DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Jul 25 - 07:50 PM

I just finished giving the last museum tour in a sequence related to a particular small exhibit that closes after today. I learned more in the last week about the artists than I had in the last five years, but I can build from there in my work in the archives.

I am giving myself this week to finish work in the den. As I drove home from the tour I visualized locations for the tall wire shelf unit that was temporarily parked in the kitchen and think it will work in the front hall to hold the packaged eBay items in the doorway where a chair now keeps the dogs from going into the front room. That will clear up the sideboard and a couple of horizontal surfaces.

The exercise app I used via my phone is being dropped from the university health plan at the end of August, so I deleted it now. No point if fussing with it when I'm getting so much exercise in the yard. I'll go back to using the program I've paid for (and felt guilty about ignoring). Charmion is probably going to get a lot of exercise in the next six weeks as she packs and plans the move. No plan needed.

Another zone in the front yard has been cleared of weed tree seedlings, all stuffed into the trash can at the curb. They probably would die in the compost, but I don't need to take the chance that a few would take hold and need to be weeded out of there later.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jul 25 - 05:06 PM

The ex is coming over for dinner tonight, and since I picked two good-sized eggplant, my recipe of eggplant and pork (from Cypress) is underway. On the side will be a Caprese salad since I have ripe tomatoes, basil, and some wonderful artisan mozzarella balls. The peaches will be for dessert, with granola sprinkled on top.

The backyard mowing was finished after a halfway point cooldown. I haven't trimmed yet, that can come tomorrow. And I have a lot more sapling trees to dig out in one front iris bed and around the backyard fence line. There is a shrub I will plant tomorrow, and a couple of others I'm going to offer in the buy nothing page.

One thing about having the garden is the entertainment value. We've reached the point in the summer when the tomato plants become a large hedge, and some fruits end up buried deep inside; the ex is fond of poking around and finding ripe fruit I've missed. Gleaning happens in my garden all season long, and the rule of thumb is whoever finds what I missed gets to take it home.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 12 Jul 25 - 04:05 PM

Sorry — knowing when I’m going but NOT precisely where.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 12 Jul 25 - 11:50 AM

Why did I accept that offer, Stilly? Two reasons. First, they offered $25K more than the asking price. Second, I did not know that the Ottawa real estate market was so markedly different from what’s going on here in Stratford — specifically, that Ottawa sellers do not even considered offers with a house sale condition. Also, it never occurred to me that they would take so long to list their damnable house! But here we are.

The building inspector found an iffy bit of plywood subfloor in the basement under the sill of the furnace room door. The buyers offered to waive the inspection condition for $5K off their offered price. After the construction misery I’ve just endured, I said Yes and thought Getting Off Lightly. But the closing date is non-negotiable (for unstated reasons), so I must be outta here on or before 28 August.

So I must engage movers and schedule packing knowing when I’m going but precisely where. (In the army, they say “Move now, destination later.”) This morning, I did the first task: booking the cats into my favourite feline holiday spa, Cats’ Paradise in Almonte, a little mill town about half an hour west of Ottawa. Next is booking movers, which I can’t even start until Monday morning.

On the fitness front, my weight is down to a point I haven’t seen since about Grade 11 and my voice is slowly returning to normal. I’m still eating very low-carb-ly, as it were — my digestion is much happier this way — but I refuse to forego peach season again this year. That’s too much to ask.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jul 25 - 11:40 AM

I arose and dressed to mow this morning, and as I looked out the sliding glass doors a gentle rain had soaked the yard overnight. I'm going to wait a couple of hours and mow anyway, my plans today were set and while it will be a little sloppy the grass and weeds aren't so tall or thick it will be too difficult.

There are a couple of new pots beside the house with starts for Mexican plum (they were growing off of horizontal roots from the big tree where I put in the French drain), and my daughter wants those. I also have some plants I want to put in here, but finding the right place has been the question. One is a great butterfly attractor that likes full sun, and when I first moved into the house the front was nothing but ugly Bermuda grass and full sun. After 20+ years of trees growing that is no longer the case, but I think I have a spot. I'll have to struggle to keep the weedy vines out of it, though.

