.

The cats will spend their days in the basement with their water fountain, kibble dish and litter box. I will shut the doors of all the other upstairs rooms and remove everything hanging on the walls between the front door and the top of the stairs, and in the upstairs hall. The garage will probably be used for staging and carpentry space, so the shelving has to be draped with tarps and the car will go outside.

Not my first rodeo.

This project won’t take long, as renovations go, but it will be messy and stressful while it lasts.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Mar 23 - 04:00 PM

Ah, yes - the thing I realized when I had the heat pump replaced - all of the stuff I had to move from the door to the workspace included art on the walls. The art was coming down as they started walking into the house.

I've gotten over the "hump" so to speak in the attic decking project - a raised platform to protect the heat pump lines and over the center spine of the house. I'm not to the point to pull the data line yet, but I am to the point where I've realized that the large duct on the SW side of the house is an important air intake and I should treat it with more respect. I'll move the dresser that stands in front of the bedroom grate. Drill batteries are now charging and I'm done for the afternoon since the attic has warmed considerably.

No snow, just drifts of white petals of Mexican plum blossoms and the dogs are still tracking in sawdust from the tree removal last week.

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

I waited until the attic cooled and spent a few more productive minutes up there. More Attic Dek in place and I found the coaxial cable that I want to use to pull a new data line and use as a defacto tv aerial (it won't be attached to an external antenna, the cable itself will be the antenna up in the attic.) There is a really long chunk of the coax cable inside the wall and with duct tape and string and CAT5 I can accomplish what I want easily.

I have to follow the wall header for two of the bedrooms in the attic and find the right place to drill through and run a piece of CAT5 for data in the sewing studio. The room at the front was my son's (it's now the guest room) and I wired that years ago when he was the only kid at home by then and it didn't matter if he was on the computer in the living room or his bedroom.

I might as well wire all of the rooms - I have the materials, I have the time, and when the time comes these will be obsolete because everything will be all WiFi all of the time. But for now, faster streaming and better pictures in any room where someone takes a device that can use the connection.

This afternoon I cleaned up some of the plant saucers by the side door then took a bucket of leaves to the compost area where I relocated the black compost bin and dumped in some recent weeds and poured in the 10 gallon bucket of sawdust from the forestry work last week. It's a great way to kick start the pile. That bin was put in the last spot two years ago and now there is a beautiful pile of compost ready to use.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Mar 23 - 10:33 PM

I recently cleaned the shower grout with CLR, magic erasers, and Scocth green scrubbies. The floor required extra soft scrub.