A Slight Change In Appearance

A few weeks ago, I bought a hair grooming kit.   I had been using my electric razor trimming cutter to trim my own hair because I didn't want to go to a barber for haircuts (requires removing my mask).  The razor was awkward to use myself.

So I bought a trimming kit.  Naturally, right after buying it, I decided to eliminate the need.

Last week, I looked like this...

Not much hair, but some.  I really got annoyed with it tickling my ears.

And, oddly, a large impacted sebaceous gland on my head went away.

So I got bored bothering with hair.  Today, I look like this...

"Smooth and shiny", LOL!

Hats feel funny, but I'll get used to it.

I tossed the cut hair into my compost bin.

But wondered how long that would take.  So I went internetting and found this...  And note the interesting right sidebar about cats and dogs.

Cat Toy Stash And Meadow Planting

First, after posting Monday about figuring out the loss of cable service, I realized I had a couple of pictures that I could have used.  To get at the TV surge protector (to check the cable connections), I had to pull out my stereo rack (yeah I still have old stuff like that).    Well, I discovered 1) that I hadn't cleaned under there for a long time and 2)  Lori has been losing toys under there for a long time!

This is probably a better picture...

BTW, those wheels are a stand to ease rolling out the stereo rack.  I need to get in behind it and do some cable-checking; the stereo isn't working.  It is probably a failed controller box, but I need to hook up each device to the speakers individually to be sure.  I miss having high quality music!

Second, I planted the 40 meadow bed seedlings.  I tried making the holes with a bulb plasnter, but the soil was too hard.  Fortunately, I have an auger that fits into a drill.  Not my own drill and auger, but you get the idea...

That made things easier.  The seedling company suggests randomly planting the seedlings, but since they were of very different heights and it is a small "meadow",  I grouped the largest in the center and the smaller around the edge.  It took a while, and I was pretty tired afterwards.  All that bending over to drill and plant and backfill soil around seedlings is hard on my back and knees these days.  But I got it all done and then set a sprinkler to soak the bed for 2 hours.  

I do what I can to make things easier.  I wear kneepads, wear gloves, and keep an upturned bucket near to use as a support standing back up.  BTW, baseball gloves are great for gardening!  The leather is thin but tough and supple.  They give enough protection from small thorns and dried holly leaves, but you can still feel what you are holding.  If you have a gardener on your gift list, give them a try.

No pictures of that.  Forty 6" seedlings in a 30'x15' bed just don't show up.  I'll wait for flowers.  And there are other flowers in the bed.  I transplanted 8 Black-eyed-Susans from where I later planted the 11 heirloom tomatoes (in new disease-free soil).  Plus, I broadcast a large packet of native wildflowers in mid-May.  Hopefully, it will all be worth it later this year and for some years to come.

Third, after cooling off inside for a half hour, I decided to plant some beans.  Kind of late in the season, but I will get some Sept and Oct.  Even that took work.  I have invasive periwinkle wines  and had to pull many out of the bed and around it.  But it will be worth it to have fresh Italian Flat Beans again.  The canned ones are too soft and salty.

Fourth, still more to do.  My Bok Choy planter succumbed to aphids and some sort of tiny gnat inside.  There are various kinds.  Fungus gnats, drainage gnats, fruit gnats.  I read that the gnats get in when you open a door (and you can't see them) and that most of them find any damp soil with organic matter.  

There are yellow sticky sheets that attract and hold them.  I found  20 sheets of the sticky stuff (and they are double-sided) at Amazon for $9, but I'm sure they are available elsewhere.  I have caught thousands.

I was going to say I can't figure out how the aphids find my inside plants, but I looked up their life-cycle.  Sure enough, there is a winged phase in Spring!  OK, next year, I am going to drape fine-mesh garden fabric over the planters.  Let's see them get through THAT!

If there are aphids in the planters next year, then there were eggs in the planter soil.

Next project is to shallowly till the soil around the Saucer Magnolia in the front yard.  The daffodils have died back, so it is safe for the bulbs.  I will scatter a packet of "deer-resistant" flower seeds in the disturbed soil and see what happens.  

