Moderately Busy Day

Sometimes I slack off a couple of days even when I have work to do.  Yeah, busy as I seem to be, I can ebnd up just cooking and watching science/nature DVDs...

But I got back to work today.  The tulip/hyacinth cages have a time deadline for planting the bulbs before the ground freezes, so I started with those.  I made 6 more before my hand started cramping up.  I need 27 cages and I have 20 built now.  Tomorrow should finish the remaining 7.

So after that, I started making spaghetti sauce.  Nothing too fancy.  I use 2 cans of 28 oz crushed tomato, a 1/2 minced green bell pepper, 1 minced jalapeno pepper, 1/2 minced onion, 1/4 of red wine, a tsp of sugar, a tbls of dried italian seasoning, a handful of sliced button mushrooms, and a doz pre-cooked meatballs I get frozen from the meat store.  I just let it simmer slowly for an hour, scraping the bottom with a spatula every 5 minutes.  It's good enough for me; not like I have an Italian grandmother to answer to...  LOL!  I have Tupperware containers just the right size for one meal, and spoon the mixture evenly for freezing.  But I like a LOT of tomato sauce on my pasta, so my Tupperware size might not be yours...  BTW, I spoon the 1" meatballs out first and cut them in half.  I like a bit with most forkfuls rather than large meatballs at once.  Sometimes I use 3 hot italian sausages, cooked separately, then added to the sauce.

While that was going on (and with the repeating timer set to 5 minutes to remind me to stir the sauce), I took care of some internet order problems. 

First, I had ordered a replacement cat tree sisal post for the one that Ayla finally broke using it as a launch pad to the top of the tall bookcases.  I thought all those posts were the same, but this one had a 3' bolt that stuck down into the hut below, and surely some cat would have been injured.  Since it was advertised as "sort-bolt", I asked them to send me a free return shipping label.

Second, I had ordered a new crock pot with a removable stoneware insert for easy cleaning.  I thought I was ordering the same size as my 40 year old 1-piece Rival crockpot.  But as soon as I opened the box I was shocked at how large it was.  I contacted Amazon.com about a return, and the response was to over me $28.11 for the $49.99 item (as it was a 3rd party sale). 

Well, I checked the 3rd party seller's return policy and it stated it followed Amazon.con return policies.  Which were (for unused, withing 30 days, and in entirely original packing) 100% refund.  After a 2nd email to Amazon.com, I received a statement of not only 100% refund, but a free return shipping label.  Bless their hearts...

So while the spaghetti sauce was simmering between stirrings, I reboxed the crockpot in the original retail box in the original shipping box. 

Third, I had bought a set of Wusthof-Trident kitchen knives a few years ago from a place going out of business.  While using a knife I seldom use, a piece of the handle just fell right off!  It was like a piece of knapped flint struck off from a core.  I emailed them about it and they replied saying to pack up the knife and broken piece and send it to them packed very carefully.

I did that today, and oh boy did I "package" it carefully!  I found a thin box large enough, cut cardboard pieces from other boxes to fit, got my roll of duct tape, and raided my stash of bubble wrap.  I wrapped the blade in bubble wrap.  I set the knife on one piece of cardboard 3" larger than the knife and poked holes in the cardboard at the narrow parts of the knife handle and ran twist-ties through the holes the attach it to the cardboard.  Then I wrapped a larger piece of cardboard around the 1st piece and duct-taped it in all directions.  I put the broken-off piece in a plastic sandwich bag (labeled, of course) and duct-taped IT to the cardboard.  Then I wrapped the whole thing in more bubble wrap.  Then I slipped a copy of their email to me authorizing a return (with my name, address, phone number, and email address) into the box and stuffed what little space was left with packing (leftover from packing the crockpot).

The outside of the box is thoroughly "shipping-taped".  If that isn't well-packed, then "well-packed" isn't possible.  It may take them 15 minutes of work just to get at the knife inside.  No one will ever accuse ME of shipping a dangerous product.  :)

I sure wish I had thought to take pictures!!!

