We now have both pumps in operation, and Goku, Maddy, Ichigo, and Sanzo have all made official appearances out toward open water. The others are lurking under the bridge. Just sayin’. Scott came by early today, which was fortunate, because he was able to grab that growth of equisetum that was causing the pond overflow (blocking the outflow from the Matala filter) and get rid of it. A lump of grass and dirt the size of a three-year-old is now on the pondside and not in the water stream.
The pond is running again…
by CJ | Apr 27, 2018 | Journal | 52 comments
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Good on Scott. Compost, or relocate?
Your remodeler sounds like a fantastic person to have around! Very glad that the horsetail is no longer blocking the drainage (and irritating you both).
Should compost it, if we had a place we could do that. Right now, the need just to clear stuff out. It’ll probably go in the city compost, if we can dry it out.
Scott is a treasure.
CJ, how much longer until you can do solid food? My tooth is still loose and mildly irritated (and irritating) and still stubbornly hanging on. I’m on softer and semi-soft foods until it comes out, and would love something crunchy, if only I could brave it, but no. Doing OK, though, with babying it and cleaning.
I’ve just seen Stranger Things Season 3 is now in filming and production, but no official word on the release date. Halloween would be very catchy, but likely spring or summer of 2019. Looking forward to it. I haven’t yet done a rewatch, but will.
Since I just saw this, the bit about the clump of horsetails the size of a three year old sent my imagination going. :-O
I have some paperwork to do, then will be rereading Finity’s End, then doing some writing or font work.
A resent study Showed ibuprofen and acediminiphin (Advil and Tylenol respectfully) taken to gether was as effective as tylonol 3 (acediminiphin and codeine). A good rescue “drug” for when we have just gone to far and done something stupid.
IMO it all depends on what the issue is. I take acetominophen for fever. If it’s a pain, the body’s usual response is inflamation, and for that I want an anti-inflamatory, not an opiod that messes with my brain, but does nothing to actually deal with the inflamation. More and more I read that inflamation is being taken as a serious medical issue.
(Not only that but medical science has no cure for canker sores, but I discovered coindicentally that three days of 400mg of ibuprofen 3x daily does fix it! I’ve told a periodontist at OHSU but she refuses to accept it. She says it’ll go away on its own in 10-14 days. No thank you. I’d rather make it go in 3!)
Some things require one or the other – I was taking an antidepressant for a while, and my doctor said use acetominophin, not aspirin or ibuprofen, with that. Apparently interactions happen, and he’s a D.Pharm. as well as an M.D. (The last time I had shingles I alternated acetominophin and ibuprofen, every two hours, around the clock, for a month, because that sh*t hurts.)
I’ve been taking generic ibuprofen, 200mg brown tablets or “caplets” for pain. I ran out so during a shopping trip for replacements found 200mg blue “liquigels”. Figured they’d be as good, maybe better absorption.
After nearly a week of warm, sunny weather here in the PNW, spending a couple/few hours a day in the “garden” bending stooping squatting lifting placing my lower back enforced a stop.
But I find the liquigels SEEM to be much less effective than the solid pills. I’ve heard of some differences in medication effectiveness, but I wasn’t expecting this! What’s the experience of others? I’m trying to decide if my expectations or the formulation is at fault. TIA
I’d look for secondary ingredients on both. Caffeine helps aspirin and its cousins, ibuprofen and naproxen sodium work better for most people. Maybe one of the secondary or inert ingredients is doing the same for you. Frustrating, sometimes, that we are not all biochemically identical, isn’t it?
A resent study Showed ibuprofen and acediminiphin (Advil and Tylenol respectfully) taken to gether was as effective as tylonol 3 (acediminiphin and codeine). A good rescue “drug” for when we have just gone to far and done something stupid.
@Tommie Ummm, no, it’s not. We wouldn’t be here if we were. We’d all succumb to the first pandemic down the pike.
Strangely, I have found that, despite many people with different results, when my back goes out, only Tylenol (or the generic Costco equivalent) will make it shut up. Neither Advil nor Aleve helps me as much; I only need to be cautious of the dosage, because overdoing it for an extended time can be toxic to your liver, and I do megadose initially.
I’m subject to nerve pinching around L5. When the nerve gets abused it gets inflamed and swells, making it worse. NSAIDs help repair the damage. Acetominophen/Paracetamol just lies to your brain, “There’s no problem here, forget about it.” Oh yes there is! Occasionally I get real steroid injections there, relying on the NSAIDs to postpone that as much as possible.
Last time the scheduling didn’t really work out well, so when offered the option of doing it without even the mild anesthesia I gave it a try. Don’t do that!
last disk in my back and a hand full in my neck are degenerated, I feel your pain. I still shoe horses and such. I look like Frankenstein’s monster first thing in the am, and if ai did somthing stupid the day befor I feel my age and half of yours! Gababpentin and meloxican are my friends.
You may want to get some N-acetylcysteine to take when you megadose on acetaminophen. It’s what they give for an acetaminophen/Tylenol overdose and it does protect your liver from the ill effects. You can get it at a health supplement store (or Walgreen’s come to that). It’s something your body makes naturally anyway, so it’s not a foreign substance. The worst side effect I’ve ever gotten from it is mild nausea when I take it on an empty stomach.
