Replacement To Google Reader

Well, I finally did some research on a replacement to Google Reader, since it it planned to be shut off July 1st.  I figured it would be a good idea to try out a few for the last month.

I considered functionality, simplicity, familiarity, and ease of transition most important.  My needs are simple.  I only use RSS feeders for blogs on a single desktop computer.  Anything else, I have a bookmark for.

I went to a few discussion sites that compared the features of cloud RSSs versus web-based RSSs, and I'm not comfortable with The Cloud.  I like applications ON my computer.  OK, I'm OLD...  LOL!

But seriously, if its on my computer, it can't disappear overnight since I have daily external backup right here.

The one I found most interesting was The Old Reader <http://theoldreader.com/>  It seems to be very similar to Google Reader, and is relatively easy to import the Google Reader list.

You can sign in with various accounts, but I chose to create a new one separate from Google (just in case).  I like to distribute my services around to frustrate the aggregators. 

You export the Google Reader file in Google Reader to a zip file.  Then you just create an account with The Old Reader (love the name) and it offers you to browse a file to open.  On my Mac, opening a zip file automatically unzips it, I don't remember on a PC.  You might have to unzip it first.

But with the Google file unzipped in Import, The Old Reader just loads it.  It does take a few minutes.  I got an email message saying the import was complete, so look for that.

When the Google Reader subscriptions are all imported, they will all show 10 or 20 unread per subscription.  I suggest visiting all your subscriptions down to zero so that you can just mark ALL read after the import.  I didn't think of that and I regret it.

And this point, your Old Reader should look generally like Google Reader, but there are some differences.

1.  You don't click on the blog title to access it.  Below the blog title, there are "site" and "feed" buttons.  "Site" brings you to the home page of the blog; "feed" brings you to only the newest post.

2.  To show only the updated blogs, you have to go to your name in the upper right corner.  There is a drop down menu.

At "feed display mode", choose "show unread only, and at "Post Order" check "Show only those folders/feeds that have unread items".

And you are good to go!  It sounds more complicated than it is.  It only took me 15 minutes, and I'm a bit slow and cautious at this stuff.

Anyone have a RSS they like better?  My ears are open...

The Return Of The Mowers

I love Angie's List!  I have had nothing but superb service and value from every contractor and medical service I have selected since I joined.  Consumers Union for the local community...

Angie's List gives letter grades for quality, price, responsiveness, punctuality, and professionalism.  I focus on price and quality.  Price and quality together = value.  You can search for service providers many ways, but I only look at the ones with straight A ratings.  If the only ones were too far away, I would accept a couple of B ratings but price and quality HAVE to be A rating.  So far, that has not been a problem. 

And also so far,  I found dad a geriatric doctor when he first arrived, a dentist specializing in elderly patients, a vinyl siding replacement company, a roof replacement company, a tree removal company, and most recently a mower repair company.  Every single experience has been outstanding!

Today I got my riding mower and regular walk-behind mower back.  The regular mower wouldn't start this year, and when it did last year (with great pulling of cords and bad words) the deadman lever didn't work and I had to stop the engine by shorting the spark plug against the engine block.  They took apart and cleaned the carburetor, emptied and cleaned the gas tank, replaced a broken deadman lever cable, added about the same amount of new gas back, and sharpened the blades. 

The riding mower was running well enough, but developed a sudden banging/rattling sound under the deck just as I finished mowing last week.  Fearing a loose drive shaft or blade, I stopped immediately.  And even more suspiciously, there was no bad sounds with the blades disengaged while just driving the riding mower to the trailer to bring it to them.  They removed and replaced the drive belts, and found what they initially thought was a bent part of the blade undercarriage.  It was dried grass clippings, but so hard after sitting all Winter that the blade was actually bouncing off it.  They said they had to use a regular chisel to remove it and then they cleaned off the dried grass from the rest of the undercarriage.

That was embarrassing.  I ought to know enough to scrape the packed grass clippings from the undercarriage by now.  But I haven't done that for 3 years; its awkward to get a riding mower up off the ground for access to the underside, so I always think "well, maybe next time".  But at least it's done now and I should think about a way to get easy access to the bottom in the future.

When I was a teenager, the house had a sunken basement with cinder block walls and concrete steps steps leading up the the lawn level.  It just so happened to be exactly the width of my car tires, so I had a wonderful spot to change the oil and do the very simple car stuff I knew about.  I need something like that for the riding mower.

But the point of all this is that this place (Tool Solutions, Inc) did great work, nothing more than needed, and the cost for both mowers was...  $98!  My guess was $200 at best.

