DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025

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!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 15 Jun 25 - 06:42 PM

My apartment is ready for the bed delivery on Tuesday.
I continue to find stuff, as I unpack, that I want to let go of.
I opened one box to find another box with a pair of shoes
that I don't even remember buying, and have never worn,
and just reacted with, One more thing to get rid of.
So I decluttered the apartment of the box with the shoes,
which will be donated.

The room which I will surrender this week, on campus,
is being seriously de-cluttered as I move stuff to the apartment.
When I vacate the room, it will have the furniture,
the bedclothes, and the bathroom towels,
and the telephone, and that's all. Everything else will be gone.
There is very little left to remove, it will fit into an overnight bag.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 15 Jun 25 - 04:09 PM

I had so many things going on this spring, and two unexpected trips, just did not have a window to move 'sell the rig' to the front burner. My sister's health was more important, so was nephew's wedding.

Emptied it, 'decommissioned' it. Took the time in May to get 2 items fixed by a tech, but techs were useless in dealing with some pesky rattles and cosmetic issues. I just don't feel good about selling a major item that's not in as good a shape as possible, I want the new buyer to love it like I do.

So now I have someone who is actually getting the coach in top condition to list, while I work on having it squeaky clean. It's a tough time to sell, but hopefully it's unique enough in this area, and much cheaper than 'new', that it will find a home. We'll see.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jun 25 - 03:25 PM

Turns out today is drizzling so no mowing or sprinklers. I've been practicing with that little digital Kodak; I'd say 1/3 of the photos from yesterday were oddly blurry. I think, upon research, that the setting to recognize faces was the culprit. Faces were clear while things around them weren't. There were a lot of folks out with full-size SLR cameras yesterday, but they're bulky; while in a pinch you could swing one by the strap as a weapon, that's not a great reason for taking it to an event like a civil protest. I'll work with this some more and stick to my plan since there are a lot more protests coming. We are so spoiled by taking photos with our phones, they have so much software working in the background to keep them clear and focused, they really aren't like using a regular camera.

Work on eBay this week paid off, an item needs to be shipped tomorrow. I'll do more of that for now. With this drizzle the floors need to wait.

Patty, you said you'd be detailing the RV. I remember you working on that before, but you didn't sell it yet? Charmion, how's the grass? Keb, is the apartment ready for the bed delivery? This week?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jun 25 - 11:16 AM

Patty, that whole setup of the Gila Wilderness was a great idea (from Aldo Leopold, it was the first established US wilderness area) but the USFS couldn't commit and in the end built a long road into the middle of it. Wimps. I'm not surprised there are utilities running along there. You sound like a good candidate for putting a solar array on the roof or on panels in the yard (maybe turn it into a parking structure).

I have to mow and set up the sprinklers. We've had a lot of rain but may be at the end of that episode. My garden has a couple of tomatoes (a lot of foliage, not so much fruit so far) and eggplants. Potatoes. The peppers are puny plants still (my daughter tells me hers look just the same. Something to do with the bedding plants we bought?) and cucumbers will be planted somewhere today.

If the daily rain is finished I'll get out the Ryobi rotating brush and attack the dirt on the den floor. It's dreadful right now.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 15 Jun 25 - 10:35 AM

Respect to SRS and all those who stood up to be heard yesterday, it was big enough even the corporate press could not sweep it under the rug. And apparently not enough parade fans showed up for them to brag about support for Trump.

We had made a huge start on little repairs and detailed cleaning of the motorhome this week. Amazing what can be done by a smart and motivated craftsman neighbor, after multiple techs just shrugged, declined to help, or did a poor job.

So yesterday was about getting fresh food in the house and getting on a program to drop the pizza pounds and then some. Literally halfway through the shopping, got a message from the power company saying they will cut power this weekend whenever they feel like it, likely the usual 12 hour nuisance. Why in the hell our power has to come across a mountain wilderness (the Gila) to get to our flat valley road, where we are much closer to a flat crossroads town, which has a power plant literally on the road to our area, I do not understand. It's crazy.

Anyway, there is a fire raging in the Gila right now, and the smoke blanket is pretty bad this morning, can't see any of the surrounding mountain ranges. So, I was advised to draw off water and be ready for pump failure. If the heat gets too awful during the day I'll just clear out for refuges in nearby towns, they aren't having their power cut.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Jun 25 - 10:08 PM

In my goal to distract myself from the US political stage I chopped planting spots into the last of the garden beds beside the driveway, emptied several cans of past-their-use-by-date sardines into a bowl to break up, then scooped a spoonful into each hole for the okra plants. They're now mulched in and ready to grow.

Parts for my sign for tomorrow are printed and I'll put it together (a message on each side) this evening. I finished a blog post to make note of these events but also to acknowledge the health issues that can happen with too much focus on stressful subjects.

When houses are photographed by Realtors^R they always use a really wide-angle lens, at least a 28mm fisheye, making the rooms look huge. Don't be surprised if you don't recognize the space in the online photos.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 13 Jun 25 - 05:47 PM

In re Stilly’s demo kit: Except for picket duty and demonstrations during two civil service strikes, I have never felt the need to take part in a street protest of any kind. I think I’ll just sit here and count my blessings yet again.