Always something to do.  And I haven't even mentioned in-house stuff.

First Flowers Of The Year

Pictures of first flowers of the year:

Snow On The Mountain...

Don't recall the name...

Maltese Cross...

Tithonia...

Baptisia...

Stella D'Oro Lilies...

And I have 12 Butterfly Weed (that butterflies love) growing from last year's plantings.  I thought they failed to grow last year.  They take 2 years to flower.  This is the 2nd year are they are thriving!  

Deck Pots:  

Stargazer Lilies still blooming after 10+ years...

I went cheap this year on the deck pot annuals.  Lowe's (big box store) had a great sale and I bought "enough".

Celosia...

Pink Dianthus...

Red Dianthus...

Two pots of each of those dianthus.  And as a connecting theme, each has an orange Marigold in the center.  

I usually grow my own, but I got behind on the schedule again this year.  And Walmart was selling 6-packs of dianthus for $2 each.  Hard to beat that.  Still, I think they will look interesting in a month...

I'll try to get fancier next year, LOL!

A Confusing Day

My garage door opener saved me from buying a new router!

I got up today ready to get some good work outside.  It was warm, but low humidity.  I got the newspaper, made lunch and turned on the TV to listen to the House Committee hearings.  Sat down with lunch to read the paper.

The TV has been shutting off the signal sometimes.  I have to reset it, but it comes back.  Today it really lost the cable signal.  There were a few familiar messages about resetting the source, press "B" for troubleshootings, etc.  I did and it said it was rebooting.  Then it said my coaxial cable was disconnected.  It wasn't.

The cable insisted it was.  I checked everything.  And I had phone dial tone and the computer showed my email.  I went back to the TV tried everything to reboot it again.  Then I saw a slightly different message.  It said either the settop box or the router was disconnected.

I don't have a router on the cable box (or it is built-in).  The tv and computer are on separate splices!.  But I went and looked at the computer router.  UH OH!  Red light...  I checked those and all were tight.  There is a button on the front to reboot.  I did that.  Red light again.  I unplugged the router and thew cable settop box and ate lunch.

Plugged all back in, red light again.  Decided to call the cable company; no dial tone.  Checked the computer and this time tried to open a new bookmark.  Nothing.  Damn, the previous time I was just seeing a saved cache image and didn't realize it.

So there I was, unable to contact the cable company by phone or computer.  Constant red light on the router.  The router must have died!  Disconnected it to bring to the local Best Buy (tech store for those who have different similar stores).

Got in the car and pressed the garage door opener button.  Nothing happened!  I used a few bad words meaning essentially "WHAT NOW".  I mean, the opener is a battery-powered radio signal device.How could that be connected to the cable problem.

Sometimes, I feel like Job from the Bible.  Constant problems out of "nowhere".  But I thought about it for a minute.  The garage door opener is battery-powered, but the garage door itself is NOT!  There was an electric failure somewhere, likely a tripped circuit-breaker.

So I confidently went to the circuit box to reset the tripped switch.  None were tripped...  ARRGGGHH!

Well, there is a small lever on the garage door to allow opening it manually.  I was about to do that, when I glanced at the main incoming cable connection.  It requires power from a standard electrical plug.  And the only plug near it is my GFI circuit.

I don't want to over-explain, but GFI (ground fault interrupter) is a safety plug that shuts off power in case of some short-circuiting (usually for bathroom of kitchen plugs where water is involved).  There is a little green light showing it is "on".  Mine little green light was off...  You press a small button on it to reset it.

I pressed.  It reset.  I hooked the router back up to the computer.  After a couple minutes of blinking, the router came back on and NO RED LIGHT!

I checked the computer and it uploaded new email.  The phone had dial tone again.  I turned on the tv with uncertainty.  It came on normally!  HURRAY.  Everything was working again.

