Mean Critter

Some critter at all my Pak Choy leaves!  

 Oh, that was mean...  I use them to roll up in my egg rolls (I enjoy them a lot).  They protect the uncooked veggies from poking through the wrapper.  Yes, I could use leafy-lettuce leaves, but the Pak Choy is a member of the cabbage family and it adds some flavor.  And besides, it is traditional.

I suppose I tempted the critter.  There was a strong wind-storm coming, so I placed the tray on the deck so it wouldn't get blown over (it happened once).  This time I'l just wrap a wire around the tray for stability.

And, of course, I can't feel safe even eating the new-growth.  There might be some "critter-slobber" (and think "disease") on the plants.  I'll dump the soil, bleach the tray, and plant new ones.

I was really looking forward to using them.  They were just the right size.  Oh well, critters get some outdoor veggies sometimes.  They are hungry too.

Various Stuff

 Yeah, just "stuff".

1.  Brought my electric mower to the designated repair store last week.  Bought it from Home Depot last year.  One day, the blade stopped turning.  At least it is still under warrantee.  But I didn't know that Home Depot owned Ryobi.  So actually, there was not really anywhere else I could have brought it too.  They will contact me in about a week to tell me if the repair is warranteed.  I bet 50% no.  But I will still have it repaired if half the cost of a new one.

2.  I was late planting my heirloom tomatoes.  In 2016, I had a bowlful by this time...

3.  Have to show you this...

I had 2 others (with different faces) 40 years ago, but a clumsy housemate broke 2.  I got my own house shortly after that to escape such people.  Been happy on my own ever since.

4.  Have a list of house improvements/maintenance, but tree work comes first as one dead tree can reach the house and the storms blow in that direction.  So safety first, improvements second.  The 3rd tree service bid will come after a visit Monday.  It will be good to have the dead trees safely removed.  Then I can focus on the house.

5.  I grow a lot of small leafy crops in planters on the deck.  On a good time they look like this...

You can cut them back several times and they re-grow.  but eventually, they don't grow back.  And I had new Boy Choy growing, but some critter came up on the deck the other day and ate them all.  Have to replant inside under lights.

6.  Have corn, beans, and cukes growing.  There is still time til harvest.  And some crops like broccoli, carrots, and spinach can be planted in 2 weeks here for harvesting in the cool weather of October/November.

Tree Work

I have some tree work needed.  There is a large dead beech tree, a small dead tree, a stump of a small tree that blew over weeks ago, a "cluster of volunteers" near the front door, a burning bush shrub that has gotten  smothered by "volunteers", a non-fruiting wild cherry tree right against the fence, and surface tree roots from a neighbor's silver maple (which should have never been planted between our houses) which are reaching my house foundation.

The last few years have been hard on trees here (and elsewhere too).  Some of the work I could do myself with a working chain saw.  But I can't keep a gas one working, and for some reason, I can't get the chain on the electric one properly tightened and that makes it dangerous.  

So since the large dead beech needed professional removal anyway, I called 3 contractors for quotes.  All 3 have done some work here before.  Two visited.  

One gave the best price and has equipment that will best control the 2 tree-falls (I have 2 small ornamental trees that are nearby), but won't grind out the neighbor's tree roots on my property closer than 10' to the property line, but will use their cherry-picker machine to get up high enough to remove the branches overhanging my house.  They say that while it is legal for me to remove the roots right to the property line, they get too much trouble from neighbors and they avoid it.

The other offerred a bid $300 more and agrees to grind out the neighbor's tree roots right to the property line but can't cut down over-hanging limbs because they are "climbers" (no cherry-picker equipment) and can't climb the neighbor's tree.

Both agree to grind out all the stumps of the felled trees and "volunteer" patches and remove all debris.  Both offer good prices, $1800 and $2100.  I expected it to be $2500-3000, so no complaints there about either bid.  It is the slight differences in the work they can do that is making me hesitate to choose.  I'll be thinking about that this weekend.