Thank you; I’m sometimes worried about the effects on the rest of me when my back goes out and I take various medications for it. I do my stretches, but not as regularly as I should, and sometimes my back throws a fit for no readily apparent reason. Being able to take the one drug that seems to work without the excess concerns for side effects would be nice.
My gut was real sore yesterday—and then I remembered being on hands and knees yanking hard on a pronged rake trying to move that equisetum, and then a rock about a third larger than my head, and deeply embedded in the bank. Fortunately Scott made the equisetum go away. Now the fishes are out there cavorting in not too clear water, but until Jane’s foot is better and we can do the cleanout we need, I don’t want that water too much cleaner—better safety for the fish until we can get the protective netting in place.
Easy dear lady, we are seposed to start slow on the heavy garden chores after winter. But as my mother is want to say “do as I say, not as I do”
The basement cats are calming down…Tracker is not burying himself in the books, now, but greets the day all comfy in his bed. Tanner likes to be petted. Picked up, not so much. But they are both in good shape, now, best we can tell, and are recovering from what they’ve been through.
Sounds like all your non-two-leggers have a good set of parents
Heh, I just realized I’m not sure which cabinet (linen closet or medicine cabinet) has the Advil. Some 20+ years back, I had an idiosyncratic reaction to Tylenol, and have avoided it since. And I puzzled my doctor describing it, almost like hives or a rash, but he said, yes, if I’d had a reaction like the, do avoid it, despite that he thought that was unheard of.
CJ, I hope you and Jane feel better soon. The pond can wait a bit if it has to. Or could someone nearby help stretch the netting if need be? Local teens, maybe? — Hmm, I keep thinking there’s a nautical term for laying out netting like that. But “hoist” doesn’t seem quite right, nor does “splay.”
Tonight, I had the 2nd half of a can of Wolf chili with two slices of cheese melted in, and a handful of large Fritos smothered in the chili and allowed to soak a bit to soften them, because I was in such need of some crunch, but not enough to disturb my tooth. I wish I’d added a spoonful of sour cream and had thought to chop up a green onion. But this was great, and the chili gave me the body, the substance, I was needing too. There’s the remains of a batch of tuna mac casserole with peas, carrots, and corn mixed in for tomorrow. That’s my excitement for the day, LOL.
Glad to hear Tracker is getting comfy at last, poor guy. — My cat, Goober, is not a lap cat and not one to be held much, but he wants to be nearby a lot, and likes attention otherwise. Smokey wants all the attention he can get and then some. (Hey, what are you typing for? Pay attention to ME! …Ah, cats.) Once he’d decided, as a kitten, that I wasn’t going to eat him after all, he then flipped to, oh, then I’m gonna cozy up to the big two-legs. 😉 You just never know. How and why he made that leap, from “big human Ben” as “monster who might eat me” to “hey, cuddly, he loves me!” I’m not sure. Ah, and this also despite that he can be a little brat at times.
I _think_ they are repairing the half-height gate outside my apt. front. If not, I will need to report in the morning that it needs to be fixed. Sometime during the week, the wooden block to which the latch attaches on the gate came unscrewed, so it could not close and that’s hanging half-off.
Next week, the plan is for another, long overdue, trip to my storage space, with a list of things most wanted, which may or may not be found until later, moving boxes in the 3D puzzle. But, progress, I hope.
Perhaps, if you can’t quite remember what’s in each box, just grabbing the ones you think look most likely would work. You may get serendipity, or you may decide you really didn’t need to keep this thing after all. Maybe setting out things you don’t want to keep on your stoop with a ‘FREE!’ sign would be a good ice breaker.
BCS, rig [anti-]boarding netting, I think; but rigging it taut makes it easier to deal with than if slack netting entangles the boarders.
(Has read too much Patrick O’Brian [Russ] and assorted naval histories and dictionaries to try to understand all of the foremost.)
If you’re going naval, would deploying the netting work?
Sound a bit adversarial or combative perhaps, but then it is meant to keep intruders off.
I think I’d go for pegging out the netting (IIRC it gets pegged down around the edges), or else spreading it out…
Yarrrr! Deploy the anti-boarding netting, and hoist the Jolly Roger, me hearties!
Wolf Brand chili is good with spaghetti broken into about 5-inch lengths and cooked.
You know, it’s funny, when I first saw CJ and Jane say they liked chili and spaghetti with other things added, as a preferred holiday meal, I was puzzled by the combination. “Spaghetti with chili?” As if that was somehow not done. LOL.
I guess this is because I grew up eating Wolf brand chili with just cheese (typically Cracker Barrel sharp cheddar) added. My mom, of course, added jalapeños and/or taabaso sauce to hers. — Or the ever-popular Frito pie, haha.
Spaghetti was paired with homemade meat sauce, which involved usually Ragù sauce plus browned hamburger and various vegetables and Lawry’s spaghetti sauce seasoning, cooked in a big pot. (Man, living alone, I have not done that lately. I’m overdue.) — This would then get grated Parmesan (again, Kraft, that green canister) added atop each serving. My mom would again add peppers and sometimes pepper sauce to her serving. 😉
So I suppose that’s why, but really, homemade spaghetti sauce isn’t all that far off from chili. Similar enough, though pretty different in the details and taste and execution. Heh.
