DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 02 Apr 25 - 03:16 PM

And now we’re having thunder and lightning. What’s next — frogs? Blood?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 02 Apr 25 - 01:44 PM

We’re having “wintry mix” in southwestern Ontario today, so nobody’s roof is getting done. The wind is strong enough to rattle the icy trees, and the heavy precipitation — hard to tell if it’s snow or ice — is coming down at a 45° angle. A good day to lay low and say nuffin’.

Neighbour Brad said something about next week for his roof. Here’s hoping the current relapse into February will have passed by then.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Apr 25 - 12:27 PM

Yesterday the dogs enjoyed a walk in the park and I tried the Google FIT one more time; the compromise is that it counts steps but doesn't show where I walked on the map, just a single dense squiggle at the house. I can get the step count from my Withings watch, so there's not much point in the app. FIT and the post office's Informed Delivery app (they stopped supporting it) are both decluttered from the phone.

Another eBay sale this morning and the box was handed over to the postal carrier. Now out to finish mowing the front yard; last night I started and it was late enough that I finished one side by streetlight. Now to do the rest.

Has the roofing job finished? It's surprising how fast they can do that work. When my roof was last done they had to replace several pieces of the underlayment plywood, and the job still took only one day. It is a lot of pounding to listen to while it's underway (and terrible to be IN the house during the work). The whole immigration nonsense in the US right now is going to make our roofing work more expensive and slow. When my roof was done it was by a friend Angel who used a Mexican crew. The next door neighbors had a roof put on by a group of English speaking White guys and and the same surface area took them two days.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Donuel
Date: 02 Apr 25 - 12:14 PM

Silver maples make some unusual pretty line patterns for violins and cellos. They are big enough to make one-piece backs.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 02 Apr 25 - 11:39 AM

It's not just libraries that's getting trashed, Stilly:

Genetic data repo OpenSNP to self-destruct before authoritarians weaponize it

.... read for yourself, and shudder. I couldn't copy/paste and do it justice, and I don't want the 'Cat to faint under the weight, so the headline will have to do for now.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Apr 25 - 02:34 PM

If you need any mulch for the yard, snag some of that chipped up silver maple. Ground native tree trimmings are great for compost and mulching.

One of my side-gigs is managing the local Freecycle page, and scant posts from one member lately will say "OFFER: Odds & Ends Craft Items" - nothing listed, no photos. I pushed back, asking her to please name what she is offering or at least share a photo. It seems she is in such a hurry that that takes too much time but if I want her to send it to the dump just let her know . . . I explained that while her time is valuable, so is the time of people picking up items and if they arrive to find that the "craft items" are nothing they can use, it is rude to them. We all want this material to stay out of the dump, so a little more effort is required.

We have that limestone water here in this part of Texas also, meaning I clean the tea kettle with vinegar every couple of weeks and run vinegar through the dishwasher with every wash. I'm sure the inside of the hot water tank is deeply layered with it now. It was worse in Kentucky, where there was limestone but also a lot of iron in one level of the soil and after a rain the water ran reddish brown. You didn't dare do laundry until the water cleared up, and it took heavy duty acid products to clean the red crust from sinks and toilets.

The weather acts like it wants to rain but it doesn't line up with the forecast. I think all of these firings are already affecting the accuracy of the NOAA reports. This week they're trashing libraries.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 01 Apr 25 - 01:46 PM

My back-door neighbour is having work done on the huge silver maples that grow on my side of the fence and overhang his roof on the other side of the fence. This project means falling branches and roaring machinery, to wit: chainsaws and a wood chipper. Next week, he’s having his roof done very thoroughly, replacing not only the shingles but also the underlying plywood. So things will be noisy.

On my side of the fence, important progress has been made toward getting the house ready for sale. Marco the painter came yesterday to do the upstairs hall and touch-ups in the bedrooms and study. Tony the carpenter promised to come tomorrow with drywall, flashing and caulk, and the mason who built the patio will coordinate with him about moving the back steps (great hunks of manufactured stone) to give him access. Then Marco will return to paint the basement, which looked like the wrath of God even before the leak.

And I had the tankless water heater flushed and descaled this morning. I’ll be glad to leave Stratford’s liquid limestone water behind when I leave.

And I already have a date with the ophthalmologist — 28 April.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Apr 25 - 12:40 PM

The day is off to an slow start after a COVID booster yesterday. It usually only lasts for one day. Add to that very high pollen and I'm sneezing and achy, without having a cold or flu.

I'm into the next book in the stack, this one about the history of the business and production of sugar (Sweetness and Power) and am finding interesting parallels to today from the 1650-1850 period of colonial plantations that were protected and subsidized by governments. They operated in a way that the "capitalist slaveholders were quasi-aristocratic.(57)" Written in 1985 about stuff he was thinking about in the 1960s and 70s, he used lots of Marx and Adam Smith types as sources. Having read a fair amount of theory and philosophy in graduate school, it seems a bit ironic to be a postmodernist scholar reading a modernist work about that industry through the lens of what is becoming a Plutocratic era of rich technocrats. Modern industry is supported by the very things that Musk wants to privatize. Where have we seen this before . . .

