A Day Late

But I wanted to remember a sad day.

I remember some parts.  I was only 13.  I saw a lot on TV afterwards.  But my most specific image is the loudskeaker above the teacher's desk.  The Principal broadcast news that we were all to go home as school was dismissed for the day.  Those who could would.  Those who couldn't would stay in class and wait for their parents.  

Because the President had been shot and killed.  I biked to school, so I left.  But the image that remains with me is not the event itself (though that was important)).  What is strongest in my memory is the speaker box.  Because that was all we had to see at the time.  

It was about 12" square and about 6" deep.  It was pale wood.  The front was covered in a square or a circle of brown cloth (somehow, I can't remember that part well).  I picture screws in each corner of the front of the box.  

As events sometimes occur, my family visited the Grandparents for weeklong Thanksgiving Day visit.  It was a quiet dinner.  Grandad had the TV on all day, which in 1963 was a bit unusual.  Everything onair was about the funeral.

I may be slightly off on sone details.  It was 61 years ago.  But that is what my memory says...

 

Yappy Dogs

Marcia commented "But I suppose your neighbors are at work and just don't even think about the dog all day".  Actually, I think the dog was obtained just for the children.  Here is what I have observed...

The woman living there is a single parent.  There are 3 elementary-aged children.  I have noticed a guy (I presume an ex) seems to visit every other week and do some yard chores and takes the kids away for a weekend.  The woman and ex seem to get along well enough, but his car is never in the driveway for more than a few hours.

The children seem quite happy.  In the Summer, there is a trampoline and a small aboveground pool.  I hear them yelling in play, they run all over the backyard and they love their new dog.  That is all wonderful!

But I am guessing the Woman does not like the dog all that much and may be annoyed with its endless barking as much as I am.  It seems to me that, as soon as the children leave for school, the dog is sent outside and only brought in at dark.

It's one of those "the kids wanted a dog" things...  So it does what dogs do.  It runs around a lot.  It protects its people from threats.  It accepts the schedule set by its people, etc.

I don't blame the dog in any way, but I sure have known quieter ones!  

Various Stuff

My side-neighbor lit up Christmas lights last night.  My own house lights  are still up from Christmases ago.  Turned off of course.  The main floor hangs 2' forward from the basement and they hang on cup hooks.  I just never bothered to take them down.  You can't really see them from the street when unlit.

And they are nothing fancy, just a string of small blue lights on a timer.  I have a shrub and a tree I planted 2 years ago and put a cage around each to protect them from the deer.  I may add regular old-fashioned lights around them this year.  Blue.  I like blue.  The neighbors all do red/green lights, so the blue stands out a bit.  I am a bit non-standard sometimes.

I'll light them up December 1st.  I'm not crazy for these 6 week ahead of time decorations.  Too far ahead of time, and decorations seem to lose the connection to the holiday.  And I'll attach the nice sturdy white plastic wreath to the grille of the car then too.  

And I have a door-hanging Nutcracker to remember this year.  I have a top-of-the door hook.  And it doesn't blow around.  The front door is metal and I have a bunch of powerful magnets.

Laid down long strips of packing paper around the front yard island (with the Saucer Magnolia and the 3' boulder).  The paper will smother the grass.  I'm adding 2-3" of soil on that.  That will hold it in place.  Then I'll plant most of the 2 colors of 300 daffodils I received recently through that.

My bulb-planting drill auger will go right through the paper without tearing it up.

Then, with 3" of soil on top, all I have to do is rake soil back over all of them.

The rest of the daffs will go in the back yard to break up the large single-color daffs patches planting years ago.  I thought it was a good idea at the time to plant 4 different types in dedicated squares, but it is kind of boring.  So these new daffs will get planted among them for better and broader coverage and color.  

The hyacinths and crocuses will go in cages to protect them from the voles.  The hyacinths among the daffs around the birdfeeder.

The crocuses with be in cages too, but in the back lawn.  They bloom before I need to start mowing the grass.  I like seeing them in the lawn.

I have 2 forms I use to make the cages.  One is the wire mesh cutting pattern.  I first made small paper samples.  Then, when I got that right, I made a full-size cardboard version to cut the mesh with tin snips.  And then glued some scrap wood together so that I could fold the mesh around the wood block.

It sounds easier than it is, but it sure is easier than fashioning each one freeform!  And it is worth it.  hyacinths and crocuses can live more than a decade if the voles can't get at the bulbs.  In fact I have a few of each (unprotected) that are 25 years old.  

But "a few" is not "enough.  So it was time to replenish them.  

I have completely given up on tulips.  They are lovely but most of them don't live long.  I may try them again next Fall.  I have the thought of pulling up the 6' edging (that is sitting only 3" deep) and re-setting it down to ground level.  

Voles use mole tunnels to get around.  And moles don't usually dig tunnels 6" deep.  So if there is edging 6" deep, the moles won't tunnel there and the voles can't use the tunnels to get at hyacinth and crocus bulbs.  So no mole tunnels, no vole finding bulbs, and long-lived hyacinths and crocuses!

Motorcycle Man hasn't been driving up and down the street often lately.  Maybe he got older or bored.  Maybe he is old enough to drive further away.  I cheer for whatever the reason is!

But no problem goes away than a new one crops up.  The side-neighbors got a yappy dog months ago.  It's not that I mind dogs all that much.  The neighbors on the other side of me have 2 large ones and they bark too.  But they are only outside briefly, so the barking doesn't last too long.

The yappy dog is in their backyard almost all day long.  And barks all day long.  And when I am outside, it runs along the fence barking at me.  It probably weighs about 20 lbs, but it is convinced it has to protect the family from me.  So it never stops barking!  

It makes being in my own yard annoying.  I am a relatively quiet person.  I try not to disturb my neighbors.  As far as I know, it is a rental house.  I keep hoping they will move away and take the dog with them.

That's enough for now.

Good Heated Cat Mat

Can anyone recommend a good heated cat mat?  Everything at Amazon seems to get 4+ ratings an I have not had much luck with the last 3.  It's like a few months and they fail.

Veterans Day

 

Flowers

Last of them except the pansies I need to plant around the mailbox and deck pots...

Asters.

 Balsams.

US Election

In every election, someone wins and someone losses.  My choice "didn't win"...   So we will have President Trump (again), a Republican Senate, probably a Republican House, and a Republican Supreme Court.

I won't get into the politics involved.  I'm not here to start any political or social arguments (I do that elsewhere).  But I will say that I am  thoroughly depressed and worried.  There are likely to be some domestic and international consequences that many people are not going to like.

I will not be watching the political news channels much for a while.  I read The Washington Post newspaper while I eat lunch.  Just skimming the headlines of the various articles will tell me everything I need to know for a while...

There is plenty for me to do in the yard before Winter sets in, and plenty to do in the house after that.  I will post about that.

Standard Time

 Change to Standard Time took time, but went well.   Except the wristwatch!  The evil thing has 4 buttons which are all a bit confusing.  Sure, I keep the instruction pamphlet in the box.  But the instructions are nearly impossible to follow.

I spent an hour Sunday night trying to simply change the hour.  I couldn't get it to work.  

The instructions say to press and hold the A button in Timing Mode.  What, like through the whole process?  Or just for a while?  Then, it says press B (with the A button pressed or released?).  

