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.

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...

Annoyed Serious Gripe

 I shop at a Safeway store.  They have great produce and I love fresh veggies and fruits.  And it is not a busy store.  Checkout lines are usually just a few people.  But I have a gripe about one checkout woman.  And I've emailed the store about it but gotten no reply.  So I feel like complaining about it somewhere.

I have a store-loyalty card.  You show it to the checkout cashier and they scan it immediately.  But there is one cashier who always says "I'll do that at the end". OK.   But she never remembers to do that.  The first time, OK, she was busy and forgot.  

When I pointed at my loyalty card sitting on the small surface next to her, she said I hadn't shown it to her.  Of course I had.  I had held it right up to her.  Well, fine, people get busy and forget things.

The next time I was in her line, same thing.  But this time I mentioned she had forgotten the last time.  She blew up.  "I never forget that" she said, and then forgot again.  I pointed out that it was the 2nd time.  She blamed me for not showing the card first (I had).

Today, I had to go through her station again (only express lane).  Again she said "I'll do that at the end".  I insisted she did.  She said she never forgets.

This time the same thing.  And she did not have a name label.  I said "I bet your name is "Patsy".  She asked how I knew.  I said because you do the same card-scan-avoidance everytime "for later".  I demanded she scan the card immediately.  And she seemed both aggrieved and angry.

But she did scan it.  In anger, and she practically threw my bags at me afterwards.

What is with some people?  All she has to do is scan cards when presented.  Everyone else does.

Odd Neighbors

I've mentioned my odd neighbors across the street before.  The lived there a couple of years several years ago, and  moved back last year.  It is a rental place.  I think the guy is the son of the McMansion guy next door to that house.

They yell a lot late at night and usually outside and I mean 3 am.  The one child I see always seems unhappy.  

Now there is something new going on.  They change the color of the light bulb at the side door every few days.  Sometimes it is red, sometimes blue, sometimes purple.  Well, fine, you display and decorate as you like.  None of my business, I suppose.  But I tend to try to understand patterns and this one is "interesting".  

When the guy changes it to red, the woman comes out and screams "not again"!  Talk about a mystery...  Drugs?  Prostitution?  Poker game night?  Who knows...

I worry about my immediate next-door neighbors sometimes too.  They are the ones who decided to burn brush near my wood fence underneath small dry trees last year during a drought until I demanded they stop.  Their only fire control was a small bucket and a kiddy pool.  Well, their 2 young kids were suddenly outside screaming at midnight.  Midnight?

I went outside and saw the woman standing on the porch and asked if everything was OK.  In a monotone, she said "yes".  I asked again and mentioned that neighbors can help if there is a problem and she called the kids inside and closed the door.  

The lady across the street in the McMansion was out walking her dog and I asked if she had heard the screaming.  She didn't answer directly, but said the kids play in their yard sometimes and seem OK.

How do you know what to do in a situation like that?  Maybe they just let their kids stay up late in these odd pandemic days.  Maybe they are having problems but feel safe in the neighbor's yard around the friendly lady and the friendly dog.  Maybe there is nothing wrong and I am becoming a busybody.

Or maybe I will see police cars at the house some day and know I should have called some authority. 

Soothing Cats

I swear, sometimes I walk around telling The Mews "its OK, nothing's wrong, just relax".   I collect laundry to wash when they are napping on the bed, they leave.  Marley won't use the litterbox if he can see me but Iza would use one while I was cleaning the one next to her.  When Ayla wants to go outside, she circles away from me at the door before she goes out...  If I reach out a hand to scritch Marley, he flinches at first and then loves the attention. 

They love me when I am not moving...  It's not like I step on tails or paws.  I'm careful.  Its not like I pick them up unwanted (well Ayla likes that and I do it when she asks).  They come to me when I'm not moving.  I understand I'm way bigger.  But I am SO careful around them.

On the chair as The Lap, fine.  In bed trying to fall asleep not moving, fine.  Sitting at the table eating lunch and TRYING to read the newspaper?  They are all over me then.  They love me when I don't move. 

Cats are endlessly strange and inexplicible.  Is that why men love women and women love men?  Not really understanding what to expect day to day?

