The antibiotic is really helping. She thinks she may have had a low grade infection for a while.
So what does she do?
The City delivered us a notice to lower our bushes by a certain amount at the corner and 75 feet along the roadway, and they’re old junipers that have been there at that corner for about 40 years. Well, it is a stopsign, and we’d hate to have someone have a wreck; but of course it’s been snowing-cold, and I have this sore arm and Jane has an abscess…and we have to do it by the 20th. Nice. So we start in. The preacher at the Methodist church spotted us, and came over and helped with some of it, and we have a pile of branches, some as thick as my wrist, and some as long as I am tall, in a pile at the curb that’s taller than I am, and the corner looks a nasty wreck of brown dirt and dead underside branches of some juniper as thick as your leg. The preacher said he’d help us cart away those branches, since the city won’t do it. It’s the Methodists to the rescue again, I’ll tell you. I’m very tempted to put a sign out at the corner that says: “This devastation brought to you by your City Council,” but that would be more work. I’d be happier if they enforced this all over the city; probably one person who complained.
We had burned hamburger for supper. It’s that kind of day.
But at least we’ve got the corner pared down.
Might it be time to ask the Methodists about youth groups, contributions, and yard work? Something for everyone, as I see it… Now if I could just convince my Spousal Unit!
We do donate to their garage sale, and next October we’re helping out with their parking lot Halloween gig…
I was thinking more of your experience with yard work traded for their rude young health, with food for all to follow! If they don’t do youth group yard work fund raisers, they might easily do so, since the US is graying fast.
Good idea, Tommie! I didn’t do a lot of yard work when I was growing up, but I latched onto ladies in the neighborhoods who knew how to cook and didn’t mind having an eager apprentice. I think they were glad to have someone who thought it a great joy to wash and peel potatoes and other time-consuming tasks, and I am extremely grateful that those women took the time and had the patience to teach me.
My mom has never enjoyed cooking, and she was much relieved when my sister and I expressed interest and then started taking over more of the meal preparation.
I hope that Jane’s tooth continues to heal well. It sounds as though she won’t need a root canal or other involved dentistry, and that must be a relief.
Good neighbors like the Methodists seem to be are a valuable commodity.
Ditto on the wishes for Jane’s tooth healing well.
It’s interesting that Methodists would have a Halloween event at their church, considering the pagan origins of Halloween. Protestant churches stopped celebrating Halloween / All Hallows / Day of the Dead after the Reformation.
In England, Guy Fawkes Day (which is today, 5th November) became a kind of substitute. If people couldn’t celebrate Halloween, they wanted to celebrate something, so Guy Fawkes Day became popular, with bonfires, fireworks, and a strongly anti-Catholic flavour.
A similar thing happened in Scotland with Christmas. Fundamentalist Protestants banned the celebration of Christmas because of its pagan origins, so Christmas wasn’t celebrated in Scotland for a couple of centuries, right into Victorian times. That’s the reason New Year became such a big deal there instead.
The Methodists are fairly liberal in most matters: they’re more tightly controlled at the administrative level, having bishops or something like, but as a general rule they’re fairly not-uptight about old holidays with discernible pagan edges.
I’ve seen Protestant churches that are fine with Halloween as a holiday mostly for kids to dress up, pretend, have fun, get candy, party, and safe thrills and chills. I’ve seen both churches and libraries, as well as schools, host Halloween parties / haunted house type events, so that kids had a safe place to celebrate. This tends to be the more easygoing, liberal, “Aw, we did this when we grew up, why can’t the kids do this nowadays?” point of view.
Then I’ve also seen “OMG! It’s a celebration with heathen / pagan roots! We couldn’t possibly do *that*!” from other, more narrow-minded (or closed-minded churches. I say that because, IMHO, when you’ve just said your church won’t celebrate *Christmas* because, oh dear, a Christmas tree and Santa Claus and commercialism and “Yule” roots…. Sigh, I think they throw the baby out with the bath water, pun intended.
But I say that as someone who’s on the more moderate to liberal end of the spectrum, who’s seen both sides, grew up both middle-of-the-rode and somewhat conservative, and… aw, heck, I trick or treated as a kid. As an adult, I’m aware that many holidays are a blend of ancient Pre-Christian elements and later Christian elements. — I also appreciate having friends who have other beliefs, including agnostics or atheists. They have good points to make, and when their points raise a good question that provokes real thought and examination to answer, or an “I don’t know, hmm, let me think on that….” That’s fine too. It’s a chance to learn and grow, IMHO, for both parties.