In lovely, leafy Stratford, I am literally watching the grass grow while Marco finishes painting the basement. The realtor wants to send in a “stager” to depersonalize the place and make it more photogenic, and that will happen next Friday. I guess that means the photographer will come next, and then this shit gets real.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Jun 25 - 11:42 AM

The den feels like it has a mud floor at this point after all of the rain. Even with a double length of mats by the door they've tracked it all the way into my office.

I'm assembling my marching kit for tomorrow. The women's march is in matching costumes and I didn't buy one so I will walk on the sidewalk, but more importantly, I will photograph the event. That's from 11 to noon. I will be wearing my No Kings shirt and have my sign ready for the rally from noon-2pm. That isn't a march. I have my small camera ready and batteries charged and will have my phone tucked in a fanny pack with a backup charger if needed. From the optometrist's office one of their small glasses cleaning spray bottles, but with isopropyl alcohol and a bandana. Face masks. Little vials of eyewash. Bottle of water, a hat. Discretely tucked away, some TP. Governor Abbott is sending the National Guard out to many of the cities hosting these marches. It's beginning to look like I'll need the lumbar pack, the next size up from the fanny pack (the water bottle is the clincher in this - it'll be a hot June day in Texas).

Thinking about what else might be useful I decided having a whistle, the old fashioned metal or plastic kind on a lanyard, could make more noise longer than screaming if necessary. I know I've seen some around here (the dog whistles are too high pitched to be helpful). Kitchen drawer had none, but I realize I have an inordinate number of keyring bottle openers and box cutter devices. Moving to the desk in the den, that drawer yields lots of colored markers and rulers, but again, nothing. My son's room for sure! Nope. I did find a music stand, a harmonica, and a drum. If I go out today I'll stop by a dollar store and get a whistle.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 12 Jun 25 - 10:51 PM

Dupont:
So, after the the big trip, I was recovering nicely and feeling good about it - THEN! R brought a bug home. He is mostly over it; he stayed in the city with a fever and came home yesterday. I changed the sheets to get rid of some of the germs. I am coughing fiercely and the energy level sank considerably. I had managed to do a stint with the weed whacker before it hit. R keeps telling me he is bringing a riding mower to do the yard - now two feet tall in places!

I wore a mask to pick up the veggies from the Jardin de Resistance.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jun 25 - 09:48 PM

Wow! Those are some good examples of weird nests! Some of these birds will fail in these nests because they made bad choices (Darwin) but some will get away with it because humans assist - possibly enabling less-smart birds to keep going until they can't (making fatal mistakes).

Last night's storm broke a limb in the baldcypress in the back yard, so with a handsaw and a lopper I got it out of the tree. It's cut up and in the trash can for next week (though those branches are straight enough I could run them through the small electric chipper).

I took the trimmer around inside the edges of the vegetable beds (not too close to garden plants) to start the work I'll finish tomorrow with the mower. I've picked a couple dozen more tennis ball sized potatoes and some a bit smaller (came out by accident). The plants are still looking good so I'll let them keep producing. Usually the plants end up looking so wilted I pull them and pick up the potatoes from underneath. This is more just prodding around the outer edges of the plant.

The boxes around the house have been compressed into a smaller area and a couple are ready for things I'm listing on eBay this evening.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: pattyClink
Date: 12 Jun 25 - 06:02 PM

And for those who enjoy ill-advised bird nests, there is a subreddit for that: https://www.reddit.com/r/stupiddovenests/

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jun 25 - 03:06 PM

Wow! Good call on that rotted pole! There is a wooden pole in the next door neighbor's yard right at our fenceline that was kind of leaning in his yard's direction. I came home one day to find one of those thick cables with a heavy yellow guy guard cover attached from 3/4 up the pole to a long eyebolt drilled into my yard about 10' in from the fence. I had three dogs in the yard at the time and though they are friendly dogs, the idea that these folks were over the fence to do the work that probably took a little while was a bit disconcerting. (It was probably like having three toddlers trying to help. If they had treats, the gig was up as far as my dogs being the "security" patrol!)

Anyway, next time you can threaten to call the supervisor on a utility worker on behalf of yourself and your neighbors. Chances are the opportunity will come along.

Charmion, I had to look up Canada Day, close enough to the US Independence Day I should be able to remember that. If your yard was down here that grass seed might have been washed away this week. Hopefully it is sprouting for you up there.

Today's rainstorm was over early so we were able to make our rescheduled shopping expedition then go for lunch with our daughter. Dropped her off at her museum parking lot so she could tuck my old Coleman cooler into her car (to take home to craft a cooling station for her chickens.)

She told an amusing story at lunch, about being at an SCA event with friends, and one of them put his hard plastic helmet on the ground next to his chair. A small enterprising bird spotted it right away and started bringing over sticks and grass and after a couple of hours had made good progress toward a nest. They figured the idea of an armor-plated nest was irresistible and were sorry to dislodge the hopeful tenant. I've had them build nests in hanging baskets and one time in a plastic bag that was full of dried flower seeds that I'd left hanging on the decorative grate over my back door. I've been seeing some interesting birds in the neighborhood, and the oddest thing - a yellow-crowned night heron standing on my front yard, tipping its head. It suddenly darted that long hard beak into the turf and came up with something - large insect, toad, lizard, not sure what. But it looked more like a robin move than a heron move. That's it for the Naturalist's Corner report.

