University Of Maryland Basketball

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

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

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

Go Terps!

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

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

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

The Mews

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Small Computer Victory

 My new laptop has only a power port and 2 USB-C ports.  Very annoying.  Couldn't plug in a flashdrive or much anything else.  But I did find a 3" USB-C to USB cable so I could atattch a wireless mouse plug.  So it worked OK.

And it suddenly occurred to me that the same cable would work with any USB connection.  DUH!  I am so dumb sometimes.

I had 4 of those cables already (came in a pack of 5) sitting in a box on the bookcase.  But they weren't in my "big bucket of cables" so I didn't realize I had them.  

Other than that, Sunday was a pretty typical day.  I got up at 2pm after 10 hours in bed (I don't sleep great).  Got up, pulled on sweatpants and a T shirt, fed the cats and then let them outside, and checked blogs and emails.   Got the newspaper and mail (Saturday's).

I'm really going downhill fast.  But my awake time is pretty productive, so maybe that's not all that bad.  I hauled out the stepladder to refill the birdfeeder, did the dishes and 2 loads of laundry.  Added some air to the car tires.  Cleaned the litterboxes.  It's not like I just sit in front of the TV.  I'm actually on my feet about 6 hours a day.  But I do have to stop eventually...

Wasn't hungry, so I skipped breakfast and lunch.  Dinner was ham cubes with cabbage,  And a large tossed salad.  Watched some MSNBC.  Tried to find a movie worth watching.  Started 'Civil War' on a recommendation, but didn't feel in the mood for political thriller. so I turned it off.

Tossed toys around with the cats.  And they take turns on my lap.  Which we all enjoy.  And they were all around me on the bed later.  Hard to get a picture of that though,  If I turn on the bedtop light at night and turn the camera on, they leave.

Went to bed at 11 pm after watching a Bill Maher show I missed Friday.

That's what "old guy" life is like...  👴

Annoying Recall Notice

 The bad...  My electric Ryobi mower is on recall.  I received an email from them about that.  Directed me to a phone number or a website.  I thought the phone call would be easier.  I was sure wrong about that!

I called the number Friday.  Got an agent quickly (yay).  Gave her all the information she asked for (so they could set up a case file).  She said I would immediately receive an instruction email about disabling the old mower and they would send me a replacement.

I didn't receive an email...

So I called again yesterday.  It was a complete experience of ineptitude!  I guessed (correctly) that they had gotten my email wrong.  Even though I carefully provided it letter by letter (and spoke very clearly).  So this time, I had basic military code words written down for my email address ("Alpha" for A, "Bravo" for B, "Charlie" for C, etc.  

The agent still got it wrong 3 times!  It was maddening.  Even when I asked her to repeat it back to me, she used wrong words.  How can you mistake "Bravo" for "Victor"?  But we finally got that worked out.

Then came my address.  I recognize that my street name is not common.  There is a B where a V seems more likely.  But I gave it to her code word by code word.  And she got that wrong twice.  Apparently, she couldn't type accurately.  And let me say that I'm only saying "her" because her voice suggested she obviously was; not some sense of insult.

We finally got through that.  

Then came the Zip code.  I said 2O6O1, and that didn't register in her computer.  I didn't realize I was talking to a Canadian.  They have letters in their postal codes and in the US it is assumed to be all numbers, so saying O and 0 are the same.  OK, my bad!

Once I figured that out, I corrected it.  And apologized.  I repeated my Postal Code as all numerics.

So she read back all the information I had provided.  And had completed botched almost everything.  Still had my email wrong, still had my street name wrong, still had the Postal Code wrong.  Seriously, how can you confuse the spoken word of "one" with "nine? 

So it was another round of correcting the information. 

That was 45 minutes of idiocy.  She finally did get everything right, because I did receive the promised email of instructions while we were still talking.  And then she said to ignore that.  Apperently, she had to register me with Ryobi/TTI.  ARRRGGGHHH!

She said her system said there was still a problem and put me on hold for 10 minutes.  Came back finally and said it was all worked in their database that I was qualified.  Never mind that they had already said I was qualified for a replacement mower.  I might get the replacement in 2 weeks.  After following the instructions about disabling the old mower.  

And that the original instructions were correct.  In a pdf file I had to download and open, and print.  I have to clip off at least 6" of 2 wires and take before and after pictures.   And send a pic of the model/serial number label.  Which is so small and inconvenient that I'm not sure if I can, and then email it to them.  But that is tomorrow's problem.

I really don't need this kind of aggravation!

My new laptop has only a power plug and 2 USB-C ports.  Can't even plug in a wireless mouse directly

Keeping Track Of Pics

I keep a paper list of pics of The Mews.  But sometimes it is hard to find which daily folder they are in.  So I looked at it and asked myself "Self, what would make things easier".  Then "duh",  added a column to list the folder the pics are in.  

Damn, I really love organizing information!  Just saying...

Edited to add:  Oops, I meant that for tomorrow...

The Laptop

 I am not a mobile person.  I don't carry the laptop around with me.  But I have a particular use for it.