Supposedly, the hours flash first.  No, it switches to 24 hour time.  The C button is for start/stop.  Should I press that to start changing the time?  The D button is supposed to advance any mode you are in.  Pressing it just changes 24 hour back to 12 hour time.

So I gave up for the day.

Monday, I had some better luck.  Sometimes doing the same thing over and over does result in changes!  Suddenly, I saw the hours blink.  I was able to reduce the hour by one.  HURRAY!

Another continuing problem has been laptops.  My old one had 23 letters that came loose and I coud repair that even with superglue.  A replacement (refurbished) would just not work (and I waited too long to return it).

So I bit the bullet and just bought a real new one.  It is charging up now.  I'll connect it to the main internet connection later to get updates and my personal choices online later.  It will be nice if I can use it in front of the TV replying to blogs again while watching Univ of Maryland men's and women's basketball and Washington Commander football games all Winter.

A Personal Political Statement

 I like to vote on Election Day itself.  It is so easy here, you are in and out in 15 minutes.  And I love the "I voted sticker.  I have been collecting them this century.

I have a preference, of course.  But more importantly I vote.  

I've researched every item right down to the School Board.  I have my choices made.  This isn't a contested State at the Presidential level, but some down-ballot issues are important and those matter too.

So if you haven't already voted, go to the polls and VOTE.

Personally, I would say "vote for the non-Trump candidate of your choice", but vote.  But if Trump is your guy, vote for him.  Just vote!

It matters that you participate.  You can't complain about an election if you don't vote.  

I am about to make breakfast.  Too eggs sunny side up, 2 country links, and two pieces of raisin/cinnamon bread with milk and green tea.

Then I am going off to vote.  If I did nothing else for the rest of the year, that would be OK.  Voting is that important.

And then I'm going to get good and drunk tonight, sleep for 12 hours, and hope to wake up Wednesday with results I hope for...

Some graphics...

I am leaving now to go vote...

Too Much To Do

I mentioned previously that I have about 500 Spring bulbs to plant.   That is going to take some time, but my drill auger does make it a lot easier to create 6" holes.  And that I have about 2 cubic yards of topsoil/compost mix to use up.  I bought it loose-dumped into a trailer for filling 11 ten gallon pots and way over-estimated the requirements.

Well, at least I have good use for the excess.  My raised framed garden bed soil has settled 4" lower over the years.  And I can cast some of it thinly over Fall-planted meadow and pollinator seeds I have to plant soon.

But I messed up an order with the local DIY store.  I have cheap 6" plastic edging around a bed in the front lawn.  It keeps heaving up in Winter and has no strength and is hard to mow around.  So I looked at concrete edgers

that are designed to allow curves (notice the round right and the curved left).  And 12" pavers to both support them and create a "no grass zone" on 4" inside and out of the border.  

Have you ever planned to order something, then decided not to, but discovered you did?  Well, a 4'x4'x4' pallet arrived Wensday while I was still in bed (I never even heard them unloading it).  Now I have to pull up the bad plastic edging, dig a 2"deep x12"wide trench around the bed (about 60') for the pavers to sit at ground level (so I can mow across the edges and have no grass growing there), and pile the edgers on the top.  

And with Standard Time arriving, I have less time for outdoor work.  I may have to start getting up earlier!

I am going to be so totally worn out in the next couple weeks.  

Standard Time Returns

I hate it when Daylight Saving Time ends!  My schedule doesn't change, I just have one less hour of daylight.  Since I watch TV after dinner (and their schedule doesn't change) I go to bed at about the same time.  It just gets dark an hour earlier.  And since I get most active after lunch, I have an hour less to do stuff outside.

I personally wish we would just stay on Daylight Saving Time.  I know it benefits some people, but I am sometimes very selfish.  The change bothers ME.  

It will get dark at 5 PM here, limiting my outside activity.  And I still have lots to do outside.  More about that in a couple of future posts...

But I have so many clocks to change.  The analog ones are not that tricky but I have some everywhere.  And there are a few digital clocks to change.  I've been switching to radio frequency-adjusted ones but there are still old ones around.  And I always forget the one in the car!  

My wristwatch drives me crazy.  There are 4 buttons on the sides and I can never find the instructions, so I have to look it up of the manufacturers website.  And it always takes a few tries to get it right because it is hard to tell when the tiny buttons have been pressed sufficiently.  

And I am a bit obsessed about precision.  I read once that "a person with one clock always knows what time it is; a person with more clocks is never sure".  

OK, I'm just annoyed by the change...  😖

Frustrating Stuff

 I mentioned previously that I couldn't get my CD player to work and kept thinking it was the wiring.  But then just replaced the CD player with a new one and that fixed it.  

But I then discovered that the glass door in front wouldn't close.  Well, the rack cabinet is really old.  It came here with me, so I suppose it is 40-45 years old.  I had recently had to push it sideways to get it to close the door so I assumed the box itself needed some corner reinforcements, which I put off having more urgent things to do.  

But yesterday, I noticed the small box that connects the optical fiber to the TV cable box was on the floor next the the TV stand.  Well, one of The Mews must have jumped on the cable and pulled it off the stand.  But when I tried to put it back, it wouldn't go back.  One cable was too tight, and I couldn't tell by feel what was wrong.

So I had to pull the stereo rack out.  Well, I'm glad I put the stereo rack on a wheeled support stand, but I have to raise 2 levers in the back to engage the wheels.  Which is not really easy to do.  It involves twisting my body around the sides and that usually results in rib muscle cramps.  And I could feel the muscles threatening to cramp as I did it.  Thankfully, I got the levers raised just before they went full cramp.

When I pulled the rack out, I discovered that some kitty had looped a cable around a lever, effectively shortening it.  I got that loose and got the optical fiber box back on the stand.  Hurray!  And pushed the rack back close to the wall.  Then had to release the wheel levers (another threat to my rib muscles).  

And then the glass door still wouldn't close properly.  Since I was dealing with the rack anyway, I examined the glass door.  At first, I thought it was bumping against CDs I had stacked in there.  But when I took them out, it still wouldn't close.  ARGGHHH!

So I examined the glass door.  Hinge on top and hinge on bottom.  Both were tight, so that wasn't the problem.  So I looked at the hinges with a magnifying glass and a flashlight.  The glass door slides into the hinges and is held in place with 2 screws on each (not touching the glass, but squeezing the metal hinges.

The glass went fully into the top hinge.  The bottom was out of fully in the hinge by just 1/8th inch.  Loosened the screws, pushed on the glass door, and retightened the screws.  I still had to push the top of the rack sideways a tiny bit, but at least it closed!  Good enough for now; I have other things to do.

I'm no real handyman.  A real handyman has experience fixing a lot of stuff over and over.  What I have is persistence.  

It almost sounds like a Murphy's Law (of which I am a dedicated believer).  If you recall that, the basic Law is "If anything can go wrong, it will".  Over the years, other people have added to that Law.  In fact, I have 2 books of "Murphy's Laws".  Some are silly things like "You can't fall off the floor" or serious ones like "If you drop something, it will fall to the most unretrievable place possible" or "No matter what you want to do, you have to do something else first".

I will add a more positive Law.  "If you stare at a problem long enough, you will find a solution.  That's MY motto, anyway.

