DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Jun 25 - 11:29 PM

Sounds like you accomplished what you planned - and I have seen the styrofoam microbeads around here when I need a sturdy support in a box and must break or cut large pieces to work.

A tip if no other sources are nearby - you can buy boxes online from UHaul and you'd be surprised at the number of sizes and shapes they have. Factor it into sales, of course, and have it ahead of listing. I bought a dozen in a couple of long and low sizes to pack vintage VHS players in. It was easier than waiting for the right size box to come along. These days I go down to the village recycle bins and look to see what sizes have been dropped in (usually not flattened out).

Charmion, how are your windows looking now? Dorothy, how is your puttering around the cottage at Beaver going?

I have officially turned that spider corner into prime real estate for Ms. Argiope. I stepped out on the porch this evening and after a couple of minutes a Junebug bopped along. I caught it and tossed it into the web; I was going to take a photo and in the 15 seconds it took to pull the phone from my pocket and bring up the camera app she already had that bug fully bound. The bug is still alive - last I saw the two of them she was hovering around and the bug was kicking through the sticky layers.

More of the den has been scrubbed, so easy with that battery operated big spinning brush.

I know the next nine days here are going to feel like your styrofoam storm is running through my life; cat sitting begins and there are a number of other appointments sprinkled through the week.

I'm taking a weekend (at least) off from any politics and I set up FB with a filter to block names and events. If you use Facebook Purity (download from this site, not the Chrome extension store where there are some fakes) you can filter keywords from your newsfeed. I set that up and compared Chrome (with the filters) to Firfox and there is a big difference. It just doesn't let the political stuff load. (On FB itself they refer to themselves as "Fluff Busting Purity" because FB blocks any references to their actual name. It's an odd arrangement, but it works.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 27 Jun 25 - 11:07 PM

Chaos, total chaos. The living room looks like a little funnel cloud came through. Took forever to pack up an instrument for shipment so now there is styrofoam bits and and cardboard and bubble wrap everywhere, and still didn't make the deadline for UPS.

I was delighted the selling process worked, a friend in a bind needed to raise some funds. But it was a lot of work, and crafting an oversized box took way longer than it should have. Note to self, never publish the listing til the item is packed for shipment.

And tomorrow's plans have just blown up. You never know how a day is going to go...

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

Mademoiselle Argiope (kind of rhymes with Calliope) has, over the course of the last few days, moved her web closer to the house each night. From under the soffit over the front walk to the inside corner next to the door, so that now when I open the security gate the web wobbles. The test will come tomorrow to see if she tries to locate inside the security gate or if she backs off some and settles in the mid-range next to the string of lights that turns on at dusk. Perhaps I should change the lighting pattern to a steady glow and she will move closer again. Do spiders get motion sickness from flickering lights? Clearly she's looking for the optimal spot, so experimentation and learning seems to be part of the process. (She builds a new web every night, after eating the old one.)

Kitchen items and 10 pounds of flour have left the porch, and though it will just look like an ordinary porch to someone who is never here, I suspect the postal carrier and the Amazon driver will notice it is clear of leaf litter and tracked dirt. The cooler with bottled water will head out for the hottest time of year soon. I used to have a porch swing out there but the sun was hard on it; I may move it back out for the rest of the summer and get a new tarp to cover it.

The next segment of den floor is scrubbed and drying, chairs arrayed around the spot. A drawback to this work is that it makes the house very humid.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 27 Jun 25 - 10:50 AM

The window-washer is hard at work downstairs. Upstairs, the improvement is startling.

Because I'm chicken on ladders, the upstairs windows haven't been washed since before we bought this house. Therefore, they had at least eight years' accumulation of airborne grunge.

In my next abode, I'll indulge in an annual splurge on clean windows. As luxuries go, it ranks well above a spa visit, and probably costs about the same.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Jun 25 - 12:06 AM

I did a couple of more segments of the den floor. I'm doing small enough sections so I can set chairs around each area to keep the dogs from retracking through it until its dry.

I have a taker for most of the kitchen items I listed today on the buy nothing page, the surplus will go in the laundry room bin for Goodwill later. She's interested in baking - I should add a bonus of the last few pounds of wheat flour that I never use anymore.

I'm doing the gray water bucket brigade from the kitchen sink now; as I wash hands, rinse plates or let the water run till hot, it collects in a bucket. It goes on potted plants, garden plants, and several trips out a day is often enough to avoid having to go with the hose in the evening.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Jun 25 - 04:47 PM

The porch looks much better but I think the last of the chalk went to the art teacher donations. Perhaps a boxed area lined out with painter's tape and write my request on the tape with a Sharpie.

Today I sent a fax and made calls to my representatives, and now I need to set that aside and work on my own things. Let the stress have a break.

eBay has to top the list of things to do, clearing out via sales and donation are the top two methods of declutter right now. I have a small batch to list this afternoon on the free page.

