Won One Against AOL

When I had email from Verizon, they were happy to grant me 3 email addresses.  I used one for ME, one for The Mews and one for my forum discussions.  When Verizon dumped us onto AOL, AOL wanted only one email per user.  It was supossed to be "identical service", but of course it was not.  I figured out how to get 2, but not the forum one.  I figured that out today, LOL!

It's one per browser...  I had the main email set up on Safari and I discovered I could set up The Mews on Firefox without AOL noticing.

But I'm so stupid, I didn't think about trying Chrome until last night.  It sort of works, but it shows all my emails to me.  Took me all night to get that far.  I'll work on that in a couple days.  Right now, I'm pretty much damn worn out.  I'll take my paltry 1/2 victory and go with it for now.  LOL!  At least I can get gardening emails again...

Does everyone else have to struggle this much?  I feel so damn stupid sometimes. 

Holiday Lights 2

I got the house lights set better on the timer.  They come on at dusk and go off at dawn,  Took a few days of adjusting.  It was so cold the past few nights I had to wear gloves.  Picking out and removing tiny plastic  timer push-ins wearing gloves isn't easy.  But I finally got them right.

The Mews didn't like that I didn't let them outside much the past few days.  Sure they have fur, but it was only 12F when I got up.  I'm not going to let them out in that temperature.  The last time I let Laz out like that, he went up a tree, I fell off the ladder, and I haven't recovered from that yet.   

Seriously, some of the parts I injured then are getting worse lately.  I'm getting to an age where things never quite heal.  The compression knee brace helps on the left.  I walk kind of stiff-leeged these days.  But I think it is getting better.  Some problems heal with time and careful waling.  Stairs are annoying.

So, when I got up and Laz and Lori wanted to go out when it was just 12F, I just laughed at them. 

It was too cold in the house late Christmas Eve,  It actually got down to 8F at one point outside.  We haven't gotten that cold here in over 20 years.

I have 2 digital thermometers that also tell me the outside temp and they agreed about 8 all night.  The thermostat was set at 68F; it stayed at 62.  Even the direct (emergency) electrical heating didn't help.  OK, yeah 62 isn't exactly threatening, but I worried the heat pump was failing.  "Perfect" time of year for that, right?

When it got up to 20F outside, it worked better and slowly got to 72.  8F outside isn't exactly the world's coldest temp by a long shot,  but apparently it defeats my aging heat pump.  I bet it fails soon.  They always fail on the hottest or coldest days...  Calling the installers for a maintenance check tomorrow. They have been good about maintenance before.

Complaining that the heat "only kept the house at 62F" sounds pretty "high-faluting" (I grew up with routinely colder morning house temps as that as a kid in New England) but what I want to avoid is it suddenly being 32F.  The house is extremely insulated and holds warmth, but it loses heat eventually of course.  It's hard to cook wearing a heavy Winter coat and hoping repair people can arrive in a few days...  

Happily, the weather is warming.  Should allow the heat pump guys some days to fix serious other problems elsewhere and check mine out soon enough before it fails entirely.

Holiday Habits

I got the house lights lit.  Not a big deal, they have been there for 2 years.  But I had to get up on a step ladder to set the timer.   Well, I don't love ladders these days. 

Some of my neighbors do serious yard decorating.  Some have inflatable stuff on the lawn.  Some have fancy  moving lights.  I stay simple.  A line of blue lights along the  lower part of the house.  I'll decorate a fake tree in a day or two,  Just wrap a light string around it near a window so my neighbors can see it.

As they say, it is the thought that counts.

Some years, I do more effort than other years.  LOL!

Best tree a few years ago...:  

Remembering Skeeter

Today is Skeeter's Over The Bridge Day.  He was the first cat I ever chose on my own.  All the previous ones were rescues or "give-aways" as in "can you take an unwanted cat"?

Not that I didn't give love and care to the many grey tabby females who came my way.  I loved them and cared for them and gave them attention.  But Skeeter was the first one I had much choice about.  He was male (and I wasn't sure if that was good).  He was mostly orange (and that was different).  But even then, I didn't have much choice in the decision.

The little private pet store was being renovated.  There were workers with loud equipment and dust everywhere.  Alone in a small cage was this one little orange kitten, shaking in terror.  I had to save him.

I went in looking for a Siamese female (like my family had in my childhood).  I left with an orange male kitten trembling from the chaos.  And he terrified by white plastic bags all his life.  My guess is that "if you went into that white plastic bag, you never came back".  That was Halloween Day 1992.

