I messed up my right knee in April. It still bothers me. But I know what caused it.
Last night. I did something that messed up my left knee. It is as if I hit it on a door frame. But I didn't. Can't think of anything I did to cause it. Damn...
I guess I'm going to have to see a doctor... I used to just heal in a week from these sorts of problems. But not any more. Getting old is really annoying.
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Angry Voters
I have been hard on Donald Trump (and rightly so). But I haven't discussed his supporters much.
I sort of understand them. They are angry. They are desperate. They aren't living the life their parents enjoyed.
In a general sense, we all know that some people succeed in life better than others. And the others don't. The reasons are not my point here. My point is that they know the world is somehow passing them by, they are not succeeding, and they are angry. There are few emotions stronger than anger.
Hate is usually directed, anger is diffuse.
Trump has activated the angry people. He wouldn't have gotten the Republican nomination for President if anger and fear wasn't a real thing in significant part of the population.
I do not fear Trump. He will go down into crushing defeat on Election Day. It is the angry people who concern me. Their anger is justified. They used to have decent-paying jobs putting headlights on cars, collecting coins from parking meters, loading luggage on airplanes, etc. There used to be jobs you could just learn to DO without having to work on a computer, make decisions, or attend meetings and argue with people. Some people are just not good at those things. And they have fewer places to do work now.
And I understand because in the 1st 10 years of my adult life, I had cruddy jobs too. I pushed a lawn mower in the hot sun for 2 Summers on an Army Base. I spent 2 Summers pumping gas at a full service station where the owner dipped his sticky fingers into the till and charged us workers for the "losses".
I worked at minimum wage in several department stores while the rent went up faster than my wages. I even got to where I was in charge of a 1/4 of the department store and my hourly pay was 25 cents above minimum wage. And the store managers cheated us every chance they could get because every dime they took out of our pocket went into theirs!
But I took a competitive exam for Government work and scored 100% in 5 categories of jobs. That was because *I* spent my time in high school studying while "other" kids were goofing off. I learned "stuff". I practiced general skills. I did well. I was promoted regularly. I retired well.
But not much better than the middle class in the US did in the 50s and 60s. The high point of the US economy was when unions were strong (but not overly strong), when the percentage of the total wealth held by the top 1% was low, and when a college education for children was withing reach of most middle class families.
There was a chart in Scientific American magazine a month ago that showed the percentage of national wealth held by the top 1% of Americans.
In the 1920s, it rose to 20%. At the end of The Great Depression, it was down to 15%, and the end of WWII, it was down to 10%.
In 1970, it was down to 8%. After the Republican Tax Reform act of 1986, it rose rather suddenly to 16%, and after the 2000 Bush Administration, it went back up to 18%. That is wrong. The trickle down theory of wealth only means every one below the top 1% gets peed on.
The Republicans are doing it very very wrong, in pay to their super-rich supporters. But the Democrats are doing things a whole lot better.
What we need is a Centrist-Union party dedicated to recreating the middle class. No industrialized nation can survive without a strong middle class. That is what makes democracy work.
Democracy works best when the poor have a path up, the middle class has some basic stability in life, and the rich are accepting a lower level than "outrageously fabulous".
I'll give a sports example...
Say you are a farmkid in Kansas and you have a choice between driving a tractor around cornfields for $20K a year vs earning $100K a year catching balls in the outfield. Of course you would take the $100K. But is it worth $50M. No, you would do it for $100K. It is idiodically super-rich people playing their own game, competing with each other.
If they weren't, the seats would cost $10 and they would all still make a fine profit. THat's what a generally middle-class world would look like...
I sort of understand them. They are angry. They are desperate. They aren't living the life their parents enjoyed.
In a general sense, we all know that some people succeed in life better than others. And the others don't. The reasons are not my point here. My point is that they know the world is somehow passing them by, they are not succeeding, and they are angry. There are few emotions stronger than anger.
Hate is usually directed, anger is diffuse.
Trump has activated the angry people. He wouldn't have gotten the Republican nomination for President if anger and fear wasn't a real thing in significant part of the population.