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

Thanks all for encouragement before I set out on the trip, it was much needed and appreciated. I am home, exhausted. It turned out to be 4000 miles in 12 days, 90% by rail. Glad I made the effort, got to see many family members I needed to see, and some great western scenery on the way. The wedding was a good one, though the kindergarten graduation was probably more fun to witness.

Lots of to-dos to start in on around here; my windshield suddenly has a crack, the tankhouse is done and I have to help design the interior arrangements, urge the well contractor to come out and rework the top of the well, get some groceries and a wheelbarrow asap, yada yada for two pages.

On the plus side, two kind neighbors called the power company, which I called last November about a leaning rotted pole, because the leaning got worse after a recent storm. They had sent a fellow out back then, he said they would get to it as soon as possible, never happened. They are so difficult to reach I failed to do follow up calls.

This week's fellow came out, put his hand against it and pronounced it 'fine for now'. Dear neighbor went off on him and threatened a personal lawsuit. They were just leaving it until it crashed in my yard taking out power and possibly starting a fire. Suddenly the supervisor was called in and they suddenly had the one hour to spend replacing the pole. And lo, it snapped off just below ground where it had rotted completely through. So now I can add 'enforcer' to my neighbor's list of skills.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Charmion
Date: 11 Jun 25 - 05:23 PM

Marco the painter has finished priming the new drywall in the basement and patched and sanded the many holes down there, and yesterday he painted the ceiling. On Friday, he’ll be back to start putting colour on the walls. The damaged area of the lawn still looks like the wrath of God, but I keep watering it in hope that at least a bare scrim of new grass will soon appear. And I have hoed out the last refuge of clutter, the space under the basement stairs, where I had stashed some old suitcases. At the deep end, Isobel (Cat 2) had established a bunker in an old toy box … Evidently, I must find a way to provide a similar bolt-hole in my new place.

Once the basement is painted, it will be time to call in a crew of professional cleaners for a complete scrub-down, including windows. Then I can list the house. Let’s see if I can get it done by Canada Day.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: keberoxu
Date: 11 Jun 25 - 03:55 PM

There isn't room by the door to have a box to put things in. That box has to remain in the living room, and yes, there are things going in the box that I don't need after all.

And I put a combination lock on the storage bin reserved for my apartment, so I can start decluttering the apartment of stuff that I don't have space for but want to keep (in boxes, of course).

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jun 25 - 01:21 PM

Shopping outing yesterday was postponed - will try again tomorrow. This week is forecast to be quite rainy and we don't have to lug bags of groceries through sodden parking lots.

I picked up a book I saw referenced in a review of something else over on Reddit; turns out it's mostly crap but there are a few gems buried in it. So I'm skimming through The War of Art. No surprise to realize as he describes what he has named "Resistance" is that Procrastination is a wide-ranging skill set. Handmaiden to procrastination is Rationalization, the process of deciding that you're doing something that needs doing, even if it isn't the thing you want and need to do. And pulling the trigger - do the work to set up a project then never getting started. Something akin to fear of success. All of these are old companions. When this is the water we swim in, if we see what we've been doing can we now defeat or at least reduce the effect?

How's the yard, the foundation, and the basement looking, Charmion? How is the unpacking progressing, Keb? Do you have a box near the door to put things you moved but decided you don't need after all? Dorothy, how are you feeling after the big trip? Patty, I'm guessing you're somewhere mid-trip, I hope it is going well and the wedding was as lovely as we always hope they will be.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jun 25 - 08:47 PM

Keb, congratulations on accomplishing the move! That's a big deal!

Bedding plants are almost large enough to transplant into the garden. Cucumbers and okra, and one odd small plant I have no idea what it is, it looks like a mutant cotyledon of some sort. I'll leave it in the pot and watch it, possibly a volunteer of some sort.

At the cat sitting gig one of the cats peed on the tile bathroom floor at the edge of a washable carpet that has a rubber pad it sticks to. It took me a couple of days to figure out where the smell was coming from since it wasn't in view - but flip back the rug and whoosh! So I escorted both parts into the back yard, checked with my friend, and the rug is in the laundry and the mat hanging on a fence. And my clothes go in the laundry tonight because there's a hint of eau-de-cat-pee on my jeans (or I was around enough of it that it is stuck in my nose?)

Several things stacked in the car to drop off for my daughter soon.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Sorting *Health *Progress - 2025
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 09 Jun 25 - 07:18 PM

YAH to the end of one decluttering, welcome to the new apartment & the sorting of possessions into their proper homes.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47 Pres /Musk coup 2
From: keberoxu
Date: 09 Jun 25 - 03:06 PM

My old apartment has been decluttered of my possessions, and
I surrendered the keys before I left.
It's a big declutter.
I now have a new apartment full of boxes to unpack,
so that declutter is going to take a while.