DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jun 25 - 03:27 PM

This morning I took the telescoping microfiber duster around to each room with a ceiling fan (seven total) and gave them a quick cleaning. Tis the season to have them running and it's always best to remove that dust before flinging it around the room when first turning them on. I should work my way through the house and dust everything else also, it needs it.

Time again to give the dogs baths. I got out some of the brushes and nail trimmers this morning and both dogs examined the stack of stuff with interest. Trimming nails - it involves a monumental struggle and is something I'll probably pay the vet to do soon, but I may once again give it a try.

Spritzed a new tiny nest and a couple of spots the wasps are showing interest in. #DailyStruggle

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Jun 25 - 08:31 PM

They're still hovering around out there, I'm going to add some orange oil to a little soapy water and see if that makes those surfaces less desirable for nest placement once the spray dries.

A long afternoon spent setting up web sites for the 91-year-old friend to promote her book. On places she is already familiar with so she will manage to update on her own. We hope. She has Mac equipment and I use Windows; there are hurdles for both of us.

My ex came over for a while to visit and the two of them remarked on how much stuff there is to clear out around the house. Yup. Part of what they were seeing is the empty boxes than need flattening and recycling (or filling and shipping out). But there's still a lot.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 04 Jun 25 - 12:12 PM

Cat news: Yesterday we tried half a tin of tuna with oil, and Ptol ate it up. Taken to the vets' today: over a hundred quid to tell us that he's got suspected lymphoma, and (not being on the pet-insurance treadmill) we can't afford the two grand to check whether it's the slow or aggressive sort (resp, years or weeks).* Not something to hear when we've a cruise booked in a month or so. And surprise: the little offender ate all the kidney that Herself gave him, but ate round the half-tablet of medicine she'd buried in it.

Good luck with the wasps, Stilly.

* It's at times like this that we're grateful for the NHS.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Jun 25 - 11:05 AM

My kids are both in the same town this week and had dinner with their partners over at my sister's house. They called via Messenger video during dessert. I commented on the bowl of vivid red in the middle of the dining table - it looked like sliced beets. My son's partner tipped it toward the camera to give me a better view of the potpourri and out tipped some of the water. It was laughter and a scramble to wipe up, then decide to pick up plates and slide the cloth off and dry the wood under it. My sister doesn't have kids, but now she has had the official event christening - there's rarely a meal with all of them here when something doesn't get spilled on the tablecloth. The novelty is always in what method of delivery (and if it stains or not.) And those can be the durable stories people laugh at later.

Here at home I took a glance up at my office bookshelves this morning and realized I already had a copy of the book that I recently purchased. This seems to be the year of redundant volumes. They're good books so will become gifts.

It's 97% humidity this morning after storms last night, so though it isn't overly warm it's still very sticky. This is the time of year when the heat pump to runs to dry the air.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 04 Jun 25 - 07:25 AM

Since moving into this house with its generous double garage, I have given myself permission to accumulate empty cardboard boxes. That habit must stop! Whatever house I find in Ottawa, I can pretty well guarantee that it won’t have a double garage or any other space where I can stockpile boxes “just in case”.

Tony is due back in about half an hour to sand the fresh plaster downstairs and put the baseboards on. The landscapers should be back to re-assemble the patio, but I haven’t heard from them and there’s rain in the forecast for today — 60% chance, with donner und blitzen. So much fun.

I did not start the day with an attempt to cough up a lung, so I’m going to pool class. Wish me luck.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jun 25 - 09:18 PM

Sounds like it was an exciting day around there, Charmion! And more helpful than a pop-up rugby game in the yard.

Down here it is warm and muggy and rain likely again overnight; I did some weeding around the potato plants, brought in six sub-tennis ball sized red lasoda taters, and stabilized the new almond verbena shrub. Telemedicine talk, drove to a blood draw and the pharmacy. All is in motion to send this PMR on the run. From now on my political response needs to be brief and efficient and make much more time available for relaxed activities.

My friend who's in town will be here tomorrow to work on computer stuff for promoting her holiday book (last year when it came out she didn't have a lot of time to plan, now she does.) I'll pick her up, and before that, I'll race around to flatten and store some of the empty boxes sitting around, they're the worst of the clutter.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Jun 25 - 04:01 PM

Peace at last!

Tony just pulled out of the driveway, bound for the dump with a load of wrecked drywall, and the foundation crew finished at lunch-time. The grass looks like the aftermath of a rugby tournament, all churned up by the tracks of the digger, and of course the patio stone is still stacked on pallets at the bottom of the garden, but otherwise the place looks as if the Forces of Chaos had never dropped by.