The first week in July is packed full of appointments and cat comings-and-goings, but sometimes those are my most efficient weeks, when everything ends up being planned out.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 26 Jun 25 - 10:52 AM

the world is full of mysteries, as the adage says

One Of Life's Little Mysteries.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 26 Jun 25 - 10:43 AM

> Why? It’s a mystery

Perhaps the delivery persons are following orders. They're not paid enough to have initiative, and may in fact get disciplined for showing it.

But it also reminds me of the description of an empty rubbish receptacle on a pavement, surrounded by a ring of the rubbish that should have been in it. When I first read that, I thought mebbe the rubbish-bearing oiks couldn't throw straight, but it might have been just a "stuff you" comment by said oiks. Or an outdoor Tracy Emin installation.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 26 Jun 25 - 09:33 AM

Stilly, I have a table on my porch that should attract parcels — it’s right beside the front door, under the mailbox — but generally doesn’t. Most parcels are found on the porch floor, often carefully propped against the door. Why? It’s a mystery.

I have only a couple of the stager’s tasks left to do. I’ll wait till Monday morning on a couple of them so the rooms are still usable; for example, she wants me to turn my computer desk around to face the wall, although in that position I can’t plug in the computer.

But the lawn’s getting shaggy. Must stir up Max-next-door.

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

Zygocactus. Hmmm. Over here they're called xmas cactus, thanksgiving cactus, and such for the time of year they bloom, usually cool months.

I have started tackling the den floor and will do zones of a few square feet at a time. The doorway at the back of the room came first, with furniture moved also to get under them. I also took the rotating brush out to the front porch and scrubbed the area around the door, and I hope when it dries it will look more inviting. I'm thinking of taking a piece of sidewalk chalk and drawing a square and putting "parcels here" for those delivery folks who drop boxes right in front of the door in plain view of the street so I have to shove it with the security door. There's a much better spot about three feet to the right of there, screened by shrubs and a few cinderblocks.

Dog beds and small rugs are finished, it took the washer a while to get the load into balance (I had to take out a couple of things and run them separately on spin and rinse.)

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

I've had a load ready for weeks to go to my favourite recycling place (Reverse Garbage - choosing to reuse since 1975) but the week before Easter the trip was cancelled when the friend who was coming out of his way to collect me did his back in. He was helping chop down some small trees to get a friend's property ready for our Easter music camp. ps. he is an engineer who has done a lot of similar work, not just a weekend DIY-er! This time he had a toilet blockage to sort out so we SNIFFFFFED very loudly when he arrived for rehearsal! He had wet hair & claimed he'd had 3 showers! The blockage was almost cleared, he just needed to buy some useful thingy in the morning but as he is Mr Music he didn't have time to get it.

Blockage would be cleared by now so I expect to get everything off my wooden trunk and away next week! The trunk is under the window & it will be easier to water my plants - the window faces north & is is filled with 9 zygocactus & the 6 winter plants are flowering!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Mary G
Date: 25 Jun 25 - 05:56 PM

Re: rental cars. Take a picture incl license plates. Likewise going to airport parking or street parking, from all sides, incl. numbers, street signs etc. For decluttering, I am pretty near minimalism but I am suffering trying to get rid of a $3 curtain rod. I do not need it. I did not know I had it. But my brain is saying it is a perfectly good rod, I might need it someday, money does not grow on trees etc. I got rid of a mop by learning it against a pole with a free sign. A sack of OK but not great clothing to a woman who collects for homeless. A very nice suitcase to a young staff person at the camp I volunteer at. I got rid of several bags of decent clothes to our thrift shop. I am packing for Ryanair with tiny luggage requirements. Lots will be stuffed in pockets. I am going to Lourdes and have to figure out how to bring several large bottles of holy water back. Have paid for extra bag on Ryanair.

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

In the for-what-it's-worth category of the end stages of beloved pets, there is no perfect answer. The last two cats were euthanized when it was clear the treatments they were getting were making them miserable. It was even harder with them, because the kids were here and were heartbroken also. With dogs, I realized with the Labrador retriever last year that I had waited too long, thinking I'd get a sign from him as far as lost appetite. Labs never stop eating (he was veering toward a bowl of cat food on the ground outside the clinic as I took him in that last time.) It was the lack of joy for him that was the decider; when he couldn't get up by himself to go out to the fence for the pre-dawn treat, I knew it was time. The old catahoula got it just right - she was shaky for a week or two at the most, then died in her sleep in her favorite spot. I kept the pitbull comfortable with steroids but when she stopped eating, it was time. When you know it is coming you've already started the grieving process, so ask yourself if you're trying to spare your heart or their pain. And as hard as it is, it's best for them if you're there at the end. [Dabs tears and blows nose.]

There has been a bit of dog drama here, with Pepper not eating any of her food yesterday morning or evening. I've mixed a dry food she prefers with a food she no longer prefers, but she turned her nose up at it as well as the separate bowl of veggies. Even broccoli last night. I made a note to call the vet this morning for a checkup, then thought "we've done this before." So this morning I gave her a bowl of just the food she prefers with the broccoli on the side and she ate everything. Duh.