Election

 Well, I guess I'm ready to vote.  Most of my choices were settled months ago, but there were some local elections and ballot questions to research.  Yeah, I even look up Judges and School Board Members...

The Judges are just "retain or not",  I was pleased to find that the 3 current ones had excellent credentials and experience and were on the defense side in the past.  I'd rather have a guilty person get off once than an innocent person imprisoned.

The School Board election was easy enough.  Maryland has 4 year terms.  The one at-large is elected in presidential years, and all the other in the mid-cycle elections.  This was an at-large election, so it was easier.  One had experience, emphasized science and teacher-training, and suggests "slow-retirement of teachers so they can mentor the new ones.  The other (as far as I can tell) manages a day care center.  Nothing wrong with that, but apparently has little actual school-management experience.

That left the 2 ballot questions.  One was for encoding women's reproductive care into the State Constitution.  I'm going for that without any hesitation.

The other was more complicated.  All about changing the County Government.  The choices were the current form ("home rule"), and a  "charter" form with more county-wide consolidation of organization.  I visited 3 sites discussing them and still couldn't really understand the consequences.  But 1 site showed a map of the State counties showing which each had.  The 3 counties I think are best-run all had the "charter type".  The 3 most conservative (and kind of "run-down") counties all had the "home rule" system.  So I'm going with "charter".   Might as well advance with the times and what seems to work best...

Yardwork

With 500 Spring Bulbs arriving in a few weeks (what was I thinking?) I had to prepare some places for them.  

Most are daffodils with different colors/flower shapes to add to the existing daffodil bed around the bird-feeder.  Some will go into the front yard daffodil box for the same reason.  I decided that masses of the same flowers needed some additional/contrasting colors.  

The hyacinths, tulips, and crocuses have to protected from deer and voles.  Both consider them candy.  The voles eat the bulbs below ground; the deer eat the flowers.  I can protect against the voles by planting with wire cages underground.  I can only protect them from deer because the deer won't jump the tall fence into the back yard.

So I mowed one 10' diameter bed in the back yard. and one larger one in the front down to 1/2".  I have never grown pollinator plants in it (as I intended it for), but a few dozen hyacinths will smell sweet in Spring and I can try other plants there (slightly shady in Summer).

The crocuses will go into the back lawn in mesh cages too.  I need to keep the moles away.  They don't eat the bulbs, but the voles use the mole tunnels to travel around and they eat the bulbs.

I need taller edging around the various beds.  6" is not enough.  Set 4" deep just to stay upright barely protects against mowing.  I need 12" edging.  Or landscaping bricks that stack securely.  

The Two Mysterious Objects

 On Friday, I displayed 2 odd objects from Temu.  They have many, and I click on them often just to see what the heck they ARE!

But no one guessed what they were after a few days, so I owe you an explanation.

Is a tactical camo belt.  I expected someone to notice that the ends connected, but the rigid shape and the angle was a bit confusing.  LOL!

The other one was weird.  

It a cooked meat shedder.  You put cooked meat in it, turn the top, and you have shredded chicken/pork/beef.  Basically, it makes "pulled pork" fast.  But I just HAD to click on it to discover what it was.  

I'm not pushing Temu.  But they sell some of the weirdest stuff I've ever seen.  And no, I did not buy either item.

But I did need to at least tell you what those 2 items were.

Gettiing Some Stuff Done

It is so nice to be done with having taxes hanging over my head like The Sword Of Damocles!  I'm back to regular stuff.

1.  I mentioned a couple weeks ago that my handcart tire was flat.  Actually, both of them were but I didn't realize that at the time.  "Unknown" suggested that I use a winch strap to tighten the tire to the wheel (always appreciate good advice).  I've done that before on other garden equipment tires though and those long straps can be tedious to tighten.  

So I had the cart propped upside down and clamped against my workbench and happened to glance at my other bar clamps.

Well, maybe that would work.  I clamped 2 across the tire.  It worked!  And much easier than the strap.  Yay!

2.  Last March, I bought a 5'X8'x18" trailerload of topsoil/compost mix for filling 10 gallon pots for planting tomatoes, beans, and corn (My regular garden needs some renovation).  I got the containers filled but then my right hip went all bad in April. 

This gets all complicated, but I'll try to keep it short.  I went to bed April 15 feeling fine.  I woke up April 16 and fell to the floor when I tried to get up.   And I screamed in pain.  The x-ray technicians said it was bone marrow cancer.  My Dr said I had a liver problem and suggested further tests with specialist Drs (who were booked for 3-4 months).

I had to buy 2 roller/walkers (one in the car, the other for in the house) just to get around.  But before those appointments,I suddenly could walk normally again after 2 months.  It was obviously "just" a very badly torn groin muscle.  

But I still had a half trailerload of topsoil/compost mix leftover (I miscalculated how much I needed for the containers).  So half the stuff has been sitting in the trailer for 7 months.  And I need the trailer for other reasons.

So most is going on a front yard island around a tree and boulder.

I have 500 Spring bulbs arriving in November.  Many daffodils will be planted there (the deer won't eat them).  Along with a couple dozen Japanese Painted Ferns I will transplant and a few remaining 'Snow-On-The-Mountain' plants which I hope will spread (which also the deer won't eat).  And no tulips; the deer love to eat them!

The hyancinths and some random daffodils will go the space around the birdfeeder for more color.  I made it too uniform originally.  Large clumps of identical bulbs.  Boring...

The crocuses will go in the lawn.  In vole-proof cages.  I planted a few hundred in the back and front lawn 10 years ago, and there are barely any left.  If deer love tulips, voles love every bulb but daffodils.

That should keep me busy for a week!

3.  Bought 40 pansies yesterday.  Lowe's has great prices on 8-packs.  In some past years, I have planted a 100 in one spot in the back.

But I want to cover that area this Winter/Spring in brown packing paper to smother encroaching weedy grasses.  So this year I will be just planting them in the deck pots and around the mailbox post.  I think that will be more visible and cheery during the Winter anyway.

4.  Bought a mop-wringer recently.  Which sounds a dirty and janitorial, but a damp mop is easier on the wood floors than a sponge-mop.  And a wringer will help.  Dipping a dirty mop in the toilet and then squeezing it clean get tiring.

So I started declutterring the floors the past couple days.  I can't mop the floors when they are covered with cat toys, turbotracks, tunnels, and my own odd junk!  And even then, I will have to move and/or lift all the furniture.  But a wringer seems "cleaner" to use.

And then, I'll drag out the carpet water-cleaner machine.  It will probably go into shock since I haven't used it for 10 years.  And the dirty water it sucks up will be depressing (and leave a bad smell for 2 days).  But both the wood floors and carpets need some serious cleaning.    So declutterring the floors was a start.

5.  Cooking,,,  I found 2 interesting ideas in both a cooking magazine and the Washington Post newspaper recently.  The first was that adding some salt to eggs you are scrambling makes them smoother (by relaxing the whites).  Tried that yesterday and I agree.

The second idea was adding sugar to the salt and pepper in cubed beef (in any recipe).   The sugar promotes browning and adds some flavor.  And making a slurry of beef stock, cornstarch, soy sauce and steak sauce seriously enhances the flavor (I add minced fresh garlic separately) .  

Add the sugar, salt, and pepper an hour beforehand to relax the meat proteins.  I overdid it though.  Too much salt (I don't normally use much salt on my food, so the recipe was a bit more than I wanted).  But it did brown better with the sugar and the salt kept the meat moister.  