An Irregular Curious Event

This blog does not get many visitors (and I sure appreciate you all).  A typical post gets 0-6 comments and a dozen or so views.  I don't mind that, I'm basically tossing bottles into the ocean (or, if you have ever seen the movie 'Conneger', tying messages onto tumbleweeds).

But sometimes there are suddenly 50-200 views days later.  They never leave comments, so I have no idea who they are.  And this never happens on the cat blog.  Many years ago, the cat blog suddenly got 100s of comments on really old posts that advertised products in Chinese that (as far as I could tell with Google Translate) were only for local sale in China. 

It baffled me, and I spent some days deleting as many as I could (and some were undeletable).  But this is not the same thing.  These visitors never leave comments (that I can detect).  And when I try to search keywords and phrases in those posts, none show up as one-off oddly-popular flash-group interests.

My antivirus programs (I have 2 I run alternately) never find any problems.  It is entirely weird. 

Just mentioning this in case someone has any ideas about what is going on...

More Political Stuff

I'll be getting back to normal yard projects again soon.  In fact I got some starts today; the weather is cooler and less humid here and that always gets me going.

But today it is political...

First, I have to relate a general conversation I overheard (but was not part of) while standing in line at a store just a few minutes ago.  It was between two 20-ish guys.  They were discussing the recent eclipse, which was the only reason I paid attention.  I'm science-oriented and thought maybe I could join (it was a slow line).

I was horribly disappointed!  One guy mentioned that he saw no dimming of the sun Monday.  Then added he saw a  crescent moon as he came into the store, and therefore "it couldn't have covered the whole sun anyway here".  His friend agreed and said it sounded like "fake science" to him too.

Then they got started on "fake news, lying media, and fake medicine" (the latter was not detailed, but probably about anti-vaccine ideas).  And then talked about how Trump was "fixing all that stuff".

There were no details about any of that, just general "yeah", "you're right", and then some family stuff.

I felt sick.  In some situations, I would have spoken up.  But not in a convenience store and not where the parking spots outside are dim...

They thought the lit part of the moon was all there was at the time!  Yes, it doesn't take a lot of thought to realize that the whole moon is always there sunlit or not, but they were also talking about fake news and media.

I'm not saying all Trump supporters are like that!  I watch enough political channels to know that some Trump supporters are educated and articulate and I disagree with them for debatable reasons.  But some are real idiots...

So, speaking of Trump, I heard some interesting news tonight.  Trump has been on a real speech roller coaster lately.  He decried "“this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides.”  Suggesting that the counter-protestors were as violent as the Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists. 

When his staff demanded he read a more balanced statement, he did read their prepared statement " that he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry and hatred, and of course that includes white supremacists, KKK, Neo-Nazi, and all extremists groups.

That lasted a day...   Then Trump encouraged the idea again that "both sides were equally violent" in spite of the fact that some of the Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists were carrying torches, clubs, police-quality plexiglass shields, and AK-47s and other guns.  By comparison, they point to one leftist NUT who lit an aerosol hairspray can which lasted 5 seconds before he had to drop it from the heat.

False-equivalence is an argument from weakness.

I mention all that to say this.  With one of the worst hurricanes landing on the coast of Texas and expected to stall there, dumping a predicted 2-3' of rain with 140 mph winds on one area for a day, Trump posted 2 tweets.

One involved not allowing transgender people to join the military even if they pass all the physical and skill tests.  The other involved pardoning Sheriff Joe Arpaio a possible jail sentence on Friday by pardoning his conviction for routinely violating the civil rights of anyone who looked "mexican", violating court orders to stop the practice.

"Sheriff Joe's" habits included "Ordering some immigration patrols not based on reports of crime but rather on letters from Arizonans who complained about people with dark skin congregating in an area or speaking Spanish."

Congrats to Trump.  He made his 1st Pardon a person who is simply insanely racist and glorifies in being one.

Weird Stuff

There is always something new around the yard. 

The last stuff in the broken compost tumbler...

The cleared spot where the original passive compost bin was against the first toolshed .  The lower color is the original color of the T1-11 panels of the toolshed.  Weather wore the panels out more than composting material did.

A weird moth showed up.   It doesn't like to spread its wings, so the picture is strange.  But it has markings I have never seen before.  And after 30 years here, I've seen ALL the regular bugs.  I bet tghis one is newly surviving by warming conditions.