He hid for 3 days.  I finally lured him out from the under-counter hidey-hole (that every kitten since has discovered) with some treats.  While he he desperately eating, I stroked him gently.  It may have been the first decent attention he ever received.

After that, there was no getting away from him.  He was at my feet all the hours I was at home.  When I returned home from work, he climbed up on me.  I still had a grey tabby female, but she was injured by a dog and was rather mean.  I was his sanctuary.  He slept under the blanket with me at night.

I didn't really understand at first, but I eventually figured out his desperate attention was his version of security.  I was his only "safe place".  I will never forget that sense of being so important to a cat.  It changed my life.

The grey tabby female (Tinkerbelle) and I got along fine, but I was mostly just food&shelter to her.  For Skeeter, I was life itself.

He got named "Skeeter" because he stayed around me like a mosquito.  Not to diminish all the happy grey tabbies who came before, but we just generally "shared space".  Skeeter occupied it desperately as if his life was on the line every day the first year.  

After a year, I finally understood he needed a friend for when I was away at work.  Tinkerbelle was kind of mean.  So exactly at Halloween Day again 1993, I went to the same pet store.  This time it was quiet.  There was a cage with 2 female kittens at the front.  I loved one friendly one, but was told it was being kept as a Honeymoon gift.  That left the unfriendly B&W one who kept .  I decided to take her.

It wasn't easy.  The owner had to literally pry her claws off the mesh cage.  She was not a happy kitty!  Like Skeeter, she hid in the hidey-hole for a couple of days.  She was happier to meet Skeeter.  It wasn't quite like Laz and Lori (50% maybe) but they got along.  And Skeeter had somekitty to spend the day with.  

Skeeter blossomed from scared lonely kitty to Protective Mancat.  He kept "mean old Tinkerbelle" away from her.  They often napped together, but mostly he guarded her.  I named her "LC"for "Little Cow" because of her colors.  

At least, they were good friends all their lives.  Sadly, Tinkerbelle was outside one day in 1999 and I (sadly) never saw her again.  So it was Skeeter and LC after that.

Skeeter remained very attached to me.  LC was attached to Skeeter.  He was my cat and LC was his.

When I retired in March 2006, it was the happiest day of Skeeter's life.  I was suddenly home all day.  Even approaching 14, he wanted very much to be near me all day.  I retired on the earliest day I could.  As much as he liked LC, I think 14-16 were the happiest 2 years of his life.  He adored my constant presence.

I know that seems self-glorifying, but he did.  He was around me all day.  I had to learn to shuffle my feet so that I wouldn't step on him.  He never forgot (I think) that I rescued him and gave him a good life.  

He sat on my lap anytime I sat down (and LC would sit next to him).

Skeeter is the reason I have the cat-blog.

He was sitting on my lap while I was reading another cat-blog, and I saw a button that said "start a blog".  That was August 2006.  I clicked it.  I'm not great at apps, so it took a couple days before I got it working. But Skeeter was on my lap the whole time.  I finally got a post up...

It was, of course, originally called "Skeeter and LC".  I was kind of dumb then.  It didn't really occur to me at the time that Skeeter was getting older. 

On this day in 2008, I had to bring Skeeter to the vet to be euthanized.  His kidneys were failing and he was suddenly falling over against the wall.  I held him in my arms as the Good Vet gave him the final shot.

I will never forget the drive home with him.  Just 2 miles and I had to pull off the road many times.  Brought his body into the house for LC and Ayla to sniff for understanding.

It took LC a month to get on my lap for attention.  And she left a year later.

Ayla remained, so I got her a companion (Iza).  

I went back and read the last posts about Skeeter earlier today.  It was hard.  But there were so many wonderful comments about him.  And from so many who are no longer with us.

I originally had a hole in my heart I thought could not be filled.  I've learned holes can be filled with new love.

But there will always be a special soft spot in the walls of my heart for Skeeter, my first chosen one and so attached to me...

24 years and sometimes I still I see him around.

Wow!

 Now, THAT IS A HOLIDAY SHIRT! 

Problems Commenting On Blogs

I may have solved it.  To reduce possible retaliation, I will refer to the famous blogging site I currently use as "GB".  I'm being careful...  ;)

I have had increasing difficulties using GB the past year or 2.  Even trying to comment with my GB p@assword and accou@t name was less and less successful.  I recently got a clue that GB doesn't like me using some other brows@rs.  So I tried theirs.  So far as I can tell, I'm suddenly getting through to all sites.

