Max, The Psychokitty

I don't usually post about other cats here, but have to mention one that left our world Friday.  His name was Max, The Psychokitty.  He was 19 1/2.  He was snarky, opinionated, an expert observer of his Humans, their world, and the world in general.  

Max is the reason I have a cat blog, and by extension, this one.  I do not remember how I came across his blog.  I was gainfully-employed at the time and did not spend much time entertaining myself with odd internet searches.  But somehow I found it in 2004.

The idea of a cat blogging stunned me.  I started reading it daily (at home, I was a serious worker in the office).  Max was sarcastic, snarky, and observant.  When I retired in March 2006, I noticed a clickable button that promised "free blog".  I hesitated for months.  

I had read a couple of blogs by people who were self-important, opinionated (or amazingly boring).  Max was different.  And well, I have cats and I like to write.  So after reading up on blogs a bit and missing talking to a coupe of co-workers), I pressed the "free blog" button.

Of course it wasn't easy.  I had to learn "new stuff".  But I was missing the challenge of new things at the office.  Not to be trite, but my job had always been "out on the edge" and going where no one had gone before.  Nothing was routine.  I retired because a reorg had placed me in an office that was dedicated to "routine" and I was tired of getting up at 5 am every workday, commuting an hour each way, and getting home at 6 pm.  I was working for a completely out-of-touch supervisor.  And I had already figured out I would still gain savings on retirement.

So I left the first day I was eligible.  I wasn't worried about being bored.  I have hobbies and home-maintenance.  I participate in some serious-discussion boards.  But I was missing friendly conversation.   A cat blog seemed "purrfect".  

It was days before I figured out how to post a picture on the blog (well, it WAS 2006).  It took days before anyone found my blog and left a comment (I remember them gratefully).  14 years later, I'm still cat blogging.  5,000 posts is coming up next year.  It has been a joy and I don't plan to stop.  

I've lost 3 cats along the way.  Skeeter was a heart cat.  LC was Skeeter's cat (though I miss her for her calm quiet way of living.  Iza'a loss was crushing.  She was a Tonkinese point with fur like a mink and utterly attached to me.  12 years with her was way too few.

And I have this blog just so I can sometimes say things not appropriate to a cat blog.

And I owe it all to Max and "The Woman" as he called her.  Now Max has gone over The Bridge.  My world is more than "one cat smaller".  Everyone loves their cats.  And I generally follow about 60 cat blogs.  But in cat blogging terms, Max was a GIANT.  I will miss him greatly.

Few people actually START anything, and Max wasn't the very first blogging cat.  But he was close and kept going all my blogging years.  That matters.  Max (through The Woman) invented some terms.  "Stinky Goodness" for canned cat food.  All other cats were "DOODS".  There were others but memory fails me.  

If you knew Max but haven't heard the sad news or if you didn't know but want to comfort The Woman in her loss of him go here  If you would just like to read about Max, look at the archived posts and read at random.

Farewell Max. 

 

 

 

 

Undergrowth

Three years ago, after failing to find anyone who would clear 1/8 acre of wild blackberries and small junk saplings, I bought a brush mower.  It is like a super-heavy-duty lawnmower.  The blade is bigger and heavier.  It has forward and reverse powered wheels.  It cuts down sapling 1 1/2" thick.  It grinds up debris like a chipper-shredder.

It worked great!  Cleared that whole area in 2 hours.  But all gas-powered machines need some basic maintenance and I am terrible about leaving old gas in the tanks.  It goes bad in the tank and leaves some parts sticky with dried gas.

That Spring, there wasn't much new undergrowth, so I thought I had killed it.  There was some growth  that Fall, but I planted 4 decorative trees (2 Sourwoods and 2 Korean Dogwoods) expecting that the shade of the trees would keep the undergrowth down (I used to have junk trees there that did that) and I would just brush-cut again THIS Spring.

Couldn't get it to start.   I gave a half-hearted try of soaking up the old gas with an old towel and then spraying carburetor cleaner into the tank and carburetor and adding a small amount of new gas.  No luck.

