Showing posts with label Helpful Things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Helpful Things. Show all posts

Friday, December 22, 2023

A Couple Of Good Productive Days

Some things have not been going well around here lately.  Nothing life-altering, but when things go wrong (broken birdfeeder pole, lettuce plants died inside the house,  roof shingle blew off in a storm, etc) it adds up, it can get pretty annoying.

So I am happy to mention a few successes!

1.  I cooked a standing rib roast a couple days ago, and I don't think I've ever done that before.  I marinated it overnight (red wine, garlic, onion, herbs) and cooked it to "rare". I don't eat meat rare, but I was slicing it in 1/2" pieces to freeze and reheat later (so that it wouldn't be "well-done" after reheating.   Came out great!

2.  I went grocery shopping (hence the standing prime rib) and also bought a spiral sliced ham (for slicing and freezing for sandwiches).  I check the receipt before I leave the store to make sure I got my Safeway loyalty card discounts and the digital ones from their website.  They were there.  But when I got home, I realized that they had charged me for the ham twice.  

I wasn't sure how to prove I hadn't bought 2 hams.  But in the middle of the night, it occurred to me that the repeated price of 2 hams would be exactly twice the cost on the label.  Which would be really unlikely if I had bought 2 different hams.  So I brought it back to the store (in a cooler with ice-packs around it) and explained it to the customer service manager.

She finally agreed and refunded the cost of the "2nd ham".  Yay!  If she hadn't, I would have demanded they check their videotape of the purchase.  I'm glad a didn't have to.  Actually, it occurs to me just now that I benefited from the refund more than I should have.  

I used a 10% discount coupon I got from them for getting my RSV vaccine.  And I got credit toward a future gas purchase (every $100 spent there gets me 10 cents per gallon off at their gas station).  I don't think I will go back to complain about that because I think it would just be too difficult to calculate and it would be about $2 at most.

3.  A very minor thing, but I advised 2 different people that they had dropped a glove, and a 3rd person that they had dropped their covid mask.  Little things matter.

4.  I've mentioned having laser printer color problems.  The Canon agent finally concluded (after an hour-long discussion and fix-attempts) that I most likely needed new toner.  So I bought some.  And when I got home and looked at the boxes, suddenly I saw similar ones in the computer room.  I had already bought new ones!

So yesterday, I went to return them.  I was concerned they would accept toner back.  But the boxes were unopened and pristine, and they didn't even argue about it.  But when they scanned the receipt on the 1st (black) box, it refused to register.  I figured there was a special policy refusing toner returns.  Bt when I suggested scanning the actual box bar code, it was accepted.  As were the color boxes.  

That was a great relief.  Toner lasts a lot longer than inkjet cartridges but is more expensive per cartridge.  If they had refused the return, I would have been out more than $250!  But it all worked out and I am very happy about that

5.  My good neighbors gave me a small box of Xmas goodies.  I had already bought a small box of chocolate-covered cherries for them and was waiting to add some banana/walnut muffins.  I finally made the muffins last night.

I was delayed on that because I kept not quite having all the ingredients.  Banana/walnut cake is a rather complicated recipe usually cooked in a bundt pan.  It came to me via Mom from Dad's mom.  I've loved it from childhood to the present.  Mom said she would only leave me the recipe in her Will, and she came darn close to that.  Thankfully she relented when she realized she couldn't cook any more.

It is sort of like a spice cake, but only like a standing prime rib roast is like a rump roast.  There is the usual flour and sugar and baking soda.  But you have to separate the egg yolks and whites.  You have to chop walnuts.    You have to mash 2 ripe bananas.  You have to "sour" some milk (milk plus some vinegar).  You have to whip the egg whites.

Then stir various ingredients together in a certain order for a couple minutes each (and it is thick and hard to stir).  Finally, you gently fold the whipped egg white in.  Add that is just for the bundt cake method.  But I wanted to make cupcakes/muffins for the neighbors present.  

I get in over my skills sometimes.  Muffins cook differently from cakes.  I had to look that up and got so many different instructions.  350F vs 375.  15 minutes or 20.  Cupcake papers or parchment paper circles on the bottom.  Top oven shelf or middle.  Fill 1/2 way or 2/3.  I went with cupcake papers and averaged the rest.

Because there is always "the toothpick test"...  The final arbitrator of doneness, LOL!  I was nervous about the results the whole time they were cooling.  After an hour, I finally gave one a taste-test (I had 22).  It was perfect...


I don't bake desserts often.  Brownies or tollhouse cookies a few times a year.  I hadn't made a banana/walnut cake in 5 years.  I 'm not sure I had made them as muffins before.  You experienced bakers may smile, but I feel insufferably pleased!  For me, that was a big deal.  And they worked out.😁

6.  And finally, I did something that might be useful to all cooks.  I've been frustrated about where to place my recipe cards while using them.  I've previously propped them up on the back of my cutting board, but stuff gets splashed around sometimes.  I wanted something better.  I could have glued a plastic clip to the base of the cabinet door above where I do my food prep.  But that seemed ugly.

So I stuck a small piece of double-sided tape in the center of the bottom of the door.  Then I stuck a small refrigerator magnet on the tape.  Then I put a small magnet with a handle on that.  I just take the top one off and trap the recipe card between them. 



 

So I've had a great couple of days.  Successful returns, error-adjustments, cooking a few things, and a nice little invention.  


Thursday, August 20, 2020

An Unusual Day

It started last night.  I had been struggling to adjust to the 1.25" towing attachment on the new Subaru.  The hitch pin from a local store was too short, I had to use force, had an traier ball for a 2" hitch,  finally bought some parts on Amazon.  Yadda, yadda, yadda. 

I discovered it was simpler than it seemed and I asked Amazon if I could return some.  They said "OK", offerred me a printable return label.  Good, thank you...  But I noticed returns were free at some "Kohl" department stores.  IF I returned it today! 