I have always tried to avoid using a single c@mpany's services for everything.  They get control of too much informati@n.  

Since my bl@gg comments suddenly get through using the Chr@mme browser, I feel forced to stay with it for a while.  It is a matter of success vs priv@cy, and for bloggy comments, I will accept that.

So, if you are having troubles getting c@mments through to some "places you like", you might want to give chrr@me a try. 

I'm not paranoid, but some business are retaliatory...  LOL!

Answering Questions

I get many more questions on Mark's Mews, but sometimes I get some here.  And Megan asked a bunch!  She was on a roll...  And since they were posted on the blog (sometimes they are email), I'll answer them on the blog.

Comment:  "You'll laugh when I say it - your experience is exactly what Australia has all over the country! Our polls are always conducted on Saturdays and many of the polling stations are school assembly halls or church halls etc. Drive, park right outside, walk in, get your name checked off, vote, put the paper in the box and leave. Done in 10 minutes. And ... voting is compulsory, which I know is always of some amusement to Americans."

Answer:  I was pleased to read that Australia has my positive experience with voting.  It should be like that everywhere.  I do note that voting is compulsory.  That probably wouldn't work here, but I like the idea of getting more people to vote.  In invests them in the results.

Saturday is a good choice of days to vote.  As I understand it, Tuesday was chosen in the US for religious reasons (though practical ones).  The US was so rural once that it took a day to get to a place to vote.  So, since so many were church-goers, they needed Monday to travel in order to vote, so Tuesday it was!

Comment:  "I'm voting for no daylight savings where I am - it means that in summer, it can still be quite hot at 9pm or 10pm." 

Answer:  Many people want a single time system (and most seem to like Standard over Daylight Saving).  But there are good arguments for both or just one.  Most in favor of Standard mention schoolchildren or farmers.  Most in favor of Daylight Saving mention commuting conditions or being retired (and appreciating the later daylight).  For myself, early morning daylight is wasted daylight.  I haven't gotten up at 7 am in 16 years!  And around here schoolbus pickups would be in daylight even if Daylight Saving was year-round.

Comment:  "Could you not poison the invasive stuff?"

Answer:  The invasive vines are intermixed with my flowers in many places, so I can't just spray them (and I try to stay organic).  But also, this particular invasive wine is resistant to herbicides (waxy leaves) and have very deep roots which survive and regrow.  Among the flowers, I would have to cut them out or dig individually.  Among the solid areas of it, smothering them with black plastic for a year is really the only solution and I should do that!

Comment:  "I lurve the way you just slip into the conversation that you've been holding onto leftover timber for 30 bloody years, Mark! What a hoot!!!

Answer:  While I am not exactly a "hoarder" (the living areas are fine), I do keep stuff that seems potentially useful.  I have a weakness for identical glass jars (for refrigerator stuff), large plastic shelled nut containers (to keep cat kibble, distilled/rainwater water for the Venus Fly Traps, and goldfinch thistle seed in).  The black oil sunflower seeds for the rest of the birds are kept in a metal trash barrel.

So, when I built the 6' high fence

 

around the backyard (to keep large straying dogs away from The Mews and deer out) with 8' boards, I ended up with a lot of 18"-24" pieces.  My yard slopes.  It was a step-down fence, which meant every board had to be cut to exact height.  Which means the leftovers are all slightly different in length.

But since I had LOTS of those pieces, it seemed useful to keep them.  I have used some over the years for various projects.  All The Mews Memorials were built from some of the pieces, I have used some short ones vertically to anchor framed landscaping bed boards horizontally, and some have been part of 1"-4" platforms for my Spring seed-starting.

The small bits on top are double left-overs.  But I have plans for them.

But you have a point.  The first board I brought to the new house in 1986 was a 2"x12"x12' board I brought from the previous (rented) house.  It is still where I put it in the garage on Moving Day, LOL!  But every wood-worker has "stuff" they keep around.  It sometimes is useful.

Hope you all enjoyed all that.

But is it just me, or are you seeing reverse black/white text scatterred all over?  I have no idea why that happens sometimes...

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Dinner

TBT:   Sometimes I go all out...  

Home-made Spring Rolls, Onion Rings, and Fried Potatoes.  Diced steak with roasted red and green bell peppers.  Broccoli and tossed salad. Wine.  LOL!

