DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 17 May 25 - 07:13 PM

years after I moved & had to leave my cat with neighbours (who probably loved her to death cos they overfed her - poor starving pussy cat, meow, meow give me food - I told them not to listen to her!) I discovered some long-haired tabby fur when I pulled the cushions out of my old dining chairs ...

I wonder if the set still exists, I gave it to charity when I moved sometime later. We are going thru a period of yukky-brown-furniture-give-us-beautiful-modern-Ikea-stuff! Young tenants just toss everything on the street, the considerate ones? book a council pick-up - but a lot of good stuff goes into trucks that crush everything, or gets smashed by passing yahoos. Friends with vintage/antique pieces know their son-in-law doesn't like it, & anyway they are well set up after 12+ years of marriage, but their niece does like the family dresser!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 May 25 - 12:15 PM

Having that book (my Mom had a double boxed set of some version of the OED, it came with a little drawer and a magnifying glass) meant your household took books and reading seriously. I find I'm buying more books on paper than digital books, though it depends on the category. Nonfiction are on paper so I can mark them up, others are digital books to go through more quickly, and I get fiction audiobooks from the library.

Today was meant to be running around to a couple of events, but we are under a thunderstorm warning that includes the threat of beefy-sized hailstones. For those people who live near any of the points along the freeway where a street runs under all of the lanes, there are gently sloping sides to those underpasses and many people with vehicles parked on nearby streets drive to and park under the highway. There are sometimes 50-100 cars carefully valeted to the safe spot (there must be unspoken rules about where and how close to park, I'm always impressed with how many are tucked under there.) Today would be a day to find those parking skills on display. Since I own a garage and have always made a point to keep it clear enough so I can park in it, I'll leave the SUV inside. "Dimpled darling" is the term for a car hit by hail and it reduces the resale value. (We had a storm in 1995 with hailstones that broke size records. The Mayfest Storm hit during the week of the Fort Worth fundraiser and literally smashed a few cars with hail so the roof was lowered close to the level of the hood and trunk.)

The storm also struck the Fort Worth Mayfest – a local outdoor festival – pelting the roughly 10,000 people in attendance with softball-sized hail and resulting in over 60 hospitalizations.

So when the weather folks tell North Texans there is large hail forecast, we take it seriously. I was on the city park board at the time, and heard the report from the parks director about what that hail did to the huge glass greenhouse in the Botanic Gardens.

Moving on, and on a FYI note: I saw an ad yesterday and made note of the URL because they mentioned low-sulfite wines (none added, there is some that comes from the grapes themselves.) https://drinkavaline.com/. Considering they're organic and you can have it shipped to you, they seem quite reasonably priced. Actor Cameron Diaz is one of the owners. I also see a selection of them at a local organic grocery.

So, the day is dark and humid. This morning I took the rubber floor squeegee and got dog hair out of the kitchen and laundry room. It's a day for laundry, cleaning, and eBay listing.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 17 May 25 - 11:05 AM

BECAUSE!

it's the reason for many things in life

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 17 May 25 - 08:16 AM

Tuckered out today, and planning to do very little — a grocery run this morning, but otherwise zilch. This evening I’m going to a concert in London, but crucially not driving — I’m an invited passenger, oh bliss!

I put away all the books yesterday, a job that took hours because I’m such a neatnik. The library is so much reduced that the five remaining full-height IKEA Billy bookcases are only two-thirds full. This was deliberate, as there’s a good chance that, in my next abode, the big Victorian glass-fronted bookcase in the sitting room will have to become a china cabinet.

I am now a high-volume user of e-books and audiobooks. As I reloaded the shelves yesterday, I had a long think about the real books I have kept, and why they made the cut: in most cases, it’s entirely emotional. I can’t part with “Archie and Mehitabel” by Don Marquis, or the tattered collections of poetry that our Dad used to read aloud from when we were very small. “The Golden Trashery of Ogden Nashery” has almost disintegrated, but where else could I find “The Tale of Custard the Dragon”? And then there’s the art books — they don’t work at all in digital format, and I still have a lot of them.

But why do I still have jeezly great dictionaries when the OED is on line? Riddle me that!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 May 25 - 06:43 PM

This afternoon I pulled weeds for over an hour, stuffing them into the trash can and a large trash bag. They await being taken to the curb and hauled to the dump on Monday. The weeds are invasive and the seeds might not break down in the compost bin.

While working I visited the far back yard creek; it's lovely and full of life, even if I wouldn't eat any fish caught in it. (Unlike Rock Creek where RFK jr took a dip, this simply has street and yard runoff, no sewage discharged into it. It's also much larger than Rock Creek.) Over the years I've tossed lots of plants and bulbs onto the property so there are stands of iris, agave, prickly pear cactus, and some trees that squirrels or birds planted and I've trimmed around them so they can grow through the undergrowth. It's an urban version of a "secret garden" (did anyone else fall in love with that book as a child? When I moved into this house I had no idea that part of the property was like this because the fence in front of it was overgrown with vines and weeds.)