I haven't started dusting and cleaning yet for company, but I'd best get to it. And mowing and gardening. And my friend sent home a bunch more boxes for packing my fragile eBay stuff. Time for a cuppa tea and decide what to do next.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 Mar 25 - 10:14 PM

Thanks, patty

My collection of family suff will go to my cousin's daughters & includes some family craocheting & embroidery, including a doiley my mother never finished & I saw why when I tried to do so. She couldn't get the brown & one small section she tried with a similar brown stood out like a hen's tooth when I looked. We have a great charity shop that sells old craft stuff (The Sewing Basket!) & they didn't have the shade. I even asked a friend who vacuums up threads. All my stranded threads are in a biscuit tin, her browns are in several thread boxes - she has at least one box of every colour.

My apartment walls & shelves are crowded with interesting things I've made.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Mar 25 - 10:11 PM

I also have some embroidery projects that were left in the family home in Connecticut by various women in the family over the last 150 years or so. And some other types of hand-sewing projects. handmade dish towels, pillow cases, tatting, etc. I did crewel embroidery for a number of years but gave away most of it. (I have some dated quilts c. 1870s from my great grandmother - they're amazing.)

Lucky you on the pecans! If you take the other carbs out of your diet the nuts aren't so bad; the calorie count isn't the problem, it's the number of carbs.

After running errands (oil change/state inspection) I didn't get a lot done today but that's because I had two separate long conversations with old friends this afternoon and early evening. I count that as a win!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 31 Mar 25 - 07:38 PM

Sandra I hope the doilies find grateful new homes. Despite all the upheavals, travels and changes, I still have a little stack of wonderful doilies and linens from a few generations of family, and the antique shop threw in a few new ones with the bedroom suite. Nothing adds warmth to a house like fine stichery.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 31 Mar 25 - 07:35 PM

Glad to hear good news for keberoxu and Charmion, one deadline moved up, another moved back, and all for the good!

Home-roasted savory pecans sound yummy. I am awash in the pecans they should not be growing in this part of the country, and using them in little bits here and there. So good, but the hips and the gut don't need to overdose on them.

One step forward, the fed taxes figured out in pencil; because I kept good notes last year and they didn't change the forms. I'm probably wrong, but it seems like possibly the first time in my adult life they didn't change the forms or formulas. Have not tackled the state form, so let's not get cocky.

But call it two-steps-backward, am really reluctant to mail the fed form in on paper with all the firings, and my last two dealings with tax software were a mess. Might have to see if there's a preparer at the local senior center who could take my figures and just file it properly electronically; batched in with all the rest, perhaps it would slip through the radar without problems.

Meanwhile lost all of today to hassles with 2 different motor vehicle registration offices, but some coherent lady seems to have set things in the proper motion, so we'll see how the wheels grind on that one.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 Mar 25 - 06:40 PM

I was planning on a big (in terms of volume) declutter 2 weeks ago, but the friend who would have collected me & my stuff had been chopping down trees helping clear the ground for a musical weekend & injured his back. ps. He's a recently retired engineer who has done a lot of outdoor work in his working & retired life, not an enthusiastic bloke wanting to help, & still needs treatment.

My stuff is a collection of large gift boxes & boot/photocopy-paper boxes covered with gift paper + an even larger box covered in pink material (perfect for a little girl to store her treasures!)

Said boxes contained stuff that has gone to Craft friends & charity shops. The pink box was almost full of my collection of vintage doilies (I only kept one) & went to a friend who sells vintage stuff at an Antique & Collectable fair - she recently sold all her large white damask table clothes to a Wedding business!

The surviving Willow Pattern doiley is a wonderful example of perfect stitching. I get complimented by friends on my small stitches, but they are uneven, ie. tiny stitches are surrounded/overwhelmed by larger ones. The doiley is a very fine linen (not handkerchief linen) & every stitch was over one thread which I only realised when I scanned it to show a distant friend.

(Embroidery Linen come in various thread “counts” which are simply an indication of the number of threads per inch in either direction. A low count Embroidery Linen would be a 20 count linen. High count is a little more difficult to define with exact numbers however in general, a 36 or a 40-count Embroidery Linen for counted handwork is considered fairly high count. A 50-count linen would be suitable for very fine work as the counted stitches are worked over one thread of fabric - now I know!) She must have had very good light - & eyes. I could mark an inch with pins count it - I do have a good light - but my eyes say NO!!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 31 Mar 25 - 05:46 PM

My decluttering schedule has more definition to it now.
I'm decluttering my apartment to prepare to move into a retirement community.
The move depends on when the current residents/owners move;
I already have their apartment "on hold".
Since I hadn't heard back, I contacted management today, and they confirmed that the owners will vacate in June.
That gives me more time than I feared I would have, so I can breathe a little easier.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Mar 25 - 04:28 PM

That gluten-free shoe took several months to drop, apparently. Not a fan of kale, it isn't in my diet. It isn't difficult once you're accustomed to it, and once you realize there are all sorts of the other sources of non-wheat carbs (and these days I'm both gluten free and low carb). I've had to add calories to my diet to not lose too much weight. The "slow carb" veggies are many - broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, asparagus, sweet potatoes (!), etc.

