University of Maryland Men's Basketball Team

It was a real NCAA Tournament thriller.   MD started out so badly, I stopped watching for a while.  But just before the halftime, I returned and they were only a few points behind.  The second half went back and forth, a few points up a few points down.  It came down to single points changes right at the end.  

I should mention that Maryland has had wretchedly bad luck with close games this season.  They lost 7 games, and 6 were in the last 10 seconds.  Normally, a team would win about half of super-close games.  Not Maryland.  It was like the Grim Reaper was stalking them.

So their opponent was 2 points behind and sank a 3-point shot with 3.5 seconds left to play.  So Maryland in-bounded to ball and the player who got it had to shoot immediately.  He sank the shoot beautifully.  Maryland won!

Sometimes there is justice and mercy in sports.  😂

I feel sorry for the other team, but Maryland suffered that kind of loss too many times this season.  It was time for some luck!

 

Grocery-Shopping

After I went to the eyeglass place Wensday, I had some food-shopping to do.  One place is Nick's, which is a small combination liquor/butcher/deli store with a small amount of fresh produce and some canned/jarred goods.  It has a mainly Italian food orientation.   

They always have some meats on sale, trimmed and custom-cut.  Among this week's sale was Delmonico at $10.99/lb.  I bought half on one cut 1" thick.  I'll divide those in half and freeze them individually.  4 oz of steak is all I need at dinner (surrounded by several veggies and a salad).  Bought 2 lbs of large frozen shrimp for $10.99.  

Their small produce row is nice.  Only place I can find truly ripe Golden Delicious apples.  And I know they sell certain produce (celery hearts, bell peppers, summer squash) at much better prices than my Safeway store, so I buy those there.  And they are the only place I can find good eggroll wrappers.  And Claussen pickles.

They also accept special orders of wine by the case (and at a discount).  In order 4 cases at a time of Mondavi Private Selection 750 ml Merlot.  They call me when the order arrives and even load it for me when I pick it up.  The store manager even knows me by name.  Well, I buy mostly filet mignon, ribeye, and delmonico.  So he ought to remember me!  😁. But really, he is friendly to his customers (and a good businessman).

One odd thing about the wine orders...  Most of the liquor staff just write down my choice/name/phone number in a small receipt pad.  But there is this one guy who insists I write it down for him.  Well, my printing is not great these days, and trying to do it on a shopping cart handle is worse.  

So I sat down and typed the info into Word.  Copied it 5 times in a page, printed it, sliced the copies up, and put them in my wallet.  Tried one out Wensday.  The guy looked at it and said "that works".

I stopped buying from their deli counter though.  When Boar's Head deli meats were recalled last year, they wouldn't stop using that as their main meat source.  And I don't trust Boar's Head deli meats anymore.

My other store is Safeway.  There are 2 in town, so I just go to whichever is more on my errand path.  The have the best produce section I've found.  And I can download digital coupons to my store loyalty card.  They have really good discounts on those.

Their meat is ridiculously expensive, yet sometimes kind of tough (which I why I get mine at Nick's).    Their deli meats are more expensive, but they don't sell Boar's Head, so I trust it better.  And since my lunch is a half sandwich (surrounded by celery/carrot/cucumber/pickle sticks), the higher cost doesn't mean much.

Safeway also gives "points" for purchases.  You can use them on your grocery bill, but I have never figured out how the calculate that.  But they have their own gas station and sometimes I accumulate enough points to get 50 cents off per gallon.  That's nice!  

So I got home and put all the groceries away.  Took an hour.  Today will be cooking day for sausage, mixing day for meatloaf, and storing day for uncooked steak.  I should explain that.  I pre-cook sausage, chicken and pork and freeze them.  I never pre-cook steak!  Steak needs that "fresh from the grill or air-fryer taste" taste...

It was a good shopping day!  

Eyeglasses - Good News

 I brought the frame and newly-popped lenses to the For Eyes store yesterday and explained why to them.  I said the situation had gotten ridiculous and they probably owed me a replacement.  To my astonishment, both people at the order/repair desk immediately agreed.  No fuss, no debate, no fight...  😌

I asked if I needed to consider plastic frames, but they said no.  And one said they (the lens-makers) probably ground the lenses slightly too small, so they didn't entirely fill up the space.  I asked what made them think that.

