Independence Day

With admiration for our eventual British friends and compatriots across The Pond, and acknowledging things were hard at first a couple of times, as we got the French to annoy you once and had to take advantage of the first actual world war (1812) etc.  I beg pardon to present the following document.  It means a lot to us here in the US, much like the Magna Carta does in your history.

And face it, you couldn't have hung on to us forever .  Too many people, to much land, too much distance.  Heck, we were too BRITISH to be colonists forever, LOL!

With the spirit of advancements of freedom in mind, I present The Declaration of Independence for all to read.  And I am doing this today because things are not going very well here, and we need some reminders about how we started...

And is important to notice that not all of the reasons were good or would stand the test of time.  Still, it was an impressive try.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Democrats Are Wimps

I think I am abandoning political parties.  The Democrats are damn wimps, the Republican are hateful and selfish.

The Democrats couldn't beat a 12 year old at chess, the Republicans would and brag about it.  I don't like either idea. 

There has to be another way in the US.  One without Trump but one without the the old guard Democrat leaders either. 

I need some leaders in both parties who will start working together to actually solve some problems.  That means Nancy Pelosi has to go, Mitch McConnell has to go, all the current leaders have to go. 

I'm a Baby Boomer.  We have all screwed up. We did some good things, but it is time for us to let go and give control to the next generations.  It isn't easy saying that.   But sometimes you have to. 

My generation, in control, has fallen into an utterly divisive stalemate. at the extremes of political parties.  We can't get things back to the center.

I pass the torch on to you to get things working again.  Save us from this mess.  Build the Center again, demand that your political leaders demand consensus, choose political leaders who will work together.  Rebuild a Center...

Dr Visit

I haven't been to a Dr since 2008 and thought it was time.  Well, I feel fine, almost all my older relatives died feeling just fine until old age got them, and the family medical history says there is nothing in particular we die of.  Well, 1 Gramma died in her 70s, but that was diabetes from just eating too much gravy and being fat.  Otherwise, we all seem to healthy as horses and die of old age or the ocassional accident.  Mom died at 88 from Parkinson's and Dad died at 92 from general old age and boredom

But you never know what surprise a Dr might find and better late than never.   So I contacted the Dr Office where I last went in 2008 to start getting an annual checkup and blood tests and "all those fun things". 

Every Dr or Dentist I have ever gone too has demanded a paper form describing medical history.  And since my "medical history" is on scraps of paper and letters from Mom and such, I asked if I could come by and pick up the form to fill out at home before the appointment today.  "Sure, just come to the office and pick it up" they said. 

When I did that yesterday, "no such form".  They just ask questions and enter it into the computer.  Actually, the front desk has no idea how the back offices work.  That was STUPID #1

I sat in the exam room for 45 minutes watching green and purple colors flow around under my eyelids before the actual Dr showed up.  Yeah, he's busy, I understand.  But asked a lot of the same questions.  He doesn't use the same computer system the entry people use.  STUPID #2

But he was pretty good.  Asked the right questions to get an idea of my problems (none except some muscle cramps in bed after working hard outside), but I was there for an general physical which takes a 2nd visit.  I told them when I made the appointment that was what I wanted.  STUPID #3

The Dr flexed my calf and thigh muscles after I mentioned cramps and said he could tell I did enough exercise (Yardwork.  If you need deliberate exercise, you don't have enough outside real work to do, LOL!).

I told him about my hand tremors and he suggested I could see a neurolab above the office.  When I was leaving, I asked about the neuro lab referral and he said I didn't need that.  STUPID #4

I'll address that next visit...

I did get some information.  My pulse is 71 beats per minute.  My blood pressure was 130 over 60 (systolic and distolic, IIRC).  My lungs are in better shape than they should be for someone who has smoked for 45+ years.  He suggested I stop smoking (DUH).   I gave a blood sample for lab tests.

I can visit an x-ray lab to look for cancers, but they don't like virtual scans, saying there are too many false positives. 

I sometimes don't understand how professionals operate in such disconnected and confused systems.  In my career as a telecommunications manager for a Federal Agency, I would have been fired if my office had been so disorganized.  And I would have fired anyone who didn't understand the need for coordinated records systems!

Oh, and they let me leave without a new appointment for a physical and a discussion of the blood test results.  STUPID #5

Oh well, I've gotten back on track for regular Dr visits, and that is a good thing I suppose.  Who knows, I might have cancer all through me and better to learn that ASAP.  It would be good to know positive or negative. 

I've reached the age where people start dying of "natural causes" or specific conditions.  That's the only reason I went; to see if I was "OK".  Looks like I will have to wait a few weeks.

Wrong Address

A nice little light-hearted happy post...

I was stepping outside Wednesday to get my mail when a Fed Ex truck stopped.  I had some small items on order from Amazon (more mole repellent pellets because the sprayable liquid kind just would not spray well, a new electric razor because my old one actually fell apart, and some Felliway refills), but I wasn't expecting them that day.  And the Fed Ex guy backed up as close to the garage as he could.  When there are small items. they just stop at the street and bring the boxes up.  So I was a bit curious.

He opened the back of the truck at brought out 2 chewy.com boxes.  Which really surprised me because, while I have an autoship arrangement, it wasn't time for one and I always get an email first.  So I just dragged the boxes into the garage.

I had thought to email Chewy about the "gift" shipment, but I opened the boxes first.  It wasn't stuff I order!  So I glanced at the label to get the order number to see if I had possibly ordered something new (which I was sure I hadn't of course) and noticed the name and address wasn't mine.  It was a neighbor.

Well, I HAD mentioned my surprise the the driver, and he mentioned there were 2 other regular Chewy customers right on my street (which only has 20 houses on it) and indeed, he had 2 more Chewy boxes to deliver further down the street. 

I SHOULD have realized there was an error right then, but who thinks quickly when surprised?

So I looked up the name on Whitepages.com and found one with an address on my street and 2 phone numbers.  I got a lady who said "he moved away 4 years ago".  Oh drat.  Wait, then why was a delivery being made there after 4 years?  So I asked if I was talking to (the address on the box)?

It was his mother (at some other address).  The address on whitepages.com was right, the phone number was old!  So I explained everything and she cracked up.  And said she would call him immediately to come and pick up the boxes. 

Which he did in about 30 minutes.  Turns out he has Chewy autoshipping too.  We had a good laugh about the entire error.  He is going to correct his phone number on whitepages.com.

Meanwhile, he had done exactly what I do about tracking orders and had seen the "delivered" notice and knew he hadn't received the order.  So he contacted them and they had already sent a replacement order before his mother called him to let him know I had his stuff!

Which meant he was getting a whole free order.  Soooo, I said, "How about I keep the bag of kitty litter and you make off with all the other free goodies"?  He laughed and handed me the bag of litter.  It was the least part of the order.

So...

1.  The Fed Ex guy delivered the package to the wrong address.
2.  I had to spend time figuring out where it belonged.
3.  The whitepages.com site had old information.
4.  Chewy did good customer service.
5.  The rightful recipient had to go out of his way to get his order.
6.  But he is getting a whole new order free.
7.  I got a free bag of kitty litter as a reward for my efforts.
8.  Chewy will have a very routine claim against Fed Ex and get their cost back.
9.  Fed Ex will ultimately pay for their delivery error.

It all works out nicely for all involved except the Fed Ex people who made the error!

Don't you wish everything worked out that nicely?