If I sit at the desktop computer I smoke.  It is the only place I do.  Can't seem to stop that.  But I don't smoke anywhere else in the house.  So, if I have the laptop in the TV room and I'm watching news or sports, I don't smoke.  

Well, maybe one thought about that.  The air return vent is just outside of my computer room.  If I set the fan on "continuous" any smoke escaping the room gets drawn straight in there.  And I have a latch hook that leaves the computer room door open just 2".  Enough to direct the smoke to the filter, but not enough to let The Mews in to breathe the smoke.  I am better about their health than mine.  👍

So the laptop allows me to spend time emailing or visiting friends' blogs without feeling a desire to smoke.   And that means we start visiting again!  Way too long and I really apologize...

Computer Madness And Success

 I was using an old laptop last year.  There were problems.  Several keys came loose, the battery died.  I read that both together would probably cost more than a new cheap one.  And about all I was doing with it was using it in front of the TV to visit other cat blogs.

So I bought a new cheap (simple) one.  And I couldn't get it to connect to my Wi-Fi.  OK, it decades past, I was a techie.  But tech slipped past me.  I have trouble with my smartphone (I can't figure out how to navigate to where I want).  So I couldn't get the new laptop to connect to my Wi-Fi account.

One suggestion I read was to bring the laptop closer to the router.  Yesterday, I did that.  It didn't help a bit!  But at least I had both my desktop and the laptop in the same room and could look up stuff on the desktop about the laptop.  

What I found by desktop computer internet queries suggested I was failing getting the laptop connected because I didn't have a WPA2  password.  I had no idea what that was.

Searches described WPA2 but didn't help much.  I'm sure what that is, is obvious to many of you, but it sure wasn't to me.  

Most sites said that if you lost your Wi-Fi password (and I didn't even know I needed or had one), you had to either connect your laptop to the router with a Ethernet cable or completely re-establish your router.  My laptop does have any such port and I definitely didn't want to mess with my router settings!

So. on my desktop, I kept querying about WPA2 in various ways.  For a couple hours (I am persistent) I tried various fixes.  None worked or suggested the "reset router" option.

And then I found a reference on a Mac discussion forum that said that the router comes with a model number and password usually located on the bottom.  OK, I'm not all that agile these days, and the cables are pretty tight.  So it was difficult get at the bottom of the router and I needed a flashlight to read it.  

But there was a model number of the router and there was an original password.  I thought I had changed that for general security.  But when I typed in the original router password to the laptop Wi-Fi query, it WORKED!  Wi-Fi was working.  I don't care why it worked.

I danced around the room, I went out and gave The Mews treats (real ones, not just kibble).  I danced around the living room!

And then I went back to the computer room.  There were browsers to download.  There were some bookmarks to add.  I use Duck Duck Go on most (they don't track queries of send ads).  I got Feedly on the Chrome browser (it seems to work best for me there).

Some things were complicated.  My laptop doesn't even have a port for a flashdrive, so I couldn't even copy bookmarks from the desktop to the laptop.  It just has a power port and 2 very small ports.  I think they are Micro HDMI type D or Mini Display Port.  I can't tell by just looking at the images of them.

I have to laugh.  I have a bucketful of various cables and adaptors, but never the right ones.

But the laptop reaches the internet now, and that's all I care about.  I'll explain why that's all I care about on the laptop next post...

Thankful Thursday

 I am thankful for many things.  Some are important in general, some are more individual and personal...

1.  Generally safe and clean food and water.  It takes work for the Government to assure that.

2.  Cats.  Mine are individually good to me, and getting along better with each other.  And that they use litterboxes.

3.  Inexpensive but decent wine.  A dinner without wine would be lacking something and I refuse to buy wine that costs as much as my dinner.

4.  My Federal retirement annuity.  It is inflation-adjusted and will last until I die.

5.  Computers and the internet.  They aren't exactly the same.  I love the internet for the communication, but I do things on my computer that don't require the internet.  I use Word and Excel a lot.

6.  My local butcher/deli/liquor store.  And the great sales they offer weekly.

7.  High-def consolidated cable TV.  I know a lot of people use streaming services, but I can get 90% of what I want in just one place.

8.  Civilization II.  It's an old game, but it is always a bit challenging.  No two games are the same.  And there is no time-clock.  I can play at my own pace.  Then leave and return to the same game later to continue it.

9.  My house.  I've lived here 38 years.  I can walk around it in the dark by now.  It has an easy circular traffic pattern for the kitchen/living/TV room and then a hallway that leads to 3 "bedrooms".  Of those, one is a bedroom, another the computer/library room, and the 3rd is The Mews Room.  And I own it outright!  And happy for a full basement and built-in garage.

10.  My car.  A nice, practical compact SUV Subaru Forrester.  Also owned outright.  

11.  Credit cards.  A wonder of the computer age.  I withdrew $200 from my bank ATM a year ago, and most of it is still in my wallet.  I only have 3 and they are automatically paid off in full each month.  And I get cash back and discounts from each.  Well, one is from Amazon and is dedicated to purchases there.  A second is dedicated to routine monthly bills.  The third is for all other purchases.  