I do not fear Trump. He will go down into crushing defeat on Election Day. It is the angry people who concern me. Their anger is justified. They used to have decent-paying jobs putting headlights on cars, collecting coins from parking meters, loading luggage on airplanes, etc. There used to be jobs you could just learn to DO without having to work on a computer, make decisions, or attend meetings and argue with people. Some people are just not good at those things. And they have fewer places to do work now.
And I understand because in the 1st 10 years of my adult life, I had cruddy jobs too. I pushed a lawn mower in the hot sun for 2 Summers on an Army Base. I spent 2 Summers pumping gas at a full service station where the owner dipped his sticky fingers into the till and charged us workers for the "losses".
I worked at minimum wage in several department stores while the rent went up faster than my wages. I even got to where I was in charge of a 1/4 of the department store and my hourly pay was 25 cents above minimum wage. And the store managers cheated us every chance they could get because every dime they took out of our pocket went into theirs!
But I took a competitive exam for Government work and scored 100% in 5 categories of jobs. That was because *I* spent my time in high school studying while "other" kids were goofing off. I learned "stuff". I practiced general skills. I did well. I was promoted regularly. I retired well.
But not much better than the middle class in the US did in the 50s and 60s. The high point of the US economy was when unions were strong (but not overly strong), when the percentage of the total wealth held by the top 1% was low, and when a college education for children was withing reach of most middle class families.
There was a chart in Scientific American magazine a month ago that showed the percentage of national wealth held by the top 1% of Americans.
In the 1920s, it rose to 20%. At the end of The Great Depression, it was down to 15%, and the end of WWII, it was down to 10%.
In 1970, it was down to 8%. After the Republican Tax Reform act of 1986, it rose rather suddenly to 16%, and after the 2000 Bush Administration, it went back up to 18%. That is wrong. The trickle down theory of wealth only means every one below the top 1% gets peed on.
The Republicans are doing it very very wrong, in pay to their super-rich supporters. But the Democrats are doing things a whole lot better.
What we need is a Centrist-Union party dedicated to recreating the middle class. No industrialized nation can survive without a strong middle class. That is what makes democracy work.
Democracy works best when the poor have a path up, the middle class has some basic stability in life, and the rich are accepting a lower level than "outrageously fabulous".
I'll give a sports example...
Say you are a farmkid in Kansas and you have a choice between driving a tractor around cornfields for $20K a year vs earning $100K a year catching balls in the outfield. Of course you would take the $100K. But is it worth $50M. No, you would do it for $100K. It is idiodically super-rich people playing their own game, competing with each other.
If they weren't, the seats would cost $10 and they would all still make a fine profit. THat's what a generally middle-class world would look like...
Monday, October 10, 2016
Annoying Commercials
I have a love/hate relationship with TV commercials. I love humorous ones and hate annoying ones. Dad used to mute commercials, but I always found the deafening silence more annoying than the commercial themselves. So I grew pretty immune to them.
That doesn't mean I didn't hear what they said. The mind just filters out the brand names And sometimes there is a new product that will actually draw my interest in the general product. Then I research similar products that do the same work better. Then I sometimes find stuff that really works.
And they have learned a couple of new tricks this year. In the first, they repeat the same commercial the 1st and 3rd time in a single station break. In the second, they have the same commercial played on related channels at the same time. So if you are watching the Science channel and an annoying commercial comes and you switch to the History channel, you are likely to see the same commercial.
But, my favorite disliked commercials...
1. Some allergy medication that says their competitor treats 1 problem and they treat 6 AND 6 IS GREATER THAN 1. Was 6 being greater than 1 supposed to be a revelation to me?
2. A car insurance company that criticizes a competitor for telling a customer they should have bought "full replacement insurance" and says the customer should have researched that company better. And then offers to sell you "full replacement insurance". Just like they criticized the competitor for doing.
3. I'll name names for this one. For several years, Comcast has been comparing its cable service speed to Verizons DSL service saying "we are 5x faster". I don't know if you remember what DSL is, but it stands for "Digital Subscriber Service". DSL is about 40 years old technology. It worked over old twisted copper wire telephone lines that were basically cleaned of static so that 9600 kbs could be transmitted over old-fashioned telephone lines.