Mole Repellent

Nothing like things that don't work to work to get the blood flowing!  The moles finally discovered my raised garden beds and the voles followed the tunnels.

I had a bag of castor oil pellets same to use around veggies, so I spread them around there.  I also had several bottles of liquid sprayable castor oil but with something in it that shouldn't be around veggies and it went downhill from there!

There were 2 ways they suggested applying the liquid.  The first was a hose-end sprayer.  That is basically a small container where you put in a certain amount of the undiluted liquid and add some water and the water from the hose pulls up a small amount as you spray water from the hose.

The other is using a dedicated pump sprayer that you just add some of the liquid repellent and a lot of water and pump the sprayer full of air to force it out the end of a wand.

Both drive me NUTS!  As far as I can tell, unless either are pure water, they clog. 

Using the hose-end sprayer, the mole repellent turned to foam and would get sucked up with the hose water.  I mean, nothing like spraying water all over the yard and discovering that the hose-end container is as full of the application liquid as when you started.  Great!  I just watered a lawn that was already soaked with weeks of rain!

I took the thing apart, made sure everything was working, tried it again, and got the same result.  You can't get this liquid to suck in with the hose water. 

So I tried a pump sprayer.  I even have 3 of them.  One is dedicated to herbicides for wild English ivy, another persistent vine, and poison ivy death.  I can't use that one for any other purpose.  The other 2 are ones that are hard to use.  I have taken them both apart a few times and gotten them working perfectly.  They don't stay working long.  Apparently, the least bit of solid matter stops them completely.  I'm not sure whether to try and clean them out again or give the the "Sledgehammer Of Death" before sending them to the trash can.  There is a certain satisfaction in that.  I need to find a better pump sprayer...

If you have one, please tell me...

You know what finally worked?  A simple watering can.  I mixed the mole repellent in a 5 gallon bucket, filled the 2.5 gallon watering can and put tape inside to output nozzle to make it dribble the mole repellent out slowly to spread it evenly.  And did that 25 times!  Sometimes, you just have to accept doing things slowly if you want a good result.  But it was a long afternoon!

One nice thing was that I could especially pour the castor oil mix on the tunnels AND into the vole holes.

And I timed it well.  The idea is to get the castor oil liquid onto the soil and then have it soaked in with rain or hose water.  It started raining again just when predicted.

So I went inside, washed off any residual mole repellent spray, gave The Mews special treats, played toys with them, and we all had a good dinner an hour later.

The Mews hated being inside all day, but I didn't want them walking around on the stuff and then licking their paws.  And even better, it rained another1/2" as I was typing this.  It is safe now.  They can go out in the afternoon.

My hope is that the moles will decide neighbors' yards are better territory.  My understanding of castor oil is that it makes the worms and grubs taste bad.  And possibly makes them smell "wrong" to their mates and makes them not happy staying together as Mr and Mrs Mole.

And it isn't the moles I am after all that much (though I regret the earthworms they eat).  It is the damn voles that use they tunnels to get at plant roots.  No moles, fewer voles...

A Slight Political Rant

I completely understand that reasonable people can disagree about the proper goals of government and how to get those goals promoted.  I have absolutely no problem with rational and thoughtful debate, and I understand that things can get emotional and intense.

For example, I am not a general fan of US Republican ideology.  The idea that corporations can be trusted to self-regulate always seems to be disproved by what they actually do.  The idea that scientists are making false claims about the climate, the safety of water and food, and the proper way to rehabiliate prisoners (among many issues) seems to me to be a matter of wishing vs reality.  And all evidence I see suggests that giving money to the rich does not result in "trickle-down" economics.

And I might naturally be one of them.  I'm an "older white male with accumulated self-earned assets who worked hard, invested in the stock market, and believes that "success" is generally self-driven". 

So why am I not a Republican?  Because I had advantages many others did not.  And because a functional democracy has to allow social and economic mobilty.

For starters, let's just say that I had middle class parents who could live in a safe suburban neighborhood, I attended a safe suburban school, and I had safe suburban friends, all of whom were "just like me".  Of my senior high school class of 254 students, only 4 did not graduate and THAT was actually a sort of scandal.  There were some "minority students" in the school, but my recollection was that they were treated the same as the the rest of us (they might disagree), but even they were from middle class professional families and living in the same neighborhoods.  Their parents attended the same neighborhood parties.

I was probably about 16 when I discovered that there was another high school in town (when I got my learner's permit and drove around town.  It was decrepit.  It looked like a prison (barred windows - ours opened), had a small playground with rough ground and no grass - ours was a couple acres and had actual grass),  our school was neat and clean on the outside - that one was spray painted with words I didn't even know.

I asked my parents about it.  They said it was a poor school because the parents of the kids who went there were poor and couldn't donate much to their school.  But they also said it was about racism, politics, and that they routinely voted for town officials who promised to fix those things but those people never got elected.

You do have to understand that, in the 1960s, kids even at 16 years old were not so much exposed to reality outside their neighborhoods.  We didn't have much on TV to watch other than national news, sitcoms and western show, and cartoons.  We watched Walter Chronkite, Bonanza, Disney, and The Flintstones.

I went to school, did my assigned homework, pulled weeds in the garden, helped my Dad around the yard, learned to play golf as Dad's caddy, played some football and board games with friends, and that was about IT!

Two years later and I was thrown into college at the safe State University.  I was supposed to learn some academic skill, get a good job, and carry on the White European tradition.  I went to college in 1968, and The Vietnam War got in the way.  I started to learn things I wasn't supposed to learn. 

I learned about the treatment about minorities.  I learned about inequities.  I learned that not all was fair.  I learned that minority students faced difficulties I did not. 

And the Vietnam War was bad, but worse for minority soldiers than white soldiers.  They didn't get promoted as readily, so they were on the front lines more often.  When they came home wounded, they didn't get the same treatment.

And to be honest here, I was never in Vietnam.  My college deferment protected me until the government had that one massive lottery and I dropped my college deferment and I drew a number never called.  If my number had come up, I would have gone, and I would probably be a very different person than I am today.  But my number wasn't called.

So I stayed in college and started thinking about things.  I changed my major from mechanicl engineering to political science and started studying people and society and how "it all worked".  I had been vaguely Progressive Republican and changed to Progressive Democrat.   There is a difference. 

The former has a "noblesse oblige"aspect of helping those lesser than you; the latter has more of a "we are all equal so help those who need help".  I fail sometimes in attitude sometimes, but I keep in mind that a good start in life helps make a better future for most people. 

I know too many people who think that skin color somehow implies ability.  I know why skin varies and it is just a general adaptation to sunlight exposure.  There is a reason why Scandinavians have whiter skin than Southern Europeans and them being lighter than Africans.  It has nothing to do with intelligence or ability.  It has everything to do with history and geographical advantages. 

Read 'Guns, Germs, and Steel' sometime.  It will open your eyes.

Meanwhile, for the rest of my life after college, I have supported ideas to make the cultural and financial differences of minorities fairer. 

It's why I am a Democrat now.  Things have to become fairer.  That is basically the whole premise of a fair society.  I cannot not support the "Me First" attitude of the Republicans.  And to be honest, I think some Democrats go overboard.  But given 10 issues, I will probably agree with the Democrats on 8.

OK, I've had my say on the subject. 

Odds and Ends

No recent updates on my niece and the consequences of the accident.  News could come tomorrow or in months.