Two new batches of crispy pecans were completed last night and neither is too salty like they were in the past, so that is a step in the right direction. I'd reduced the salt from 1 tsp to 1/4 tsp, this time none. I added a couple of new ground spices also (mustard and cumin) that makes them interesting. Now I need to figure out how much of the soy amino or Worcestershire sauce to use to get a *little* salt to come through. (I cut them in half with these batches, so my answer is probably 3/4 of the amount.)

My dogs have never been camping or in an RV, so there is no context for that here. I used to have a cat that loved to camp and to ride in the truck (with a camper shell and windows that slid open between the shell and the cab so she could use her litter box in the back of the pickup). That cat also spent a couple of park service seasons with me in the camper trailer and enjoyed having all of the windows for watching the world outside.

Long visit today with the friend with the complicated cat sitting ritual; I came home with a bunch of boxes with padding for eBay glass stuff that I should list soon. (She buys frozen food for the cats and these boxes are well-padded.)

Since this administration was sworn in I've started making notes (on neon-colored post-it square sheets) for myself to use in my calls/emails to representatives and at this point have quite a stack next to the computer. It appears, based upon the number of notes today, to be a particularly critical week for communications.

Good luck with the carpenter and painter stuff, and cleaning the RV, and for those who lurk, the gardens, the craft projects, and the decluttering.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Mar 25 - 03:38 PM

Going gluten-free is like kale for breakfast.
Are there dog-friendly mobile kennel camper/trailers?
A real dog lover wouldn't copy Mitt Romney's dog conveyance.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 31 Mar 25 - 02:59 PM

I have a date with an ophthalmologist on 28 April, four weeks from today. That’s warp speed for Ontario.

Meanwhile, Marco the painter is hard at work and the upstairs looks better and better. The basement is still disassembled, however, and I don’t know how long Tony the carpenter will take to get back to me. The realtor wants to list the house in two weeks, right after Easter.

I’m ignoring the news today.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 31 Mar 25 - 11:12 AM

> a 70-year-old has to come out of retirement

You're younger than the Alleged Leader, nyet :-) ? And it probably counts as the Good Works that the ancient Romans used to do in their old age .... as opposed to whatever the Alleged Leader is up (down?) to.

More power to your keyboard, Stilly.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Mar 25 - 06:14 PM

Patty, the people who design cabin cruisers and small yachts must also design some of the travel trailers in the world today. I looked up that brand - they are amazing in how they compress for travel but open to give you space. Years ago I had an 21' Aljo double axle that I used for living quarters in a couple of the national parks where I worked. I was persuaded to sell it but I've always regretted that. It would be a great guest house (how friends have used their trailers parked in the yard; I've slept in those several times over the years.) Our no-longer-participating member WYSIWYG used to have a popup trailer she wrote about. Somewhere in my Facebook followings is a manufacturer of Teardrop trailers, tidy little compartments meant for sleeping and cooking at the back of it, and not much else.

Another small thunderstorm has passed through the region, aiming at us but again it missed. I was able to spend time in the front yard pulling out the dead canna stalks around the emerging ones. One older batch is going to need a pass-through with a pruning shear, I accidentally pulled up a live rhizome when weeding.

Making more baked pecans this evening and I've pulled up some alternative savory recipes. All of them have too much salt, but once again I'll see if I can get the flavor without the overly salty end product. Each one is a little better.

Another Zoom meeting this evening; I'm finding those helpful for planning my writing and resistance projects. The place is going to hell in a handbasket when a 70-year-old has to come out of retirement and block out her time in order to protest the crap the president and congress are coming up with.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 30 Mar 25 - 12:01 PM

It's a double edged sword, 'picking up for company'. Good to get things cleared away and cleaner. Bad because the real work of getting some stuff reorganized is messy to look at, and that's what really needs doing.

I'll be selling the motorhome, and acquiring a small nimble trailer for trips. Would love to get a 'hi-lo' type which telescopes down for easier towing and backing, maybe the smallest Trailmanor would work if I can find an old one.   Sleeping in the car would be doable but not fun, would do that only at remote sites which are hard enough to get to once.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Mar 25 - 11:35 AM

Patty, is there room in the SUV to sleep comfortably on your rockhound excursions? Or will you tent camp or convert the trailer to a habitable space (that sounds so odd to ask, so I suspect the answer is "no.")

The dramatic weather moved (west to east) past (to the north and south) without actually raining here at all. We listened to thunder around midnight but no hail or rain or even much wind.

There will be a guest in town next week, staying with her daughter but visiting here at some point. Her family is deciding to go in on a house; now she lives with her son five hours to the west, and the oldest daughter lives alone locally, so they'll buy a larger house here with bedrooms and baths for all. I had better start picking up so the house looks good for company.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 30 Mar 25 - 10:31 AM

Ah, Texas in the spring. Ecstasy, agony. Exhilarating views and scents of new green grass and early flowers, tempered by humidity blooms. I remember once getting out of a warm shower, we were having a rally near Crockett, and immediately a new sweat layer appeared. Had to allow extra time to cool off and dry off before getting dressed. Good times...