On the other hand, katydids are familiar.  It it their time to show up.  

I saw my 1st japanese beetle in years today.  It was walking around a marigold flower.  I grabbed it and stomped it flat.  I've spread Milky Spore around the yard every few years for a decade.  It is a ground-dwelling bacteria that parasitizes japanese beetle grub larvae.  Seeing one reminds me do apply the milky spore again.  It has been about 7 years.  Milky spore in the soil lasts as long as there is an infestation to feed on.  After that, they die out and need to be reapplied.  But it is a very effective grub control that lasts for years and is not harmful to worms, birds, or pets.  Or humans.

Also, I have castor oil to spread around on the lawn.  The moles have discovered the front yard after all these years.  It makes their insect food taste horrible to them.  I'll start with the centers of the front and back yards to establish a "no good food" zone, and expand it slowly outwards and chase them to the neighbors yards. 

Then I'll tell the neighbors about castor oil spray and let them ruin THEIR moles lives.  As long as I keep them out of my yard, I'm happy to help the neighbors do the same.

And when the moles go, there are fewer voles.  Voles use mole tunnels to travel.  Moles don't eat plants, but voles do.  Fewer moles; fewer voles!

Weird Thoughts

A.  When you first wake up in the morning what do you do first?

1.  Look at the window to see if it is daylight?
2.  Look at the clock to see if you can sleep more?
3.  Jump out of bed joyous that there is a new day of work to be accomplished?
4.  Reach for a cigarette?

B.  When you wake up in the middle of the night and there is a cat in the very middle of the bed, do you...

1.  Move left or right toward the edge?
2.  Invite it in under the covers?
3.  Move in gently, ignoring the protesting claws?
4.  Get up and feed the cat so it will get off the bed?

C.  When you happen to be near the litter box and a cat is using it...

1.  Do you watch out of judging it's health?
2.  Do you watch out of curiosity?
3.  Do you turn away to give it privacy?
4.  Do you rush over to clean the litter box?

D.  If a cat catches a mouse...

1.  Do you EEEWWW out?
2.  Do you AAAHHH out?
3.  Do you grab the camera?
4.  Do you plan a party for the event?

E.  When the garden needs weeding and the living room needs vacuuming...

1.  Do you weed the garden?
2.  Do you vacuum the room?
3.  Sit down and make a To DO list?
4.  Wonder what the odds are that a visitor will show up unexpectedly?

F.  Your refrigerator looks like Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, and it is raining...

1.  Do you decide that pickles, nuts, and an apple is a good meal?
2.  Do you grab an umbrella and go food-shopping?
3.  Do you call the local Chinese delivery place?
4.  Do you go visit a single friend just before dinnertime?

Baffled!

Have you ever made a series of measurements of something you are trying to build (or re-assemble) and, no matter how you look at it, it WILL NOT WORK?  Something that once worked as assembled, but no longer will?

I bought a king-size waterbed with a 6-drawer pedestal underneath 40 years ago.  About 20 years ago, the sides started to bend out a bit and caused me to worry that the frame wold slip off the support. 

So I built a new top frame.  It is still functionally perfect.  But I did such a horrid job of staining the raw wood frame (being in a hurry to get it assembled because I was sleeping on the floor while the stain dried).  And then when Ayla was new here, she really clawed up one corner of the frame.

It's not like anyone ever sees it, but bad woodwork bothers me.  So I took the old frame into the basement (it should not surprise you that I keep nearly EVERYTHING that isn't actually broken) to see about using it again (the stainwork was better).

I should explain the waterbed frame...   There are 2 supports about a foot high.  There are drawers build into the supports.  On top of the support is 1/2" plywood to hold the waterbed mattress weight.  There are 2"x10" high boards resting on the plywood to keep the waterbed mattress from just squishing out sideways.

Some of you may have framed waterbeds and know all this, others may not.  So here is a diagram...

















I built the replacement frames to match the original plywood base of the old frame, naturally.  I mean, it was the right size.  The picture shows brackets holding the frame to the plywood, but there is also a rabbet cut on the bottom on the side frame.

The bottom surface on the left rest on the plywood support; the part that sticks down on the right covers the ragged edge of the plywood.  All I can say is that it makes a stronger connection.