And THEN, I had received an order of 8 trays of (24 5.5oz cans per tray) Wellness canned cat food from Chewy.com a couple days ago ago and was unpacking it.  I discovered I was one tray missing!  So I called them  The person I talked to (Patrick) didn't hesitate to immediately order a replacement.  But he asked about my cats, then mentioned his, and we talked for 45 minutes.  They are either not busy and "Customer Service" or they are extremely friendly.

He has 4 male cats (all former strays who get along great) and he names them after minor mythology gods in various languages (1 each Persian, Briton, Greek, and Egyptian).  He said he uses minor mythology names "because there are too many Zeuses and Thors".  I was impressed!  And he asked for my blog URL, so I might have a new reader.

But the timing was ironic.  I had to tell him that I had just posted (in complete error) about receiving a goodie box from Chewy.com and it turning out to be a different company (Purr8Packs).  He laughed and said things like that happen but I should correct the past posts to give credit to the Purr*Packs company (which was next on my To Do List), but it sure made me think higher of Chewy.com for not hoping for undo credit.

He said he would make sure to look at older posts to get a good idea of what my blog was like.  Is that understanding, or what?

Loaded up the SUV with accumulated cardboard boxes for the recycling center.  Too many for my small recycling barrel that only gets picked up every 2 weeks.  The free space in the basement is nice.

The spaghetti dinner was great.   And now I have 5 more containers of sauce freezing for future use.  I don't like to bother making sauce one meal at a time. 

So tomorrow, I go off with the car packed with 2 boxes for UPS, the back full of empty boxes for recycling,  4 bags of plastic shopping bags to be stuffed into the shopping bag recycle box there (my county recycling center does not accept "film plastic" (shopping bags).  On the way home, I'll do my bi-weekly grocery shopping at Safeway (for the good produce) and the local meat market.

But today was a pretty productive day.

Hope you had a good day too!

Guns

There are guns.  16 gauges to shoot squirrels, 12 gauges for hunting deer.  In some places rifles are appropriate for longer shots at bigger prey.

But that's it!

There is no reason anyone needs any bigger gun than those.

Hunting deer and squirrels is fine.  You want to hunt wild sheep from 500 yards, learn to get closer.  You say it is a sport?  Good, get better at it.  But no one needs an AK 47 to hunt.

I've hunted.  Had a wonderful time, and it was exciting.  I did well sneaking through the woods after deer.  Field-dressed a few myself.  And there are too many deer in the East.  I don't object to killing deer.  But if you need an Ak 47 to kill a deer, then you aren't "hunting"; you are just blasting away like some random Elmer Fudd.

Who wants to be an Elmer Fudd?

So I want to keep my 12 gauge.  And my crossbow.

Its the crazies who want to prevent ANY sensible gun laws to prevent the nuts from "carrying"that are going to ruin MY moderate gun usage.  And it's the NRA driving the "win everything or lose it all" that is the problem.

I want the leadership of the NRA to be removed.  Not the NRA itself.  And membership agrees...

1.  83 percent of all gun owners and 72 percent of the NRA members surveyed voiced support for universal background checks.

2.  56 percent of the Republican gun owners polled said they would be more likely to support a candidate who favors universal background checks.

3.  Only 29 percent of the respondents said they believe the NRA represents their views on the issue on the NRA platform.

I want some sensible laws about responsible gun ownership.   Some sensible laws, like...

A. If you are the 'No Fly List", you shouldn't be able to buy a gun.
B. If you have a mental problem, you shouldn't be able to buy a gun.
C. If you are a felon, you shouldn't be able to buy a gun.
D. If you are are under a court order about being away from someone, you shouldn't be able to buy a gun under any circumstance.

And I'll take it another step further.  If we can't eliminate guns, lets eliminate ammunition.  No bullets, and and the crazies can have all the guns they want. 

Sure, some people can make ammunition.  But less than Walmart sells.

 

Tulip and Hyacinth Bulb Cages

One of the biggest problems for Tulip and Hyacinth bulbs around here are the voles.  They are evil!  I planted 5 circles of 8 Tulip bulbs some years ago and in Spring, I discovered holes dug out from the surface and sides to every single bulb.  There were bulb fragments left.