It really comes down to that neighbor's tree roots.  I don't have the best relationship with that neighbor.  They are the ones who:

1.  Tried to burn down my fence.  Ok, they weren't actually trying, but when they first moved in 2 years ago, they piled dead tree branches next to my wood fence and under low-hanging dry trees and started burning them without even a hose that could reach the spot.  I had to demand they put it out.  When the woman there ignored me at first, I said I would call the Fire Department.  I offerred to put it out with my garden hose.  She and a daughter hauled pails of water from a wading pool to quench the flames.  I stayed there (hose-ready) for a while.

2.  A month later, a guy there (I think it is a divorce when the ex visited every couple weeks to help) was thrashing around 10' inside my yard with a gas-power metal-bladed trimmer to cut away grass next to a tree of mine.  I ran out to tell him to stop.  He wouldn't turn off the gas-trimmer so I had to raise my voice to be heard.  Finally he turned it off and then complained I was yelling at him.  

He said he didn't know where the property line was.  So I pointed out that the backyard fence offerred a clear line through the front yard, but mostly I just pointed out where it was.  I was initially angry, but I calm down pretty fast.  He stopped.  Maybe I should plant a row of shrubs.  

BTW, the ornamental tree the guy was attacking for the tallish grass growing close to it with the gas whacker died the next Summer.  I can't say he caused it, but I can't say he didn't either.  There were shallow cuts in the bark.

So I don't have the best relationship with them.  I haven't done anything to bother them, but some people just count up disagreements without considering who is actually to blame.  And if they needed some help, I would gladly give it.

  -------

Which returns us to the neighbor's tree.  Some limbs are over-hanging my house.  The roots are threatening my foundation and are above lawn level.  I checked my County regulations and I have a clear right to remove both limbs and roots.  Mowing the grass over them is like driving over railroad ties.

But I think they are going to go ape-shit when I do either.  I suppose I should print out the County regulation on that to hand to them when they object.

Ahh, the joys of neighbors...

Happy Coincidence

Sometimes, small things make you pleased.  And the oddest small successes do matter...

I try to drink a fair amount of liquid first meal of the day.  Whether it is breakfast or lunch (eggs, pancakes, or sandwich) doesn't matter.  I have a mug of green tea, lightly chocolate-low sugar milk with a splash of vanilla, a small glass of Coke (for the fizz), and usually a glass of V8.

I thinking of the vanilla today.  I don't really care if it is real or artificial.  The taste is about the same (and cooking article generally agree).  What really matters to me is how easily I can pour a controlled amount into the milk.  Some bottles come with flip-top caps that only allow a few drops (my favorite).  Some come with seals under the caps and I just poke a small hole it the seal.  

I bought one recently that had neither. Take the cap off, and it is a 3/4" open bottle.  Control is tricky.  Too much vanilla is a bit bitter.  I don't have the steadiest hands these days, so that is a problem.  I was looking for a small food-grade squirt bottle and not having any luck.

On the other hand, I had just emptied a bottle of soy sauce with a nice small-holed flip-top cap.  I was considering emptying the small vanilla bottle into the large soy sauce bottle, but wondered if the vanilla would sort of evaporate in all the extra space.

Then I looked at the caps on both bottles.  They seemed about the same size (visually).  Was it possible they were interchangeable?  I mean, a slight difference in size would leak.  And if the a cap threads were even barely different, same problem.

So I tried the exchange.  The flip-top, small hole, soy sauce top fit on the vanilla bottle like a glove!

The flip-top cap on the soy sauce bottle...

And now on the vanilla bottle...

In a way, I should not have been too surprised.  Industry loves uniformity of sizes.  It is a lot cheaper (efficient) to make 10 million caps of one size than 10 million caps of 3 sizes.  I've discovered this elsewhere.  I have some cast iron pans with no lids and I have some teflon pan with lids.  Most of the teflon pan lids also fit the cast iron skillets perfectly!  This is often useful.

I have also discovered that all toothpaste tubes have the same type of caps.  Some come with flip-tops and some don't.  I save the flip-tops...  So when I buy one with a screw-off cap, I usually switch them.  Trust me, some mornings I just can't deal with a screw-off cap...

So when I discovered that the soy sauce flip-top cap fit on the vanilla bottle, I was very happy.  It sort of made my whole day.  OK, maybe I am too easily "happified" by such a little thing, but little things like that can actually mean a lot these days.