12.  Sports.  I don't watch them generally, but I am a home-boy.  I watch the local professional baseball and football teams (casually), and University of Maryland football and mens/womans basketball (more intently).  

13.  Modern medicine.  And by "modern" I mean "in my lifetime".  I could have died from a severe hernia as a baby.  I could have died from a nearly-ruptured appendix at 18.  And I love vaccines.  The standard childhood shots helped.  And I'm happy to have gotten the shingles, RSV, and pneumococcal shots.  I get the flu and covid shots every year.  

14.  Books.  When I was pre-kindergarten, Mom home-schooled me about letters and words.  First, I started school with an advantage.  Second, it taught me to love to read.  I read every in the house (dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.  By the time I was 12, I had exhausted the library's supply of "young adult" books.  Then I switched to adult science and sci-fi.  Books taught me as much as school-days did.

15.  Telescopes.  I am not and never was a religious child or adult.  Science explained things better.  And astronomy was my favorite way of learning.  Telescopes of various kinds have gotten so much better since I was young.  When the Hubble was repaired and started showing fabulous pictures, I nearly cried from joy at seeing them.

16.  Magazines and Newspapers.  Yes I still subscribe to some.  Scientific American, Cook's Illustrated, Wood, Archeology, Consumer Reports.  I get detailed information from each one.  And The Washington Post newspaper.  Regarding The Washington Post newspaper, it feels entirely normal to me that it is my International, National and Local newspaper.  

17.  Career.  Out of college, I ended up in minimum wage department store jobs.  I knew I was better than that, but I couldn't figure out where to try.  I didn't like sales jobs, I'm not good at getting money from others (an ethical problem), and I wasn't mechanically skilled.

A friend suggested I take the Federal Goverment exam.  It was called the Professional Administrative Exam (PACE).  I aced it in all 6 categories at 2 grade levels (99th percentile in all).  I was offerred a job temporary job in "general office" work at the General Services Administration (GSA).  They had WWII veterans retiring and needed replacements.  GSA provided equipment/furniture/supplies/office space/telephone services for the rest of Government.  And this office provided internal agency support for all those things.  Talk about "general", LOL!

After 4 weeks, Management asked if I would take a permanent position.  DAMN HELL YES!  It was the perfect place for me.  I thrived and advanced.  I always got the most difficult jobs and I loved that.  I retired happy, satisfied and missed.

18.  I'm sure I will think of other things to be thankful for in a few hours, but I think it is time to end this post.  You all have other places to visit and I am late to make lunch.

New Neighbors

 I've been trying to learn about my new neighbors.  Oh, I don't mean improper curiosity, just wondering about them and if we have anything in common.  I don't really even know who moved in.  Moving Day had lots of children, young adults, and older adults.  About 4 cars and a U-Haul worth.  

Observations:

1.  I think it is the older adults.  Because there is a black sedan in the driveway and I think I saw the older guy get out of it on Moving Day.

2.  I haven't seen anyone outside in the yard.

3.  Someone is living there.  There are lights on inside.  And the car comes and goes.  

4.  They come from a different County (not "Country" County, and they had Maryland car plates).  Because they put 5 bags of trash out the 1st day expecting them to just be picked up.  Some Maryland Counties has govt pick up.  In this County, you have to hire a trash service.  

I almost used that as an opportunity to introduce myself and mention that.  But before I did, I noticed they had all the bags in a recycle bin (that the County does provide as a service).  Assuming the bags were actual trash, that was also incorrect.  

But before I got the nerve to mention that, a recycle bin showed up on their driveway.  I bet my Good Neighbors across the street helped them understand County services.  They are both extroverts in the most helpful ways.  😀

5.  I suppose I will have to wait until nice weather in Spring to see one of them outside while I have an excuse to go outside too (mail, Amazon delivery).

6.  At least they don't seem to have a yappy dog or a motorcycle.  So far, they are very quiet and stay inside.  

I Have New Neighbors

 One house across the street had the detached shed catch fire about a year+ ago.  It also damaged one side of the house, but I didn't see the fire-fighters pouring a whole lot of water in there.

Yet, it stayed ignored for months.  I was curious about that.  As a rental, you would think it would have been restored quickly.  But nothing happened for a year.  Well, maybe there were some legal issues.

But finally, last Fall, some contractors showed up.  New siding, new roof.  And then nothing.  Whoever actually owned the place was in no rush.

Then a month ago, a "For Sale" sign was installed.  I did notice people visiting.  Yesterday,  few cars of variously-aged people and a U-Haul showed up.  Someone was moving in.

I think it is an elderly couple, but there were young adults around helping to carry things inside.  Can't tell who is really moving in.  Maybe parents helping or maybe young adults helping.  But there are lamps lit inside the house.  So I will see who is out in the yard soon enough.  

Shopping

It was both good and bad today.  First was the grocery store.  Last Fall I got either the flu or covid shop.  Couldn't remember which and couldn't find the record of it.  And lately, there has been a line at the Pharmacy counter so it seems too long to wait just to ask if they knew which one I had already gotten.