Here's the weird thing!  After having placed all the original frame parts in on the basement floor, I discovered that IT CANNOT FIT on the original plywood base!

I've measured and re-measured it a dozen times.  I've tried to move the frame pieces around.  I've done every possible re-configuration of the 4 basic pieces of frame.

It CAN'T fit on the plywood!  A sensible person would just say "HUH!" and go on from there.  I can't do that.  I have a conundrum, and I want to solve it.  What is driving me nuts is that it should be IMPOSSIBLE that it doesn't fit the original plywood base!  It USED TO!

This reminds me of an old joke about a lost traveler who stops by a farmer and asks for directions back to the highway.  The farmer starts "Well, ya go up this road to the feed store an take a right and, wait, that won't work.  OK, go back down this way and go left at the Fire Station.  No wait, that won't work either".  He scratches his head a few times and finally says "Ya can't get there from here"!

In that sense, I can't get the original frame back onto the original plywood base!  That seems impossible, as it once fit.  But impossible or not, it just won't fit now.

I can recut the original frame boards to fit the plywood base.  Having a table saw and a router table can allow a lot of changes to the original frame boards.  And in a few years, I will probably forget even having had to do all that.

But right now, the unfittingness of the boards is maddening.

A Ghost In The Machine

Well, not a ghost of course, but there is a weird harmonic in my heating ducts that is making a disturbing noise...

There's a pattern to it.  The heating comes on about 22 minutes each hour when it is below freezing outside.  A function of the insulation of the house.  About 10 minutes into the heating cycle, this odd sound starts and stops.  Imagine a 1-note C on a wind instrument...

Not that I can tell notes, so imagine any moderate note on a wind...

Its obviously a harmonic in the ducts.  I can feel the vibrations if I stand on a ladder long enough and touch the ducts, but I can't pin down the source.  This isn't the first time either.  Previous years I've wrapped bungee cords around some pipes and ducts and it has stopped for the season. 

But it keeps coming back year after year.  I can't call it "spooky" because I haven't the least sense of superstition, ghosts, etc.  Its just a noise caused by a vibration I can't seem to stop. 

It seldom happens in daytime.  And I would notice it if it did.  You live in a house 28 years and you know every creak and squeak.  But at night (when it is coldest), it starts. 

Slowly, a tiny vibration at first.  Then a little louder.  And longer.  After a few minutes, it is going on for 15-20 seconds.  And a minute later it starts again.  Stronger and Stronger until it sounds like a trash truck driving by, but its not, and then the demon in the ducts stops suddenly.

I was up 3 times last night trying to figure out the cause.  It eludes me.  I can feel the vibrations anywhere I tough, but that stops it.  For a few minutes. 

I'm making light of this, but it really is driving me nuts and waking me up at night.  And I sleep poorly enough as it is.  It even got into my dreams...

Anyone had this problem, have any ideas on how to stop it?  I'm thinking of removing all the existing rubber straps that have "solved" the problem before.  Maybe if it gets worse, it will be easier to identify the real source...

And, BTW, I'm "pretty sure" I'm not insane...

An Overdue, But Unwanted Visit

I'm sure you have all had to eventually to something you avoided as long as possible.  Tomorrow is my day for one of those.  Tomorrow, I visit The Dentist.

8 years ago, the first week of my retirement, I was having lunch with a friend to celebrate my retirement.  A filling came loose.  Well, it didn't bother me to have it missing, so I delayed going to a dentist to replace it.  My previous dentist had just retired and I didn't like the rather odd attitude of the 2 guys who bought his practice.  Somehow, the oldr dentist's motto of "We cater to cowards" because "Deal with it you coward". 

So not feeling any immediate problem, I figured I would just find a new dentist.  Besides, I had some problems in the dental chair, so I kind of avoided doing annything.

No one likes the dental chair, but my reasons are not (I think) the usual ones.  I don't mind the drilling.  I don't feel it, I don't care.  The dentist could just as well be drilling my name in a concrete slab on the wall.

But I have some problems that cause me to avoid the dental chair mightily!  And if you are sqeamish, just stop reading.  Those of you you who accept that bodily functions vary and are sometimes annoying, may read on.