I have had friends and relatives of the stricter (or strictest) views on such things. They have a point too, even if I think they may take it too far. It’s my opinion versus theirs, I think. Could we both be partially right? Maybe so. … I tend to think that every human being has it partially right and partially wrong, and that if we knew the truth of it, we’d all be surprised.
🙂 Religious philosophy aside, it’s great if youth want to help out folks in the neighborhood. … It’s also true that some of those folks could use some help, but are too proud or independent (or whatever other eccentricities) to ask for or accept help, unless presented in … whatever way will get through to them. But thinks like a community effort or get together can tend to ease that. I really wish more churches (and other houses of worship) would do more of that.
Somehow, our American way of life, the very mobile, pick up and move cross-country, mass transit way, has a serious flaw that I think we are already running into. This has literally uprooted people from having extended family, a strong support group of friends, or even knowing and having close ties with neighbors. I hear stories of people who grew up in the 1950’s and all the kids could run around the whole neighborhood and beyond, and visit at any neighbor’s home, and be treated as a welcome guest, one of the neighbor kids, to be treated like extended family and cared for in a group effort, a community, a real neighborhood.
These days, that happens seldom if at all. Likewise for older folks or handicapped or shut in folks. If old Ms. Johnson or old Mr. Jackson or young but disabled or sick or disadvantaged Mr. Garcia or young single mom Ms. Flores need something, do they feel they can ask the neighbors, and will the neighbors really help if they’re asked? Sometimes yes, sometimes not at all. But this is not good for the neighborhood, the community, or the four people and their families, if they have anyone. (Ms. Flores is a single mom, so we know she has kids and she needs help. The other three may not have anyone.)
There are “assisted living communities” for older folks, that offer some communal living benefits, and I’ve heard older friends who liked this, when it was their idea to do it.
I wonder if the ’60’s and ’70’s ideas of the commune and kibbutz could be modified a little toward city life, so that, say, a subdivision or apartment complex could be combined with a “community center” or “assisted living” approach in some ways, so that all these ornery, independent, proud, free-wheeling people with their busy lives could somehow cooperate, pool resources, and help each other out when one or the other needs it? Dreaming? Pie in the Sky? People would never go for it, because they all want their own space and their own way? Hmm, probably. But maybe it’s time there were other alternatives tried.
Yes, I wandered far afield from any of the topics presented, but hey, why not? 🙂
Neighbors helping neighbors is one of the reasons I’m sticking with the house I bought recently (OK…..going on 7 years ago). The property ‘fits’ my critters better than the house fits me so I’m toying with adding on a solarium and putting an art studio in one of the pastures. AND putting in a better koi/goldfish containment system. I’d move if it weren’t for the neighbors (and the property value plummet post 2007)! All it takes is $$$ (sigh).
I barter poultry eggs for help doing yard work. The neighbor across the street just runs her riding mower across the road to do my front part whenever she mows. I mow with a people-powered push mower cuz any of the powered gadgets has too much vibration, which causes my hands to go numb for weeks. They get a Holiday gift card from a local plant nursery since they have their own chickens. There are 2 contractors on our little dead-end road so I have quick help when something needs fixing. And there’s a yard maintenance/landscaper business on the end of the road….they plow the street for us when it snows WITHOUT leaving big ice ridges across the driveways. YAY for neighbors!
Starting to get cold here. Supposed to get down to 28 Wednesday night. Our first hard frost of the season. It’s beginning to look like comforter weather.
I was raised Methodist, and yeah, they’re big on help and not so much into judging others.
Glad you have such a nice bunch of people near you.
Off topic, but may be of interest to some here.
Bill Gates has provided the financial support to make his “favorite course of all time” available free to everyone.
It’s called Big History, and covers the whole history of the universe, the earth, and the human race from the big bang to the present, and speculation about the future. It puts together knowledge from many disciplines – astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, anthropology, history, economics, etc.
The whole course is about 6-8 hours long, including quizzes, but you can just look at the parts that interest you, if you like.
bighistoryproject.com
Glad Jane’s feeling better.
I hit the dentist yesterday, well, not literally, I went to the office to get a tooth filled. When I got done and went to pay my “share”, they told me my insurance coverage had been maxed out for the year, so I had to pay $222.80 out of pocket. This was after I’d paid $464 last month for the crown. Now, I’ve got a sick kitty-cat that needs to go to the vet, and I don’t know what that’s going to cost me, either.
Suffice to say, the financial situation is not hopeless, but it’s not as good as I need it to be. Well, only a few more months, and I’ll have the credit card paid off, and then can finish paying off the damned hot tub, and who knows what I’ll do with all that money….maybe save it?