Today there was no line, so I stopped to ask.  I had gotten the flu shot.  So I asked to get the covid shot.  The timing was perfect.  They were about to close for lunch, but agreed to give me the shot.  What usually takes 20-25 minutes suddenly became 10!

I didn't even have to fill out the whole permission form.  They just said "sign here", LOL!  And I received the shot.  I appreciate the modern thin needles.  I can still usually tell I am getting the shot.  It hardly bothers me.  This time, I couldn't even feel it at all.  I saw it go in (yes, I watch) so I know they did it.  But talk about easy.

And not only is the shot free (my Dr would charge a $20 co-pay), Safeway gives you a 10% discount coupon on the whole cart.  Not only that, they gave me 3 coupons!  I make a profit getting a health-promoting shot.  

The bad was that their website is changed (or temporarily messed-up).  Safeway offers website digital coupons (called "Safeway For U).  You have to click on each specific item you want though.  I couldn't just click on all of them, but I think they learn to offer what I click on most frequently, and my needs are specific.  So I pick and choose.

But sometimes, it doesn't work quite right.  I find some stuff I've clicked on not registering at checkout.  And I think that happened today.  Usually I check the receipt before I leave the store.  Sometimes I have to go to the Customer Service Desk (and they are pretty good about making adjustments).

But when you have that 10% discount coupon from the covid shot, they don't just reduce the final bill by 10%.  They assign a few pennies discount to each item you purchased.  So between my store loyalty card discounts, the shot discount, and the Safeway For U digital discounts, the receipt was 3' long.  I just didn't want to stand there 15 minutes and review every item.

So I went on to the other food store I shop at.  That one is sort of like a large 7-11 for real food.  Deli counter, personalized meat counter, beer/wine/liquor, specialized herbs/spices, some basics, and some fruits and veggies.  I love the place!  Never seen anyplace quite like.  They have weekly sales of good quality meat.  And they happily accept my special orders of cases of the wine I most like.  And "by the case" is discounted.  They even call me when my order has arrived.  The store manage knows me by name!

The store is busy, but the checkout lines are short because they have enough of them open.  It is a pleasure to shop there.  And they bring my wine out to the car and load it!

So of course there had to be another "bad" experience to make up for the good ones.  On the way home, I stopped at my "not-my-usual" 7-11 to buy some cigarettes.  It was horrible!  Yeah, yeah, I know I shouldn't smoke.  But I do and this one was on my way home.

I buy cigarettes by the carton.  It's just easier that way and the price is the same.  But it saves me going to buy a couple packs every week.

So I asked for a carton of Marlboro Red 100's.  The clerk grabbed 1 pack.  No, I said a "carton" and made the shape of one.  It's like the a 2" slice of a shoebox the long way.  "Ah" he said and proceeded to take a pizza out of the oven and slice it up.  Took him 10 minutes.

Then went off to a secure backroom to get a carton.  Came out and "no carton", like he expected me to leave.  I said 10 loose are fine.  So he pulled 10 loose packs off the rack.  And he started ringing them up (after I entered my smartphone number for a slight discount).  He rang up 2.  Then 2, then 6.

I asked why.  Please understand that I try very hard to understand people for whom English is a 2nd language.  I'm not good at it and I partly blame myself for that.  I just don't have an attuned ear...  But I could not understand a word he was saying, what he was doing, or what I was actually being charged.  

I turned to the next customer in line to ask if he understood what the clerk was saying.  He must have been a smoker too.  Because while he didn't understand what the clerk was saying, he understood what the clerk was doing.

There was some promotion deal where buying 2 packs gets a small discount (up to 4 packs).  So he was ringing up 2, charging my card, rang up another 2 and charging me separately for that, then ringing up the 6 not eligible and charging me for those.

A quick look at the receipts at the counter suggested it was about the usual price, so I just gave up and left.  But I should have been more observant.  When I got home, I realized I had been cheated.  Marlboro sells their cigarettes in various colors indicating quality.  I like the best of their line which is "Marlboro Red".  Other colors indicate a decline in quality (but also in price).

Sort of in declining order (by memory) are Gold, Blue, Black, Special Blend, and Silver.  And one I had never heard of.  Red Label.  The pack is red, but slightly different in design.  Mid-quality and $2 cheaper per pack.

I got charged full Marlboro Red 100s price for the lesser quality Red Label 100s.  

I don't expect that most of you smoke.  And some people who do don't really care about the differences.  But I do and I can tell.

I am never going to go back to that 7-11!

The Mews Room

 I mentioned the other day on the Mark's Mews blog about the shower curtain storage hider.  I thought I would show the details.  I usually take pictures of projects.  But apparently, I didn't on this one.  So I'll try to explain what I did in case anyone wants to do something similar in an "extra room" (I live alone but in a 3 bedroom house).

Some pre-explanation...

The Mews Room used to be a guest bedroom.  I set it up with 2 single beds for my parents bi-annual visit.  I was a convenient place to stay on their trip from New England to Florida and back each year.  Had I lived far off their path, they probably wouldn't have visited.  We are a "practical" family.  LOL!