Now I have to figure out how much money to liberate from my investment accounts to pay for it all.

Marco the painter has gladly accepted a return engagement to paint the crime scene.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jun 25 - 01:09 PM

MaJoC, here we can buy either tuna in oil or tuna in water. I've always bought the tuna in water, but come to think of it, with the keto leanings I should try the fish in oil. (Tuna in water ends up being very dry when drained, needing a lot of mayonnaise for a good consistency when making sandwiches.)

Charmion, there are weather maps showing smoke from your mid-provincial wildfires and weather maps showing huge swaths of Saharan desert dust - all blowing this way. I think the Earth is speaking to those in the US who should be listening and continuing climate change abatement practices.

Dorothy should be back from the wedding soon, I hope all went well!

Yesterday I mixed up batches of smoked gouda/pecan spread and of the crispy pecans (guest coming this week), and this morning my granola is in a cool oven finishing baking. A friend tells me he cooks his in a crock pot, and I should ask for more information; the oven process is fussy. The honey was a bit crystalized so it may have a different taste (sweet spots instead of more evenly distributed). I didn't have the patience to melt it all down before mixing with avocado oil and whisking to an emulsion. Honey doesn't get old or spoil, but it does become harder to work with.

This week wasps on the front porch are fighting the good fight to build their paper nests in that high-traffic area. Their stings hurt like hell so I'm trying to shoo them along so no one excites their wrath at the mailbox.

I started digging out the side bed (under my kitchen window) where I put the almond verbena. It has been a combination herb and vegetable garden for years (right now it has rosemary, oregano, bay, sage, and garlic), and in the middle I put in something like cucumber or peppers, though right now it's full of weedy grass. I'll clear it enough to put a bird bath in (that sits on the edge of the driveway right now) and hope to have a great butterfly garden. If I put in dill or fennel the place would be crawling with butterflies and their caterpillars, but since I have a lot of toads and lizards out there I'd be providing high-end food for them.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Jun 25 - 08:36 AM

After weeks of no action, suddenly everything is happening at once. The masons took up half the patio yesterday, and now Tony the carpenter is hard at work in the basement and the foundation crew are unloading their power digger. The street is full of large vehicles, every one with its engine running, and my garage door is wide open. The cats have gone to ground until peace breaks out.

My voice is gradually coming back, though I'm still coughing and croaking. This morning's air quality is not great -- smoke from the wildfires out West -- so I woke up wheezing, but at a reasonable hour!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 03 Jun 25 - 08:09 AM

Thanks for the idea, Stilly, but the fluid in Right-Pondian tuna tins is fish oil. Is that what you mean?

Anyhoo, Ptolemy finished off his last night's tea this morning, then pestered me till he got a pouch of standard moggie-meat-in-jelly, which he ate most of straight away (and finished later). Herself thinks he tends to lose his appetite in hot weather, and we've had a cool spell with lot of rain recently.

The next trial change would be to try him with in-gravy moggie meat. (Curiously, Sainsbury's doesn't market any under their "taste the difference" branding.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jun 25 - 11:57 AM

Excellent! The way you wrote it, though, I was wondering if your ghost was writing that post! ;-) Here's hoping the patio stone lifting is quick and easy.

Call made, telehealth appointment this week. Moving forward.

Trash is out and after a hail storm (up to golf ball size) last night I looked for damage. So far, only one of the small okra seedlings was beheaded. There were two together in another small pot so I transplanted one to a different pot and will have as many to go in the ground (those two growing that close much longer would mean one would be plucked out of the way of the other before planting in the garden.)

Yesterday I roughed out the spot and placed the almond verbena shrub, but it needs a little more work today before I put mulch around it. And one other smaller shrub needs a home soon. Both attract butterflies, so putting them where they can get full sun and be seen by me (or passers-by, depending on the planting spot) is part of the planning process.

The days are still growing longer, and knock wood, not too hot yet.

Safe travels, Patty! Enjoy the wedding. And MaJoC, you may need to up the quality of the kibble if you are competing with neighbors for your cat's attention. Have you tried offering the water from a can of tuna?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 02 Jun 25 - 08:03 AM

At half-past six this morning, I woke up to a quiet airway: no bronchial rumble, nothing rattling in the trachea. The last thing I remember from yesterday is turning out the lamp and Watson settling down behind my knees circa 2300 hours. Good heavens — I slept through the night, without coughing fits in the small hours!

So I’m getting better, at last.