Finished emptying out the motorhome, started wiping down surfaces. Feels strange to be decommissioning it in preparation to sell. Washed its air conditioning filter. Wondering if today is a good day for a serious vacuuming of the coach, or if the next round of dust storms will mock my efforts.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Mar 25 - 11:46 PM

Wow. I've heard about that scar tissue forming, and have been told that laser surgery is quick and easy. I'm sorry it's such a long wait to get it. And I understand about the cookies - the chocolate I pick up these days is in the tart 70 to 85% dark variety. My hairdresser has a jar of mints and small Hersey's nuggets but the last time I ate one it was way too sweet and too much of the emulsifier they add for consistency.

Diet-wise I've realized lately that I'm out of the habit of using milk. I have sometimes made quiche or a bread pudding with gluten-free bread and other than ~ tablespoon of sugar the sweetener is stevia or monkfruit drops. There are a couple of really old half-gallons of milk in the fridge that once I get the garden going I'll pour over (it can work like a fertilizer) or pour into the compost. I do eat yogurt for calcium and the gut health.

Humidity here today is awful, but since it is only March I'm determined not to turn on the air conditioner. So far the storms have missed us, but if they do pass over they're supposed to be full of large hail. We can hear the thunder approaching now.

Today was a writing project, tomorrow is yard and house cleaning. I need to clear out the canna beds and pull some of the big gushy spring weeds that pop up in places - easy to pull now, difficult if allowed to grow huge.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 29 Mar 25 - 06:50 PM

My right eye — the one that works — has a problem: scar tissue impinging on the artificial lens implanted after the cataract removal. What’s more, the optometrist has to refer me to an ophthalmologist for assessment ASAP because I’m perilously close to dropping below the visual acuity standard for keeping my driver’s licence.

Ideally, the ophthalmologist would immediately whisk me into an operating room and laser away that scar tissue. In this world, however, I’ll be lucky to get a first appointment in less than six weeks, and only God knows when (and where!) the surgery can be done. And I’m supposed to sell my house and move this summer.

So colour me bummed out big time.

After my date with the eye doc, I made a grocery run and got nailed by a troop of Girl Guides selling cookies outside the supermarket. In my vulnerable state I bought a box and took them home. I made a big mug of coffee (decaf) with cream, opened the cookies, and sat down prepared to eat the lot — but I just could not do it. The vanilla ones tasted like sugary dust, and the chocolate ones were no better. So the rest of the box went into the compost bin.

I guess I really did pull my sweet tooth.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Mar 25 - 11:36 PM

I read a discussion of the insurance thing responsible for my contacting my doctors in today's newspaper. It isn't a done deal yet; it seems the local hospital network and BCBS are playing chicken, and have until April 1 to sort it out. Fitting day to make an announcement, eh?

The router research has concluded and for confirmation that the choice was best I called my son to bounce my ideas off of him. He agreed, some of the features available today are overkill, but getting the range large enough for the house square footage and future-proofing by making sure it will easily connect with lots of WiFi devices is a plan. My MBS download is on the low end of what is available, but it does the job. And any router out there now is set to handle a much higher rate, though this isn't the fastest by any means.

The easy part is researching and ordering. Installing will be the next struggle (to be sure the footprint of the new one is the same as the old one and all passwords are the same so no devices have to be set up again.) Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it isn't. After that I have to map a drive (the router USB port) for the new full backup, and finally, I'll have to upgrade to Win11. That all doesn't need to happen right now.

I've been walking the dogs more lately and the last couple of times tried to resume using Google Fit, but it's gotten progressively stubborn and unresponsive. It insists on knowing where the phone is with high accuracy all of the time or it won't give any accuracy for just our walks. If I forget to tell the app that the walk is over it runs down my phone battery in a hurry. So nope.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 28 Mar 25 - 05:08 PM

Another decluttering trip to my apartment.
This time it was all clothing and bedding, several large bags of same.
They went to a donation drop-off box.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Mar 25 - 04:37 PM

Yesterday I was in the neighborhood of a house that has a good "little library" box on a stand in their front yard so I added a book (I was there for a Buy Nothing item last month and noticed it the active location.) The book was in the back seat waiting until I was over there.

This afternoon I handed over some cleaning supplies my daughter put dibs on (before listing to give away elsewhere) and stopped by a friend's house to show her how to dose her cats (pills) and got home and changed out of cat hair-covered clothes and almost dropped my SUV fob in the washer in those pants. Forgot to stop by for my COVID booster, maybe tomorrow. Calling doctors to be sure we're still good (some of my insurance coverage shifted, but so far none were on that part of the plan).

One virtual declutter: uninstalled the Joann app from my phone.