I heard from the transplanted friend who is now in North Carolina. She has found a rental for a year while they hunt for a house they want to buy or a place to build. Got a congratulations from her on getting her almond verbena to start sprouting new stems. The ultimate success in this first year of the transplant is if it sends out any blooms.

More housework today. Wash small rugs and more floor mopping.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 25 Jun 25 - 12:15 PM

Many thanks for that comment about Ptol, Charmion. Herself was amused.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 25 Jun 25 - 11:46 AM

Photographs Monday.

Tuesday is Dominion / Canada Day, so I assume the listing will go live on Wednesday.

Ptolemy sounds like a cat who won't quit till the last dog is hung.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 25 Jun 25 - 11:41 AM

Cat News: Ptolemy's on the way out, but the little offender is worse than a West-End celebrity --- every time we decide that That's That, he stages another brief comeback. Herself is oscillating between it being cruel to keep him going, and it being unkind to call Time on him early, which isn't doing her own health much good: to reduce her stress levels, she's actually given up doomwatching rolling-news TV.*

More next week when the cat-friendly vet returns from holiday, if Ptol doesn't pop his claws first.

* It didn't help that the State-Sponsored Suicide Bill was going through the House of Commons last week, but that's a different argument for another thread.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 25 Jun 25 - 07:44 AM

Cleaners are coming today to scrub out the house; window-washers on Friday. I proposed Saturday for photographs, hoping that could mean listing on Monday. The agent has yet to reply, but I’m betting she will agree.

It’s raining lightly now, and today’s forecast high is a mere 28°C. The new grass in my side lawn is now long enough to mow.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jun 25 - 10:54 PM

Progress today on several fronts. Dusted, mopped, and vacuumed the master suite, hall, and hall bathroom (all long overdue). Trimmed along the south side of the house and installed a new soaker hose, then ran a successful test on a timer. Flattened quite a few boxes that had accumulated in the den and came across an odd little garden light that seems to have arrived here via a few padded boxes from the home of my cat sitting gig (she saved them for me because they're particularly good for shipping glasses and I still have quite a few to list on eBay). I'll take that back to her this weekend when the next cat sitting job starts.

I also picked the first two eggplants ready in the garden and in the morning I'll make one of them into a batch of breaded fried eggplant and take across the street to my neighbor who loves it and has been in poor health for quite a while. The second one will go into a batch of babaghanouj. Normally I would eat it with pita bread, but I'll use it with toasted gluten free bread (I have quite a few loaves in the freezer.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jun 25 - 03:51 PM

Yesterday afternoon I noticed a web under the front porch soffit of what is locally called a "zipper spider" - the yellow and black Argiope that is an intrepid day and nighttime hunter. The zigzag thing is extra silk (called a "stabilimentum") making these guys easy to spot. And there is a wasp today trying to build a nest about 12 inches to the left of that web. I'm thinking Darwin in the form of a hungry spider will take care of that wasp.

I await the arrival of a step-down brass ring or adapter I can use on the camera to add a couple of my existing specialty filters to the gear for the new camera. Once this is set up it's time for the next camera sale of the first big digital I used. Still works, has lots of pieces and parts, takes up a lot of space (relatively speaking for a camera).

This morning I started emptying one of the two 55+ gallon water tanks I have in the corner by my potting table. I'm going to reconfigure the setup, make it smaller. I may end up with an extra rain barrel to send to my daughter's house. With as many projects as she has going on up there, water sources need to be spread around. (And speaking of water - I just heard the village public works guy at the curb, checking on the readings of the newly installed water meter. I'll go take a look later to see if it has any symbols I should know about.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Jun 25 - 05:54 PM

Awww. A car in the shop is never convenient; I always worry I won't remember what the rental is I'm driving and will lose track of it. And I still miss the standard transmissions I used to drive. (When you buy used cars there is a lot less selection in things like that.)

I took a small gift from the garden to my medical appointment today, a half-dozen of same "new potato" size red lasodas. Since last year I didn't have a garden, this is a nice marker of progress health-wise after the statins were stopped.

There was a side trip to the favorite Goodwill store, but I left empty handed. That after noticing a foot controller for an old sewing machine that was by itself, and finding the machine across the room and putting them back together. And noticing a vintage Noritake china set from Japan and putting all of bowls and plates and saucers with the gravy boat. People buy those to sell on eBay, might as well make it easier. It won't be me. (I was reminded that I have a bunch of vintage Russel Wright melamine I should sell myself.) #OCD at the Goodwill.

Lunch with an old friend and a couple of pleasant conversations while shopping add up to a good day out.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 23 Jun 25 - 01:51 PM

My car is in the shop having its backed-into side panel repaired, so I’m driving a rental (insurance pays) for a week. It’s an Audi Quattro. “Vroom, vroom!”

