I Have New Neighbors

 One house across the street had the detached shed catch fire about a year+ ago.  It also damaged one side of the house, but I didn't see the fire-fighters pouring a whole lot of water in there.

Yet, it stayed ignored for months.  I was curious about that.  As a rental, you would think it would have been restored quickly.  But nothing happened for a year.  Well, maybe there were some legal issues.

But finally, last Fall, some contractors showed up.  New siding, new roof.  And then nothing.  Whoever actually owned the place was in no rush.

Then a month ago, a "For Sale" sign was installed.  I did notice people visiting.  Yesterday,  few cars of variously-aged people and a U-Haul showed up.  Someone was moving in.

I think it is an elderly couple, but there were young adults around helping to carry things inside.  Can't tell who is really moving in.  Maybe parents helping or maybe young adults helping.  But there are lamps lit inside the house.  So I will see who is out in the yard soon enough.  

Shopping

It was both good and bad today.  First was the grocery store.  Last Fall I got either the flu or covid shop.  Couldn't remember which and couldn't find the record of it.  And lately, there has been a line at the Pharmacy counter so it seems too long to wait just to ask if they knew which one I had already gotten.

Today there was no line, so I stopped to ask.  I had gotten the flu shot.  So I asked to get the covid shot.  The timing was perfect.  They were about to close for lunch, but agreed to give me the shot.  What usually takes 20-25 minutes suddenly became 10!

I didn't even have to fill out the whole permission form.  They just said "sign here", LOL!  And I received the shot.  I appreciate the modern thin needles.  I can still usually tell I am getting the shot.  It hardly bothers me.  This time, I couldn't even feel it at all.  I saw it go in (yes, I watch) so I know they did it.  But talk about easy.

And not only is the shot free (my Dr would charge a $20 co-pay), Safeway gives you a 10% discount coupon on the whole cart.  Not only that, they gave me 3 coupons!  I make a profit getting a health-promoting shot.  

The bad was that their website is changed (or temporarily messed-up).  Safeway offers website digital coupons (called "Safeway For U).  You have to click on each specific item you want though.  I couldn't just click on all of them, but I think they learn to offer what I click on most frequently, and my needs are specific.  So I pick and choose.

But sometimes, it doesn't work quite right.  I find some stuff I've clicked on not registering at checkout.  And I think that happened today.  Usually I check the receipt before I leave the store.  Sometimes I have to go to the Customer Service Desk (and they are pretty good about making adjustments).

But when you have that 10% discount coupon from the covid shot, they don't just reduce the final bill by 10%.  They assign a few pennies discount to each item you purchased.  So between my store loyalty card discounts, the shot discount, and the Safeway For U digital discounts, the receipt was 3' long.  I just didn't want to stand there 15 minutes and review every item.

So I went on to the other food store I shop at.  That one is sort of like a large 7-11 for real food.  Deli counter, personalized meat counter, beer/wine/liquor, specialized herbs/spices, some basics, and some fruits and veggies.  I love the place!  Never seen anyplace quite like.  They have weekly sales of good quality meat.  And they happily accept my special orders of cases of the wine I most like.  And "by the case" is discounted.  They even call me when my order has arrived.  The store manage knows me by name!

The store is busy, but the checkout lines are short because they have enough of them open.  It is a pleasure to shop there.  And they bring my wine out to the car and load it!

So of course there had to be another "bad" experience to make up for the good ones.  On the way home, I stopped at my "not-my-usual" 7-11 to buy some cigarettes.  It was horrible!  Yeah, yeah, I know I shouldn't smoke.  But I do and this one was on my way home.

I buy cigarettes by the carton.  It's just easier that way and the price is the same.  But it saves me going to buy a couple packs every week.

So I asked for a carton of Marlboro Red 100's.  The clerk grabbed 1 pack.  No, I said a "carton" and made the shape of one.  It's like the a 2" slice of a shoebox the long way.  "Ah" he said and proceeded to take a pizza out of the oven and slice it up.  Took him 10 minutes.

Then went off to a secure backroom to get a carton.  Came out and "no carton", like he expected me to leave.  I said 10 loose are fine.  So he pulled 10 loose packs off the rack.  And he started ringing them up (after I entered my smartphone number for a slight discount).  He rang up 2.  Then 2, then 6.