Its like comparing a 1940s Oldsmobile car to a 2016 Mercedes Benz in terms of spped, safety, and features. And you only know Comcast is comparing their current service to DSL if you listen the the fast-talk and the very end on the commercial.
4. All the car insurance companies who claim to have better rates than the others... Every insurance company has slightly different rates for coverage and cost. Everyone has SOME combination where they are cheaper than the others. They can all prove they are better than the others at SOME specific coverage even if that coverage combination is so limited and bizarre that almost no one would choose it.
5. Another one I dislike is a medication that says ours can start working in 30 minutes while out competitor's can take up to 24 hours. I get such a kick out of that. From what little I can discover, they are the same chemical. Medication tests show a range of response times to the medications. For the same medication, some people respond very quickly and some respond very slowly.
So a particular medication may work very quickly on some people and very slowly on others. There are many causes for that, but don't worry about that. What Company "A is saying is that SOME test subjects self-reported an effect in 30 minutes. And that SOME of Company X's test subjects reported irt took 24 hours. What they are NOT telling you (because they don't have to" as that some of THEIR test subjects took 24 hours to respond and some of the Competitor test subjects took only 30 minutes.
In other words, they were identical. One company took the absolute lowest response time and compared it to the other company's longest response time.
-----------------------
It can be hard to stay ahead of the advertizing.
Rule 1 is to look for hidden insults. Advertisers assume everyone is stupid and gullible. "6 is greater than 1" is the best example I have seen of that in many years.
Rule 2 is to think about the assumptions. Is a car showing it being driven at 120 mph better than a car being driven at 60? How often do you drive at 120?
Rule 3 is to read the fine print at the bottom of the screen at the end of the commercial. Puse it or record it. That's were ALL the truth is.
Rule 4 is to turn off the sound and look at the commercial without the expensive talented narrator.
Rule 5 is to do the opposite. Close your eyes and listen to the narrator. Sometimes what he or she says doesn't actually make much sense.
Rule 6 is to apply some basic knowledge. All through history, people have claimed benefits from and sold common or bizarre substances. Most people are basically honest. They have to be to keep the respect of family and friends and neighbors. Salesmen don't!
If anyone says "Scientists (or Doctors) Don't Want You To Know This", that's because the claim IS NOT TRUE. Wearing copper bracelets or moving "special" magnets over your joints does not work. Otherwise, doctors would be doing that! Any doctor who could show by patient recovery that some odd idea worked would become FAMOUS.
Rule 7 is that "If it seems to be too good to be true, then it isn't true". Ideas that are good generally don't need much advertising. There isn't a lot of business advertising telling you to eat more fruits and vegetables. There ARE a lot telling you to eat more Toaster Sugar Blasts and Chocolate-Frosted Sugar-Bomb cereal. Because YOU KNOW that fresh fruits and vegetables and "some" meat is good for you and eating a pound of sugar a day isn't and they have to work hard to convince you to buy their sugar/fat products.
And since the sugar/fat foods, copper bracelets, magnets, etc, etc, etc are their only way to make a fortune, they try it. And when it works, they are gleeful. They think it is sure better than having a REAL job...
That doesn't mean I didn't hear what they said. The mind just filters out the brand names And sometimes there is a new product that will actually draw my interest in the general product. Then I research similar products that do the same work better. Then I sometimes find stuff that really works.
And they have learned a couple of new tricks this year. In the first, they repeat the same commercial the 1st and 3rd time in a single station break. In the second, they have the same commercial played on related channels at the same time. So if you are watching the Science channel and an annoying commercial comes and you switch to the History channel, you are likely to see the same commercial.
But, my favorite disliked commercials...
1. Some allergy medication that says their competitor treats 1 problem and they treat 6 AND 6 IS GREATER THAN 1. Was 6 being greater than 1 supposed to be a revelation to me?
2. A car insurance company that criticizes a competitor for telling a customer they should have bought "full replacement insurance" and says the customer should have researched that company better. And then offers to sell you "full replacement insurance". Just like they criticized the competitor for doing.
3. I'll name names for this one. For several years, Comcast has been comparing its cable service speed to Verizons DSL service saying "we are 5x faster". I don't know if you remember what DSL is, but it stands for "Digital Subscriber Service". DSL is about 40 years old technology. It worked over old twisted copper wire telephone lines that were basically cleaned of static so that 9600 kbs could be transmitted over old-fashioned telephone lines.