Today Jordan the landscaper and his crew are coming to lift the patio stone in preparation for tomorrow’s trenching operation. Can it be … progress? Only time will tell.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 01 Jun 25 - 05:47 PM

years ago friends of mine gave a little snack/meal to a cat that made evening rounds!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 01 Jun 25 - 02:47 PM

As a fellow member of the FSU*, Charmion, I sympathise. Ptolemy is a regular little boy: he scratches violently at the glass door first thing every morning to show he's hungry, gets his breakfast from me, then subsides awhile. Once Herself (the source of all good scraps) emerges, he makes a racket till she gives him his second breakfast.

But he's changed his MO this last couple of weeks: no noise first thing, and merely samples whatever Herself puts out for him. We don't know if he's just being extra-picky, or is sickening for something, or is dining at his club**.

* Feline's Staff Union. We get paid in kind, usually at two in the morning.

** "Has he found another family to adopt?"

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jun 25 - 12:00 PM

This morning when I woke with sore muscles I concluded that the PMR is back at an early stage. There has been enough time to get over sore muscles from digging in the yard, but it's still here. Hand strength, shoulder muscle pain as the main symptoms and I'll call for an Rx tomorrow. I just looked back in this thread to April 28 remarks about how the trackball mouse works - not as well - it's because my hands have been stiff, not because the device isn't working. The earliest symptom report. Hyperfocus on the injustice of the current administration is a stress trigger. When I first realized this might be back I stepped away from a lot of the news. Yesterday I went through the list of places that were sending me political emails (many substack accounts found through doomscrolling activity) and unsubscribed 3/4 them to start pacing myself better. Then I went to work in the garden.

This week I have to do some sewing. I need to get back to working the jigsaw puzzles and listening to audiobooks. Resume activities that were put on hold on January 20. I suspect I'm the last to see this as the logical answer; you're all very patient with my ramblings. :-/

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 31 May 25 - 05:08 PM

Charmion, I'm sorry that cough is lingering for so long.

Stilly, the apartment will see me again before the movers arrive, doing some packing and sorting;
I still have more books to go through.
But the movers are going to do some packing as well when they come.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 31 May 25 - 02:28 PM

The Cough From Hell has eased up exactly one notch — enough to delude me into thinking I can run around town doing errands, but not enough to let me actually do what I planned without a nasty fit in the drug store parking lot.

Speaking of the drug store, the pharmacy staff now know my dope list better than I do. Small town.

The cats have lived with my cough all their lives, and they simply decamp when it gets too convulsive. It hasn’t killed me yet, so it doesn’t worry them. Failing to get up before seven o’clock, however — that’s a sign of approaching End Times!

It’s unusually cold for the end of May, with a forecast high today of just 13°C and a brisk wind. I had to restart the furnace.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 May 25 - 11:30 AM

Patty, good luck with all of those ducks you have lined up! I have to think about a wedding in the fall, so this is a good heads up. When my niece got married ~ 10 years ago I wore black velvet pants, a black/gray sparkly lacy top with similar color lacy jacket over it. All separates that went together well. After that I gained a lot of weight, but kept them; now I'm lighter than I was when I wore them but they'd probably work.

About worrying. MaJoC, hindsight is one way to see what was happening, and with the inauguration of 47 and the high level of worry I realized I was doing the same thing I did in 2013 when a new dean reorganized library staff into new jobs, and in particular the older staff into jobs they didn't want hoping we'd leave or retire. Many of us simply got angry and stayed that way, and I'm sure it's why I developed PMR; this spring the high level of worry about 47 may have brought it back.

Gardening today. This morning I found another large tobacco hornworm on the tomato plants; it has been relocated to "over there" where I threw it. In past years I've had datura plants they can move to, but none have popped up so far. The garden was sprayed with Bt to knock off any others too small to see yet.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 31 May 25 - 07:08 AM

> There should be a law against raising people's
> anxiety level at 6 pm on a Friday.

*Sympathy*, Patty. I resented that happening to me with monotonous regularity in one job. Eventually I twigged that my immediate boss had reached 4:30pm on a Friday, and was clearing his own mental desk before the weekend by dumping everything I hadn't done on mine; I'm a worrier, so it trashed my weekend summat rotten, every single weekend.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 May 25 - 01:01 AM

sending a BIG & gentle hug to you, patty

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 30 May 25 - 11:38 PM

Really on edge this evening, insurance adjusters have waited til too much else going on to pester me for a contract the rental company never gave me, over and over. Now I'm supposed to make calls about it while on a train Monday. There should be a law against raising people's anxiety level at 6 pm on a Friday.

Went out to drop off a plant for sitting, thought I would catch a meal at the social club, nope not serving tonight. And forget relaxing, I am then informed the neighbor will tear up my side yard at dawn, tomorrow of all days while I am trying to pack, sew the last seam, water plants (while they work on the pumphouse), close up the house, and get out. Sewing a lining in a poorly-lined dress to wear at a wedding. Seriously regretting making the trip at this point, not just because of these aggravations but others too.

