DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Sep 26 - 05:50 PM

I've driven some of those back roads because they're beautiful but also because they avoid the cities. Once in that same general area, from a visit at Petrified Forest near Holbrook (77) to Show Low (60) to Florence Junction (79) and down into Scottsdale to visit friends.

I don't us any vehicle or phone GPS, I detest it. I don't think it's in my vehicle - or at least I've never tried to set it up. I have the map in my head and on paper. I've had passengers with their phones out try to tell me how to get somewhere "take the next left" and I have them stop and I pull out a map to look it up. It might be the Google map, but it isn't instructions from any device.

Photos, packing, getting more listings ready this afternoon. Not a scientific approach of what might sell, I'm simply clearing stuff off of the credenza first.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Sep 26 - 02:47 PM

At the moment I see a 50% chance of rain overnight tonight, thank you Edouard.

After the patio was in the shade yesterday I decluttered the pooches of accumulated dogginess since their last bath in April. I linked two leashes, looped the handle of one around a decorative bar over the back door and add a choke chain to keep them in place. They were pretty docile about it and as warm as the day was they dried quickly. It's much easier on my back to stand and wash them on the patio with a hose than it is to kneel next to the tub.

Tidying the desktop by dealing with the pages that have accumulated - most of them from organizations I support and need to renew. I get so much paper from some of these groups that I can only conclude that they use my donation to pay for paper and postage. I keep a spreadsheet of my donations because otherwise these places make it look like every two months is another annual renewal.

Last year my donations were spread around enough that I received some nice calendars for this year, so didn't have to purchase any. I wonder if that will hold true this year? (I even sent a couple to Bat Goddess when she found herself short of calendars).

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Sep 26 - 02:55 PM

Tomorrow, I turn 72, and four days after that will be my first anniversary in this house.

It was a good idea to leave Stratford and return to Ottawa when I did, and I’m so very glad I did not wait any longer. If I had to do 2025 again now, the stress alone would do me a mischief, to say nothing of the actual physical work. (I write this while plotzed on the sofa, after the snooze I seem to need these days after lunch.) Everything the house needed doing to it a year ago has been done, and I’m looking forward to a winter with no contractors or power tools to disrupt the suburban peace.

I would like a better bathtub equipped with a chicken bar to keep me from falling, but that can wait, at least for a while. Not a long while — I’ve been well and truly warned. By the same token, this winter I will start routinely using a spike-tipped walking stick.

I am also pleased to note that, today, I weigh exactly what I weighed last year at this time, and that my weight has not varied by more than 1.5 Kg over the last 12 months.

That said, I must now find myself a dentist and an optometrist. Nothing hurts, and I can still read most road signs, but I’m too old to pretend that entropy doesn’t apply to me. It’s also time to renew my membership at the swimming pool. The convenient aquafit schedule resumes next Wednesday.

I finally got a referral to a voice coach. It’s now four full months since my voice disappeared; only about two thirds of it has returned and that is weak, and choir practice resumes next Thursday. Also, I still cough a lot — more than anyone I know who is not actively sick — so maybe it’s time to look into that with the doctor.

Heigh-ho, off to Farm Boy for grub. And the LCBO — I’m out of Grand Marnier.

I wonder how those poor buggers at Rideau Hall are getting on these days?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: pattyClink
Date: 03 Sep 26 - 04:15 PM

Yes, I always keep directions on paper in a log in the car when traveling. I use an atlas in the car and detailed maps if necessary. Not one of those people who can't cross their home town without their GPS telling them what to do. And phone maps are just silly, pinching screens while driving is nuts, but a purpose built GPS display is quite useful.

I detest the voice instructions on a GPS, and turn them off. It's just an aid so I know where I am without trying to read a map while in the driver's seat.   

And it's just plain safer in the back country if you have taken the wrong unlabeled dirt road. Those satellites are always there, even when cell coverage is nonexistent.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Sep 26 - 05:39 PM

My car has a built-in SATNAV, and I quite like it. It does not replace paper maps, of course; it’s no damned use for route-planning, and this enormous, thinly populated country has way too many places where GPS is really no help.

It’s great in built-up areas and on major highways, but get more than 100 km north of the Trans-Canada and you could be up the proverbial creek, especially if you’re bound for Somebody’s Corners somewhere to the northwest of Espanola. It’s not just the satellite coverage; it’s also whether the people who compiled the dataset used the same town name as the people who live there!

So I like road atlases. I hope the publishers don’t give up production until I’m too blind to drive.

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, tonight’s cocktail is a Sidecar. Two parts brandy (nothing fancy, for God’s sake!) to one part triple sec and one part lemon juice. Don’t substitute Grand Marnier for the triple sec; that’s a criminal waste of GM and the finished drink doesn’t taste quite right.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Sep 26 - 09:09 PM

In January 2025 I was at my ideal weight, the month Drumpf was installed; three months later I realized the PMR had relapsed. The steroids added 15 pounds. Since then I've dropped six. I am on a low carb almost Keto diet and when it cools a bit I'll do more walking and mowing and lose the rest.

Out of curiosity I checked the Nissan control panel and there is no navigation installed. The manual says it is optional. A couple of years ago I finally connected blue tooth to my phone so I can answer calls. I've never tried making a call through the SUV system.

This is also my birth month (two days younger than Charmion) and it seems appropriate to do some good on the occasion so I made several donations today.

I do miss a drink of single malt in the evening but I don't need the calories. A wine episode a few weeks ago with the alcohol free variety caused the usual skin reaction from sulfites. Beer is made from wheat, so Scotch is the only one that works, except for the alcohol bit. I refuse to try alcohol free Scotch, it sounds like an abomination.

No rain but it has cooled considerably for this time of day, it's already into the low-80s, something we usually achieve around dawn.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 04 Sep 26 - 08:58 AM

Having survived over 26 years in the army, of which 23 were as an artillery officer, I know the value of map reconnaissance before setting out. Seeing what the applications flag as hazards, obstructions, slow sections or tailbacks is truly handy.