In general decluttering, I've been throwing out more stuff in the greenhouse and garage. I moved some shelving in the kitchen and am debating about moving appliances around on the existing shelves to the new taller wire rack (it used to be in the pantry). And I have more things to add to the Goodwill bin in my laundry room, to be donated soon. #DeckChairsOnTheTitanic

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 11 Jul 25 - 07:18 PM

Insider knowledge: Charmion had a butternut rocker reconditioned that had had a sprung seat and fabric back inflicted on it some time in the late 19th or early 20th century. It is restored to close to its orignal state and it is so much more comfortable.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jul 25 - 06:05 PM

I'm still doing the low-carb high-protein and fat diet, but when I went into Costco to pick up a rotisserie chicken for the weekend I walked past the produce endcap with yellow peaches. It was a mistake to give them a sniff - that ripe peach aroma shot me straight back to my childhood of sitting on the back porch steps, leaning forward to avoid drips while eating ripe fruit off our tree. I brought home a case and have already eaten one.

Worked in the greenhouse again today, lubricating a few rusty tools and winding new string on the spools for the trimmer. I also found a few things to throw away. I need to find more wire forms that my cucumbers can climb on. They're growing fast right now and I already have several small cukes in view.

Now that I'm on prednisone again and trying to avoid the stress hormones, the best way is to avoid reading the news first thing in the morning. I glanced at some today but set it aside quickly because it's there waiting to gang up on you. That said, in news of a less-political sort, for a somber look at how quickly houses and their people and contents can be emptied out, this account of a family on the Guadalupe is firsthand from a writer at the Texas Monthly.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 11 Jul 25 - 02:30 PM

The comfyness of a chair depends very little on softness, in my opinion. It really needs to be only as soft as will not insult one’s bum bones. More important are: the height of the seat from the floor; the depth and degree of tilt of the seat from front to back; the height and angle of the back rest; and the height of the arm rests.

A wooden rocking chair with those attributes correct for you will be more comfy than the most expensive down-filled designer thingy that strains your lower back. As in so many aspects of life, it’s all about the engineering.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jul 25 - 12:11 PM

I kept a number of interesting antique armchairs from my great aunt's house in Connecticut, but when I realized just how much it was going to cost to reupholster them I donated a couple of them to Goodwill. A project for someone teaching themselves the skill. I kept the comfortable Mission oak rocker, and one in the guest room, and in the den I have a modern rocker with rocking footstool from my Dad's house. And Dad's old lounger. Set those up with a lamp and they are perfect reading chairs.

Sorting through stuff to test and donate or toss in the e-waste bag today. And starting an experiment with old seed packets. Everyone around here who comes across of cache of seeds thinks of me and in the last year I've received three separate bundles of old old packets. They're almost museum pieces at this point, but I'm first testing a packet of catnip from 1980. Some of them were sprinkled into a pot of moist soil in the sunroom and we'll see. It will probably add up to a blog post, and is not scientific, simply based upon curiosity.

More sorting through the excess paper (cards, stationary, envelopes) in a small faux-Chippendale desk is going to add up to more materials for the art teachers project here in town. This is a warm weather sorting project for days when indoor work is best (I'm surprised we aren't well into the 100s yet this time of month, it has been rainy and in the 90s, with nighttime lows in the mid-70s.)

Charmion, I thought you were hoping to find buyers further along in listing their own house? What made these folks seem the best candidates to do this prolonged dance with?

Keb, will a loveseat fit in the apartment?

Dorothy, how is it going with the phone, the hearing aids, the computer, and the houses? Have you started plates for your son?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 11 Jul 25 - 09:14 AM

> No home is complete without a comfy chair.

As long as it's not *too* comfy. The armchair I park myself in (to veg out in in front of the telly) suffered a broken spring, and it's now treacherously deep; visitors have to be warned that it's difficult to escape its embrace.

People always seem to get it wrong about soft chairs and beds; possibly it's a race memory from when His Lordship was the only one who could afford deeply-stuffed matresses.* Research shows that a soft chair increases reported comfort levels, but also increases observed rates of fidgeting. Nowadays we pay extra for deep-stuffed matresses, then pay extra again for orthopedic ones.† *The* most comfortable beds I've ever slept in have been simple standard Uni-issue ones: a four-inch Dunlopillo matress over plywood slats.

* eg for the Pea Test.

† No, I don't just mean gravel, or the earth of one's homeland.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 11 Jul 25 - 08:14 AM

Yes, Keb, you need a comfy chair. No home is complete without a comfy chair.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 11 Jul 25 - 08:11 AM

I am now waiting for the report from my buyers’ building inspector, and coming to terms with the fact that I may not get moved before Thanksgiving. The buyers still don’t have their house on the market. They say they will “soon”.

By some measures, Christmas is “soon”.

