General Stuff

I have some assorted items to catch up mentioning...

First, I have given up of the existing camera.  The color is shot.  It makes Lori and Ayla look a bit orange, it blotches the color of even a solid wall, and it starts at 0001 every day (even though I have it set to continuous).   

I have a smartphone, but I haven't learned how to navigate around in it , and I'm not likely to learn how soon).  So I bought a new camera.  Very simple inexpensive camera ("for kids and seniors").  Well I don't need much.  In fact, half my photo-processing effort is reducing the quality of the pictures...  The current one takes 3-5MB pics and I keep the processed ones to 200-300 KB for the blogs and forums.

Second, I have been having problems getting at my Feedly reading list for a month.  I keep getting a message that it can't load.  I tried to find the problem several times with no luck.  So please forgive my not visiting and leaving comments lately.

Today, I "fixed" it.  Which actually means I discovered I was the problem!  About a month ago, I eliminated cookies (on advice from my AV app) and added some extensions (on Safari's advice).  It caused problems and I don't know how to undo the extensions.

For whatever reason, cat blogoshere shows up like a Word page, but I discovered that if I click outside of the "page" I get the normal view.  I need to dig into the settings...  But it occurred to me yesterday that the Feedly "can't load" message looked a lot the same.  So I clicked outside the message and WOW, there was the normal Feedly view with the list of cat blogs!

Made me feel pretty stupid, but I'm glad I can get at Feedly again.  So I'll be visiting and commenting again soon.

Third, I got some confirmation that my regular Twisted Wine Cellars winery has closed.  They are offering (I saw on Go-Daddy) to sell their URL for $400,000!  That pretty much settles my question of whether they are closed.  

Which is a real shame.  I really liked it and it was inexpensive ($9.99 for a 1.5L bottle).  One site said "This Old Vine Zinfandel is medium-bodied with aromas of black cherry, red currant, blackberry bramble and a hint of spice. Concentrated ripe fruit, dark berry flavors and black pepper carry through to the palate while nicely balanced acidity and plush tannins lead to a lingering finish".  Not bad for an inexpensive wine, LOL.  

I'll be going to my local wine/deli/meat place to buy a dozen bottles of different zinfandels to see which I like best for the future.  Might try a few pinot grigios and merlots, too.  They were listed as "similar to zinfandel" at a site I found comparing varieties of wine.

I emailed a wine-blogger who invited questions (and didn't seem like a wine-snob) but I haven't gotten a reply yet.

I usually only have 2 small glasses with dinner, but I do look forward to it and I don't like most wines.  On occasions when I stay up all night, I do have more.  😃

Fourth, TV could get annoying soon.  Not so much because of the writers' strike, but because the future of 3 of my favorite shows's future is "iffy".  'Archer' is an animated spy-spoof and the next season has not yet been renewed.  'La Brea' is expected to return, but no season premier is scheduled.  'Ark' seem planned for a 2nd season, but no date is set.  I worry about 'La Brea' and 'Ark' because they seem to have an irregular and short season, so you never know what might happen.

My other favorite show (other than MSNBC and CNN news) is 'Real Time With Bill Maher'.  It is not news, but it is "topical" and he has some very unusual guests.  I have a fondness for intellectual sarcasm, and he is a master at that.  The writers' strike will affect his show.

The other channels I watch won't be affected (Science, History, National Geographic, Smithsonian).

Fifth, Superglue is dangerous stuff.  The adjustment buckles of 2 of my suspenders (braces to some of you) won't stay tight and the clips to the pant waist come loose sometimes.  I could buy new ones, but I have a repair-it mindset ("Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without").  Well, OK, I don't do the "do without" part, but my first instinct is "make it do".

So I decided to set the adjustment buckles in a correct place and then superglue them there.  If the elastic weakens and stretches after that, I'll give up on them (or more likely, find some other use for them) and get new ones.  So I set about supergluing the adjustment buckles.

That's when superglue becomes evil!  The first time you open one of those tiny tubes, it works fine.  Afterwards, it is always a problem to get more out.  Sure, there is a tiny pin that is supposed to keep the outlet open.  It doesn't.  

So I was squeezing the tube to apply the superglue to the buckles and nothing came out.  I cut the tip shorter, and it came out in a blob.  Which was OK because I spread the blob on the suspenders with a toothpick.

I didn't realize I had gotten some on a fingertip and then touched my thumb to the finger.  Don't worry, I acted quickly and apply some mineral oil to the spot.  They separated with a bit of pulling.  A slight shell remains but it will flake off in a day or 2.  This isn't my 1st experience with superglue on skin, LOL! 