I really wanted to not travel this summer but one does not control when or where relatives get married. I'm going to get some sleep and get up early, maybe things will look better in the morning.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 May 25 - 10:31 PM

The night is clear and the yard is filled with fireflies darting in all directions. It's possible to spend a brief time on the patio to enjoy them and scoot back into the house before the mosquitoes realize you're out there.

The bench beside the back door and the area alongside where I park in the garage are free of bags of craft items. The guest room is in good shape. Everything else still needs attention.

Keb, are you going to be back at the apartment sorting and packing before the movers arrive, or will they simply move everything that is there now?

Patty, what are you sewing?

Charmion, how are you sleeping? Do the cats stick around when you're coughing or do they find a less active place to sleep?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 May 25 - 12:03 PM

Another storm overnight, a bit of rain, and an overcast day today. After the drive to donate art supplies and a side trip to Costco (with a list in my pocket because the things I need there are scattered all over the store) I'll work on the plantings.

Daughter-in-law reported last night on a drive she wants to make today while my daughter is at a conference; they are in the Pacific NW for that conference and vacation. It dawned on me this morning that the town she wants to visit is east of the next mountain pass north from where they're staying, and it's a long way around when you have a very large mountain range in between. (Draw a rectangle that is wider than it is tall. Put an X on the lower left corner and one on the upper right corner. That is what her drive will look like, one of those routes.) Luddite me, I always carry a map, but she'll be out in the boonies away from cell towers if she's traveling via GPS. Fingers crossed it goes well.

Evenings this weekend need to be used for some computer stuff, because I must finally get the new external hard drive connected and get a full backup. It's about time to upgrade the computer to Win11 and the backup is for just-in-case. That will kill a weekend when it happens.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 30 May 25 - 09:20 AM

I feel marginally better today, despite the continuing presence of the Cough From Hell. The sun is shining and Stratford looks positively Edenic, so I will shove myself through the shower and into clean clothes for a jaunt to the grocery store. Of course, as the veg supply is down to a box of spinach, I have to go anyway, but today I might actually benefit from exposure to the great outdoors.

Besides, I’m bored. This is my seventh day of house arrest.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 29 May 25 - 10:02 PM

Household matters are on hold, had to deal with some legal stuff, and getting ready for a 12 day trip north. I really wanted to relax and stay put this summer, but it was not meant to be. Tomorrow is maximum stress-sew-and-pack day.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 29 May 25 - 06:18 PM

A week from this coming Monday,
the movers will de-clutter the two-bedroom apartment and
shoe-horn everything left into the one-bedroom apartment
on the other side of the state.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 May 25 - 05:44 PM

After rain this week to soften the soil I decided today was the day to dig up the large almond verbena at Sara's house. I rooted around the base with a Korean digging tool and realized it had some thick roots (up to 1.5" diameter) extending out in all directions. I worked around the plant pruning them off a couple of feet out from the center (maybe 8 of them) and when I was ready I put the shovel down the side of the plant and tipped it and the whole thing came up beautifully. For a shrub planted 10 years ago this was amazing, maybe 20 minutes of work. And it wasn't all work because the dogs were there wanting kisses and attention. And apparently Sara was watching and came out, totally impressed that I'd gotten this out of the garden so quickly. What a fluke. Now it's sitting beside my potting bench on a big bucket of soil and I'll decide where to plant it later this evening. I'd put this off for ages, figuring it was going to be really difficult. Silly me.

How are you feeling, Charmion? How is the water line work, Patty, and did your patio cover get finished and look the way you wanted? Keb, where are you in the moving process now that the junk guys hauled off all of the big stuff from the apartment?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 May 25 - 12:14 AM

I looked up the new water meter; that triangle is a symbol that will display for the first 30 days the device is set up, and assuming there is no problem it will go away. So - no leak that I know of.

Errands run today, some paper dropped off with my daughter, and when I rolled into the garage I took a look at all of the parcels sitting along one side for Friday's donation. Tomorrow I'll organize and pack everything to go but leave it in the garage because I have a gardening expedition to dig out one last shrub at the house where my friend is moving. Since it's being listed for sale soon I'll take a bag of mulch so once it is dug the hole can be refilled and the spot landscaped with a covering of wood chips. Unload the shrub, sweep out the back, and load in the craft stuff. Perhaps you can see why I still miss having a pickup truck.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 May 25 - 12:56 PM

Two small potted trees (dug up from my garden) were offered on Freecycle and claimed within minutes. The couple live nearby, he works for an irrigation company and when I commented that the city put in a new meter he took a look, and pointed at the small triangle shape on the screen. "That may mean it detects a leak." Good to know, the bill was a bit higher last month with no extra watering. I turned off one device that regularly has pressure to it (and might be leaking) and will go look at the meter. It's electronic so apparently addressable. I think they put a battery pack in the meter vault with it, we'll see how well that holds up. Better if I can find a leak and have a plumber fix it than call a plumber and ask him to find the leak and then fix it.