Meanwhile, I continue to live as low-contact as possible in my own home, rather as I did in barracks as a newbie in the service, perpetually in anticipation of an NCO’s critical scrutiny.

The weather is delightful: hot but not stinking hot. Stratford is at its leafy loveliest, bursting with bloom, theatre-goers and tourists. Downtown parking is frustratingly rare, and gaggles of people with large tote bags block the sidewalk on the main drags. The bank is across the street from our very picturesque town hall and within a block of two of the Stratford Festival’s four theatres, so I go there only on foot. I’m very grateful I don’t have a downtown job.

My Fitbit watch stopped cooperating with the other gadgets a few days ago and yesterday refused to charge its battery, so I declared it dead and replaced it with an Apple watch. The Apple Store takes trade-ins, so my old iPhone, a 13 with a dicky battery, lowered the price to about par with a new Fitbit. The Apple watch has useful functions the Fitbit lacks, such as a thing that calls 911 if I fall and get hurt badly enough that I can’t cancel. As one who suffers at least one fall on ice each winter, I like that feature.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 11 Jul 25 - 07:05 AM

There are some musical people in the community. Some I have met, others I have been told about. There is a woman who plays organ and piano; I am told she has a piano in her apartment and people downstairs can hear her practicing when she plays it. I've met a 94 year old singer and conductor, nice man but physically very frail. The auditorium has a grand piano in it.

The mattress is much more firm than I am accustomed to. At first it was a real problem, I could barely sleep at all. Now I am getting used to the firm mattress and I am getting some sleep at night.

At some point I need to get a comfortable chair to sit in. I got rid of the large table, but kept the two side chairs; they do not make comfortable sitting. With the other furniture I have there is not really room for a couch.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Jul 25 - 10:29 PM

I'm cooling down again, for the third time, and my clothes all smell strongly of rosemary. The last big chore for today was 45 minutes digging out two trees each several years old that started from squirrel planting in the front bed (a mix of iris, rosemary, salvia, and a large Silverado sage). The pecan came first, then the oak. They were each about 1" diameter at the base (in forestry you would describe a tree by its dbh - diameter breast high - but these weren't tall enough to have that measurement.) Those were the most established of the weed trees. Tomorrow I'll work my way around the yard digging the tree sprouts from last year and this.

A lot of garden stuff is back in the greenhouse after rounding up various sized pots and a few tools that had been in the garage and by the potting bench outside it.

There's a lizard that hangs out on the security door on the driveway side of the house, big enough that even the bigger spiders need to avoid it. There's a yellow-crowned night heron that has started hanging out around the yards on our end of the block (it flounced off to the roof across the street this evening because I was apparently disturbing it) that could be a predator for the lizards and toads. Coyotes, foxes, opossum, raccoons, skunks, and bobcats in the woods across the road. I haven't seen any hares for quite a while; I suspect the coyotes cleared them out. If a squirrel gets hit by a car in the street vultures usually do the cleanup work. Good sized bass and perch in the creek, along with turtles. For an urban dweller, I have a lot of wildlife because of the creek and the woods. Oh, and there was one more wasp confrontation yesterday. They were on the frame for the sliding glass door into the back yard.

Cooking tomorrow. Babaghanouj and a batch of crispy pecans.

How's the new apartment coming along, Keb? Are there any musical members of the community, or access to a piano or a music room? And the furniture you moved in there, is it working out? The new bed comfortable?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 10 Jul 25 - 05:54 PM

here in inner Sydney, close to the Harbour my problem is cockroaches & I keep a bottle of surface spray in each room! Tho as it's winter there are not so many now, they were a plague in the warmer weather!! And THEY will be back as the weather warms as they do like older buildings.

I live in an old (WW1) 4 storey block of apartments, surrounded by bigger & smaller buildings which block any view of the harbour. My predecessors who lived here from 1788 would have had seen more wildlife

quote - Yes, there are snakes in Sydney (ie. wider Metropolitan area). Any suburb with natural bush areas, or overgrown areas, will have snakes, particularly North Shore, Lower North Shore, North-West suburbs. Inner-city suburbs with no natural bush areas will not have snakes (that's us)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Jul 25 - 05:24 PM

I love Ontario. I will never find a tarantula on my porch, and venomous snakes don’t come to visit.