And when Dad became demented he stayed here for 2 years.  I removed one of the beds so he would have more space.  He had to go to assisted care in 2012, so I returned it to The Mews Room.

But I had also had the house insulation improved (for free by a special initiative by my electrical co-op).  I had to take everything stored in the attic out (including the plywood flooring strip down the middle) for the 2' in additional insulation.  But it meant I had boxes of stuff I had to put "somewhere".  They went into The Mews Room.  But it was pretty ugly.

So I thought about dedicating 2' of one side of the room to just "storage" and thought about how to hide it.  So I happened to notice my bathtub shower curtains.  The inner one is functional (keeps shower water in the tub).  But the outer one was just decorative.  So I looked up shower curtains.

I found some that were actually 8' tall and 6' wide!  

Bad picture, but it shows the pipe.  The shower curtains actually look like this...

But I had to figure out how to hang 2 of them across a 10' room.  Bathroom shower curtain rods are not that wide.  But metal pipes are.  The problem was the room was actually 10' 3".  So I thought about how to support a pipe 3" too short.

Aha!  metal angle brackets.

Two 3" angle brackets would fit inside the 3/4" pipe.  I measured the curtains (including the height of curtain rings). Added an inch for floor clearance and pipe thickness.  Attached one bracket at that height and screwed it into the wall using plastic anchors designed for drywall.  Slid one end of the pipe onto that.  Then I taped a level to the pipe and moved it up and down a bit of painters tape on the opposite side until I knew where the bottom of the other bracket should be.  Drilled holes for anchors of that 2nd bracket.

Put the 2nd bracket into the pipe (couldn't do it after installing the bracket).  And screwed in the 2nd bracket (already inserted into the pipe) using a board at an angle to keep it in place.  Checked the pipe for "level".  It was perfect!  

Clipped on shower curtain rings and hung the 2 shower curtains.  With 2 shower curtains, I can spread them either way from the center to get at the storage stuff.

I want to say that this sounds more complicated than it is.  It is really just...

1.  Attach a small pipe from wall-to-wall.

2.  Put on shower curtain rings.

3.  Hang shower curtains

4.  Hide stuff behind the shower curtains.

Too Much "Breaking News"

I'm getting tired of "Breaking News".   The news discussion shows (MSNBC, CNN, Fox) just lock onto it like a dog with a new bone.  

Political Confirmation Hearings.  Wildfires in California.  Plane/helicopter collision in Washington DC.  A Med-Evac plane crashes in Philadelphia.  Don't get me wrong, these are important and/or tragic events, but the reporting goes on 24/7!  With the same video footage, same commentary, same on every hour's shows all day over and over and over again.  😖

There are other things happening in the US and The World!  I want to know about those things too.

So sometimes I just turn on the local classical music station.  They don't do news!  And the local actual news station carves out time for local news.  👍

Busy Day

Yesterday, I got fancy for lunch.  Diced beef with sautéed onions  and melted Provolone cheese on a good quality sub roll.  With both dill and bread&butter pickles and a bowl of diced heirloom tomato on the side.  And a salad.  And read the newspaper while eating it.

Started laundry and then went out on errands.  First I thought of the best path and order.  Some things I needed were perishable, so they had to be the last stop. 

So, glasses first.  A lens popped out (2nd time in a month).  The place resets them for free, but there is something about this frame that seems unfriendly.  From there, that gave me the most direct path to PetSmart.  I needed Marley's kidney-care diet food.  Bought a 24 case each of the 4 flavors he dislikes least.  Poor guy, but it keeps him healthier.  And once a day (of 6 meals) I give him regular food.  He deserves it.

From there, it was across the street to the Safeway.  I have a lot of home-made main meals in the freezer, but I was out of fresh fruit and low on fresh veggies.  It's weird, but the intersection allows me to go from PetSmart to Safeway, but not the other way around.  

From Safeway (with nothing perishable) to Walmart.  There are some things Walmart sells at 3/4 the price of Safeway, and I have that pretty much memorized.   Milk, cat litter, kleenex, pens, canned stuff, etc.

Left the house at 3:30 and got home at 5:30.  This town is a permanent traffic congestion.  A commuter hub in 3 directions.  A bedroom town for commuters going to and back from Washington DC.  But I've learned when the stores are least busy, so that sort of balances out all the slow traffic.  I would move, but it seems such a hassle.  I'm on a quiet dead-end street and there is no home-owners association (by "grand-fathered" regulation).  And I have too much clutter.

Took a half hour to put all the purchased stuff away.  Started another load of laundry.  Fed The Mews again.  Turned on the TV to listen (too busy to watch) to the Univ of Maryland women's and men's basketball games (they followed each other).

Cleaned the litter boxes of course.  Another 20 minutes...

Started making dinner.  I'm not very fast at that.  A lot of food prep time involved in my meals and I sure like a good dinner.  When my elderly Dad stayed with me in his declining years he said after a couple weeks, "You make Sunday Dinner every night".  Yes I do.  I like to cook.

All that time adds up.  I ate dinner at 9 pm, LOL!  