I have since tried the chili with shell macaroni and decided that was pretty good. But I have tended to stick with old habits, even so.
Observation: Is it just me, or has canned tuna (Starkist) changed its quality lately? The most recent cans I’ve bought, hmm, a little different, IMHO.
The soup stock and bouillon arrived. — I have not yet tried that other “Better than Bouillon” brand, but once I get low, I’ll try it.
My tooth’s still hanging in there, but doing mostly OK, minor irritation and not too bad on pain, still. It just doesn’t want to come out yet. Hoping it will soon, and be nice about it. I’m thinking up ways to add a “safe crunch” into my soft foods.
I ordered some mocha, but it won’t get here until about mid-May. Also ordered a small amount of pudding, because I doubt I’ll get to the store this week, likely not until next week.
CJ, I hope you get to eat solid food soon. — The prospect of having to do this for several months, if/when I get dental implants, aaiiee. Well, maybe this is a trial run, endurance training.
Needs more crunch, though. And possibly more ice cream. 😉
Would Rice Crispies, or puffed rice (like in a crispy white chocolate bar) give you an acceptable sense of crunch, and still melt easily enough in the mouth to be safe for your tooth?
Or maybe something like ordinary cornflakes snacked dry from the box?
Rice Crispies might work. I think corn flakes would tend to move around and hit the tooth. — I’m finding it’s odd what things will and will not irritate the tooth. It’s funny, I haven’t bought Rice Crispies in a long time. I usually go with (haha) Honey Bunches of Oats, which is a mix of flakes with other things, not quite a muesli or granola mix. Or I eat oatmeal or occasiaonally Malt-o-Meal, or else it’s an omelette and maybe bacon. The omelette tends to be whatever filling I have on hand, or plain. Wow, I had not realized I’d become so much of a stick-in-the-mud about what I eat for breakfast. But I have been known to have warmed-over broiled fish or other leftovers on occasion.
Aha! I’m such a landlubber. 🙂 Yes, those work better than the words I was thinking of. “Haul out” the netting would only seem to bring it out of storage or else ready it to be deployed, similar to hauling out the sails before hoisting them. Unless, of course, I have that wrong. I should read more of Patrick O’Brian.
For my storage space, I’m planning to spend about half my time there, this upcoming trip, hunting for specific items, then the other half getting a number of boxes suitable for a load to haul back to my apartment, and go through what I can while at the space, then bring back a load to sort at home. That is close to what I did last time, and seems to be a little more efficient.
What I’d thought was a repair going on here was something else, so I will have to report the little half-height gate to be fixed, Monday. No rush so long as it gets done.
Cinco de Mayo is Saturday. I don’t know if it will be a big party around the complex or just another weekend. People are getting slightly more toward summer activities here, but I haven’t heard parents out with kids for playing ball, etc., yet, just the kids messing around on their own.
Had one story idea stall out. The idea, the seed, is good, but it needs more than the hook to work. I’m having trouble getting there and think I may try starting two or three drafts to see which idea might work best.
Chili over pasta is known as ‘chili size’. Back in the gold-fever days of San Francisco, a bar owner offered this cheap dish with two ladles for the chili, ordinary, and large size. This got shouted across the room as ‘chili, size!’ and the name stuck.
The way we do it: spaghetti, by itself, laid down in a bowl. Hot chili and cold sliced pickled jalapenos (mild) and shredded cheese added. Microwave until the cheese melts. Then add a dollop of sour cream to the top. It is not calorie free, but is great ‘I’ve worked hard today!’ fare.
Try Googleing “Cincinnati style 5 way chili”. Traditionally served as 3, 4, or 5 way, depending on how many toppings you added to the initial chili over spaghetti: chopped onions, jalapenos, cheese, extra beans, olives… the list goes on, and undoubtedly some of those toppings are considered heretical by purists 🙂
re back pain: I get it. And one of the best cures I know of is a) change shoes to something different. b) suck in your gut much as you can as often as you think of it, all the time, including while sitting. Do exercises to strengthen those muscles. c) consider an S-I belt, [Amazon], which you adjust around the outer hip bones, snug but not fiercely tight, while your knees are equidistant apart. This before doing any chore that is going to strain your back or even standing for long periods. Doesn’t relieve all types of back pain, but is an alignment-keeper.
I’ve got an elastic “belly band” that I probably should have worn.