Deborah usually drives us the first shift of the day on longer trips when no navigation is required. I'll take over if we're going to be on the road after lunch, as that's when we both get drowsy, she more than I. As we near our destination, we will switch and I'll navigate along the lines of a rally car navigator by using my smart phone, giving Deb a heads-up hundreds of metres before a turn, lane change, or other necessary action (I usually express it in seconds, as she cannot use distances in metres the way I do). We've been doing this since our honeymoon 43 years ago, which we did with a paper road atlas that we annotated.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Sep 26 - 11:19 AM

Years of mountaineering honed my skills with maps because we always carry topographic maps for the climbs, and when I worked for the Forest Service I spent a lot of time drawing or refining maps. I still have my Silva Ranger compass purchased when I was in undergrad forestry classes (and finally got around to setting the declination for this area last year before orienting a new TV antenna toward the broadcast towers). In the Forest Service I also spent a summer documenting old mining claims and other historic spots in the North Cascades when I worked on the team establishing a new wilderness area (for a land exchange). When the apocalypse arrives I'll be teaching map and compass and how to drive a standard transmission along with how to turn a lawn from useless turf into a vegetable garden. We may be old, be we have skills!

There is a thing that for lack of a scientific term is called "sudden limb drop" and it happens during really hot spells in dead calm weather when large trees suddenly jettison a limb (theory has to do with stored electrolytes circulating in the cambium and losing the branch to save the rest of the tree). It seems to have happened last night around 8:30 over the power lines behind a house on this end of the block. Two hours later power was restored and the Oncor text referred to a vegetation incident. I'll be resetting things on timers today.

For several days I've worked on a topical New England jigsaw puzzle that Bat Goddess sent (Lobster Serenade) and during the outage I plugged a lamp into a Stanley power supply and along with a flashlight worked on it. The fan overhead was off and the house was warm and I had to stop because any time I leaned on the table the pieces all stuck to my clammy forearms and pulled apart solved sections.

Cat gig starts today so I've saved up a few errands to save gas overall. Feed cats then go shopping, feed cats then go to the gym, feed cats then to go the museum, etc.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Sep 26 - 08:39 AM

After my earlier discussion of alcohol I thought it might be nice to have a bottle of the favorite Scotch in the house for occasions, but it turns out others must have had the same idea. That brand and variety are sold out in the three stores in town that I might go to. It isn't a matter of having an ok Scotch just to have a drink, but of picking up a bottle of the particular favorite. So maybe next week, but no longer for a daily thing.

The temperatures overnight are now dropping into the high-70s, so while it may seem to be grasping at straws when the days are still 100 or more, it is an improvement, we have a bit longer in the morning to work outside in comfort.

The cat gig awaits, but Mango is lobbying heavily that I feed dogs BEFORE I go feed cats. I've just accepted her suggestion and now she's vocalizing her happiness in the back yard. I'm waiting for a rain so the soil is soft enough to stick the 75 or so wire flags all around the yard for her Invisible Fence training. The soil is rock hard right now.

It's time to buckle down and get started painting. It's one thing to plan, another to carry it out. Refreshed bathrooms are my gift to myself this month.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Charmion
Date: 06 Sep 26 - 03:47 PM

Today, I cleaned my bedroom within an inch of its life, skirting boards and all. I have found yet another thing I love about my new cordless stick vacuum cleaner: its battery quits just when my back announces that it is five minutes from beginning a painful sulk.

So I'm bound for the deck, a book, and a Guinness (from a can -- the real thing is not to be had on a take-out basis).

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Sep 26 - 11:35 PM

Birthday splurge was to finish off some trail mix, mostly nuts with a few m&ms mixed in. As a family we'll go out for lunch this week (my daughter and I are a week apart) and there will probably be a celebratory baklava - we've figured out in the past that I can scoop out some of the pistachios and my daughter can eat the filo.

Since we were talking about navigation in vehicles I discovered that mine has built-in Facebook and Google. Never in a million years would I set up the FB part, but I'm curious to see what Google would let through. I had to set up a Nissan app to access it and I'll try it tomorrow. If it's a big waste of time I'll disable the Nissan account and delete the phone app. They sell too much information anyway so all the more reason to ditch it, but at the moment I'm curious.

Today I returned to the gym I haven't used since last spring and re-established my Silver Sneakers account (so I can go to the fairly high-end gym for free). Spent 40 minutes on the recumbent bike (I usually go for an hour, but I figure I should build up to it). I can feel it in the cramp I'm getting in one thigh. My knees feel great, though, and that's the biggest reason for that piece of equipment. It loosens up muscles around the prosthetics.

I've picked up the Louise Penny mystery where I stopped it ages ago; I don't remember every part of the story but I know the characters so well at this point that I'll just follow along and will remember bits as I go. I listen to the book with blue tooth headphones and the library Libby app through my phone using the gym's WiFi. Another library service well-designed and delivered.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Sep 26 - 06:49 PM

102 was the high today, and I risked buying a chocolate bar while shopping. It's soft but intact from the ride home.

Still carrying water into the yard to water two trees in particular but also a couple of small shrubs at the corner of the yard and one by the driveway. My birdbaths need filling and in particular I need to soak the spot with lemon balm plants. They've been heavily harvested but I don't want to cut much more for fear of killing what's left out there. (The friend I cat sit for has a lovely pot of lemon balm and I've taken a few sprigs for my tea this weekend).