The Mews wonder why I bother with all those "yucky" veggies...  Well, I don't ask them why they like mousies and kibbles so much.  😀

Voting

I love to vote.  And in fact, I love to go to the voting place on Election Day.  I voted by mail-in ballot in 2020 and afterwards it felt like I hadn't actually voted.  The process seems to be important to me...

I walk in and go straight to a table where a election official asks my name, address, and birthdate.  No line!  Prints out a small slip of paper which I sign and take to the next table.  

That person exams the printed slip of paper carefully (even though he clearly saw the clerk next to him produce it).  He asks if I want to vote by machine or paper (I choose machine) and he creates a longer slip of sturdier paper which will record my actual votes.  No line!

I go to the machine side of the room.  No line!  I am amazed some people want paper ballots (no line there either).  I hate filling in little circles with a pen, but some appear to prefer that.  Which is fine.  I like the touch screen machine; it is so easy.  

I have my sample ballot all filled out at home.  I research every choice a week ahead, right down to School Board and Judge of The Orphan's Court.  Referendums especially; some of them are written to be confusing, but a little internet work literally explains each one sentence by sentence.  And I check the sources of the explanations, too.  No political party or "cause" organization sites; Newspaper "fact-checker" and .edu sites are usually good.

So there I am comfortably seated at the touch screen.  First choice was Governor.  And it wouldn't accept my vote.  Huh?  Then I notice a box that says you must view all the candidate selections first".  Oh, because of 3rd/4th/5th/6th party candidates, it took 2 screens to show them all.  Talk about the election system trying to be as fair as possible!  So I do that, make my choice again, and move on through all the various elections.

After I have voted in all of them, I get a display showing all my choices.  I have to review them and confirm my choices (in case I made an error in one).  Another example of the Election Officials trying to be as fair as possible.

My State (Maryland) is wonderful about election fairness and accuracy.  We have no "hanging chads" here.  

When I confirm my choices, the machine prints out the results and returns it to me on the paper I initially inserted.  I take that to the last station, where I scan it in.  It confirms my choices have all been successfully registered.  The person there gives me an "I voted" sticker.

I was in and out in 10 minutes!

But I want to say it wasn't always like that.  When I moved here in 1986, my County Government was majority Republican.  Even back then, they didn't really much like or trust voters.  My 1st couple elections, they forced all voters in my town (of about 30,000) to vote at one high school.  The line was hideous and it took 4 hours!

And they liked it that way.  They recognized that more and more people from the Washington DC suburbs were moving to the County and they weren't mostly Republicans.  They (we) were escaping the high cost of housing, higher local taxes, etc.

My own town basically exists as a bedroom community of people who commuted to jobs in and around Washington DC.   If you saw a map of the town, you would see a semi-circle with the flat edge against the County line.  Everyone wanted to be close as possible to work but in "one County further away", LOL!

The result was that, after 10 years, my County became Democratic-majority voters and Democratic-governed!  The voting situation changed almost immediately.  Instead of 1 voting place in 1 high school (in my town), they set up a dozen smaller ones.  And with more voting booths.  The voting line went from 4 hours, to 30 minutes, to 10, and now 0.

I am not especially  dedicated to Maryland.  There are many other fine places to live.  I'm here because my parents lived in Maryland (Dad's job sent him here) and I simply went to the State University (and stayed around).  But I'm glad I did.

Equally, I am sure that some States have good voting systems too.  But some don't.  If every State's voting system was like Maryland's (or at least my County's), voting would be a lot more easy, fair, and accurate.  And that would be A Good Thing!

Keep in mind that I am not praising the elections results (though Maryland is a solidly Democratic State) so much as I am praising the voting process it has established.  We did after all, elect a Republic Governor for 2 terms (sensible moderate and rational guy).

But mostly, I wanted to say what a wonderful voting experience I had today, and why...

New Yardstuff, Part 2

So I had these empty spaces where the old trees and junk shrubs were cut down and the roots grinded out... 

I planted a crepe myrtle nearest the house (because it will be 8' tall).  I'm going to plant a 6" rooted cutting from a variegated Eononymous shrub and keep it topped at 4'.  I'm still debating whether to replant new Golden Rain trees at the front sides of the driveway.  Given that I seem to be layering by height towards the house, I might go with ground covers or small 'Knockout' roses (no aroma, but they drop the dead flowers and don't attract Japanese Beetles).  

I think I will root a few cuttings of my 1 remaining (of 3 original) Burning Bushes to go where the Beech Tree once stood.  The Burning Bush originally growing near that spot has been overwhelmed by a wild rose I want to keep.  