A bat will drop in occasionally and skunks do frequent the garden, but generally Perth County is a peaceable kingdom.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Jul 25 - 12:34 PM

The optimal method for escorting such large creatures out of the house is to use a plastic bowl or container and drop over the top of them, then carefully slide a stiff piece of cardboard (or if none is handy, a magazine or sturdy piece of junk mail) under it, and carry it outside (having already opened the door first so you don't lose it when shifting to open a door.) Technique refined by me and I get calls from neighbors on occasion to come catch snakes or spiders in the house. (For snakes use long kitchen tongs and a straight-sided waste basket.)

After mowing the front I'm indoors cooling down before part two, the string trimmer around the edges and near the soaker hose (that I need to not hit again with the mower). Then part three will be the sharp-shooter shovel and digging up weed trees from flower beds and other places they don't belong. You have to get the roots or the keep coming back. I also need to transplant a few cannas and irises back into the beds they've sprawled out of (past the edging). They make it difficult to mow and edge in those spots.

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

Yes, the earthwork around here seems to have stirred up some critters. One snake (the good kind), the first tarantula wasp of the season. Last evening I walked back towards the front door and saw what I guess was a tarantula on the porch, I decided to go in the back door.
It was black, so high off the ground it looked like a transformer toy, the size of a large orange, and that's all the detail I cared to collect.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jul 25 - 07:30 PM

With three bags purchased last fall, today I picked up six more bags of pebbles to finish the French drain. I made two trips, three bags at a time, because I didn't want to end up with extra. It was close with the first three today, but since the ditch was kind of "V" shaped, the volume needed to fill in across the top was going to take more than what filled up the bottom half. At any rate, the project used nine bags of rocks plus a bag of decomposed granite at the bottom end where the water can drain out and soak in if need be (it's over the baldcypress roots at that point, a tree that loves standing water.) In planning the drain I dug the experimental little trench last fall, and that alone was enough to let the slightly uphill Mexican plum come back to complete health this year. The rocks are placeholders so it isn't as likely to fill in from surrounding soil.

The messy part was when I made the executive decision to cut out a chunk of the inch diameter PVC pipe that runs the length of the yard, put in by the previous owners. It ran along about 3' of the length of the trench, and was going to cause a backup in drainage. I had thought about using it for a pump, but never did, and now I won't. The reciprocating saw made quick work of it, but since I'd perk-tested the ditch with water there was mud to be flung by the blade and the pipe.

In a follow-up on last night's clash of the behemoth-sized critters, the cicada killer wasp seems to have avoided the Argiope spider's web. She has extended her web orb into a true 3D capture device out there, but it still accommodates the opening security door. Smart spider. I think, however, todays backyard soil shifting messed up another kind of wasp and spider dynamic. I filled in some low spots along the garage foundation next to the step into the garage, and this afternoon noticed a tarantula hawk wasp with a smallish spider that it stunned in the garage and had dragged to that side step. It seemed to be looking around and I realize I probably filled soil over the hole it had excavated to stuff the spider into before it lays its eggs on said paralyzed spider. It may have to start over. Since the spider is a goner if the wasp doesn't use it one of the lizards will get it. Can you see why gardening is so much more interesting than clearing out my den? You can take the Interpretive Naturalist/park ranger out of the park, but you can't take away the interest in all of those goings on in the natural world.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 09 Jul 25 - 12:08 PM

> It looks like Ptolemy has had the last word.

I'm just waiting for Petronius the Arbiter (our first tenant) to wander into Heaven, for a bit of R&R after a particularly boisterous bit of hellraising in Valhalla.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jul 25 - 11:59 AM

Patty, it was! I expected just to sit and listen, but during the reception before the concert the head archivist introduced a couple of us to the artists' family. I really need to bone up on this more by Sunday because it's the last day of that small exhibit and there may be a few audience members deciding to attend. In the case of visitors knowing more about a subject than I do, I turn it to my advantage and ask them to share what they know and everyone in the group hears stories that might not be well-known.

This has been a strangely wet July. With tomatoes on the vines, extra moisture can cause the fruits to split if they're almost mature; for now I've turned off my sprinkler timer (set to run every third day). I did more work on the French drain yesterday, and will finish today. Added to the yard to-do list is tree trimming. There was what amounts to the annual Code Enforcement tag on my door yesterday, noting the street trees need limbs trimmed to be higher than 13' above the pavement. I have 10 days to resolve the situation so I always wait a while, never work on these when they might be driving by to see I'm working on it. I often leave it to the last possible minute, playing chicken with city officials.

patty, having zones in one room that serve the purpose of those various rooms you mention could create the most inviting room in your house, that you will never want to leave.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 09 Jul 25 - 10:23 AM

Clearly I shall have to add on a study, music room, basement, and library to my 2BR.   