Thank goodness the garage door didn't open.  And I don't know why it didn't.  The power for the garagedoor comes from a different plug I would think was attached to the GFI circuit. I suppose if I had tried some other plugs around the house, they might have been dead too.  For that matter, I have no idea why the computer router has anything to do with the TV circuit.  I suppose the router at the computer "talks" to the main incoming cable box.

So, I was relieved to not have to buy a new router (or worry about compatibility issues).  

But by that time, it was almost 5 pm and I sure wasn't going to get much useful work done outside then! I decided to prepare dinner, catch up on the political news, and (now) start to catch up on computer stuff (emails, blogging, ask the internet a few questions, find a couple of lost passwords, etc).

It wasn't exactly a typical day, but solving stupid problems like this are becoming more frequent than they ought to be!  I had planned to transplant 40 meadow seedlings today.  Tomorrow is forecast to rain most of the day.  So it will be Wednesday.  At least the soil will be softer from the rain...

Absent Last Week

Sorry I disappeared last week.  It wasn't planned.  I just didn't get on the computer much.  It was just one day at first, then a 2nd, then a third, etc.  Turned into a whole week.

Nothing wrong; I just got busy around the house and yard.  Catching up on things...  By the time I did lunch, reading the newspaper (lots of stuff to read when you get The Washington Post), doing yardwork, doing house cleanup (I've been slacking on that), recovering from the work, making dinner, some TV, etc. And all of a sudden it is time to get some sleep.

There is always something that has to be done before something else can be done.  I couldn't do much last year after falling off the extension ladder and it is amazing how fast flowerbeds can go "all to hell" in a single year.  

And one sad example was where I planned to plant the heirloom tomatoes.  Too many years in the same spot, and diseases build up in the soil.  So I decided to grow them this year in a new spot.  The last few years, black-eyed susans grew there.  Not my photo, but similar enough.  I have them growing in various places and I have goldfinches.

But I wanted to save them into my developing meadow bed, so I spent time digging them up and moving them.  They are hardy.  After a week, all seem to be re-establishing themselves in the new spots.  That job done, I dug the soil where I wanted to grow the tomatoes.  The spot has an annoying runner-grass, so I had to dig deeply.  I picked out all the runners I could find and then covered the area with black mesh landscaping fabric.

That should smother the runner grass.  But mostly it lets water through the fabric and prevents splash-up from the soil onto the tomato leaves (which could infect the tomatoes).  So, I laid down the fabric, set cages on top for spacing and poked a hole in the fabric to identify where the tomato seedlings would go. Set a small stake in each hole.  Lifted the fabric and dug out a shovelful of soil into a bucket.

Mixed low N (too much nitrogen and you get "all plant no fruit") and some P and K and calcium into the bucket.  Poured the mix back into the hole.  Did that 11 times.  With all the planting spots established, I laid the fabric back down and cut Xs in the planting spots (for setting the seedlings down in later).

Planting the seedling was easy, sort of.  My knees down bend like they used to, so it was (grunt) get down, make a hole in the loose soil, set a seedling in, backfill the hole, set in a label, set in a 2' stake for the seedling to hold on to as it strengthens outdoors, and put a cage over it.  My cages are 6" concrete remesh with a separate stake holding them up.  Storm winds can blow an unstaked cage over. 

11 times.  I was worn out...

Then it was time to clear the flowerbeds.  Too many overgrown shrubs!  Several I planted years ago were described 5' tall and 3' wide.  They were 8' tall and 6' wide.  And sending up shoots from the spreading roots.  They had to go.

It was like hacking a path through a jungle.  The hedge-trimmer worked on the small outer branches, the more larger trunks needed a saws-all with a landscaping blade.

That was a brutal job and it isn't finished yet.  But at least I got it down to where I can cut at the bottom. And pull the parts over the fence.  

Which led to a day of hauling shrub and tree debris to the front yard to fill the 5'x8' trailer as high as I can tie it down safely for delivery to the County mulching site.  They take yard debris and pile it up until it is compost and then give it away for free to any resident with a trailer.  And will fill my trailer with finished compost for free on Saturdays.  So what I bring to them, I get in return.