Well, apparently it does happen often enough that they notice it.  And 2nd, the screws in the frame were still tight.  The lens shouldn't have been able to just pop out.  The replacement will be free.  The bad news is that it will take up to 2 weeks.  I'm glad I keep my old glasses!

But it means this problem may go away.  😄

Eyeglasses

The new glasses keep dropping a lens out.  I had to visit the store again Friday.  The other lens fell out the next day.  I'll visit again tomorrow.  But this is 5 times in 4 months.  I think it is time they simply replace them.  

I would accept plastic frames.  They aren't as adjustable over the ears, but the lenses stay in better as there is no screw to come loose.

I would use a toothpick to put a small dab of superglue in a couple of spots in the frame and on the frame screws.  But my fingers are too uncertain these days.  The store refuses to do that.

The store tried to suggest it is because my lenses are thick.  C'mon, my uncorrected vision is 20/40.  That's not exactly "coke bottle" lenses.  I can read the computer monitor even without them.  The newspaper is harder though.

One of the maddening parts about this is that I kept my glasses from 2014.  And it was nearly the same prescription.  I only got new ones because 2014 lenses had become abraded/cloudy due to a decade of going in and out of shirt pockets!  And I wanted some recommended features like U/V protections, anti-blue reduction, and scratch-resistance.  

ARGGGHHH!

Best Gadgets

I don't mean jets, cars, and medical equipment.  I mean those simple minor things in life...

1.  Wine foil-cutters.  And the electric cork remover.  LOVE that thing!

2.  My drill auger.  Fits into any electric drill.  Couldn't plant many bulbs without it!

3.  LED bulbs.  My electric co-op sends them for free to reduce energy usage.  And I haven't had to replace a bulb for years using them.  And they don't care if you turn them on and off.  

4.  Spray bottles.  Large one for misting my plants.  Small food-grade ones for olive oil.

5.  Square-drive screws.  Not slot-heads, not even phillip's heads.  These have a square in the top.  The square-drive screwdriver doesn't slip loose.  Second best is hex-head screws.

6.  Teflon pans.  I have cast iron, stainless steel, and glass ones, and I use them.  But Teflon is so great for gentle cooking.

7.  The Jar Opener.  Mine is a triangle with serrated edges and a handle.  It opens anything.

8.  The mechanical can opener.

I can't find the exact image, but this is close enough.  You turn a bar at the top, and then a clip pulls the top off.  The electric types need to be hand-cleaned each use.  This one just goes on the top shelf of the dishwasher.

9.  "Very fine" felt-tipped pens.  These write in my small check register spaces.  A ball-point can't.

10.  Knitted Cotton Underwear.  Not to be too personal, but when I went rom "tighty-whities" to those, I got a whole new world of comfort!

11.  Small Calculators.  The first desktop types were a wonder, but pocket-sized is great!  I have a small plastic container "shopping kit". In it is a hand sanitizer, a small tissue pack, some twist-ties, and a calculator.  Because the stores sometimes label similar products in ounces or pounds and I don't divide by 16 in my mind easily.

12.  My Kitchen Scale.  I buy some meat in bulk and then cook it.  Then slice and divide it.  If I want portions in only 4 ounces, the scale helps greatly.  Putting a plastic container on it and hitting "On Zero". eliminates the container weight.  And I use it for other things.  

13.  Potato-Slicing Device.  

OK, this is for something called a Hasselback Potato you slice mostly through and then bake.  But it is great for slicing anything thinly.  I cut a small bit of plastic to fit the bottom and I can slice all the way through a tomato.

14.  The Bread Slicer.  Like the item above it allows me to cut my loaf into perfect slices.  

15.  The Back-Hanging Aquarium Pump.  I used to use those inside cotton-filled filters that had to have the filler replaced every few days.  And it tended to trp my fancy guppies babies.  The outside-hanging one has washable filters easily removed and rinsed clean.

And a tight intake filter that saves the small new-born guppies.

16.  Headband Magnifying Glasses.  I sometimes need more resolution than my reading glasses will provide.  I have a 10X jeweler loupe that is better, but I have to hold it it one hand when needing 2 hands free.  So my headband frees both hands.

   

17.  Bar Clamps.  

I don't know who invented these things, but I couldn't live without them.  They are designed for clamping wood-working projects, but they are useful in all kinds of ways.  I had a walking shoe where the tip of the sole was separating.  I had some "shoe glue" but that can be tricky to hold the sole in place.  