Which when tossed back into a skillet of shallots, and red bell peppers heated with the slurry, actually came out very well.  But less salt next time.

6.  Went to Petsmart Monday for "Marley-food".  By which I mean his kidney-care diet stuff.  Usually, there is just Hills Tuna&Vegetable flavor or Royal Canin T (Royal Canin just uses initials).  But this time, they had Royal Canin E and D.  There is no ingredient list on the cans.  So I asked a clerk if they knew what the letters meant.  He didn't but looked it up (which took some time because apparently Royal Canin doesn't want you to know).

But he found out that one is chicken, one is chicken liver and pork liver, and one is chicken liver, pork liver, and salmon.  Pork liver ans salmon seem gross together.  I didn't buy that.  But I'm not a cat, maybe Marley would love it.  I have to go back to get a few cans of it as a taste-test for him.  

That's enough for today...

Clickbait

I'll admit it.  I love clickbaits.  Not for the usual stuff (sex aids, medicines, insurance).  It's Temu on AOL.  

First, I can't resist clicking on a t-shirt.  You have to, to read the actual message, and a lot of them are pretty clever.

But mostly because Temu sells gadgets.   It's not like "oooh I want that".  It mostly "What is that"?  I'm thinking "what the hell is that thing"?  It may turn out to be some gadget that makes waffle-cut potato slices.  Or something that inflates your tires remotely.  

I never buy the stuff; I just have to find out what it is.  Its like, if you had never seen a staple remover and saw a picture of one.  Would you know what it was for?  Would you wonder about it?  I do.

Do you know what this is?

HOW ABOUT THIS?

Weird things crack me up sometimes...

Taxes Done

 I finally got the taxes done.  That State return was so much easier because the software imported most of it from the Federal return.  I was going to snail-mail it Monday, but realized that it was a Federal Holiday and the Post Office was closed.

And then I thought about it more.  To snail-mail, I had to print an official copy, sign it, write a check (increasingly difficult for me these days), drive to the Post Office on the last day possible, pay for postage, pay for "proof of sending", and driving home. About an hour's effort and some gas too.

I decided e-filing for $20 wasn't that bad a deal after all!  It only took about 15 minutes.  I received an email saying it had been transmitted after 1 hour, and that it had been accepted about 4 hours later.

And maybe I will use software again next year.  Now that I understand a few of the new financial items I have to deal with, it will be a lot easier next time.  

And I noticed that my mutual fund has adjusted its reporting to make it easier to fill out software forms.  I used to have to manually add up columns of numbers and figure out where to put the various results.  Now, they give me the details, but also add a summary of what to enter in the tax forms by block numbers.  As in "enter this is block 1a, this in block 4", etc.

So NOW, I am free to get back to regular home projects.   And I have plenty coming up soon!  500 various  Spring bulbs (daffodils, hyacinths, and crocuses) will be arriving in a few weeks.  Well, I was feeling ambitious last Spring...

I need to build memorial boxes for Laz and Ayla.  I kept putting it off, mostly because I can't find brown resin 8-12" cat statuettes to match the existing ones.  If you know of a source, please let me know.

I'm taking  a previous box apart to copy it.  And this time I'll copy the pieces in heavy cardboard or masonite so I can do it easier next time.  Sad to think of, but I still have 4 cats and they will each need a memorial box of their own someday.  I don't think I will have a need for more; I'm getting too old.

I am back to cooking again.  I just didn't do much while all stressed about the taxes.  I used up most of my frozen leftovers the past couple weeks.  The tax stuff really stressed me that much.  Now it is time to start building up my supply of good frozen meals.  

Along that thought, I made bread yesterday.  I use dark beer instead of water, and I add a lot of onion and garlic powder and oregano to the mix.  When it cools, I slice it up using a spacer I bought.

Then I freeze it all.  I used to have a problem with the slices sticking together, but I but up a plastic placemat and put a piece of that between each slice.  Works great!

OK, that's all for today.  

Taxes

Thank you all for sympathy, encouragement, and  hopes for easy success on my taxes.  It helped.  And I successfully e-filed my Federal Taxes yesterday afternoon.  After attempting to complete my taxes before April 15th, in June (after having filed for an extention in April) and in August, I was at my wit's end.

Some explanation...

In April, my H&R Block software said I had no network connection.  So I assumed that meant it was a problem on my computer and filed for the 6 month extension.  I figured I had to solve the "no network connection" on my own.  But 6 months seemed like lots of time and I wasn't having a network problem with anything else.  

So I tackled it again in June.  No luck!  Tried again in August.  That time, I decided to call H&R Block and demand to know what "no network connection" meant to them.  I reached a very helpful techie who helped me check my network.  After about 20 minutes of no success, she suggested I just reload the software.  I was worried that I would lose the existing "almost" completed Federal return, but she assured me I wouldn't (as it was a separate file).

So I did and the "no network connection" problem went away and my file remained.  Yay!  So in September, I went back at the taxes.

OMG, the software was different and I discovered there were documents I was missing.  Apparently, the whole problem was some failure during the initial software download in April!  But I had a month to find the missing documents before the Oct 15 deadline.

My, how time flies...

So last week, I realized I had to sit down and get everything together.  First thing was to sort out 6" of unfiled general billing/receipt stuff and file them while looking for the missing documents.  That was long overdue and worth doing, but I didn't find the documents I was missing.

Not to reveal details, but I had 2 major missing documents.  The first was a summary of my mutual fund  investments.  Downloading that one from the mutual fund website was easier than I expected.  There was an obvious button for "downloading tax forms".  Yay.  

The second was the one for a Government Savings Program.  It requires that you start withdrawing 10% per year after age 73 and I turned 73 last year, so this year was the first time I had to report about that.  Worse, if you don't withdraw it voluntarily, they send you a check anyway (minus earned interest).  

So I wasn't familiar with it and didn't recognize when the software was asking about it.  The term "Minimum Required Distribution" didn't mean anything to me.  So I went to the H&R Help Desk (a FAQ, not a person) and figured it out.  But entering it in the tax software raised an alarm.  Which, of course, I did not understand.  Turned out they sent 2 checks and I had forgotten about the 2nd one.

Anyway, I finally got that straightened out...  But it seems that I managed to delete my previous Federal Form entry, so I had to start all over again.  I felt like Ahab fighting the whale!

At least I went through the process a bit more smoothly yesterday.  There are still some entries I'm not certain about.  There are terms and phrases the Government uses that are not exactly plain English, and they explain terms as best they can.

At the end of the Federal form, they (H&R) do a review for completeness and risk analysis.  I did have to go back and fill in a couple of entries I had accidentally skipped (minor stuff like an address confirmation).  But they said after that, that they found no errors.  

So I e-filed the Federal return yesterday (free, and I already have a confirmation the IRS has accepted it.).  Later today, I'll do the State return.  That will be easy because most of it is automatically entered from the Federal return.  I'll snail-mail it Monday because H&R charges $20 for e-filing the State return.  Why the Federal e-filing is free and the State is $20 escapes me.  

I just had to stop after hours with the Federal return (and it was time for dinner).

Next year, I'll just dump everything on a live H&R Block office and avoid all this.  I'm not the dimmest bulb in the room, but this tax stuff is just getting too ridiculous. 