I basically solved my confusion about the EU GDPR notice requiring even foreigners to post about cookie use.  I found a brief one elsewhere and stole it.  It seems to say enough.  Feel free to steal it yourself from here (right under the header).  I think that, after a month, I will move it to the bottom of the blog, and later, somewhere barely findable.  Eventually, it will become nearly meaningless like "This site complies with all international laws applicable in the United States Courts to the best of our understanding. 

I do NOT like that Blogger has eliminated forwarding of comments to email account.  There was no reason given.  If it saved them money, they should say so.  If they polled the community and got a positive response to the idea, they should say so. 

The change is a real inconvenience to me.  I mean, no complaint to Blogger if they had a good reason, but none was given.

I'm also annoyed about the end to Open ID commenters.  I have enough of them who are frustrated and they are long-time commenters who don't want to establish Google accounts.  Its not up to ME if they should or should not.

The rain as been amazing this Spring.  Starting in early May, it has rained about 16-20" total.  I didn't keep track (at the start, who knew it would be a lot?).  But I have a good rain gauge and a general idea of how many times I have seen 1/4" to 3".

And the hardest thing is that it has been rather steady.  3" was a LOT at once.  But most times it is 1/2" every day or so.  The problem is that it keeps the soil soaked.  You plant seeds in soaked soil and they just rot.

Joke:  "I planted rice in early May and they have all drowned".

Seriously, I have lost a month of planting.  I planted 4 square feet of Spinach and got only 4 seedlings.  There should have been 4 dozen.  And I can't plant my deck pots when they are all mud.  Squishing around the wet soil creates little tubs that dry out and form hard layers later that flower roots don't penetrate well.

I have molehills EVERYWHERE!  The soft soil is like Heaven to them.  They are even in the front lawn and I've never had them there before; it is usually too hard for them to dig through.  And the voles use the mole tunnels to get at plant roots.  I'm going to have to spray carol oil over the yard.  That doesn't bother the earthworms the moles feed on, but apparently, it gives them  an awful taste to the moles, so they go elsewhere.  and if there are no mole tunnels, the voles are forced aboveground where nearly everything wants to eat them. 

Their are mole poisons, but I can't use them.  A poisoned mole can mean a poisoned predator (like my cats).  And I've never found a mole trap that had any meaningful affect.  You spike or whatever an few adult moles and it makes little difference.  There are always a few fertile adults left and that means more mole babies.  You have to make the adult moles actually LEAVE!

I've started unclutterring the house.  Well, you have to unclutter before you can clean, and I've let that go for too long.  And no matter what you want to do, something else seems to have to be done first.  So I looked around for "first things". 

I tend to save interesting home maintenance, gardening articles and recipes out of the newspaper and stack them on a corner of the dining table.  I went through the stack and threw most of them away.  I'm not really ever going to make those fancy chocolate truffles or hazelnut cookies, I'm not going to make those "tandoori/honey/duck burritos", and I really don't need a 13th way to BBQ a chicken...

And really, if I ever need to refinish a water-spot on a table top or re-grout a tile, I'll just look it up on the internet. It is time to stop saving information when it it so easily available online!

What I DO need to do is collect all the random stuff off the living room bookcases.  There are aquarium supplies sitting there.  So I need to enclose the existing aquarium stand with wall panel wood and make doors so the stuff has a place to be altogether and out of sight. 

And move some kitchen appliances I seldom use out of the cat-stuff closet to above the cabinets, making room for the 2 shelves of cat toys so THEY are out of sight (but surely not forgotten). 

And then move some stacked books INTO the bookcases, etc...  Figuring out the FIRST thing to do is very important, or else I just end up shifting the clutter around...

And then there is the Cat Room.  Which doubles as a storage room.  My Xmas decorations are still out loose.  I could spend a whole day just in there!  I would like to store them up in the attic, but I had some energy-saving contractor in there a few years ago insulating the place 12' deep (and have never noticed any reduction in my electric bill).  So it is time to put down some plywood flooring (like I used to have there).  And I still have the plywood I originally installed and then removed for the increased insulation in my basement.  But that has to be done before I can move the seldom-used Xmas decorations up there.

There is always something that has to be dome first...

Hard Days

I think I am starting to wear out.  I turned 68 two weeks ago, but that is too early these days.

I pulled weeds for 2 hours yesterday and ended up with involuntary finger clenches again.  It happens more and more frequently these days when I do gripping work.  It never bothers me at the time, but 2 hours later, some fingers decide to clamp tight.

The computer world is escaping from my mental grip.  I've never had more than a desktop computer and a laptop.  The new EU law really got me to realize I could follow help rules.  And I get angry about changes like that Blogger won't forward blog comments to my email (which I am used to) for no reason I can find.

More blogs demand I enter my blog name and email and blog url, and that is getting annoying.  That stuff used to autofill and it doesn't now.  So it gets harder to visit cat-blogs now. 

My teeth are falling apart.  I've been to my dentist 6 times in 3 months.  The last time was to replace an old crown that had developed a hole in the top.  He said I could have it replaced or wait a year and have the tooth pulled.  I went for the new cap.

Which came off the night it was installed.  Hadn't even eaten anything yet since my jaw was still numb.  I could only get an appointment yesterday morning.  And oddly, the cap wouldn't set properly (though it did before). 

I'll bet that means the permanent one will need a lot of adjusting.  I'm sure not looking forward to THAT in 3 weeks.

I find it hard to sit at the computer and visit my blogging friends.  There are always emails that seem more "urgent" these days, and I love those too.  I'm just not balancing things...  You know?

I'm going through some changes, and I don't know where I am going to come out.

Please forgive me if I don't visit for a bit.  I love you all and your visits matter to me.  My "To Do" list is just too long.  If I don't attack the wild blackberries and english ivy in the back yard and the poison ivy spreading everywhere, I'm going to completely lose control of the yard.

I shouldn't be feeling this old at only 68!

Storm Drain

I have a County storm drain at the street end of a long non-County drainage easement.  It is a constant problem, as is wanders down though the higher neighborhood through semi-wild woods.  Every storm brings more tree debris to rest on the top.  I remove them when I notice.  But after severe storms, the debris collects in inter-woven layers. 

Well, after storms this year, they were really tightly bound.  I refuse to stand on the grate because it might collapse.  So I emailed the County office about it a few weeks ago.  2 decades ago, I complained about the whole drainage easement and they advised me that they were "only responsible  for the drain".  So I have reminded them of that the past years whenever the drain got covered so much that it caused flooding in my lower yard. 

The previous times it took them almost 6 months to send out some people to clear it.  And that was done by hand (and poorly).  I don't want to get TOO political, but those were Republicans in charge at the time.  This time there are Democrats in charge, and a crew showed up in a few WEEKS.

They not only did a SUPERB job, they were polite, friendly, and understood how frustrating the flooding the covered grate caused.  WOW!

So here is what it looked like before.

And here is what it looked like today.

And just to be helpful, they cleaned the other one I had not even asked about...

Snake

If snakes give you the "willies", stop reading.  But this one is harmless and eats only mice and moles...

So I went out to get my mail today, and saw this sitting on the driveway.  I looked at it for a while.  I wasn't sure if it was alive or not.  I mean, it was "LUMPY".