I filled some deck pots with cheap flowers from Walmart and Lowe's.  It is nice to see flowers on the deck.  I usually grow my own, but I was lazy.

And FINALLY, I topped the trailer with cut brush from several years ago that was sitting in the edge of the lawn in several places.  Pulling the old debris from the vines that grew over them was a real fight, but I think I got them all.  They are all kind of loose and high, but I I will tie them down side-to-side, front-to-back, and diagonally.  I have added eyebolts and clips all around the outside of the trailer, so that gives me good tie-downs.

I'll have them fill the trailer with compost in return.  That will go around the tomatoes and flowerbeds.

And then the fight with the spreading poison ivy and periwinkle will start!  It's always something.  Never mind the wild blackberries that are thriving in the far back yard.  That is next week's problem to attack.

And I have 40 perennial seedlings to plant in the meadow bed.  

I sometimes wonder that I get any sleep at all.  

But I made 

Memorial Day 2022

 

In honor...

I remember this day.  I had uncles who fought in WWII.  Dad was refused for an "enlarged heart" (later discovered to be incorrect, so he spent the war helping to build submarines.

WWII was a war I understood.  Clear-cut. no debate. But I have never seen a poem to describe that war. It was a bloodbath all the way.  What could you say about Nazi death camps, Stalingrad and Hiroshima?

My uncles all arrived home after.  That was rare.  So many did not...

Dead Trees, Part 2

So it is yesterday evening  and I'm looking at this 12' tree across my driveway.  I can't get the car out directly.  The tree still has intact 3" roots in the ground.  But if I can cut it it 3 places it is probably small enough parts to at least drag off the driveway.  I tried the electric chain saw.  It was like using a butter knife.  

I forgot to take a picture...

So I went back inside see if I had a new blade.  I did, but I just didn't feel up to all the replacement adjustment and I didn't really have to drive anywhere the next day.  So I decided to tackle that in the morning.

I considered using the car to haul it off the driveway.  It would have meant backing out and then pushing between the tree and a shrub on a soggy lawn, but I can repair lawn damage, so I was getting my strongest rope and putting the trailer hitch on the Forester.  

As I was collecting that stuff, I noticed my basement cell phone was blinking.  That means a VM.  Good neighbors Deb and John asked if I was OK.  Which, since I wasn't under the tree, meant "did I need some help".  Yes I did!

So I called.  Basically, to say I could probably get the tree cut apart when I replaced the chain saw blade, but if they could help me swivel the tree off the driveway "I sure would appreciate it".

I should explain that I'm not very good at asking for help.  I'm helpful when asked, but I've lived alone so long, I expect to solve problems on my own.  That's not a good thing, but it is a habit of many years just doing everything myself having little other choice.  Contractors when necessary and I hate it.  But I'm not 30 anymore.  Or 50.  Age is catching up with me.  

Deb and John are very interesting people.  Deb works in conflict management online and is strongly dedicated to helping others.  When we talk as neighbors, she will not leave without a hug.  John seems to be an original "Jack Of All Trades".  He knows enough about "everything" and he has "stuff.  And he matches up with Deb perfectly.  He seems to like being the "ultimate helpful guy".  He has stuff that amazes me.

How did I get so lucky to have them for neighbors?

So, I called them asking for just enough help to drag the tree off the driveway.  Well, that wasn't enough for them!  They looked at the fallen tree, decided the roots had to be cut but he had a good chain saw to cut the trunk off near the ground.  I wasn't sure how much good that was going to do.  But he went back to the house and returned with a chain saw and his ATV.

I knew he had one, but I didn't realize how RUGGED those things were up close.  He cut the trunk from the stump and said he would haul the tree into the woods next to the house.  The tree was heavy, but he said it wouldn't be a problem.  He was right.

After he chain-sawed the trunk loose he brought out a 1" thick rope.  I need one that strong...  Maybe even a chain.  In fact, I want a couple of heavy-duty pulleys, but that is a diffent subject.