The EPA has slapped some more stringent standards on the Water Department in my city, which means they’re going to be passing the cost of upgrading the sewer lines to each homeowner. I figure that it would be $1,000 just to have it done myself, but who knows what the city will charge. Perhaps if they’re doing it, I won’t have to get the permit, have someone come in and dig, etc., but I don’t think it works that way. Ain’t homeownership grand?
Re: water and sewer lines: The city has done that here too. They sent out a notice last month that my property, like any others around here, has older water and sewer lines, and these must be maintained or the cost could be astronomical, should they leak and have to be dug up and replaced. So even though they’re the city’s lines, put in by the city before I ever owned this property, the city is saying it won’t do anything to fix its lines and it will continue to charge me monthly to get water. It also means in effect, I don’t officially own the lines, yet if they break down, I have to fix them on my cost, which IMHO, might as well mean the city has abandoned responsibility and I own the lines, for practical purposes. I suppose it wouldn’t hold water 😉 legally, mostly because I wouldn’t have enough money to insist so and fight any legal battle. Never mind, I just hope and pray my water and sewer lines don’t leak, because I can’t afford it. I’m not really all that cantankerous or contrary a guy, but the non-conformist somewhere in me does wonder if I could charge the city to supply my water instead of the other way around, since they take this view on the lines. No? No, probably not. No tax break either. The city wins because they have the clout. I really am not that combative about it, and thankfully, there’s no problem I know of and no dispute running. But still, it seems to me that the city put in those lines, the city owns them, I pay plenty in taxes and in monthly water bill (they raised the rates again) that I do wonder how I’m getting a benefit here. And yet I am a citizen, a homeowner and property owner, and I’m obliged to pay. At least they don’t generally go round beheading people or throwing them in the dungeon for any disputes or billing.
I’m just blowing off steam, venting. Say, isn’t that a water dept. issue too? LOL!
But it does feel like somehow I’ve gotten the short end of the stick, even though nothing’s the matter (I hope) at present.
On the other hand, maybe I shouldn’t fuss. Last year, the city came out and made extensive modifications to a fire hydrant that was on my property, also belonging to the city, and it was at no cost to me. I’m quite happy for there to be a fire hydrant so close by, y’know, and fervently hope it’s never needed for me or my neighbors. For a few weeks, they put in a second hydrant, then closed down and removed the first. Much digging and commotion. Fine with me. If it’s ever needed (again, I hope it won’t be) it’s there to serve. That, I do see as a good reason to pay city taxes. It’s for the public good. — That reminds me to look at the silly thing once in a while. I tend to ignore it, though I’m sure neighbors’ dogs don’t ignore it, haha.
Vet bill was staggering – just under $290.
So far, the biopsy they did on her shows a malignant tumor, though the vet needs to see if it’s just in the mammary gland or if it goes into the chest cavity. Plus, her blood work is all out of kilter, so it’s been sent to a pathologist. I’ll make the determination once we get more information. She’s 13, and I think the surgery is going to be pretty hard on her, just with the anesthesia alone, not to mention being cut open.
I had to use that same credit card that I’m trying to pay down for the vet bill, and it looks as though it’s going to go even higher.
Oh dear, Joe….a tough time for your kitty ahead and , unfortunately based on experience with our own sick kitties a few years ago and when Tango Foxtrot suddenly came down ill this summer, it’s not going to be cheap. Vets can do so much more these days that we are faced with choices and expenses we didn’t use to have to decide on. An anxious time and tough decisions for you, I feel for you.
Several posts back, CJ lauded mini casseroles, 8 oz., from Le Creuset. It was off-topic and I’ve lost track of where that was, or a later reply I gave. So I’m posting here with an update.
I had ordered the Caribbean color and thought I was getting a set of four. The order arrived and it was a set of one. Heh. Which explained the price difference. Dunno where my brain was that day, but it wasn’t firing on all cylinders. Duh.
So I ordered two more, colors Cassis (a dark brown) and Flame, which looked like a dark, strong red-orange or a slightly burnt orange from the photos. Per Amazon’s links and descriptions, it was, however, unclear if the Flame color was going to be a 1 quart or an 8 oz., but the price matched the other 8 oz. colors.
They’ve arrived! This bachelor now has a nice set of three, quite handy and handsome petits casseroles ou petites cocottes, ready to use.
The Flame color is a brighter, lighter orange, very slightly toward red-orange but not too far from orange-orange (in the middle between yellow and red). Still quite nice, and I really like the Caribbean and Cassis colors.
For reasons I can’t fathom, I tend to think of a “set” as an even number of objects, while the atevi would insist it should be three. Why a “set” should have either as a constraint, I don’t know. Logically, any number should be fine.