I didn't try connecting the Google in the car to the phone, but have figured out that the Android Auto works a lot better than it used to. I've set it so a few calls can get through and text messages from contacts (I usually ignore those unless it is from family). It's set to got into "Do Not Disturb" mode whenever the phone connects to the car's Blue tooth. Several phones back I had an old AT&T app that did a pretty good job of detecting when the car was moving and doing the same thing, but it stopped being supported. The Android product wasn't working until I fairly recently connected phone to blue tooth.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 07 Sep 26 - 08:01 PM

Dupont

We have had a nice run of lovely, smoke-free weather this last month or so. I am, however, still recovering from January. Aided by the fact that the iPhone 14 has gone ballistic and my lack of passwords etc has complicated life outrageously. Apple got fed up and put the phone out of service- unusable and they are unavailable. I am without a drivers license and cannot go to the Apple Store. Almost a week with no phone, no nearby friends, no help anywhere!! Frantic to be home alone with no phone - just in case.... I posted a plea for help locally and a very nice man came forth. He get a start on it two days ago but it is worse than he expected. He was here all afternoon - took me to out office to pick up a letter -from the SAAQ re the license suspension. I managed to send the require letter to them by typing it out and copying it to my son to mail! The email works! But I realize I have no phone numbers -even if someone with a phone happens by. Troy found my Apple ID but it is not helping with the phone. R is still busy and I have seen him once. Paul - the nice man! is coming back tomorrow to have another go at the phone. At least the internet is working. Someone returned books to library for me a few days ago. I

I had an appointment with a dreaded doctor last week but when I got there, the nice Dr came out and said, "I told you to get a memory test!" That had been when another Dr. decided this one was making appointments for duplicate procedures - which resulted in the memory test happening at the "Geriatric clinic and the Dr.there set me into a tailspin by asking me the day of the week - something I rarely know. If I feel the need to know, I check my phone! I was so upset by that woman that -not realizing the point of all those dumb questions, I virtually ignored them and "failed" the test that I did not even realize was a test. So I have an appointment on 21 Sept at the local place for a "memory test" and happy that I am dealing with this dr . who speaks comprehensible English. Robin being so busy, I called a volunteer group and they found me someone to drive me to the appointment and another person to accompany so I would understand what was being said.

Hope R has time to come home tonight. If we ever get this phone to work, I shall copy all the current phone numbers. This is a warning!

I just used this thread to find out when the computer died in hopes of finding paper receipts!!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Sep 26 - 10:10 PM

What a situation, you are fortunate that you could (eventually) get some local help.

Now it looks like onwards & upwards!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Sep 26 - 10:49 PM

Dorothy, time to get an Android and unload the Apple products. A lot more people can help you then. I hope the folks stepping up right now are able to sort things out. I agree with Sandra, I hope it is forward movement for you now.

Shopping today in the bulk section at a nearby grocery and I looked at my list and the chopped pecans I was buying because they were on the list, and paused, then bought them. I should have paid attention to my hesitation, I actually needed chopped walnuts. That's a trip for tomorrow. But the store - it was around 3:30pm and it was packed full of families with small children - and it was miraculous. Every single child seemed to be content with what they were doing and were cooperating with parents and siblings. I watched a family with three kids in front of me in line as they all (probably aged 10, 7, and 2) helped unload the cart for the clerk at the register. The little guy, still in a diaper but possibly 2 1/2 to 3, was a climber. Up onto the cart from various directions until Mom put him in so he could help unload groceries onto the conveyor belt. I asked her if he had a crib, and she said no, there was no keeping him in one. I walked out past the various other check stands and more happy children. Amazing.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: pattyClink
Date: 07 Sep 26 - 10:55 PM

I'm not a 'crazy about kids' person, but how cool that you ran into some good ones in the market, where they can often be melting down, especially during the late afternoon 'arsenic hour'.

Had a blast helping out with the rock show this weekend, one of my shifts was in the children's zone. We had some pretty great kids, and they discovered some things and got lots of hands-on-rocks-and-crystals time. One of the great things about being old is you lose your fear of coaxing strangers into trying things.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Sep 26 - 11:30 AM

I love doing interpretative programs with kids (school age in general) because you can do something as simple as let them look at a flower through a hand lens and open a new world for them. (My go-to routine if presented with a younger audience is to read The Lorax to them then go looking for seeds of all sorts.)

Friday the 18th is the next handover of donations and I'm rounding some up from family members and organizing my own. One SUV load at a time can make a dent if you do it monthly. This time a case of extra tiles from the kitchen backsplash and at least one unused power tool (picked up at a garage sale and never used). Stuff from the sewing studio (upholstery samples) and more from my daughter's old bedroom closet.

There is a tree that needs some limbs pulled out and cut up, I might do some of that this morning and stuff them in the trash can; the drivers seem to do the pickup in the afternoon so I have time.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Charmion
Date: 08 Sep 26 - 11:52 AM

Back to Aquafit tomorrow.

I will now vent a little spleen.

The pool at the Sawmill Creek Community Centre has a terrible locker room, with no coat racks and ridiculously small lockers that are quite unsuitable for a facility where grown-up people need to stow all their clothes, including winter coats and boots. The YMCA in Stratford wasn't nearly as prosperous-looking, with cracked tile and crumbling concrete, but at least its locker rooms had a proper cloakroom equipped with boot trays, and full-height lockers like what we had in high school. I never expected to wax nostalgic about the locker room at the Stratford Y, but here we are.

So, instead of the club bag I used for years and years, or the nice backpack I tried last year, I will haul my towel, comb and clean underwear in a roll-up nylon shopping bag so I don't waste space in the kindergarten-size locker. The damnable things look brand new, so somebody recently opted to spend taxpayers' money on lockers that are not nearly as useful as they should be. Surely there's a high school somewhere that's under renovation, where the right kind of lockers could be had for cheap?

Rant mode off.

Watson woke me this morning to yet another rainstorm, but the sky is now bright blue with tufts of picturesque cloud. The day after Labour Day used to be the first day of school, and in memory it was always raining. More times than enough it was also my birthday, a coincidence likely to give anyone mixed feelings about marking that occasion. Sure enough, the rain let up around nine o'clock, just in time to make getting to school inconvenient without wrecking the rest of the day.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Sep 26 - 12:31 PM

Charmion, it sounds like you need to buy an extra padlock and use more than one locker when you visit the facility? I tend to head to the same locker (at my gym they are two tier and are roomy enough for my gear) so I can find it each time. The same thing I do when I drive to the mall or the grocery store, I have favored parts of the parking lots so I can find my SUV again.