SRS, that event sounds wonderful and must have been a great evening away from garden and house 'stuff'!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jul 25 - 12:11 AM

I created the sewing studio for a space for tasks where stuff is always out. And if I were a better housekeeper and more prompt at listing things, I would have already have compressed all of the eBay stuff into the front room. I don't combine eBay with sewing or beading stuff or other craft materials.

The concert I went to this evening was wonderful, in the hall where the Cliburn competition takes place every four years. The acoustics are second to none (even when a thunderstorm rolls in and starts stomping around on the roof.) I got an incredible amount of context about the museum collection slides I have been scanning for the last five years, and I met the brother and sister of the twins who made that art. The twins were kind of your neighborhood polymaths, and one brother in particular loved classical music and did a lot of composing in addition to his trompe l'oeil paintings. I was wearing both my archives and docent hats this evening; I had a few photos in my phone that I pulled from the archives to use when I give tours in a small exhibit (that was the reason this concert happened). The siblings hadn't seen these photos, so it was an opportunity to let them be charmed by seeing new photos and let me be educated by getting more answers.

Meanwhile, on the front porch, it was nearly Godzilla meets Megalon this evening. I had a housefly I'd swatted on a window that I took to toss on the Argiope spider web, and realized a cicada killer, the B-52 of the wasp kingdom, was bouncing around near my porchlight. Moths, flies, small grasshoppers, little beetles, are one thing. A wasp that is double the size of the spider is another and would have torn up the web if it made contact. There are wasps that specialize in parasitizing spiders, but this particular wasp specializes in cicadas. They're very large and slow moving, but clunky in many contexts. Still, too much for this spider (I'm pretty sure - check in tomorrow morning to see if I report signs of a struggle and who won.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 08 Jul 25 - 04:42 PM

Because muddle disturbs my wa, I like a dedicated work space — the study or the basement, or (for big , time-limited tasks) the music room/library. That way, I always have somewhere to sit, and I can offer someone a cup of tea without apologizing. Task materials deployed in an official work space are not “put away”, so they’re not out of mind even if out of sight.

Cats take up less space than most dogs, but they interfere with work even more effectively. Watson and Isobel both insist on climbing into my lap when I’m at my desk, and Watson is so big that he slides off if I don’t hold him with at least one arm. I hate to think how many choir newsletters were typed one-handed while Watson rammed his head into my chin.

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

It looks like Ptolemy has had the last word.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Jul 25 - 11:39 AM

patty, you've hinted at another problem of "putting things away." It's partly the "out of sight, out of mind" aspect so you don't remember you own it and end up buying it again. In other all-too-often-instances, it's a matter of trying to remember where you put something next time you need it. But things that are out all of the time can become invisible in their own way, mixed in with lots of stuff in plain sight.

The front room is pretty full, moving stuff back in there would make it more full, but still workable. There's a table that can hold the photo cube, the biggest obstacle in the den.

I've come to realize that moving the glider to the front porch makes the side doorway better to enter, but the dog who always used to sleep on the thing has taken to sleeping on the rug at my feet under my office desk. I'm always banging into her. I'm going to have to relocate one of the dog beds over to that spot (it won't take up near the space the loveseat sized porch swing did.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 08 Jul 25 - 10:52 AM

It's a conundrum, arranging a place so there is a place to entertain guests, and keeping the main rooms clean enough for pop-in visitors. It's nice to do, but you can wind up shoving all the things that make living interesting into a corner in the spare room, and never get to them.   Or leave them out where you can enjoy puttering around with them, and then get caught with a mess when people show up. I know it's not a black and white choice, but it seems like it this week, and   it can take a bit of clever arranging to keep the whole place sort-of functional yet presentable.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jul 25 - 11:48 PM

Dorothy, it sounds like the computer crash is a going to present a big recovery effort - or saying goodbye to a lot of stuff. Do you have the same materials on older devices that you still have at the house or at Beaver?

I'm almost finished with the cat sitting gig; tomorrow morning may be the last (she'll text to let me know when she thinks she'll get back into town.) Then I have yard work to do before I clean up to go to a concert with a tie-in to the collection at the museum where I've been scanning.