And - yesterday I talked to Dorothy! We were on Facebook/Messenger at the same time so I sent her a note using Messenger, telling her I was going to use the call feature and see if she heard it. She answered promptly. I wasn't sure what kind of accent to expect, but mostly she sounds like my great aunts from Pennsylvania, where she spent her early years. It was computer silence here and on FB for nearly two weeks because she forgot the laptop at Beaver and a friend mailed it to her. When I called she'd been busy deleted hundreds of emails. :) Whew! The wedding trip is on, so probably not a lot of chatter for a while, she said taking the computer across the border would show her politics if she had to show it so it stays home. She doesn't do social media on the phone, that I'm aware of, so hopefully no problem there.

A new rubber garden hose is being delivered today. I'm avoiding the PVC and vinyl hoses on general principles, noting that nothing is perfect.

That replacement/warranty phone case finally arrived. I paid for shipping but it took two weeks in which they could have hand-carried it from Colorado. And it's a one-piece plastic bit of junk. No more Otterbox.

What weird days we live in.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 27 May 25 - 02:39 PM

I checked up on Lucas the foundation guy and — sure enough — trenching won’t begin until next week, if then. The weather does not permit.

After a prolonged “For fuck’s sake” session, I am back in the comfy chair with the cat. Thank God I didn’t let the landscapers tear up the patio last week …

Bronchitis is still a major presence. I feel kinda wretched and very tired after a bad night, and there’s a knot of discomfort in my short ribs where a coughing fit produced pulled a muscle. The doc wrote me a scrip for a big antibiotic yesterday, but it hasn’t made much of a difference yet.

I hate this phase of convalescence — too sick to do much, but well enough to be bored.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 May 25 - 11:18 AM

You know how one weird day feels like it's going to take down others around it? This morning I was setting up to take a shower, and I heard a gurgling noise. I looked out the front and back doors to see if a faucet was somehow on, and none were. I called my neighbor to ask if our street's water had been turned off. She asked "Did they put in a new water meter at your house yet?" I stepped out the side door (not dressed for going outside) and could see the public works guy headfirst in the meter vault. "Some warning would have been nice, guys! I was just headed to the shower!" Barking I heard and ignored was apparently the dogs responding to their knock. This after my phone updated its software, installed the stupid Google assistant, and took me off of the network. A restart has the phone connected again and first thing I did was disable the Google Assistant. These were all temporary setbacks, but after yesterday they seem more significant.

On the other hand, the kitchen looks so much better after filing and recycling yesterday and I had an eggplant to use so set it up to roast for the first batch of babaghanouj of the almost-summer. It smells wonderful! A couple of parcels await the mail carrier on the front porch and after yesterday's rain I'll be able to do the digging/tilling to put in the plants that have been growing from seed in the last couple of beds. Cucumbers and okra. Sweet potato slips were planted yesterday evening in amongst tomatoes. And I seem to have a new water meter.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 May 25 - 12:37 AM

Patty, good work on discovering the problems with the water line - you'll save water in the future!

Power back on after 6pm, and what a long day. But I made a point of going through stuff that was easy to work on with just the daylight from windows resulting in boxes of paper for the village recycle bins. I didn't get to a point when the table was ready to sew on. Gas can and electrical cord are stowed back in the garage.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 26 May 25 - 09:39 PM

Sorry the outage is dragging on, but great that you are able to use your backup systems, well done!

Big news at mi casa is the water system no longer has air in it. My fantastic neighbor pulled off the raggedly little tank shack and started excavating the pipe from well to tank. I then watered, and noticed a slow leak from a ring-type hose clamp while the hose was on. Aha! The smoking gun at last! Well, by the time the whole shallowly buried run was dug out, there were eight clamps visible, all mineralized from leaking.

One new flexible pipe now stands in for all that junk, temporarily, and in July we will redo the top of the well and repipe properly.

The drought drags on here, but one prickly pear has put out a new ear in response to a couple of waterings.