Except it has an automatic transmission, which kinda spoils the fun, and way too many glowing buttons on the dashboard — but none of them is SATNAV. Remembering how I got into this fix, I paid the $25 per day for extra insurance.

Little by little, I’m shedding commitments and responsibilities. A fellow chorister came round to measure up the stack of folded risers stowed in my garage, and left promising to come back next Tuesday to haul them away. Phew!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Jun 25 - 11:19 AM

Patty, it's a matter of scale. Your cow activity is equivalent to just having changed the cat litter and having them take a dump before the fresh dust even settles. :)

A race to the curb this morning with the last two defunct soaker hoses; I had scissors in hand because I'd just cut off the ends. I shoved it into the trash can just as the nice man in the yellow vest stepped down from the back of the truck to pick it up. I've been looking at one of those ugly hoses on the porch for ages now. I'll take the broom out later and sweep, and maybe even the Ryobi brush and scrub the muddy spot in front of the door.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 23 Jun 25 - 09:38 AM

Yesterday, something I never expected to spend time doing, shoveling cow chips into a wheelbarrow and dumping on the adjacent grazing land. The cows, who I seldom see any more, stood near my gate on the access road and dumped about 18 big ones. Drove around them for a week til they were dry, and disposed of them with pitchfork and shovel, before the forecast rains arrive tomorrow.

So, last night, sunset was disturbed by much mooing, they were at the gate milling around again. Really? They waited til I cleaned it up and came back???

Today's project is to get a friend's old steel guitar looked at by the guys at the music shop. Trying to raise maximum cash to help with their crisis. But I can't list it online til I have more facts about its condition.

Meanwhile, spent a few hours just putting things away around the house. So many times that is a task that I skip until it becomes a problem. I guess it is a chore that has to go on a schedule just as much as active cleaning tasks.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Jun 25 - 12:01 AM

Assembling that batch of nacho beef/beans was a good workout this evening. I had most things ready to go so once the onions and chiles were sautéed and grinding and browning the beef I could keep adding the other ingredients, and the bowls went straight into the dishwasher, a lot of back and forth. It's a versatile dish but is the opposite of a one-pot meal.

Two of the clunky old soaker hoses are in the trash can for tomorrow morning, making for a nice cleanup in the corner behind the fence where I store a few garden things.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Jun 25 - 11:00 AM

That sounds like a nice setup, Dorothy! Enjoy your time out in the countryside! Are you still doing any pots?

This weekend I've been doing some cooking ahead. 1.5x batch of granola yesterday, now in the freezer, and today a double batch of my beef nacho mix that I freeze in small jars for many future meals.

The sprinkler is set up to keep a general level of moisture in the vegetable gardens, though I'll be doing localized watering for the crops themselves to keep them thriving. It's a programmable battery operated attachment on the back yard spigot. The cucumbers are now transplanted and starting to blossom and grip the stands I put in place for them to climb. We're into the hot time of year where the long range forecast doesn't show much rain chance in the next 10 days. Now is when the planning pays off. Making sure plants have a lot of mulch to keep moisture in place after watering, and not overwatering (it ends up rotting the roots).

Today is the day to tackle the den floor and I may also give the dogs baths.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 22 Jun 25 - 10:59 AM

Beaver: Went to the "third Saturday" event in Lake St. Peter yesterday and had lots of good conversations with terrific folks, some of whom I have known since early 80s! Today is HOT and I am at the library- outside - picking up the internet - with car engine providing cooling - just for a while. Then I guess I will hole up at home - find covering for two windows to keep the heat out there! Going to 29C today.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 22 Jun 25 - 10:45 AM

Beaver!:

Having beaten the malady down to my usual cough, And flying on the fact that I managed to go to the wedding - and back again! I am spending a couple weeks in this lovely spot, visiting friends and getting re-organized - cleaning the house up after a two year hiatus - of NO energy - feels wonderful! Cancelled the mail forwarding on the premise that most addresses have been changed by now and I want to be able to receive some mail here. Sure beats sitting all day in a non- community; here I can at least go a few places - even the credit union! Where I got a staff to get me into my account - an e-transfer for a friend.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Jun 25 - 03:06 PM

Keb, hoping the mattress is sitting on a full-size plank now and not slats that might typically hold up a box spring? Otherwise you could end up with saggy points. If you decide you want the mattress to be less firm you could add one of those eggcrate toppers (they come with many thickness and firmness options). I have one on my mattress (because the mattress wasn't firm enough but the topper helped.)

Why don't you offer the box springs on a buy nothing or Freecycle page? Then they'll come pick it up at no cost to you. I am a moderator on a local Freecycle page, it's pretty straightforward and there are few complaints (mostly if someone tries to offer things for sale instead of free). I'm less big on the Buy Nothing group because it uses a phone app that I'm not interested in, or on Facebook, that I don't think you use, and they're very picky about the boundaries of the area they serve. Not a group in your area? They ask you to set one up - nope. A bonus to the Freecycle group: I've made several friends in the last few years through those pages.

