Back, Maybe

 I hate computer problems.  Well, who loves them other that repair-people?  I've solved some of them (I hope).  Email is still bad, but I can read my cavebear address on AOL and the marksmews and yardenman ones on apple (but still can't reply from them).  I got my RAM increased from 8 GB to 16.  Took a onsite tech guy 2 hours and I couldn't have done that myself in any length of time.  It took some really special tools and a steady hand.

I can't swear that the RAM increase helped, but it sure can't hurt.  And I am still fighting to connect a new color toner printer with no success.  But that doesn't prevent me from blogging...

More importantly, it seems I have solved the routine involuntary shutdowns for now.  It was due to outdated apps.  Not that I don't update them when suggested, but some aren't good at telling you that.  And possibly an outdated external hard drive.  I've disconnected it for now.

But, for all practical purposes, I am back.

I didn't waste my "time off".  I got my covid booster shot.  I reorganized my basement planting shelves.  I collected every unused box in the house and stacked them within each other (I had a LOT sitting around).  

I finally received the 3 acrylic tabletop covers I ordered in November.  One for the new dining table to show off the detail work on the top, and 1 each for the 2 computer tables (Easier cleaning).  I have one older computer offline for games and security (I keep my passwords in an Excel file there - "they" can't hack an offline computer).  One came damaged though.  Naturally, for the dining table.  

If it was on a computer table cover, I would have set it to the back and ignored it.  But you can't hide anything on a dining table.  The manufacturer is sending a replacement in a week. 

They don't want the damaged piece back.  I can actually use it.  I do stuff with plastic sometimes, and I can cut it apart for topping some tool stands and such.  And an acrylic cover for my gardening table makes it relatively waterproof.

I spent some time researching flowerbed catalogs.  One specializes in self-sowing annuals.  Another offers both large collections of perennial plants and seed packets for pollinators, deer-resistance, and at good prices.

I've learned that perennials can be difficult to grow to flowering from seeds.  Many take 3-5 years to finally bloom.  Most places want about $6 per plant.  This place offers them $3-4 per plant (In large quantities).  Well, I have 500 sq ft to fill, so large quantities is good.  So, I'm spent time deciding of the individual plants (there are about 4 dozen to choose among).  

I covered more weed-vine areas with box cardboard.  I'll leave it there until they are dead.  It doesn't look great, but the vines have caused problems for years so months or even a year is worth it.  Ive tried digging and I've tried spraying with organic stuff, but it hasn't worked.

I've been researching refrigerators and chest freezers.  My old basement refrigerator (basically a root-cellar and freezer is failing.  It is so old, the value of the food I keep in it is probably less than the cost of running it.  I chipped off 4" of frost in the refrigerator section the other dasy.  

So the upstairs one goes to the basement and I get a new one for upstairs...  And a small basement chest freezer for long-term storage.  I buy large chunks of meats on good sales and then divide them into 4 oz bits for future use.

I got the aquarium renovated!  It was a sad mess.  Fish-shit all over the bottom, algae on the sides, plastic plants looking real dull and old...  That took an hour a day for 2 weeks.  I have a gadget that siphons debris .  Large 2" mouth.  You get the tube siphoning and stick the mouth into the sand.  It sucks up the fish shit.   You lift it and and the heavy sand falls out.  Then move it to the next spot. 

There are a LOT of "spots" in a 30 gallon aquarium; it was tedious.  And the fish-shit moves around as you do it.  So you have to wait for it to settle and do it again.  Took days to get the sand mostly cleaned. It's "OK" now.  "OK" is a lot better than "horrible". 

Had it been Summer, I would have netted all the fish into a smaller older aquarium for a few days, and drained the big one to hose the sand clean, bleach it mildly, and then overfill it several times to eliminate the bleach.  Then  let it stand inside again with water to age a couple days.  I might in Summer.

But for now, I have live plants set into the sand and I need them to grow roots.  And I want the youngest batch of fancy guppies to grow large before I restock it with some larger mid-level community fish (cherry barbs and serpa tetras) so they won't get eaten.  