Apropos of nothing, during a shopping trip this evening I had a couple of good conversations and I think they were initiated because the t-shirt I was wearing said

"If you're not Angry
You Are Not
Paying Attention"

Back at the homestead I've been focused outside a great deal this summer, but I've demarcated an indoors project: making the den presentable enough to entertain guests. That means clearing out the empty cardboard boxes, moving the eBay photo cube and materials into the front room, and shifting boxes listed on eBay to someplace else to await their eventual shipping. I decided to start in the far corner, and have over the last few weeks added various types of wine to the small wine rack on the shelf. I don't drink much wine these days, but when I have guests I now have a selection of white and red to offer. The wine glasses are on the shelf above, and I'll work outward from that point. Next: clear the dining table next (where the photo stuff is.) The biggest and most difficult move will be figuring out if I can relocate the dog kennel. They love it and use it all of the time. It's right there in front, something I'd like to make less conspicuous.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 07 Jul 25 - 06:24 PM

OOPS! Hope SRS is OK after I saw a glimpse of HCR post! OK! And Charmion will soon be getting congratulations!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 07 Jul 25 - 06:14 PM

Dupont:

Then the computer died - DEAD! I shall be spending the rest of my life trying to regain my life. No! I did not back up and things are not on ICloud. A lengthy tutorial at the apple store sent me home with very little ability. I hope the brain will gain... I totally lost precious stuff. Came home with a back up thing.

I have been trying to get the energy to make some pottery- esp the plates son wants. Now... I have connected with one bank account - cannot even pay my bills! I am fairly well over the total melt down but it may recur. The music! mostly by dear friends but the fates left me with one Cohen album and a U-2 thing which was never there before -DELETE!

The nice folks at the Apple store handled my nervous breakdown very well - but let me leave without nearly enough info. I see numerous calls to Apple help in my future.

The weather has cooled a bit today so my energy level is a bit better. I have to keep convincing myself I am feeling better each day - trying to do enough to help the state of the body and not so much that the back insulted and fingers tingle.

Arkansas Hard luck blues: "And the only reason I'm hanging around is to find out what the hack is going to happen next!"

Now, to see if I can gather a few more essentials!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jul 25 - 01:54 PM

Last week I gave a tour at the museum where I scan, and dressed up a pair of black jeans for just the afternoon. I had another tour yesterday and was looking for the jeans, but figured they must be hanging in the laundry room so got out a black pair of culotte-style ankle-length slacks. When I got home I thought - I'll wear them again next Sunday, turned to drape them over the back of the Mission rocker, and there were the black jeans. Maybe before the tour next week I'll remember where the black pants are.

The yard is soggy and lots of tall weeds in the garden again. I'll head out with the trimmer later when the heat has dried the grass some.

Until then, I have work to do, but I started reading E. Jean Carroll's Not My Type and am instead going to read for a while. There's a truism about not pissing off a writer, and she's a heckuva writer. Her best revenge against Trump is this book. It will hurt his ego more than the millions she was awarded. It doesn't feel like being steeped in Trump stuff, it's about her and the effect he had on her life, but what a life! I read a review that said it's worthwhile getting the audiobook because she read it, and I enjoyed her discussion of why she decided to narrate herself. I'm reading now and when the audiobook comes through from the library I'll switch over.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jul 25 - 08:12 PM

The NWS had enough weather balloons up and that kind of tracking; what they didn't have, as you noted, was the downstream position filled that is the contact with the local weather alert contacts. There was no one to pass along the information. That person was fired in late April.

My dogs get glucosamine chews once a day. The cats I am feeding this week get it in as a powder sprinkled on their evening meal. My mother used to take it. It's a well-known remedy.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Jul 25 - 07:34 PM

For sore shoulder joints from impingement or other reasons, Glucosamine Chondroitin over the counter may help you eliminate the pain or cause. It works for me in just a couple days. Its available in virtually every drugstore. May you have the same Good luck.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 06 Jul 25 - 06:20 PM

We have had some epic rains over the last week, some quite violent, washing gravel onto the porch, not just the usual silt and sand. Roads under water, the Mimbres went from its usual dry condition to way out of its banks and washed out cattle fences and some pavement on the major highway. Friends had a oversized garage/hangar take on an inch of mud, and water got in their home. Apparently in their case a huge haboob hit with a huge rainstorm right behind it. The good news is the long and bad drought is at least taking a big break.

Guess that's why I was so outraged that the flash floods in Texas were a 'surprise', um no they weren't, these violent systems have been active across the southwest. Now we find the lives lost trace back to the layoffs at NOAA, plus reluctance of local government to spend a dime on 'frills' like having people and plans in place for warnings of dire river rises. I don't know how these people look themselves in the mirror.