So there I was playing Civ 2 (downloadable/playable to a Mac only from some Russian site (OMG!) through some iffy "portal kit").  Well, I have "best" antivirus/firewall stuff and made sure it was "up-to-date".  I checked to make sure nothing funny was going on on the Mac.  And I will offload the app to a stand-alone later today.  That was 6 am.  So I decided to stay up at a discussion board until I could do early errands.

The Kohl's store opened at 10 am.  I had things to buy at Walmart which opened at 9 am, and grocery shopping to do.

Went to Walmart and found most of the things I wanted (kitty litter, cheap store brand stuff, and "on sale" brand name items.   Got back home and put it away.

Went straight to the nearest Kohl's store.  Never been there before (and wn't be returning (their prices are way too high).  But I was relieved to see a "Amazon Returns Accepted Here" sign on the door.  Wrong door of course.  I had to haul the box of heavy metal around to the side door downhill and over a rock bed... 

On the other hand, the return was a breeze.  It was so easy, I was almost suspicious.  But they gave me a printed confirmation and a 25% purchase coupon for "today only".  Even that left the prices too high.  Hey, I'm selectively cheap.  Some things are worth spending money on, some aren't.

So I had the cheap stuff bought at Walmart put away at home, and the Amazon return done.  And I realized I was going to pass my favorite grocery store (Safeway, great produce selection).  And (not coincidentally) I had my spreadsheet grocery list in my wallet (I'll show a link to that soon but it needs updating).

So I stopped and bought groceries.  Told the produce manager their egg roll wrappers were junk.  Well, their old brand was great.  A dusting of cornstarch between each wrapper and and rolled up nicely (I like to make shrimp eggrolls sometimes) and the new brand (Wing Hing or something like that) was all crumbly and impossible to roll.

He promised to look into it (yeah, right).  I often have to help the produce guys.  Seriously, they can barely tell one apple from another.  I'm not in the "oh damn, here he comes again" reaction yet, but they do notice when I point out the labels are wrong and they are selling "Red Delicious" as "Staymans".  And I try not to bother them often. 


I smile to myself when the sales clerks ask if a head lettuce is "cabbage" or beets are "radishes.  I shouldn't because it means that they aren't familiar with fresh veggies in their own lives.  OK, come to think about it, let's say I'm more sad than smiley... 


Pushing my cart to the car, I noticed a woman poking around at the hood-up engine and mostly looking at the battery.  I put my bags in the car.


An older guy does not approach a strange woman carelessly.  There is no telling what the reaction might be.  But I went back and asked if she needed a batterry jump.  She did.  I could tell she was hesitant about a stranger asking for help.



I just recently bought a new car.  And it was partly because the battery in the 2005 Toyota wouldn't recharge well.  The dealership couldn't find the problem.  They said the batterry seemed fine and the charging system checked out OK. 

So I bought a "batterry-minder" to keep it charged in the garage, but I never was sure it would start again during errands.  So I bought a portable power-pack for emergencies.  *I* never actually needed it, but it came in handy today.    It is "the mother of all rechargeable batterries". 



In spite of having a new car, I kept it in the car.  There's room for it, and "you never know".  So I carried it to the woman's car (and noticed a scared little girl inside).  The woman was probaly afraid I would ask for money.  Nah, I'm the Boy Scout type.  Hooked up the clamps, told her to start the car, everything worked.  I told her to make sure to drive the car at least 20 minutes to recharge the battery (and maybe have it checked by a professional).  Batteries do fail.  And I wished her a good day and left.




I've gotten help from strangers before.  My first personally-purchased car once died in the dead of night in a bitterly freezing 1980 Winter on a major highway.  It was SO COLD, my roommate and I were exchanging the one good coat every 5 minutes to stay SLIGHTLY warm.  The ONE person who stopped to ask if I needed help was a Reagan conventioneer.  He asked who I supported and I said "Carter".  He smiled and not only called AAA to tow my car to a repair shop, but drove us home (way out of his way).  Good people do good things. 

Remembering that, I try to pass it on.  I could have just driven home from the Safeway store.  But how hard is it to help another?  We are all of us in this world together fighting off the cold and sadness.



So today, I was my 16 year old Boy Scout again, and did my good deed for the day.  And I thank the opportunity more than the deed...  The deed was fine, the opportunity was priceless. 

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Angry Voters

I have been hard on Donald Trump (and rightly so).  But I haven't discussed his supporters much.

I sort of understand them.  They are angry.  They are desperate.  They aren't living the life their parents enjoyed.

In a general sense, we all know that some people succeed in life better than others. And the others don't.  The reasons are not my point here.  My point is that they know the world is somehow passing them by, they are not succeeding,  and they are angry.  There are few emotions stronger than anger.

Hate is usually directed, anger is diffuse.

Trump has activated the angry people.  He wouldn't have gotten the Republican nomination for President if anger and fear wasn't a real thing in significant part of the population.

I do not fear Trump.  He will go down into crushing defeat on Election Day.  It is the angry people who concern me.  Their anger is justified.  They used to have decent-paying jobs putting headlights on cars, collecting coins from parking meters, loading luggage on airplanes, etc.  There used to be jobs you could just learn to DO without having to work on a computer, make decisions, or attend meetings and argue with people.  Some people are just not good at those things.  And they have fewer places to do work now.

And I understand because in the 1st 10 years of my adult life, I had cruddy jobs too.  I pushed a lawn mower in the hot sun for 2 Summers on an Army Base.  I spent 2 Summers pumping gas at a full service station where the owner dipped his sticky fingers into the till and charged us workers for the "losses". 

I worked at minimum wage in several department stores while the rent went up faster than my wages.  I even got to where I was in charge of a 1/4 of the department store and my hourly pay was 25 cents above minimum wage.  And the store managers cheated us every chance they could get because every dime they took out of our pocket went into theirs!