I probably could to a complete carburetor removal and cleaning.  I've done it before.  It a pain.  And I have a regular lawn mower than needs the same work.  I decided to just let a professional do them both.  Which requires delivering them to a repair shop.  Remember a couple days ago I mentioned my trailer was full of yard debris and I was waiting for the recycling center to dry and it won't because of all the rain?  I kept waiting.  And waiting.

I guess I am just going to have put on my mud boots and get rid of the yard debris.  Then bring the brush mower and regular mower to the repair place and wait for a month for them to fix them.  I can clear the brush in Winter as well as I can today.  And maybe that makes the blackberries die being cut down out of season (one can always hope).

One thing I am ceetain of is that, after years of this, I will either drain the gas from all my equipment or add gas stabilizer to the tanks!  

My "TO DO" list has gotten too long for me to mess with gas engines.  I'm losing ground on it the list.  It is probably the thing I CAN do that I like the least.  There is too much to do inside the house easier to do the than the things I like least.  And that would cost the same for professional help.

I also am making a list of professional improvements I want for the house (I'm not even going to TRY to install linoleum floors or wall tile).  But that's a future post. 

Rain

What an awful gardening year!  I would say there was NOTHING good about it, but the local reservoirs are probably filled to capacity and there have been years when they got dangerously low to the point of home watering restrictions.  And I will admit that my pole beans and cucumbers did pretty well in the raised beds (better drainage).

But the tomatoes died of fungal diseases, the carrots and leeks and broccoli crops never grew.  The spinach wouldn't even germinate.  And when you cant get radishes to grow, things are serious.

It was a cold wet Spring. July-October, we got over 2' of rain and November hasn't been much different.  It didn't rain for 5 days last week, but the ground is so saturated it didn't make any difference.  It isn't like we got the rain in large batches all at once; its just so CONSTANT!  And I got 3" of rain yesterday and today.

I cut down a lot of junk samplings  and undergrowth in late Spring and filled the trailer.  And there it sits.  The County yard debris recycling center (where they pile it all up in huge heaps that steam and decompose into a mulch/compost mix for homeowners to take for free and will use a bucket-loader to fill your trailer on Saturday mornings for free) is located in a slight depression.  

When it rains, the bulldozer that keeps turning over the piles for even decomposition churns it into a sea of mud.  I've been waiting for things to dry out enough to bring my debris there.  SINCE MAY!  And I have enough debris for 2 more loads.

Possibly the most consequential result is that my lawn is dying.  The soil is so wet for so long that there are large dead areas in the front.  The soil just "squishes" underfoot.  The last time I mowed it. it left muddy ruts.  Even just walking across it not only leaves footprints, the dead grass slides around underfoot.  If next year is relatively normal, I will have to do a lot of renewal.

The soil is good.  I'm organic and I use a mulching blade on the mower that turns grass into shreds in place.  There is no better fertilizer for grass than grass.  Well, grass has exactly what grass needs, right?  And I mow all the tree leaves too.  They get shredded into leaf dust after a few times around the lawn each Fall.   

I know the soil is good.  Each year I dig a hole randomly and look at the sides.  What used to be mostly clay is now darker and loamier after 3 decades.  And when I first moved here, the soil would crack open in Summer.  It doesn't do that anymore.

A couple years ago, a yard-maintenance agent came by to try to sell me on his services.  I invited him to look at the lawn.  He found some weeds of course.  He poked at the soil with a screwdriver and it went in nicely.  He actually complimented me on it.  And I don't do much.  The mulched grass clippings, the leaves.  An application of corn-gluten meal in Spring.  And overseeding every few years.  Cutting the grass 3" high.  I don't even water the lawn (except lightly when I overseed).

I may lose some decorative trees due to root-rot and drowning.  Last year was so dry I was forced to even water the decorative trees.  And this year they are soaked and drowning.  Yes, trees can drown; they actually need air.

Last year,  my 2 Golden Rain Trees lost most of their leaves by late Summer in spite of long drip watering.  This Spring, some branches were dead but there were new shoots from the trunk and a few living branches.  So I figured I would wait a year and seriously prune both of the deadwood next year.  

Well, half of one just broke off in a windstorm and I bet I could just break off more if I pulled on them.  But hope springs eternal.  I'll hope for their survival and gradual recovery.  I more worried about the Saucer Magnolia in the front lawn.   I would very much hate to lose that.  It is a joy to see blooming in the Spring.