I have been cutting saved big cardboard boxes into 2" strips.  Those are to cover the paths in my garden in order to smother weeds.  I'm saving the biggest pieces to smother vines in parts of the flowerbeds.  Things kind of got out of control last year..

Got Lori to the vet for rabies and follow-up shots.  I just tell them "whatever shots" they think best.  In 50 years of cats, I've never had one that had a problem with any shots, so "OK".  She is soon to get spayed.  But they want her to go into heat once to establish an in-between time for an easier operation.  THAT is new to me; vets always used to do it just by age.  Well, whatever is "better" is good.  Vets learn better ways through time like every other profession.

I did other routine stuff.  Kept the birdfeeders filled, cooked, cleaned the basement a bit.  Not like I was sitting on my butt watching TV.  Fought with the computer...

Probably some other stuff that escapes me at the moment...

But I think we are pretty much "more functional" again.

A Political Post

This is a political screed,  If you don't want to read one, here are cute kitty pictures...  They are from Duck Duck Go so they seem safe.

President Biden gave one hell of a direct speech today.  I agree with everything he said.  And what he said HAD to finally be said out loud...

The US has 2 effective political parties.  

One favors the right of all citizens to vote; the other does not.  

One favors helping people who struggle for food and shelter; the other does not.  

One  favors making insanely rich people and companies actually pay some taxes; the other does not.

One recognizes science and expertise as a basis of national policy; the other does not.

One  wants to govern rationally for the common good; the other does not.

One favors "uplift"; the other says "give me what I can take from others".

One is Democratic; the other is Republican Trumpist and cowards who fear him about their jobs...

I am not specifically Democratic or party-specific.  I used to vote for Progressive Republicans when there were any.  I'll vote for anyone who wants to help others rather than just seek power for themselves.  Good intent and goals matter to me...

So here's the thing I am concerned about.  Democracy is hard won and easily lost.  Democracy demands agreement to social norms, a collective acceptance of many unwritten rules, and rational discussion of proposed and existing laws.

Perhaps more to the point, Democracy requires the acceptance of fair votes and that the majority generally rules.

US Democracy is under attack both externally and internally.  I am concerned here about the internal.

Politics is not "just" politics as if it was a game to win.  At it's best, it is a judgement of the voters of a direction to go, a means to agreed-upon ends.  We choose between leaders who promise to improve the national infrastructure or the one who promises a better economy.  We can't always get both at the same time.

But lately, there has developed a contest between those who try to do "generally beneficial" things and those who want benefits "just for themselves and friends".  Tghe latter aere self-named "Trumpists".  Trump admires autocrats like Putin because he wants to rule as Putin does.  The Russian State is an autocratic oligarchy and Trumps loves that.

So these next few years in US politics is a struggle between autocratic oligarchies and ruke by citizens,  This struggle for democracy COULD be lost.  It has happened elsewhere in time and place usually with a failure of democracy eventually.  It happens when people become afraid.  It happens when people fear their neighbors.  It happens when we lose a sense of collective purpose of "the people decide"...

We in the US are not particularly "special".  Yeah, we like to think so, but we are not.  On June 21, 1788, the final State ratified The Constitution and it became a governing document.  It was an experiment.  As Benjamin Franklin said "A Republic if you can keep it".  

"Keeping it" is the hard part and the idea is under threat.  There are too many who seek office or influence today just for power.  And a desire for power for it's own sake is a threat to Democracy.  Desire for power can be national or down to school boards.  

Or State election officials. And there's the rub.  Democracy needs dedicated thoughtful caring people, not loud angry fanatics with one issue on their plate.  A successful working Democracy has a variety of participants representing a variety of views, who can discuss them rationally.  

When some people start threatening those who are legitimately doing lawful work like managing legitimate elections and representing rational social norms, it is a problem that has to be faced and contested.

Trumpism has to be eliminated.  It is threat to the foundations of US Democracy.  It is the idea that a false claim can be successful by repetition of suggestion.  It is the Mussolini promise that "the trains will run on time if you just let me control everything else".  It is the Hitler claim that he would restore a fading nation to glory.  Autocrats offer everything to their followers in exchange for their freedom.  

We can't surrender to that easy and false promise of silent loss of freedom in return for "the trains run on time".