Discovered the professionally 'fixed' hatch latch on the RV has already failed and won't open now, in addition to looking awful. Correct parts are not available anywhere, so might have to get a friend to try designing and 3-D printing something. So angry to spend time and money to have things fixed and then have to do it over again, more time and money.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jul 25 - 12:07 PM

I thought Friday was the end of the storms for a while, but more are passing through today, complete with flash flood warnings. Duly noted. The next couple of days have a lower chance. Once the storms are over and I'm finished with the (now extended a full day due to scheduling of contractors at her other house) cat sitting, I'll finish the French drain. The soil will be perfect to dig in. I've also figured out where to put some of the material excavated—there is a hole near the garage that the dogs have gradually extended along the foundation. Rearranging the soil in the yard is an unusual form of decluttering, but whatever.

Patty, did any of this moisture pass over you at your desert ranch? We'd be glad to share.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 06 Jul 25 - 09:12 AM

Robo, is there any chance your neighbours are growing out of the gratuitous noise phase of life?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: robomatic
Date: 05 Jul 25 - 08:12 PM

I have friends with a dog, I am the designated 'dogfather' which means I participate in daily walks with Nuccah, since her daddy doesn't walk. As a young dog, she has shown little fear of fireworks, which is a departure for many of our local pooches, who can be severely stressed by the percussive sounds, and for all I know the smells, of various private investments in spreading noise and color (hopefully) into the sky. I live near a lake, and many of the lakefront landholders will shoot works into the basin. Since there are many airplane owners with floatplanes parked out on the water, there is a healthy cafe taken so no really stupid accidents happen, that could get a careless enthusiast sued or shot.

Last night was quieter than it has been for many years. Still trying to figure out the reason, but no complaints in this department.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 05 Jul 25 - 07:20 PM

Exactly.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jul 25 - 06:55 PM

Looking at houses online lets you figure out what neighborhoods you like, what your price range is for the kind of house you want, and time to immerse yourself in that marketplace so when you get there, you know what to expect. The downside is seeing houses you like that are already off the market by the time you get a chance to ask to take a look.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 05 Jul 25 - 03:42 PM

If I leave the house at all on a major holiday in summer, I do it in daylight and on foot. I lived in downtown Ottawa for decades, and more than once barely escaped getting trampled in the massive crowd that assembles for the Canada Day fireworks on Parliament Hill. Now I’m too old and rickety for such shenanigans.

My agent in Ottawa has told me not to waste my time on a house-hunting trip until my buyers have sold their house. In Ottawa, he said, it’s such a seller’s market that an offer with a sell-the-house condition will be ignored.

So that gives me a bit of breathing space, whether I want it or not.

Next challenge: hiring a mover.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Jul 25 - 02:51 PM

I stayed off the roads on the Fourth.
In my new location, I am happy to report that the fireworks are so far away
that I could barely hear them, just some faint booms in the distance.
So I had a sedate, peaceful Fourth, which was appropriate this year.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jul 25 - 12:01 PM

I also take B12, but a fairly low dose (doctor wants me on B12 and D3). I just looked at the GABA I started taking for relaxation (as needed), and it has a small amount of B6. It's good at bedtime, or in conjunction with L-Theanine (for stress) on a particularly stressful day.

With the rain I'm going to be doing some quick area mopping to prevent the mud buildup that I just struggled to scour last week. I'll be muddying the place when I do the French drain, but if I use the wheelbarrow as I excavate from the small trench I can park it someplace until I figure out where I want another raised bed and it won't be too much for the girls to track in.

Last week I got a tetanus/whooping cough booster, and my shoulder is still a little stiff, but it wasn't too bad. The size of needles they use, and with all of the practice pharmacists have had, I didn't even feel the injection. I couldn't find any information about the last time I had one, my doctors didn't have records, and while I couldn't remember the last booster, I remember a former doctor's rule of thumb: "If you can't remember when you had your last tetanus shot, you probably need a tetanus shot." (It seems the boosters are combined now, but that's fine; of all of the childhood illnesses I did have, whooping cough wasn't one of them and it's something no one ever wants to catch.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 05 Jul 25 - 10:00 AM

Awful to hear about campers being lost in the flash flood on the Guadalupe. I know a 26' rise is unheard of, but still, was there no flash-flood forecast, were local weather and fema officials not clearing people from river campgrounds, even if it had been a lower rise predicted?? If anything like that had been approaching M'sippi, the broadcast weather guys would have been screaming from the rooftops for people to get out of flood zones, never mind deputies allowing riverside camping.