While I was looking at it, a guy drove past and then backed up and got out of his car with a camera.  We considered it.  I said it wasn't dangerous because it wasn't a viper.  I thought it is a black snake.  He said he just kills any snake he sees and I said they are rather beneficial (though I sure wouldn't want to step in on by surprise).  Even non-venomous snakes have teeth.

But it wasn't moving and it looked odd (lumpy).  The other guy said, he didn't think it was dead becuase its head was up (that was a really good observation I had missed).

So after taking a couple pictures each, I tapped its tail with my newspaper .  It twitched!  After another tap, it started slithering away, and went up a TREE! 

I was working under a tree once and felt a slight stinky spray.  I looked around and saw nothing.  Then a snake (just like this one) fell onto the ground right next to me.  HEY, IT PEED ON ME!

But I just shoved it with my boot and watched it slither away.  Well, it was no threat to the cats or me, so I admired it.  Snakes are fascinating.  There are few creatures who have completely unique ways of moving around.  Bipedal humans, kangaroos, and snakes...

Here is the snake climbing up in a small tree...

It wasn't there 15 minutes later, so I suppose it was a lot more worried about ME than I was of it.

May it catch many mice and moles...   Live long and eat well, black snake!

Memorial Day

I will take this opportunity to thank all who have given their lives in the defense of freedom  everywhere.  Some were formal military, some were hidden resistance fighters, some were just civilians who tried to stand their ground when pushed by occupying forces, and some were just killed because they were "in the way".  I think all count.

Time Off

There has been a tragic family accident.  A niece drifted into oncoming traffic while driving late at night and hit another car straight on.  She is in the hospital with serious injuries.  The other driver died.

There will be very serious legal and financial consequences for her and her parents (she was driving their car and apparently that matters). 

My thoughts will be elsewhere for a while...

I will be back sometime.  I just don't feel like writing for a while...

Cooking Time, Part 3

OK, I got off on the cookware tangent yesterday.  I still want to mention my cooking.  LOL!

I'm no chef.  But I have been cooking for myself, and others at times, for almost 50 years.  I pretty much cycle though a couple dozen recipes using chicken, pork, beef, ham, shrimp, and pasta (I hate fish).  I can can pretty much do a decent stir-fry with whatever is in the refrigerator.

The stir-fry was a challenge for years.  The sheet-steel woks were always hard to manage and too large for one person.  I kept searching for a small true cast iron one.  I finally found it.  Wonderful thing.  As cast iron, it holds heat.  At 9", it is perfect for one or 2 servings.  It sits solidly on a gas or electric burner.  And it comes pre-seasoned.  I get nothing for saying this, I just like good stuff.

So I buy Boston Butt pork and slow cook it it in the oven at 250F for hours or smoke it outside and cut it all up into cubes I freeze in portions later.  Or buy beef short ribs and sear them to make beef stew (much more taste than stew beef).  I bake or pan fry chicken thighs.  I sear and pan-fry chicken breasts.  Sometimes I make my own "Shake&Bake" mixture, sometimes I just saute them skin side down.

I like searing fully-cooked 1/2" ham slices for later use in tossed salads or with roasted peppers.  I saute or M/W marinated shrimp for dipping in homemade cocktail sauce or commercial tarter sauce (I just can't make decent tarter sauce) or stir-fries.  I buy meatballs at a deli, but I make my own sauce (large canned crushed tomatoes and a small canned roasted diced tomatoes (with crushed fresh garlic, oregano, and dried red pepper).

Pork stew is great.  The diced Boston Butt stays moist and tender.  3 oz of pork, one diced potato, one dived carrot, one diced celery stalk, and I add a spoonful of "Better Than Bouillon" (and the low-sodium version when I can find it) chicken paste. And others.  At least, I never get bored.

I bought a Big Mac and a McChicken sandwich last week.  First time in years.  I was horribly disappointed...  So, I'll stick to my home-cooking for another few years.

I make pizza sometimes.  The pizza stone really helps.  I think I will aim toward thicker softer crusts though.  A little extra yeast in the bread machine recipe should help.

I made nachos for the first time a few months ago.  Too much cheap cheese and soggy chips.  The last time (a week ago), I used crushed hot italian sausage, added some salsa with black olives scallions, and sour cream of course), and used "scoopables" chips.  THAT worked out great.  I'm new to nachos.  Many of you are probably laughing at my simplicity.  That's OK...

I make tollhouse cookies routinely from scratch.  Well, actually, I make tollhouse cookie BARS.  I finally figured out how to convert the cookie recipe into a bar recipe.

Have you ever made banana cake?  I don't mean banana bread.  There is a difference.  You make it in a angel food cake pan and it involves separating the eggs yolks and whites and folding the whipped whites into the batter, etc.  My mom made it and I adored it.  She would never give me the recipe (saying "you will never visit if I tell you.  I'll leave it to you in my Will").  Turns out she got it from Dad's Mom.  Mom finally did send it to me.  3 times.  And every version was slightly different, LOL!

For dinner last night, I made a stir fry of marinated shrimp, asparugus, hot peppers, and mushrooms; served over broken up angel hair spaghetti.  With a splash of dry sherry, soy sauce, and sesame seed oil.  With a baked red beet and a tossed salad with ranch dressing.

When Dad was living with me, he was amazed I made "Sunday Dinner" every day.  Well, why not?  I have the time and the interest.  There is no point in not eating well, and I don't have to go to restaurants to do it.

Cooking Time, Part 2

I posted a recipe yesterday, but there is some background to my enjoyment of cooking...  In fact the previous post was mostly this one, so I decided to divide it.

I actually enjoy cooking.  Even as a child and teen, I was often around the kitchen, doing small chores like peeling potatoes, mashing cooked potatoes, cutting the ends off green beans, husking and desilking corn, etc. 

In college, I was in the first coed dorm at Univ Of MD my sophomore to senior years.  It was previously a women's dorm, and was THAT a surprise!  And not what you may think.  THEY had an oven and stovetop in THEIR rec room.  And just that same year, the Univ allowed dorm residents to go to a partial dining hall plan.  So I bought a mini fridge and kept basic food there.  I also worked 1 week for a cookware company who gave you your sample kit after your first sale.  I had to spend a day in instruction, 3 days before my first sale, and then I quit.  It was seriously high quality cookware. 

Ever heard of Wonderware?  The stuff was amazing!  Stainless steel outside, full copper to the top in the middle, and stainless steel inside.  It was so sturdy, you could jump on it.  The heat conduction was so even, you could simmer at the lowest temperature.  The tops were flat.  In the training session, the Instructor cooked a full meal and dessert by stacking 3 pots on top of 1 burner!  As I recall, it was beef stew in the large bottom pot, corn on the cob in the pot above, and pineapple upside down cake in the top one.

The pieces I still have will be 50 years old in 2 years and still look nearly new.  I had one piece stolen in the dorm (a strange but useless item like a half-height saucepan, and an egg poacher piece disappeared (I assume some apartment-mate stole it years later).

Funny story:  The one sale I made was to a former high school co-student.  I was showing how strong the stuff was when the drunken Dad (6' tall and 250 pounds) came home, glared at me, and said "I bet I can bend it".  So he jumped on the saucepan (on its side), skidded off, and pretty much knocked himself out when he fell (it might have just been the alcohol, too, LOL).  The saucepan was undamaged.

The daughter immediately bought a full set.  I bet she made sure Dad saw her using that set for a long time!  That was my only sale.  I'm not a good salesman, even with a good product.  I can't ask for the money...