But I took a competitive exam for Government work and scored 100% in 5 categories of jobs.  That was because *I* spent my time in high school studying while "other" kids were goofing off.  I learned "stuff".  I practiced general skills.  I did well.  I was promoted regularly.  I retired well.

But not much better than the middle class in the US did in the 50s and 60s.  The high point of the US economy was when unions were strong (but not overly strong), when the percentage of the total wealth held by the top 1% was low, and when a college education for children was withing reach of most middle class families. 

There was a chart in Scientific American magazine a month ago that showed the percentage of national wealth held by the top 1% of Americans. 

In the 1920s, it rose to 20%.  At the end of The Great Depression, it was down to 15%, and the end of WWII, it was down to 10%.

In 1970, it was down to 8%.  After the Republican Tax Reform act of 1986, it rose rather suddenly to 16%, and after the 2000 Bush Administration, it went back up to 18%.  That is wrong.  The trickle down theory of wealth only means every one below the top 1% gets peed on.

The Republicans are doing it very very wrong, in pay to their super-rich supporters.  But the Democrats are doing things a whole lot better.

What we need is a Centrist-Union party dedicated to recreating the middle class.  No industrialized nation can survive without a strong middle class.  That is what makes democracy work.

Democracy works best when the poor have a path up, the middle class has some basic stability in life, and the rich are accepting a lower level than "outrageously fabulous".

I'll give a sports example...

Say you are a farmkid in Kansas and you have a choice between driving a tractor around cornfields for $20K a year vs earning $100K a year catching balls in the outfield.  Of course you would take the $100K.  But is it worth $50M.  No, you would do it for $100K. It is idiodically super-rich people playing their own game, competing with each other.

If they weren't, the seats would cost $10 and they would all still make a fine profit.  THat's what a generally middle-class world would look like...






Sunday, June 26, 2016

A Little History

A century ago, the US economy and government was in the grip of what were called Robber Barons.  People so wealthy and powerful that they formed business monopolies, chose political leaders by themselves, decided what laws would be passed and considered everyone else but themselves "losers".  Working people were poverty-stricken, there was no "Middle Class".  You were either rich or broke.

People had few legal rights to complain.  Courts were packed by judges appointed by the rich to defend their overbearing methods.  Does that term "losers" ring a bell when you listen to a Trump speech?  It should.  Trump wants to return to those years.

The Republican party is to blame for this.  They have denigrated the value of government for years.  They refused to admit that government for the People is a good thing.  They desired that political success go only to the rich and powerful, so that they could get more than any human could possibly need to thrive in the world.

The Republican party has yelled for several decades that all we need to succeed is to have no government regulation.  That outsiders "know best".  That inexperience in world affairs is somehow "purer" than experience.  Basically, that ignorance is better than knowledge.  Now they have their purfect candidte for an upcoming humiliation of that view.  Trump will be crushed, and they might lose both the Senate and the House.  And later, the Supreme Court, as vacancies will be filled in the next 8 years.

The Republicans hate government so bad that they slashed the budget of the IRS, whose only function is to collect taxes and make sure we all pay what we owe.  They call it "starving the beast".

But the IRS is merely the agency that collects taxes declared by Congress.  The audit function doesn't bother most of us.  What they look for is very rich people who aren't paying their fair share.  They aren't after those of us earning $30,000-100,000.  They are after those multi-millionaires and billionaires who are paying nothing in taxes by gaming the system with secret accounts overseas or claiming massive business losses through indirect multiple company tricks.

We WANT more IRS agents to find those cheaters and get the Government revenue for schools, military support, VA hospitals, and roads and bridges!  What we don't want is the Donald Trumps of the world to get richer by cheating on their taxes.

More IRS agents don't threaten me or you.  They threaten the most wealthy who have been cheating us all.  We should SUPPORT more IRS funding for auditors.

The government does a lot of good things.  Defense, education, infrastructure, personal rights, helping poor States, assuring honest elections, managing the general economy, protecting the right to religious freedom, the whole Bill Of Rights...

That takes some money.  Not much in exchange for the common good.  In some countries, it is more; in some it is less.  I think we are doing pretty well where we are.

The Republicans want to lessen Government to enfeeblement; Democrats want to expand it in some few directions.  That's general human progress.

Let's consider insurance.  The theory of insurance is that the larger the group, the less risk there is to any member of the insurance group.  Doesn't it therefore make sense to increase the insurance pool?  YOUR medical costs go up everytime an uninsured person needs medical care.  So shouldn't we increase the number of insured people?  Fewer uninsured people mean lower costs for the rest of us.

Now let's say that the roads are failing in your area.  And in other areas.  And will fail in the future in other areas.  Isn't it a better idea to all get together and share the expenses gradually overall instead of all at once locally?

Isn't that what helping your neighbors now so that they can help you tomorrow is all about?  Government is merely the organized method of sharing todays costs with your neighbor tomorrow.  What you need to accept is that your neighbor might be several States away.

We understand that when some community many States away suffers a natural disaster.  A hurricane, an earthquake, a tornado.  We help them then.  That's what government is.  Society agreeing to hel each other in bad times...

And the Republicans fight against THAT!


Wednesday, November 4, 2015

The Last Edging Circle, 2

Well, you may recall that I had a ridge leveled in my back yard, the soil moved to raise a part of the front yard and that I was creating some areas bordered with edging so I could plant stuff.  And that I had become royally tired of digging trenches for the edging in the rocky soil.  And because there were some large tree roots I did not want to cut which meant cutting the edging to fit on top of the roots.

So I left the last one half done for a week and did other stuff.  Well, I am happy to report that I finished it today.  No more digging in that soil...

There are 3 edged areas.
The far one has perennial wildflowers mixed in with enough compost to barely cover.  I have no idea what will happen there.  The package of seeds did not specify which plants were, and they grow so slowly that I won't recognize any until they bloom, and there were already some small weeds growing there.  I might end up nurturing 400 sq ft of weeds until next Summer when I see nothing blooming  when I have to replant more carefully.

