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.

A Mystery

 This is a pine branch.  It showed up on my deck.

There is no pine tree within 3 lots of mine.  It didn't blow here in the wind.  Something dragged it up here.  It wasn't my cats (they don't wander out of the yard).

But what animal drags a pine branch around?  

One Of Those Days

If you are of a "certain age", you begin to worry more when you forget things or lose track of things.  I know perfectly well that I have forgotten things or lost track of things all my life, but I WORRY about it more these days.  So the last 24 hours were annoying. 

First, I lost track of a kitchen timer over the weekend.  I use it as a sleep timer actually.  My hours are irregular, so its easier to just click up 9 hours of the timer than fuss with a real alarm clock.  So I hadn't been able to find it for days.  I looked around the bed.  I looked in all my pockets.  Because I have a waterbed, I had to dig down between the waterbed mattress and the frame (find cat toys that way all the time.  I even looked in the kitchen in case I had actually used it as a kitchen timer for real

Last night, I finally remembered where it was.  I hadn't found it because I hadn't gone outside, because it had been raining for 4 days.  I had used it to time the flowerbed watering before the rains came.  So it sat out there.  In the rain.  For 4 days!  I've disassembled it and set it to dry for a week, and I'll hope it works again someday. 

Second, I bought one of those small coiled hoses to water the container plants up on the deck.  The attachment points didn't match the ballisters so I decided to mount it to a piece of plywood and attach THAT to the ballisters.  But the only right-size piece I had was unfinished so I wanted to stain and varnish it today.

Now, rather than use a brush that needs to be cleaned afterwards, I like to use a soft cloth (held in a disposable latex glove) for work like that.  I have a box full of nice soft worn-out cotton undershirts that as just perfect for that (not a speck of lint left).  I just cut off a piece from one and use it once.  So I did that and went to get my can of varnish.  I haven't seen the piece of t-shirt since!

I spent 15 minutes this afternoon searching for that damn little piece of cloth this afternoon.  Not because the bit of cloth was valuable, but I really needed to know where I had lost it.  I know absolutely that I did cut it off the old t-shirt.  And I couldn't find it.  When I got to the point where I was checking completely illogical places like the M/W oven, I stopped.  I decided that if it was in the refrigerator or someplace like that, I really didn't WANT to know. 

So when I drove off on an errand at dusk, I completely LOST it!  Backing out of the garage, I slowed down to put on my regular prescription driving glasses.  I don't need them legally but it's close enough that I wear them voluntarily.  It was a deal between the optometrist and I.  He signed off on my eye test and I would wear the glasses voluntarily.

I also I also have prescription sunglasses for the same purpose.  As I stopped to put on the regular glasses, I heard (but did not see) the sunglasses slide of the dashboard.  So, I stopped at the end of the driveway to retrieve them. 

Couldn't find them.  OK, they got under the front seat.  I felt around under there.  No sunglasses.  I checked on the top of the front seat, the sides, and underneath again.  No sunglasses.  So I turned of the car to search more thoroughly.  I checked above, below, around the front passenger seat.  No luck.  The little compartment between the seats was open, so I checked around in there.  No luck. 

I felt around the back floor.  Now admittedly, I have a cluttered car.  I'm the only one ever in it these days, so I stack the back floor with the containers of useful car stuff (its an SUV so there is no trunk for stuff like that).  And I've had battery problems so I even have an extra battery in the back.

I removed all the containers from the back floor and felt around VERY carefully.  No luck.  OK, weird stuff happens on the bounce, so I felt carefully up into the seat springs.  No luck.  At that point, I was out of places to look and some slight concern that I had imagined hearing the sunglasses slide of the dashboard.  And lest you suspect the obvious, I had carefully checked the dashboard, the glasses-holder above the rear-view mirror and all my pockets; everywhere glasses OUGHT to be.

I was reluctant to drive, because I just KNEW they would slide underfoot and get crushed.  But I had to give up.  I drove off to do my errand.  Upon returning home, I of course had to open the drivers door in order to get out.  The drivers door has an open pocket for maps and "stuff".  I looked at the door pocket with an "oh damn" feeling,  closed my eyes, and reached in.

There they were.  Sunglasses found...

Why didn't I look there while searching the car so carefully, you ask?   Because the open car door was BEHIND me!  ARGGH!!!  You don't look where you can't see...

Now the only current mystery left is where that damned little piece of cloth is...  I can't WAIT to come across THAT someday. 

A Mystery Computer Reception

OK, this is going to be a bit weird, so please forgive any confusion in advance.

30 minutes ago, a short story flashed onto my screen in Word.  I do not know why or how.  I do not recognize the story, I have not used Word recently, and I cannot find any email with any such attachment.  It appears to be a short story about Ayla from Clan Of The Cave Bear about her days before the books began.

I certainly did not write it myself any time because it uses letters I cannot create "Çocukdünya". it is not in my writing style , It mentions "Iza" who is a character later in the COTCB book, and an original name for Ayla (Nefeyli) that has never crossed my mind.  A Google search for Nefeyli, Iza, and Grub (another character in the received short story) yields nothing.  I am baffled.  But interested...  

If you are the person who somehow sent it to me, or know anything about this short story or author, please contact me more directly at cavebear2118 AT verizon DOT net, post on my blog, or do anything you please to contact me further.

For now, I don't care how or why it suddenly popped up on my screen, I just want to more about the story's origin and why I received it.  And anything you want to tell.  I've saved the story adding a note to the top that it is not mine so that I won't get too confused seeing it again years from now and wondering about the origin of it.

But, whoever you are, I really do want to hear from you again...

Mark 

Update:  Never mind, mystery solved.  It was an attachment I did not see in an April email .  Why it suddenly opened now I don't know, but everything is OK.

Mark