We didn't get much rain overnight but more is due next week. Garden work can commence. The freeze protection has been removed from outdoor spigots, the true beginning of Spring.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Mar 25 - 10:43 PM

Drawing down the last of the dishwasher pods (cutting them open and putting just the powder in the compartment), as I prepare to switch back to a regular boxed powder. This is because of the polyvinyl alcohol (dissolvable plastic) in the covers. Yesterday I was at Joann's loading up on a few things and I read the Solvy (wash-away stabilizer) label and realized it's the same thing. I don't use it often, but I didn't add to my stash.

I learned new stuff today, after I signed up for an interesting Women's March Zoom meeting, to do with how algorithms work in social media platforms. Interesting and helpful.

We've waited for rain all week and the radar shows it finally approaching. The humidity in the house this afternoon was 20% and now it's 83%. I pushed off running around until tomorrow, so now it looks like I'll be doing it in the rain. One of those chores is to help a friend dose her cat. I knew when she told me that one cat had tapeworms that they were all going to have them. Ugg. With all of the cat sitting I do I'm a pro at stuffing pills down cats, quickly without much fuss. She's afraid they won't have anything to do with her again if she struggles and doesn't do it right.

I'm happy to report that since I've switched the dogs back to their regular limited ingredient dog food that the flatulence has abated. The blue heeler is hard to live with when she's perking away, and while a probiotic sprinkled over the food helped a little, it wasn't enough to solve the problem.

Not much decluttering this week so far, but I have hopes for the weekend.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 26 Mar 25 - 07:09 PM

> it really didn't use to be so, well 'crapified'

The official term, Patty, is enshittification (qv). I'm waiting for it to turn up in the OED.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 26 Mar 25 - 06:22 PM

Lots of frustrating techie issues today, but I'll spare everyone the details. It's just so saddening to have these machines basically refuse to do simple things they promise to do or ought to do, and it really didn't use to be so, well 'crapified'.

Favorite thing to get in Mexico is the local honey, some glassware and textiles, OTC drugs, non-narcotic drugs, and better flavored waters than we have. I guess I should get the list of banned stuff and venture into the grocery more.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Mar 25 - 02:08 PM

Patty, I'm still a member of Amazon Prime but I do a lot less shopping there. I use the site to search and read reviews and keep things I'm researching in the Wish List; at the moment I'm considering which router to purchase and will probably get it from Costco or BestBuy. The only way to make that purchase come in at the same cost is to pick up locally because the Prime membership does cover shipping (though some Amazon vendors charge higher prices to include the shipping, which is why comparisons are always necessary.)

When I lived in Arizona I used to shop in Mexico regularly, keeping in mind the items that couldn't come across the border (a friend used to buy limes and literally sit on the bag so they weren't in view when the customs folks glanced into her grocery bags.) What do you get when you're there?

Today will be my produce run since yesterday was killed by waiting for deliveries I was supposed to sign for. The USPS one I "signed" online but that still didn't take, I had to step out and sign a card, but the later UPS one was just handed over, even when the delivery email said I must sign. That wait killed the afternoon. Heading out before school lets out and then rush hour (that goes for about three hours around here) allows shopping before stores are crowded.

Joann's is closing and they're apparently doing the classic move of raising prices before they mark them down. They aren't filling online orders and there are no coupons or weekly fliers now. I have a few things I need to buy there so will stop in to see if any is in stock, and decide if it's worth the trouble or I'll just switch to my shopping from Wawak and the expensive fabric store across the street. Their website is empty except for class information, sewing machine financing, and a newsletter.

The Goodwill donation bin has filled enough to make a run over to the nearby store soon, and I should offer a few things sitting around in the garage on the Buy Nothing group.

This week I've signed up for two Zoom meetings to do with current events and networking. I've contacted a friend about going to protests; there are several who would go but the coming and going is difficult, so I propose to be the driver and that way drop them nearby and go park where I can safely wait and not get towed. Pick them up when they're ready. I'm the most able-bodied of the bunch, but they have much smaller vehicles and driving folks to these things wouldn't be as easy for them.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 25 Mar 25 - 09:43 PM

I'm upset for them too, keberoxu! Bunch of fellas trying to do good things get swept aside for some building project. Typical of this world turned-upside-down we are facing.

Did some purging, decluttering and organizing this week, using the new bookcase to store things I need quick access to, putting them in order; equipping the new used desk with a vast collection of pens/pencils and 'stuff' and yes I tossed all the iffy ones; washing out an old file cabinet and setting it up for use. I now have a place to open and deal with mail and files that is not center stage in the living room, feels good.

Erranding was a limited success but the ways of the DMV are frustrating even in sensible places. Got some OTC while in Mexico, but had to get the rest in a bigbox store on this side. Visited a local boutique, wasn't anything appropriate for right now, but good to know what's there for the future, some good stuff amidst the quinceanera gear.

Not sure what's going on with the fruit stand, they were closed, I hope they are moving to better quarters where windstorms do not wreck things. If just 10% of us did the local search before buying from bigcorps, we could start to see changes. I understand Target is already reeling from their recent decisions, even if most of the biz went to Costco, it still was a lot of money shifting from a sleazy corp to a responsible one.