Today was supposed to be a trip to my storage space. I keep having bad luck with this at random. It’s never the same thing, but it’s as if it’s always something. Well, the trip has been rescheduled to tomorrow or the next day. (I’m hoping for tomorrow.)
the problem with my refrigerator and microwave turning on and off repeatedly, as if from a weak circuit or outlets, recurred twice over the weekend, and last night, it went on for several hours. I unplugged the microwave again. No help. I called the apt. mgmt. ofc. this morning for an emergency repair, reminding them it’s a repeat issue. They sent one of the maintenance guys out, he did a very brief check, said if they didn’t have the part, it might be next week, and then he was going to check the breaker again. OK. I went back to my desk to finish what I’d been doing when he arrived, thinking it’d only be a minute. He left without a word, and that surprises me. I was readily available and trying to keep an ear/eye out. Well, heck. So it’s in process, and the fridge is likely to go in and out at intervals, repeating in an endless loop, until finally it settles down again for a while, keeps power for quite a while, and then eventually returns to on-and-off browning out. This cannot be good for anything on that circuit, particularly the refrigerator. But, ah, the fridge was furnished with the apt., so it if goes out, presumably, they have to replace it. However, I don’t want any serious electrical hazard; that’s scary.
The last time they’d said about a week, it was solved within two days. The repair before that got delayed almost a month, but was resolved. So, OK.
There’s also a minor repair outside the apt. to a half-height gate to the little porch privacy area. The wooden block the latch attaches to has come loose, probably from kids playing ball and messing around, or from the postman and delivery guys; likely a mix of all those, plus over a year since it was put in. Solvable, but it wasn’t solved when the guy was by. OK, as long as it gets done, I’m fine with that.
I called a friend to get a dorm fridge, and we settled on a size, since I might be relying on this for a week or so. I went for a model that has a separate freezer compartment, the works, but it’s for less than I would have expected. The bonus, I will have it handy afterward or I can resell it. So although I didn’t want the expense, on the other hand, I don’t want my food to go bad in the meantime. So I am counting this a sort of a win.
The wonders of high-tech and the web: The complex’s site, including online or auto-pay is still down. They gave a written notice about ten days ago, so it’s OK. When my friend comes by, I’ll get the payment over to the office, and all will be well for now. No word yet when it will be fixed or an alternative for recurring payments will be offered. So…well, it’s fine. The office knows me by now anyway, for good or ill, haha.
It’s now 30 minutes until noon. Where has my day gone? Why does little stuff take so long? At least I am getting other things done.
It’s gong to feel very weird having a half-height or slightly bigger dorm fridge in the place. But I’ll count it as an improvement.
My tooth is still hanging in there, loose, prone to be irritated when eating, otherwise behaving itself nicely, and stubbornly in there. No severe pain or swelling or other issues, so I’m not taking something for it. I’m remaining careful and eating mostly soft foods, still. I’m glad it isn’t causing me a major problem. So it’s rocking along. Ideally, Mother Nature will take her course soon enough, and the tooth will come out and heal up. Now into the second week.
The cats have settled back down after the maintenance guy was here, so all is well.
Do you have a nearby outlet, preferably on a different breaker circuit, that doesn’t have anything big plugged into it? Maybe you can try running an extension cord from the outlet to your fridge and see if that helps. An extension cord is usually cheaper than a new fridge, even fun sized 🙂 It might be that the outlet itself is to blame, rare but it happens. I’ve had to replace a couple that shorted out on me.
Good question. I’m not sure if the plug coming from the fridge would fit an extension cord; that is, if it’s a standard plug or one of those funky plugs I’ve seen on some appliances.
I have one or two (three?) extension cords that miraculously did make it here when I moved in. (Why some things did and others did not, when some were pointed out and labelled…hah, it was a mess and in a hurry.) But those should be heavy-duty enough to handle a refrigerator, if I could get to the plug to transfer it across the kitchen to either other outlet.
As far as I know, the outlet setup for my apt. kitchen is, a standard wall outlet to which the microwave is plugged in, one plug open above it. Along that wall is the sink, the refrigerator, and the washing machine. I think the fridge and washer have separate wall plus, and I think the plug for the dishwasher is behind it, on that wall. The other wall has the dryer, pantry, stovetop and oven, and another standard two plug outlet for the can opener, with one plug open.
So plugging the fridge in elsewhere would mean moving the dryer and seeing if that plug is the right kind, or else running it to the plug where the can opener is. — Or else to the plug in the small breakfast/dining area, which, hmm, would probably be too long for one, maybe even two, cords together.
My kitchen is very long and thin, probably shorter and narrower than the setup shown from CJ’s and Jane’s remodel of their kitchen.
And wow, I’m not that clueless; why did I not think of trying that? — Well, we’ll see how this goes. I’m going to shoot for tomorrow to go by my storage space and work, and I’m expecting by Friday, the maint. guys might have whatever parts they need arrive in. If not, then next week.
Looks like I’ll get the dorm fridge in this afternoon, courtesy of the friend’s help. I will run the idea of the extension cord by him, so if needed, we can move things to try that. A temporary fix like that would sure be better than anything thawing or spoiling, either from the freezer or the milk, say.
Just as well I wasn’t planning on a grocery trip until next week or after. No sense in getting anything until I know it’ll have proper refrigeration.
We are so, so fortunate to have modern heating and cooling, ovens, microwaves, running water.
Goal for over the summer: I don’t have a gas grill or camp stove, and my stove/oven here is electric rather than natural gas. We had the hurricane last year, so we should be OK this year, but after last hurricane season, I’m not so ready to make any such assumptions. So something as a backup in case of power loss for an extended period, is a good idea. — If that happened here, I suppose neighbors would band together or else evacuate. Very thankfully, the apt. complex did OK during and after the hurricane. We didn’t get flooded, which was a surprise. But still, it’s a concern every summer. It goes with the territory. So I need to put some thought into it and do it this summer.