So a put a shoe tree into the shoe, applying the "shoe glue" to the separated sole, and then clamped several small bar clamps to the shoe using the shoe tree are "firmness".  Worked like a charm!

And some can be reversed to use as "spreaders".  Weirdly helpful sometimes.

18.  The Orange Peeler.  

Such a simple thing.  But it really works.  The top edge cuts just through the peel (I do it in 8 cuts), and the bottom curve fits under the peel to separate the cut peel off!  

I think that is enough for today, LOL!

Changing The Clocks And Watches

As I said yesterday way more briefly than I intended to (I meant to go back and add a lot more Saturday evening) I love Daylight Saving Time.  It was nice yesterday to still have it being daylight a 7 PM.  The Mews can't tell anything happened; they like on suntime, not clocktime.

But the first day is always annoying with all the clock adjustments.  I'm kind of clock-obsessed.  I wear a wristwatch.  Every room has at least one wall clock.  The kitchen has 2 wall clocks, an oven clock, a M/W clock, and the basement has 2 wall clocks.  And the car has a clock.  In fact, I discovered that even my thermostat has a clock!

Fortunately, a few years ago, I bought a bunch of radio-signal controlled wall clocks.  Those automatically adjust daily as well as for DST.  A couple others have buttons to change for DST/EST.  The clocks on the oven, M/W, and car are easy enough to change (just press an "hour" button).

The hard part is the wristwatch.  It does too many things to make the DST change easy.  Time of course, but alarms, hourly chimes, stopwatch (upcount), timer (downcount), time-zone change adjustment, and something called "split-time", etc!

And it has 4 buttons to control various features in different sequences.  Utterly maddening.  And the pamphlet print is tiny, so I have to wear my headband magnifier to read it.  

I actually had less trouble this year.  I'm good with instructions, but these instructions are foreign-written, so of course some of the sentences aren't very well-written.  There is no automatic DST sequence, so I have to change the time as a "correction".  

It took several tries to manage that (even though it seemed to me I ta the exact same thing the first couple of times.  But I got it moved 1 hour ahead.  😀

And with that success, I decided to try a few other corrections.  It beeps at me for a full minute at midnight as some kind of alarm setting.  I think the watch came with that setting.  I learned a few weeks ago that pressing the D button shuts it off for that day, but it does it again the next.  So, I tried the instructions for shutting the feature off entirely.  I'll find out if that worked later tonight.

But now it goes "beep-beep" on each hour.  Not horribly annoying, but I would like to shut that off too.  I'll have to pull out the instruction pamphlet again later today.

When my previous replacement watch died after about 10 years, I tried to replace it with another that was equally simple.  No matter how cheap a watch I looked at, they all come filled with features and buttons I din't want to deal with.  I only want 2 things from a watch.  First that it keep accurate time.  Second that I can read it in sunlight.  OK, one additional simple DST/non-DST button would be nice too.

I bought my current watch because it didn't mention all those timer/alarm features, but it had them anyway.  😖

I sure miss the digital Phasar wristwatch my Dad bought me when I was about 16.  It kept perfect time, only told me the time/day/date, and had a great clear display.  It lasted 40 years!  OK, it needed a new battery every 3 or 4 years and a jeweler had to replace a chip twice.  But sadly there came a day when he couldn't find the chip anymore.  😢

So I've been suffering with these stupid over-complicated watches ever since!

Well, at least it will be 8 months before I have to go through this AGAIN...

Daylight Saving Time

Yay!  An extra hour of daylight for me.  Well, I get up late, so morning light is just wasted on me.  But 6 pm sunset suddenly becomes 7 pm sunset.  I love it!  😍

I know some people don't like it, but I sure do...

Emerging Daffodils

The earliest established daffodils are up.  Not blooming yet, but leaves about 4" high.

They will look like this soon.

I expected the gradual emergence about now.  My excitement is that some of the ones I planted in early Winter are showing up.  Planting was delayed because they arrived late, the weather was cold, it was a new spot, I needed to cover the spot with brown packing paper (to smother grass), shovel several inches on 50-50 compost/topsoil on top of that, my hip hurt, and I had to drill 250 holes.  The drill auger helped...

Because they were planted late and Spring bulbs need a certain amount of "chill time" to get out of dormancy and develop roots, I wasn't sure if they would emerge this year or just sulk until next year (if ever recovering).

So I am pleased to say that at least 25 (so far) have sent up leaves.  That suggests that more are on their way up.  I check each day and see a few newer leaves each time.  