I joined the nearby recreation center a couple of years ago to take a dance class (that promptly changed locations after the first month). I never went back to use the gym equipment because they had NO lockers and you had to change in a bathroom stall. It meant dressing in my gym clothes at the house and putting my wallet in a parka pocket, worn over the top of gym clothes, then stashing shoes and parka to the side when in the gym. Nope.

And yes, I wasn't particularly fond of my approaching birthday for the same reason, it meant the start of school. (Now, at least here in Texas, school starts in the early part of mid-August, seeming to cut the summer short. They are usually out by the last week in May.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: pattyClink
Date: 09 Sep 26 - 09:33 AM

LoLing at the miserable locker situation, sounds familiary. The reason I don't live in Alpena, Michigan is, when shopping for a home base, I went to their pool. The ladies locker room offered showers in a central location, multiple spigots off one pole, no stalls, no curtains, in full view of the pool deck whenever the door opened. Noped right out of there.

So many of these places were designed by young idiots, I suspect either phys ed majors or ex-military. No regard for privacy, dignity, or wasting people's time and anxiety. Many literally have nowhere to put your 'stuff' while showering; ONE hook that apparently is supposed to hold your towels, your clothes, and your things is routine. Then they wonder why so many little girls don't want to participate in athletics or aquatics.

I took to carrying a folding stool in unless I knew the place would have proper facilities.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Sep 26 - 11:31 AM

When I was a kid going to the community college swimming pool we had to shower in a women's communal room, shower heads ringed the room, so no expectation of privacy, and there were baskets to lock. That was 50+ years ago. The gym I go to has a communal dressing room (benches in front of the lockers) but there are also stalls for changing if one needs more privacy, and each shower is in its own stall.

I haven't used the hot tub or sauna because there are usually guys in them, and invariably when those facilities are empty is when I don't have my suit with me. Were I to be a morning riser I could get to the gym around 7:30 to 9:00 and it's mostly older women. Something I need to consider for meeting new people my age.

Gloria Steinem would have something to say about not being willing to get into the hot tub with several strange men already there. I cut myself off from an activity because of the company and avoid any remarks. The question is, should one be badass and just get in the hot tub anyway, or find the gentler way to do it and go in when there are only women and without the judgement? (At 72, maybe I'm invisible enough to avoid any remarks?)

Perhaps another sign of aging is my use of birthday coupons. I went to DSW yesterday and bought socks. I've recently tossed a bunch that lost their elasticity and now that I'm not wearing flats I prefer socks in most shoes.

This summer feels like an audition for the Twilight Zone. I'm thinking of the episode with Lois Nettleton called The Midnight Sun. Rod Serling was prescient on so many topics.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Sep 26 - 01:43 PM

Rod Serling was our summertime neighbor. I was young and walked his two red Irish setters. It was in Interlaken, on Cayuga Lake. I was more than a fan and mourned his death from a botched surgery in Rochester NY.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Sep 26 - 07:06 PM

Lucky you, Donuel! If I had to name one program that hit all of the storytelling buttons for me over the years, it was Twilight Zone. Some of the scariest, some of the creepiest, some of the most thought provoking and forward-thinking scripts were produced there. And I've always suspected that Serling was an influence on Gene Roddenberry, who had some of those kinds of storytelling features in his various iterations of Star Trek.

We went to a family lunch today and it cost about half again as much as it used to. Then I swung by Costco to get gas and it was way high again ($4.149/gallon for premium). High for Texas, other regions get hit much harder. Thank you Drumpf.

I've arranged with the ex to go sort more stuff in his garage later this week for donation next week. I have my own stuff to start stacking to one side, and simply have to plan to get out in the garage early when it's still in the 80s to round it up. 104 again today.

Just now I went into the garden to pick okra and from a tree across the driveway a flicker scolded me because the bird bath under it was dry as a bone. Scold scold scold! Just as the dogs know when it's dinner time and who feeds them, I expect the local birds see the how the water sources are filled and speak up when needed.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Sep 26 - 11:44 AM

Yesterday I picked up two cases of Costco's bottled water and slipped one onto the floor behind the SUV driver's seat so I can reach back and pull out bottles as needed. I had given away my last bottle yesterday on our way to lunch; at a red light left turn a $5 and the bottle out the driver's window. The bill vanished into a pocket and before the light turned green the fellow had downed most of the bottle. I suspect my daughter will be putting a case of water in her car after that, she was surprised at that brief transaction. I should start handing out two bottles at a time.

This morning I decided to see what all lived in my sock drawer after buying new short ones for sneakers. The result is I've sorted my boot socks, my heavy regular socks, my lightweight regular socks, tossed some of the polyester and any that have holes in them, and some more old stretched out short ones. Note to self: don't buy any more socks for about five years. There are two newish non-paired socks on the dresser that might have mates (they usually end up stuck to towels or inside sweaters by static and turn up ages later).

The freezer dispenser needed work again and this morning I had the time. The channel from the bin to the dispenser was crammed solid with ice but is once again open. I need to work on the gasket at the bottom of the dispenser, I think it leaks moist air in and lets that all freeze in place.

Last week's power outage served as a reminder that I needed a better small lamp for the table so I ordered a new rechargeable set from Costco, and after charging overnight tested it this morning. That will work well for lighting a workspace or as a torch and it also has a flexible (~18") rod for poking into small or tight spaces. This will probably also be a good xmas gift idea. Coleman lamps were a relic of my child and young-adulthood, but they're clunky and inefficient by today's standards and won't be replaced.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Sep 26 - 03:26 PM

A few minutes in the heat and I was able to cut up one low-hanging dead pine branch in the back yard, now in the trash can. I need to have a few more taken out, and I have considered buying one of the small battery operated chainsaws on a pole. I probably discussed it here before and passed on the idea, but it occurs to me that every year I need to take out branches in the baldcypress and Italian stone pines in the front yard (over the street) to avoid being cited by village code enforcement for branches too low. Maybe this will be my practical birthday present for myself this year.