There are enough major things in the world that aren't working.  I'll enjoy a minor one that does...  😁

A Good Day Outside

I have a Spring-planting schedule and a Fall planting schedule.  People tend to ignore the Fall garden, but a lot of veggies grow fast in late Summer heat and  mature best in cooler Fall or even Winter weather.

And I have become accustomed to presoaking large seeds for a few hours and then placing them between damp paper towels to see which germinate.  So I did that with corn, beans, and cucumbers recently.  Yesterday, I planted the ones that had germinated.  It gives them a headstart growing, and saves you from planting the ones that don't germinate.

These went into an awkward raised 2' x 8' box.  Awkward because it is under the roof overhang right next to the house foundation, so needs dedicated watering, but the sunlight is good there for crops that like extra light and warmth.

In 8', I planted a block of 9 corn plants, 5' of cucumbers on a trellis, and another block of 9 corns of an early variety.  The corns are separated by the cucumbers to reduce cross-fertilization of the corns.  The cucumbers are on a 6' tall 6" rebar mesh for easy harvest.  I had planted pole beans elesewhere last month (and they are growing well).  But not all spots grew, so I added more.

I had my 5'x8' trailer filled with yard debris.  Dead trees, storms and clearing old shrubs added up to a lot.  Some was old stuff piled near the edge of the backyard ; some was new cuttings.  I had been avoiding bringing it to the yard-debris recycling center due to the heat, but yesterday was forecast to be much cooler though a threat of rain in the afternoon.  

So I skipped lunch, hooked up the trailer, and drove there.  I wasn't the only one to consider the weather and threat of rain.  When I drove in, the place was empty, but 5 other guys followed me in.   LOL!

Took 30 minutes to pull out all the entangled debris.  The other guys there took about as long.  One guy showed up with a trailer that power-tilted to just slide all his stuff off as he drove forward a bit.  We all watched in amazement.  He was gone in 5 minutes...

Actually, I watched the other guys as they watched him.  It was a clear case of "trailer-envy".  It looked something like this...

I can see why.  But I don't need something like that.  And the other guys really didn't either.  But they sure looked at it like they did.  LOL!

So I drove back home, fully happy to have emptied my trailer of the debris.  The County piles the stuff up and lets it compost (moving it around from time to time with serious equipment).  It ends up somewhere between mulch and compost.  On Saturdays, you can bring a trailer around and they use the bucket-loader to fill your trailer for free.

It's a nice deal.  We bring them debris and they return it as mulch/compost free.  I would have gone on a Saturday to get a trailerload myself but I need the trailer to haul some failed yard equipment to a repair shop.

I finally contacted 3 tree removal service companies.  I have one large dead beech, one overgrown junk tree too close to the fence and a holly tree I like to remove safely myself, a dead 12' tree by the street and the stump of a similar tree that my neighbor cut off and hauled away, and a shrub I have cut down and tried to kill several times (so needs stump-grinding to really kill).  And the roots from a neighbor's tree that are above the surface of the lawn (so drive me nuts trying to move over them). 

One came over 2 days ago and sent me a quote of $1900.  But I forgot the lawn tree roots, so I need to ask about that.  Another one will call to give a time to look at the work.  Haven't heard from the 3rd.  But at least I am getting that work started

The first guy is new to me.  He left a card so I called.  It's awkward because I can't understand his English face-to-face well, but we are in email contact now and that is fine.  The 2nd is a company I have used several times and they do good work.  The 3rd is unknown to me but I will consider them.  All claim to been insured and licensed; I will require proof of the one I select.  You have to be careful.  Homeowners can be responsible for worker injuries.

But the work will be done in the next couple of weeks.  That will be a load off my mind, especially that tall dead beech.  And I'll be glad to get that unkillable junk shrub near the house sidewalk that blocks access.  And those damn tree roots from the neighbor's tree will not be missed!

Wordle

 You can't get much luckier that this.    

LOL!

Printing Passwords

My printer is trying to drive me crazy!

All I wanted to do was set up my user names and passwords safely.  And to me, that means beyond "password managers".  I'm kind of primitive.  I like mine completely offline.   So I set up a spreadsheet on my old offline Mac (used for some old games I like) and printed them from there years ago.