I once read a joke about a simplified tax form.  As follows...

"A.  How much did you earn last year?

B.  How much do you have left?

C.  Send B."

Reconsidering Offline

Maybe going offline until I get my taxes done isn't the best idea.  I can only do so much paperwork in a day.  There is value in posting about other things for a change in menbtal focus and some relaxation.  And to discuss progress.

To get my taxes right, I need some documents.  And in spite of being an office worker for 3 decades, I was and am a terrible filer.  I had an 8" tall stack of stuff  (credit card, insurance, and bank statements; vet and Dr visit documents; all kinds of stuff; on the top of my filing cabinet and I expected the documents I needed were in there somewhere.

So yesterday, I spent almost 6 hours sorting the stack into subjects, organizing the documents by date, and then filing them.  Binq tried to help, but mostly she kept swishing her tail in my face, scattering the documents, and demanding attention.  Generally keeping to herself, she does have times of wanting considerable attention.  Otherwise, it might have only taken 4 hours.

But it did get completed.

Not to get too detailed, but I have a particular saving account that requires 10% withdrawals each year at my age.  I ignored that requirement at first, but they forced 2 checks on me in 2023 and I am missing one of them, which is where I started having problems understanding the tax forms even with H&R Block software (probably my fault, not theirs).  I mean, they ask the right questions, but you still have to answer them correctly.  

And I only had a document for 1 of the 2.  The information I need is probably also in my bank statements.     I might be able to get the forms from the special savings account website.  But that is the project for later today.

I stopped when it was time to make dinner and time to make sure The Mews were inside and get First Dinner.

So later today, I get back at the taxes.  Hopefully, I will actually find the missing document directly and easily from the account website.  If not, I will have to search my bank account statements to find the specific deposits (hence my sorting and filing efforts of yesterday.

But if I don't post for a couple days, assume I'm having troubles and am distracted...

Taxes Are Too Complicated

Going off-line for a week.  I have to do the extension tax filings by October 15 and things are so botched up I have to start from scratch and make corrections...  And sort out the 3 versions I thought were correct at various times but aren't.  

I'll be back when I am back.  Damned stupid complicated taxes!  The 'Minimum Required Distribution" of my Government Savings Thrift Plan has ruined my ability to deal with it on the tax forms.    

  .....

Well, Darn I have to change my post.  I did spend a few hours sorting out the various tax forms (without a lot of success), but when things like that get troublesome, you have to turn your attention to something else.

So I decided to tackle another problem that has been bothering me for several years.  No point in solving a simple problem, LOL!

Some people listen to music on their phones, some on a small boom box.  But I'm a stereo rack guy.  Old habit...  And I haven't been able to play CDs for 3 years.  So, "fix that".  I was sure it was "bad cable hook-ups".  I've looked at it a couple times and just gave up seeing all the wires in the back again.  And I even had a new CD player in the box, but was sure it was the cable connections.

I'm an idiot!

But to start, I had to roll out the stereo rack.  It's on a wheeled tool platform (love those things).  

Then I looked at the cables.

I could not find anything wrong.  But they were all tangled so I undid them all.  Even unplugged all the power cords

to have a clean untangled start.

So with most of the equipment unplugged, I attached the CD player directly to the speakers.  Nothing, nada, nope.  I should have known the CD player itself was the problem...

But I had a replacement in the house (for 3 years).  So yeah, at least once I suspected the player was the problem.  

So I re-connected all the non-CD cords neatly (to keep them out of the way) and put the power cords off to one untangled side.

Checked all the "ins and outs" cables carefully...  Plugged everything back into the surge box...  Turned the tuner selection dial to "CD".  And tried it.

Ah bliss!  'Pictures At An Exhibition' came right up...

I really needed a success...  

My Busy Day

Yeah, somedays I do more than usual.  And I bet many of you do more than I do, so I'm not bragging about it, just mentioning it.  To me it was a busy day.

Partly, it is that I just stay in bed 10-12 hours.  I don't really know why, but I sleep poorly and it takes 10-12 hours to get 7-8 hours actual sleep.  So half the day is gone by the time I get up.  I am resenting that loss of useful time.  I mentioned that to my Dr once, but nothing came of it (as there were more serious issues on the table).

So I got up and made lunch.  I wanted something quick because I had "stuff to do".  But it is surprising how long it can take to peel 2 hard-boiled eggs and dress the halves with a smear of mayo, salt, paprika, and onion powder.  And cut up a tomato, 2 celery stalks, a carrot, and a cucumber.  And then eat it all while reading the newspaper.  😋

After that, I got at my errands.

First, visit vet to pick up new sub-Q fluid bag for Marley.  I bought one a week ago, but SOME cat bit it open and all the fluid drained out.  That used up a 1/2 hour.

Then to the grocery store.  I hit a busy time.  One cashier lane open, so 30 minutes shopping and 20 minutes waiting to pay for it.  I should remember not to grocery-shop between "end of school day" and "pre-dinner" times!  An hour used up there.

Then to Nick's (the liquor/deli/specialty store I like).  Picked up 6 cases of my special-ordered wine.  It is actually a repeating order, but they had a sale on it, so I ordered extra.  No point in passing up a good value.  It's not like this wine goes bad in 6 months.

By the time I got home, it was past 5 PM.  And I had lots to unload and put away.  Did the groceries first, since the was milk and deli meat involved.  And bulk stuff has to be separated out for the basement refrigerator.

Then the 6 cases of wine.  I have gotten to the point where a case of wine is a bit heavy for me to just carry to where I store it in the basement.  So I dragged out my hand truck/dolly to pull them from the garage to the basement.  It wouldn't move.  One flat tire!

It is a small tire, so I pulled out my old bicycle pump.  5 minutes of that and no improvement.  The bead on the tire is separated from the rim.  So I dragged my mechanical air pressure pump into the garage.  And that wasn't enough to reseal the tire to the wheel.

But I had 3 cases of wine on it.  I removed one and 2 cases was light enough to wheel around with just the natural rigidity of the tire.  Got the cases moved.  I'll deal with the failed tire bead another day.

By the time I had the wine put away in a corner of the basement and had all the groceries put away, it was 7 pm.  Dinnertime!  

The Mews were a bit short on meals (because I got up late and then was gone for hours), so I just kept feeding them once per hour until they didn't want anymore food.  Full kitties are happy kitties.

Then, and only then, I made my own dinner.  Had to be something easily, because I was pretty well worn out.  I am glad I make spaghetti sauce with meatloaf mix, saute'd onions, mushrooms, garlic, and oregano in large batches and then freeze dinner-portions.  Thawing the sauce out is easy in hot water.

Watched 2 hours of political analysis news on MSNBC, then came here.  And I have more errands to do tomorrow!

Good Meat Store

I like the local meat/deli/liquor/specialty store (Nick's of Clinton).   They offer good specials each week.

For example, this week they are offerring Filet Mignon for $12.99/pound.  That may seem a lot, but they trim the membrane off and slice it to choice for free.  And I have them save the trimmings to grind up for The Mews (they love it).

But more importantly, I cut the steaks into 4 oz sections, which is all I need for a meal about 2x a week.  Which means my Filet Mignon steak is only $3.75. Try to beat that at any restaurant, and I cook it just as well, LOL!  And rib-eye and delmonico is often cheaper.