Daffodils are no problem; they seem toxic to voles.

But I love Tulips and Hyacinths. 

So I am making wire cages to keep the little voles bastards out. 

I designed an efficient form to use 36" wide hardware mesh wire.  The dark line in the middle shows where 2 shapes are cut.

I cut many to size. ..

I figured out how to fold them into cages...

They are easily opened for adding bulbs when buried in the ground.

I still have time to plant the bulbs.  The ground won't freeze until January here.  Building the cages is labor-intensive.  I have 14 cages constructed and want 14 more for the 25' diameter edged circle I set in.

But I don't have much time left.  I'm sure gonna be busy next week, LOL!

Neat Neighbor

This may all seem a bit weird.  I have a cross the street neighbor who managed to get permission to build a McMansion on the wetland across the street.  And he is the father of the Crazy Guy who lived next door to the property.  Yet he is friendly and we talk.

This guy is SLICK!  He not only got permission to build on a wetland (by bringing in 10 loads of soil), he bought the utterly unbuildable property next to his IN EXCHANGE for 6 acres of wetlands behind him.  I would NOT play poker with this guy!

On the other hand, he is utterly friendly and helpful to neighbors. 

The wetlands behind him have been draining for years.  It is now mostly woods and creeks.  So we were talking yesterday.  He has a personal herd of deer in his 6 acres and hunts regularly (with a crossbow!) and there are several good fishing spots there too. 

I tried not to drool while he described it all.  I very briefly mentioned that I was an experienced deer hunter in my younger days and still enjoyed fishing, but didn't outright ask.  But I would sure like an invitation.  We just compared some hunting and fishing experiences though. 

This guy is ultra-competent.  He does his own deer butchering and aging.  He grows corn for the deer (not where he hunts).  He can recognize most of them individually by sight.  He enlarged his concrete driveway by himself!  I saw him atop his 2.5 story house last week inspecting his shingles!  He goes to bed at sunset and gets up at dawn.  He snowblows other peoples' driveways just for something to do!

He doesn't seem to own a computer.  He mentioned being at a target range a mile away and thought he recognized some of his deer there, and thought the properties were adjacent.  When I asked if he had "googled" it, he "said" he didn't know what that was (but keep in mind this guy is slick).

He mentioned that turtles all came around when he was fishing in the back area because they had learned he injured the fish when he got the hooks out of the fishs' stomachs.  So I mentioned that I had learned a trick for that.  You go up through the open gills with a long nose plier, get ahold of the top of the hook and twist it so that it slides right back out.  No harm.  I'm a catch and release type.

That got his attention!  He likes to catch fish, not harm them.

And I mentioned that I had bought a really good hunting crossbow a few years ago but didn't know where to hunt.  But I didn't push it...

He says there are too many deer around here, and I agree.  I mentioned that there are too few places to hunt, and he agreed.  I told him I had driven to southern maryland and back 2 weeks ago looking a lots and saw 4 fresh-dead deer obviously killed by cars.  I have a concern about that.

Years ago, a friend and were driving home after a day of fishing and he hit a deer.  He stopped to look at the damage to his car; I went to look at the deer.  My friend questioned my priorities, but I wanted the deer out of the road because if an unsuspecting driver hit it, it could actually overturn the car.

An injured deer can be dangerous by kicking, so I kicked it a few times myself.  It was dead, so I dragged it off the road.  It wasn't a busy road, but I would have felt terrible if some other driver had been injured hitting it.

We got to my house and documented the car damage for insurance purposes.  But 3 days after, part of my left hand went numb.  I feared it was carpal tunnel syndrome (because I spend a lot of time at work typing).  After having a doctor basically electrocute me in small doses (enough to finally send me into shock), I learned the deer impact had caused a fracture in my 5th (6th?) vertabra of my neck, impacting the ulner nerve. 

To this day, the little and ring finger of my left hand aren't entirely "there", if you know what I mean. They move fine, but I can't feel them like the other fingers. 

So I do not love deer overpopulation...