Humor: The deviled ham and chicken arrived the other day. I have since had three of these, and…. Half of me thinks I must be on dystopian sci-fi troop rations. The other half is convinced I’m eating cat food. LOL! Oh, the stuff tastes all right, but man, is it heavy on salt, and the look and texture is sorta weird in a way that tuna fish salt or chicken salad are not, quite. (Tactical error: This would be fine if I had been smart enough to get lettuce or cabbage at the store, last trip. Check. On the list for next trip.) — The cans are the same size as Fancy Feast cat food, haha. It looks quite close. I’d even bet, if I fed this to the cats, they’d like it. (I am fairly sure the company’s marketing dept. would cringe to hear me saying this. Yes, it’s that well-known old brand for American deviled ham, corned beef, chicken, etc.) — I have braved a few crackers with this, and managed not to poke at my loose tooth. I know I have pickles, but not sure if I have any pickle relish. So I will be hunting in the back of the fridge. (Comedy in itself, no?)
You know, I had not considered the idea that these could be rations for pint-sized carnivore sapients. H. Beam Piper’s Fuzzies? Ewoks? Carnivorous teddy bears? (Oh, sorry, that’s Ewoks, haha.) Or some other star-faring alien critters. Heheheh.
I’ve got an appt. set up to (yay) actually spend time on my storage space tomorrow. (Great rejoicing, except from the tooth.) — So I will fix hamburger and something tonight, to have a one-dish meal for tomorrow when I get home. (Probably a Velveeta Skillets dinner. Yes, healthy food is on hold for a bit longer. I will be craving salad and solid food and something healthy, once my tooth is out and healed. (Irony: I have a frozen steak I’d cooked right before the tooth became loose.)
Smokey is very busy poking at me with his paw, a trick he learned as a kitten. He wants to play or wants attention. LOL, goofy, sweet cat.
So… It appears I have been drafted into the grand space forces of some pint-sized furry critters. Or else it’s some bleak post-apocalyptic planet-based thing. (I am totally in the wrong clothes for Mad Max, haha.) Or else…. Well, the cans and the food look sorta like cat food, but I am really, really telling myself not. (That is not entirely working, but it is terribly funny to me.) — And why this should seem so different to me than canned or pouched tuna or chicken salad, I don’t know. — Er, typically, yes, I fix those myself instead of paying extra.
I have not yet tried these on the cats to see their reaction. I’m not sure I want to fight them for the rations from the ship’s hold. 😉 Or the underground supply bunker. Or y’know, whatever story I landed in. — I will probably see what they do with half a can each on the side of their usual moist food, just for the heck of it.
Kidding aside, I’m glad to have any more variety in soft foods until the tooth is out. If it keeps up much longer, I may break down and make a dental appt., but it is still behaving itself with little trouble, and so I think it’s going to work loose on its own. But it is very sentimentally attached, apparently. (“Please release me, let me go….” Per the old song.) — The immersion blender also arrived, so there can be more experimenting, and I need to give the blender appliance a workout to see what I can do with it.
So, upon reflection, I think I’ll go with the pint-sized furry aliens, as they seem a lot more fun than ravening zombie hordes across the landscape. On the other hand, I suppose those rockin’ biker horse clans might not be so bad, once you get to know ’em. Who knows, the right mutant just might do it for ya. LOL.
The stuff needs celery. Pickles. Less salt. Some lettuce or cabbage. (I have crackers and milk, this is plenty doable, really.)
The tooth remains stubborn, yet it’s quite loose, and I think it will come out on its own, so I’m not too concerned, just mightily inconvenienced. No serious pain or concern about it, as I’m keeping it clean. So I think I’m fine.
Pimiento. Pimiento would help. — Pretend it is a high-class pâté. Ignore that you have never understood the attraction for pâté. — No, this is not cat food, it has the little logo with the red devil and pitchfork and everything. — LOL, oh man. (Believe me, eating the tiny can takes less time than writing the post.) — Our human preconceptions are so, so funny sometimes.
Not too difficult to chop up a pickle to go into the devilled ham. We liked the stuff quite well when we were growing up; Mom always used to mash a couple of HB eggs into it with a dollop of mayo to make sandwich filling. Be careful giving more than a taste to the two Hani crew; as you noted, it is very salty and may upset the delicate biochemistries.
If you have very fine strainer or a muslin kitchen cloth, you can try rinsing I with hot water and straining the water out. Sauerkraut is salt pickled cabbage, so I rinse and strain that before I use it.
For people, sweet pickle relish will do, also. (Already chopped up, conveniently.)
We never tried that on our cats, but Harry and Sammy thought tutti-frutti frozen yogurt was a treat, so they might tolerate a little sweet pickle relish. (They only got dry cat food, but they were also hunters and could get their own fresh food.)