And so I will go over to Angie's List and give them a straight A rating.  I used both mowers today and they both worked better than ever, the price was great, they did the work quickly, discussed the needed work without exaggerating anything,  and were very (but quietly) professional about the whole repair.  And they are 3 youngish guys, only in business for 4 years.  I will be glad to go back to them for anything.

They don't know I am writing this...

Good Yardwork Day Yesterday, 2

And by "yesterday", I mean Monday, since this is part 2...

After clearing out tree saplings and forsythia, I went after the running grass in the annual flowerbed.  The running grass is some evil grass that spreads by underground runners.  I don't know the variety of this one, but it is upright, single at first but will send up several stalks later, the runner roots are white, and they send up a new shoot about every 8-12".  Each one has to be dug up deeply individually, but you also have to dig up the soil between shoots to get the runners.  You can't even pull them up in soft soil.  The roots are brittle and snap of when pulled, and if you leave any part of the runners in the ground, they grow from that.  They probably arrived here in a coneflower or stella d'oro lily perennial I bought and planted at the sides and back edge.

Thank goodness for my leverage fork! 

I think it is one cool tool.  Oh of course, there are standard great tools like shovels and rakes and hoes.  But in the "unusual" category, I have to rank that up with the scuffle hoe and the pointed stainless steel trowel!  This thing is solid steel, when you put your foot under the curved part you have great pressure, and when it is in deep you just bend it back and the U-bar leverages the tines to push up the soil.  If you can step the tines IN the soil, the bar will pull the soil up and loose.  And it is great for chopping up big clods of hard soil too.

So I set to work on the runner grass with the leverage fork.  Push it in, bend it back, move it 4" and repeat.  Forever.  But the point is that it goes deep enough to get below the grass runners and the grass comes out roots and all.  If you soil is hard (as I hope it is not in any garden) you can pound the soil clumps on the U-bar to break up the soil and take out the grass runners.

I'm not saying the leverage fork makes it "easy", just "possible".  It still took an hour this time (my 3rd attack on the grass in 2 weeks).  THIS attack was on the difficult edges and around the perennials, so I had to work more carefully.  In fact, I soaked the target areas with a hose the day before to soften the soil.  When I used a roto-tiller to establish the bedding area many years ago, the edges were hard to get at properly, so the grass is harder to get at there.

I know from sad experience that I can never get ALL the below-ground runner roots.  But I bet I set them back 4-5 years this time.  Here is the de-grassed area...

Annuals will be going the bare spots next.  I like to have red salvias and blue forget-me-knots, but I had poor germination and growth of my annual seeds this year.  I even only got 75% of the marigolds to grow.  Well, the seeds were several years old.  I may have to buy some seedlings at the garden store.  Or maybe I'll plant a few various veggies.  I have some extra seedlings left over from the veggie beds.  Still, I'd rather have annual flowers there.  They bloom their little heads of all season.

Good Yardwork Day Yesterday

Yesterday was cool, dry, and overcast; a superb day for yardwork!

I had in mind planting a few veggies and flowers, but a neglected back corner of the yard caught my attention because a long-forgotten weigela shrub (1 of 3 originally planted) was struggling to bloom among the shady underbrush of unwanted tree saplings, vines, briars, and a single will-not-die asparagus plant from my original 20' row planting 25 years ago.  So I got out the loppers and waded in (carefully, as I also spotted a few small poison ivy plants).

The first thing was to cut down all the saplings.  Trickier than you might think, because that corner seems to be the last refuge of the nasty thorny locust trees that originally covered half the backyard.  They have thorns all along the trunk and branches like 3/4" needles, and they will grow back from being cut down 4" in a year.  They are very hard to handle, and harder to kill.  I once read that the original colonists used cut trunks as fenceposts (the wood is rot-resistant and the trunks grow straight) only to discover that the cut trunks would re-root when stuck in the ground!

It took me 10 years to finally kill them off.  These probably came from seeds of neighbors' trees since there weren't any in that corner when I planted the weigela some 10 years ago.  Because of a peculiarity of lot shapes and drainage easements there is a triangle of space just off my back yard that all 3 neighbors ignore.  It is utterly wild and filled with poison ivy, wild grape vines, mock strawberry, and (apparently) a few mature thorny locusts; all nasty invasive stuff!

Anyway, it took a while, but I managed to clear the surface of all the bad stuff, and I discovered a 2nd weigala barely surviving at a foot high.  With the additional light and less competition for nurients, it should recover.  There was no sign of the 3rd weigela.  I'll have to take a few stem cuttings and get them rooted in pots.