Its like comparing a 1940s Oldsmobile car to a 2016 Mercedes Benz in terms of spped, safety, and features. And you only know Comcast is comparing their current service to DSL if you listen the the fast-talk and the very end on the commercial.
4. All the car insurance companies who claim to have better rates than the others... Every insurance company has slightly different rates for coverage and cost. Everyone has SOME combination where they are cheaper than the others. They can all prove they are better than the others at SOME specific coverage even if that coverage combination is so limited and bizarre that almost no one would choose it.
5. Another one I dislike is a medication that says ours can start working in 30 minutes while out competitor's can take up to 24 hours. I get such a kick out of that. From what little I can discover, they are the same chemical. Medication tests show a range of response times to the medications. For the same medication, some people respond very quickly and some respond very slowly.
So a particular medication may work very quickly on some people and very slowly on others. There are many causes for that, but don't worry about that. What Company "A is saying is that SOME test subjects self-reported an effect in 30 minutes. And that SOME of Company X's test subjects reported irt took 24 hours. What they are NOT telling you (because they don't have to" as that some of THEIR test subjects took 24 hours to respond and some of the Competitor test subjects took only 30 minutes.
In other words, they were identical. One company took the absolute lowest response time and compared it to the other company's longest response time.
-----------------------
It can be hard to stay ahead of the advertizing.
Rule 1 is to look for hidden insults. Advertisers assume everyone is stupid and gullible. "6 is greater than 1" is the best example I have seen of that in many years.
Rule 2 is to think about the assumptions. Is a car showing it being driven at 120 mph better than a car being driven at 60? How often do you drive at 120?
Rule 3 is to read the fine print at the bottom of the screen at the end of the commercial. Puse it or record it. That's were ALL the truth is.
Rule 4 is to turn off the sound and look at the commercial without the expensive talented narrator.
Rule 5 is to do the opposite. Close your eyes and listen to the narrator. Sometimes what he or she says doesn't actually make much sense.
Rule 6 is to apply some basic knowledge. All through history, people have claimed benefits from and sold common or bizarre substances. Most people are basically honest. They have to be to keep the respect of family and friends and neighbors. Salesmen don't!
If anyone says "Scientists (or Doctors) Don't Want You To Know This", that's because the claim IS NOT TRUE. Wearing copper bracelets or moving "special" magnets over your joints does not work. Otherwise, doctors would be doing that! Any doctor who could show by patient recovery that some odd idea worked would become FAMOUS.
Rule 7 is that "If it seems to be too good to be true, then it isn't true". Ideas that are good generally don't need much advertising. There isn't a lot of business advertising telling you to eat more fruits and vegetables. There ARE a lot telling you to eat more Toaster Sugar Blasts and Chocolate-Frosted Sugar-Bomb cereal. Because YOU KNOW that fresh fruits and vegetables and "some" meat is good for you and eating a pound of sugar a day isn't and they have to work hard to convince you to buy their sugar/fat products.
And since the sugar/fat foods, copper bracelets, magnets, etc, etc, etc are their only way to make a fortune, they try it. And when it works, they are gleeful. They think it is sure better than having a REAL job...
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Trump's Commennts About Women
I am posting this Saturday evening, before any new news about the Presidential debate or further news discussion about Trump's comments about how he views or has treated women comes out.
So this is general. You know I don't like Trump. He lies. He lies about what he said years ago and he lies about what he said yesterday. There is nearly no position that Trump has ever claimed that he has not denied afterwards.
My point here is not to list them. Professional journalists and fact-checkers have done that before and found/proved him to be a pathological liar about almost everything. That is what he is. You can accept him for that or deny it, but he is that so frequently proven.
My concern today is the video of his comments about women. Trump was politically-fatally damaged by the video. Trump will never be a President of the US.
What I want to discuss is his justification for the comments. His claim was they were locker room comments. I've been in locker rooms. I played soccer in high school and that was a rough bunch. And we often shared locker room time with the football players and they tend toward crudeness. Comments about cheerleaders, comments about fans in the stands. Never in any locker room did I hear statements like Trump made.