I'm not inept.  I was a Boy Scout for 6 years and camped out for 6 weeks once.  I know knots, can cook over an open fire, and I build a dining table in camp out of saplings cuttings once, lashed with vines.

His rope had a loop at one end and was melted (for unfraying) at the other (I do the same).  I asked John if he wanted the loop the ATV end or round the trunk.  And whether he wanted a timberline knot on the trunk.  He said the loop around the trunk was fine.  He tied a perfect double clove knot to his ATV.

I did mention that the sharp edge of that was cutting the rope  and that the round trailer hitch would be easier on it.  He changed it.

And AWAY went the tree!   I don't know how you can drag a 10" wide tree through heavy woods, but HE did, LOL!  And then he went and helped a different neighbor with a smaller one.  

Saved me at least 4 hours of work.  I HAVE to make a banana cake for them...  And they are starting their first garden (in deer territory) and want to protect it.  I know THAT stuff.  So maybe I can repay their help in that way.

Dead Trees, Part 1

I have too many of them, and I gained a new one yesterday.  I'll explain.  About 10 years ago, lightning knocked off the top 1/3 of a huge sweetgum tree in the neighbor's yard.  Being downwind, it fell into mine.  That made it my problem.  The rain that followed caused a river birch (a real junk tree) that was already leaning over to fall on my toolshed.  

My friends kid me about "over-building things".  Well, the shed withstood the tree falling on it!  But I had to get a tree removal company in to cut up and remove both.  I also had them remove 2 other river birches that were tall enough to shade my garden.

Well, the damaged sweetgum trunk eventually rotted and the middle 1/3 fell over in Fall 2020.  I expected to cut it up with a chain saw in better weather the next Spring.  But then I fell off the extension ladder in January 2021, so I sure wasn't doing any hard work for 6 months.  And I still don't really feel healed (and suppose I never quite will again).  I may indulge myself about all the glories of aging in a future post, but not today.

There is a beech tree in the front yard.  It died 2 years ago.  I have (had) golden rain trees on each side of the driveway near the street.

That's not mine, but a good picture of one.   They get about 15' tall.  Mine were 12'.  One died the same time as the beech tree (it was a dry year for my area) and I saw other dead trees in the neighborhood later.

So the weather forecast Sunday night was for storms with strong winds Monday.  Earlier yesterday, the forecast was for localized near-hurricane-strength winds, heavy rain, hail, and possibly small tornados.  It is kind of early in the year for that, but climate change is real and stronger weather is becoming routine earlier and later than usual.

When the winds started, I was surprised at the violence of the wind on the trees.  It wasn't just one direction.  It swirled, beating them back and forth.  Mature trees bent.  Smaller ones whipped around like shrubs.  It wasn't a tornado, but it was sure damn close.  Hail fell.  Pea-sized at first (which is fun to watch when inside) but it grew to grape-sized and I worried about my lettuce on the deck.

I watched the dead beech tree carefully.  It had partially died many years ago, but sent up some new tops.  None very heavy though.  I had estimated its height and measured to the house.  The remaining heavy trunk would (probably) not quite reach the house, but even 3" branches can damage a roof.

The beech remains standing.  But I didn't realize at first that the surviving golden rain tree had been blown over.  Right across the driveway, of course.  The dead one didn't get blown over; no leaves for the wind to push on...

The storm was brief, so I went out to look at it about 5 pm.  Too heavy for me to drag off the driveway.  I have 2 chain saws.  I can't keep the serious gas one adjusted enough to work (2 stroke gas engines drive me crazy), so I have a small electric one.  I tried to cut it apart, but the blade was too dull.  I have a replacement blade, but didn't really want to mess with it right them.  I figured I would do that later today.

That's when my wonderful neighbors across the street came to my assistance!  More on that tomorrow...

A Surprise Computer Fix, Part 2

So, yesterday, I ended by saying my Apple email wasn't showing old or new emails.  AOL was allowing my Cavebear account just fine but not Marksmews (cats) or Yardenman (gardening).  I like separated and themed user names...