After that, and being in a clearing mood, I decided to tackle the forsythia growing into my flowerbed border from another neighbor.  Those forsythia, though outside my fence, are entirely my fault.  My street was built brand new in 1986.  I was only the 3rd house built on my street and my neighbor was the 4th.  She was elderly, friendly, and sneaky.  There were not borders then and the property lines were uncertain.  She noticed that I would mow any part between us that she didn't, and she gradually left more and more.  So I planted a row of forsythias to mark the assumed property line.  When I decided to build a fence (to keep the large off-leash dogs out, for cat-safety) I discovered pipes marking the corners of the property.  From the plat measurements and compass directions, I figured out the property lines.

On my father's advice, I inset the fence 18" to allow myself legal access to the outside of the fence for repairs.  That was the dumbest advice I ever followed, but more about that later!  Anyway, I asked the neighbor lady if she wanted me to leave the forsythia and she said yes.  I have regretted that ever since.  Each year, forsythias pop up on my side and some years I am too busy to get them out.  Well, when I planted them I didn't know they spread.

I usually just keep cutting them off at ground level, but this year I decided to get in there and dig them out.  I used my "poacher's shovel" (on right).

Its called that because it is only half the width of a regular shovel, is more curved so it makes a smaller hole, its lighter to carry, and gives a smaller soil ball.  So plant poachers loved it.  Its like a super trowel on a short shovel handle.  I like it because the small blade lets me get at problem roots in cramped spaces among plants you don't want to disturb.  Three digs, and you have a nice 6" circle cut around a plant.

So I first pruned most of the forsythia canes away so I could see the rooted stems and dug them out carefully one-by-one.  It took 2 hours!  At least I have most of them out by the roots.  The remaining ones are growing up through the roots of 2 shrubs I have disliked for years and plan to remove later. 

The pile of removed forsythias does not look like much, LOL!  But each one was an effort.  I had to stand awkwardly to avoid stepping on wanted plants, the shovel handle would hit the fence, there were forsythia roots among the butterfly bush roots, etc...

Those 2 shrubs I plan to remove later are nice enough, yellow and green evergreen leaves, but way bigger than advertised and they keep sending up shoots from the spreading roots (golden euonymus 'you-on-i-mus').

I'm going to try to kill the forsythias.  As the canes grow through the fence, I will cut the cane and put a dab of undiluted Roundup on the cut end.  It worked for the thorny locusts...

I got a lot more done, but this is long enough and I'll finish tomorrow.

Memorial Day

Lawn Mowers

OK, the regular rotary mower I use for tight spots hasn't started this year, so I tried to fix what little I know about.  I took out the spark plug.  It was clean.  I gapped it (checked the gap between the little folded-over part where the electricity comes in and where the arcing occurs to the gas, for those of you unfamilair with that) and sanded the surfaces.  No go.  I checked the oil.  OK.  I removed the old gasoline with cloth to absorb it and put in just enough new gas to let it start.  No go.  I tried a trick a mechanic taught me about spraying carburetor cleaner in the primer hole.  That didn't work!  I left the air filter off to see if that was the problem.  No go.

I should mention that the deadman lever stopped having any affect a few years ago, AND last year I had to stop the engine by shorting the spark plug wire against the engine block.  So there are obvious problems and I haven't been able to do any trim work this year.  There is an area in the corner of the yard where I can't mow without it.  I was embarassed (but thankful) that my neighbor did that part last week.

So I went to Angie's List to find a good repair shop.  I found a 100% A rated place only 2 miles from here.

But yesterday, I was mowing the rest of the yard with the riding mower.  Just as I was about done, a rattling sound started from under the mower deck.  And I had just noticed that the mowing strips were looking uneven.  My guess is that something is loose in the drive shaft to the blades, and I'm SURE not going to use it if that's the problem.  Of course I checked all the simple stuff (loose deck, low oil), but it runs fine WHEN the blades are not engaged.  I bet THAT repair is expensive.  I'm almost hoping the repair is expensive enough to justify buying a new one.  My current one was highly rated by Consumer Reports but I've never really liked it.  It would almost be nice to be FORCED to buy one of those zero turning radius ones, LOL!  The current one IS 15 years old and they DO wear out.

So I suddenly need to bring BOTH mowers in for repair.  I will call that local repair shop in the morning (naturally, I found them 5 minutes after they closed yesterday) about repairs and estimates.  All the reviews say they are great on speed, cost, and quality.

The grass grows SO fast this time of year.  The yard needs mowing every 5 days.  I hope they can repair either one fast.  If not, I may have to beg a neighbor to lend me a mower in exchange for filling up the tank when I return it.

I sure hope there are SIMPLE CHEAP repairs for both, LOL!