I asked why.  Please understand that I try very hard to understand people for whom English is a 2nd language.  I'm not good at it and I partly blame myself for that.  I just don't have an attuned ear...  But I could not understand a word he was saying, what he was doing, or what I was actually being charged.  

I turned to the next customer in line to ask if he understood what the clerk was saying.  He must have been a smoker too.  Because while he didn't understand what the clerk was saying, he understood what the clerk was doing.

There was some promotion deal where buying 2 packs gets a small discount (up to 4 packs).  So he was ringing up 2, charging my card, rang up another 2 and charging me separately for that, then ringing up the 6 not eligible and charging me for those.

A quick look at the receipts at the counter suggested it was about the usual price, so I just gave up and left.  But I should have been more observant.  When I got home, I realized I had been cheated.  Marlboro sells their cigarettes in various colors indicating quality.  I like the best of their line which is "Marlboro Red".  Other colors indicate a decline in quality (but also in price).

Sort of in declining order (by memory) are Gold, Blue, Black, Special Blend, and Silver.  And one I had never heard of.  Red Label.  The pack is red, but slightly different in design.  Mid-quality and $2 cheaper per pack.

I got charged full Marlboro Red 100s price for the lesser quality Red Label 100s.  

I don't expect that most of you smoke.  And some people who do don't really care about the differences.  But I do and I can tell.

I am never going to go back to that 7-11!

The Mews Room

 I mentioned the other day on the Mark's Mews blog about the shower curtain storage hider.  I thought I would show the details.  I usually take pictures of projects.  But apparently, I didn't on this one.  So I'll try to explain what I did in case anyone wants to do something similar in an "extra room" (I live alone but in a 3 bedroom house).

Some pre-explanation...

The Mews Room used to be a guest bedroom.  I set it up with 2 single beds for my parents bi-annual visit.  I was a convenient place to stay on their trip from New England to Florida and back each year.  Had I lived far off their path, they probably wouldn't have visited.  We are a "practical" family.  LOL!

And when Dad became demented he stayed here for 2 years.  I removed one of the beds so he would have more space.  He had to go to assisted care in 2012, so I returned it to The Mews Room.

But I had also had the house insulation improved (for free by a special initiative by my electrical co-op).  I had to take everything stored in the attic out (including the plywood flooring strip down the middle) for the 2' in additional insulation.  But it meant I had boxes of stuff I had to put "somewhere".  They went into The Mews Room.  But it was pretty ugly.

So I thought about dedicating 2' of one side of the room to just "storage" and thought about how to hide it.  So I happened to notice my bathtub shower curtains.  The inner one is functional (keeps shower water in the tub).  But the outer one was just decorative.  So I looked up shower curtains.

I found some that were actually 8' tall and 6' wide!  

Bad picture, but it shows the pipe.  The shower curtains actually look like this...

But I had to figure out how to hang 2 of them across a 10' room.  Bathroom shower curtain rods are not that wide.  But metal pipes are.  The problem was the room was actually 10' 3".  So I thought about how to support a pipe 3" too short.

Aha!  metal angle brackets.

Two 3" angle brackets would fit inside the 3/4" pipe.  I measured the curtains (including the height of curtain rings). Added an inch for floor clearance and pipe thickness.  Attached one bracket at that height and screwed it into the wall using plastic anchors designed for drywall.  Slid one end of the pipe onto that.  Then I taped a level to the pipe and moved it up and down a bit of painters tape on the opposite side until I knew where the bottom of the other bracket should be.  Drilled holes for anchors of that 2nd bracket.

Put the 2nd bracket into the pipe (couldn't do it after installing the bracket).  And screwed in the 2nd bracket (already inserted into the pipe) using a board at an angle to keep it in place.  Checked the pipe for "level".  It was perfect!  

Clipped on shower curtain rings and hung the 2 shower curtains.  With 2 shower curtains, I can spread them either way from the center to get at the storage stuff.

I want to say that this sounds more complicated than it is.  It is really just...