Inauguration Day Yesterday

 

                               MOURNING IN AMERICA

Obviously, I was not thrilled with Trump's election.  But worse, it filled the TV from 8 am to 8 pm because it was disorganized.  I understand the reason, it was brutally cold with single digit wind chill.  

And I did appreciate Trump saying the reason for bringing the ceremony inside was to protect attendees, service staff, and service animals.  Not that I believe him (it was more likely for his own comfort) but it was a decent reason to express it that way.

I watched science DVDs most of the day.  The most irritating thing was that I was looking forward to watching the Univ of MD Women's basketball game at 5:30.  #8 Maryland vs #7 Texas.  It promised to be a great game!

It wasn't.  MD was missing 2 top starters, so it became a wipeout.  89-51.  I'm actually glad I couldn't watch or listen to it on radio.  

First, I couldn't watch the game because it was scheduled to be shown on Fox TV (which wasn't going to cut away from the delayed inauguration even if WW3 broke out.  I'm feeling a bit conspiracy-minded right now.  I'm sure that if Harris had won the election, Fox would have shown very little of the inauguration and all of the basketball game!

But was also radio.  For reasons that make no sense to me, Md basketball games are broadcast on a local AM station.  Terrible reception on most radios.  

But I tried my stereo system since it was time to make dinner.  Static!  I have a hang-up antenna, but I pulled the stereo away from the wall to look at it.  It was for FM.  So I looked around in a box in the bottom of the stereo rack and found an "AM loop antenna" with 2 bare wires to insert in clips.  Tiny wires, tiny clips, "oh joy".

So I set up a flashlight to shine on the clips.  Naturally, the only place I could rest the flashlight was where my hand managing the clips was in a shadow.  ARRRGH!  I had to contort myself rather badly to get at the clips in light.  But I did succeed.  I heard the AM station tolerably.  

And they were broadcasting a different local basketball game!  One in which the local team had lost 4 games in a row (and the other wasn't much better).  That was better than a game between a #7 and #8 team going at each other?  

So I went to the computer and clicked my Univ of Md bookmark.  Md was getting crushed!  So I went back to DVDs and made dinner.  An all too unhappy day.  Something around the worst in 10 years...

Well, at least I do have working AM radio antenna.  Small victories do mean something.  👍

Another Civilization 2 Game

 There are 3 ways to win at Civ 2.  One is to land a spaceship on Alpha Centuri.  Another way is to destroy all the other Civs.   I'm a peaceful type.  I like to land a spaceship.  The 3rd way is to just be the highest-ranked Civ at the end of the game.

So I tried the military victory path just out of curiosity.  I suck at that.  I'm a natural builder and defender.  The computer is designed to built military units and attack.  In fact, it cheats.

There is a cheat function (aside from the computer) where you can see details of what the opposing Civs are doing.  I've done that a couple times just to understand what the computer is doing.  The computer Civs build military at 75-80% of the normal cost.  And if the game gets tight towards the end, it cheats more (like 50%).  

So I was trying to play for a military victory just to see what happened.  Part of the game is research to discover new advances.  The computer "discovered" units it did not have the research for!

The game ends in 2020.  I ended up the top Civ at that point, but it really felt unsatisfactory.  My next one will be totally military.  Just build the strongest types and send them all around with some spies to steal stuff and bribe enemy units.  But I'll go back to building cities after that.  It feels better to build.

NFL Football and College Basketball

My local football team, The Washington Commanders, beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to advance in the playoffs.  If I understood a local sports announcer correctly, the Commanders have won their last 5 games on the last play of the game (offensively or defensively)!  Talk about heart-stopping endings...

They need a week of rest and so do I.  I feel exhausted after every game.  

And the Univ of MD prides itself on basketball.  The Men are doing well.  The #8 Women are doing better.  Sadly, they lost to the #4 USC team, but it could have gone either way right to the end when USC hit some baskets and MD had some bounce-outs.  But they won the next BIG 10 conference game, so that helped.  They are 14-1 which is very good.

More heart-stopping endings.

Snow Again

TBT:  Today, pictures of snowy events...  We don't always get snow in Winter, but sometimes frequent and deep.  The Mews have reacted to it differently over the years.

The snowblower has been wonderful.  I hadn't drained the old gas out last Spring, so I was worried it wouldn't run.  I even delayed trying to start it for 3 days after the snow stopped falling (well, there wasn't anywhere I needed to go).  If it hadn't started, I was thinking 2 hours of shoveling snow, so I was putting it off.

But yesterday I got up and prepared to clear the driveway.  I was out of fresh fruit and tomatoes.  And for me, that is a day without sunshine.  But the weather was still nasty.  Gusts to 30 mph, chill effect in single digits.  So, I got up and took a shower, put on my thermal stuff, ate a bowl of bean with bacon soup, fed The Mews, put on my heaviest hooded coat and gloves, and pulled the snowblower away from the garage wall, and reviewed the instructions.

I have a bamboo stick I use to measure the gas level.  Bamboo is clean and I can see the wet part well enough.  Nothing there (I think I wisely drained all the old gas last year).  So I filled it up.  The snowblower has both a pull rope and an electric starting system.