Well there was nothing to celebrate this fourth, nation-wise. Personally, I was so undone by the week's little disasters (floor-flooding washer caused by drain line problem, etc.) I just wanted to be left alone and quietly putter around doing things I moved here to be able to do, instead of incessant cleaning, repair, and money issues, with no privacy from people who do repairs. Dropped it into low-low gear, and feel better now having had a quiet day.

PSA: feeling particularly irritable and sleepless, discovered both the B6 and B12 I had been taking have outrageously high dosages, known to cause above problems.   I don't know what these boobs are thinking; but I suspect if a compound is cheap to make, they just load in whatever amount will fit in the capsule or tablet mold.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jul 25 - 09:39 AM

Charmion, 23 years ago I found the house I'm living in on the Internet. At the time I was using Realtor.com, since then Zillow is a big deal (and forcing some changes in the US market, at least, with insisting that if Realtors have "pocket" listings they can't go up on Zillow later. It's start out online or never online.) And I'm told that Redfin has the fastest refresh rate for listings during the day. My son and his partner found their house through them a couple of years ago. At any rate, this adds up to "let your fingers do the walking," repurposing the old Yellow Pages motto.

Lovely gentle rain here in North Texas this morning, but yesterday it was a hellish floodscape in the Texas Hill Country south of here. I've driven through that area several times, the Guadalupe River is incredibly beautiful, but the land contours are gentle enough that the water can rush far and wide quickly. The river rose 26' in 45 minutes. Those kids in the summer camp didn't have a chance.

With the rain here the soil in the back will be moist enough to finish that work on the French drain today and tomorrow. My gardening guru discussed just such a project on his radio show last week, reminding me that even my original low-tech plan of just gravel, not using a perforated tube, was fine. I'll stay with that original plan.

This cat-sitting gig is over Monday evening, but it has gotten me back into going to the gym so I'll keep that up. I'm listening to the audio book of Wicked to see what all of the fuss has been about. The book was written over 20 years ago, and it's ironic that there is apparently a disruptive feature called Ticktock (not sure how the book writes or spells it since I'm listening).

Dorothy, how was the week with double holidays? Do you observe either of them (two occasions for picnics!) Was the Fourth quiet for everyone else? For the rest of the world it was just Friday, here it felt like having a two Saturday weekend.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 05 Jul 25 - 08:05 AM

After yesterday’s excitements, I was all prepared to hit the road tomorrow and start looking at houses on Monday, but this morning I realized that my monthly date with the allergist and his needle is scheduled for Tuesday. So — cool yer jets, Charmion.

The agents have arranged another viewing for tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon.

No more fireworks in Stratford; that’s blessedly over for another year.

I like Replacements, but their prices are indeed intimidating. Anything bought from them will arrive intact, however; their packing materials are excellent and they aren’t stingy with them.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Jul 25 - 11:21 PM

Excellent news about interest in the house! Navigating all of the steps from this point will possibly include steam blowing out of your ears, but the Declutter cheering section is here to offer support!

Fireworks going off like a war zone right now. A heavy rain storm blew through before sunset. It would have been wonderful to listen to rain on the roof right now, instead of firecrackers and Roman candles and Dog knows what else. I had a struggle with Pepper when I mistakenly left my bedroom door open. She launched herself onto my bed a couple of times. If it was just for comfort, I could live with it, but unfortunately when the noise starts she sometimes pees on herself.

I was poking around Replacements.com and realized they sell a lot of the glasses I have here to list on eBay. It will help me with descriptions and prices (I need to undercut them enough that people will buy from me instead - but their prices are pretty high per glass.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 04 Jul 25 - 06:43 PM

yes!!!!!!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 04 Jul 25 - 06:26 PM

After only four viewings, I have two offers. Both are for more than I asked.

Time to go to Ottawa and look at houses.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 04 Jul 25 - 09:37 AM

The house looks wonderful! From the descriptions of problems and fixes, I was not picturing such a great-looking place. Best wishes on getting to closing. And yes, don't waste your time on people who aren't really ready to buy.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 04 Jul 25 - 07:32 AM

Charmion, congratulations to you (for sorting & downsizing) & agent (for knowing their business) & photographer (ditto)!

may your beautiful house sell quickly -