My son and his partner have had a bug for a few days and realized their COVID tests were expired, so are getting more. I looked through my tests here and all are expired, one is marginally useable if needed soon. I've disassembled the boxes for recycling or trash and ordered (for a cost) a box of COVID and flu tests. The federal FDA COVID site is awash with trash and conspiracy theories now and an outright libelous account about Dr. Fauci. "Cleanup on aisle 47."

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 Jun 25 - 02:13 PM

Yesterday, I did a major declutter with my bed.
The bed frame is new;
I already had a mattress and a box-springs set.
When the bed frame was installed, I had the movers
layer the box-springs under the mattress on the bed frame.

Well, yesterday I extricated the box springs.
Now the mattress sits on top of the bed frame.
The box-springs are on the floor next to the bed.

Eventually I will have to get the box out altogether, I suppose
that means calling 1-800-GOT-JUNK again.
But for now it is enough that the bed itself is workable.

With the box-springs, the bed was just too high, dangerously so.
And everything had this teetering feeling when I lay on top.
Now the bed feels firm and solid
and the height is easy to get on and off of.

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

I suppose the art could be moved now and avoid the request to move it when the photographer arrives and realizes the disparity in positions. The yard sounds lovely! A friend gave me a gerbera daisy that is in a pot next to some sweet potato vines on the front porch, and the color is a remarkably beautiful accent to the deep purple leaves nearby. Otherwise I have a few flowers here and there on the driveway side of the house. The hibiscus has just started blooming and the new cannas bloom one at a time. The other side looks great, those cannas are lovely. Once I get the new soaker hoses set up again they'll stay that way. And after this season the driveway cannas will move to the other side to a third canna bed.

Yesterday I picked up a fresh filet of Copper River salmon as part of my annual acknowledgement of the season and a reminder of how much my mother enjoyed it (her last meal). That was baked this morning as a high protein breakfast, and while it was good, the frozen wild sockeye I eat regularly is its equal. (The filet almost slipped out of my hands and I caught it against my t-shirt; I'll be changing the shirt in a few minutes to avoid the blooming fish aura all day.)

The vegetable garden sprinklers are set up on the timer and I tested them last night and this morning. Now is the time to keep the string trimmer handy and regularly cut the grass around the vegetable garden or it becomes a jungle. That's the tradeoff for automating the watering and not doing spots by hand.

This morning I exchanged the new PVC flap for the old PVC flap in the dog door. It fits the opening perfectly and will, for a while, keep out more of the mosquitoes and warm air that otherwise seeps in around the warped one. The last replacement was in 2022, so pretty durable (and there is no longer a puppy chewing on it.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 21 Jun 25 - 10:20 AM

My bedroom curtains are doubled — plain off-white next to the window, and multicoloured on top (the inside side). This arrangement provides blackout so people can sleep past dawn, and keeps the heat out in summer and cold draughts out in winter. The stager thinks the top curtains darken the room! Of course they do — that’s their job. Sigh.

She also wants me to shift the bedroom chests of drawers sideways a couple of feet to make the rooms look bigger to the camera, although in each room that will make the gap between the chest of drawers and the bed uncomfortably narrow and the pictures on the walls will look totally random.

The new grass is doing well except in a couple of spots where the tracked vehicles dug in with particular enthusiasm.

Weather here is hot and steamy, with somewhat less smoke in the air although news reports indicate no slackening of wildfires to the north and west. A red peony that I “temporarily” moved from one flowerbed to another years ago has just surprised me with its first exuberant show of blossom since I came to this house, and the rosebush and clematis vine will soon be in full bloom. With any luck, the garden will be fully dressed when the realtor’s photographer comes.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jun 25 - 05:39 PM

The stager just staggered off. . . what does she want in your bedroom? Any window coverings? How is the replacement grass filling in?

Patty, it sounds like "fast fashion" has hit the bedding industry. Cute, but when you look closely, not well made and poorly woven fabrics. Don't last long. That Trout fire is big - but we haven't heard anything about it on the national news (that I've noticed.) I guess it's remote enough that they aren't paying attention yet.

Shopping and birthday lunch today, and because it is now humid and in the high-90s that is enough activity for the day. Walking out of an air conditioned building the heat feels good for about 30 seconds. Then it doesn't.

Our daughter brought a dozen of her hens' eggs today, so we each took home six in lovely colors. I carry a spare egg carton in the car to give to her or for dividing out of one container. I gave her some sweet potato slips last week and she tells me they're now happy in pots on her porch. Pretty soon I'll have some eggplants for giving - I know her hens love squash and cucumbers, I wonder what they'd think of eggplant?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 20 Jun 25 - 05:21 PM

"Staging" the motorhome, too. Luckily no furniture to deal with but the mattress must be staged.   Yesterday was lost to roaming every thrift store for a decent bedspread. Settled for the least-worst which at least is a quality fabric, and then bought some fresh accent pillows to go with it at an off-price store. Miserable waste of a long day, even got some flea bites along the way. But hopefully it will be worth the time invested. And I learned a bit about which stores have what, and how much they overcharge for stuff. And which one is open 4 hours in the middle of the day but locks up for an hour during that time 'for lunch'.   