Gently pushed back on yet another friend's 'just get it on amazon' advice. People are so ingrained with this, but some are starting to come around and realize they can look at Etsy and Ebay first.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 Mar 25 - 07:28 PM

A dear friend of mine is a priest and Dominican friar, living on campus at a Catholic college where he practices campus ministry.
He tells me that he and his fellow friars have to move;
the college wants their on-campus residence for something different.

I'm kind of upset for him. He is going through this in Michigan,
and he actually went through the same thing years ago in New Mexico
at a different (and not strictly Catholic) university.
But the Dominican order is a mendicant order, and historically
they are used to doing a lot with very little.
So the household of friars will weather things together somehow.

They, too, will have some de-cluttering to do in the near future.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 25 Mar 25 - 08:38 AM

We are now in the FAFO phase of Spring, with snow on the ground again and more in the forecast. A week ago, the temperature was up to 18°C under sunny skies. Oh, well; that’s Ontario. The daffodils like it, apparently.

My weight has been stable under 60 Kg for a while now, with body-fat percentage declining very slowly. I haven’t been this size since about Grade 10. It’s infinitely easier to get dressed when everything in the closet fits or is just a bit big.

I’m still waiting on Tony (carpenter) and Marco (painter) to come back with dates for the next phase of their respective projects. People are starting to ask when my house will go up for sale. I’m beginning to get tense.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 07:03 PM

Breakthrough, finally! I've struggled over a blog entry for days, trying to keep it short so readers would stay till the end, then realized the real problem was I'd buried the lede; once that was on top the rest flowed.

Still reading Junkyard Planet and am utterly amazed at the wealth of resources we have buried in our landfills. He has a more recent book (2019) called Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale. I ordered a copy (used, of course!)

Keeping in mind my goal to empty out a lot of stuff by the time I pay off the house, will learning more about the secondhand market inspire or impede that work?

Rain coming up this week and after it passes I've arranged to pick up a couple of more plants at the friend's house where she's having shrubs dug up before the house sells. I also have a couple of potted trees to either plant myself (where?) or offer to others.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 12:17 PM

Keb, late last night when I read your post (incorrectly) I saw "stuffed with high school students" and thought that was great! :-) Working or hanging out in a bookstore is good for their future - as long as they manage to not take home their entire salaries as books.

A bulk purchase of pork chops (Costco pork isn't injected with brine but their packages are huge) was frozen and is now packaged 1, 2, and 3 per bag. I am still testing the altered zip lock freezer bags for this, and will plan to use those packages first. It does let me extend the supply of the heavy-duty freezer bag roll.

A bunch of vintage plastic food storage items ran through the dishwasher yesterday to be photographed and listed on eBay today. Those are fast and easy to list; this is recent stuff designated for eBay and is listed now because it's the most in the way of everything else I'm working on. My sales page tells me I've sold $180.87 in the past 90 days. Piddling around with this keeps things out of the landfill and at this rate is enough to pay the water bill each month.

Monday morning I may be driving the neighbor's husband down to meet with the AARP volunteer tax preparer. She handles their finances so is the one who usually goes to the meeting but is having difficulties getting out (there are stairs around the house and she started using a wheelchair). I've offered to build a ramp into the garage, where there's only one step. That would use up some of my spare lumber here.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 07:28 PM

Put in another excursion to my apartment to declutter some more.
Packed out several shopping bags and boxes of used books
and drove them to donate them at More Than Words,
a second-hand bookstore staffed by high school students in the area.
Also removed some bedding and clothing for donations.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 12:29 AM

Finished my running around after a hair trim, didn't go too crazy at Goodwill (I did send photos of a couple of things to my daughter, who declined both). Today while heading into a chain grocery store (my source of low-tech environmentally friendly dishwasher detergent powder in a cardboard box - no more pods) I saw on their door that my prescription plan is back doing business with them. A couple of years ago they dropped out of our insurance plan. I am not switching back now. It's enough fuss that some of my doctors may not want to fool with extra paperwork now that the big health system I've been with for years has done the same thing. (They parted ways in the mid-1990s but returned after a couple of years.) These companies play chicken and every now and then one of them dodges, picks up their marbles, and goes away for a while.

Major declutter this evening - I bit the bullet and filed the taxes. I used a credit card to make the payment, not sending my bank info. It was worse than ever this year, knowing it is probably vanishing into Musk's cruel enterprise. A postal money order would have cost less than the fee to process it, but it would have involved a trip to the bank and then to the post office. I wanted this misery over with. Now back to my writing to and calling the representatives who have allowed all of this to happen.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Mar 25 - 11:22 AM

In the past month I went in for a couple of scans to determine brain and heart/artery health as I go forward without taking statins. I looked at the latest results this morning and am happy to report that both are excellent. The test from last week shows no artery problems. The score is zero. So I'm going to keep on with this almost-keto diet and not go on any of the medications that she keeps for folks who "don't tolerate statins well."

This week I've worked on an essay that I want to be short. It takes more time to write a short piece than it does to write a long one, like the long letter Mark Twain once apologized for (the sentiment often attributed to Mark Twain but earlier versions exist). It's going to be my next letter to each of my representatives but it is also going to be posted widely as a blog post, and in future I plan to publish my remarks to my representatives publicly (so those friends who want to call or write but aren't sure what to say will have something to choose from, should they wish.)