1.  Attach a small pipe from wall-to-wall.

2.  Put on shower curtain rings.

3.  Hang shower curtains

4.  Hide stuff behind the shower curtains.

Too Much "Breaking News"

I'm getting tired of "Breaking News".   The news discussion shows (MSNBC, CNN, Fox) just lock onto it like a dog with a new bone.  

Political Confirmation Hearings.  Wildfires in California.  Plane/helicopter collision in Washington DC.  A Med-Evac plane crashes in Philadelphia.  Don't get me wrong, these are important and/or tragic events, but the reporting goes on 24/7!  With the same video footage, same commentary, same on every hour's shows all day over and over and over again.  😖

There are other things happening in the US and The World!  I want to know about those things too.

So sometimes I just turn on the local classical music station.  They don't do news!  And the local actual news station carves out time for local news.  👍

Busy Day

Yesterday, I got fancy for lunch.  Diced beef with sautéed onions  and melted Provolone cheese on a good quality sub roll.  With both dill and bread&butter pickles and a bowl of diced heirloom tomato on the side.  And a salad.  And read the newspaper while eating it.

Started laundry and then went out on errands.  First I thought of the best path and order.  Some things I needed were perishable, so they had to be the last stop. 

So, glasses first.  A lens popped out (2nd time in a month).  The place resets them for free, but there is something about this frame that seems unfriendly.  From there, that gave me the most direct path to PetSmart.  I needed Marley's kidney-care diet food.  Bought a 24 case each of the 4 flavors he dislikes least.  Poor guy, but it keeps him healthier.  And once a day (of 6 meals) I give him regular food.  He deserves it.

From there, it was across the street to the Safeway.  I have a lot of home-made main meals in the freezer, but I was out of fresh fruit and low on fresh veggies.  It's weird, but the intersection allows me to go from PetSmart to Safeway, but not the other way around.  

From Safeway (with nothing perishable) to Walmart.  There are some things Walmart sells at 3/4 the price of Safeway, and I have that pretty much memorized.   Milk, cat litter, kleenex, pens, canned stuff, etc.

Left the house at 3:30 and got home at 5:30.  This town is a permanent traffic congestion.  A commuter hub in 3 directions.  A bedroom town for commuters going to and back from Washington DC.  But I've learned when the stores are least busy, so that sort of balances out all the slow traffic.  I would move, but it seems such a hassle.  I'm on a quiet dead-end street and there is no home-owners association (by "grand-fathered" regulation).  And I have too much clutter.

Took a half hour to put all the purchased stuff away.  Started another load of laundry.  Fed The Mews again.  Turned on the TV to listen (too busy to watch) to the Univ of Maryland women's and men's basketball games (they followed each other).

Cleaned the litter boxes of course.  Another 20 minutes...

Started making dinner.  I'm not very fast at that.  A lot of food prep time involved in my meals and I sure like a good dinner.  When my elderly Dad stayed with me in his declining years he said after a couple weeks, "You make Sunday Dinner every night".  Yes I do.  I like to cook.

All that time adds up.  I ate dinner at 9 pm, LOL!  

Inauguration Day Yesterday

 

                               MOURNING IN AMERICA

Obviously, I was not thrilled with Trump's election.  But worse, it filled the TV from 8 am to 8 pm because it was disorganized.  I understand the reason, it was brutally cold with single digit wind chill.  

And I did appreciate Trump saying the reason for bringing the ceremony inside was to protect attendees, service staff, and service animals.  Not that I believe him (it was more likely for his own comfort) but it was a decent reason to express it that way.

I watched science DVDs most of the day.  The most irritating thing was that I was looking forward to watching the Univ of MD Women's basketball game at 5:30.  #8 Maryland vs #7 Texas.  It promised to be a great game!

It wasn't.  MD was missing 2 top starters, so it became a wipeout.  89-51.  I'm actually glad I couldn't watch or listen to it on radio.  

First, I couldn't watch the game because it was scheduled to be shown on Fox TV (which wasn't going to cut away from the delayed inauguration even if WW3 broke out.  I'm feeling a bit conspiracy-minded right now.  I'm sure that if Harris had won the election, Fox would have shown very little of the inauguration and all of the basketball game!