Over the course of time, there have been many password changes and my scribbled changes finally became unusable.  There is just "so much" space on a page and "so many" arrows you can draw to the new ones.  And most of the sites were old or no longer visited.

So I decided to redo it all.  First. legal size paper gave more columns.  Second, wider rows give more room for written changes.  Setting up the spreadsheet was easy.  Filling it in was easy.  I got rid of a decade of scribbles and 2/3s of the sites I visited.  And using the Excel sort function (A-Z) made them easier to find.

But I still had to print the spreadsheet.  My old color inkjet printer cartridges were all dried up.  So I had to move the spreadsheet to the online Mac.  Naturally, I disconnected the internet connection before moving the saved spreadsheet to the Mac with the laser printer.  There isn't much point in saving passwords if you allow the file to be stored online!

Computers hate me.  The flashdrive wouldn't load in the newer (temporarily offline) Mac for 30 minutes.  I tried everything.  Finally got it to be recognized after enough restarts.  Made sure the spreadsheet was still legal size paper settings and one-sided printing (my Mac is convinced I want 2-sided printing by default).  

And it wouldn't print!  Well, OK, I didn't know where to stick legal sized paper in.  This laser printer is new to me.  I only bought it because the color toner doesn't dry up like color inkjet cartridges do.  Actually, it does "too damn much".  There are 3 places to put paper, and the display menu is designed for a genius (which I am not).  And there were a couple of odd pieces of plastic with it that I didn't know the purpose of. 

Wine

I like wine with meals.  I like a particular type and brand of wine.  It is produced by Twisted Cellars and it is called "Twisted".  It is an old vine zinfandel (hence "twisted").  It is inexpensive and nothing fancy.  It gets good reviews on sites discussing affordable wines.  This is not an ad for it, I just happen to like the stuff with my meals.

So why do I mention it?  It is apparently a limited production and sometimes not available.  I found it in a local butcher/deli/liquor store years ago.  It apparently didn't sell well, so they stopped shelving it.  But I liked it enough to ask if they could special order it.  I'm a good customer, so they did if I would buy 4-6 cases of it at a time.  Well, why not?  It's not like it goes bad in a few months.

I'm so used to it now that everything else tastes a bit "off".    So when the supply dried up recently, I went searching for it.  That happened a few years ago too.  A wine store (60 miles away) in my State sells it, but says they can't ship it to me.  Yet a wine store in New York State (300 miles away) will.

I ordered 8 cases from NY last week.  It arrived in 3 days.  I am baffled by why one State can ship wine to me but my own State cannot, but laws are weird.  So I'm good for 6 months.

But the NY store was also out of stock for 3 months, and I decided to try similarly-described wines available at the local store.  You know that stuff about "hints of blackberry, after-tongue fruitiness, good palate"?  That's mostly all fake jargon.  But if a wine has the same descriptions as the one I like, it stands a good chance of being equally satisfactory.

Seeking an alternative (before the NY store had a supply of the "Twisted"), I tried an Argentinean Malbec (Frontera).  Drinking it now.  It's close but very slightly more acidic.  I could live with that.  It goes well with grilled meats, tomato sauces, and roasted chicken or pork.

But I'm glad the NY store came through with the Twisted.

Primary Election Day

Today is Primary Election Day in Maryland.  I had a sample ballot.  The top decisions were easy, but who knows anything about School Board or County Commissioners?  I couldn't name a one.

I'm analytical.  I want information.  The League Of Women Voters used to send out letters where all the candidates could describe themselves in a few paragraphs but apparently that was stopped by one of those Supreme Court decisions saying "information was sort of unfair".

I found their website last week, though.  They can still ask candidates to talk about their qualifications.  I went through every candidate down to the least of offices and marked my choices on my sample ballot.  

I did my homework.  Some candidates immediately disqualified themselves (in my personal view).  Too weird, too unqualified, too fanatical.  Sometimes, it is good to just get the crazies off your list and hope for the best among the rest.

At least I go to the voting booth knowing not only "who" but "why" I am voting for particular people.  I wish more people did.  And in a Primary Election...

Dental 2

Well, it's been a week since the tooth was extracted.  All in all, it has gone rather well.    The dentist said I was in for a miserable 48 hours, a week of annoyance, would be a left-side chewer the rest of my life, and would feel a "Grand Canyon" for a long time where the tooth was.  And that I could expect my outer cheek to be bruised and sensitive.