This spring I'm doing so much better than last, my work sessions are such that I plan to pace myself and come in after a few minutes if I need, but an hour or more passes and I haven't noticed and I'm fine continuing what I'm doing. The main requirement is having enough water to drink while I work. This is what a clear brain looks like, those statins were really awful. (And Trump is on them now - what does that tell you?)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 May 25 - 03:18 PM

The front yard is mowed, but as usual, I didn't then drag out the long cord and the electric trimmer to do the edges. That's usually saved for a separate day. But as I looked at the spot by the house where I have a soaker hose that a couple of times I've cut to pieces with the mower (mowing as close as I could - oops!) I've decided to try one of the battery trimmers available from Ryobi, since I have so many other of their devices now. I ordered the lightest one and am sorry it has only a single line, but I will compensate by ordering the refills with heavier line (I'll get a larger roll and refill these refills; they hope you'll use it once and throw it away but I never toss the spools, they're easy to reuse.) The easier I can make the job the more likely I am to do it. I have a gas trimmer to use on brush and beyond the back fence by the creek. If the battery one works out I'll rehome the electric trimmer.

A friend sent a link to an estate sale near her home. When I look through the dozens of photos of these sales at first I see things that might be useful, but then viewing more photos they have one of everything, or duplicates, and the accretion of tons of stuff that needs to be redistributed. All good stuff, but way too much of it. We are such packrats. (I am in awe of how Charmion and keberoxu and Patty can do the downsizing they have so far.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 16 May 25 - 06:40 AM

well done!!!!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 15 May 25 - 09:32 PM

A big day for me.

Marco has finished painting the library — oh, why, oh, why did I wait so long? — and it looks GREAT. Tomorrow, the bookcases go back against the wall and I load ‘em up.

The basement is well on its way to full recovery, and a large proportion of the clag I accumulated down there is gone, baby, gone (another load for the church sale left the house this morning).

Also, I did the laundry and put it all away.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 May 25 - 06:06 PM

MaJoC, the books that Charmion and I have been reading by Gary Taubes and others are not a substitute for going to see a doctor, but they do offer insight into the diseases caused by diet. In particular, sugar is associated with metabolic diseases (there is a cluster of them - including diabetes, gout, inflammatory bowel disease, and rheumatoid arthritis). Something to look into.

Recycling dropped off, and the items given by a friend have been bagged for donation to the teachers project at the end of the month, stored out of the way in the garage. Finishing up a couple of regular job things here to free up time to sew. A friend still wears the 3D Covid masks and likes the Pride pattern I had printed (before Joann's went out of business I tried to get another batch, but they had closed down the online bespoke fabric store already). He heads to New York every year for Pride events so I'll make him a couple more. I still have some of that fabric for these.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 15 May 25 - 03:40 PM

This morning I delivered an exceedingly-overdue Round Tuit* and went to the doctor's over my skin problems: the doctor did an "oh dear" when I showed her my left hand, but we agreed anything more aggressive would be counterproductive.

While I was there, I asked about my big toe, which was panful enough to keep me awake much of last night. Much to my disappointment, it turns out it's not a fractured bone: I've got gout. Didn't think I was rich enough to suffer that.

* Full disclosure: Herself got fed up at me, and was behind me all the way .... with a pitchfork.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 May 25 - 12:58 PM

I use a bullet journal (started in 2017, I'm in the second volume now) for the longer-range objectives, where the page facing the calendar days has the month's task list. There are a lot of things that keep getting moved from one month to another, but others do get completed. And on a third page is my month's record of activity; while I might check off things from the task list, I actually make a daily note of events, making it easier to find when things happened if I need to know in the future. My appointments, changing AC filters, when something was purchased or fixed, when the dogs went to the vet, etc. Other than not finishing all of the things I want to in a month, I do a pretty good job of keeping up with this. I've always had some kind of journal or day planner since my college days. This is more compact.

The journal has Future log pages with, in my case, five months per page and they extend at least into the next year. I can put down a six or 12 month appointments there and transfer it when I finally set up the given month in question. Those happen on the occasional blank pages that happen through the book and everything has notes of "continued from #page" to find the next or last occurrence. I just pushed the future log into spring 2026 and should do another for most of the rest of that year.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 15 May 25 - 12:26 PM

Thanks, Stilly, I'm going to study that. Similar to my 'orders of the day'. She keeps it manageable by restricting it to 6 tasks. That's a good idea. Some day I have 12 pile up but I instinctively know I'm not going to get to that many, so they get pushed to the next appropriate day.

And as good as a daily list is, I still need big fat divided notebooks with goals and objectives for various aspects of my life spelled out. I find that really needs to be updated about once a month, and it takes quality fresh-brain time to do. When I put it off too long, that's when things seem to bog down.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 May 25 - 11:27 AM

I like that philosophy, Patty! This morning I was picking up around here and had the thought that I know why people downsize - so they have less stuff to maintain and hopeful more time to enjoy what is there.