Yay!  😁

Glasses Lens Loose Again

The right lens popped out again.  Fourth time in the four months since I bought them.  It's maddening.  There's no logic to it.  Last time, the technician said the frame screw wasn't loose, the lens just didn't fit the frames well.  This time a different technician said she added "screw-lock" to the screw hole.  Screw lock is tiny metal scrapings in oil that get crushed around a screw when it tightens to help hold it into place better.  Apologies if you knew that, but I never know who knows what.

I can't decide which to do if the lens comes out again.  I could fuss with the store about a free replacement (maybe in a plastic frame).  Or I could put on some latex gloves, grab a toothpick, and carefully superglue the damn lens in place!

My 2014 eyeglasses lens seldom fell out.  About once a year when the frame screw became loose.  And when one did, it was a simple matter to use my magnifying headstrap and jeweler's screwdriver to replace and retighten it.  

But I can't seem to tighten the screw on the new frame.  Even my magnifying headstrap isn't clear.  Maybe it is a hex-head or square-inset type.  I'll have to get out my jeweler's loupe to see it better.  Yeah, I have some weird stuff, LOL!

I'm glad my prescription hasn't changed much since 2014.  The old glasse are about the same as the new ones, but the old ones are a bit abrded from years of being kept in my shirt posket.  But I can still read a newspaper or the computer monitor with them.  They function when the lens of the new one pops out...

  

University Of Maryland Basketball

University teams have good seasons and bad ones.  This year has been good for both the Men's and Women's team.  They are in the "Big 10 Conference", but it actually has 18 teams these days.  The Conference Tournament ended yesterday.   

Both teams ended up the #4 seeded teams.  Which means they both get 2 "bye" days.  Which means lower-seeded teams have to fight it out for 2 rounds before Maryland even has to compete.  Which means no "early-out" and a couple days of rest and practice.

Both teams have been on fire the last couple of weeks, beating ranked teams.  I suspect both will reach the championship games.  Maybe one will even win.  I will be watching...

Go Terps!

I sometimes have to laugh at such an odd mascot.  I mean, a turtle?  But the University of MD started as an Agricultural College.  And we DO have a lot of terrestrial turtles around here.  Not too hot in Summer, not too cold for hibernating in Winter.  So I suppose it fits...  And I suppose enough Universities have Eagles, Falcons, Panthers, and Lions as mascots already.  As far as I can tell, as a mascot, "Testudo" (the diamond-backed turtle) is unique to the University.

There is a large 4' bronze statue of Testudo (in a normal turtle position) in front of the university library.  Students frequently rub the nose before going to take exams for good luck.  

I'm not REAL big on sports in general.  But if I watch them, it might as well be a local team.  LOL!

The Mews

I have mentioned this briefly before, but I want to elaborate...

Dring the day, I feed them, let them go outside and kind of keep s watch over them.   When they are inside, I toss toys and let them sit on my lap when I watch TV.  They are usually around me somewhere in the main living areas.

After sunset, I count them to make sure they are all inside, safe from "whatevers"

But there is a time after dinner when they all seem to want a nap.  It is a quiet time.  They each have some special places they prefer, but it is not always the same places each evening.  

So I get out of the chair and walk around the house quietly.  Four cats, maybe a dozen typical places for them.  I just walk around to look at them at peace.  It soothes my sometimes contentious mind.

Seeing a cat asleep is a peaceful thing.  I'm sure they know I am there (you can't sneak up on a cat even when it is asleep).  But they trust me enough to not even wake up fully.  I think that is wonderful.

So I go around the house, finding where they are and just looking at them trusting in the shelter of the house, stuffed full of food, and feeling safe.

I am sometimes amazed that these essentially wild creatures can live with me.  Dogs came to us as wolves for food scraps and we slowly changed them.  Other animals were forcibly tamed.  Cats don't really need us, but they seem to like us.  They are what they were millennia ago.  OK, a bit of fur-color changes, but the body of a cat is the same as it was.  

I let mine outside several times a day.  I have a tall 6' dog-proof fence.  They seem to understand that it defines our territory.  The younger ones can get up on the fence top, but they seldom go over it.  They know where "we" belong.  

So, when I walk around the house at dark, I'm just looking at them and marveling.  They are here by choice.  They could leave and find a new home anytime.  I'm not saying I am a perfect human, but apparently I'm "good enough" for them.  I like that...