If this precipitation pattern lasts another month or 2 I am going to see serious snowfall.  I better make sure the snowblower is working and move it into the garage. 

Relatives

I was visiting another site and a post involved visiting relatives when young.  It brought back some memories.  

We lived in Virginia at the time when the trip to the Grandparents took 12 hours.   Both sets of grandparents lived north of Boston, but near each other.  Well, that's why my parents met.

I loved visiting my dad's parents,  they had a large house and a small farm.  Grampa had a lobster boat, so we were drowned in lobster in many forms when we visited.  There was a tree house in the big apple tree.  We helped pick beans and corn.  Gramma was Amish and made wonderful chicken with dumplings.

She got up early and so did I as a pre-teen and teen and we played rummy until the rest of the family got up.  I helped her make breakfast.  It's partly how I learned to cook.  My Capt Crunch cereal there.  Waffles, pancakes, eggs...

Grmma never gave me any mercy when playing rummy.  I learned to win the hard way.  But the highlight of the evening was when the family sat down to lay "Cinch" (aka Set Back).  If you don't know what that is, it is like cut-throat bridge and Hearts or Spades.

I was allowed into the family game when I was about 13 or 14.  Gramma vouched for me for good Rummy skills.

Its a no-holds-barred game and no one gave mercy.  You declare how many tricks you will take and the highest bidder announces the trump suit.  You toss away all the non-trump cards and fill your hand to 6 -8 cards  from the remaining deck.

Gramma was infamous for saying "oh, I filled"  meaning she had a hand of all trump cards.  She played lethally.  She almost always won.  But it was played in pairs.  I was usually her partner when me visited.  The players were Gramma and Grampa, my uncle, Dad (Mom could never play cards worth a damn) and sometimes an aunt or two.

Dad had his Mom's killer instinct, but his best game was poker.  Gramma and I thought alike and usually won.  It was never kindness to me as a kid.  Like I said, they all played to win; they would beat their kids at Candyland when they could.  It was altogether wonderful.

Every year, we went to a great chinese restaurant. 

And then we had to spend days at Mom's parents.  That was altogether awful.  They were Victorian.  The house was always dim with fake Tiffany lampshades everywhere.  Kids couldn't do anything fun.  You could hardly see anything after sunset.

The house was practically a mausoleum.  Chairs had doilies to protect the fabric.  The most exciting thing was a next door kid who could flip backwards and land on his back.  I mowed the lawn "for fun".  

 Grampa was kind, but very religious.  He once took me on a walk as a child just to get me into a church.  He thought that might change my whole life.  I felt cheated and lied-to.  The high point of our visit was when Grampa would walk us to a candy store.  We couldn't have any actual candy, but a candy bar was allowed.   I always chose a Skybar.  It had 4 different pockets of flavors.

Gramma Mom's cooking was horrid and I learned why Mom couldn't cook either.  Every vegetable had to be boiled to death.  If brocolli wasn't gray, it wasn't cooked enough.  Meat was boiled and if you haven't had a boiled steak, I don't recommend it.  One year, Gramma Mom even bought a watermelon "for us kids" and she cut the heart out for herself because "why would children care"?  

I did and Mom shushed me.

Aren't different grandparents weird?

A Happy Day

Yesterday was a happy day (as is today).  Joe Biden was "called by" the TV networks as the President-Elect.  That doesn't make anything official of course, but they are rather careful about announcing their expectations.  Even Fox News declared that Biden had won, and Fox is a rather die-hard Trump supporter.

I wasn't entirely sure how the Networks could be so certain in some States where there were 100s of thousands of votes left to count and Biden had a 10,000 vote lead or even was losing, but the political TV show hosts gave some detailed explanations later.    

A lot of it had to do with the difference between how Democrats and Republicans voted this year.  Usually, the vast majority of voters vote on Election Day.  But this year, because of the pandemic, States increased the opportunity to vote by mail or early in person at a few locations.  Democrats voted by mail or early; Republicans waited until election Day.