What I have in my minds eye are all of the estate sales I have visited where there is invariably a garage with tables set on sawhorses, chock full of tools and tool storage in duplicates and sizes and varieties and wondering if they managed to use all of the stuff there. I want to have a basic useful set but not every item in the world. Going to those sales with the houses chock full of collectibles are a great antidote to over-doing it in my own collections.

I looked in my bullet journal and the last day I recorded rain was July 16. I mark a simple R on the date, no totals. The forecast for the next five days is 100 and no rain. I don't think we're breaking any records except this will be the hottest summer on record (previously 2024 held that designation). There's a small storm in the county right now but not headed this way. What a tease. Texas seems to now have a monsoon season like in New Mexico and Arizona.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: pattyClink
Date: 12 Sep 26 - 11:49 AM

Agree, there are 'occasional' tools that really should be swapped around amongst neighbors instead of one-in-every-garage, like roto-tillers, that thing that picks up nails in the yard, etc. It's just hard to do, and of course chain saws are so easily abused and broken one would hesitate to share.

During my to-the-walls moving sale, grown men were filled with utter delight to find affordable tools. So it's not like they are going to go to waste if you do have to beef up your tool supply.

It's the tchotchkes that need to stay out of the house inventory, those are hard to unload.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Sep 26 - 01:21 PM

I'm deaccessioning at least one power tool to the Welman folks next week, so adding a new saw would be like the new pair of shoes after an old pair is discarded, except in the garage, and it needs oil. Of the two Ryobi types offered are low-end with no oil and high-end that are brushless and self-oiling. In my days of using chainsaws we were taught to keep the chain oiled, so I'll stick with what I know. Arrives tomorrow. Even on the end of a pole this is a tool that needs to be used with the safety boots, long pants, eye protection, gloves, and a hardhat. I actually have all of those things.

There are boxes of ceramic tile that need nudging out of the garage corner where they are stored to go for donation and when I'm doing that I think that's also where a couple of unused power tools are stashed, so there may be as many as three tools going to a new home.

There are little self-care things that I remind myself about every week, in particular when I change the sheets. The worst thing is an unmade bed at bedtime. (Or needing an afternoon nap and there is only the mattress pad). I'm getting better sleep (the jury may be out about electronics before bedtime, but I find they do make a difference) and when I'm ready, I don't want to have to make the bed. I'm willing to bet other participants here have similar tasks, where their grownup self stands up and says "do it now."

Another week, another stop at the gym. My knees felt a lot better this week so I'll keep it up.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Sep 26 - 02:51 PM

The house smelled great yesterday after finishing some cooking. Things in the fridge that needed using went into the latest zucchini casserole that I'll be sharing today. As happens near the end of the gardening season the freezer is getting kind of full as I process produce (it has been a stunningly good year for eggplant).

Still over 100 but next week has a chance of rain. I'm cutting back on the water poured on trees in the yard because I've managed to keep the roots wet and they could suffer if they are too wet for too long.

A deep dive into the far corner of the front room revealed a lower shelf stuffed with more deaccessioned heavy-duty library 3-ring binders. I filled a large box today and the rest of them can go next month. They were hidden from view by the organized flat shipping boxes, but there are a lot of other boxes loose in the room that need breaking down and recycling. When that shelf is empty I need to figure out what will live there. Also pulled out a number of other small electronics (speakers, a clothes steamer, more headphones, etc.) Donation appointment is on Friday, so these will start moving into the SUV once they're dusted or cleaned and ready for use.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: pattyClink
Date: 14 Sep 26 - 03:23 PM

Today I finished unloading and cleaning 5 vintage and antique furniture pieces, setting up a 'music corner'. Lots of storage now for CDs, tapes, and LPs. Pretty excited to discover a good-looking way to keep all my recorded music at my fingertips instead of stored away. Also a better set up space for playing instruments. Yes, should have done it all last year, but there was always something more pressing.

And a lot of the rest of the house is right now an unholy chaos of empty boxes and etc. But, some of the boxes will go right to work accumulating items for a club yard sale at the end of the month. My visitors will be appalled, but I shall appease them with helpings from a pot of pork caldillo with the new crop of green chiles.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 14 Sep 26 - 04:54 PM

phone is functional. The nice man (Paul) spent many hours on the project! He was nice to have around. also took me to a grocery for something and to the post office for the latest missile from the licensing bureau. I which they told me more about the situation. I have an appointment on 21 for a new "memory test" Hope is is done with more consideration that the previous one. R will be going with me.

I gave Paul a set of iPods that we thought might help my hearing - did not! He switched them to his phone and we are both happy.

R stayed home yesterday - we did a comprehensive shopping and he has reorganized the frig - lots went into compost! I cannot bend over easily to see what is in the lower part so leftovers were overlooked. I need to make a list or something! R is good about remembering leftovers and finishing them up. This afternoon I was looking and looking for the last two blueberry buckwheat cakes - for lunch.
I guess he ate them for lunch! I cut up and froze the fresh butter - otherwise we use so little, it dies! I ate a couple molasses cookies but need lunch! Maybe a cheese and apple butter panini! and potato chips...I have a hankering for something fatty!

Gorgeous day. I think of SRS a lot as we have been receiving good rain - almost daily! and it is cool enough that I burned some of the surplus of paper/fire starter. R's staff Derek has been replacing the soffits!! The neighbour redid his whole roof the other day. Derek and I hinted broadly but...

The computer is behaving badly today. I hope I can et through it.   