But also, I was bothered by the sales pitch.  The company had a great product, but the stuff was expensive.  A few years ago, I considered replacing some of the lost pieces, and as far as I could tell, the price for the basic set was about $1500-2,000 in today's dollars. 

The companies sales technique was to hire college guys to go home for the Summer and sell it to former female co-students as "dowry items".  Sounds sick now.  But it gets worse.  It was sold as monthly payments for a year.  I learned their practce was to resell the contract to a 3rd party who repossessed the set after a single missed payment (which often happened to the young women who were the sales targets). 

How do you think that made the young women think about the guy they knew from high school?

It only occurred to me later that the sample kit I earned was probably a repossession.  And they were depending on using us college guys to sell to our female high school friends (well, what OTHER young women did we know back home?) 

Some of the guys I started with were real successes from Day 1.  One guy sold 10 sets his first week.  Sold a full set each to a former co-student, her  Mother, and an Aunt.  He spent some money to replicate the Instructor demonstration, and they all fell in love with him...  He is probably retired to a private Caribbean Island now.

I bet the company's sales technique didn't bother him in the least bit.

Cooking Time, Part 1

I've been cooking for myself for almost 50 years.  I don't often see a new recipe that I suspect I will like.  The newspaper food section offers stuff like fish smothered in strawberries or pork with aocado sauce.  I know what I like and don't like.  Adding stuff like tofu and pineapple to my tossed salad isn't my style.

But I came across one in Better Homes and Gardens (I got a free subscription with some thing I bought at a store).  It seemed weird, but I tried it.  And I LOVED it!

So here it is (my adjusted version):

1.  Preheat oven to 400F. 
2.  Spray or wipe some olive oil on a sheet pan. 
3.  In a plastic bag, place 6 bone-in chicken thighs, add some olive oil to coat, add some salt, ground pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and some dried red pepper flakes to taste.  Shake bag to spread spices.
4.  Place chicken on baking sheet.
5.  Add 1 lemon and 2 shallots cut into wedges.
6.  Bake 30-40 minutes until chicken thighs are 175F.
7.  Squeeze lemons to release remaining juice.  Careful, they are hot.
8.  Remove chicken to bowl and cover to keep warm.
9.  Add 1/2 cup green olives and 2 pats butter to pan.  Return pan to oven for 5 minutes.
10.  Pour heated pan liquid into a fat separator for 5 minutes.  It separates quickly.
11.  Pour juices over chicken and let sit 5 minutes.
12.  Serve over any starch or pasta you like or none.

Another Good Day Outside

Can you guess what these 2 garden paths and part of a flowerbed have in common?

No weeds!  And why?  They were covered all Winter with old black plastic sheeting!  The stuff was used several year elsewhere, had rip and holes and cutouts for various resons.  but folded up a couple times, it worked great to smother the winter weeds in the paths and bed  and then cook whatever was left in the hot sun the past few weeks!

I spread them out to dry, but actually I have a new use for them.  I have some annoying vine that a neighbor planted then mowed to death.  But not before it escaped to my yard where I can't mow.  This Summer will be a 'KILL THOSE VINES" project.  I don't like using herbicides near the garden, so I will use the string trimmer to cut them to ground level, then cover the areas with the many-times-used black plastic.  I have lots of bricks and stones to hold the plastic down.

They have gotten established in the old asparagus bed.  The asparagus is long gone (lasts about 20 years and they were planted 30 years ago).  Because there are also junk tree saolings growing there, I cut them down to ground level.  Obnoxiously, that won't kill them.  But I have an old piece of plywood that just fits.  So I will set that down AND put black plastic on top weighted down with old cinder blocks.  That old framed bed should be good to use again in 2 years.  Sometimes, things take time to passively improve.

The 2 dwarf apple trees have been in place for 2 decades and I've never gotten a ripe one from them.  The Evil Squirrels take then away before they are ripe.  And poison ivy has taken over the ground beneath them.  So very soon, I will use the hedge trimmer to cut the poison ivy to ground level (wearing a mask and elbow length rubber gloves that will go straight into soapy water in the basement laundry tub after), cover the ground with more of the old black plastic, and cut down the apple trees.

I will use a chain saw to lop the 3" thick apple wood trunks into small 1" slices for B-B-Q smoking, and wait for the poison ivy to smother under the plastic by next year. 

Poison ivy abounds here.  I have 2 neighbors who have parts of their yards they pay no attention to, and the stuff grows rampant.  Birds are immune to poison ivy and eat the berries, so they spread around all over.  I sometimes find new poison ivy plants growing where no poison ivy plant is near, so it has to be from seeds from bird-droppings.

Talking to my neighbors about it has no effect.  I even offerred to spray them myself, but they declined.   I meant the poison ivy, of course, but would consider the neighbors for being so oblivious.  LOL!

New Neighbors

My new neighbors appear to be new to home-owning.  I've mowed my lawn 3 times.  Theirs is 12-18" high!  I was looking for an opportunity to ask them if they wanted me to use my riding mower on their yard (without seeming like a pest) while they shopped for a mower of their own.  I mean, for all I know, they are saving up to buy a mower.  When I bought this first house, I was down to "dollars and dimes".

So I was surprised to see the front lawn was mowed while I was out grocery-shopping 2 days ago.  They even mowed the few square feet in the corner of my lawn I can't get to with the riding mower and often just use a string trimmer on (My own regular push mower won't start and the battery string trimmer needed recharging).

Today they took a whack at the back yard and I was amazed.  They would push the mower forward 5 feet, then pull it back, then push it in a different direction, and pull it back again.  I'm not sure what their idea was, but really tall grass is hard to mow.

They stay inside almost all the time.  First, that makes it hard to figure out what the family structure is.  For the first several months, it appeared to be a husband and wife and a child about 5.  But the husband was almost never there.  I figured out that the husband is there when the car is in the driveway (the garage must be full) and may not actually live there. 

And a new surprise.  A 16 or so female showed up along with the usual crowd of high-schoolers walking down the street from the bus stop further up the neighborhood.  I haven't seen her before.  And she was the one who started mowing the back yard in the weird pattern. 

This has become a diverse neighborhood over the 32 years I've lived here.  And I rather like that.  There are sometimes very interesting smells coming from outdoor cooking.  And I see interesting decorations around holidays.  All that makes MY differences stand out less.

These neighbors are hispanic, I think.  At least, I assume so from when I noticed from the mother taking the child inside when the hispanic guys started cursing at some tree limbs they were fighting with (I guessed by the tone of voice).  I took Spanish in high school, and trust me, they did NOT teach us curse words.  But you can generally make a good guess in almost any language, LOL!

I'm outside a lot, so I tend to be aware of my neighbors...

So the teenager was mowing the lawn in a strange way, and all of a sudden, I heard her cry out and saw through the fence she was lying on the ground holding a leg.  The child yelled "Mama, Mama".  I was just reaching for the 4' stepladder sitting next to the shed to get up over the fence to see if she was injured when the older woman (30?) of the house ran out.  But she didn't seem distressed.  So I guess the mower hit a rock and it hit the teenager's leg.  She was up and mowing again in a couple minutes.

Have you ever just wished you could knock on a neighbor's door and say "Can I help you learn how to do yard-things"?  But knowing you didn't speak the same language?