One problem is delivering the 2 mowers to the repair shop.  I have a hauling trailer, but it was filled with Leaf-Gro compost (a wonderful local product).  So I spent 2 hours today using my mulch-fork to unload it into a wheelbarrow and from there onto the framed bed gardens.  Temps in the upper 80s and humidity at about 100% .  It was brutal. I sweated buckets.  I soaked 3 kitchen towels with sweat but I got it all done.  I hosed down the trailer to remove all the last bits of compost.

When I was done, I stood on the deck for an hour drinking 2 beers.  And then I drank a quart of Gatorade.  At least I sure get good exercise!!!

The trailer has a pin that, when removed, allows the trailer back to tilt backwards to sit on the ground.  I can drive the riding mower up on it (causing the front to tilt level again).  And I can lift the regular rotary mower onto the trailer.  Well, at least I know I can get the mowers to the repair shop and save the cost of them coming here to get them.

How Boxes Are Built

Not my video, but sent along from a friend.  Its long, but I promise its worth it.  It moves along pretty fast.

I can't load it directly.

See HERE!  I hope...

GROCERY SHOPPING!

I live on fresh food.  And by that, I mean I don't get meals at fast-food places.  I LOVE fresh veggies, fresh meat and fresh fruit.  I only keep refined sugar in the house to feed the hummingbirds. 

And don't get me wrong on the fast foods either.  I think Taco Bell Nachoes Bell Grande and steak soft tacos are great.  I think MacDonald's Big Mac is fantastic.  But I haven't had either for years.  I just think that whatever I cook is better for me.  I mean, I know what's in it. 

And, in a weird way, this relates to Dad.  Just before he arrived here last May, I had a freezer full of stuff I liked that he didn't.  He was strictly a "meat&potatoes" guy.  Hey, I'm adaptable, so I ate what I cooked for him - pork chops, or sausage or a chicken thigh plus a M/V potato and a tossed salad (an insistance I made for his health and my love of salads).  It worked OK.  I would normally slice up pork and stir-fry it with a lot of veggies but he wanted to see the pork in a whole piece, and I could deal with that.

So he's been gone a month now (and happily in the assisted living facility where they also like to cook things in chunks and offer potatoes).  Well, I decided to live out of my freezer and pantry for 3 weeks.  I used up 10 cans of soup, tupperware containers of frozen ham and pork, 5 cheap chicken pot pies, containers of cooked kale, frozen meatballs, and frozen shrimp.  It wasn't bad.

But today I went GROCERY-SHOPPING!

They say never to go grocery-shopping on an empty stomach, and I can see why.  I bought pickled beets, marinated artichoke hearts, a big bag of navel oranges, 6 plums, a big ginger root, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, grapes, a pineapple, 6 cans of soup, a couple cans of "chili beans in mild sauce", a can of white canelli beans, a can of garbonzo beans, milk, a half dozen eggs, marinated mushrooms,  and if they had had yak milk chocolates I probably would have bought them too.  LOL!

At the meat store. I bought a whole filet mignon on sale (1.5 inch thick slices) and with a free bottle of dry rub; I bought chicken thighs, a chicken breast, 3 hot italian sausages (for adding to the canned chili beans).

Three weeks of living out the the freezer can drive you to madness.  I am in a cooking frenzy of the stuff I haven't made in a year.  And next week, I plan to have large quantities of Moo Goo Gai Pan, hot&sour soup, spring rolls, char shu ding, and shrimp fried rice delivered.  Most to be frozen for "later", but some for an orgy of eating. 

I'm thinking I might want a Big Mac pretty soon too.

I weighed 163 when dad arrived and I weighed 169 when he left.  I'm down to 160.5 today.  Let the food celebration begin!

The wok is "in the building" again...

Star Trek

In the past few days, I have watched 2 Star Trek movies I never saw before:  'Nemesis' and 'Star Trek'.  I had never seen them before partly because I do not subscribe to premium movie channels, partly because I do not like going to movie theaters, and partly because I thought the Star Trek franchise had died an ugly death with the TV series 'Star Trek: Enterprise'  (starring Scott "Quantum Leap" Bakula, who I always thought was best cast as a handsome fool - I suspect he is the inspiration for Brewster Rockit in the comic strip).

So I avoided the subsequent Star Trek movies, giving up on them after 'Insurrection' and 'Nemesis'. 

I have been returned to the flock!

The original Star Trek TV series started when I was 16 and well into reading serious and thoughtful sci-fi books (at 12 I had exhausted the library collection of "young adult" sci-fi and the librarian had granted me access to the "adult" books - not that there was anything very shocking about "adult" sci-fi back in 1962).  But by 1966, when Star Trek appeared, I could tell it was different from the sci-fi movies of the time.  I instantly recognized that each episode contained a social statement (perhaps a best example being the [literally] reversely half-black and half white opponents in an episode); and no, I am not really a trekkie who can recall episodes by number, name, or cast of special characters.