Mail-in and early votes take longer to process.  And the votes from large cities (which are very heavily Democrat) always take longer by sheer volume.  Between the two, the cites needed days to report votes (and none may be truly complete even now).  Overseas, military, and post-marked-but-not-yet-delivered mail-in ballots still have a few days to arrive.

But professional network vote-counters know what voters were still to be heard from Saturday, the almost-certain voter registration, and typical return rates.  A good example was Pennsylvania.  The low-population rural Counties were mostly Republican and had 99% of their votes reported Wednesday.  The major cities were mostly Democrat (approaching 90% in some) and had reported only half of their votes.  

So when Trump was ahead 30,000 votes and 500,000 were still due from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with a typical Democratic majority of 70%, there was little doubt about the outcome.   The States will not announce a winner until the last vote is counted in about a week from now, but the Networks could have a confidence factor above 99.9%.  Well, they don't want to make a mistake like "Dewey Beats Truman" again and besides, they have MUCH more information available now.

So, essentially, the voting is over.  Biden will be the next President and Harris his Vice-President.  The Electoral college will confirm that on December 6th.  Biden will have won with 4 million+ total popular votes.  I am relieved.  I've been waiting for this day for 4 years!

A long national aberration is over.  Trump's victory in 2016 was a hiccup.  Painful to be sure, but temporary.  Biden has promised to return the US to international agreements, balance taxes, restore environmental regulations, organize a National response to the Covid-19 pandemic, attend to excessive force by police against minorities, etc.

To quote President Ronald Reagan (something I never thought I would do) "It is Morning in America".

To quote President Gerald Ford (after Nixon's resignation) "Our long national nightmare is over".

To quote the Munchkins from 'The Wizard Of Oz':  

"Ding-dong! The Witch is dead
Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
Ding-dong! The Wicked Witch is dead
Wake up you sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead..."

And I'll offer a panel from 'Doonesbury' from after Nixon resigned:

Today, I will sleep easier than I have for some months. 

Cabinet Door Change

I expect the US election results to take days.  So life goes on...  One thing that has annoyed me for 25 years is an upper cabinet door.  My fault, I installed it that way.  I always assumed that cabinet doors right of the center should open toward the right and cabinet doors on the left of the center should open to the left.  

Assumptions are stupid!   The cabinet door nearest the passageway from the kitchen to the TV room has always gotten in the way.  I have hit my head on that SO MANY TIMES!  I would open it to get someting and forget to close it because I was in a hurry.

I clamped a straight edge under the door for ease in keeping it level while I changed it left to right.  THe kind of hinges it hhad allowed that easily.

But getting the screws out was a nightmare.  They wouldn't budge.  I wedged a screwdriver against them; no movement.  I finally hit them with a hammer to loosen them.  No luck.  Squirted some lubricant in.  That got them out with help of Many Bad Words.  Took many many minutes of struggling.  

So I put some paper tape where the new holes would go, reversed the door, and clamped it in place to mark the new drilling spots.  Took the door off and drilled.  Well, you have to be careful about drilling holes for screws.  No small and they are really tight.  Too loose and they don't hold well.  I have a little plastic gadget that has holes to measure screw size and recommends the drill size according to soft wood, hard wood, and metal.  Cabinets are mostly pine or particle board, so I started small.  

The screws wouldn't go in all the way.  And were hard to get back out.  So I went to the next size drill bit.  Same problem.  Went larger and squirted in the lubricant.  It got worse.  

I think the lubricant actually made the wood swell up a bit.  After 30 minutes, I was almost ready to try NAILING the damn hinges in, but I knew that wouldn't last.

Part of the problem was that I was up on a stepladder and you can't get much leverage on a narrow thing like that.  So I took a dining chair and clamped IT to a board against other lower cabinets so IT couldn't move.

With that bracing, I finally managed to get the hinge screws in with the door level and opening properly.  The whole process that should have taken about 5 minutes took 90.  The Mews were all hiding in the bedroom by that time.

I am not a trained or especially natural carpenter.  I do my best.  Persistence usually works and I've never built anything that failed structurally.  But damn, some things are harder than they should be.  

But I succeeded...  The open cabinet door won't be hitting my head again.

I always win eventually, but it sure can be a struggle sometimes!