Yeah, chicken and pork is cheaper (and my routine meats) but a small steak is good sometimes.  

And they special order my favorite wine when I order 4 cases at a time.  And discount the price.  4 cases does last a while for me.  So a couple days ago, the manager actually called me to say that my favorite wine was going on sale this week and did I want to delay pickup until it was "officially" on sale?

Well, I normally order the 1.5 L bottles as being a little bit less expensive at $16.49.  But the smaller ones at 750 were going to be $6.99, so like $14 per 1.5L.  $2.50 less per volume for the same amount!    So I said to order 6 cases.  No point in passing up a good sale.  It's not like the wine will go bad sitting in my cool basement!

Don't get me wrong.  I drink 2 glasses of wine with dinner and I'm not worried about that.

There are other good things about the place.  For one, it is the only place I can routinely find eggroll wrappers.  And some of their produce is usually cheaper than the local grocery stores.  And they actually have ripe Golden Delicious apples.  The local Safeway thinks they should be green.

I love Nick's...

Taxes

I filed for a tax filing extension back in April.   My H&R Block software did my Federal return, but the State software kept saying "network connection not found".  I couldn't solve that.  And there was no way I was going to call the H&R Help Center 2 days before the April filing deadline!

So I filed for an extension and sent the IRS $5,000 to cover possible extra tax required.  Every month after, I tried to solve the "network connection lost" problem.  It was baffling.  But by early September, I could put it off any longer and I decided it was safe to call the H&R Block Help Center without being on a 2 hour waiting list.

An agent come online in about 20 minutes later.  The agent said network problems were not really their problem.  I pointed out that the Federal return software did not show that problem, nor did I have that problem anywhere else.  I pointed out that we were both looking at my account over the internet, so there was obviously a "working network connection".

So she agreed there had to be an H&R Block problem.  After 20 minutes of trying various solutions, she said, why not try re-installing our software?  I was worried I would lose the Federal return.  She said that the Federal return was saved under a different name (which I knew but hadn't thought about) and that the re-installed software would know what file to look for.

So I did.  And the Federal return was still there and the State return form seemed suddenly perfectly happy with my network connection.  I thanked her and hung up.

So I proceeded with the State return.  This is where things get bad...

I won't go into details about my taxes, but I have stocks, bonds, and a Government Savings Account (called the TSP if you know what that is).  My stocks and bonds are all Index Funds and some portion of those have some foreign investments, which complicate things.  I have no control over the Index Fund investment choices.  Plus, the TSP requires that I withdraw a portion of my savings from it each year now that I'm older than 72.

I hadn't known that in 2023, so they forcibly sent me 2 checks since then.  I had included one on my Federal return, forgetting about the 2nd.  So I had to adjust my Federal return in the software.  Did that, and shut down for the night.

The next day, my Federal return was blank!  Nowhere to be found.  I have no idea why.  Even my backup program (Time Machine) is acting weird.  I tried to recover the Federal return using that, but failed.  Each time I open a date, it sends me back to "choose a date". 

ARGHHH!

If I was 50, I could probably solve this.  I think I have to just redo the Federal return.  Fortunately, I have all the previously-printed tax forms, so it won't be like starting from scratch.  And then I can do the State return.  I have until October 15, so I will sort out the 3 different versions of the Federal return (as I said, I found errors before I mailed them) tomorrow and go from there.

But I think this is my last year using tax software (unless the Govt provides a better one).  Next year, early March, I will just take all my forms to a tax-preparer and say "tell me what I owe" and have them file the returns!  

This has finally become just too hard!

Old Basement Refrigerator

 I had an old refrigerator in the kitchen.  It wasn't the original one, but it was probably about 15 years old.  I decided it was sucking up too much electricity.  And it was a bit small.  And it was the only white appliance in the kitchen.

So I bought a newer more energy-efficient one about 5-6 years ago (maybe longer, time is fuzzy sometimes).  I liked it.  And it probably paid for itself in energy-saving.

And had them move the old one to the basement as a sort of root cellar.  Set it to 45F for storing garden and bird seeds, sodas, potatoes, bulk stuff like that which didn't have to be seriously chilled.  Since it was seldom opened, the energy-inefficiency wasn't much of a problem.  

But I did keep the freezer portion at 0F because I stored bulk meat there.  Individual meal portions of cooked chicken, pork, and shrimp; raw beef, all in individual zip-lock bags and each in its own larger shoebox-size plastic container.

Well, the shrimp come frozen, chicken and pork seem to come out fine (and safer) pre-cooked, but I want to cook the steaks rather individually at dinnertime.  And the old fridge had a top freezer which was convenient for seeing all the large container labels.

But I got tired of the newer kitchen freezer being at the bottom.  When I prepare bulk stuff like stews, spaghetti sauce, soups, etc, there were all these small one-meal containers loose in the bottom and it was awkward to find anything specific.  So on days when I didn't feel like making something new, I would just reach in and pull out a leftover.

I was willing to be surprised.  It was "Oh, I'm having hot sausage/cannelini bean/onion/tomato stew tonight.  Sometimes, you can't really tell what something is until you thaw it out, LOL!  But the small containers kept falling around when I pulled the bottom freezer drawer out and I had to keep re-stacking them.

So I decided the old basement refrigerator had to go.  My electric co-op offered a fee pickup of old appliances and offerred a $50 rebate.  So earlier this year I called them about that.  They said they had ended the rebate program.  So I figured I would have to pay to get it hauled away and moved it out of the way.

Meanwhile I bought a newer even more energy-efficient top freezer fridge.  But just before delivery, I realized it was too tall for the kitchen.  By 1/4"...  So it ended up as the new basement fridge.  Which actually works out.

I moved all the large basement top fridge meat containers to the bottom kitchen freezer.  The sliding drawer makes it easy to open the front of the large containers to pull out a frozen bag from the labelled containers.  And all the loose small containers went to the top fridge basement freezer.  No drawers there, so they don't fall over when stacked now.

And I mentioned all that to say that I discovered my electric co-op re-started their appliance pickup and rebate program!

They came and took away the really old fridge on Sept 5...

Goodbye old fridge, I am glad to see you go!  And good news is that it will be taken apart and recycled.

9-11 Day

 

Kitchen

A kitchen I would love...

But that's half the size of my house.  And unclutterred.  And clean...

The kitchen I have...

There seems to be a slight difference, LOL!  The difference, I suppose, is that I live in mine and everything is right at hand, and the top one is staged.  But wouldn't it be nice to have one like that?

Maybe.  But I had a long-time former friend who renovated his house and tripled the size of his kitchen.  And the only thing he did in it was cook steaks every night.  He wanted it to look impressive.

Mine functions well for me. But wow on the way a kitchen can "look"!

Neat Computer Thing

I can't touch-type, and my hunt&peck is very "poundy".  So my keys wear out fast.  I had about a dozen that were impossible to read anymore.  Well, maybe I can't touch-type, but I do basically know where each letter is.   

But out of curiousity, I went looking for replacement keys.  A bit expensive.  But what I also found were press-on decals.  

They seem to be very good.  The print matches most black keyboards (there might be white/cream/gray decals too), the vinyl backing is sturdy, and they seem to stick well.   I got mine at Amazon ($6), and there are 2 full sets of key decals.