Patty, in that book on scrap and recycling I came across a possible answer to the trimmer you had problems with this winter. It seems that the scrap and recycling programs in China are huge, and one particular city has a corner on the market of refurbishing stuff that Americans and Japanese and people of other wealthy countries don't bother to repair. They have spare parts from all of the disassembled items and they repair, repackage, and sell them. It's an honorable practice, I'm just sorry your trimmer didn't work out the way you hoped (and what they planned for when refurbishing it.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Mar 25 - 01:58 PM

Nice start to the day - labeled and shipped an eBay parcel that sold yesterday, picked up just things on my list at the two stores we visited today, and got home without it taking too much time. I forgot to stop in the electronics section at Costco to look at routers, but it's probably just as well. They tend to have more choice online that ships to the store and if I find what I want I can pick it up next trip.

We haven't heard from Dorothy for a while. Has the weather cleared up enough for a trip up to Beaver? Do you still have things stored at the mill, or has that finally been sold? Are there other properties needing unloading (the original Montreal house, was it sold?)

Allergies are kicking my butt and I've been resisting the urge to take a nap, but I think the nap is going to win out.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 06:11 PM

Your flapping fascia is the equivalent of the loose shingle reported across the street, but reported by a known and reliable contractor. Good luck getting that fixed easily. I'm watching across the street for the arrival of the daughter so I can run over and get her phone number and apprise her of the front yard confrontation yesterday. I'd rather be the eyes watching out than have to wade into the fray, if there are people with more say in the matter.

Editing and writing and more editing this afternoon.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 05:19 PM

Stilly, no fewer than three respirologists have told me that my singing habit has kept me breathing these many years. But it’s just as important that I usually recognize the very first signs of an asthma attack, I know what to do about it, and I always have the drugs handy. Also, I can easily afford to buy the drugs.

When I was working at National Defence Headquarters, one day I heard the unmistakable sound of an asthmatic woman coughing, then wheezing, somewhere in the cubicle farm. I grabbed my Ventolin inhaler and went looking for her. I found her in the area where temporary staff were put. Sure enough, she was an “office temp” on a two-week gig replacing a clerk who was on vacation. She did not take inhaled steroids because she could not afford them — the one I used in those days cost $150 a month. Worse, she didn’t even have Ventolin, which is cheap as chips. She had no extra health insurance to cover drugs because she worked for a temp agency.

I don’t think I would handle an asthma attack so calmly if I didn’t have the drugs.

Tony the carpenter just left after a forensic examination of the leaking window. He has agreed (thank God!) to take on the job of “caulking the shit out of it” and repairing the interior wall. He also pointed out that the recent gale-force winds have nearly torn the aluminum fascia off the highest section of the roof at the front of the house, and it’s flapping in the breeze … Sigh.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 12:51 PM

Patty, it sounds like you did a great job with the party! Isn't the host always the most tired at the end of it? I'm thinking of my Thanksgiving meals here. They're fun but exhausting. (The most organized Thanksgivings have happened since the ADHD meds became part of my routine. I was astonished at how much easier it was!)

Lots of wind this week, and yesterday I walked across the street and spoke with my 90-year-old neighbor and then proceeded to chase off a "roofer" who had knocked on their door and told them they needed the roof fixed. He was up on the roof and his partner waiting in a pickup truck. Yes, it needs work, a loose shingle is in view, but never hire some guy driving through the neighborhood looking for marks.

More eBay stuff listed. I guess my sleepless night finally got me motivated to unload this stuff faster than I have been. Even if it's just small and inexpensive now, the income adds up when it sells, and better yet, it clears out some space. The goal is to empty the front room, and right now I'm working on the things that have piled up nearest the doorway into it.

Shopping run tomorrow, and there the goal is to stick to the shopping list. Hairdresser on Friday and my usual stops in that town (the Halal market, an Asian market, and a couple of friends to visit. Again, list in hand.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 06:54 PM

Housebound today with gusts up to 68 mph, dust and wind. The whistling through the poorly sealed back window is starting to get on my nerves.

Spent more time today trying to carefully rewash the borrowed crocks and cooker. The party was a great success, though as frazzled and tired as I was, the guests enjoyed it more than I did. Tried to write down some 'lessons learned' in case I ever think a big house party is a good idea again.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 01:58 PM

Charmion, I wonder if your experience with controlling your breath in singing helps you manage the asthma response? I just Googled "what chemicals are released in body in asthma attack panic" and, well, wow. Stress triggers lots of stuff. Do you suppose the singing discipline gives you a level-headed response?

My outdoors work is off for now - high winds started up again this morning (part of the dry conditions contributing the wildfire danger; the outdoor thermometer said 18% humidity this morning.)

Last night's wee-hours brain churn has me making a renewed effort to get a bigger variety of stuff listed on eBay. And for other items I need to figure out how to more efficiently recycle them, with reuse being the best choice.