There is a list system I hunted down just now; I used it for a while last year then got out of the habit. The Ivy Lee Method I mentioned back in late 2023 (I had to search on my posts to find it again). The trouble there was it's too easy to put big things on the top that can't be finished in one day so you end up with the same list and smaller things pushed to the bottom. I wasn't using it correctly.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 15 May 25 - 10:51 AM

Methodically slogging through lists of to-dos. It seems to help if I lay out 'pressing orders of the day' for about 4 days in advance.

Yesterday was actually more fun, because rehearsing music and picking out some specimens for next weeks mineral meetup were actually on the list. Had a good time doing both things. And, it pushed me to do a lot of rearranging, labeling, organizing in the rock room.

It's been a year since I put in a bid for this place. While I've spent time hunting for minerals, researching them, going to shows and meetings, I can count on one hand the blocks of time that I've had to just enjoy putzing around with the collection, getting micro-mounts ready to mount. Having time and space to do this was a big reason to get this home base. One can get so overwhelmed with house 'stuff', obligations, and social events that some things you love can get pushed aside. But life is short, and clean floors cannot be the top priority!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 May 25 - 10:50 AM

It's always a good idea to unload the stuff you don't need before you move than have to get rid of it once you've packed and moved it to the new location (but that is the order in which a lot of my extras have been disposed of.) Good job!

The house has two heat pumps and last week I switched the programing from heat to cooling in the office area. This morning I moved the bigger system to cooling also. I suspect this summer I'll be replacing that one, it has lasted a very long time (the office system was replaced three years ago). This is a prediction I'd gladly have proven wrong.

The weekend has a chance of rain and cooler weather forecast, so I'll mow on Saturday. Today I need to dig a plant from a friend's back yard and get some more bags of free mulch. With all of the yard work and the chair battery replacement this week it is possible that my achy arms and thighs have to do with those activities. I'm paying close attention in case the PMR has returned. If so, I need to start treating it. The last thing I want to do is medicate with steroids if they aren't needed, hence the wait and see period.

I have a growing list of useful things to distribute. Not as efficient as Charmion taking it all to a church sale, but clearing space by recycling or sending stuff to new homes. Next week's hair appointment always includes a stop near the university where I worked, and this time I'll go into the library to drop items in the ewaste bin.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 15 May 25 - 07:41 AM

well done!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 15 May 25 - 07:16 AM

The three-bay storage shelving unit in the basement is now completely empty.

Two car-loads of useful stuff — most of it actually nice — have gone to the church for the variety sale already, and a third load is ready to go today once Marco the painter has arrived. The mason is due at 1300 hr to start removing the basement window.

And the lawn got mowed yesterday.

Things are looking up.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 14 May 25 - 07:38 PM

No, no, no, no, Maggie. The faulty basement window will be removed (think rotten tooth) and the hole will be closed — bricked up, to be precise. That has to be done inside the house. The next and more drastic part of the project involves digging along the foundation to clear the drainage tile and build a proper well in front of the surviving window, and waterproofing the outside of the concrete foundation. That will involve much Sturm und Drang, including taking up and relaying about half the patio.

All of it will be very expensive.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 14 May 25 - 07:38 PM

Well, the big de-clutter happened this morning.
It was to happen in early afternoon, but I got a phone call in the apartment
from the team: they were ready to come over right now,
did I want to start early? Sure, I'm ready for them.

Above all, they work FAST. Two of them, and
they were done in thirty minutes. They moved:
a bed, with mattress and box springs;
a futon;
a junked particle-board bookcase;
a large wooden chair;
a heavy wooden table;
a small table with a cast-iron pedestal;
and a file cabinet that was four drawers tall.
And then, one of them said, Anything else?
Well, since you asked, I said, take the typewriter.
So I let go of the typewriter, about which I was/am very sentimental,
have had the dear old thing for years. They took it away.

It hasn't entirely sunk in what all is gone from my life now.
The apartment certainly is a lot emptier than it was.

Meanwhile, the "closing" may happen next week.
I don't think "sale" is the right word for this arrangement.
The big amount is referred to as an "entrance fee."
What is more, if one chooses to move out of the community later,
most though not all of the "entrance fee" is returned to you.
So I think this is something other than a "sale".
It all seems to be happening so fast.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 May 25 - 07:06 PM

keberoxu, I hope the junk guys did the kind of job you were hoping for. Is the apartment closer to ready to close up?

This evening three quarts of frozen wild grape juice, two packages of standard canning lids and a case of jelly jars exited the house. She in return gave me a dozen of her home-raised hens' eggs - wow! I feel like the winner in this exchange!

Trash day tomorrow so I'll round up some of the vines I've pulled out of the front and wad them into the trashcan again. They spread so easily I don't want them getting started in the compost so those go to the dump.

Good news today from the friend with the wheelchair - she made a round trip a few blocks from her apartment to the post office and when she got home still had a full charge on the batteries. She thinks the company knew the first set were bad because they offered to replace them for free, it was the installation that was going to cost her. Excellent outcome for that good deed.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 May 25 - 09:59 PM

I hate to ask, I don't want to court disaster, but from the 15th to the 28th, what will be status of that window? Glass but not waterproofed? Not a hole into the basement for two weeks?