I once thought that, if Trump won in 2016, I would leave the US.  That was too hard.  And we didn't really know then the depths to which Trump would sink.

We do now.  

Today, the Congress arranged a meeting to recognize an attack on the US Government.  It has been done before and generally all Members attend.  This time, not a single Republican attended.  That says something.

I became an adult in the late 70s.  Demonstrations were a norm.  And often successful.  It may be time (if Trump is returned to office) to start those again.  Imagine 100,000 old bald fat baby boomers pushing on The White House fences.  LOL!  But it could work...

Here is a scenario to think about.  The Republican gain control of the House in 2022.  They name Trump the Speaker of the House.  The Speaker doesn't HAVE to be a Congressperson...

Then they impeach Biden and Harris.  Guess who is 3rd in line?  Trump.

Struggling

 The old printer just STOPPED.  The new one doesn't want to connect.  Nor does the new wireless keyboard.  It says the battery needs to charge it and trying what it says isn't working.  Ive gone back to the old one.  Same with the mouse.  

I am nearly drowned in cables.  Bought several new ones and adapters.  They work for my older stuff.

But adapters on adapters to connections isn't good.  I really must upgrade the devices to go the newest ports.  Maybe a post-Xmas gift to myself.  

At some point, I suppose a monitor gets too old.  An external hard drive  gets too old (it won't load a CD). No device lasts forever.  Some times there can be be too many adaptors.  Time to visit Amazon...

But I'm annoyed.  Nothing was wrong with the old stuff.  Just connections changed.  

Update.  Got the old printer working.  But can't recall what I was so desperate to print.  Some computer instructions... New printer details...  

Looking Back On 2021

2021 had its ups & downs...

1.  Jan 2nd started the year off badly.  That was the evening when I fell off the top of the extension ladder trying to help Laz out of a tree.  I know, cats will get down.  But it was sunset, it was cold, it was getting ready to rain, and there are large owls in the area.  Laz was crying for help and that would have gotten some attention.

I paid a stiff price for my assistance!  I got Laz loose from the branch he was on and lifted him toward me.  He grabbed the branch again, so I basically pulled myself off the ladder getting him loose again.  When I realized I was too far off-balance, I tossed him to one side, tried to grab the ladder and failed.  I don't like heights, so some vertigo may have been involved too.

I don't recall the fall, and not much about landing.  A vague feeling of falling against a wall...  I think I passed out briefly.  Well, it was darker, but not by much.  But I couldn't move.  I yelled for a while, but who is outside in cold weather in the dark?  

I was able to push myself (on my stomach) slowly toward the house.  I am glad I had left the basement door open (for Laz to run into if he panicked and wriggled free of my grip).  I THINK it took about 15 minutes to get 30' or so into the basement.

I couldn't crawl up the basement stairs, so I spent the night  in my jacket on a pile of brown shipping paper (saved to smother weeds).  In the morning, I crawled up the stairs, managed to get out of the jacket, peed (it was black), and forced myself onto the bed.  

I haven't had worse pain trying to move (I've led a lucky life).  I'll spare you the details, but getting in and out of bed was an adventure.  It was a full day or 2 (can't recall) before I could stand up with help from furniture and walls.  At least that told me I had no broken bones. 

My first goal was "feed the cats".  I store kibble in large jars, so I just dumped one on the floor in a pile.  Drank a lot of water.  Wasn't hungry myself.  I was using a camera tripod for support (broke it).  Eventually, it occurred to me my computer char had wheels so I used it as a wheelchair.

I tend to heal fast and I thought it was just "sore muscles".  But after another day I realized I needed help and called 911.  A hospital transport crew arrived and carried me outside into an ambulance and off we went.  I'm lucky they had a bed available.  

I got x-rayed, cat-scanned, and MRI'd.  Fortunately, I was mentally OK.  Even generally physically better than expected.  I had 4 broken ribs and a dislocated clavicle but otherwise OK.  No internal bleeding, apparent organ damage, or anything like that.  I still couldn't move much.  They brought me home the next morning even though they need to vcarry me up the stairs.