I guess I have to just watch and wait.  *SIGH*

Good Outside Day

I presoak my large seeds.  I think I get more emerging seedlings that way.  I put them in an old ice cube tray.  It isn't hard to tell some seeds apart (what else looks like corn or beans?) .  But I had 2 kinds of SE bi-color corn (early and late) so I drew a box on paper with names.

I planted the beans (yellow italian flat pole beans), english style seedless cucumbers, a couple yellow squash along the trellises at the back of the framed beds.

Planting the corns was more involved.  I chose to plant then where I had tomatoes near the house last year.  It was mostly still covered with red plastic so there weren't too many weeds, but there were some.  And I added 2" of compost to the top.  I have a nice little electric tiller good for small spaces and used that to mix the compost in.

I didn't think there was much above ground or below, but this little tiller really wraps up anything around the blades!  It took we 15 minutes to unwind all the grass and weed roots (and I was annoyed to find a poison ivy vine it pulled up. 

I was wearing gloves, so no real concern about a poison ivy rash, but I soaked the gloves in hot soapy water and washed my had up to the elbows carefully afterwards.  I'm careful around that stuff, as I pulled up unknown viny roots from my asparagus bed and had 2 weeks of poison ivy annoyance years ago.

But after the tilling, the ground was soft and mostly weed-free.  So I drew two 3'x3' blocks  and stuck stakes around them  to mark the planted area.  There is space for another succession planting of 2'x2' blocks of both corns in 3 weeks.  Stuck one germinated corn seed in each 1 square foot block.

Then it was time to fertilize.  I had some leftover 6-0-0 corn gluten meal liquid and some N-Lite 2-6-6 (which makes a good balance), but I can't use the corn gluten liquid where there are new seeds.  Then I remembered I had some organic 11-0-0 lawn fertilizer.

So I sprinkled a mix of the lawn fertilizer and the N-Lite that resulted in a 6-6-6 fertilizer for most of the garden.  I used the corn gluten liquid (that prevents seed from germinating) on the tomato and pepper seedling bed (since it won't disturb them but will suppress weeds).   And I spread mostly lawn fertilizer over the corn planting area since corn is a heavy Nitrogen user (like lawn grass).

And since I was in "fertilizing mode", I mixed more 6-6-6 to spread on the meadow flower bed and the hummer/bee/butterfly bed. 

The hummer/bee/butterfly bed really got my attention.  It is almost bare of growth!  I suspect the seed mix I sowed last year was almost all annuals. 

I need to find a better mix.  I got out the catolog I bought the last year's seeds from, but they do not say which are annuals and which are perennials.

But that is for next time.  I was tired.

Meadow Bed

My error.  I mentioned the meadow bed last time, but didn't show a picture of it.

It is lush with perennials.  There may be flowers in a month.  More pictures then...

Simple Useful Work, Part 2

The other minor project was to re-install the sunflower seed bird feeder.  There were problems.  The feeder itself needed some repairs (being 25 years old and damaged a few times), the pole was loose in the ground (just set in soil), and when I had some tree work done recently, one of the crew pulled it up (in case of an errant falling branch).  He leaned it against another tree and it fell over.  I've damaged it twice myself, taking it off the pole and trying to use it on the deck ahead of serious snowstorms for easier refilling. 

Anyway, It has been reglued and rescrewed several times.  I wasn't sure it could be again.  But with some work and more screws, it should last another couple years. 

The pole is designed to thwart Evil Squirrels.  It WORKS!  Just below the feeder, I have a wide flat baffle 5' up the pole.  Immediately below, I have a barrel baffle.  It works perfectly, no Evil Squirrel has been able to get at the feeder.  If you have a problem with the tree-rats, just do THAT!

But it means I have to haul out my 8' stepladder every time I want to refill it.  So I had this idea that if I could put a hinge on the pole, bend it over 90 degrees, and refill it from ground level (with a large funnel though the output opening).  I finally found a pipe hinge designed to do that.

After finally cutting the pole to attach the hinge, it wobbled when attached.  I decided the fitting was actually metric, so I used some metal strapping to tighten it.  It wasn't easy.  And it didn't work!  THe wobble was in the hinge itself.  It allows very little wobble, but over a 5' pipe, that adds up.  It was unsatisfactory.

So (having cut the old pole in half, I needed a new one.  But at least this time I could make sure it would come loose in the soil.  It needed sideways braces in the soil.

So I went to the DIY store and looked at pipe-fittings.  I came up with this...

The aboveground pipe is 6'.  There is a 10" extension, a 4-way connection with  3" pieces out the sides, another 10" extension, and a 3-way at the bottom with 3" pieces out the sides at 90 degrees.  I dug a 2' hole, set the post in it, propped it up level N/S and E/W and added soil back in 6" at a time with water and hard tamping with a 2"x4" board as I went.  When I reached ground level, it was still perfectly vertical.  I gave it a day to dry in place, then rotated the birdfeeder (there is a screw on flange on the bottom) and when it was tight it (wonder of wonders) was facing straight toward the deck.  HURRAY!

It is perfect again.  I still have to use the stepladder to refill it.  I guess I'll have to live with that.  Sometimes you have to do some work just to get back to "normal".   But with those pipe extensions at 90 degree angles in the deeper clay soil, I bet it never leans or twists around in the wind again, LOL! 

So, being pleased with my work and it being only 4 pm, I decided to remove weeds from my butterfly/bee/hummingbird bed.  It is hard to tell, but it is a 10' circle with edging around it.  There were some mock strawberries.  AND some viney weed with similar leaves but small sharp thorns along the stem.  I had to dig them out individually with a trowel.  The roots don't have thorns, so I got down in them to pull.  I got mostly roots, so those are set back a few years at least.

On the other hand, there isn't much growing there either.  I think the seed mix I bought was mostly annuals.  Fortunately, I bought several kinds of perennials that fit the butterfly/bee/hummingbird requirements and will be adding those soon.  And I saved seeds from there that I will scatter tomorrow and cover lightly with compost.  And I planted 4 sunflowers in the center around a 2' tall 12' wide cage to support them.  Being clipped to the top of the cage really helps support them when they reach full height (6').

The meadow bed is growing like mad.  It is mostly perennials, but I am growing some self-seeding annuals that are natural to meadows.  It should look good this year and better next year. 



The separate meadow bed

Simple Useful Work, Part 1

Some days are good for starting major projects, some days are good for doing nothing, and some days are good for doing a bunch of minor stuff.

Yesterday and today were good for minor stuff...

First, I got my Very Large rain gauge set up.  I did feel like digging a 2' hole for a 4'x4' wood post (like I used to have it on), so I used an old piece of metal pipe that I could just pound into the ground at a new spot.  And "wonder of wonders", the pipe was perfectly vertical in both directions.  I used metal pipe brackets to hold a piece of scrap wood to the pipe, then attached the rain gauge holder to that with screws.  The rain gauge is aimed directly at the master bathroom window so I can see how much rain as soon as I get up in the morning.  That red thing at the bottom floats, so I can easily tell from the window.  Helps me plan my day...

And I had to make a new holder for it because I installed a hose reel at the old spot last year.  I got tired uncoiling and recoiling the hose every time I needed to mow the lawn and found a good solid powder-coated aluminum hose reel.  It did say "wall mount only".  They don't know me very well, LOL!  Some of you may remember this project.

I not only post-mounted it, I constructed it so the hose reel would swivel (so that I could pull it off in the directions I needed to use the hose.