I'm losing days to nonsense, trying to get kitted out for a family wedding in June. One very long day devoted to serious search-and-destroy-mission shopping. Yuck. And let's just say what's on offer in the borderland is more suited to a sparkly fiesta than a Minnesota wedding!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 May 25 - 04:55 PM

The usual prompt repairs for power outages aren't evident this time. We've had to again "report" our outage via the phone app to keep it active. It looked solved, but in fact it was just tree folks who finished removing the wood that fell on the lines. We still need the Oncor folks to hook up the juice. Trouble is, there are more storms passing through and we seem to be getting a series of them this afternoon. No lineman is going up a pole during lightning. #Smart

The Samsung tablet is doing a robust job; it is connected to the phone (mobile hotspot), the Bluetooth keyboard (Anker), and the Bluetooth mouse (Logitech). Back when I was trying to use an Amazon Fire tablet it was a clunky dinosaur in comparison and this wouldn't have worked.

This kind of power outage is a test of the preparedness I've worked on. I haven't set up the propane stove because I was able to plug the microwave into the power strip to heat some baked chicken out of the fridge that is now running. I have a small television I set up to plug in to watch a sewing program I like at 2pm, though now the radio is on. I could use headphones connected to the phone and listen to all sorts of stuff. That's for later. Candles? Maybe later. The Ott light set up near the TV and microwave gives the kitchen enough light for the moment. I have a fan to run if it gets too stuffy (humidity is 100%).

All of this said, I could disconnect the garage door opener and lift the door and drive out and go somewhere else. It is only ~40 houses along the creek without power. Considering how difficult February 2021 was, since then I've worked on upgrading my backup systems, so this is a good test. I'm thinking about moving my sewing machine into the kitchen to sew at the table this evening. 1 lamp and 1 sewing machine and I'm set. It's pouring rain right now, and is heavily overcast but there will be daylight until after 8pm. If the power isn't back, I'll work on the setup.

Dorothy, where are you? I tried looking for mutual connections on FB but wasn't able to make any contact. Some of us are active on FB, we probably need to share our email and phone numbers so we can check up on each other backchannel. (Katlaughing used to call people, and I need to pick up on that. It's so easy to talk, not just type.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 May 25 - 11:07 AM

I had a post to share last night but the 'cat was down so I saved it to put up today. But a storm passed through overnight and the power is out. That post is saved in the computer and I'm checking in on the world via mobile Hotspot and Bluetooth devices at my kitchen table. Next door has their generator up so I can charge stuff, and most importantly, I had a cuppa tea. There was wind in the storm, evidenced by stuff strewn around the yard. It no doubt took out a tree along the creek where they unwisely decided to run the electric wires.

I'm glad the doctor is seeing you; good thing this isn't a holiday in Canada.

I've spent this morning doing more clearing of horizontal surfaces. The radio is on classical; there are flashlights around the house so when I dressed I could see in the closet or when I take papers into the office closet I can see to file them. I plugged a power strip into the kitchen to set up several things on my power line; perhaps it is time to get a dedicated kitchen table one because we seem to go through this routine a couple of times a year.

When I finish filing I have a book to read. I haven't seen the power company truck up and down the street yet so this may take a while. I have a can of gas for the mower in the garage that I'll contribute to the generator this afternoon.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 26 May 25 - 09:44 AM

MaJoC, I have tried literally every sleeping position that doesn't cause a rush of blood to the head. Propped up in a La-Z-Boy recliner works best during the acute phase, but that’s not saying much; I wake up with a stiff neck after about three hours, and then experience a big, fat coughing fit. Foetal position on my right side on my memory foam mattress is best for the long haul, especially with the memory foam pillow that now seems essential to my existence.

Once upon a time, I could sleep soundly in the front seat of an army truck with a radio earpiece strapped to my head. My husband used to say I could sleep on a bed of nails. Alas, those days are gone.

Cerberus didn’t try to argue with the rasp currently passing for my voice. I’m in with the doc at 1500 hr today.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 26 May 25 - 03:54 AM

> Bronchitis is an ailment that lets up in daytime
> and worsens again at night.

Have you tried propping yourself up in bed with a pillow, Charmion? That helps with asthma, so it might with bronchitis. It's to do with the weight of your gastrointestinal tract pulling the diaphram down when you're stood up, buit not when you're lying down.

> Wish me luck getting past Cerberus the receptionist.

We've got a pack of those at our doctors': we call them the Rotweilers. They've been trained to attack. Best of luck.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 May 25 - 05:49 PM

coughing on Cerebus might be the modern way to defeat the monster? or perhaps croaking out a chorus ...

good luck!


Jobsworth

video

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 25 May 25 - 04:43 PM

I feel like hammered crap, Stilly — thank you for asking — but I managed a little bit of actual work today, breaking down the cardboard boxes accumulated in the garage for recycling.