I was, like many, saddened when the original Star Trek was cancelled and watched it on syndication for years until the new Star Trek: The Next Generation came on in 1987.  I watched a few and quite frankly, I didn't like the crew.  I ignored it for a couple of years.  Picard wasn't Kirk, Number One wasn't Spock, etc.  Then, from boredom, I assume, I watched a few episodes and realized there was some "there" there.  The characters were more defined, the situations were more complex, and "different" wasn't "worse".  I grew to admire the new characters (and the actors who played them). 

Star Trek: Voyager was a whole new leap, but I accepted the whole premise.  Sci-fi requires the willing suspension of disbelief, and I have never had a problem with that in specific situations for a book, a movie, or a cat blog, LOL!  So given the setup for Voyager, I had no problem and came to admire the series. 

I watched Star Trek: Deep Space Nine with interest, but not much engagement.  It was brilliantly conceived, expertly acted, and had wonderful new characters and enemies.  I LOVED the idea of taking control of an enemy outpost and struggling to manage it.  Just as a personal note, as a minor beauracrat with some responsibilities but no authority, I appreciated the day-to-day problems (though writ larger on a cosmic scale).  I only gave up on that when Captain Sisko became a slightly paranormal messianic figure.  I stuck with Voyager til the end, fascinated with 7 of 9 struggling back to humanity (the counterpoint of Data) and the Borg (truly one of the best opponents of all time).

Then came the disasterous 'Star Trek: Enterprise'.  I tried to follow it, really I did, but I couldn't get past Scott Bakula in 'Quantum Leap".  And I actually enjoyed that show many times.  I just couldn't accept him as a Star Trek Captain.  Ever.

I never saw a Star Trek movie I didn't like.  I can't even pick a favorite.  Each one was pleasing and impressive in its own way.  I will nominate 'The Voyage Home' as the most Trekkie cult movie for all the inside jokes and interactions.  I will nominate 'Star Trek' (2009) as one of the best origin prequels.

One of the things I admire about the Star Trek franchise is the "original" characters.  The original had Spock,  TNG had Data, DS9 had Odo and Quark, Voyager had 7 of 9. 

I will place Spock out of the "unique" characters.  He is too integral to the series to be unique to any one.  So Data and Seven were my favorite unique characters.  My apologies to Dr Picard, but he was limited in his interactions.  Still, if I recall correctly, there was a time in the holodeck when he stuggled to the holodeck door to save a patient and he seemed as fully individual and sentient as anyone.

So, the point of all this is that I will wait for the latest Star Trek movie to show up on the non-subscription TV.  Or I will brave the local movie theater.  Its 50-50. 

SO!  I am sure glad I watched 'Nemesis' and 'Star Trek' this week.

Let's see Star Wars match that...

MISSING YOU TODAY MOM.

Dear Mom, gone 2 years+

My faithful correspondent over the years, teacher of cooking, lover of cats, literate jokester, player of puns, mistress of doggerel poetry, music lover, who taught me to not only read but love what I read, I miss you on this day most of all.  You taught me that anything worth doing was worth overdoing.  Every word I play with comes from your guidance.

In my younger years, you allowed my to try things I couldn't do well until I COULD do them well.  My fondest memories are when I said "Mark Do", and you let me DO.  I would not be the person I am if you hadn't allowed "Mark Do", as frustrating as it must have been at the time.

In later years, when I slowly became an adult you were my Dear Friend and I somehow became a co-equal in your eyes.

I am not quite what you thought I would be, but more than you may have imagined.  I know what you desired of me and I am not that, but I have lived a full life in my own way.  You sent me out into the world to see what I would do and I did "my thing".  I wish you could see me now.  I think you would approve.

I have always remembered that you wanted a "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John" but you liked the name "Mark" best and gave me that name as the eldest child.   I have carried the name proudly but without the religious meaning.  You accepted that from my early teenage years to the last day I spoke to you and you were proud of me to the end of your days.

Thank you.

Love,

Mark

Inept At Showing Videos

I need help showing videos!  I did it once but I just can't figure it out again.  I'm not on Twitter, FB, or anything other than Blogger and email.  I can watch the videos on my own computer just fine; they work.  I just can't upload them to the Mark's Mews blog.  Can someone tell me the simple basic way to do that?    I have cool Mews videos to share and I can't do it.  ARRGGHH!  I feel stupid.

Mark,  cavebear2118 AT verizon DOT net