It turns right.

It turns left.

Well, that because I attached a metal TV turntable (that I had sitting around for years, bought at a farmer's market because it "looked useful") between the 2 layers of boards!  And figuring out how to do that nearly drove me crazy!  You see, you have to drive screws into it down into the bottom layer of wood AND up into the top layer.  But as soon as you do the first, you can't do the second because the bottom wood prevents access to the upwards screws.

I found a few videos online about how to do that and still couldn't figure it out.  I sat at my workbench for an hour each several times before I finally caught on.  I won't bore you with the details (unless you need to know, facing a similar problem), but it finally worked.

The 2 platforms are edge-joined boards.  That may sound flimsy, but each pair has 3 glued biscuits and a strip of construction adhesive between the biscuits.  They wont come apart.  Anything worth doing is worth over-doing, I always say!

Then I drilled 2 holes through both platforms and dropped bolts into the holes.  That stops the hose reel from turning when I rewind the hose (it swivels back and forth forcefully when I turn the winding handle otherwise).

The rest tomorrow...

The New Recliner Chair

Sadly, after trying out the new recliner chair for a few days, it isn't working out.  I had to move it from the TV room to the living room and put the better of the older chairs back in front of the TV.

I should have bought locally after trying many recliners at different stores.  I wasn't really intending to buy a large recliner chair.  As I mentioned previously, I had it in my Amazon cart as a "maybe" and forgot it was there when I ordered a couple of other items and hit "1-click" purchase.  And by the time days later when I discovered that, Amazon said it was out of their hands being a 3rd party purchase.  The manufacturer said the chair was already in production.  Amazon, in turn said I could refuse delivery, but the returns policy was up to the 3rd party.  The manufacturer, in their turn at emails, said I would be responsible for return shipping in the original shipping container.

The deliverer had ripped the shipping box apart because it seemed damaged and wanted to be sure of the condition of the chair.  There was no damage, and after going further than he had to (inside front door delivery or garage only), we brought the 2 pieces of the chair up  the front stairs to the main level.  He took the ripped up box away, and I wrestled the chair into place and attached the back to the base. 

It is a rocker recliner (but not swivel).  When I sat back in it, it was very comfortable with a high soft back, soft wide arms, and with the footrest up it was very comfortable.  But then I started discovering some negatives about the chair.

1.  You can't rest any weight on the arms, there is no structure in them.
2.  If you lean back, you go all the way back.
3.  The lever that lifts the footrest is one way.  You can't move it the other way to lower the footrest.  You have to push down hard with your feet and lean forward at the same time.
4.  If you lean forward without the footrest up (and this is the killer), it tilts downwards to the point where you start to slide off.  My old existing rocker swivel chairs had a positive forward stop at forward "level".
5.  When I sit level on the new recliner, it takes a bit of balance, but also, my feet don't reach the floor!  I'm not used to that.  OK,  I'm short, but my legs are even a bit short for my height (I have to have all pants shortened to a 25" inseam.  Not having my feet on the floor is uncomfortable.
5.  I am mostly a "percher", meaning that I mostly sit on the front of a chair.  At my old chair, I sit on the front edge to eat dinner from a TV tray and to type on my laptop while watching TV.  I can't do that in this new chair.

So I'm kind of stuck with a chair I don't want and can't return.  I suppose I will try to sell it for 1/2 price and write it off as a bad decision.  It isn't the manufacturer's fault.  It was up to me to decide if it suited me.  It isn't Amazon's fault; they offerred it, I bought it.  The chair seems to work as designed.

Sometimes, you just make a poor purchasing decision and deal with it.

But I now have a greater appreciations for small rocker recliner chairs that would suit my body shape better and have features I want (like a positive forward stop at level").  I have learned a lesson here.  I can adapt to a lot, but there are limits.  And I'll sure check my Amazon cart before hitting
"1-click purchase" again...

Meanwhile, some of you may notice that my old chair lacks the worn out spots on the front of the arms in future pictures.  That's because I had 2 and took the other one as the new TV/Dinner/Laptop chair.

It is almost funny that I went for a recliner.  As I said, I'm mostly a percher.  But the backs of the old chairs are 4" short of supporting my head properly when I DO lean back.  So I still want a replacement chair with a higher back.  I have seen a few online (but from local stores).  So I think I will be doing some actual physical testing. 

I've gotten too used to shopping online.  Time for some real-world testing for a chair!

A Strange Rememerance

I had the oddest recollection last night in a dream.  Mostly, my dreams are of past events and jobs like when I wake up and wish I could retire and then suddenly realize I have and am grateful.

But for some reason, I dreampt a true story that Grampa told me about his days in a shelter house during the Great Depression and why he had a scar on the back of his hand. 

He said he was sitting at the community house table and they actually had pork chops.  He claimed the lights went out while there was one pork chop left on the center plate.  He got there first but the guy next to him went at it with a fork.  Hence his scar.

I know it is probably an old joke.  I bet the true story would have been better (but more personal).  But he went through some hard times in the Great Depression and that was likely the kindest way he could joke about it years later when I was a grandchild.

I always loved picking beans with him, and then later, pulling off the strings with Gramma.  I had such great memories of them both and they died when I went off to college.  Grampa is why I'm an organic gardener, and Gramma is why I learned to cook.  And she taught me to play cards and games.  She was lethal at them and never let me win when I didn't deserve to.  Taught me to THINK HARD.

You know, sometimes I think I only blog to unspool my life...

New Chair

Back in late February I placed a 1-click order on Amazon.  I glanced casually at the cart first, but I didn't notice I had a big recliner chair on the list that was a serious "maybe".    And when the order confirmation email came back I was all "yeah, yeah" and didn't review it carefully.  So I had ordered a big recliner chair I wasn't certain I wanted...  My bad!

So when I did look at the order confirmation, I was somewhat surprized to see I had ordered the chair.  I contacted Amazon and they told me that, since it was a 3rd party order, I could cancel but would be responsible for return shipping.  I contacted the manufacturer and they said that since the order was already in production, it was not cancelable.  I asked if I could get it in black to match my decor better, but they said it only came in "chocolate". 

The whole time schedule was kind of a joke.  I received an email in early March saying it would be delivered on April 20th.  When I looked up the tracking history recently, I discovered the chair had been shipped to a local freight company on March 15th and was sitting in a warehouse only 90 miles away.  It took them 5 weeks to deliver it from there?

A little history...  Back in the mid 90s, I found a cushioned upholstered rocker/swivel chair I liked at a local store.  It came in peach, aqua, or butter.  Aaccckkk!  But, liking the chair, I emailed the manufacturer and told them I loved the chair but could I get it in black and an ottoman as a special order?  They replied that they were flattered and willing, but I would have to order 2 chairs AND send them the fabric (and told me how much was required for 2 chairs and the ottoman).  Well, I wanted 2 chairs anyway...

I had to visit several fabric stores before I found one with enough black fabric that seemed durable enough.  I send the fabric to the manufacturer along with their email and a letter from me with more details.  2 months later, the chairs arrived.  The freight company told me that delivery was merely off-truck, so I had to arrange for a local delivery company to pick it up from the freight company and deliver them in "room of choice" (as I learned the term was later).  I only discovered afterwards that the chairs were lighter than I thought and I could have just carried them from the freight truck at the street into my house on my own, but you live and learn. 