It looks like a good time to do a no-spend month, so that's my goal for April. This month I've been drawing down the freezer surplus, and there's a lot in the rolling pantry shelves (a tall set of shelves on casters) as well that should be used. (The closet pantry is where non-food items are stored, mostly cooking and canning things, and I've mentioned that also needs a good thinning out.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 12:13 PM

The concert choir is doing a show on Saturday, and I have the big solo that the guest artist isn’t doing. Oddly, I just can’t be arsed to get tense about any of it, especially ticket sales. This is part of the disengagement process I go through when I have to move, unplugging myself from all the people and activities that preoccupy me before taking the big step.

Likewise, I didn’t bother with the annual vestry meeting at church. Not my circus any more.

The carpenter who put my basement windows in has yet to get back to me about a time to look at the damage. Now, *that’s* what I call a source of stress!

The after-effects of Friday’s asthma attack (and the drugs that stopped it) did not pass off completely until sometime Monday evening. At this morning’s monthly visit to the allergist, the nurse cross-examined me carefully, but in the end decided that, as long as I can manage these episodes on my own, they are not yet a cause for major concern. Unlike many asthma patients, I don’t tend to panic as my breathing deteriorates, which is probably an important mitigating factor.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 11:38 AM

I made the mistake of listening to a political commentary (the recently fired Joy Ann Reid, she's very smart, but this was a particularly pointed one about Musk and the billionaires aiming for another gilded age) and it seemed like my brain churned for hours. I definitely woke on the wrong side of the bed this morning, mood-and-courtesy-to-others-wise. Gotta fix that with some outdoor work to clear my mind.

Also, reading the book about recycling (Junkyard Planet) has me looking at my household through different eyes. So much stuff, and so much in view that I don't see any more because it's always there.

A detour from usual activity is required this week since my insurance company is dropping a whole bunch of the medical folks I use, all members of a major group here in my town. My card says I can go to them still, but only if they're willing to file more paperwork. I have to call each and ask if they will do that. Bummer.

Final note: the daily gelatin in a cup of tea seems to be doing the trick as far as stronger nails. Changing the diet helped some, adding this helps more. The usual name brand has doubled in price so I shopped around for what looks like a good quality brand I've never heard of but lots of good reviews on Amazon, at half the price. Or the old price, however you want to do that math.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Mar 25 - 12:17 PM

It bugged me that I hadn't finished the mowing yesterday, so after a couple of hours I put on one of my cloth masks and finished the job and was comfortable doing it. The dust will be with us for at least another week, and then the rain chance isn't huge, so I'll plan to wear a mask during yard work.

I have concluded the research on the Internet setup here - new modem and old working router and wanting to setup a remote backup. I've finally figured it out with the help of Reddit and someone trying to do the exact same thing.

Continuing the spring cleaning activities here. The first part of that is simply putting away stuff sitting around the house, and deciding if it is something to keep, donate, or sell. Maybe this will be a productive year if we're all able to draft off of Charmion's work as she prepares to sell and move and setup in a new place. Following along in her wake!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Mar 25 - 06:04 PM

I mowed about half of the remaining tall grass in the back today, but every time I turned the corner at the west end of the yard a big gust of dust flew up. The air quality is good except that there is a boat-load of pollen along with the dust in that tall grass and I decided to finish in a day or two. My eyes are itchy and the sinuses will be uncomfortable this evening. I suspect that a lot of the dust and pollen that is blowing around down here has crept up into the winds that are pushing on Charmion's car door. Funny how weather ignores international boundaries.

Today I tried to figure out what is going on with the Rubbermaid vintage food storage containers. They sell for fairly high prices on eBay and other online sale places. I'm using less plastic but when I do it is the newer BPA free Rubbermaid now. It's the human conundrum of "I'm trying to not use them but everyone else seems to want these things so should I keep a few?" For now I'll thin out the ones in the pantry I never use, and if I see these at Goodwill I can pick them up to sell.

While I'm at it, I really should thin out surplus stuff in that little pantry cupboard. And stop picking up stuff at Goodwill.

Laundry and some dusting and vacuuming finished.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Mar 25 - 01:50 PM

After many shots of Symbicort on Friday night, I shook most of yesterday and I’m still a bit nervy today. Symbicort is a cocktail of the steroid budesonide and formeterol, a powerful long-acting bronchodilator. The attack took most of yesterday to resolve, and I spent the day lounging with a book and one cat or the other.

The weather is unseasonably warm and very blustery. Leaving church this morning, I had a hell of a time holding the door of the car open long enough to get in behind the wheel, and neighbours are out checking their property for torn-off roof shingles. For days, the radar map has shown a massive front extending from somewhere up around Timmins to deep into the US midlands — as far south as Environment Canada bothers to report. Next week won’t be much better, as equinoctial gales are normal around here.

It’s a good thing I don’t go in for fancy hair-dressing. An elaborate do would last about ten seconds out there.

I think the box-room is honed down to the stuff I really want to keep, so the garage and the garden shed are the next targets. I have an awful lot of tools I don’t need and/or can’t use, so a major clear-out is necessary there. I think I’ll ask Neil-across-the-street to give me a hand with that.