No knowing whether I’ll add a fourth at some point, but if so, a pale brown or cream color would counterbalance the Cassis, while the Caribbean and Flame nearly balance. Fennel and Cherry might pair to balance. (Artful symmetry versus artful asymmetry in play there.)
I’m putting some beans on to soak tonight, pinto or mixed, whatever I have. Somehow, I’m in the mood for a soothing pot of warm beans. (Meat and a vegetable separately is my usual habit with a pot of beans.)
Ta-da! Another pound down…….is the thread.
Well,bravo! THose should be pretty!
Anent the water & sewer lines, and the very high costs of repairing/replacing them now. I think their useful life can be as long as 100 years. Those in charge of municipal or county budgets are always under pressure (generally political) to keep budget increases low, so there is little impetus to adequately fund the long-term repairs budget. And, repairs/replacements are often kicked down the road, but the costs are the responsibility of the people who live there at the time the repairs are needed – even though generations of people might have lived at a particular address and contributed not one penny to the long-term upkeep of those water & sewer lines. Doesn’t seem fair, does it?
Waste water treatment plants are another similar issue. Everyone benefits, but no one wants to pay.
If you can keep tree roots away from the pipes, that will help extend their life expectancy. Good luck!
For a house, I think the rule of thumb is to set aside ~5% of its value each year to cover long-term repairs. We live in a condo association, and almost no one in the association wants the condo fees to go up, so we don’t put much money into our reserve fund each month. The tanking economy has forced just about everyone to tighten their belts, so condo fees are not very popular right now.
The association had a bit of a windfall a few years ago, fortunately. The roofs were due to be replaced in 1 or 2 years, but a severe hailstorm damaged them. Our insurance policy had only $1,000 deductible (whoo-hoo!). Replacement cost: $60,000.
We ended up getting a $66,000 roof for $6,000 because someone requested (OK, I pushed) the board to look into the cost of getting a 40- vs. a 25-year roof. It was only $5,000 more. Even though some people caviled at spending even that much extra, once the roof was installed, they were pleased. The neighboring association went with the 25-year roof, and the contrast in appearance is marked.
I won’t be alive when the roof next needs to be replaced, but I’m glad that the group did decide to spend a bit more now to save a lot later.
Our local water company is replacing sewer lines wholesale around here. Apparently a contractor back in the 50’s and 60’s… umm, well, was crooked. We had a street sewer line down by the town hall that broke -something about it being unable to handle being buried 20 or 30 feet down at the bottom of a historic gully- and took out a rather sizable chunk of the road and town hall parking lot. You could have lost 3 or 4 school buses in the hole! They spent 6 or 8 million dollars clearing the gravel out of the lines downstream with a giant vacuum truck. Six months of dodging that thing in the busiest intersection in town got rather old. In an area that has a rainy season that can bring 80 inches of rain, drainage is vital!
Anyway, they’ve since gone through and run cameras through most of the sewer lines and mapped them all and found quite a few shocking surprises.
This crooked contractor is (by my guess) the same guy who put in new water mains through part of town back in the 60’s and imported his pipe from China (so the story goes). Apparently the toilet paper coming out the taps was the first clue something was wrong, but everyone in town had to line up for shots because of that particular escapade. Nothing like using used sewer lines to replace water mains!
I have a few Le Creuset pots (larger ones), and they last for a long time. One of them was purchased about 50 years ago, and it still works really well. I don’t have any of the little ones … they might appear on a wish list for a birthday or some other celebration. I expect they’re quite dear.
Ye gads and little fishes…. My regular cabbie’s personal life has taken a turn from the dubious to the realm of farce, but without the fun of farce. Sigh. You don’t want to know the details. “Les affaires du cœur.” I hope I can get through this one OK and stick with him. He’s mostly reliable. But I may have to look for a new regular cabbie. It’s been years since I had to do that. My previous regular recommended this guy when he moved a few years ago. The last search took months, and the cab company and local cabbies were better then. Now, the local Yellow Cab seems determined to run off its customers. Just…aarrgh. I don’t need this to happen now. I don’t want it. I do, however, want a good regular cabbie, someone reliable. Anyway, a trip I thought I might get in today won’t happen, but I hope my scheduled trip for Tuesday will. If it doesn’t, that’ll be my deciding factor towards starting to look. Ugh.