I was happy enough with those chairs was over 20 years.  But springs sag, upholstery wears out, and everything begins to fall apart eventually.  I spent a lot of evening time sitting in one of the chairs, and when Dad was her for 2 years, he practically lived in the other.  Time for a new chair!

I considered a cushioned rocker/swivel arm computer chair.  I find them comfortable.  But when I stretch my legs out on the ottoman and cat curls up on my legs, that gets a bit uncomfortable with the weight on my unsupported knees.  So I decided to get a recliner.

OK, so much for the previous chairs.  I got my money's worth out of them.

So, I had spoken to a freight representative and she explained that they would do "inside delivery", which was great because the chair weighed 175 pounds.  I live in a "split-foyer" house with the basement on surface level.  The front door is up 6 outside steps.  You enter the door and there is a 3'x5' landing.  You can go up down a half flight of stairs to the basement or up a half flight to the main level.  It's a ranch house built on a surface basement and there is an attic.

So "inside delivery" sounded good.   I sure can't get 175 pound chair up the half flight of stairs myself.  But 2 days ago, I called to confirm the delivery date and confirm the "inside delivery" (I've had some surprises before when truck drivers didn't agree with company policy).  Sure enough, it turns out "inside delivery " means through the front door (or garage or side door) AND NO FURTHER.

Well, damn, if it just goes into the landing inside the front door, I can't even close the door!  So I considered possibilities.  My first thought was a bribe.  If the deliverers had to carry the box up the outside steps annyway, maybe $20 (or $40 dollars if there was too much hesitation) would get it up the half flight of stairs.  I could deal with it from there.  My second thought was to have it delivered into the garage, so I pulled my car out the morning before delivery.  The third possibility was to let them bring the box to the front steps and then threaten to refuse delivery and point out that "up the stairs" was a shorter distance than "back onto the truck".

As an aside, one of my first government jobs was getting furniture delivered to Congressional State and District Offices, and I learned a bit about whgat it took to get deliverers to bring furniture into awkward offices, LOL!  I will add that option 1 about cash bribes was not an allowed option.

The delivery was scheduled between 8am - 5 pm (and you thought cable companies were bad).  But I know that the delivery routes are carefully planned and the items are packed on the truck to empty from the back to the front.  So first thing this morning, I called the freight companies and asked approximately where I was on the route.  The person I spoke to checked and said, "Well, you seem to be in the middle of the delivery route, so my best guess is between 11 and 2".  Well, that was better than 8-5... 

He arrived at 4:40...  You can't win even when you ask the right questions sometimes.  And he arrived alone.  No helper.  And he said the box looked "pretty beat up".  Those are NOT words you want to hear!

But lest you think this is a disaster post, rest assured all worked out better than I expected!

First, he said "Let me bring the box to the front door and we will open it up and examine it for damage.  [My jaw drops]. 

Second, he rips the box apart and we examine the 2 parts of the chair in great detail.  I mean, HE is looking for damage too as if it was his chair.  We couldn't find the least bit of damage. 

Third, he picked up the back of the chair and went in the front door.  I helpfully pointed to the top of the stairs, and he brought it right up to the top of the stair!

Fourth, he was not so sure about getting the heavier base of the chair up the stairs, so I grabbed one end and said "we both can".  It was awkward for me holding the top end and walking backwards up the stairs, but it went fine.

And he handed me the e-ticket to sign and walked back to the truck and drove away.  I owe him a very positive review to his company about his help.  I hope it gets him a bonus...

So I had these 2 pieces of chair sitting at the top of my stairs...  I have things for that.  I built a wooden base with wheels years ago and put the the base on it to push to the spot in front of the TV.  The back was simply carryable. 

I had expected more assembly (like attaching the chair legs and the handle that lifts the human leg support), but everything was installed.  Attaching the back to the base was easy.  It fits down onto 2 heavy metal tapered attachments.  There was a satisfying "CLICK" as they meshed.

And then I sat on it.  More properly, I should say I :SANK: into it.  The recliner handle isn't exactly where I would have put it (being a little forward of easy reach), but it worked fine.  The back is high enough to provide great head support in soft comfort.  I was a bit confused at first that the reliner handle didn't ALSO unrecline the footrest, but discovered that the footrest returned to "unreclined" position with just a little downward pressure.

I miss the swivel ability of the previous chairs, but you can't have everything.

The cats are in love with it!  The arms are so wide and cushioned that Iza fell asleep on my right arm and Marley purred awake on the left.  I'm sure I will see Ayla there soon.

Pictures!

Now, knowing the size of this chair, I need to build a nice end table to match the space between the chair on the wall.  Right now, I am using 2 TV trays to hold remotes and the telephone.  And I need to move some pictures behind the chair.  With the small desk that was next to the smaller old chair removed, I need horizontal space for "stuff"!

DNA Re-test

CRIgenetics agreed to send me a new test kit for re-testing.  I had annoyed them with several emails suggesting that their results were possibly contaminated because their report of recent ancestry was inconsistent with known family genealogy.

Here is a question.  Since I suspect this company of errors and just MIGHT possibly just send me the identical previous report to avoid admitting an error, I have a thought.  Should I just honestly send them my own cheek swab again OR get tricky and try to get a friend to do a cheek swab to see if they send an identical report?   In that case, I would know they were falsifying the results just making the report up.

My dilemma is that, if I send them my own cheek swab again and get identical results as the last time, I will never know if they just simply sent me the original report again or if there is some accuracy to it I don't understand.   But if I get some friend or neighbor to agree to this little trick, and CRI tests accurately,  and if the results are different, I won't actually know whether the new test results are his or mine.

And quite frankly, if someone came to ME and suggested this "swap of swab",  I would be immediately suspicious of some intended legal or family deception, and would decline to participate.

I'm not in any way suspecting parental infidelity, adoption, or family uncertainties in any way.  I and my siblings certainly look enough like our parents.  

I just want to have some reason to think the original report was inaccurate because it calls the genealogy into question AND disagrees substantially with a previous DNA test.  So I want this 2nd company to "generally" agree with the other company.

I might have to get a 3rd company as a tie-breaker.  The cost is trivial. 

So, hit me with logical questions, suggestions, advice, experience, or anything else...

Telphone Calls

I had the weidest experience and I'm still trying to figure it out.

1.  I kept getting calls from the same number.  6-10 per day
2.  I have NoMoRoBo. so calls from known telemarketers ring once and are blocked.  But I still had to manually delete the "missed calls" list
3.  I reverse-looked up the telephone number and the report was it a known telemarketer for Cingular telephone.
4.  I finally got pissed off enough to call them.
5.  It wasn't Cingular.
6.  It was a small company that offerred house HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) onsite surveys.
7.  The nice lady I spoke to was horrified I was getting all these calls.
8.  She said they had a new marketing calling system but it was never intended to call more than once a month
9.  But she said they were having problems with it.
10. But she said she could delete my number from their system in a keystroke.  Yeah right...  If she could, all those other telemarketers could.
11. But I haven't gotten a call from them in week!
12.  It worked!
13.  And that's proof that any company could do that!

Think about that.  Any telemarketer can probably eliminate your phone number from their list, but they just WON'T...

You just have to get to someone willing to.

And something else weird?  I haven't gotten any spam calls from them for 3 days.  Now, maybe I'm just lucky, but I also haven't gotten any OTHER spam calls

It might be worth calling back the numbers that call you and raising hell!

Mark