Good lunch with my daughter (who is in the middle of a virtual conference, so a face-to-face visit is nice after a morning on Zoom). I visited the friend downtown who is on housing assistance and who couldn't afford a $75 charge for a tech to change the batteries in her wheelchair. It isn't rocket science, and after about 20 minutes of shooshing off friendly cats in my face (one that wanted to eat my hair) the job was finished. I took her old batteries to a place that will recycle them. They weighed 45 pounds in the box - no wonder I kind of staggered across the parking lot.

I think I'll be able to send some of the excess canning jars to one of my daughter's friends (I described them at lunch, then sent follow-up photos of the cases this evening). I'll still have plenty for my uses.

Tomorrow is supposed to be very hot, then cool down the rest of the week. I watered this evening (and swatted a couple of mosquitoes) to prepare the plants to withstand ~ 104^o.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 13 May 25 - 07:12 PM

Lucas the foundation guy called today: the window-ectomy will be done the day after tomorrow (Thursday). The rest of the work -- waterproofing, the lion's share of the project -- can't start until 28 May, however, and that's only if the weather cooperates.

With the big push not starting for two more weeks, I asked Marco the painter to come back and abolish the puce-and-purple colour scheme in the library-cum-music room. As it happens, Stratford is due for three days of rain, starting today, and Marco's current contracts are all for exterior work, so he was thrilled to say yes, can he start tomorrow? So today I unloaded the bookcases (books are stacked all over the place) and cleared for action. I'm so glad I reduced the library as much as I did!

The first load of stuff for the church variety sale went out on Monday, and I have at least two more loads to go. I'm getting really ruthless now -- Edmund's matching portraits of Ulysses S Grant and Stonewall Jackson have left the building. Surely there's a Civil War buff in Stratford with a bit of bare wall and a taste for church rummage sales?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 May 25 - 11:48 AM

Need to wash your computer desk? Just sneeze when you're setting down a full cup of hot tea. I have a few soggy notes but the electronics are fine. Ugg.

I contacted the woman who took some of my grape juice through our FB free group earlier this year and have offered some jelly jars and more juice; she'll be by this afternoon to pick them up. It was encouraging that she posted a photo of the new jelly on her FB page later in the day when she first got it - someone who wants to use what you're offering is always a good one to go back to. And she has chickens so some extra eggs in exchange.

Lunch (Mother's Day) with my daughter this week and helping a friend by replacing the batteries in her wheelchair; probably tomorrow. I have a place to take the used batteries; they'll weigh a lot. The company was going to charge her $75 for the tech (she has the replacements already), but as usual, there is a YouTube video and the procedure is exactly the same as changing out the big batteries in my home UPS systems.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 May 25 - 12:14 AM

I have a chair like the one you describe as Edmund's chair. Nicely contoured, solid, but it doesn't swivel, and found at a garage sale. It was an ex-library chair from a university library, according to the woman selling it. It sits at the foot of my bed and is the seat and barre I use for various exercises.

The work in the pantry area has resulted in clearing the three-shelf wire rack. Mine fit perfectly in the space between the wall and the side shelves, but with the boxes of jars at the back jutting out a bit beyond the back shelves it can't roll all of the way in. Now what else can it be used for? With this work done I can easily reach the shoulder-high back shelf of the pantry where my router and modem are situated.

Trashcan at the curb. Along with dried out vines and regular kitchen waste I was able to break up a few slats from a fence panel that I'd put down between the garden beds ages ago. It was flimsy and went without much of a struggle.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 11 May 25 - 01:48 PM

Charmion, in these United States, Stickley makes chairs like that.
I was in a Stickley showroom once and sat in such a chair.
I didn't take it home, but I sure wanted to.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 May 25 - 01:33 PM

I find I have a whole lot of canning jars after pulling them out of the pantry cupboard and off of the bottom of the shelves in the hall. Giving them away now would be silly because if I get a good crop of okra and tomatoes I'll be canning. I'm not making jelly now but I put my tomato sauce in the half-pint jars; those are the first to be offered if I decide I have way too many. And I need to see if I can find one place where all of the jars and boxes can go so I have a better idea of the number in the future.

There are things in the pantry that I don't use often, and there are things that I never use. Those things will come out today for donation. My baking sheets live in there and are used frequently, so if I take them off of the rolling shelves where will they live for easy access? I'm rethinking how I house the jar rings so I can see what I have. The boxes they're in now hide that information unless I pull them down to look, I could use the transparent Rubbermaid gallon containers for those. And there are a gazillion cardboard boxes canning jars came in because the rule of thumb is to store the jars in the box they came in. Time to weed them out.

This afternoon I'll set up the garden sprinkler since next Wednesday is forecast to hit 102^o. I'll need to get outside for some fresh air after all of the pantry dust.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 11 May 25 - 11:05 AM

Cohen & Cohen are still in business, but their inventory does not appear to have the sort of chair you're after. (I had a chair like you described that followed me from office to office and building to building as I changed jobs in Chatham.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 May 25 - 09:57 PM

This evening I stepped out at dusk to bundle the vines I had pulled and stuffed them into the trash can. A glowing firefly/lightning bug bopped around as I worked. The first of the season!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 May 25 - 07:20 PM

A summer of theater and fireflies doesn't a bad thing.