The middle smaller area is for Lychimartra Firecracker, a lovely bronze foliage plant about 24" high with lots of small yellow flowers.  But it is a bit invasive and needs to be contained by itself.  It has its own 200 sq ft circle so that I can mow around it!

The nearest area, also 400 sq ft will be a combination of daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths for Spring color; with transplants of purple coneflowers, black-eyed-susans, and goldenrod for Summer and Fall color.  Plus I plan to add a few dwarf butterfly bushes.  I may get a package of seeds of plants that attract butterflies and bees to scatter among the plants next Spring. 

This last area will take some work planting.  Tulips and Hyacinths don't last long here because of the voles, so I have to make cages to plant them in.  The daffodils are fine without cages, being toxic.  But the bulbs haven't been delivered yet, and the transplants still have green leaves so I can't move them yet. 

Which means I can start on the new border of the older flowerbed (up against the fence to the left of the above picture).  I originally planted the border with alternating 12" sections of yellow then purple crocuses.  And 4" gaps between sections for annual Summer flowers.  The voles ate most of the crocus bulbs in just a few years, so this time, I am planting them in cages.  I'll still leave a 4" gap between the cages because it is nice to have Summer flowers there too and change them each year (yellow marigolds one year, dusty miller the next, orange zinnias after that, etc).

At least I don't have to install more edging there.  It's already in place!  And the soil there is soft and the border is the width of my spade.  "Piece of cake".  Right?  Yeah, right...

Fortunately, the weather is forecast to stay nice into mid-November, so I may get away with all this before the first hard freeze hits.  But I had better get working of those cages.  Two sizes of cages actually.  8"L x 6"W x 4"H for the crocus bulb border (so I need about 50 of those).  I haven't decided on the size of the cages for the tulip and hyacinth bulbs yet.  I need to sit down and diagram cages what use a 3' wide roll of wire mesh efficiently.

But I have the crocus bulbs now, so they come first.  The tulip cages can wait a few days...  But they will look basically like this...

Bulb Cage 


















 12-18" square, 6" high.  It only needs making a wood form to bend the wire mesh over.  Not that that takes no time, but it beats buying cages at $30 each!

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

December

Why is December such a hard time on cats?  It seems so many leave for The Bridge in this month. 

Is it the short days that depress them? 

Less time outside for those who DO go outside?  Or just fewer sunpuddles for those who stay inside?

Do the longer nights just suggest going into "forever"?

It seems to me that we lose more cat-friends in December than any other month, and I don't know why...

The short days sadden ME.  I have to fight it; I get depressed at this time of year too.  But I know WHY.  Maybe its harder when you DON'T know why maybe they just get saddened and all.  Who knows the minds of our cats.  We try, but as close as we feel toward them, we cannot ever truly understand their thoughts.

I just know that December is a real hard time on cats. 

And so, for myself, and for the cats, I keep the house brightly lit, I keep them active, I stuff them with food, and I keep them on my lap as much as possible.  I don't know if that makes the slightest bit of difference. 

But it makes me feel good to try...  Special places to make them happy.

My lap.
Good places to sleep at night.
Interesting new spots.
Anything I can do...

Monday, September 23, 2013

A Cautionary Tale of Sad Computer News

A long post, and I won't blame you for not reading it to the end.  But there are some lessons that may be worth reading...

No, I haven't gotten a diagnostic call from the computer repair shop I mentioned in the last post.  Instead, I messed up my own working Mac Mini computer.

Over the past few years, I have tried out several anti-virus/disk management programs for the Mac, and not been really happy with them.  Viruses aren't really a problem for Macs, but they are good about detecting viruses that could go on to infect PCs that I communicate with, so I want to keep the anti-virus protection up to date.  Mostly, I want the programs for hard drive management and they are S-L-O-W.   Several hours to read all the files looking for viruses, and a lot of one-at-a-time decisions about most programs.

I like Macs, but it seems there are a couple of weaknesses.  They don't "hold" your name/passwords to some websites as well as PCs do.  So when I actually have to shut down the computer, I have to sign in again.  A minor annoyance in the grand scheme of things, but it does get tedious when you have several program updates the same night and have to restart the computer after each one.

That wouldn't be too bad, except that I play computer games that use adobe flash a lot.  For some reason, Macs accumulate some files than clog the system.  Even THAT's not too bad; on my older PC, I would simply crash in mid-game.  One the Mac, things afterwards slow down and it locks up while searching something on Firefox or writing a letter and I have to restart the computer (meaning all those sign-ins again afterwards).

So I found a program called MacKeeper that promised to do all that better and great hacking protection (and had good reviews).  And since I had just run into a person who I thought intended to do me ill (old story, I won't go into that now except to say never blow up at a former friend whose past malicious behavior shows they know a LOT about computers).

I used the program and it seemed to work well.  Fast scanning of all files, etc.  No problems with hack attempts.  A couple of nights ago, I noticed some additional features.  The were sub-routines to identify and delete unused apps, find and delete "leftovers" (orphaned files related to deleted programs),  etc.  It wouldn't just do it automatically, I had to check each file to be deleted.

After tediously checking boxes carefully for an hour, I got a bit casual and just started taking its advice.  You can guess that was a BAD move...  It was in the applications part of my directory, and just after I clicked OK for the latest batch, I saw Firefox was on the list.  It was too late to stop it!

I have to admit the program is thorough.  When I could control the computer again, I found I had deleted Firefox.  OK, no real problem, I have TWO backup systems.  One is an external drive called FreeAgent, the other is a built-in Mac backup called Time Machine.  Both save your hard drive initially and changes to it thereafter.

Well, FreeAgent had told me last week that it was full and I should delete some older backups, and I had just done that, saving backups from Jan of the previous several years and a quarterly one for this year.  I didn't examine The Time Machine (I find it a little confusing to use).