It looks like a new keyboard!  

Computer Problems

I had sme real frustrations 2 days ago.  I was talking to my Credit Union about online access.  They keep shutting off my password if I don't visit enough enough.  Well, I woukld think they would be happy that I don't bother them often, but I suppose that means I don't see the loan offers (that I never ever bother using).

But in the middle of the call, KERBLAM!!!  Out of nowhere, thunder and lightning directly overhead in the same instant...  Then torrents of rain (which The Weather Channel did not predict).

I have a battery backup surge protector of course but that was too much for it and it shut down.  An hour later, it all stopped.  But I couldn't reach any internet sites.  The TV worked, so I hadn't lost my cable service.  Restarting the computer several times didn't work.  Shutting down and restarting didn't help.

Somewhere, there is a "take service online" menu choice, but I couldn't find it.  So I just left everything shut down

Yesterday, I tried everything again.  No luck.  Then I remembered about disconnecting and reconnecting the router.  That finally worked.  👍

I happened to look outside while waiting, and saw the rain gauge.  2.25"!  In about 1 hour!  Well, that should keep the grass and shrubs happy for a while.  But it was worrisome for a while.  I was afraid the computer was fried.

Interesting Day

 1.  My Credit Union (only existing in the building where I worked) has become too inaccessible being 25 miles away now.  So I went looking for a local one a year ago.  Eligibility on their website was too confusing.  So I finally just visited them today.  

It was damn easier than their website!  It is a military credit union, but I had 3 uncles who served active duty in WWII, so I hoped that would get me in.  That didn't, but actually anyone can join if they become a member of a "no obligations" charity organization.  Seemed rather strange...

But they enrolled me and then I was a new credit union member.   Nice that it is just 2 miles away instead of 25.  I set up a basic savings account and bought a 12 month CD offerring 4.94% interest.   Beats my regular bank .01% rate.  I will be switching all my regular checking/savings to the new place as existing CDs mature.

2.  Pleased with my success at the FCU, I went to the meat market and bought some Delmonico steaks (on sale), a chicken breast to poach for The Mews and myself, and some meatloaf mix.  That stuff is better than hamburger though it takes some effort to mix up thoroughly.

3.  Picked a couple of Cherokee tomatoes before they were quite ripe.  The squirrels or groundhog get at them if I don't.  If I catch the little varmints in a Have-A-Hart live trap,  I'll dump it into a large tub of water and bury their butts near a tree as fertilizer.  I have no tolerance for anything that eats my few heirloom tomatoes!

4. But the tub of "water of sudden departure" has tadpoles!  I don't know whether they are toad or frog.  A yard can't have too many toads.  If frogs, I will dump them into the storm drain that leads to the swamp across the street where they will be happy, and thrive.  A lot of toads are fine, but a lot of frogs get noisy.

But I'm feeding them ground-up fish flakes and some algae from the pond.  When I see the first legs, I'll put a small tree branch in the water to help them climb out and another attached to it to lead them down to the ground.  If I don't, they will just start eat eating each other (they turn carnivorous at leg-stage) and I'll just have one big fat frog or toad.  And I want a lot of toads.

5.  I need to rent a thatching machine from the DIY store.  Not that my lawn actually has thatch (few lawns actually do), but Summer was brutal and there are patches of dead (not just dormant) grass.  I need to re-seed next month and a de-thatcher will tear those up to expose bare roughened soil perfect for new seeds.

6.  Figured out the gas can problem.  I feel like an idiot.  There is a pull-lever to release pressure.  I've used it 100 times, how did I forget that?  Yesterday, I couldn't make it work.  Today I just grabbed it and automatically pulled the release lever and it worked fine.  I'm getting old...

7.  Time to go out and mow the lawn.  The flat mower tire has been replaced and what grass is still growing (in the shade) is 5" high. What is dead is dead.  What survives needs attention.  LOL!

I Have Fowl Neighbors

Well, they keep fowls.  Turkey, Duck, Chicken, Guinea Fowl.  They make some noise, but I can't hear them inside the house, so it doesn't bother me.

They presented me with a gift of eggs.  I had to accept them, of course, but I was unfamiliar with "home-produced" eggs.   Questions like are the shells sterile, what are the tastes like, is there danger of salmonella, etc.  I'm not a forager or even much of an adventurous eater.  

The 3 large ones on the right are turkey, the 2 in the center of the tray are guinea hen, and the rest are chicken.  The 1 duck egg was eaten previously (I misplaced my camera for a few days).

I cook the things I know well enough and stir-fries, stews, and pot pies are routine.  I can make my own pizza.

But some things worry me or seem too unusual.  I have a can of curry sauce I've never opened.  My Dad used to collect wild mushrooms and I refused to eat anything made with them.  "Try this; you'll like it" doesn't get anywhere with me.

So I was nervous about the eggs.  But I tried a duck egg yesterday.  Fried it like a chicken egg.  The white firmed up quicker than a chicken egg.  The taste was slightly stronger, but OK.  

Funny thing was that the duck egg was harder to crack open.  Not because it was stronger, but because it was slightly more flexible.  Maybe I was being more careful than usual because I wasn't sure how clean the shell was.  Commercial chicken eggs get sani-washed; I suspect the neighbor's eggs aren't so much.

But I ate the egg and felt fine after a day, so all was OK.  It still seems a bit weird though.

Time to try a turkey egg in a few days (I don't eat eggs a lot).  That's a big egg, though!  And I'm not sure what to do with the guinea fowl eggs.  Too small to fry easily so I might add a chicken one.

They are really good neighbors to give me these eggs to try.  But I think I will beg off the next offer.  I'm too used to regular commercial chicken eggs, LOL!

OK, eating a duck egg, a turkey egg, and a guinea egg weren't exactly on my "bucket list", but maybe I can be allowed to add that to the list after the fact.  Which is not how bucket lists are supposed to work, but sometimes there is a surprise item you never thought about.

Lost My New Reading Glasses

 I have to keep my reading glasses in a shirt pocket.  And they are forever falling out onto the floor.  I have never found a holder that worked well.  Of the 2 I've tried, one was too large too large to fit in most shirt pockets and the other fits but is too hard to get out the glasses out easily (the ear-ends catch on the inside seams).

I need to keep them with all the time.  If they were just for reading the newspaper or extended computer time, I could just keep them somewhere convenient (like I do with my camera, keys and wallet).  But I need them briefly for a few seconds so often, I need them "at hand" all the time.  

I remember "old folks" with their glasses on lanyards that hung around their necks.  I used to laugh.  I don't anymore.  As odd as it seems, I had the hardest time finding the kind long enough to both hang around my neck and reach my shirt pocket.  

Found them today at Amazon.  It was really just a matter of figuring out the right keywords.  Ordered a pair today.  And even that wasn't easy!  Most seem to be made of braided leather.  Some buyers complained that they got too stiff after only a month.  Others complained about the type that attaches to the middle of the ear side frame (they annoy your ears).  And some were too short.

I finally found some made of silicon and vinyl, 27" long, attach to the ends of the ear-holder, and have a length adjustment.  Most came in packs of 6 (who needs 6?) but a found a 2-pack.  Not much cheaper than a 6-pack, but I hate waste.