I decided to figure out passwords to try and get my email of those 2 in AOL.  They have been unhelpful in the past, so I didn't even bother calling them.  I looked up stuff on the net.  That is always difficult.  I'm not a beginner, but not an expert either.  I live in the awkward world where I have an idea what experts are telling me but not understanding all the instructions.  Experts assume "some things".  Like what the heck is a "kernal panic"?

But I did get enough to try setting up AOL email accounts.  One site told me the locations within AOL to look at email accounts.  Another suggested way to establish a new password.  None of them worked immediately, but I kept trying some of them.  All failed.  Everytime I tried a new account, I got my Cavebear account login on Safari.

I opened Firefox and tried the same things.  I actually got a different sign-in page!  I entered my Mark's Mews email address and searched around.  I found a place for re-setting a password.  It asked some security questions.  That was difficult'

I have my accounts and passwords on paper (no one can hack THAT).  But over the years, I have scribbled notes of changes and drawn lines to new passwords, etc.  Its a MESS!  I really have to update the Excel spreadsheet of those (its on a standalone computer).  But I found enough in the scribbles to answer the security questions.

I was shocked to discover that AOL had that data and allowed me to establish a new password for Marksmews email account.  But it said I had to restart my computer.  OK, I can do that, and did. 

The Marksmews email account didn't show up in Safari, but it did in Firefox.  I have NO idea why.  But there (Oh happily there) was the Marksmews email account ON AOL.  Previous discussions with AOL agents said that was not possible without a standard monthly fee.  On my screen, there was no mention of a fee.  I am assuming they lied about that.

And when I opened the MarksMews email account on Firefox in AOL (my Cavebear account is bookmarked on Safari), all the old emails and the new 10 days of emails all showed up!  Among them were the notifications from Chewy about my autoship.  So they were not to blame.  

I bookmarked it on Firefox.  I closed Firefox.  I reopened it on Firefox.  The email account shows up in AOL!  I sent emails back and forth to myself.  It worked.  I got one account solved.

Something successful every day is good...

A Surprise Computer Fix, Part 1

Yeah another computer post.  But this time, an interesting and unexpected fix.

 Two things happened.  First, I received an unexpected autoship shipment of cat food from Chewy.  I am supposed to get an email from them advising me of an upcoming autoship (in case I want to cancel or change it).  I did not get an email about that.  I was kind of upset because there were a few flavors The Mews don't love and I didn't receive a notification email in order to change that.

I thought about how that might occur.  First, maybe Chewy had accidentally duplicated the previous order.   Second, since I had been delaying autoship orders the past few months (I get damaged cans), they had sent stuff to keep me as a customer.

The actual reason didn't occur to me at first....  I had 3 email accounts with Verizon once.  I read them all EASILY using Apple Mail.  They sold all their email accounts to AOL with a promise they would all be maintained for free (as it was on Verizon).   

It hasn't been a good experience.  AOL hates people having multiple email accounts.  My Cavebear account (the general one) works fine on AOL (probably because I transferred that one first.  AOL has fought me tooth and nail over the Marksmews and Yardenman accounts.  They want a monthly "support fee" for each (and it was, as I said) supposed to be free.  But I could still receive emails to those (but not send or reply from them.

So, having the new computer mostly working (some apps needed upgrades due to the new non-Intel chip) and some few apps and files just wouldn't migrate (mostly fixed now), I looked at the email accounts.  I discovered that the migration to the new computer stopped my Apple mail MarksMews and Yardenman accounts.  

I could see previous MarksMews emails, but not after April 27th.  Worse, the next day, all the old emails were gone.  As if my Apple mail accounts never existed.  It was only a week, so I hadn't realized that there were no new ones.  That sometimes happens.

And then it struck me that Chewy probably had send a notification of impending autoship, but the emails weren't showing up.  I'll stop here for now.  People get bored reading about computer problems in general and this is getting too long anyway.

More tomorrow...

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?