Quite a few articles seen could be as cheaply bought new, but alas, most affordable bed gear now is such cheesy quality, would make a worse impression than something used.

Hoped to sign up for the university fitness center for aquatics too. Good thing I called first. Outdoor one closed for work til further notice, indoor one closed for an athletic event.

The "Trout Fire" continues to burn and distribute smoke from 30 miles away. Our temps continue to top 100. Monday's forecast at last calls for T-storms "likely" instead of "slight chance". Cannot wait.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 20 Jun 25 - 05:01 PM

The stager just left. She doesn’t want much, but some of what she wants will be irritating — she doesn’t like my bedroom curtains — but so it goes. Now the cats and I are having a sit, and a beer.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jun 25 - 11:31 AM

I know that "with the pills they're feeling better" dance. Dosing cats isn't easy, though I've been doing it for years now with the friend's cats during her travels. There's a move with the thumb over the hump of the tongue - immediately followed by a treat they can't resist right after so you're forgiven. Dogs are easier, and I've had a few of the end-stage dogs on pills here. (It still hurts just as much to lose them.)

This morning part of the back yard has been mowed, but the lawn is quite dewy so when I went over the large fire ant mound I may have plastered a bunch of the fine soil of their mound under the wet mower. It was harder to mow without lugging it, so I stopped for now. After the grass dries I'll finish. I should have tipped the mower to see the state of the underside, but better to let any ants scurry off or die before I do that. They pack a wallop of a bite.

I have to round up a bunch of stuff and take it over to Goodwill this weekend. Right now it seems most of the horizontal surfaces in the den are stacked with things that have to leave - whether through the buy nothing page or donation.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 20 Jun 25 - 08:30 AM

> You and Herself may soon be targeted by the Cat
> Distribution System.

It's already happened. The aforementioned new kit on the block, a girt black thing, walzed into our garden and parked himself five feet from Ptolemy (who elected to show Olympian detachment) while Herself was there. When the offender scent-marked Ptol's favourite wallow, she instructed him to bugger off, fortissimo. This may well be renegotiated once Ptol's gone claws-up.

Meanwhile, as of this morning, Ptol's got a fortnight's stay of sentence, as he's looking less unlike his old self now the painkillers are kicking in, and he's actually eating more than Dreamies.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jun 25 - 12:15 AM

The garden by the side door is finished and now several cucumber plants are in place, mulched and with wire fencing to climb on. As an experiment this year there is a Smart Pot (unwoven felt-style fabric) with two other plants (two seeds started in one small pot) next to some stuff they can climb on. I'm testing out the Smart Pots in a couple of areas this year.

A funny garden story - I was talking to the next door neighbor who asked about the crops. I told her I was interested in how the red lasota potatoes are producing; I've been able to poke around in the soil and pull out potatoes without disturbing the plants above, so they can keep producing. I've picked at least three dozen potatoes so far. As we spoke I reached under one plant and pulled out a potato the size of a hardball, and poked around some more and another the same size came out. I held them out to her - she demurred that she already had some potatoes in the house and was trying to lose weight - but the proffer of organic potatoes literally dug before her eyes and 30 seconds out of the ground was irresistible. She reached out and accepted them with "I'll cook them first." And trotted off with those two beautiful po-ta-toes (I love that bit in the Lord of the Rings film (probably also in the book), when Samwise talks about how wonderful potatoes are).

eBay was interesting today. I researched my 1980s Canon film camera, that the New York City camera store declined to buy because it needed some work. I listed it with the specific information from the camera store about the camera body and lens - and offered them for parts or repair at the high price I'd found for similar cameras. An hour later I had an email that the camera had sold. So either I listed it too low, or it was such a good offer and someone had an alert set for this model. If the buyer plans to do the repairs it will take some time. Too often people list items as if the repairs have already been made and then they don't sell. I listed it so the guy who buys it can make some money on it after he does the repair. I also listed some of the other camera bits, and in the process realized I could keep a couple of specialized lenses and filters and buy an adapter (step-up ring) for extreme closeups as well as a polarizer. The stuff I can do with that closeup lens will be amazing (it was when I used it on the film camera).

Tomorrow is a birthday lunch for the ex with our daughter (I fully realize how lucky I am that he is still in my life even if we aren't married any more. The parenting partnership doesn't go away even if the legal standing changes.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Jun 25 - 12:13 PM

Sad news about your little friend Ptolemy. In the end the thousands for all of the testing, had you paid it, wouldn't have changed the outcome. Better for him not to go through that torture also. Will the vet let you wait in the car until it's your turn to go in? Or use a side door? I've made that request the last couple of times we made that final visit, and it's a lot easier on everyone, in particular the pet.