@BCS — The spaghetti and Wolf Brand Chili idea came from a mom who was adept at making a little bit go a lot further than you’d think. Four eggs, a small can of Gebhardt’s Chili and four pieces of toast was supper for a family of four. Pasta could stretch any kind of meat twice as far. Flat noodles, a can of cream of mushroom soup, a can of cream of celery soup, canned chicken or tuna, and a package of frozen peas cooked as a casserole was a feast.
I have practically started considering pasta or rice as their own food group. One or the other goes into my meals a lot more than it used to. However, I haven’t gained weight, and I’m not having to be too careful lately; my weight’s stable. — Earlier this year, I saw a deal of Campbell’s cream soups, 12 cans, 3 flavors, I think it was, and did this, which has helped, though I’m not using them (so far) as fast as I’d thought I would. — I have two salads I need to eat, and may skip or else soak any crunchy ingredients first. I noticed last year and this year, my eating habits had gotten more goofy than I wanted, and so I’ve been trying to improve. (I’d gotten to where I was eating more meat, not bad, but less veggies and milk, and I used to be very good about that.) So, back to it, then adjusting the amount of meat with pasta, rice, or beans, often, to extend things. I’m almost to where I have this worked out pretty well again. If I can get my grocery trips back into a good, regular schedule, that’ll be ideal. — I have had to get used to storing things in the pantry and freezer because of that, and hope to reduce that a little. But it’s now about where I can manage it better.
—–
I (finally!) got my much-wanted trip by my storage space. Hurray! I got in about half a day, but man, am I out of shape. The heat and exercise didn’t start getting to me until around noon, but I was only there a couple of hours after. — I only found one of the items I was specifically looking for. I did find others. I moved a bunch of boxes around to get to still others, and threw out about as much as I took home. So I guess it’s OK; but it’s about half what I thought I’d get done today.
I came up with one of the boxes of genealogy records, and now I will have to go through it, scan whatever I can, since the computer data’s either gone or on (oh my) 3.5″ Mac floppies, maybe. Or maybe 5.25″ PC floppies, from when my mom and dad worked on it. — I saw one photographic negative I can likely scan in and put through a graphics program to create a positive. Too small for me to know what that was until I look at it later. I don’t know if the box had the photos I’m looking for, including of the Indian woman on my mom’s dad’s side, or the group photo of my dad and his siblings when they were pre-teens. Anything will be a bonus. I expect to need to recreate the tree and any info in Mac Family Tree Maker, or whatever program I use. (I need to fire up the very old Windows laptop and see if it will still work.) I am really glad to find the one box, but I want the other box and any photos too. (Note, whatever data they had put in is now at least 18 to 20 years old; they’ve been gone that long; over a third of my life now.)
The once-new, still-unused and unlearned guitar, and my good cowboy hat, my digital camera, and Robbie (the BJD) are still in storage somewhere, along with other wanted items. — But I have an appt. for next week, and asked to go weekly for a while, to try to make a dent in this.
Boxes: Oh, wow. Paper records and books. — I should have brought a pack of empty boxes to transfer things into. This is now a goal. Several boxes have become too old, plus I need to transfer some things, either to bring home or to donate or to set aside to sell.
Books: I had to leave a box of books that I otherwise would’ve brought home to donate, because I didn’t have a box to use. (Their box fell apart in moving it.) This was funny; the box held a mix, half old fiction novels in several genres, and half — college or home library quality literature books. I think several were old Reader’s Digest series HB books; an antique gold/beige fabric on the cover, Burgundy with gilt lettering on the spine, a script CC colophon or crest/seal on the front-center and title page. — I had to go through these to see what might be damaged over time, and what was still in very good, good, or acceptable shape, suitable to donate. I would be happy for these to go to either a used bookstore or a local library. Note: They smell musty. I threw out (aargh!) a few that looked in poor shape and were in common circulation still anyway. I would not wish anyone, particulary not a library or real book lover, to have to worry about that, and it wouldn’t be a fair deal. The books that I saved, though, appear to be in good shape. Many date from my mom’s and dad’s college years in the early to late 1950’s. There were two old German readers printed in the old Fraktur (blackletter) that used to be the German default. These are surely from when either my mom took German in college, or my dad in the army and later college. I may save those two. They are a slim two-volume set, about the size of a novella, HB. — Some of the literature books are either from my mom’s English major courses, or later, amassing a personal library. I think I should donate these, because space is going to be a problem for me, but there are several of which I have only read excerpts from those authors, or have never read at all: Montaigne in English translation, several from classics/antiquities; I saw Plato whiz by. — I couldn’t part with one that was a translation of Marcus Aurelius, because I thought that would be of interest. All the literature whetted my appetite, but…storage in my apartment…I can’t keep everything. (And it hurts my book-loving soul that I’ll need to part with most of the books, science fiction or classic lit. or popular fiction.) Imagine seeing two of Ian Fleming’s titles and Ice Station Zebra, right in the same box with Plato and Montaigne and others, haha. — Aw, heck, I may hang onto those and read them before donating them. Or I might be better off to see if I can find a similar volume in ebooks, and bite the bullet and donate these. It also hurts that they are not in the pristine shape they used to be in my parents’ library in the old house. Those moved from the house I grew up in, to the house before and during my college years, where I lived with them, and then mostly into my garage at my recent home, before moving to the apartment and putting them into storage. Some made it into my former house, but most, I think were in the garage. — So I need to read them and then donate, or just donate. But man, there are some wonderful old books there. I set them aside so they’ll have less chance of harm until I return next week with a box.