In college, I tried rugby for a few months, and never did I hear such comments there.
And let me try to explain it. In the locker room, some guys talked about expectations of having sex with their girlfriends. Some talked about about going out to a local bar and trying to hook up with "fangirls".
Those were mostly established monogomous relationships or just plain fantasies. There is a difference!
That isn't what Trump was talking about. He was talking about outright predatory sexual assault, he was talking about using a position of power and influence to get unwilling sex, he was talking about taking advantage of fear of retribution and career destruction to have sex with women. He wasn't talking about vague "desires". He was talking about actual factual experiences in his life and the expectation that they would continue. That is a VERY different thing.
The terms "creep, "vile", and "predator", come to mind.
His apologies are insipid, deceitful, and vapid! His first response was "I apologize if anyone was offended". Now THAT is a standard political trick. He isn't apologizing for what he SAID or DID, he is expressing some vague regret that OTHERS were upset by what he said or did which he considers perfectly OK. In other words " You are an overly-sensitive, politically-correct annoying twit who doesn't understand reality". That isn't an apology; that's an insult.
An apology is a clear unambiguous statement that you were wrong by all social standards, that you wish you had never said or done the thing, and that it was a strange inexplicable action that was totally out of character. Allowable reasons are things like utterly mis-speaking, medication effects, typos on your notes, etc.
When you say you can get away with things like that when you are famous, you can't even apologize at all. It is just "who you are"! And that IS who he IS!
So, Trump is no longer viable as President of the US in any consideration. That is simply an "absolute". I don't care what any supporter thinks of his general political views, I don't care what his supporters think of his list of Supreme Court nominees, I don't even care if he COULD improve the economy (which he wouldn't). That no longer matters.
Donald Trump must NOT ever be President of the US...
So this is general. You know I don't like Trump. He lies. He lies about what he said years ago and he lies about what he said yesterday. There is nearly no position that Trump has ever claimed that he has not denied afterwards.
My point here is not to list them. Professional journalists and fact-checkers have done that before and found/proved him to be a pathological liar about almost everything. That is what he is. You can accept him for that or deny it, but he is that so frequently proven.
My concern today is the video of his comments about women. Trump was politically-fatally damaged by the video. Trump will never be a President of the US.
What I want to discuss is his justification for the comments. His claim was they were locker room comments. I've been in locker rooms. I played soccer in high school and that was a rough bunch. And we often shared locker room time with the football players and they tend toward crudeness. Comments about cheerleaders, comments about fans in the stands. Never in any locker room did I hear statements like Trump made.
In college, I tried rugby for a few months, and never did I hear such comments there.
And let me try to explain it. In the locker room, some guys talked about expectations of having sex with their girlfriends. Some talked about about going out to a local bar and trying to hook up with "fangirls".
Those were mostly established monogomous relationships or just plain fantasies. There is a difference!
That isn't what Trump was talking about. He was talking about outright predatory sexual assault, he was talking about using a position of power and influence to get unwilling sex, he was talking about taking advantage of fear of retribution and career destruction to have sex with women. He wasn't talking about vague "desires". He was talking about actual factual experiences in his life and the expectation that they would continue. That is a VERY different thing.
The terms "creep, "vile", and "predator", come to mind.
His apologies are insipid, deceitful, and vapid! His first response was "I apologize if anyone was offended". Now THAT is a standard political trick. He isn't apologizing for what he SAID or DID, he is expressing some vague regret that OTHERS were upset by what he said or did which he considers perfectly OK. In other words " You are an overly-sensitive, politically-correct annoying twit who doesn't understand reality". That isn't an apology; that's an insult.
An apology is a clear unambiguous statement that you were wrong by all social standards, that you wish you had never said or done the thing, and that it was a strange inexplicable action that was totally out of character. Allowable reasons are things like utterly mis-speaking, medication effects, typos on your notes, etc.
When you say you can get away with things like that when you are famous, you can't even apologize at all. It is just "who you are"! And that IS who he IS!