Nice to have the doors open and a breeze lowing through. Lunch beckons!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Sep 26 - 11:42 AM

Dorothy I'm glad you're getting help with this! I hope your memory test is in clear English. I have a friend down here who always struggles with the various Apple products in her possession - she doesn't seem to notice that the Android users around her just breeze along with good equipment that works well. I think the Samsung phones far outsell the iPhone products for a reason. Rehoming equipment is a good reuse approach, it's good they work for your new friend.

patty, that chili stew sounds wonderful. I was in Albuquerque one year when a friend needed help lugging home her order of fresh chiles from the park where they were being roasted. As I carried that box the warm peppers wafted their smoky smell up to me - it was like huffing peppers. And she made a batch of the caldillo you mention. I was immediately hooked.

Out in the garage last night I emptied another large box of its cornstarch peanut packing pieces into two kitchen trash bags (to be donated) and that box will go with me to the ex's house to again be filled with donation material. Since he was at the warehouse last time to get a look at what they can use it should go pretty quickly. Meanwhile, I have two large boxes in the house filled with my stuff. I got a big paper cut in our daughter's old closet yesterday when going through some of the school papers and old craft projects; she'll get a look at what I picked before it goes, and she may have stuff from her current house to donate.

Assembling the new chainsaw pole and figuring the lengths I can use; it has two pieces that go out to as much as 9.5' but can be used with half of that and the configuration at just under 5' of pole is probably how it will most commonly be used by me. They make them with longer blades but I want a tool I can easily lift and saw with. It's sturdy and well-made. The "environmentally friendly" bar and chain oil is probably canola, which in fact is Rape seed oil and was initially developed in the early part of the twentieth century to use as a machine oil. Only after WWII did they look for other ways to market it and start feeding it to humans.

Yup. Just checked Reddit; canola oil will work. 24 ounces of the brand oil is $10 at Home Depot; I can buy quarts or gallons for a fraction of that at my discount grocery.   

My electric bill arrived yesterday and is triple the normal amount for August, even with me keeping the house at 82^o and warmer during the day in the part of the house I'm not occupying. My water bill is half again over the usual rate. And gas is over $4.40/gallon here. Ouch ouch ouch.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 15 Sep 26 - 06:35 PM

A beautiful day! SRS has been hit hard with the costs of living! And up here, R had his crew cut and split a fair amount of stove wood - he thinks two winter's worth. The trees were cut at the parental home and trucked here by R. Ensconced in the back hallway so we don't need to open the door! I think turning on the air cleaner would be good to reduce the dust level! Made cheddar cauliflower soup today first time in about a year, I reckon! That is an improvement! The last time, R had to cut up the veggies - I am doing some better! It's yummy on this cool, breezy fall day!.

Jay Linden kindly sent me the lyrics for At the end of the line, The song he wrote for his older brother who died a few years ago. A tight family! Their mom must have been special. Jay and Colin are special to me. Colin has been, very much so, for almost 40 years. Dedicated musicians.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Sep 26 - 12:14 PM

Dorothy, I hope you'll post those lyrics here at Mudcat. Even if you add them into this thread one of us can pick them up and add them to a new LYR post. Add dates and context if possible.

Fall weather and cheddar vegetable soup sounds wonderful. I was just out moving sprinklers to keep the vegetable garden alive and water the house foundation. It looks like next Monday we might have a break with a real chance of rain.

This morning I responded to an author of an important contextual piece a friend shared on FB; the thing was yards long, sentences without paragraphs, and only in the bottom 1/10 of the thing did I find the REASON why this mattered - the deadlines this week to confront the issues she is discussing regarding the establishment of guardrails on the unelected board in a local school district (taken over by the state, it is a big deal). I commented yesterday that she certainly "buried the lede" and quoted the deadlines in my remark. Her answer today is that I "missed the point - it's contextualization. An editorial." My answer: if she wants someone to read her reporting, then arrange the words so they wash happily over my eyeballs and sink into my brain, not in a spread out format where they fry my ADHD nerves and push me away from the piece. It looks like an AI recitation the way it is posted. (Makes me wonder if it is?)

Errands today that will guzzle gas but I'll drive a big loop and make it as efficient as possible. Tomorrow picking up donation materials. At the end of the month I have another week of cat sitting and am going to have to add another gas surcharge.

Yesterday the post office delivered a postal body bag, the remnants of an envelope (with my paycheck) in plastic printed with a message saying they care. The envelope inside had tape on it so someone tried to restore it, apparently, but the mangled check can't be deposited. A new one will be sent. This is easy compared to the times when cargo planes crash or postal big rigs burn on the highway. I suppose they have a record of everything lost in the conflagration, what with postal scans and shipping manifests. I heard this week on NPR about the first US postage stamps around 1849 and the novelty of being pre-paid. Prior to that people didn't want to pay a postal carrier to take a letter that might never be delivered, so the rule was that the recipient paid the postage upon arrival (and could stiff the mail carrier if they didn't want to pay.) Stamps were a huge step forward for the post office, giving it a reliable source of income.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Sep 26 - 08:25 PM

We'll see what the next couple of days bring after getting both the new COVID19 and senior flu shots this afternoon.

A bit of confusion at the candidate's office today when I went to pick up political signs - no one there but the was door open. I picked up a handful of what turn out to be rally signs (I figured I'd put one in the front door glass) - but I spoke to them later and they have actual yard signs and we'll swap these on Friday. It's time to encourage neighbors to vote. I asked for a sign for my neighbors across the street, they haven't been very active lately but this is one I think they'll want to promote.

Time to thin the fabric shopping bags that live in the backseat of the SUV; there are way too many so I'll plan to use a few to transport donations on Friday and leave with the group.

An email arrived from the electric provider saying there was an error on the last bill they sent. They've been redoing the website and apparently information wasn't transferred properly from last month's payment to this month's statement. It's still high, but $210 less than what the Monday invoice indicated. Whew!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: pattyClink
Date: 17 Sep 26 - 08:42 AM

Glad to hear the bill was in error. This morning I ran across a summary of your heat siege. Wow. You have been through a slow-train natural disaster and it's not over yet!