In one book, there was a newspaper clipping about houses for rent or sale. The book was copyright 1950, and I set it aside, but don’t recall the title or author. (It was likely a college lit. reading for my mom.) I saved the clipping and will look at it with interest. I remember my mom saying that while in college, she’d had a realy terrible garage apartment, drafty in winter, just bad, along with an old Renault car, which she was more than glad to get rid of later. The clipping might be from around then. I expect to laugh at how “low” the cost was back then, except it wasn’t cheap back then. (I used to recall what my mom said her tuition and books cost per semester when she went to Rice in the 50’s, but I no longer do. My own college tuition plus room and board, not including books, was hmm, several thousand per semester, but not nearly as high as it is now, 30 years later. I think my mom’s fees were around a thousand per semester. When she attended, it was still “Rice Institute;” she graduated in 1955. 🙂 If I had not had such a “non-traditional” academic path (i.e., if I’d had more sense and had come out and thus solved that problem) then I would have graduated in 1988 or 1989.
I couldn’t help but think of CJ when I saw the Greek and Roman classics among those books, and since I’ve never read any of the Greek and Roman authors, I am very tempted to keep the books, read them, and then donate them.
I don’t know if any of these have any real collector value. I tend to doubt it, even two books by Hemingway, HB. — I will look at them again next week and bring them home, before doing anything with them.
Chondrite and other library folks: Is my best bet to donate these to a used bookstore, or would a library branch be interested? These were in a box that had books I deemed too musty or damaged to foist onto anyone. The ones I saved, however, smell musty, but I didn’t see signs of mildew or water damage, just two whose dust jackets were no longer presentable. By comparison with other used books I’ve bought, I’d rate these very good, or good, or acceptable. (It pained me to toss the ones I did, but they were not in acceptable shape.) So therefore, I think these are fit to donate, even to a library, but a library conservationist might say, no, please give those to a used bookstore and let a private buyer benefit. — Once I find where my digital camera is hiding in the storage space, I can take sample photos, if that would help assess the books’ condition. — I’m happy with whatever the advice; I just want to be sure one or more readers can get to read these. I presume they don’t have collector value. — Thanks in advance for any advice. 🙂
I intend to scan the covers of two of them, just because the type treatments are so unusual, they might make good revivals. Heh.
Don’t be too disappointed if the library can’t take them. Chances are good they will end up with your local Friends of the Library chapter if they aren’t in nearly pristine shape, and relatively recent. There’s a thought: see if your Friends group would be interested in helping you whittle down the books you no longer need. They may even be willing to pick up so you won’t have to cart the books around once you sort out your ‘keepers’.
For my own books, I tend to keep mostly ones that have gone out of print or are so obscure I will never find another copy. I also try to reread my collection at least once every couple of years, and reverify my decision to keep, even the rarities. Some I’m keeping mainly because I can’t get them as an e-book; some, because they hold fond memories YMMV.
Thanks, that’s really helpful. Once I have some more books ready to donate, say two or three more boxes, that might be more worth someone driving to pick them up.
I’m already anticipating being more full of stuff in the apartment than I would want to be, so I now think most of what ended up in storage will have to go. It’s going to be.a big pain sorting through faded paper records, and I may enlist some help on that. But most of those can be shredded and tossed, once I know what’s where.
I may also ask, if/when friends have a lull in their work, if I could get some help moving boxes around in the storage space, to set aside furniture or other items to sell. I anticipate a handful of trips, before I’m to that point, but maybe they’ll have some time later this month. At least things are progressing on this again. I’ll be very glad when I’ve emptied that out and don’t have it and the monthly payment anymore.
I’d love to read The Master of Hestviken again, but lent it out some 20 years ago.
It had been quite a while since I’d last had the favorite style of cat toy balls. I found them from another supplier and they came in recently. Earlier in the week, I tossed one out into the hallway and living room, but it went unnoticed by the terrible two.
Late last night after I went to bed, Goober noticed the ball. Aha! Playing catch with me is one of his favorite things. I toss the ball, he runs after it, plays a little, and brings it back, plunk, meow, here it is, human, toss me the ball again. Typically, that goes on for a few tosses before he’s had enough, and lies down very pleased with the whole affair. (It is harder for the human half of the team to find the ball these days, which used to perplex him. Last night, I noticed two things: One, he seems to know now I have more vision problems. Two, at least twice, he solved this by specifically bringing the ball back and, plunk, setting it down to bounce off a plastic box, so it made a noise, which let know know it’s close by there. Excellent, kitteh!)