Bronchitis is an ailment that lets up in daytime and worsens again at night. I feel weak and inefficient but generally functional from about ten in the morning till about suppertime, then progressively worse. Nights are miserable — coughing and tossing and turning. So. I do useful things while I can, then sit down with the cat.

The doctor’s office opens at nine tomorrow. Wish me luck getting past Cerberus the receptionist.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 May 25 - 01:04 PM

Rain seems to be holding off until tomorrow and today is quite warm. I trimmed around the back yard and pulled more of the weeds I got last week that I don't want going to seed. A bunch of potted plants were watered and one that I was sure was dead has a new tree sprouting from the roots, so I'll nurse that along and plant it when it's large enough to not get lost in the tall grass. Maybe next year. I have a couple of trees I have to give away before they dry up in the pots. I'll mow tomorrow but I'm going to put out some ant bait today and see if it will reduce the large number of fire ants in one spot they've inhabited for way too long. Over the years I've gotten lots of ant bites, but these are particularly painful and bring up a large blister.

Cucumbers and okra are coming along on the potting bench and there are sweet potato slips I'll plant once I've finished this and my cup of tea (this is a cool-down session). I dug out a photo of the flower on a plant given me, dropped it into Google lens to ID, and will get it planted now that I know how large and how much attention and such.

The kitchen is now more inviting with the tall table and the peninsula cleared of a lot of stuff that needed recycling or filing. More things are going into the bags for art teachers.

How are you feeling today, Charmion? Dorothy hasn't been on FB since May 15. Must check up on her.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 May 25 - 05:35 PM

Charmion, it sounds like moving to a larger city will help as far as health care access, though I hope the air quality there is as good as the smaller town.

A holiday weekend wouldn't normally make a difference to a retiree, but with a part-time job I have the weekend off (the gardener's radio show tomorrow will be a repeat so I don't need to do any setup for it.) I'm doing some self-care stuff this weekend. Today has been to clear the surfaces in the kitchen to stop scolding myself about the clutter. Changing bed linens, laundry, sweeping and vacuuming. Tomorrow I am going to a friend's house to help as she prepares to move out of state. I'll be painting the baseboards and trim in the room she's working on right now, and she has some more stuff to donate to the place that collects art supplies for teachers. I made an appointment to take donations to them next week on Friday with the plan to collect stuff from friends to take along. She apparently has some nice paper that didn't sell (I should ask my daughter if she's interested in buying it from Sara before donating it. My daughter is into binding books and her spouse does calligraphy - paper is a big deal for them.)

Part of the clearing was packing up stuff I've saved for people. I have a couple of boxes ready to ship; they'll go on the porch on Tuesday morning since the mail carrier has already been through the neighborhood today.

Monday is Memorial Day and is wide open, but is liable to be about gardening or spending some time sewing (one or the other, depending on if the predicted rain arrives or not).

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 24 May 25 - 09:01 AM

Once again I have come down with bronchitis, just in time to miss the last concert of the choir season. Yesterday, I had no voice at all for dress rehearsal; today I can talk, but am frequently interrupted by loud, uncontrollable bouts of coughing that would add nothing good to the performance. Of course, my singing voice is reduced to a breathy squeak and a range of about eight notes.

Stratford has no walk-in clinic or urgent-care centre, so I must wait until Monday to call the doctor’s office and try to get seen before this lurgy decides to become pneumonia.

All week, the weather has been a throwback to mid-April: cold and wet. I had the furnace off for about three days, and had to turn it on again.

The trench operation on the north-side foundation of the house begins on Wednesday “weather permitting”, so the whole place will be in massive disorder for several days. I am so ready to move on to the next phase of my life, but also not in the mood for noise and mess.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 May 25 - 08:20 PM

Having a welcoming space to move into is important. And whoever moves into your old apartment will experience the same comfort. You could tuck a note into a kitchen drawer - "I hope you have a great life here." Win/win.

Busy day today, some catching up on family after my brother called. The ex and I went shopping, brought stuff back to my house, then our daughter texted that she could do lunch. We were off again and met her and her spouse for lunch at her museum. I also handed over the canning jars and she gave me a couple of bags of fleece to donate to the teachers' art group next week.

The weather has been lovely, I'll mow and trim this weekend and put in more of the garden. I need to till the area where the cucumbers will be planted and go through the area where okra will grow into a small thicket. And when I'm not in the yard, I'll be picking up around the house.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 23 May 25 - 07:30 PM

The manager of my old apartment building and I have been in contact about my eventual move out, and all is going smoothly. We reached an agreement: I'm almost never there, and he will want to find a new tenant as soon as is practical. Therefore, I agreed that the manager could go ahead and start renovating the apartment while I am organizing the move out. In particular, the kitchen, which has gone unused for years in my absence.