The Night Before Election Day

A poem expressing my concerns the time before Election Day in the US... 

"Twas the Night of Election Day

As I paced through the house.

Would we get back to normal, the old voting way

Or would Donald steal it, the Cheating Old Louse?

 

I knew that the polls

On MSNBC

Had the Biden team goals

Being granted, you see.

 

But that's what I thought

In '16, when we "won"

But Hillary still lost what most of us sought

So I won't count my chickens until the last one.

 

Cuz Donald makes Tricky Dick

Seem like a nun

Saying he'd cheat the People with legal stuff sick

By saying the voting was over afore it half-done!

 

He said he would do it

Then said it was fake

And when shown the recording a bit

Said "Let them Eat Cake".

 

And spent 15 minutes

Defending you see,

What he claimed he had not said

To the cameras and we.

 

The businesses all boarded

Their windows today

In expectance of armed crazies with guns all aloaded

If Electoral College count drives Trump away.

 

They will say it is fake news

Conspiracy proven

The Deep State and Anti-Fa fears fanning their illusions

Of being the majority as the Biden's prepare move-in.

 

Or maybe tis I to weep who shall

Weep deep bitter tears

At the end of our laws and see autocrat gall

Replace freedom and voting for may yet years. 

 

Ben Franklin once said

When asked by the crowd,

If we had democracy, monarch, or dread

You have a Republic, defend it or be cowed.

 

Republics are fragile

Just ask the Old Greeks

Or the Romans who had some experience a while.

Nothing good lasts for long, go and vote or be weak.

 

So I pace the floor watching

The news of the day.

I think that the outcome will likely be fetching

But I won't be relaxed for many a day.

 

It takes time to count ballots

Mail-ins take some time.

And Trumpians are trying legal tricks quite lots.

But I think that when Electors meet, Biden gets the dime."

 

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. 

I VOTED!

I voted.  Not sure whether it counts as Friday when I watched the Mailperson pick up my mail-in ballot or when the Election Board acknowledged (by email) receiving it Tuesday (and they initiated the email).  But apparently it was acceptable and will be counted as if I was there on Election Day.  My State of Maryland has a general view that as many people as possible should vote, that IS sort of the purpose of a democracy after all.

I watch the political news channels most of the day*.  I see about States where the Republicans fight to reduce voting as much as possible and the Democrats fight to make things easier to vote.  It amazes me.  I would rather my candidate lose honestly than win through trickery.   MSNBC discussed a list of lawsuits the Republicans have tried or are trying to reduce voting.  

My apologies to any Republicans who also want to see increased voting.  There are honest people in both parties.    Just, it seems, fewer.  

Fraud is not the actual cause of Republican concerns.  Republican, Democratic, and neutral academics  have all looked for examples of voter fraud the past few years and none of them ever find any.  Well, there was a minor case of a Republican who did some deliberate trickery in North Carolina, but it was easily detected and had little effect.  And one Democrat tried to help elderly local voters by going around and collecting legitimate ballots and delivering them to a Ballot Drop-Off Box (but the investigation revealed he delivered ballots supporting both parties so he was merely advised on the law).

There have been some more serious local concerns.  In some majority-Democrat areas,  Ballot Drop Off Boxes have been set on fire inside to destroy ballots.  It is the major and organized attempts to suppress voting that concern me and I won't go into detail here.  Since those are on the major news channels, I don't have to go into that.

*  Cable TV is becoming lower-quality again.  There isn't much information stuff to watch.  The Science Channel used to have great shows about actual science, now they show cheap garbage about alien contact and paranormal stuff.  The History Channel thinks shows about pawn shops buying 50 year old stuff is "history".  National Geographic thinks shows about animals is "geographic".  National Geographic Wild thinks shows about zoos is "wild".  Animal Planet thinks Vet shows are about the only animals.  And they even deceive about that.  "Dr Pol treats cats" actually means 10 minutes of cats and 50 minutes of dogs and horses.

I have a lot of good science, nature, and history DVDs.  But I know them all by heart now.  We need new ones...   I really need to get my CD player working again.  If it isn't just some failed wire, I have a new one sitting in a box for 3 years.  I really need to pull everything away from the wall and solve some problems.  I just hate wiring and plugs.