Old picture (old car in the garage), but the snowblower hasn't changed, so it's good.

 

There are choke adjustments, speed adjustments, etc.  I set them as per the instructions.

I'm no fool, I use the electric plug-in cord.  Started right up without hesitation.  YAY!  So off into the driveway I went.  Took 45 minutes, but took little effort on my part.  The snowblower is self-propelled  with 4 forward speeds and even has 2 reverse speeds. I cant imagine using any of the faster speeds.  I'd have to run behind it. LOL!

I love my snow-blower!

Even with the snowblower it was a bit brutal outside.  Swirling winds kept sending snow from the output chute back in my face from both directions.  But guiding a self-propelled snowblower for 45 minutes by just walking behind it is not like physically shoveling snow for 2 hours!

Now I just need to shovel a path on the deck so The Mews can get to the edge and watch the birds at the feeder.  

Past pictures of The Mews and snow...

Snow

I have read that snow predictions around Washington DC are the most difficult in the US.  Just to the west of us, we the Appalachian Mountians.  OK, they aren't the Rockies, but they are high enough to shift storms in subtle ways.  Snowstorms especially can suddenly go north or south 20 miles or hit us when it was not expected.  

The Rockies are tall and wide.  The Appalchians have gaps where just a couple of miles of the storm path can have considerable consequences in very local snowfall.  I suppose that is true about rain too, but rain just soaks into the ground.

2" of rain (or not) doesn't stop traffic.  But 2" of precipitation as snow is 18".  That closes down everything.  

We were predicted to get 3-5".  I got 10" and some places got 12".  I would just shovel off 3-5".  But 10" takes my snowblower.  Hey, I'm not young anymore.

I tested the snowblower last Fall, and it started up just fine.  It better work today, too.  I have loved using it.

  ----------

Funny story:  About 10 years ago, we got a foot of snow, so I started shoveling it.  I did about 5' (the driveway is 60' long).  Some teenager came by offerring to shovel it for $50.  I said no (I'm used to doing things myself), and he started to go to the next house.

But then I thought "why did I say no"?  OK, I'm also cheap.  But he was trying hard to earn money, and I have money.  And I was looking at at least 2 hours of miserable work.  I called him to come back and he did.

But all he had was a garden shovel, 😖  I let him use my (very good one).  He did a very good job and I gave him $50.  When I was a teen, I got $5 for a driveway.  Inflation, but probably about the same real cost.

And there is more to the funny story...

That Spring, when prices were low, I bought a top-rated snowblower.  That Winter, we got another 12"+ snowfall.  My Good Neighbor did his driveway with his snowblower and then came to do mine (being helpful).  I got dressed "wintered-up" real fast, ran to the garage, pulled out my new snow-blower and opened the door with a "Ta-Da" pose.

He cracked up.  👍  Then went to help another neighbor.

  ----------

Snowblowers aren't free.  And they have some problems.  Sometimes the snow slushes the output chute solid and you have to plunge it clear.  But having one means the difference between 1 hour+ of hard work and 15 minutes plus $1 worth of gas.  I love my snowblower!

Seed Companies

 I mentioned seed companies yesterday and it occurred to me that I should probably mention them.  They are, of course, just my personal preferences but I have had good success with them.  And their catalogues are very informative about each general variety.

Victory Seeds, Territorial Seeds, and Johnny's Selected Seeds, for standard garden veggies.

For excellent Spring bulbs, I go to Brent and Becky's Bulbs.  I've ordered from them for several years.  This year I was amazed to discover that almost all the daffodil bulbs were doubles or even triples.  They could have just snapped them all apart and sold them as singles, but they don't.

For standard, meadow and wildflowers, I go to Prairie Moon Nursery.  They have assorted trays and collections which are reasonably-priced.  And all the transplants arrive in good condition.

And oddly enough, Amazon has some decent tree saplings.  Two years ago, I ordered 3 Sourwood trees, 2 Korean Dogwoods (immune to a disease American dogwoods suffer from), and a Wisteria bush (should get about 12' tall and blooms in Summer.  All seem to be thriving.

Sourwood...  Red leaves and clusters of yellow berries in Fall.

Korean Dogwood...  Spring bloom.

Wisteria...  Not the tree-climbing vine, but a tree-form.  Usually white or purple flowers.  They vary.  Mine should bear purple in Summer.  You have to check.

New Year Chores

Calendars, mostly.  I have 2 in the kitchen.  One kitchen calendar is about regular scheduled things like recycling, contractor visits, and special TV shows.  The other is for medical appointments (both me and The Mews).  It helps to keep those things separate.  

The basement door has a calendar for my planting schedule.  I mark each weekend with a countdown number toward and after average last frost date in Spring and the first frost day for Fall.  Seeds can demand rather specific timing.  It really helps.

There is one in the computer room too.  Since that is where I post about The Mews, I add all their Birthdays and Gotcha Days.  Otherwise, sometimes I forget.

So I always have 4.  Mid-December, I go shopping for them at Walmart (they sell them cheap).  The computer room gets a cat calendar, the basement one is just a note-pad (no pictures), the main kitchen one is either butterflies of hummingbirds, the other is astronomy pictures (because it's about "time"), LOL!