Today is a federal holiday in the US, Juneteenth is the newest, celebrating the 1865 announcement in Galveston that the slaves were free (and had legally been for quite a while. The Texans just never told them.) The woman who spearheaded it is here in Fort Worth, and this has been her goal for decades. They're doing a celebratory 2.5 mile walk this morning, and it's hot out there.

Almost finished with the cucumber bed this morning, and I must push the mower through the tallish jungle in the back yard. It may be a holiday but that doesn't mean there is less work to do.

I've taken time to place several pet-related orders today. Cancel the dog food subscription, I have way too much of the one that last arrived and will be changing flavors (Pepper says it doesn't taste good and I have mixed it with an Aldi flavor to get her to eat what I have. I might as well just buy the Aldi food.) And time to get a replacement silicone flap for the dog door. The one there now has too many gaps for air and mosquitoes after several years of constant use by all of these guys.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 19 Jun 25 - 08:36 AM

So sorry to read that Ptolemy is approaching the rainbow bridge. I’ve been through this stage with several cats now, and it’s usually like that — first the shock of diagnosis, then a protracted, almost imperceptible decline. When the end comes, it's a whole new shock.

You and Herself may soon be targeted by the Cat Distribution System. Over the years, I have observed that, when a feline-friendly household loses a moggy, another eventually shows up to take the gig.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 19 Jun 25 - 06:59 AM

The wasps here do seem to be more genteel: they're English, after all, and were brought up to eat jam at a picnic with all due decorum. I've noticed that once one or more have been swatted, later ones tend to hover around the corpses of their earlier brethren, presumably on the grounds that whatever they were after was worth dying for.

Cat news: Ptolemy is officially in the last days, as whatever's got him is aggressive. We're giving him his prescribed controlled substance to reduce the pain and discomfort, and he'll take his last trip to the vet's tomorrow. Herself is more broken up about it all than she (or I) expected, perhaps because it's been sudden, then drawn out.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 18 Jun 25 - 03:25 PM

Woke up feeling fatigued and creaky again this morning. I should have all my energy back by now, but I don't. Consulting the weather and inciweb, discover I am up against smoke, ozone, dust from yesterday's storm, and altitude, plus the few new pounds that have crept on recently. The altitude doesn't normally bother me after a couple of days, but I think combined with just a bit of ozone, my system gets the urge to lie down and rest.

So I am staying indoors as much as I can, 'hunkering down', and chipping away at things in blocks of time; paperwork for a while, kitchen for a while, etc. Maybe I can get out and water the shrubs in the dusk hour when the 100-degree temps break.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jun 25 - 11:43 AM

If it was "more annoying than painful" then you have a milder form of (or more polite) wasp - when these things sting you it's like an injection of hot acid, blue words fill the air, the spot swells, will eventually itch, and I usually end up having to get a steroid shot and take antihistamines. Because here they usually get you in a pack, five or six at a time.

I've moved the first of two bundles of drying oregano to hang on the door clasp on my kitchen queen; they hang over the sink the first night in case any insects got missed in the rinse and drop off during the night. While working yesterday I inconvenienced a toad and an anole; the toad was moving into the area where I was digging so I moved it to a different part of the bed, the anole scurried off on its own. I apologized for removing the grass they like now, but they'll love the cucumber jungle that forms in a couple of weeks. Lots of climbing, good shade, and they do me the favor of eating any pests.

I hope keberoxu had a good night's sleep. How is the arrangement of stuff coming along?

Lots of small chores today that add up to a couple of big projects finished.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 18 Jun 25 - 05:52 AM

Good luck with the wasps, Stilly. Yesterday I got stung for the first time ever: I was reaching down to the cat's food dish to squeeze the wasp that was hovering over it, and the little offender turned and stung me in the index finger. More annoying than painful; I must be getting slow in my old age.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Jun 25 - 10:26 PM

One job leads to another around here, so as I dug the garlic bed I filled a large bucket with the weeds. While walking that bucket through the side gate back to the compost I decided I needed to mow at least along that side between the garage and the fence so it would be easier to push open the gate and walk and also look nice from the street. With the heat I stopped a couple of times for a cooldown with iced tea (something I didn't grow up with but can't live without now). I've finished digging out the garlic, moved a pile of bricks and a bird bath, and dug about half of the garden area for the cucumbers. I also harvested two large handfuls of the oregano stems and have them hanging to dry in the kitchen.

I could stand to thin out several areas of the garden of irises, lilies, fall aster, oregano and basil and perhaps offer them on the free page (though everyone else who is a gardener may be having the same thought about now!)

In what I hope is the last wasp episode, for several days now no more tiny nest starts on the porch, but as I was looping the hose on the hose rack at the corner of the house I saw a wasp duck under the rack - and looked to see them building a nest right above the faucet handle under there. As it happens that handle is in the open position because the water to that stand comes from a faucet and hose on the other side of the front porch. But still. I turned the water back on and blasted the nest.