He recommended ice on my cheek, Tylenol 3 for the pain, and soft food for a month.  Considering the way he had to drill and break the tooth (a horrible sound), I expected that would be true.

The truth is that I seem to have gotten off easy.  I took a Tylenol 3 pill as the novocaine was wearing off, but I didn't really need it.  I never bothered to take another.  I never bothered with the ice.  I had no bruised or sensitive cheek.

The cut gum did take a couple days to stop seeping some blood.  The seemingly-over-abundance of gauze pads they gave me to fold and keep over the extraction point were actually barely enough.  He admitted that he had to do more cutting than he expected, so that makes sense.

The gap does feel huge.  My tongue says it is an inch wide, but it is really only about 1/4".  It was the most forward pre-molar and those are not very large.  

The gap may even become smaller over time.  A dentist from a few decades ago wanted to remove a couple teeth just so the remaining ones could spread out.  I have a small jaw and it forced some teeth slightly crooked.  Apparently, teeth can actually move slightly, given some space.  That seems a bit odd (since they are in bone), but I had read about that a couple of times elsewhere.  Well, bone is actually living tissue, so I suppose it's possible.  I really hope that is correct, because my lower right incisor is a bit out of place and if the new empty spot allows it to straighten some, that would be good.

The dissolving stitches did indeed dissolve.  Monday (4 days to the minute after the extraction LOL) I felt a slight stringy sensation sort of like a celery string between 2 teeth.  I was careful about it.  But a 1/4 inch piece of "something" came loose onto my tongue and it was a thread.  Touching the spot carefully, they were all loose and I removed them.

So it could have been a lot worse.  I remember co-workers talking about how horrible their extraction was.  Pain for days in spite of medications, etc.   

I'm probably not doomed to left-side chewing forever.  After the 2 lower right back molars (wisdom tooth and the one next to it) were removed 20 years ago, it eventually didn't bother me to chew in that area after a month.  I hope this new gap eventually toughens up like those did.

If not, well, getting older sucks and things start to go wrong.  You adjust as best you can.  My right knee is not great sometimes, my lower back hurts sometimes, I get leg muscle cramps laying in bed and rib muscle cramps when I twist around reaching for things behind me.  I get finger-clenches if I grip tools too long doing yardwork (it occurs a few hours later while doing knife-work preparing dinner).  I really should remember to wear my padded garden gloves routinely.

Regarding that, I have a good supply of aspirin-infused ointment, lidocaine gel, and ibuprofen tablets.  But that is not about the dental work, so I will let that go for now.

I'm just glad the tooth extraction (bad as it was in the dentist's chair) went well afterwards.

Dental Woes

Well, I've gone and lost another tooth!  I lost 2 teeth about 15-20 years ago due to a cherry pit, and it has happened again...

The 2 teeth years ago were because I was cutting a cantelope into cubes while eating cherries and I forgot what I was eating.  Thinking "cantelope", I just bit down.  Crushed a molar.  PAIN!  I could only get an appointment with my then-dentist 3 days later, so I had fun sucking soup through a straw for 3 days.

The dentist said it couldn't be saved and had to come out.  And during the extraction, he found the roots were entangled with the wisdom tooth, so it had to come out to.  Fortunately, the extractions themselves didn't hurt.  But the pulling was brutal.  They were upper teeth, so he had to pull down.  

I could barely hold my head up to counter the down-pull.  Now I understand the phrase "like pulling teeth"!  My recollection is that there were no healing problems after, and it seems to me that I chewed normally after a few days.

So Wed 6-29, I was eating cherries.  Given my previous experience, I am careful.  But I still managed a glancing scrape with a pit.  I froze in place, expecting pain.  None.  Two days later, I was eating chocolate chip ice cream and suddenly felt a jolt.  I guess those frozen chips are HARD!

It was a tooth with a filling.  I could tell something was slightly loose, but nothing actually came out.  It wasn't temperature-sensitive but it was pressure-sensitive.  Naturally, that was Friday evening before a 3 day holiday weekend.  My current dentist's office was closed until Tuesday July 5.  There is an emergency number, but I wasn't actually in any pain (so long as I didn't chew on it).