I have smoked for 45 years, and there are consequences.  I cough a lot, I have a constant nasal drip at the back of my throat, my nose runs, I swallow constantly, and as soon has my jaw is open, I salivate.  And there are some problems I had before I smoked.  I have a small jaw, my teeth are crowded (when I was 30, one dentist wanted to remove 1 forward molar in each right/left and upper/lower part of my jaw to let the remaining teeth "spread out",  I can't open my mouth very wide (a standard thick sandwich is a problem, and a thick sub is impossible).

So when that lost-filling tooth twinged a few months ago, I became worried.  It subsided, bit there were a few days months later when I detected some problems.

A month ago, I noticed some "pinkish"  as I expelled my toothpaste.  And then a tiny bit of filling.  Then pinkish regulary.  I recognized that I had to do something about that and  started cutting done on cigarettes.  The connection there is that I sure wanted to not cough and have to swallow in the dental chair.

Last week, I suddenly felt a slight movement at that bad tooth.  I suspect that there is a broken piece of tooth at the gumline.  Fortunately, there is no pain (I think I had a root canal work there 20 years ago). 

But it meant that I couldn't put visiting a dentist any longer.  I had had Dad living with me for a year in May 2012 to 2013 nd he had a tooth problem.  So I had searched Angie's List for the best local dentists.  And the one I found for him was very good. 

I visited his office today and made an appointment.  He's not going to be happy with the problems I have described above.  But he specializes on children an old people, and in my experience watching him work on Dad's bad tooth, he will be the most tolerant dentist I can find.

I will see how the initial visit goes.  He may simply pull out bits of a broken tooth  and drill out the roots.  I wouldn't mind the tooth simply being removed.  Or he may see I can't handle the dental chair concious and suggest sedation dentistry.

But this is a big step for me right now.  I'm not scared of the dentistry work; just my body's annoying reactions to all that stuff in my mouth.  The dentist doesn't scare me.  But I'm afraid I might choke to death while he does his good work!

If I don't return, then something went really wrong.  Seriously, one never knows...

Missing Skeeter

Today is the 5th anniversary of Skeeter's death.  Losing him still hurts.  But all things fade with time, and I almost didn't remember today was "The Day" until this afternoon.  I was actually looking at regular daily pictures of the current cats to decide which to use for today's Mark's Mews cat blog post when I glanced at the date on the computer and changed my planned post.

As the years have passed, I have posted less personal and detailed memories of his passing.  It is good to remember those gone, with love, but more important to attend to the living. 

That is not to say that I can read the early posts of the cat blog without a catch in my throat about those happy years with him (and most of our years together were before I started the blog), and I still can't read the posts and comments about his death without tears.

But there was a surprise.  I finished the brief post recognizing the day, and hit "publish".  The time on the post was 3:45 pm EST.  That was the very moment of his death 5 years ago.  It was a complete coincidence...

I am not one who pays much attention to coincidences.  I find them more "interesting" than "meaningful".  But it sure was a surprise when I noticed the blogpost time!

Some of it may not be very odd.  I often post in mid-afternoon, and after 2500 posts, I'm sure there have been others posted at the same time.  But I would be surprised if there were 2 other posts at the exact same time of day about such a singular event unintentionally.  I think (without checking) that I did deliberately post at that exact time on this date previously.  This was not one of those times.

Weird Visitor Spike

Did I almost have a post go viral?

I don't often check the statcounter chart for this blog because it doesn't get very many visitors, I don't post there regularly, and the bookmark is set to open the site to the Mark's Mews chart.  So imagine my surprise when I saw THIS!

The Sept 11 post was a rather dark angry fantasy about having the 911 attackers alive today, and I can see why it might have gotten more attention than my usual home project and personal life posts.  But who would have ever found it to begin with?

If anyone spread the link around, please let me know so I can thank you for the excitement!  It really did make my day.

I can't go back and check the visitor list or other records because statcounter only displays the last 33 hours for free and I don't feel a great need to pay for 2 months of records every month, LOL!

Its also curious that I had so many on Sept 10th, when the only post of interest was the following day.  I considered that some hackers had gone into old posts to leave messages among themselves (that happened to me with a previous blog), but I've looked back at a bunch of the older posts at random and didn't find any weird messages.  I also have the blog set to require approval of any comments to posts more than 3 days old, and I didn't see any of those.

So if anyone has an ideas about the spike, I sure am curious!