 I stopped hunting deer when I was 22 and bowshot a doe.  Field-dressing her, milk gushed out.  I was fine with intestines and stomach, etc, but milk?  Dang.  It meant I had orphaned a fawn or two, too.

But I would like to hunt again.  I can't use a bow worth a damn (never could really) but I can use a crossbow.  And I would give the meat to charities that accept it for food for the homeless.

But I need a safe place to hunt.  There are CRAZY gun-hunters out there who fire at anything that moves (my dad was shot by one once).  And here is this neighbor with a personal herd of deer who says he has too many there...

And I want him to invite me to hunt with him...

I'm just not in his circle.  Yet.

We have some things in common.  Hunting, fishing, DIY home and yard stuff; general compency.  It could be interesting.  He's slick and I'm not.  I don't even cheat at solitare.  But I am also "slick-proof".  He might find that to be a relief.  Or a challenge.  LOL!

But I sure could use a real-life, face-time, neighbor friend...

I'm Not Moving Anytime Soon, Part 3

I know I seem to be complaining about my house.  It does have features I like. The ease of movement in the circle is really very good!

There is the computer/library room, the cat room, and the master bedroom, but I spend most of my time in the house in the circle I drew.  It is very efficient!

I took an architecture class and the professor said "tell me something useful about designing a house".  Most all the students talked about the pleasure of large rooms.  *I* said don't waste space on hallways".  There were other tests of course, but I did get an "A".  And I have a pretty minimal hallway today! 

I'm Not Moving Anytime Soon, Part 2

The House I Want:

I have always desired a particular floorplan.  All one level (no basement, no attic), and all interior rooms except bedrooms and bathrooms being divided by 30"/1 meter high walls.  So I could have a sensation of space.  Kitchen cabinets at the floor and above, but with the space between them open.


I want a 2 bay garage; one bay for the car, a second bay for a decent small boat.

I want a workshop about 20'x30' so I don't have to push equipment around on wheeled bases to get at them; with a garage door for easy access.

I want a TV room positioned where I can watch the TV while I prepare food in the kitchen (as I can now), because I spend a lot of time doing both.

I want a fireplace where I can see it burning from anywhere in the house.

I want high ceilings for a feeling of space.

I want geothermal HVAC (Heating And Ventilation Air Conditioning) and solar panels covering a unobstructed south-facing roof.

I emailed many "custom-builders" asking about such a floorplan.  Only one replied, saying the layout needed "rearrangement for utility efficiency".    That's OK, its the basic open structure that matters.

My basic idea is this:

I sent the diagram to a dozen custom builders asking if they could build something like that.  I had no idea what to expect, but I figured that if anyone HAD built custom-designed houses, they might already have something like that.  Only one replied and said the design was flawed for efficient utility design and they couldn't tell the scale, but they could come up with "something more buildable" in a couple days.

I waited 3 days and emailed to ask if they had anything and were still interested.  I even said that I understood my amateur diagram probably had some flaws and looked forward to just a paper sketch suggesting a new arrangement of rooms so that I could imagine "walking around through the house" before we discussed details of actual architectural plans and costs.

Now, keep in mind that there are thousands of free basic floorplans on the internet.  None of those will enable you to build a house.  The real work is in the details and a basic floorplan doesn't provide those!

But the custom home builder apparently wanted (and I didn't realize THAT being new to custom-built houses) payments up front.  OK, I might have considered it in $100's, had he mentioned that.  My conclusion is that this particular builder wants to know how much I CAN spend, and get me for some few $1,000 starting fees  of the process without MY having the slightest idea of the final fees or design.  Well, maybe he is used to building houses for really rich people who have too much money...

So I replied that the overall dimensions were about 30'x80' and it was otherwise to scale.  I took 2 classes in mechanical drawing, and an architect's ruler (a weird triangular ruler) adjusts to all scaling would have told them everything.

I emailed a note of apology for wasting his time...

I don't know why my basic design is so hard for builders around here to consider.  It seems they just don't LIKE the idea.  I had an Uncle and Aunt with that basic house in New England, and it was easy to build.

I still want that house.  I just might have to approach getting it another way.