So I examined my computer dock (graphic sidebar of active applications) and Firefox was gone.  So was the Mac word and spreadsheet suite called iWorks.  So was the MS Office Word and Excel.  I have NO word-processing or spreadsheet programs, and the only browser I had was Safari  (which seems to fight me all the time).

After spending a good part of yesterday and this morning trying to find the lost programs in the two backups, I gave up.  I downloaded Firefox (at least its free), but there were no bookmarks.  I had about 13 years of some useful and unusual bookmarks saved.  Well, at least I knew that I had seen a boormarks.html file in the backup list.

Yeah, it was from 2008!  Both backup programs had faithfully saved one old bookmark file for 5 years.  I checked both backups programs "every way from Sunday" (as my Dad used to say) for 2 hours before I gave up.  There was just that old one.  So I imported it.  The first thing I did was open every single bookmark.  Most were no longer working and I deleted them.  Some were still working but were "repurposed" and I deleted them.  Some I could not imagine why I bookmarked them and I deleted THEM!

It didn't leave me with very many bookmarks, but at least I still had the organization of the folders (blogs, reference, hobbies, garden, pets, etc).  The first additions were my blogs.  And you know, it was hard to get those.  It was easy to SEE my blog, but it took some thought to find how to get to my dashboard (my blog has "blogspot" in the url, but the dashboard has "blogger").

I slowly used Safari to get the urls of some other sites (like cat blogosphere) and bookmark them into Firefox.

I've lost a lot of bookmarks, but I had too many old unused ones anyway.  Old ones I want, I can find again easily enough and bookmark them.  And my Feedly bloglist RSS is safe because I set it up as my home page on Safari (open up Safari, and there it is).

I had the Mac iWorks and MS Office word and spreadsheet programs downloaded rather than owning the reloadable CDs, so I think I would have to buy them again.  Fortunately, I don't need the MS suite programs with their advanced features anymore.  The simpler Mac Page and Numbers apps will work fine.  And it seems they are only about $20 each.  MS Office for Mac costs $140. (and I'd rather not have any MS crossover programs on the Mac for security purposes).  And I used to make CD backups of some programs, I might find them.

But not tonight!  I'm worn out and (as calm as I may seem), very angry and frustrated.

Those backup programs (as I understood them) were SUPPOSED to allow me to completely restore my hard drive in case of failure.  I HOPE it was just my fault in not setting them up properly, but my recollection is that I was pretty darn careful about doing it right.  But I'm going to really triple-check it when I dig into them both tomorrow!

If you have a backup system, I suggest you really examine it carefully.  Make sure that what you think is a saved program isn't just the sidebar graphic or the desktop shortcut.  Look at "properties" or "info" or whatever gives you file size amounting to MBs.  You may not actually have the actual program saved.

I got fooled because my older computers had a full-sized 2nd drive and when I copied the main drive to the 2nd drive it WAS a real copy of the whole drive, applications and all.  I was used to that.

It seems to me that, not matter how careful you try to be, a train wreck will occur on your computer every few years.  And something you assumed worked, won't work the way you think it will...

Thursday, May 30, 2013

The Return Of The Mowers

I love Angie's List!  I have had nothing but superb service and value from every contractor and medical service I have selected since I joined.  Consumers Union for the local community...

Angie's List gives letter grades for quality, price, responsiveness, punctuality, and professionalism.  I focus on price and quality.  Price and quality together = value.  You can search for service providers many ways, but I only look at the ones with straight A ratings.  If the only ones were too far away, I would accept a couple of B ratings but price and quality HAVE to be A rating.  So far, that has not been a problem. 

And also so far,  I found dad a geriatric doctor when he first arrived, a dentist specializing in elderly patients, a vinyl siding replacement company, a roof replacement company, a tree removal company, and most recently a mower repair company.  Every single experience has been outstanding!

Today I got my riding mower and regular walk-behind mower back.  The regular mower wouldn't start this year, and when it did last year (with great pulling of cords and bad words) the deadman lever didn't work and I had to stop the engine by shorting the spark plug against the engine block.  They took apart and cleaned the carburetor, emptied and cleaned the gas tank, replaced a broken deadman lever cable, added about the same amount of new gas back, and sharpened the blades. 

The riding mower was running well enough, but developed a sudden banging/rattling sound under the deck just as I finished mowing last week.  Fearing a loose drive shaft or blade, I stopped immediately.  And even more suspiciously, there was no bad sounds with the blades disengaged while just driving the riding mower to the trailer to bring it to them.  They removed and replaced the drive belts, and found what they initially thought was a bent part of the blade undercarriage.  It was dried grass clippings, but so hard after sitting all Winter that the blade was actually bouncing off it.  They said they had to use a regular chisel to remove it and then they cleaned off the dried grass from the rest of the undercarriage.

That was embarrassing.  I ought to know enough to scrape the packed grass clippings from the undercarriage by now.  But I haven't done that for 3 years; its awkward to get a riding mower up off the ground for access to the underside, so I always think "well, maybe next time".  But at least it's done now and I should think about a way to get easy access to the bottom in the future.

When I was a teenager, the house had a sunken basement with cinder block walls and concrete steps steps leading up the the lawn level.  It just so happened to be exactly the width of my car tires, so I had a wonderful spot to change the oil and do the very simple car stuff I knew about.  I need something like that for the riding mower.

But the point of all this is that this place (Tool Solutions, Inc) did great work, nothing more than needed, and the cost for both mowers was...  $98!  My guess was $200 at best.

And so I will go over to Angie's List and give them a straight A rating.  I used both mowers today and they both worked better than ever, the price was great, they did the work quickly, discussed the needed work without exaggerating anything,  and were very (but quietly) professional about the whole repair.  And they are 3 youngish guys, only in business for 4 years.  I will be glad to go back to them for anything.