I've considered how the yard would respond if I have someone else mow on occasion. I have to set it up with edges or barriers so that beds don't get mowed. One of the obstacles to an outside mower is the line of soaker hoses along the south side of the house (I know they're in place so mostly avoid hitting them). One of these days I should have a sprinkler system installed (and if I have the foundation worked on I'll have to have such a system to keep it within warranty - but put it in before or after?)

On the potting bench I have seeds started for several crops, so I'll get those beds ready. One has been tilled a couple of times and when they're tall enough the okra goes in and that bed becomes a jungle (okra can grow 8-10 feet tall and each plant can be 4-6 feet across). Other areas, like where the cucumber is planted, will have more careful attention and I need to put in things for them to climb.

Tonight, more in the house. It's the Saturday night PBS mysteries and dramas that keep me interested and I can work while I watch.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 10 May 25 - 05:21 PM

Today, I finally broke out the bucket and scrubber to deal with the tiled floor in the kitchen, ground floor loo and entry area. While I was at it, I hauled the vacuum cleaner downstairs and tackled the sitting room. As usual, the quantity of loose cat hair had to be seen to be believed — and it gets everywhere.

The plastic upholstery on my office chair is perished after some thirty years of use, and it lately began shedding nasty black shreds all over the study floor. So today I hauled it downstairs (backwards so as to avoid risking my neck) and into the garage to await the next heavy-goods trash day. I don’t want to replace it until after the move, so I’ll make do with Edmund’s old bentwood straight chair for the next few months. I’d like to replace it with an old-fashioned oak swivel chair, the kind with a carved seat and no upholstery, but I’ll be lucky to find one of those in decent shape. Every furniture maker in Ontario (and there used to be dozens) churned them out for decades, but they were heavily used and are now very démodé.

So far, I have left the lawn alone, hoping to give the bugs and butterflies a fighting chance, but it’s getting noticeably shaggy — time to whip up the neighbour kid to start mowing.

I had hoped to have the house listed if not sold by now, but I’m still waiting on Lucas the foundation guy, who says he might be able to give me a start date next week. Note that he won’t be ready to start; just ready to give me a date. That means I’ll be in Stratford for a while yet, so I might as well buy myself some theatre tickets and look forward to summer evenings on the porch watching the fireflies.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 May 25 - 12:08 PM

This is the US Postal Employees' food drive collection day so I put a bag of canned and non-perishable bagged goods on the porch, and in the process of poking around the pantry shelves I found a number of way-expired jars. The contents of three jelly jars were stirred into a bucket of water that was sloshed around the base of the tomatoes in the garden (the sugar stimulates the biological activity in the soil). Other things can go into the compost.

I started mowing the back yard last night and I'll finish this afternoon. I have to take the trimmer out front and knock down more vines and use the Hori Hori knife to trimming out the vines under the Salvia greggii (it also makes a great weapon). I always joke to the neighbors that one of these days the village garden club may invent a "most improved" sign to award me one of these months.

I realize I'm probably setting up at this house the same kind of thing my friend who is moving soon is encountering now; I have a lot of specialized plants that if/when I ever sell, the realtor will want managed or gone. I'll just have to try to sell to another gardener.

After mowing I need to tackle the cluttered horizontal surfaces, flatten cardboard boxes, and get out that Ryobi scrubber to get the muddy prints up in the den.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 09 May 25 - 07:51 PM

html or ascii code?, source codes?- shudder!!!!

sandra (bear of small brain)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 May 25 - 06:31 PM

Good job on scheduling the declutter, keberoxu! Sandra, there are a few symbols you can leave on the Mudcat pages if you use html or ascii code. And if you look around there are lots of html practice threads. They started out with people working on the code they needed to make music appear correctly in this and other sites, but of course it evolved into
silly stuff like marquee messages.
(More information here at W3C and if you look at the source code on this old JohnInKansas post you'll get all sorts of goodies. Scroll the entire thread for more.)

Over the course of three days I paced myself to scrape the mounded lines of grass out of all of the cracks in the driveway. There are a few pots ready for veggie seeds and some larger pots sitting in place already that I'll stir in some fresh soil then drop in old packages of flower seeds to see if anything grows. I may mow a bit of the back yard this evening. Lots of yard work to do around here.

Got a call from the camera store - they received the box I sent and can buy some but not all of it. They don't buy things that need repair, but did tell me what the issues were, so those pieces are being returned and I'll list on eBay for parts or repair and state what work they need. I looked at YouTube, all of these can be repaired by someone who wants to take the time and the gear is otherwise in great shape.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 09 May 25 - 05:52 PM

well done - gold star, pat on the back & Happy Dance!!

sandra (some folk send emojis but I have a few screenshots I add to emails - drawing of a smiling face with a hand patting it's back, a big gold star & Snoopy & Woodstock)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 09 May 25 - 03:56 PM

Made some decluttering headway today;
the cartons of books were delivered,
sorting started right away, and I took three bags of books to the shop.