But then there is the property.  I wanted a lot large enough to guarantee sunny space for gardening and sun on the roof for solar panels regardless of neighbors' trees..  And I wanted geothermal HVAC.   I thought that meant at least 2-3 acres.

So I had a Real Estate Agent looking.  She found several properties close to my fishing locations,  open and level, 2-3 acres.  I visited them.  They certainly were open and level.  I took lots of pictures.

When I got home and loaded the pictures, I realized things I had missed...

The lots were end parts of working farms.  I hadn't considered the smell of commercial fertilizers and the sound of agricultural equipment working from dawn to dusk.  If the entire farm was being sold for residential lots, that would be one thing.  But they were not.  The one soybean field being sold as residential was fine in THAT regard, but the slope of the property from the owners house shows severe erosion.  Not good.

The Real Estate Agent suggested some other properties.  But those were all on well water and septic tank sewage.  I'm not ready for that.  Wells dry out sometimes, and both wells and septic tanks need some routine maintenance.  I'm not that great on routine maintenance.

And they only have satellite TV service.

So she suggested that I consider places closer to me that were on city water and sewage and cable/Fios.  And she mentioned that places with city water and sewage were generally 1/2 acre lots and already built on with standard houses.

Um, I'm there NOW...  So I would be going through the trouble of moving to be in a house and lot about what I have now.

DAMN!

No point in moving, is there?

I'm going to keep looking, I might find just the right space.  But I won't find it today or tomorrow.

I'm Not Moving Anytime Soon, Part 1

Looking for a new house and property was really frustrating, and there is a lot to explain.  I may have to divide it into several posts.

I am in a split-foyer house, which is basically a ranch house on an above-ground basement with a front door in-between the basement and ranch.  I can't even get into the house without going up or down stairs and I'm tired of stairs.  And as I get older, I will get tireder of them.  The house is about 20'x40', which means that all the rooms are on the small side (by US standards at least).  Well, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, kitchen, living room, dining room, hallway and stairs doesn't leave much per room.  It was a "starter home", but after 29 years, when do I get beyond "start"?

The basement would be fine if I didn't have some serious wood-working floor equipment and gardening shelves and tables.  I can hardly move around in it.  Indeed, if I didn't have all the floor equipment on mobile bases so I could push them around to make room, I wouldn't be able to move around in the basement at all.  And upstairs, I have 7 bookcases, 3 large cat trees, a large aquarium, stereo equipment, secretary desk, 60" flat TV, no attic storage space, etc.

I'm not in any way complaining about what I have, but I've run out of space.  I gave away my sofa and loveseat set years ago.  Yeah, I might have "too much stuff".  But right or wrong, I feel cramped.

The yard is also a problem.  A half acre sounds big.  That's about average for semi-rural property here.  But with the property surrounded by the 100' tall trees in the edges of the neighbors' yards, I don't get much sunlight.  I can't get any of the neighbors to let me have the ones blocking most of my sunlight cut down (professionally and at my expense).

And I like to go fishing.  But the nearest decent places are almost an hour away and 1.5 hours away.  I don't like driving.  Some people do, but it bores me to death.  My brain stands to shut down after about 30 minutes...  I wanted to be closer to those places, which are in more rural Maryland.

And my town is a traffic bottleneck.  It can take 15 minutes to drive 5 miles, and everything useful is on the other side of town.  I'm really tired of that.

So I'm feeling cramped inside and lacking good gardening sunlight outside and feeling to far away from good fishing.  And been here 29 years; I can walk through this house in pitch-black.  So I felt the only decision was to move.

The problem is that what I want in house and property and location doesn't seem to be easy to get.  But this is getting long, so I'll post about that tomorrow...

Frustration

The fanatic religious idiocy HAS to stop.  And I don't care if it is current moslem craziness to attack the christian West or the protestant/catholiic craziness of just a couple decades ago, or the hindu/moslem craziness of many decades. IT HAS TO STOP!

We can't continue like this.

We can't continue as a species this way. When will we realize that, as humans with our particular bizarre and unproven religious views, that if there is a Deity, it probably doesn't care how we think of it, it being being incomprehensible.