Yeah, I could probably do better using my computer calendar app or even delayed emails to myself, but I'm old enough that the computer is not my main form of record-keeping.  And I like to see nice pictures on the walls as decorative anyway.

The other major New Year chore is to review my spreadsheet list of refrigerated seeds.  I keep them in numbered specimen vials in a tray.  The tray has 2 layers drilled with holes (so the vials stand up and kept in numerical order).  The spreadsheet has the vial#, seed name, purchase date, and expiration date.

So, I can skim down the list and see what new seeds to reorder.  A gardening forum I participate in has a list of the top 20 catalog companies and I only order from them.  There is another site that helps you cancel delivery of any catalogs you don't want to receive, and I have reduced my mailed catalogs to just a few garden companies and a few specialty companies for other products.   Saves some trees...

The garden catalogs usually arrive by end-of-year, so I will sit down with my list and the catalogs.  That can be a bit of work.  Not all sell each variety of seeds I want and it changes year-to-year.  So I have to make a list from each.  I wouldn't mind ordering some seeds from each, but the shipping fees are often quite high so I end up going with one company or another each year and making some variety adjustments.

String Art

You may have seen this partially showing in pictures of Lori on the aquarium hood.  But there is a story behind it.

Back around 1980, I saw a "string art" in the store front window.  I kept going back to it to try to understand how it was made.  That was before the internet, so I couldn't just "look it up".  What amazed me was that all the strings seemed to wrap around one pin at a time to form a kind of circle.

I love geometric shapes and I love making things new to me.  But figuring out how the string wrapped around every pin "just once" drove me nuts.  I even went to the mall on Thanksgiving Day and convinced the security guard to let me in just to look at it again.

And it finally struck me.  The number of pins (small brads, actually) had to be a prime number!  I drew it on paper first to check that.  And I was right...  So I started with a 2'x2' plywood board and figured out a circumference of a circle that would fit well in it.  I don't recall what prime number I used (57, 59, 63?) and I don't even want to try to counts them.  

And it took darn near a full day to accurately adjust my compass divider 

to get the spacing right.  But I finally got it.  On packing paper, LOL!  And I still have it.

Then I had to tap brads just an inch high into a cloth-covered plywood board to stay 1/8" above.  Each layer of thread requires counting a different number of brads.  The smallest circle is barely less than half the number.  Larger circles need fewer countings.

I discovered that carpet thread was stronger than clothes thread, so I used that.  Keeping the circles tight required a bit of tension and clothes thread broke. 

After making enough circles, I stopped and tapped the brads down flush.  I said "pins" earlier, but brads have a small flat head and literally nailed the threads in place.

The pic I showed above was my first effort, so I kept it.  I made a couple others as gifts to friends.  My best was a rainbow.  Light blue cloth with thread colors following the rainbow color order.

I did an oval version once just by extending the circle.  You can use the string and nail method where you attach a string to two fixed points and trace around it with a pencil.  That was a gift to another friend.  

I also extended the idea to an apartment wall (ceiling to floor) using black and red yarn.  It got a lot of attention from visitors.  I have old photos of it, but I can't scan them these days.  Need to fix that.

I tried to sell them on commission at an art store, but got no takers.  They took lots of effort and even at (only) $50 back then, kind of expensive.  But I sometimes wonder how life would have changed if they had "caught on".

So I guess I wanted to show off the original.  If I get the scanner working again, I'll show off a few more.  I really need to get the printer functioning properly.

 

Message In A Bottle

 Have you ever seen the movie 'Conagher'?  3rd-tier cowboy movie maybe.  But I saw the first half in a hotel room on forced govt travel and had to see the rest when I got home.  Sam Elliot impressed me no end...

Evie Teale is a western widow who writes notes and attaches them to tumbleweeds to drift away like messages in a bottle at sea.  Cowboys find them sometimes but her identity is a mystery.  Conagher has met Mrs Teale a couple of times and likes her and wants to tell her that, but he stays a drifter.

Long story short, he does finally figure out that she is the author of the notes.  

There is a bar fight with The Bad Guy.  Conagher wins, barely almost beaten to death but still standing...  Mrs Teale arrives and says "It's time for you to come home now."  Happy ending.

I understand Conagher.  Yeah, I'm a home-boy and he is a drifter, but its not all that different.  We both just go along on our own one day at a time.  

Or maybe I'm Mrs Teale.  Internet posts are not very different from notes attached to tumbleweeds.  Thoughts sent out into the world with no idea who might read them and no results expected.  I write because I need to express thoughts, not for some number of replies (which however, are gratefully received and read).

I sometimes think I am both Conagher and Mrs Teale.  All of us are both in some ways. I suppose.  Some of us match up and some don't.   Myself, I just drift through life like Conagher, but like Mrs Teale, I send notes to the world.  Not that I'm trying to find a Conagher/Teale connection, just trying to to get through life.

I probably shouldn't post this, but "well why not"?  It's "just" the internet.  Notes attached to tumbleweeds...

I bet Conagher would have liked cats.  😀