They don't know I am writing this...

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Hmm...

I don't want it to sound all negative.  There are good points.  Dad appreciates my cooking.  I make him laugh with my rather casual references to his age and infirmities.  Yes, that can be funny.  We both know that neither of us will live forever, and when I make a joke about it, he can smile.

I don't mean that getting very old and staring death in the face is funny, but there are small things he can accept when I make light of them. 

He falls, and I say that I set the gravity meter wrong again.  When he struggles to sign his name on a check, I tell him I gave him the trick pen again.  When the cats get in the way of his feet, I say they just want him on the floor so he can give them scritchies.  When he sees his annuity check on the monthly bank statement, sometimes I ask him how long he thinks I can get away with it going in there after the Caddies take him to that great golf course in the sky.

Dad knows he is old and fading.  I know he is old and fading.  There isn't a way around that.  Perhaps the best thing I can do is just make things easier for him as long as I can.  A little humor helps.  And I am a bit surprised he smiles at my jokes.  I know what I am doing, and HE knows what I am doing.  He's not stupid, just old.

He is fading.  He's walking worse than when he arrived here 10 weeks ago.  He knows it is harder for him to even sign a check when I even write it out for him.  He knows he is sleeping in the chair in front of the TV (but not how much more often than 2 months ago).  He knows what being 90 means.

For the first time, he is examining the walker.  He asked if I would carry it outside for him to use.  "Would I" is almost insulting, but I know he doesn't mean it that way.  What he means is "I need this, and I know you will help me. WHEN I finally ask you."  I understand that.

I record some of his strangest statements, I take the few pictures I can.  I'm only trying to record his last days for family.  And hekp him the best I can.

I'm lucky in this.  I lived alone.  I was retired.  I was well-off myself.  I had free time.  I was the obvious right place for Dad to be in his final years until he needs professional assistance.  And that time is not yet.

That doesn't mean that Dad isn't often confused (and CONFUSING) a lot of times.  Helping him pay his bills is maddening sometimes.  But we get through it.  That doesn't mean that I wouldn't rather live alone again.  That doesn't mean that the cats wouldn't rather have just ME around.  I don't have to shove at them with a foot in order to get them out of my way like Dad does.  I mean, they really DO get in his way deliberately to seek attention.  THEY don't know he can't just walk around them like I do.

Dad has his brighter moments.  Today, he remembered the speed of light while I had an astronomy CD on, and I was surprised.  Sometimes, he sees the flaws in political arguments of his favored side (Republican).  Not often, but sometimes.  When he asked how I "monitored the deck for failure" (which confused me at first), he also understood that my 16" joists (every other joist double thick) made it less likely that the deck would fail and he felt easier about walking out on the deck.  I love those bright moments when he is still analytic...  There are thoughts in the old brain yet.  And I will keep engaging him in any areas he can still think about.

We continue, two aging guys living together as long as I can manage it...  Him seeing his past in me, and me seeing my future in him.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Immersion Blender

I mentioned my immersion blender on a friend's website, so I thought I would say what I like doing with mine...

Soup:  I like to make navy bean soup, and using the immersion blender briefly among the beans thickens it nicely.

Beef Stew:  Add and extra potato in chunks.  Pressing the immersion blender (IB) on those extra potato chunks 30 minutes before done thickens it nicely too.

Italian Dressing:  I make Italian dressing from dry mix envelopes.  You are supposed to "shake the contents".  Using the IB works better and the contents never separate!

1 cup blender attachment:  You want a great marinade/rub?  Add 3 cloves of peeled garlic, a 1/2" slice of peeled ginger, 1/4" slice of onion, and a dash of soy sauce.  Run it though the small blender attachment!  It is small enough not to just spray the contents against the inside walls.  The paste liquid flavor is absorbed into the meat wonderfully.  4 hours for chicken, 6 hours for pork, 8 hours for beef.

Cocktail Sauce?  1/4 c ketchup, 1 tblsp minced horseradish, 1 tblsp lemon juice, dash of hot sauce.  Blend 10 seconds.

Tartar Sauce?  1/4 c mayonaise, 1 tblsp pickle relish, 1 tsp lemon juice.


Gravy lumpy?  Use the IB to blend!

Want spaghetti sauce from canned diced tomatoes fast?  Use the IB on it and heat it in a nonstick skillet about 10 minutes!  But stir frequently.

I'm sure there are more uses, those are just the ones I use...

Monday, December 26, 2011

YAY!

Friends, among all the mediocre and even failing customer support staff, there sometimes appears a bright shining star.  One such person was granted to me this morning.

Jesus De Leon, of Verizon, is that person, and I applaud and salute him.  He fixed my email problem when the previous 5 Verizon agents could not.  For the first time since I switched from Comcast to Verizon, my email WORKS!  It took 2 days, 16 hours, and 5 Agents, but Mr. De Leon knew everything right. 

If you ever need Verizon internet email help, ask for him!

So my new email address is "cavebear2118 AT verizon DOT net".

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

An Idea

Hey, I'm over 60, living alone..  And it occurred to me that it would be a great idea to have some telephone or USB device that ya could just plug in and punch a button every day to say "I'm Still Alive" to some company who would visit if you didn't punch the button for 2 days.. 

I can't find one.  Does anyone know of one?

Thursday, June 23, 2011

The Plant Light Stand

I finally finished it.  The final steps were awful.  The 2-bulb fixtures had a metal strip that fitted into the center to hold the wires off the lights.  Fitting them back in place upside down drove me NUTS!!!  They just DIDN'T want to go in upside down.  They wanted gravity.  Or its opposite, levity...  There were slightly bent spots all along the strip and it made it nearly impossible to get them set back in place.


Getting the 1st one back in took 30 DAMNED minutes!  I was screaming in frustration.  Then I forced myself to calm down an examine the problem carefully.  There were some bent spots from removing them previously.    I have a parallel pliers, and used that to re-make the edges are straight as possible.  Eventually, I got the wire-holding metal strip back in place.