Charmion, that beer on the porch with the birds sounds like a nice afternoon! I'm about 20 pounds more than you, and about 5'7"; lose any more and I am really bony.

Now processing eBay photos. I set up several items to list today and changed out the background color in my photo cube. Using the new Nikon is wonderful for this work.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 17 Jun 25 - 06:28 PM

The lawn is recovering from the damage done by the foundation crew. Max the neighbour kid mowed it this afternoon, and it looks almost normal.

I have initiated the engagement of my friend Jane’s window-washer, who will charge about Cdn$350 to scrub down every window in the place, upstairs and down, inside and out, including screens and tracks. I can hardly wait.

The house is now just about ready for listing. The agent is coming on Friday.

I am sitting on the porch with a beer, listening to the lawn sprinkler and watching the birds enjoy it. Starlings and robins — they play under the falling water like city kids with an open fire hydrant.

On the health front, my weight has settled around 59 kilos, or about 130 pounds. When I last weighed 130 pounds, I was about 15 years old and had yet to finish growing. Of course, I have lost height — I’m now 167 cm tall, down 5 cm from 1974. My voice is not fully recovered from the bronchitis that hit me four weeks ago, so I squeak when I talk and can sing at only about half normal capability. But I feel fine … just impatient to get on with the Next Big Thing.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Jun 25 - 10:50 PM

Mowing the front yard was a slog this afternoon, even after having already mowed part of it yesterday. With this rainy weather it shot up so tall that I was pacing myself slowly so I didn't lug the mower in dense growth. But it looks good now. I'll also go around the edges with the trimmer tomorrow. I did clobber another soaker hose, but it's very old and probably needs replacing anyway. I'll swing by Harbor Freight for a couple more; theirs are more flexible than the stiff rubber ones from the big box stores. (I cut off and keep the ends because the hardware they use on them is reusable for repairing hoses.)

The first round of garlic harvest was last week in the various odd spots it has popped up around the front yard; I hope to have gotten it all so it stops growing there. Tomorrow morning I'll dig the garlic bed itself and trim the oregano growing around it (I dry it then vacuum seal it in jars), then plant the my large pots of cucumbers for the summer. The garlic corms and rounds (small bulbs that didn't grow enough to put up flowers) will stay put in that soil and sprout again in the fall, long after the cucumbers have finished. The yard is green and lush at the moment, and I know to enjoy it while it lasts. It can get pretty grim if we go through a long dry spell.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Jun 25 - 04:59 PM

I made myself sit down and answer a question on Reddit to do with a digital long-distance photo that the OP felt wasn't clear as it could be. My first detailed answer took a while to assemble (and make sure I was putting the steps in order) only to have it not able to load. Maybe a rejected keyword (I named a different type of camera when referring to the film one I learned on). I trimmed it a lot and it did post. Now to see if it gets dissed or is considered helpful. Or just ignored. It was a good exercise.

The lawn was too wet to mow this morning and it's too warm right now; at about 6pm I'll go mow when it is shady in the front and cooling down. Before that I'll put the cucumbers in next to frameworks they can climb on.

An eBay box left the porch this morning. More soon, hopefully.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 16 Jun 25 - 02:00 PM

Working on health today, made some fridge salads etc. Eating 'right' can be time-consuming as heck. On the upside, the smoke is blowing away from us in general, and no power loss so far.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jun 25 - 11:21 PM

Where has all the yarrow gone, long time passing? 𝅘𝅥𝅘𝅥

I have a little yarrow in a front garden bed that leans over the edging and occasionally gets a flower or two knocked off. I just mowed around that bed this evening as I worked on the north side of the front yard. I realized I'd left it until too late and the mosquitoes were going to get me even if I was moving, so I stopped at a point where it didn't look too odd, and will finish tomorrow morning.

As I worked around the vegetable garden this afternoon I heard an odd noise coming from the heat pump fan, it sounded kind of off balance. Upon examination it looked like a leaf on the top grill, then I realized there was a sad wildlife story. A small deceased and somewhat desiccated lizard was dangling through the grate, hanging by it's armpits, and the tail was just long enough to be hit by the fan below every time it turned. Removing the lizard solved the noise problem. Would I have looked a fool calling the tech about a funny noise in the outside unit!   

keberoxu, why do you suppose you bought the shoes? Are they a style you won't wear? Or just extra? Maybe time to put the new shoes to use and retire an older pair?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 15 Jun 25 - 09:39 PM

Dupont:

Whatever this bug has been, We are both still recovering. After the little stint of weed whacking - I have been whacked ever since - mostly in bed trhying to recover. R has been doing better and managed to get his "new" riding mower off the truck, mow the lawn and THEN! the mower would not go back on so he found a place in the neighbourhood where he could put the truck lower and get the mower to go up the ramp! Unfortunately, I was too sick to ask him not to cut the daisies and yarrow. hope they come back soon. At least he left the milkweed!