But was also radio.  For reasons that make no sense to me, Md basketball games are broadcast on a local AM station.  Terrible reception on most radios.  

But I tried my stereo system since it was time to make dinner.  Static!  I have a hang-up antenna, but I pulled the stereo away from the wall to look at it.  It was for FM.  So I looked around in a box in the bottom of the stereo rack and found an "AM loop antenna" with 2 bare wires to insert in clips.  Tiny wires, tiny clips, "oh joy".

So I set up a flashlight to shine on the clips.  Naturally, the only place I could rest the flashlight was where my hand managing the clips was in a shadow.  ARRRGH!  I had to contort myself rather badly to get at the clips in light.  But I did succeed.  I heard the AM station tolerably.  

And they were broadcasting a different local basketball game!  One in which the local team had lost 4 games in a row (and the other wasn't much better).  That was better than a game between a #7 and #8 team going at each other?  

So I went to the computer and clicked my Univ of Md bookmark.  Md was getting crushed!  So I went back to DVDs and made dinner.  An all too unhappy day.  Something around the worst in 10 years...

Well, at least I do have working AM radio antenna.  Small victories do mean something.  👍

Another Civilization 2 Game

 There are 3 ways to win at Civ 2.  One is to land a spaceship on Alpha Centuri.  Another way is to destroy all the other Civs.   I'm a peaceful type.  I like to land a spaceship.  The 3rd way is to just be the highest-ranked Civ at the end of the game.

So I tried the military victory path just out of curiosity.  I suck at that.  I'm a natural builder and defender.  The computer is designed to built military units and attack.  In fact, it cheats.

There is a cheat function (aside from the computer) where you can see details of what the opposing Civs are doing.  I've done that a couple times just to understand what the computer is doing.  The computer Civs build military at 75-80% of the normal cost.  And if the game gets tight towards the end, it cheats more (like 50%).  

So I was trying to play for a military victory just to see what happened.  Part of the game is research to discover new advances.  The computer "discovered" units it did not have the research for!

The game ends in 2020.  I ended up the top Civ at that point, but it really felt unsatisfactory.  My next one will be totally military.  Just build the strongest types and send them all around with some spies to steal stuff and bribe enemy units.  But I'll go back to building cities after that.  It feels better to build.

NFL Football and College Basketball

My local football team, The Washington Commanders, beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to advance in the playoffs.  If I understood a local sports announcer correctly, the Commanders have won their last 5 games on the last play of the game (offensively or defensively)!  Talk about heart-stopping endings...

They need a week of rest and so do I.  I feel exhausted after every game.  

And the Univ of MD prides itself on basketball.  The Men are doing well.  The #8 Women are doing better.  Sadly, they lost to the #4 USC team, but it could have gone either way right to the end when USC hit some baskets and MD had some bounce-outs.  But they won the next BIG 10 conference game, so that helped.  They are 14-1 which is very good.

More heart-stopping endings.

Snow Again

TBT:  Today, pictures of snowy events...  We don't always get snow in Winter, but sometimes frequent and deep.  The Mews have reacted to it differently over the years.

The snowblower has been wonderful.  I hadn't drained the old gas out last Spring, so I was worried it wouldn't run.  I even delayed trying to start it for 3 days after the snow stopped falling (well, there wasn't anywhere I needed to go).  If it hadn't started, I was thinking 2 hours of shoveling snow, so I was putting it off.

But yesterday I got up and prepared to clear the driveway.  I was out of fresh fruit and tomatoes.  And for me, that is a day without sunshine.  But the weather was still nasty.  Gusts to 30 mph, chill effect in single digits.  So, I got up and took a shower, put on my thermal stuff, ate a bowl of bean with bacon soup, fed The Mews, put on my heaviest hooded coat and gloves, and pulled the snowblower away from the garage wall, and reviewed the instructions.

I have a bamboo stick I use to measure the gas level.  Bamboo is clean and I can see the wet part well enough.  Nothing there (I think I wisely drained all the old gas last year).  So I filled it up.  The snowblower has both a pull rope and an electric starting system.

Old picture (old car in the garage), but the snowblower hasn't changed, so it's good.

 

There are choke adjustments, speed adjustments, etc.  I set them as per the instructions.