And that is assuming that a deity DOES exist, for which we have no evidence.

These minor arguements about the nature of a possible deity sicken me when people kill each other in ITS name.  IF there is a deity, we cannot possibly know anything about it,  IT being beyond all comprehension.  And if there was not one, how would we know there was not?  The universe, existing, would seem the same.

But suppose there was a deity.  It could be be Zeus, Odin, God, Allah, Vishnu, etc,  and how would we know?  And all the beliefs about each one differ. 

If you want to have some set of beliefs about the nature of a deity, go right ahead.  But stop killing other people about it.  Today, its the crazy Moslems.  Yesterday, it was the catholics and protestants.  Before that, it was the Mongols and the great Sky God.  Before them, there was some other idea of was a deity was.  Etc etc, back through time to where the earliest humanoid conceived the idea of a deity.

Really, does it make any sense that so superior a Being would CARE how it was thought of by us?  Do you care what ants think?

Can we just please stop killing each other about what we THINK a Deity might care about how we imagine it to be or want from us???

At the risk of being called an godless atheist (and I am), I say that all religious texts are written by humans trying to understand how we should live in groups, why we die, and what happens after. 

We can answer the 1st question.  All religious texts basically describe how people managed to live together without lower primate mayhem at the time of the writing.  It was codified social rules for sensible behavior at the time.. 

The answer to the 2nd question is that all organic beings wear out, and cease to function.. Your great-grand-parents wore out,  you and I will wear out, earthworms wear out.  Organic material is AWESOME, but it can't last forever.

The 3rd question is unanswerable to us.  Not a single human has ever come back from death to expalin what he/she saw on some other side.  And never will.

So please, stop killing each other in the name of vague ideas about what a deity might be.  Please.

Please. 

Let there be a day when we just stop the fanatic religious madness....  Let it be today....

Mark

The House I Want

It is hard to draw things sometimes,    But this is what I want.

 

Error, Error!

Oh wow, I almost made a BIG mistake in cutting out pieces for the crocus bulb cages I am making.  Drawing diagrams on paper, I had it pretty well set so as to fit the cutouts as efficiently as possibly.  The 1/2" wire mesh isn't cheap.

But, as part of my plans, I built a wood form to use to bend the wire over.  The form needed to be 8"x6"x4".  I had fun cutting some scrap boards, running the pieces through the bench planer for utter flattness , gluing them together, and then sanding them smooth this afternoon.  Perfect 8"x6"x4" blocks.

But, um, something didn't look right...

You remember those school tests where they showed you a folded shape and you had to decide what it looked like when unfolded?  I was great at those.  Except this time!

I got one side off by 2"!  I had the small ends of the cages diagrammed at 4"x4" and they needed to by 4"x6".  If I hadn't actually built the wood form for bending the wire mesh around, I would have cut all the pieces the wrong size.

Look at the end of this; it obviously isn't 4"x4"...

I was lucky that there was a series of events that led me to see my error.  I had to take the roll of 3'x50'x1/2" wire mesh and unroll part of it.  The roll is held tight by some wire that has to be cut away.  And it was rolled under tension, so when I cut the last wire, it sort of exploded.  Which I was expecting, but not quite the way it did it.

I'm not stupid, I wore goggles as I cut the last wire.  You never know quite how these rolls will suddenly unwind.   It's a guy thing.  You KNOW its gonna get you somewhere but not just WHERE.  Fortunately, I heal very fast.  Ever get shots or give blood?  They slap a bandage right on you.  I don't need them.

So I had to flatten it to be able to cut the sections off in the size I needed later.

So while the wire mesh was being forced to flatten (a common problem with stiffly rolled material), I went to change the laundry from the washer to the dryer and start a new load.  And THAT got me to taking out a frozen steak to thaw for dinner, which led me to feeding the cats, which led to me checking my email, which led to me getting back downstairs...

Where I looked at the wood block form I realized that I had a dimension wrong.   Not on the wood block; on my wire mesh cutting diagram.  I just spent 30 minutes redesigning my cutting pattern on the wire mesh. 

Sometimes you just have to build shapes in reality to make sure they are right!