Even more momentous:
I made a reservation for next Wednesday
for 1-800-GOT-JUNK to come to my apartment building and
help me downsize by taking away the furniture that I can't fit
into my next apartment.
I was scared to call and make that reservation, but I did it.
That's less than a week away.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 May 25 - 06:49 PM

I kept reminding myself this afternoon as I pulled and dug and chopped my way through the vines that took over the front patio and most of the salvia next to it that if you take a year off from gardening this is what happens. Last year I was under full thrall of the statins and had no motivation to do anything out there; the reason there are things that bloom every year in the yard is because I did the work ages ago and put in plants that come back every spring. I left most of the trimmed stuff where I dropped it and in a day or two it will be quite dry and good to stuff in the trash can. The vines that are a nuisance I don't toss in the compost.

The most noticeable change in the front yard, when I finish, will be clearing the lines of grass out of long seams in the driveway. I finally figured out a way to remove it easily, with the Ryobi battery operated trimmer. Moving up that line of grass and pushing the trimmer along the concrete it comes away as if I were shearing wool from a sheep. A lot of fine soil and composted old grass has accumulated under the line of grass, so I'm dropping the trimmings into a tub for the compost and have a small dustpan to scoop the soil from the concrete under it and that will go it various pots. To do as much as I did today took two tall containers of iced tea. This is about 300' total of seams to cut out and I've finished about 60' so far, but I have a method now that will speed it up.

I pulled out more food storage containers to list on eBay as I looked at the pantry to decide what needs to stay and what can go. And what can be moved in there from other places. And of course, while I was working on this and digging around in the garden tools I stumbled upon the bag of cans of fish that I was going to put in the garden. I still have things to plant that I'll use the older cans for this year; the rest of the fish is within its shelf date and can either be used for human consumption or in the garden next year. (My mom made the best salmon croquettes, always using canned salmon, and if I could figure out how she made them I would use all of this fish that way.)

This evening is for listing eBay stuff. I think with the tariffs looming there will be an increased demand for vintage items.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 May 25 - 12:57 PM

Patty, you reminded me of a Paraguayan orchestra of children who play instruments made from material out of the local dump. From Trash To Triumph: The Recycled Orchestra

I pulled out a good LowePro lumbar camera pack and have it airing on the patio clothesline; it held the old SLR Canon and was stored in a cupboard for years near candles so it is a bit perfumy. I'm debating about using it for the new gear (if I do I'll have enough extra space to tuck in my lunch or a water bottle). On eBay used they go for a good price. The new camera came with a garden variety bag, boxy with a shoulder strap. The lumbar pack is comfortable and allows for hands free work. And I just noticed that my digital Canon camera and gear are all stored in a Nikon bag (picked up for the size needed at the time, or maybe that camera store threw it in, I don't remember.)

Before the trash was picked up this morning I had time to prune the juniper in the corner of the front yard. Those sharp branches go out with the trash because they never seem to break down in the compost. I had trouble mowing around the lowest branches yesterday. I never come away from that task unscathed, but so far it looks like just scratches, no splinters. This has a classic juniper smell, but for consistency, think of the classic Red Cedar tree crossed with a cholla cactus.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 07 May 25 - 10:27 PM

No one does a better job of creating musical instruments out of what would otherwise be garbage than the mighty Super Chikan. Glad to be reminded of what great music he could get out of cigar boxes, oil cans, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXIgpJpMeGk

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 07 May 25 - 10:14 PM

Good idea about misering water to share with plants. I did a great job of minimizing water use in my RV, saving 'til it's hot' water for other uses, but really had not thought of it for plants.

We got a tantalizingly brief rain yesterday, the air smelled wonderful with its dampness, .01" fell, and then a full rainbow appeared, as if to mock us!

Ran errands locally, but I think I better order oddball stuff online tomorrow before the tariff prices and shortages hit. The dollar store today was lacking floss; toothbrushes and other things had been artfully spread out on the hooks where the floss should have been. A bit ominous.... Time to get those no-other-brand-will do soaps, sunscreens, and stuff...

Found an odd but useful new thrift in a nearby town. Saved a small fortune on a bundle of Chicago cutlery.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 May 25 - 09:44 PM

Sandra, that has many similarities to the Welman Project here. I just pulled up the site to get the URL and signed myself up for another donation at the end of May. I go over about every six months with stuff. This time I have a lot of yardage and notions (from the friend who is preparing to move - we are slowly disseminating her excess supplies through the community.)

My front yard is mowed, though it was a soggy slog. Every time I pulled the mower backwards the wheels pulled up divots or left bare soil tracks. I also worked on the grass growing through cracks in the driveway, and think I'll be able to tackle the rest of that over a couple of days; it's a long driveway and there are at least three distinct lines of grass running the length of it. Instead of using the weed whacker I'm using a mattock and a Hori Hori knife to trim it off at the concrete edge. (That link goes to an item no longer available, but it really is a great value, it came with a sturdy case and a large sharpening stone. I bought a couple extras in 2023 and sent them to my kids for their gardening.)