So, why did I need them?  Well, as I said, they keep falling out of my shirt pocket, usually onto a hard floor.  I usually notice that, at least, and pick them back up.  But I can't find them now.  Which probably means they fell out outside while I was doing yardwork.  

Well, I had done a lot of brush trimming about the time I lost them.  So I spent an hour today raking up the trimmings and looking around each time. No luck!  Maybe they are in some corner of the basement or under some furniture I haven't checked yet.  Or some future archeologist may find them...

The problem is they were only a month old and cost $300!  I am using my old ones, but there was a reason I replaced them.  The prescription is about the same but they are scuffed from years of shirt pockets.  It is slightly like reading through plastic wrap.  

But they have been lost for a month.  Time to give up and buy a replacement pair.  At least the eyeglass place has the prescription and frame type, so can hopefully make a new set cheaper than the lost ones.

Someday, I may find them by stepping on them, mowing over them, or just (happily finding them) the way I sometimes come across pulled-off cat collars.  If after buying new ones and I find the lost ones, having 2 pairs would be convenient sometimes.

Kim Possible

If you never saw this animated Kim Possible series, you may or may not want to read further.  But it is my favorite animated show of all time (and I've watched a lot of them).  Kim is not Lara Croft.  She has a real normal life (so to speak).  Classes, homework, problems...

I have the finale bookmarked.  So last night, I went looking for the origin episode just to watch it, only to find my memory of it seemed wrong.  I thought Kim started as a baby-sitter, but episode 1 showed her already a heroine.  I was very surprised and a bit confused.

But hurray for wikipedia!  I found this (footnotes removed):

"Kim becomes a crime-fighter unintentionally. In need of a job, she creates her own website to promote her babysitting and lawn mowing services, using the slogan "I can do anything".^] When a wealthy entrepreneur accidentally contacts Kim Possible instead of Team Impossible when he becomes trapped by his own laser security system, Kim rushes to his aid and uses her gymnastic abilities to disable the device. As news of Kim's heroism spreads and requests for her help increase, she finally decides to pursue it as a career".

Yay!  My memory isn't dead yet...  I knew she started out innocent of ideas of heroism.

Kim has a real family and daily high school problems.  Dad is literally a rocket scientist and Mom is literally a neurosurgeon.  And her younger twin brothers are mechanical geniuses.  Your typical family, LOL!

Kim has a male best friend from  kindergarden years.  No hint of a love relationship.  Just BFFs.

The guy is named Ron Stoppable.  Kim's last name is Possible; his is Stoppable.  Clue to his ineptness in life.  He basically becomes the sidekick who has to be saved all the time.  Well, his pants fall down on most episodes, so you get the relationship.  But he is brave even if inept.

Kim's main goal in the series is simply to help those in need regardless of money or rewards.  She does have friends who help her with various planes and information (You helped me with that ship problem, etc).

Kim's main oppenent is Shego (who is both acrobatic and can shoot energy from her hands how is a mystery).  But she is the sidekick of the blue-skinned Dr Draken who of course wants to take over the world.  There are a few other villians (like Senore Senior Senior and his utterly handsome clueless son Senore Senior Junior ("Senior" being their last name) and some guy who shoots golf ball bombs.  But Shego mostly appears.

And one episode explained her name.  Kim and Ron eat at taco places.  He eats tacos, she a salad.  In a different city (but same taco brand) a villian breaks in and Kim drives him a away.  Later, she discovers (because she solves things) the manager is a big strong hero named "Hego"

And darned if there wasn't a "Go-Team" once.  There was a Theygo (could create multiples of himself) and IGo (speedy kid).  Kim catches on about "Shego"...  Yeah, Shego was the (black and green outfit) outcast of the group when she followed Dr Draken into villanny.  But Kim goes away from their territory (Ron didn't like their tacos) and we don't see much of them.

There are some interesting suprises.  In one episode another of Dr Drakens' devices fail and Shego and Kin are zapped to become sisterly friends.  Which gets reversed back and forth, of course.  But the last moment of the episode was Shego looking at a photo them both together with a tear dripping down her cheek.  One of the slightly-suggested plot themes were that Kim and Shego were actually very much alike.

And then there was the "Graduation Day" episodes.  With a stupid build up.  Ron has "monkey-powers" which he has no understanding of except for a voice/image in his head.  Kim realizes that Ron has been her best friend forever.  Ron doesn't know how to express his love of Kim.  

They eventually kiss to the surprise of both.  And attend Senior Prom together.  Kim in "a liitle black dress and Ron in an over-the-top tuxedo (of course).  The high school crowd is stunned, then applauds wildly.  As in "well it's about damned time you two figured it out".  

Then the alien baddies attacked.  Just a husband/wife team, but they are very powerful (and have been seen a couple times in minor fights).  So a few things happen.  Dr Draken has created a beam that makes him all flowery (much to his dismay).  I mean, petals all around his head and a few tendrils.  Shego and Kim fight the aliens.  Ron has been given a rocket pack from Kim's twin brothers.

Kim is defeated and she and Draken are captured/taken to the enemy ship.  Ron and Shego go to rescue them (she steals a jet pack).  

Favorite paraphrases...

Shego to Ron:  "How do we get in"?

Ron". "There's always a trash dump".  

Shego:  That's ricul (and then the trash door opens).  They fly in.  They find Kim and Draken (Kim got them freed).  Ron embraces Kim.  

Now you have to understand something here.  Shego is Dracken's sidekick/enforcer.  She is insulting, snarky and belittles his mad scientist schemes.  She has never shown the least sign of affection towards him.  

But Shego embraces Draken like Kim and Ron do with a lot of embarassment and "well I was just happy to see you" explanations.  Woah!

So they escape the alien ship and return to Earth.  The alien couple (visualize 8" tall body-builder/hunters).

They defeat Kim yet again.  Draken complains about his petals and tendrils. "Its not like I can command them to surround you", but that actually happens when he says that.  OMG, he is sort of like Poison Ivy in Batman.  And as he stands there, he hatches a plan.  (paraphrasing again) "I see it Shego.  For once in my life I see how this could work.  It all makes sense now for the first time".

Kim and Shego are beaten.  The alien couple have landed destructo-machines all over Earth.  But Ron's "monkey-power" (lame, I know) is activated when he sees Kim being held up in defeat by the alien couple.

Two things happen at the same time.  Draken commands his tentacles to spread and "take down those machines".  And Ron glows red and levitates.  Kim is unconcious but Shego is still awake.  She sees Ron land vibrating body hits and then actually throws them into their ship (which immediately explodes), ending the threat.

Draken's tendrils crush all the destructo-machines. Ron returns to reality.  Kim wakes up and asks Shego "what happened"?  Shego:  "Ya had to see it.  I think your sidekick just stepped up".

Now another interesting part.  Draken is regarded as a hero and is awarded a medal.  Shego embraces him seriously (in public, though we sort of knew she loved him all the time and he her).  They will be together, as Draken realizes being "a good guy" isn't a "bad thing".   And the love of someone like Shego isn't bad either.  So the bad guys turned out good.  Hurrah, everyne is good and happy.

And Kim and Ron graduated and became permanent.  She to Universities asking her to accept them and Ron to work at "Smarty-Mart" as a clerk.  But it doesn't matter.  Because they had always loved each other and never realized it...  And would (as the series ended) as long as the stars shown in the sky.

Fini