The next part of the suspender renovation is to add thin rubber pads to the past clasps.  Some of my pants have a belt holder strip (that gives thickness) at the right place; some don't.  So I plan to use rubber cement to attach thin patches of that rubbery shelving mesh inside both sides of the clasps.  It will grip better.

That's enough for one day...  Thank you for reading this far!

A Lost Wine

"I am rather sad today,

My favorite wine has gone away.

It was not one wine-lovers love,

But fit my pallat like a glove.

 

It went with everything I made,

From chick to pork to steak saute'd.

It thoroughly did suit my taste

And now I'll find no more of it.

 

The winery has closed, it seems

To end 10 years of vinous dreams.

I'm sure this hits them harder, though

I'll also miss them, don't you know."

 

   .................

 

Seriously, I started drinking wine 20 years ago.  I graduated from "too much beer all day" to "just enough wine with dinner".  I tried beaujolais, merlot, cab, burgundy, other red wines before discovering zinfandel.  I liked that best for the fruity but complex flavor.  And, as I said in the poem, it suited my cooking style.  I tend toward small amounts of roasted meats, some stir-fried veggies, or spaghetti with meatloaf tomato sauce, and vinegary tossed salads (heavy on the tomatoes).

 

I was originally able to get it from my friendly local deli/meat/alcohol store.  Then they stopped stocking it, but would special-order multiple cases for me.

 

Then their distributor stopped offering it several years ago.  I found a store in NY that did and would ship to me.  Shipping wasn't exactly free (cost an additional $5 per bottle) but that wasn't the point.  I liked the wine.

 

That place hasn't had it available for a few weeks.  I found another place and ordered some, but they just emailed me to say that the winery had closed.  

 

I feel like I did back when Coca-Cola introduced "New Coke". 

 

So, now I need to try to find a new wine for dinnertime.  It can't be just any Zinfandel.  The Twisted Wine Cellars version was from "old vines" and that affects the taste.  

 

And it's not like I'm going to buy $20 wine.  I refuse to pay more  for wine than the dinner costs.  On the other hand, I only have 12 bottles left.  While that will last 36 meals, a month is not really a long time.  

 

One time years ago, I found a place that was based on "if you like this, you will like that".  It had charts that compared products for similarity (by user reviews).  One of them was wine.  I now wish I had saved the graph or bookmark.  I didn't find it tonight, but I will look again tomorrow.

 

Meanwhile, I'll be talking to the wine guy at the local store and see what he recommends.

 

Farewell, Twisted Wine Cellars Twisted Zin...

 

Tulips And Other Flowers

The tulips were generally at their best yesterday.   

I used to have a lot more, but there are 2 problems.  First, the voles love them!  They find them almost anywhere.  Second, the fancier ones have short lives.  They are hybridized within an inch of existence for color rather than length of life.  Even if I plant them in wire mesh cages  (small enough to keep voles out but large enough to allow the stems to grow through), they still die younger than standard red ones.

Years ago, I planted perhaps 100 tulips in 2 years.  The first were among the daffodils around the backyard woods.  And some near the deck.  The following Spring, all I found were holes where the voles dug down and ate the bulbs.  The last 2 pics are of the only survivors (and notice they are solid colors). 

You can see how many there used to be...

So, when I established the 25x25' daffodil bed around the birdfeeder, I put the hyacinths and tulips in wire mesh cages.  But even that didn't help much.  At  8 bulbs per cage, about 10 cages, 80 bulbs...  I have 8 left and a few that are just leaves this year but might bloom next year.

I plan to dig up the cages in June when the leaves die back and try again.  But this time with standard old red tulips in the Fall.  They will stand out among the daffodils better anyway.

I have no idea why the caged hyacinths all died out.  They are usually long-lived if not eaten by voles.  Maybe the hyacinth stems are too thick for the wire mesh.  Maybe I'll try putting them in slightly larger mesh and surround them with sharp gravel chips.  I've read that deters voles very well.  

I want more hyacinths.  The fragrance is wonderful!

Tax Day

 LOL@ me.  I meant the previous post to be a draft to be added to later.  It slipped past my noticing...  I guess I left it "scheduled" rather than "draft".

But I did my taxes yesterday.  It was miserable even with helpful software.  There are questions I don't truly understand, so I just do my best.  I probably make some mistakes.  But I bet I overpay rather than underpay.  I'll survive.  If I get audited, they will probably owe ME money.

The annoying thing is that my e-filing was rejected for the wrong PIN.  My taxes took 2 hours to do and trying to figure out the PIN error took 3.  I will probably never try to e-file again.