I overslept a bit Tuesday, but called the dentist as soon as I got up.  Oh, cruelty of oversleeping!  Had I called an hour earlier, they could have gotten me in that day.  As it was, they were fully booked until July 11.  But they said they would call if there was a cancellation.

There was.  I got in Thurs 7-7.  And it was for my preference of the 3 dentists there.  I say that because the other 2 are "you are just a jaw to me; sit there and shut up".  The other talks, explains, encourages patience, shows the x-rays on a monitor, etc.

I hate the x-rays!  I have a small jaw (and therefore crowded teeth) and the film insert cuts my gum (like I said, small jaw).  But when the dentist came in, he complimented his assistant (and me) for the very clear x-rays.  

That's where things went downhill.  He could tell if the tooth was chipped on one side or split down to the root.  He called a partner in to look at it and he couldn't decide either.

If a chip on the side, the tooth could be saved with a crown or root canal drilling.  If not, it had to be removed.  He doesn't do root canals because there are several specialist here who he says are more expert at it (he's honest).

So my choice was to go to a specialist (maybe waiting a week or 2) or having him extract it then and there.  It is a forward pre-molar.  He said extraction would affect my chewing for the rest of my life, so he recommended seeing a specialist and left my for a few minutes to decide.  

Talk about bad choices!  I initially decided to visit the specialists, but as I sat there, I lost confidence that the tooth could be saved.  And so I expected that, in 2 weeks of possible specialist drilling and pain and temporary fillings, I would be back in the same chair for an extraction anyway.

I opted to have it pulled.

Now, you have to understand that the previous 2 extracted teeth were removed rather easily.  Lots of pulling, but they came out rather easily.  And the dentist said a premolar was easier and there were no root entanglements.

So we went about the process of novacaine shots and waiting for it to take effect.  I should mention that I am a bit resistant to most medications.  I usually need an extra novacaine shot before my jaw is numb to the point where the dentist is satisfied.  But I was finally numb at the spot the dentist wanted.  And apparently he had to use a "special" one;  "carbo-something".

It got bad...  The tooth would not come out.  I could feel it move in the jaw, but it refused to release.  He had to drill and break it all the way down.  He apologized every step of the way.  I was shaking from the sounds of my tooth being broken apart and in anticipation of a sudden jolt of pain (never happened).  

45 minutes of fear and worry.  I have a mantra from the book 'Dune' that helped:  

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

I had to repeat it often...  

Eventually, he said, OK, we're done".  He explained to me afterwards that the tooth was both split to the roots (so it couldn't have been saved by a specialist) and that the roots were unusually deeply anchored (which was probably why it had a filling rather than a crown).

And then there was the healing.  First, he had had to cut at the gum to get the last of the deep roots out and chip some bone away, which required (dissolving) stitches.  He gave me prescriptions for pain (Tylenol 3) and an antibiotic.  And a long list of things not to do...  

They gave me a thick pad of little 2" gauze pads and doubled the usual amount because they expected I would need it.  It was to be folded and held on the wound by light tooth pressure.  I guess that was for the gum cuts on the sides.  I actually had to use a lot of those.  I normally stop bleeding fast, but enough of a wound does need help.  It took a whole day for the bleeding to stop.

The rules they gave me said to ice my cheek every hour, eat only the softest of foods (DUH!), rinse my mouth with salty water several times a day, take an antibiotic pill every 24 hours and Tylenol 3 as needed.  I didn't need the Tylenol 3 or ice.  In fact, I felt no pain at all after the novacaine wore off.  I'm taking the antibiotics as required of course.

I bought a cherry-pitter (I do love cherries).  I've been eating eggs, spaghetti, bananas, soup, boiled veggies, and potatoes, etc, for over a week.  But this too shall pass away.  The jaw bone will heal, the gums will toughen, etc in time.

I know this is a minor problem compared to those of many people.  I'm not trying to seem unusual, brave or stoic or anything.  But it was my rather bad week.

If that is the worst thing that happens to me this year, I will be grateful.  As I slowly slide into my elder years, I expect to experience worse, gradually but inevitably.  Mom always said "growing old isn't for sissies".