I fully understood that I could easily have died in the fall.  A slightly different angle of landing could have been either fatal or permanently handicapped me.  In a certain way, I now count my years as an extension of the fall.  But even when things go badly, I am lucky.

Then the bruises showed up.  They were spectacular!   I was basically deep purple from my lower back to my upper back thighs to around my hips. 

A day later, I realized I couldn't function without help.  I opened the computer room window and sat in the chair waiting to see anyone outside.  My across-the-street neighbor lady and her (son?) came out and I yelled for help.  They came running right over.  Fortunately, the front door was still unlocked from the ambulance drivers brought me back. 

I explained what had happened and she volunteered immediately.  I knew her and hubby only barely, but she didn't hesitate.  She fed the cats, fed me (I have home-made meals I freeze so she M/W one), cleaned the cat litter boxes, offerred to take me to any Dr appointments, got my mail and newspapers, took out the trash, gave me her phone number for any other help I needed, did some laundry, did some light cleaning of the kitchen and loaded/ran the dishwasher.  

She asked for my front door key, but I suggested she take the garage door opener from the car visor.  Because I would hear that and know she was there.  Besides, my front door is a problem to open.  That garage-opener idea worked wonderfully!

She asked for a grocery and prescription list and went shopping for me.  She brought me to a couple of Dr appointments.  She called daily to see how I was doing.  Her hubby works at a storage company, and they have all sorts of odd abandoned things, so she had him bring me a walker.  WOW did that make a difference!  I was just barely able to move around (holding furniture and walls even 2 weeks after, but that walker sure helped.

I will NEVER forget how much they both helped me.  Some other neighbor who responded to my yell for help might have responded and helped "some".  But no one could have done more.  She considered it a "mission".

After a month, I could drive.  I tested it carefully in the driveway going up and down.  My feet worked fine, my hands worked fine, and my reflexes were normal.  In the grocery store, the cart worked well as a "walker".  I could manage stairs again, so I was cleaning the litterboxes.  I was cooking again.  A lot of me still hurt, but I was basically functional again.  The bruises were gone.  Getting in and out of bed was still a bit awkward, but that faded over time.

The next time my neighbor came over, I handed her a loaf of home-made bread.  Little in return for all the help, but it was a gesture.  And I make REALLY good bread.  When I attend a family dinner and ask what to bring, they say "your bread"!  Well, it's from a bread machine, but I use beer instead of water, and add a lot of garlic and onion powder and oregano.  Sometimes I make rye bread the same way.  

She said that was the best bread they ever had.  It's time to make more.  And I make banana cake sometimes, so they get a loaf of that too.

I went to my primary Dr 2x (for general exam and interpreting the hospital x-rays etc in mid Jan.  He said I had been lucky and that the ribs would heal fine if I didn't do anything strenuous.  "Strenuous?", I could barely walk at the time.  

And a osteo-surgeon 2x (about the separated clavicle).  She took x-rays.  She gave me 2 options.  The first was to have her do an operation to reattach it.  That would mean 8 weeks of a tight sling.  Which had to be removed before each shower and reattached (and that took 2 people) and she didn't recommend it unless I was an athlete throwing or swing stuff around.  The second was to just live with it.  Apparently that isn't really a problem.  In fact, my primary Dr has the same injury and even he didn't bother to have the operation!  So I didn't.

It was around June before I could walk completely normally again.  The ladder is still against the tree to remind me of the event...

2.  And then there was the Jan 6th riot at the US Capital Building.  That was astonishing!  I don't want to get all political about it, but it was a serious event.  I never would have guessed an armed angry mob would have done that.  Nor would I have thought people could do that and not get shot en masse.  I follow the news about that. waiting for an eventual Congressional Report about "who did what where", and the planning of the attempt.

3.  Gardening season started in March with Spring Peas and cole crops and ended dismally.  I ordered some grafted tomatoes to improve my chances of a harvest.  I planted regular heirlooms indoors as well.  I set them all ouside in early May.  Never got a single tomato from any of them.  My dedicated garden area is too shaded now.  And there may be a build-up of fungal and viral tomato diseases there.  This year, I am planting in a whole new spot.  The soil there isn't "as good", but there have been no tomatoes there for 10 years so it should be "disease-free".  