I'm no fool, I use the electric plug-in cord.  Started right up without hesitation.  YAY!  So off into the driveway I went.  Took 45 minutes, but took little effort on my part.  The snowblower is self-propelled  with 4 forward speeds and even has 2 reverse speeds. I cant imagine using any of the faster speeds.  I'd have to run behind it. LOL!

I love my snow-blower!

Even with the snowblower it was a bit brutal outside.  Swirling winds kept sending snow from the output chute back in my face from both directions.  But guiding a self-propelled snowblower for 45 minutes by just walking behind it is not like physically shoveling snow for 2 hours!

Now I just need to shovel a path on the deck so The Mews can get to the edge and watch the birds at the feeder.  

Past pictures of The Mews and snow...

Snow

I have read that snow predictions around Washington DC are the most difficult in the US.  Just to the west of us, we the Appalachian Mountians.  OK, they aren't the Rockies, but they are high enough to shift storms in subtle ways.  Snowstorms especially can suddenly go north or south 20 miles or hit us when it was not expected.  

The Rockies are tall and wide.  The Appalchians have gaps where just a couple of miles of the storm path can have considerable consequences in very local snowfall.  I suppose that is true about rain too, but rain just soaks into the ground.

2" of rain (or not) doesn't stop traffic.  But 2" of precipitation as snow is 18".  That closes down everything.  

We were predicted to get 3-5".  I got 10" and some places got 12".  I would just shovel off 3-5".  But 10" takes my snowblower.  Hey, I'm not young anymore.

I tested the snowblower last Fall, and it started up just fine.  It better work today, too.  I have loved using it.

  ----------

Funny story:  About 10 years ago, we got a foot of snow, so I started shoveling it.  I did about 5' (the driveway is 60' long).  Some teenager came by offerring to shovel it for $50.  I said no (I'm used to doing things myself), and he started to go to the next house.

But then I thought "why did I say no"?  OK, I'm also cheap.  But he was trying hard to earn money, and I have money.  And I was looking at at least 2 hours of miserable work.  I called him to come back and he did.

But all he had was a garden shovel, 😖  I let him use my (very good one).  He did a very good job and I gave him $50.  When I was a teen, I got $5 for a driveway.  Inflation, but probably about the same real cost.

And there is more to the funny story...

That Spring, when prices were low, I bought a top-rated snowblower.  That Winter, we got another 12"+ snowfall.  My Good Neighbor did his driveway with his snowblower and then came to do mine (being helpful).  I got dressed "wintered-up" real fast, ran to the garage, pulled out my new snow-blower and opened the door with a "Ta-Da" pose.

He cracked up.  👍  Then went to help another neighbor.

  ----------

Snowblowers aren't free.  And they have some problems.  Sometimes the snow slushes the output chute solid and you have to plunge it clear.  But having one means the difference between 1 hour+ of hard work and 15 minutes plus $1 worth of gas.  I love my snowblower!

Seed Companies

 I mentioned seed companies yesterday and it occurred to me that I should probably mention them.  They are, of course, just my personal preferences but I have had good success with them.  And their catalogues are very informative about each general variety.

Victory Seeds, Territorial Seeds, and Johnny's Selected Seeds, for standard garden veggies.

For excellent Spring bulbs, I go to Brent and Becky's Bulbs.  I've ordered from them for several years.  This year I was amazed to discover that almost all the daffodil bulbs were doubles or even triples.  They could have just snapped them all apart and sold them as singles, but they don't.

For standard, meadow and wildflowers, I go to Prairie Moon Nursery.  They have assorted trays and collections which are reasonably-priced.  And all the transplants arrive in good condition.

And oddly enough, Amazon has some decent tree saplings.  Two years ago, I ordered 3 Sourwood trees, 2 Korean Dogwoods (immune to a disease American dogwoods suffer from), and a Wisteria bush (should get about 12' tall and blooms in Summer.  All seem to be thriving.

Sourwood...  Red leaves and clusters of yellow berries in Fall.

Korean Dogwood...  Spring bloom.

Wisteria...  Not the tree-climbing vine, but a tree-form.  Usually white or purple flowers.  They vary.  Mine should bear purple in Summer.  You have to check.