That one was a nice accident.  One was growing in the backyard when I moved here and I didn't know what it was.  Nice smell, pretty (but small) flowers.  Then, after it was graded out during some landscaping work, I saw a picture of it in a gardening article and regretted allowing it to be killed.  It was called a "Hawthorne Blush' or 'Hawthorne Rose' or something like that.

Second chances are rare.  But apparently, the Hawthorn Rose had gotten seeded next to the Burning Bush and grew along side vigorously.  I'll save the Rose and plant a new Burning Bush!

But my lawn is not easy to mow.  A riding mower is not the most agile of equipment.  I have too many curved edgings.  I think it is time to change that.  My neighbors across the street have nice curved high stacks of inter-locking paver bricks, so I don't want to copy them.

And I tend to be rather geometric.  In the yard, straight angles are easy to mow.  So what I'm thinking of is pulling up all the (rather useless) curved plastic edging and replacing it with rectangular wood frames.  But for the sake of visual interest, I thought of nailing various height scraps of wood to the outer side of the frames.

I have pieces to use.  When I built the step-down fence 30 years ago, I was left with about 100 odd-sized bits of pressure-treated board.  I saved them in the garage.  Now I have a use for them!  I LOVE reusing stuff!  I will cut the pieces to 4"-8" random-length pieces and nail them to the basic wood frames around all the shrubs in the front yard.  The small air-gun nails are weak, but will hold the pieces in place while 2 lines of exterior wood adhesive permanently affix them.

Have to make the shrub-frames first of course, but that is relatively easy.  And last about as long as I will.  And pressure-treated wood won't bother the shrubs.   I'll post pictures when I get that done.   

Next post, adding topsoil to level the lawn from the root grinding and planting grass to cover it...

New Yardstuff, Part 1

I am thrilled with the warm November weather here.  It is unusually nice.   It has been in the low to  mid 70s for days again, dry, and sunny.  Perfect for outdoor work.  

I roto-tilled the areas in the front yard where the tree stumps and roots were grinded out  a few days ago so that I could add topsoil, level the area and replant grass.  I filled fourteen 35#  kitty litter tubs (about 5 gallons each) twice and 4 more to complete the raking.

Those were about 1/2 stump mulch and 1/2 dirt.  I used it to completely fill one 4'x4'x4' compost bin in alternating layers with shredded mowed and bagged fallen leaves, and grass and kitchen waste from the old bin.  I was worried there wasn't enough "green" stuff to feed the worms and microbes, but it seems to have been enough.

I stuck in a kitchen thermometer probe (can't find my long compost bin thermometer at the moment) and left it there for an hour.  It went up from 70F outside temperature to 114F in the bin, so it is heating up well by microbial decomposition.  I did not expect it to start to heat up so soon!  😀. In a few weeks, it may get up to  140F and that it perfect.  

Thinking that it could use more greens for long-tern heating, I cast my eye on the wild english ivy growing in the far back yard.  Well, I had the collection bag on the self-propelled battery-powered mower, so off I went at it.  

I should mention that the ivy (English and Poison) are invaders from my backyard neighbor who simply ignores the back 10' of his yard.  I fight them (the plants) constantly.  Also, a previous side neighbor planted Some Damn Invasive Vine (which I keep forgetting the name of) which has gotten into my flowerbeds and raised garden paths.

So, it occurs to me I have a self-perpetuating source of green material for the compost bins!  If I have a fast-growing weed I want to eliminate, I might as well get some benefit from it.  I emptied a few trash barrels of old dried grass and leaves, so I can refill them until I have enough to fill the 1st bin with.  If life gives you lemons...

Having the mower in the far back, I also mowed around my 2 year-old specimen trees.  I want to build 4'x4' frames around them from old pallet wood, cover the inside with packing paper from Amazon shipments and fill it with mulch.  That should stop the underbrush vines from growing up the saplings until they get large enough to shade them out on their own.  

And by that time, the pallet frames and mulch should rot away. leaving the trees to grow naturally.  As the leader of the 'A Team' TV show used to say, "I love it when a plan comes together".

The next project is to get the DR brush mower working again.  I have a backyard of wild blackberries and undergrowth to remove.  But I left old gas in it for 2 years and it won't start now.  

The good neighbor guy across the street looked at it and suggested where I could spray "starter fluid" into the gas injector system.  I'll get at that soon.  And if I can't fix it, there are local mechanics who can.

But that's a future post...