There is a lot of weeding to do in the beds and pulling vines and volunteer trees out of the beds; I might put a couple of the volunteer pecans in pots and see if anyone wants them. They're gorgeous but pecans are huge trees and I don't need them growing where the squirrels planted the nuts. I have photos of a couple of the potted vitex trees that I'll offer this week on one of the free sites.

Tomorrow will probably just about perfect for digging work, after the rain has saturated the soil but it has had some time to drain a bit so it isn't a clay-like gumbo.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 May 25 - 05:35 PM

Reverse Garbage - Choose to Reuse Reverse Garbage is a creative reuse centre making a difference in the world by reducing waste and creating change in the way we look at resources. We inspire and support kids, adults, artists and teachers to consume less, make more, save money – and feel good doing it!
Reverse Garbage was started by educators and we’ve been educating the community for over 45 years! We are true experts in sustainability education.
What we would love to take

From the Archives - Home-made musical instruments from Reverse Garbage

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 May 25 - 12:22 PM

Sandra, your Reverse Garbage shop sounds amazing! I know I've referenced a book I read recently, Adam Minter's Junkyard Planet, where he examines how scrap is reused (that's an extremely broad understatement of the process.) I have a new appreciation of the process and desire to find places that do actually reuse or sell to the appropriate places for scrap. I have his next book in the stack to be read (to do with thrift shops and clothing).

The online camera manual is around 500 pages, so I'm not going to try to print it. I downloaded the searchable PDF and I have a lot of tricks to learn. I probably shouldn't have waited so long to make this replacement, it's a much steeper learning curve than if it was something like a phone, that I tend to research and replace every 3-4 years. A dozen years was probably overdoing it. Like my ex stubbornly refusing to give up his old flip phone until recently.

The lawn is tall and very wet. I'll look at it this afternoon and see if there are any areas to start on that won't leave mower wheel marks dug into the wet soil.

Looking at the pantry project again this week as I decide how many of the things in there I never use and can send to the eBay stack, Goodwill, or Freecycle, etc. And since I'm not eating bread much these days except for gluten-free products, I am way overstocked in the materials useful for its manufacture. That could clear out a lot of space.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 06 May 25 - 11:45 PM

last week I sorted all my charity shop stuff. Part of that sorting was picking up stuff that lives on the floor (I do have an assortment of empty shelves in my bedroom & living room, but ... ) so I could vacuum both rooms, a very slow job as my back & legs need lotsa' rests! I've never had such a full bag of dust, as I decanted it into my garbage I rescued several pins - pearl-headed & safety!!

Donations go to 3 charity shops, each has a different emphasis - the Community Centre takes general household stuff (china & kitchenware, clothes, books & household stuff etc), The Sewing Basket's name says what it takes, & Reverse Garbage (est 1970s) takes all of the above + industrial discards - empty thread cones from clothing/textile manufacture make dolls etc, used & unused advertising posters/banners etc, unused plastic jars & lids, left over stock (last year I got some pillowcases to store my winter woolies) ...

Now I have 3 labelled piles just waiting till my friend with car can take me & the biggest collection to Reverse Garbage, I can take the others myself.

The Reverse Garbage pile includes the suitcase I got when I was 21, it once lived under my grandmother's lovely dressing table & held off-season clothes, plus a collection of big gift boxes that could have held a pair of boots, but the stuff they held has gone to new homes. The biggest box once held packets of photocopy paper, it could have held 2 pair of boots!! & long ago I covered it with pink fabric - it's the perfect item for the treasures of a little girl who likes pink.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 May 25 - 07:23 PM

I spent time in the yard this evening photographing plants in my garden, and figuring out the timing and focus tricks with the new camera. I'm switching from a solid but elderly Canon EOS 60D to the new mirrorless Nikon Z50. For any of you who were/are original Star Trek fans, it's like going from running the shuttlecraft to piloting the Enterprise.

Huge thunderstorms this morning, but I think that's it for rain for the week. Now is a great time for weeding the garden, when everything slips out of the soil easily. I pulled some weeds then dropped mosquito dunks into various buckets and birdbaths to keep the mosquitoes from a population explosion (hopefully).

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 06 May 25 - 07:15 PM

No progress yet on the basement — I’m waiting on the foundation guy’s start date, perhaps another week.

The funeral was fine, except for the protracted tribute speeches by two grandsons and a daughter. That family should have had a long, boozy wake instead. I still cough, but it doesn’t interfere with my voice, unless a fit hits me in the middle of something.