Heat Dome

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Charmion
Date: 17 Sep 26 - 10:21 AM

It’s an expensive week.

Revenue Canada dinged me for $504.80, claiming an error in the assessment of my 2025 tax return (reporting 2024 income). (Does this mean I got audited? Again?) The letter said that the problem arose from the documents reporting my investment income, which I barely understand — I just plug in the numbers demanded. I gritted my teeth and paid; the mills of Revenue Canada grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small.

Then the shower curtain fell down — tension rod failure. I fucking well LOATHE tension rods! The cheapest builder-grade bathroom fixture — or should I say non-fixture? — ever. The damnable things aren’t particularly costly in themselves, but their short service life is an insult. So that’s a trip to Canadian Tire I would rather avoid.

Choir practice last night went better than I expected, but I still have very little low range; the bottom five notes are just not there. I asked my GP for a referral to a throat specialist, but he says I’ll be lucky if one of the three ENTs covering the entire Ottawa Valley can see me within a year. Or maybe two. Heigh-ho, ‘twas ever thus.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Sep 26 - 10:28 AM

Thanks for the link, patty! And look where the reddest middle part is. Today it is also hot, but the humidity is way up. When it's 107 and the humidity is ~ 13% it hurts your skin; today it'll be about 100 and the humidity this morning is 66% and I could swim through the clammy air.

I'm still putting three bottles a day in ice in the cooler on the front porch. I've never before gone for such a long stretch of the morning ice cube ritual and have made a point of scrubbing the cooler a couple of times to avoid an algae buildup. Several times a week all three of the bottles are taken.

Did not have a good night's sleep last night, and before dawn realized I was running a fever and had to pull the thin blanket over the sheet. I've alternated Motrin and Tylenol and am feeling more myself now. The side effects of vaccinations usually only hit me for one day.

Earlier this summer I treated myself to a $10 floating solar fountain for the galvanized tub by the side door. It doesn't run at all in low light, only direct sunlight. My last one was better than that. This week I splurged $16 and got another one and the moment it touched the water before the sun was all the way over the trees it was happily gurgling. It is supposed to have LED lights and some pumping activity after dark (it has a rechargeable battery, the others didn't). When this heat dome finally passes I have a seat out there and can enjoy the potted plants and fountain. I've found bird feathers in the tub so I know they visit this water source. The flicker has been back a few times for the birdbath and doesn't seem to be shy about my presence. What I hope is that the spray of water attracts the birds.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Sep 26 - 05:12 PM

The ex and I brought stuff from his house and got the stuff from my house and set the boxes in the shade in my back yard to sort. Art supplies, books, toys, puzzles, and electronic stuff (cables, gadgets) are ready for tomorrow. One box is full of the old 5" floppy disks from the 1980s! Who knows what those will get used for, but they will get used. It was a trip down memory lane, his looking at a drafting tool set and other items he bought for art class when he was in college. There is a stack of National Geographic magazines and some kid subscriptions that were in boxes, and many more books and magazines await on shelves in his garage for future trips. The vintage power sander with a cast aluminum body (it's probably from the 1950s and is a work of art as well as being a tool) is cleaned up and in a box.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Sep 26 - 11:43 AM

There was one item I claimed out of the donations from the ex's house, a wide mouth Ball quart jar. It isn't old enough to have a pre-1960 embossed name, but it has the heft of an older jar probably from 50-60 years ago. It has run through the dishwasher and already has some herbal tea brewing in it. And I took an interesting search excursion through jar dating and landed on the Ball Family History and the delightful "Midwest Antique Fruit Jar & Bottle Club" site, a proud member of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors. I love glass, and even with donations still have a lot around here. But I won't be joining these groups (though I might bookmark the sites.)

Charmion, I wanted to ask about your toe separator thing - is it still working? What is it called? My hammertoe could use a little TLC, even with the shoes with more support.

Looks like we'll be in the high-90s from here on out, and possibly rain early next week. When we get rain after a prolonged drought the dead grass and weeds all start rotting in place and the whole world smells like a working compost pile. But that's better than the dust. I'm hoping rain will help settle the driveway concrete and close a couple of the new cracks that are at the moment tripping hazards. The water in the city lines is still quite warm and I enjoyed another shower in the yard last night. This is really late in the season to still be able to do that.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Charmion
Date: 18 Sep 26 - 07:12 PM

Google for “toe separators for bunions”, Stilly. The ones I bought come from a Canadian company, but I’m sure they’re common in Texas, too. I have two kinds: the first is a simple silicone plug that you slip between the great toe and its neighbour, and the second is the silicone plug with a fabric strap that you wrap around the toe to hold the plug in place. The strapless version is for when you're wearing socks.

I don’t know how much good they would do for hammer toes; they’re intended to prevent crooked toes from crossing each other.

And yes, they really work — but then my problem is a pronated foot with toes that want to cross.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Sep 26 - 09:04 AM

I have a thing (somewhere) to try to keep the toe flatter (a silicon ring around that toe and a base that ran under the others) that I didn't give much of a chance. It strikes me that this category of online searching is liable to explode into weird self-correcting devices in my Instagram feed.

Yesterday's donation handoff went well and we've established a pattern. I organize the items from the ex's house and add to mine, then I run past the daughter's workplace to pick up her donations and she takes a quick look through our stuff and grabs anything she can use, then the rest goes for classroom use. A carved/painted wooden pencil jar and a large capacity Sunbeam steamer (clothes, curtains, etc.) left the box and her large blender ("it leaks a little if you crank the bowl too tight, but it's great for making paper") is now donated.

This weekend should be the last of the high-90s, then we're into the 92/93 range and a chance of showers. And yes, it may still sound high, but is a huge improvement and it means in the mornings it will be cool enough to get some work done outside or in the garage. This September we more than doubled the previous record of eight 100+ degree days in September.