The 2nd one took only 15 minutes.  I was getting the trick of how it fit in.  Ans I did that 4 times.  The last time, I had to crawl onto the bottom shelf and stare 6" away from the fixture.  I can't see anything 6 inches away even WITH glasses.  I'm, farsighted.  I had to do it by touch.

Basically, you have to install the wire hold-up strips by squeezing them slowly along the entire length a little bit at  a time.  I was pleased when I finally completed that task!  Here is what the stand looks like now.
You can see it better from an angle.
 This shows the difference between the double 2 light fixtures and the single 4-light fixtures.
I have good storage on the top, and good storage on the shelves during the non-growing seasons, which is most of the year.

It was a longer project than I expected, but it will be great for many years to come.

You wouldn't believe how much my basement has been cramped out of place because of all this.  I'll sure be glad to get it back to order.  But that is for tomorrow!

But if I had it to do over again, I would have just made the whole thing 5' wide of 1/2" plywood 16" deep.  It would have been SO MUCH easier.  But, you go down a path and you are stuck on it sometimes. 

All in all, I am happy with it, and I am pretty sure it will outlast me.  Can't ask better than that, I suppose.  But I'll always think I could have done it both better and easier.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Cat Fence Enclosure Idea

Well, Ayla getting over the fence is difficult enough.  Today I saw Marley descending into the yard.  Unfortunately, I couldn't tell if he had tried and failed or was returning to the yard.  But it makes the requirement to keep them in the yard more urgent.

I've seen systems of nets attached to fences at angles, but the cost is high per foot and I have about 450 feet of 6' high backyard fence.  And I have seen where smooth hard plastic sheeting is attached to the upper 2' of fencing (which I suspect works well).  But that is also expensive.

So I have been pondering other, less expensive, designs.  I think I have one and want opinions on it.  It seems simple enough, but I haven't seen it on any "cat containment" sites.  I know I can construct it (it is uncomplicated but tedious).  My concerns are first, will it work, and second, is it safe.

I would provide a sketch, but my Mac doesn't seem to have a simple drawing program that can be saved in the formats demanded by Blogger.  I can't figure out how to do something so simple in Photoshop, and I can't save in the required formats from Word Art, Excel Draw, or Google Layout.  And Photoshop won't open those to change the format.

But it isn't complicated.  There is a 6' high alternate board wood fence.  I can buy vinyl coated wire mesh fence in 2'x50' rolls.  I will cut the rolls into 8' lengths and bend them 90 degrees the long way.  That gives an "L".  One part of the "L" gets attached to the fence, the other part makes a 1' wide "ceiling".  In case I'm describing it poorly, it would look something like this:

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I could bend the wire at 45 degrees upward if that improved anything.  The vinyl coated wire mesh costs only $27 for 2'x50' roll, is easy for a person to bend, but pretty stiff to a cat.  I've been using the stuff as plant supports and cages for years.  The vinyl couating makes it quite weatherproof.  I'm thinking 8' sections because that is the distance between fence posts, plus I have a couple of 8', 4"x4" posts I can use to bend it.  I can attach it with a heavy duty electric staple gun.

So, I'm looking for errors, and PLEASE don't hold back.  Tell me ANYTHING you think might cause a problem in construction, in safety for the cats, or safety of wildlife.  Or anything else.  I spent a career as a project manager where negative ideas where often the most important contributions from the team.

So, thoughts?

Monday, March 7, 2011

Seedstarting Fun

Is there a rule in life that nothing can ever just go smoothly?  I ask because I went to start my garden seedlings a couple of days ago and it was harder than it should have been.

Now, maybe I am fussy about my seed-starting, but I have 40 years experience at it and I know what works best.  You start seeds indoors, and you want sterile, unfertilized non-crusting soil. That means something called "seed starting soil".  It is finely sifted, loose, and no fertilizer that encourages fungal growth to kill the seeds.

It was time to start my tomatoes, peppers, etc.  The home stores did not have seed-starting soil available!  What???

 They said the demand wasn't high at this time of year.  But THIS is the time to start seeds!  The garden-department guy just looked at me weirdly, like maybe I was a communist.  After visiting 2 other home stores, I went home defeated.

But I checked my supplies.  Seed-starting soil is milled moss, vermiculite (or perlite), and sand.  I had the first two, but no sand.  And I found a bag of potting soil with almost no fertilizer (0.07%).  I made my own!

The potting soil and the sphagnum moss had chunks of stuff in it.  I tried using a kitchen sieve, but it was too fine.  The kitty litter scoop on the other hand worked GREAT (cleaned and dried).  3 parts sifted potting soil, 1 part sifted sphagnum moss, and 1 part vermiculite, well stirred, and I was in business! 

The sifted-out stuff will go in the regular potting mix for houseplants and outdoors containers.  They won't mind the extra material at all.

So I have my heirloom tomatoes, hybrid bell peppers, broccoli, and various annual flowers going just fine now.   The tomatoes, etc are upstairs where it is warm to germinate best.  The flowers are in the basement where THEY germinate best, and the petunias (that need light to germinate are under artificial "daylight" lights. 

At least the new season is started!

I guess that, in the future, I will have to buy my seed-starting soil later this year for next year!  Glad I have a storage shed...

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Busy, Busy

I'm glad to see the weather getting a bit better and the days longer.  I am finally becoming more active again!  The warmer weather is a bit of an anomaly (will have gotten above 60 three days this week if the forecast is accurate); the normal is 45 and we have been below that all month!  I can't wait for daylight savings time to start in under 4 weeks.  I don't schedule my day by sunlight, I schedule it by TV.  Hey, I LIKE late-night TV, so it staying lighter by the clock helps me get more done.