I’m packing up yet more boxes of stuff for the church variety sale. My hands smell powerfully of Javex from taking the tannin stains out of five — count ‘em, five! — teapots before donating them — I’m sure they will sell better if they don’t look grubby.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 May 25 - 11:16 AM

Patty, when I lived in the Sonoran Desert the neighbors were all NPS rangers (I lived on the compound a couple of years) - they used gray water for all outdoor watering like that. I still do that here, even when I'm in a much moister area. With summers as hot as they are, a bucket in the sink to catch stray rinses of things, running it till it's hot, etc., I end up with a fair amount of water to pour over pots and crops. But I'm probably preaching to the choir on this one.

Heavy storms again today, one passed over and another is bearing down on us in the next hour. This is the kind of weather that pops that ground fault breaker in the box outside, so I made a call to the nextdoor neighbor to ask if she has an electrician, and I have a name and number to try.

The new camera has been set up and the basic programming established. The first couple of photos were of the dogs, it seemed only fair since they are frequent subjects of my photography. Then a few odd shots of the boxes on the kitchen table as I played with settings. I'll download the PDF long form of the manual and start reading it.

Charmion, how did the funeral singing go? Is the bronchitis all cleared out now? And how have the workers progressed on what sounds like an expanding job on the basement leak and window refurbishment?

Dorothy, a friend who was arranging to fly to the NYC area for some of the Pride Month activities is I think cancelling his flight because it was into Newark. Air traffic controllers have managed to leak information that Newark should be avoided. One wonders where else these warnings are needed, if the staff are able to alert the flying public. Were you planning to drive?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 06 May 25 - 09:57 AM

Watched rain clouds nearby all day, but none fell on the yard. So frustrating. So often the rains cling to the mountains and leave us high and dry. It's been months now. The oleander seems to be mostly green after its rescue watering last month after some leaves browned up.

Neighbor says the ground is moist when he excavates, apparently the mountain rains are recharging the ground here. Still, starting to wonder if the prickly pear need a bit of sprinkling, their skin looks more caved in than seems right. And their roots are much shallower than those of the shrubs.

Blew probably 20 pounds of dirt off the porch which piled up while I was gone; the welcome mat was buried under an inch of it, and sand got in the door lock, so I couldn't open the door when I got home. It's okay now.

Well, off to town and border, lots of stops and errands to do.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 May 25 - 09:53 PM

I hoped to do some mowing this morning after the FedEx delivery, but he was late and a few minutes later the rain started. I'll have to wait a couple of days at least, more rain in tomorrow's forecast.

The last two bags given me by the friend who is moving were opened after lunch with my daughter today. All of the contents are now either with her or in bags for the art teacher donation. Very few things need to stay with me. There is one bag of fabric "crumbs" that I'll look through and a couple of small interesting colors of yardage. There were a lot of sizable lengths of fabric in the bags, so the teachers will get lucky. And with those bags sorted my den sofa is now again available for sitting on.

Allergies are kicking my butt today. Early to bed after taking Benadryl to boost the daily Zyrtec.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 May 25 - 08:30 PM

Dorothy, we will keep our collective fingers crossed for you and the trip to that wedding! Maybe by then the orange one will have been impeached.

I debated about mowing this afternoon, and I still have some time before sunset, but may wait until tomorrow. I have a delivery from FedEx in the morning and if I'm out front mowing I won't miss them (or have to chase the dogs away from the front door to open it).

At the museum today during my tour another visitor stepped over to say hello in a "your dentist's nurse at the grocery store" moment. You know the face but need to place location. Until he spoke I was casting around for where I knew him from. He was the vet tech at my vet's office and have seen during most visits for the last 20 years. He said he retired last week and is moving back to Mexico, and was glad to say goodbye (and a hug). On Zeke's last trip there he met me at the car and helped take him in. Paul (probably Pablo to his family) is a US citizen but is going back to Yucatan where he's from, and with a pension and social security will live like a king. I know a number of people who have made that move once they retired. I think the three folks in my tour were charmed by the short exchange.

Next week is more relaxed, hopefully I'll get more cleared up in the house and not just yard work.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 04 May 25 - 06:09 PM

Dupont:

Feeling a bit worried today as my better energy seems to have gone. Will try get back on track with supplements. So easy for me to get sassy and forget that which actually helps me feel better! I felt the energy slipping away.

Went to B-Day party for R at Cousin's last night. Actually got hearing aids up to snuff for that number of people in their house. So, moderately enjoyed evening; really not much conversation as bro sucks all that out. Once again asked poor R if his very fine parents did not teach bro anything at all about courtesy. "he refuses to learn"! So we all live with it. - not much conversation! The cousin and family are nice; would like to get to know them!

Started yesterday with mini grocery shopping. - fiddle heads for R and a few other items. Then read until time to drive there - an hour to get there at rush hour and 30 min to get home! Went to bed with book - which I did not read! Dragged myself out of bed to make buckwheat cakes for BF. R cooked the fiddle heads (I do not eat them!) Tired all day so "gardening is being done in 5-10 minutes bits this week!

reservations made - with great difficulty (took me about 4-6 hours to figure out how to do the hotel one!; now dealing chronically/fearfully with the political situation. A Youtube by the ED of ACLU 2 weeks ago gave me hope but things seem to be worse. Will go find latest HCR for hope.>>>