So I printed the damn forms out and will snail-mail them as usual.  I'll have to stand in line at the Post Office to get the proper postage and a receipt.  I'll get a few $100 back on the Federal and pay a few $100 to the State.  It balances out, so I don't really care very much.

But it sure could be simpler...  If H&R Block and other places can offer tax software that the Govt accepts as accurate, so could the Govt.  And it would be more official that way.  If they made a mistake in the software, it wouldn't be MY error.  Maybe that's why they don't.  😀

Tax Day

Damn, need to clear the computer desk for the tax day.   I hate doing it.  I get some slight money back, but it is always a pain.   The software sure helps. but I put it off as long as I can.  "Helps" doesn't make it easy... 

I bet the IRS knows exactly how much I owe.  Why can't they just tell me to send them that?  LOL!

Cut Daffodils

I learned a few years ago that cut daffodils keep their color when dried.  But they do fall apart eventually.  So I went and cut some from the largest patches where their absence won't be noticed much.  They are is glasses of water for now, but will be hung upside down to dry in a week...

 And some even have a nice fragrance!

Shrubs

The Yellow Forsythia look nice against the evergreen Nandina with red berries. 

But I really had to get rid of the Forsythia.  They are invasive and keep spreading.  I regret ever having planted them 35 years ago.  There are some goldenrod cultivars that aren't and the same color combination would be as pleasing in Fall as the Forsythias are in Spring.

A Trip Around The Back Yard

There is more than the one Spring bulb bed.  I have smaller patches throughout the back yyard.  And I'm placing markers for where to plant more come Fall.  I want them so thick I can barely walk through them.

And the Hyacinths will need wire cages to keep out the voles.  I bet I lost 200 bulbs to them over the first few years.

Daffodils are safe from them though.  Toxic.

The Saucer Magnolia flowers are done for the year.  

But they sure were pretty for a week.

 

Daffodils

A series of how the blooms change in the bed...  The various daffs were planted to bloom in anti-clockwise rotation.  Well, it seemed a good idea at the time.  

 

New Electric Razor

I used a Norelco Rotary Razor for 4 decades.  Bought new shaver heads every 10 years.  It finally failed and I bought a new one that was about the same price.  I forgot that prices of old stuff don't mean the same today.  Well some things get better cheaper.  But in this case the same price new one (different brand) was  a piece of junk.  

So I bought the best I could find this time.   Why not?  I probably have 20 more years of shaving every couple days.

Philips Norelco 9800 Rechargeable.  Shaved my face smooth as a baby's bottom!  

I don't get anything for this.  And it ain't cheap.  But I just love it...

The Annoyance Of Cheap Stuff

 I smashed a wristwatch a few days ago.  It was relatively new.  

I don't care for fancy watches.  A former friend of mine was so proud of his (actual real) Rolex and never understood why I wasn't all that impressed.  I don't do jewelry.  All I want from a watch is accurate time and day, and ease of reading it.  And that it be digital.

So I'm in the "cheap" category...  What is it with cheap watches that they have to be black display on a grey background?  That's hard to read.  I was gifted an early digital watch as a teenager (a Quasar - sp?).  Nice black display on white.  Easy to read.  Kept perfect time for 40 years (with a new battery every 5 years).  Sadly, the innards finally failed.  I loved it for the simplicity.  All I ever had to do was change to DST and back to EST.  It had 2 buttons and each did 1 thing.

My experience with watches has been poor ever since.  The best replacement I found at a reasonable cost was black on grey.  And too much information on it.  I know what day of the month/date/week it is.  I don't need an alarm, a countdown function, a countup function, or a timer.

My previous newer watch had 3 buttons.  The first engaged "settings".  The other 2 let me cycle through options to change the time (up and down).

The newest watch had 4 buttons (and the same black on grey screen).  It lost a minute per month so had to be reset sometimes.  I had to read the instructions every time.  And then the buttons stopped working.  Oh, I could move from one function to another, but nothing stayed "set".  Except alarm beeps at midnight.  

I tried everything in the instructions to stop it, with no success.  I finally smacked it a few times on my workbench just to stop the alarm (5 days ago).  Today, it started beeping at me again every 5 minutes starting at midnight.  The alarm refused to die.

So I whapped it again on the desk until it stopped.  Silent for an hour...  (hurray)  I'm wearing my previous watch for now. I like it better than I did before.  😊.   I want a simple to set, easy to read, basic digital wristwatch.

If anyone has a recommendation, I'm listening...