I've gotten more done this week so far than most whole weeks in darker Winter.  I can't really say "Seasonally Affected Disorder" because I have never sought a medical diagnosis, but I know the symptoms and they fit me.  I just assume I have a moderate case of it.

So, it is Wed night.  What did I accomplish the past 3 days?  (This isn't a competition, just a personal list)

1.  5 loads of laundry.
2.  Make a quart of spaghetti sauce from scratch.  Well, OK, I didn't grow the vegetables.  If you really want to say "from scratch", you have to start with "1. Created The Universe".  You know what I mean.
3.  Found 3 bags of unused Spring Bulbs (crocus, daffodil, and tulips) and potted them up.  I used all the pots of various soils leftover from last Fall.  They are stashed outside covered against squirrel attack.  There aren't enough "chill days" left this Winter, so I will have to make room in the basement refrigerator in late March to make up for the delay in planting.
4.  Bought hardware to hang drapes across the Mews Room wall to hide vacuum cleaners, carpet cleaner, boxes of surplus linens, cases of cat food, boxes of old magazines I want to keep, my telescope-on-tripod, and "other stuff".  That doesn't mean just attaching a curtain rod.  I'll explain that when I actually install it in a few days.
5.  Cleaned up part of the basement.  Much more to go, but I made a good dent in it.
6.  Collected boxes to bring to the recycle center. 
7.  Tied up 5 bundles of newspapers to bring to the recycle center.
8.  Read a week's worth of newspapers (I get behind sometimes).
9.  Stacked 15 tubs of used kitty litter behind the car so that I can load it Thursday to bring to the landfill.  That's not as bad as it seems.  The kitty litter is tied in plastic bags in the tubs the new litter came in.  In the cold garage, in the tightly-lidded tubs, there is no smell at all. 
10. Took, uploaded, processed, cropped and resized about 300 cat pictures.
11.  Reorganized all my garden seeds in my "numbered vial system" to add the new ones and get all the scatterred types together.  Now all my tomatoes are together, my lettuces together, etc.  Retyped the entire list and printed it out in triplicate so there cannot be any confusion.
12.  Spent AT LEAST 1 full hour each night with 1 or more cats napping on my lap.  Equal amount of time tossing cat toys around and playing with the cats too.
13.  Wrote a long letter to Dad.
14.  Contacted 14 catalog companies to arrange for them to stop killing trees in order to send me paper catalogs I don't want.
15.  Visited home store to get prices and available materials for several projects:
- A.  Computer paper storage rack.  I have letter paper, copy paper, card stock, photo stock, color paper, small paper, lamination sheets, etc.  Currently all just in one big stack.
- B.  Pressure-treated plywood for making new sides for the hauling trailer.  It has an open metal frame, but to haul topsoil, mulch, etc, it needs solid sides and bottom.  I used exterior plywood 5 years ago, but it is about rotted.
- C.  Hardboard/masonite for topping my workbench and radial saw top.
- D.  PVC for making a cat hammock frame.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Snowblower

My purchase of a fancy snowblower in October has been paying off well!  Here around Washington DC, we have had three 1" snowfalls so far.  We barely missing some serious snowfalls!  I take all the credit for that.

The snow demons KNOW I now have a serious snowblower and they avoid the area just to spite my desire to try it out...

It's like when I watch a local sports team.  If I watch, they lose.  If I don't watch, they win.  If they are winning and I turn on the game in the middle, they immediately fall apart and lose.

So my ownership of the snowblower should provide assurance to the rest of the DC area.

Cash donations from grateful local residents are encouraged...

UPDATE:  I just heard that 71% of the US is covered with snow.  Consider THAT you people who deny climate change...  The only State free of it is Florida and their usual crops are dying.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Garden (And Other) Catalogs

For years I received dozens of gardening catalogs.  I never knew much about which ones were good companies except by trial and error.  Fortunately, a few years ago, I discovered a website dedicated to catalog company evaluation by serious gardeners.  You can find it HERE

The site offers its Top 30 Rated Garden Catalog Companies, the newest comments, and a way to search for any other garden catalog to see their rating/comments.   I have found it to be a wonderful way of evaluating companies and finding new good sources.

Getting a lot of gardenomg catalogs with poor ratings and you want to stop receiving them (or any other particular types of catalogs)?  I have learned ways of doing this.

First, you can go to Catalog Choice.  You have to set up an account, but it is free and I can't detect that I have gotten any spam as a result.  They have a list of catalog companies.  You click on the company, enter some address label information, and they contact the company that you don't want that catalog.  It is voluntary for the company, but MOST of them comply (they don't want to waste money sending you a catalog you actively don't want).  I would guess I've had about a 75% success rate.  Plus, if your unwanted catalog company isn't on their list, they will add it AND let you know when it is available for cancelling.  Some just will not remove you from their list, but I have really cut down on the number of unwanted catalogs I receive.

Second, if you go directly to the company's website, look for their Privacy Policy.  There is almost always an "unsubscribe" option in there.  That has been successful, even for companies that do not respond to Catalog Choice requests.  Perhaps they are more legally or policy bound to honoring direct requests.

Third, if you are receiving a catalog you like, but don't really need to receive it every month (face it, some products and prices just don't change that often), some companies will allow you to change the frequency of mailing.  Changing it from once a month to twice a year saves throwing out a lot of catalogs.  Who doesn't want to save a few trees?

Fourth, you may be getting the same wanted catalog twice.  Companies sometimes get your address in different forms and don't know they are sending you 2 or 3 of the same one.  It is worth checking the address labels.  Even slight differences can fool a company.  Look for a Customer ID on the label.  Many, but not all, have those. If you see different ones and want the catalog, cancel the others.  The companies usually have a "duplicate mailing" option for cancellation.  They respond to that reason very well.

Hope this helps...

Looking Up

 While I was outside with The Mews, I laid back and looked up.  I thought the tree branches and the clouds were kind of nice. Nothing import...