The new pole saw is assembled and the Elderica pine tree in the back yard is the designated test tree, with a number of dead low-level limbs needing removal.

The new fountain offers a delightful range of little lights and a modest water spurt for a few hours after dark in the tub near the potted plants. And this continues to be the year of the "volunteer" - I had basil pop up in almost every pot and even in the sidewalk cracks. This morning I realized the new plant in one pot is a volunteer tomato, a feat in itself considering most of my tomatoes were seedless because I sprayed flowers with the blossom set to get fruit.

If it is finally beginning to feel like the end of summer here some of our other friends and lurkers elsewhere must be feeling the need for flannel and show shoes. How is it going in the rest of the world beyond the heat dome?

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 19 Sep 26 - 09:18 AM

"It strikes me that this category of online searching is liable to explode into weird self-correcting devices in my Instagram feed."

Stilly, yes, that's an annoying aspect of using search engines that are flogging our data. To get around it, I use Chrome's "Incognito" or Edge's "InPrivate" modes. The keyboard shortcut is [Control-Shift-N] with both.

Better luck next search.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Sep 26 - 09:41 AM

Yes, FireFox has a private setting, as does Duck Duck go. But simply mentioning these things in a Mudcat thread in a commonplace browser is enough to trigger the ads. #BigBrotherIsWatching

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Charmion
Date: 19 Sep 26 - 10:17 AM

I solved the flood of advertising on Instagram problem by abandoning Instagram.

I don’t miss it.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Sep 26 - 10:45 AM

It used to be my go-to place for other people's photos, and my photos of the yard, flowers, the dogs, anything out in the yard, interesting vintage automobiles I saw. . . until it was chock full of political videos. I've been posting more dogs and jigsaw puzzles lately and every so often go through the list of "least frequently seen" and like the various sewing projects from friends, animal photos, horses, flowers. . .

Rain is in the forecast for this afternoon and evening. 30% chance today, 43% chance tonight, but it is better than the lots of nothing we've had since July 15. I have carried buckets of kitchen sink collected gray water into the yard several times a day every day since about July 20. I've gone through two 40-bottle cases of water handing to panhandlers at red lights and putting in the cooler on the porch. In a year or two this summer will blur into memory as just another hot one, but I'd say it is the second worst summer I remember spending in Texas (after 2011, since I wasn't here in 1980.)

An eBay sale unsold itself overnight. The buyer set up a VHS player for her 91 year old father but he seems to have pushed the wrong buttons on the remote and messed up the tracking half-way through a movie. I looked at the PDF of the manual and told her how to fix it, but she wanted a return. I don't accept returns, but the guy is 91, so I compromised and gave her a partial return and said don't mail it back to me I'd just have to recycle it to eWaste. It was a really beautiful machine and I'm pretty sure it will work just fine if she looks at it, but I don't want a ding on my feedback score. A box that won't be coming back home to roost, so a declutter win of sorts.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Sep 26 - 02:09 PM

Interesting conversation with a neighbor this afternoon. She was in my front garden photographing the okra when the dogs noticed her and barked, so I went out and we spent an hour picking stuff and photographing stuff and pulling out a couple of books in the house. She is the broker who set up the 15-year mortgage on this house that I paid off in the spring. Now she's a 53-year-old woman trying to navigate menopause and figuring out what will help her sleep. Sent her home with some decaff green tea and dried lemon balm and see if that's as helpful to her in the evening as it is to me. (We're to a point in the world were women are finally taken seriously and getting HRT and other medications to treat menopause, but that's another conversation, when I will urge her to talk to her gynecologist). Imagine if our Dorothy was out for a walk and stopped to talk about the yard and the plants and you sent her home with produce and herbs and a book . . .

It is hot and humid, no rain so far with more of rain chance pushed into Monday. As a form of crying "enough!" I washed out the bucket that has been in the kitchen sink all summer and put it away. I'll water with the hose now.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 21 Sep 26 - 04:39 AM

Protest from Herself: "They said it was going to be rainy today, so I did the garden. Now they say it's going to be fine." Sigh. It's probably not wise to remind her that Sod's Law is recursive ("You can't make it rain by washing the car, however much the garden needs watering" -- UNIX Fortune, pri comm).

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Sep 26 - 11:32 AM

We did get a lovely little rain storm, enough to make noise dripping off the roof but not a measurable amount. This heat dome cracked a bit on Saturday and we're going to be in the mid-to-low 90s from tomorrow on.

I've reviewed wall prep information and am going to start on the bathrooms this week, first with the hall bath. The rooms aren't very big but there are a number of obstacles to remove where possible or tape around when necessary. A past mistake was in not pulling up the tape very soon after the paint is on, letting a seal form that can rip the new paint off beside the tape.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: pattyClink
Date: 22 Sep 26 - 09:30 AM

Best wishes on the prep work, it can get ticky and time-consuming. I had a small bathroom I thought would go easily, but discovered the slightest litle trace of old wallpaper glue would create issues with the new paint job. Had to remove it after the primer was dry, and prime a second time. Still shudder to think of the days lost in that little room!! But eventually it looked great.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: *Health *Progress - 2026**
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Sep 26 - 10:50 PM

Ah, yes, the wall paper. That battle was fought and won the first time I painted when I moved in. They had some kind of gold flocked paper that needed complete removal.

Today I dismantled some of the jungle in the front garden beds, by trimming out dead native sunflowers knocked over in last week's storm. The outer reaches of the stand were stuffed in the trash bin and the remaining plants will provide seed for birds for a while this fall. I also surgically removed a sprawling dead tomato plant from the bed that started with five plants in the spring. They become a huge hedge during the summer; I've never had a plant completely die like that, they usually struggle and look bad until I pull them out. On the up side, the rest of the plants are starting to put out new green growth and I've seen a few small tomatoes. Once the nights are below 80 degrees they can set fruit, as seems to be happening.