I was there this morning, and the kitchen has experienced a major de-clutter: all the appliances and cabinets were gone. There were only the walls where you could see where the cabinets had been attached. And already, in the living room on the carpet, the new refrigerator and stove (range plus oven) were sitting and waiting while the new kitchen cabinets were to be installed.

There was only so much work I was able to do, as the cabinet contractors showed up with their truckful of cabinets while I was in the apartment sorting and discarding more stuff. And that is all right, time is on my side even if the management is in a hurry. I spoke cordially with the manager who was running around installing cabinets and appliances not only in my old apartment but in the apartment across the hall as well.

My next apartment, although it is so much smaller, looks much more welcoming with all its renovation done and everything spotless.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 May 25 - 12:25 AM

Good job! Though, technically, at the moment you have *three* places to live. ;-) It will feel good to pull all of the strands together into one home.

A friend is coming to visit around June 1 so I have until then to tidy the house. Last year she was here during the Mother's Day Skunk Assault; we all hope for a mellow visit this time.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 22 May 25 - 08:41 PM

Congratulations on the new home! Hope you take your time and get it set up just the way you want it. We know how much thought and work it took to make this happen.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 22 May 25 - 06:14 PM

Well, I'm officially a resident of the retirement community.
My bank account was decluttered of a substantial sum,
but it's done -- papers signed, keys handed over.

I'm still staying at the treatment center at this point,
and there's my old apartment that needs packing up and moving.
But I've secured my destination at last,
and I can make the moves in my own good time.

Tomorrow I drive back to my old apartment to sort and throw out some more/donate some more stuff.
It should be very different now that the major de-clutter
of furniture was done, one week ago.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 May 25 - 12:08 PM

Over a dozen years ago when the big reorganization of offices at my library started, a co-worker who had a lovely bank of windows gave his plants to people because he was being moved to the basement. He's still in the basement, and I visited with him and a couple of other friends yesterday. I reminded him about a cactus he gave me. It came home to live and has been here since. Repotted a couple of times, occasionally fertilized. I'm not particularly fond of it, but kept it going. I told him I'd bring it back. Since I'll be on campus again today I've boxed it to travel. He can take it to his house.

Yesterday when I arrived at the library the e-waste bin wasn't on the first floor (I thought it might have been moved up a floor because the basement access was blocked for construction this summer.) But after asking and looking, a former co-worker on the second floor and I found it - in the same place it always was, the basement stairwell outside the construction area. The building has one of those open stairs so we could look straight down to see it. It's just a silly story of spending time looking for something that was always in its original place.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 May 25 - 11:42 AM

Bad night's sleep, probably my own fault, I forgot to take my little collection of vitamins and supplements until later in the evening and one of them has green tea as the base. I did a couple of small 3am chores. Looking at the use-by dates on some old Rx bottles resulted in a half-dozen to drop off at the safe disposal bin at my pharmacy. This after I went into the sewing room to get out materials for a project I want to do this week, and realized I had stacks of stuff for three other projects. Have an idea, decide I'll do it, pick up some materials, they make it to the sewing studio then are forgotten. I have to spend more time in there again.

Today I'm thinning out the political email subscriptions; there are way too many. I need to spend less time fuming about events and move to other, healthier thoughts. Follow through on a few items (the 5 calls site can help with that - they're trustworthy and done the research so I don't need to read as much.) I'll still write and march, but whether the PMR has come back or I'm achy from gardening, it's time to pay attention to stress levels.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 May 25 - 06:16 PM

A couple of retired friends I worked with have the same interesting setup for personal services; we went to doctors and hair stylists and shopped near work, though we lived in the next town or the next county. Now as retirees we go back to those doctors or stylists or stores as part of our routines. Tomorrow is part of that, when I have a haircut, then I wend my way through town for a couple of other stops, including my old library, where there is a large e-waste bin. I put a bag of e-waste in the car for that stop.

I've loaded two cases of canning jars in the car for my daughter's friend who can use them. Quarts and half-pints will be exchanged the next time we have lunch together later in the week. It makes enough room in the pantry to stash a couple of small Igloo coolers that were sitting on the floor in the hall.

Today's trash pickup carried away a whole bunch of seedy weeds that I don't want spreading through the yard (they don't belong in the compost). Next pickup is on Thursday, so between now and then I'll pull more of the bad vines and stuff them into the can. This particular vine can spread by seed or by the roots so I don't want it taking over my compost. Spring yard cleanup continues between thunderstorms.