That pot of beans is on to simmer and doing nicely. Two cups pinto beans, soaked overnight and drained, now doubled in volume. Add about eight cups of water to cover and nearly fill the pot. A dash of salt, a dash of sugar, and something new, not typical for me, I eyeballed about a teaspoon of curry powder, because I’d really liked it in another recipe. The beans will be simmered and stirred and water added when needed, for about three to four hours, and they should be ready by then. Except for the curry powder, that’s the usual recipe for plain old, ordinary pinto beans. Nothing fancy, but very, very soothing, warm, and tasty. To serve, I’ll add a little ketchup if I want, maybe a dash of Worcestershire these days, sometimes a spoonful of pickle relish, and sometimes a handful of grated cheddar to a medium to large bowl of beans. No, I have no idea of the dietary value, carb or sugar load, but this is old pioneer stuff, family comfort food. My mom would’ve omitted the Worcestershire, but instead would’ve added Tabasco sauce and quite probably a few jalapeños. My dad and I wouldn’t have used either.
I’ve long heard some people add a dash of baking soda to “jerk the beans,” supposedly to remove any possible gaseous after-effects, but afaik, we’ve never done that.
Another very common thing, though I don’t do it too often, is to take a pot of beans, let them cook way down, then mash and refry them. Refried beans, frijoles refritos, common Mexican and Tex-Mex fare.
Then there are ranch style beans, which I’ve never cooked from scratch and don’t have a recipe for, oddly. You’d think I would.
Other people naturally prefer to do other things, which, hey, I may try in future.
Whee, that curry powder is wafting through the house. I’d forgotten from last time, but it was welcome, the taste it added to the pot of beans, rice, and other ingredients in that recipe.
You need chopped onions marinated in vinegar with those beans. DH swears by it and his family is from Alabama.
Onions, garlic, and sometimes carrots and celery for me. When I want a meaty flavor I will add toasted sesame oil. Often I will stick beans or stews in the oven overnight at 225F. Had I a C oven I would use 100C. The pot will need a good soak, but it’s worth it for the tantalizing smell when I wake.
Got inspired. I’m going to substitute apples for the onions in this pot.
Let us know how that works out. I’m curious. I can easily see onions, garlic, carrots, and celery in a pot of bean soup. I’d expect the apples to go to apple sauce, essentially, to sweeten and thicken the broth.
Toasted sesame oil? Hmm, yeah, will have to try that in a future pot this winter. I’d enjoyed it in a stir-fry and tried it in something else.
My crockpot is indispensable for slow cooking things like beans. Some days I will set it up the night before, and DH will waken complaining about the yummy aroma that fills the house. If it’s too warm to run the oven, a crockpot will make a delectable pot roast.
I used a Honeycrisp, but a Granny Smith would have been better, as it turned out too sweet for my tastes. I made up for that by chopping up some brown and serve sausages and plunking them in the pot. I probably should just have added thyme and sage, as I went overkill on the sausages too! Not to say it was a bad dish, or that I won’t do it again, it was simply imperfect. The apple taste did come close to that of onions with sugar.
Do I detect a barbecue fan there? 😀
Those beans hit the spot. I had big bowl, probably too much, but that’s likely supper, so I won’t feel too badly about it. The Worcestershire (added to my bowl, not the pot) was nice, I’d never done that before, but it complemented the beans. The curry powder isn’t a usual thing for me with pinto beans. This is a mild curry powder, I think, one of the usual US spice brands. But my taste buds and my tummy (so far) thought that was a fine addition. Very soothing on a cooler day.
We finally have a slightly cooler day. Not sure how long it’ll last, but that’s welcome too.
A movie at home later tonight, maybe. Time spent trying to find something that should be obvious, but isn’t, in a manual this afternoon. Not much else accomplished. Going to try to push out some story text for a couple of hours. Can’t seem to get other stuff accomplished, and last night before bed, the plot bunnies finally started going. So I may have success with some writing. Hope so. Too pooped creatively this week, and I shouldn’t be.
(I really want to see Gravity too, have heard it’s super, but maybe that’ll happen next week. Maybe-maybe. More likely, it’ll wait until it’s on for sale.)
Huh. Did my neighbor move out west? *scratches head* She’s the type of old busybody who sticks her nose into everybody’s business, picks up every single leaf that falls on her lawn, and reports anything that looks “wrong” to her, such as grass that’s over 1/8th of an inch tall. She’s also retired with 24 hours of free time, while I am gone from 7:45 am to 6 pm on a normal day, and later on busy days, while also dealing with frozen shoulder and arthritis. And in my case no one offers to help, including the church on the corner (not that I’d trust them-anyone who cuts down 10 healthy spruce trees in favor of more blacktop is not to be trafficked with).
So. How are you two doing? How are the junipers? Do you save the fruit to make gin with?