Goober found the ball last night, and there was much meowing. Oh? What on Earth do you want, kitty-cat? And then I realized, even though I was in bed going to sleep, he was asking to play ball. :groans: So I got up and we had several rounds of catch until he was one very happy cat, and we called it a night. Once, he lost track of the ball, and once, I did and he brought it back in a little while. So the old game is back, and he would be tickled pink, except he’s rather tuxedo black-and-white. 😉
Smokey, oddly, did not try to steal or hog the ball. It was as if he didn’t know about the game or didn’t care. I don’t know if that’s because it’s been so long since Goober and I have played catch, or if he (Smokey) just wasn’t interested last night. — Smokey tends to try to steal any toy from Goober, or hog said toy so that Goober doesn’t get to play with it as much. (So I’ve typically tried to short-sicruit that by having two or three toys in play, so they both get a good chance.) — I would love it if Smokey would learn (a) that he can share without making Goober miss out; and (b) if Smokey could learn to play catch back and forth with Goober, they could both have a lot of fun that way. I may be dreaming in that regard, but maybe there’s a chance. For now, I’m happy if this is just Goober’s special game, if Smokey doesn’t want to play. But I expect Smokey will notice and take some interest in playing too, since he likes playing other games. (He often wants to bat at my graphics tablet stylus, if he’s bored or I’m not paying him enough attention.)
They’re now 11 1/2 + (Goober) and 8 1/3 + (Smokey). It is hard to believe how quickly time passes for them. Both are (thankfully) still healthy. I think Goober may outlive any of my previous cats: If he reaches 14, he’ll do that. Smokey, despite his deprived start in life, may also have a good long life. I hope.
Given that I now live in an apt. complex, between that and a big city, there’s never a shortage of kittens and cats to adopt, if need be. I am all in favor of rescue cats or shelter kitties or free kittens from some mama cat’s litter on offer. (But two or three cats at a time is my limit, so I’m not looking for one now.) — The appearance of the crying stray kitten a week ago had me thinking I was in for a kitten, very much unplanned, but the arrival of the mama cat to claim her baby and get the little one back to safety was a relief…except that means she’s sheltering / denning somewhere around here, and her kitten had found its way under a parked car, not a good situation. It told me not to ignore this as a common possibility. — Both Goober and Smokey were gifts. All my previous cats have been, “Hey, I showed up and I’m staying, human. Thanks for letting me in!” Heheh. So I am fine with whatever eventuality, but the alley cat mix is fine by me.
Be it noted, I like dogs just fine too; I just haven’t had a dog since my mom’s sweet old mama dog passed away when I was a young teen. I like animals and they like me. 🙂 This is a good thing, in my estimation; I wouldn’t have it any other way. They make life better and more interesting.
Ah, the balls are roughly the size of ping-pong balls, a little smaller maybe, with a similarly light, firm surface, but a cloth or fuzz-covered surface with a band of stripes around the equator and brightly colored, including a rainbow option. My guys also like a catnip carrot (or similar), and a mid-size mouse or squirrel or other critter. — My two cats are odd about a couple of other common cat toy balls, in that they don’t like those styles nearly as well, such as the plastic filigree segments. — I don’t know why I don’t usually get other kinds of toys for them to play with, such as a feather or something on a string.
Anyway, Goober was an exceedingly pleased little tuxedo-wearing gentleman last night. This made him feel special, and given how unassertive he can be, I was glad he liked it, even though, yeah, it meant I was short on sleep.
I hope Tanner and Tracker are continuing to acclimate, and maybe soon they’ll integrate with Shu and Sei.
Breaking news: Lava has broken out on the Big Island in a rift a couple of miles long on the East Rift Zone (I’m on Maui, so no jeopardy here) and is flowing into Leilani Estates. 10000 residents have a forced evacuation; people were on their way home from work and found they had to pile as much as possible of their possessions into their cars, turn around, and leave again. The main thing is the speed of the flow and the proximity to homes. Madame Pele is asserting her power again tonight.
Glad you are OK, but aïe, that is a lot of people put in jeopardy fast. Hmm, but if the volcanoes don’t let off pressure, they’d do worse, so I guess this is a must-do thing, no getting around it. On the plus side, as I understand it, (1) it adds landmass, and (2) it adds nutrients to the soil, when the lava rock is broken down, or via ash. But still, ¡ayayay!
“I don’ know where I’m a-gonna go when de volcano blow!”
— Jimmy Buffett
“Away! Away from the volcano!”
— Hawai’ians. 😀
Traditionally, if you were of royal lineage, one of your duties was to intercede for your people with Madame Pele. The ali’i were considered to be of godly descent, so it was a meeting of equals. The last time one of the royalty was asked to placate Madame Pele was in the 1800s; Princess Ruth Ke‘elikōlani went out to a lava flow that was threatening Hilo. She sang sacred chants and threw in various tokens of noble esteem: red silk handkerchiefs, bottles of rum and vodka, and even a lock of her own hair, the highest tribute that could be offered, a bit of one’s own godliness. It must have been satisfactory, because the lava flow sputtered to a stop outside Hilo.
I was under the impression that they’d been warned several days ago that evacuations might be coming (with shorter notice of the actual event).
They had been warned, and if the USGS notices weren’t enough, the area was getting hit with a dozen smaller earthquakes a day (at least the ones that could be felt). A lava breakout is like a tornado swarm: you know it’s likely, even imminent, but exactly where is uncertain until it strikes.