My small crops (carrots, beets, spinach, etc) didn't grow well either.  I need to have the soil tested...

I REALLY want my heirloom tomatoes.  The taste is SO much better.  I used to grow the best hybrid tomatoes available.  Then one year, I tried a couple heirloom ones.  After tasting THOSE, I just pulled up the hybrids.

But really, last year was bad.  I could barely walk to the garden, and bending over to plant them was SO hard.  I need THIS year to be better.  Kneeling down wasn't much better either in Spring.  I can do that this year, though.

4.  I got my covid shots in March and April.  I fully support vaccines.  I trust science and medicines.  I still wear an N95 mask though.  I'm pretty safe anyway, living alone and not leaving the house often  (a pre-covid lifestyle).  Need a booster shot though.  I had one arranged but couldn't find my previous vaccine report so had to cancel.  Have it now, so scheduling the booster ASAP!

5.  May Laz suddenly calmed down around May.  Took a full year.  He used to attack Ayla (dominance issues and remains of previous home trauma - 2 pit bulls and 3 grabby kids).  Suddenly something "clicked" in his mind and he stopped.  He finally realized he was safe, loved, and unattacked).

6.  July - Met my first anti-vaxxer (well, I don't socialize much).  At the Barber shop.  I was wearing my mask.  The previous customer and his elderly dad weren't, so I kept mine on.  But when it was my turn to get my hair cut, they didn't leave.  The barber said he had his shots, but the other younger guy refused to say, so I wanted to keep mine on until after they had been gone a few minutes.

The younger (maskless guy) overheard me and said he was "immunized".  I asked what that meant (I knew but I asked) and he said he had been infected the previous year so he was OK.  I kept my mask on...

He said he was safe.  I said the news said his immunity from having covid a year ago was meaningless.  He said he was in the pharmecutical business, so he knew otherwise.  I asked how to prevent covid ( a leading question).  He said Zinc and Vitamin C (D?).  I knew right then he was an anti-vaxxer.  I kept my mask on until they had left for 5 minutes.  It felt "safer".  And I didn't catch it.

7.  Lorilei Lee arrived on Oct 29.  Ann of Zoolatry drove here for the event ahead of the breeder.  WOW, can she take great pictures.  I took many, and they are posted "sort of recently" and you can find those in the sidebar of dates.

I was worried about how Laz would react to a new cat, given his response to Ayla.  But it was love at first sight for both of them!  They sleep together, play together, and sit around together.  I've mentioned being lucky.  I don't mean at cards or dice (I am horribly unlucky with those).  But with injuries and cats, I must be about the luckiest guy ever.

No cat has ever remained unhappy here for long, and all have become joyful/peaceful/calm here.  Laz was a challenge, but months of talking to him paid off.  And Lori may be the best thing in his life.  And he, hers.  

Tinkerbelle was a problem cat, bitten on the spine by a big dog.  She clawed at my sister and her child.  When she came here, she calmed down.  I knew "just" how to stroke her to avoid the injury spot.

Skeeter and LC became dedicated friends.  They slept together from the first days (Skeeter a year older).  LC was Skeeter's Cat.  I think of it in that way.  LC was HIS, not mine.  Only after Skeeter died in Dec 2008 did she come onto my lap for the first time seeking comfort.

Ayla is truly "mine" these days.  She gets on me in the bedroom (her sanctuary from the OTHERS) and purrs her heart out on me.  Marley loves me and everycat.  

But Laz and Lori together says well for the future...

8.  Dec 15...  I lit the house lights for Christmas.  They had been up all year (after falling from the ladder, I just ignored them, though did have my Good Neighbor unplug them).  It was nice to see them again.  I don't do too much decorating, but some house lights are good.  The neighbors at least notice it.

Some neighbors go WAY overboard.  One has no more room for any or there would be more.  They even have one 6' globe that has internal circulation to make it a shooken snowglobe!  

To each their own.  I like my subtle little strings of blue lights outlining the house.

Well, that was pretty much THIS YEAR.  I hope for a better 2022...

And may 2022 be a good year for you all, my friends...

The hat was a gift.  I was baffled by "Hemingway House" until I counted the kitty toes on the front...