So, Trump is no longer viable as President of the US in any consideration. That is simply an "absolute". I don't care what any supporter thinks of his general political views, I don't care what his supporters think of his list of Supreme Court nominees, I don't even care if he COULD improve the economy (which he wouldn't). That no longer matters.
Donald Trump must NOT ever be President of the US...
Saturday, October 8, 2016
Recent Posts and Comments
First, thank you to everyone who commented about my recent house searches. The comments all made good sense (and they were easy to agree with since I was coming to that understanding myself). I have MUCH to like about my current house and LESS than I imagined to dislike. After enough years, you have everything where you want it. Minor problems seem larger than they really are. Sometimes it seems easier to escape them than just fix them.
I argue with myself about many things. I see both sides of issues and that can really make decision-making difficult. I've had friends for whom any question gave them an immediate answer which they acted upon with no further concerns. Personally, I thought they tended to make bad decisions sometimes, but at least they were never tortured by doubt.
But thinking too much about everything can lead to "analysis-paralysis" and that can be just as big a problem. You get to a close decision and you are STUCK in between. I recently saw a TV ad that used the term "FOBO" (Fear Of Better Options). I get that.
2 years ago, I looked at houses with County water and sewage and cable and large open yards with sunlight for gardening. Last year, I looked at rural lots of converted farmland that I could build a new home on. Starting from scratch in the yard and a new house that would outlast me seemed good. But all the lots I could find were surrounded by working farmland with overpowering fertilizer smells and I never found the open house structure I could afford (like 100'x50' for one-level living and a workshop attached and a garage. This year, I looked at large Ramblers about the size of my current size over a large open basement large enough for my woodworking equipment, and had a 2 car garage (one car, one boat).
The good house was on a lawn dome that fell off into ravines in back and the large side, the house with the good yard had crumbling foundations and obvious water problems in the basement, and the last one had a good yard but was smaller than my current house and, even filtered and softened, the water tasted bad. And was $150,000 more than my house is estimated
So I have decided to remain here for a while. Perhaps in a few years County water and sewage will be installed in more rural areas, the cable companies will expand, solar panels will become cheaper and more efficient, etc. But that time is not now.
There isn't a whole lot I can do about my lack of gardening sunlight, though some ideas occur to me. Putting up silver-painted sheet metal on the shady side would reflect a fair amount of sunlight back into the garden, for example.
There isn't much I can do about the trees. They are tall and narrow. It's not the overhanging branches; it is their sheer height. And it has been years since I asked about removing them. Perhaps paying to have them professionally removed and replacing them with flowering trees like dogwoods would work. I'll at least ask again.
And if that doesn't work, I do have the right to cut out all roots invading my soil. Since they are so close to the property line, that might kill them. And THEN I can offer them lower growing flowering trees that won't cause me problems. From the shade angles, all I need is that trees be not more than 20' high. The current ones are 50 to 75'.
As far as the house itself goes, most of the things that bother me are fixable through my own or contractor efforts. The basement bathroom I installed myself 20 years ago was a mistake, but it can also be removed. I've never used it except for storage. It goes back to when I paneled 3/4 of the basement and carpeted the area thinking I would have parties. I didn't throw parties and tore out the carpet in favor of a wood-working area, but the bathroom remains as dead space. The ancient refrigerator can go, in favor of a medium chest freezer in the cat room upstairs.
I have 3 rooms with original 30 year old carpeting. The master bedroom carpet is still oddly good (it gets so little use), but the other 2 are trashable and I'm thinking linoleum for the computer room (getting rid of the annoying chair mats) and tight pile carpet for the cat room).
I have new shingles on the roof, a new deck, new siding, and I have raised the front lawn to solve drainage problems. The asphalt driveway is deteriorating gradually; that can be removed and replaced with concrete.
My 25 year old perennial beds have less in them than my pictures show these days (which is why you have been seeing more pictures of potted deck plants this year). I can dig up the good plants, rototill the areas, replant the good ones and add more. But that is what I would be doing in a new place anyway, and with greater effort.
I could go on, but you get the idea. I was desiring to escape redoing and fixing things and just starting over. Starting over is neat and clean. Summer's Mom mentioned that HER passion was big beautiful houses and those are what she wants to spend her time and effort on. I when I lie in bed at night, thinking about what's not perfect about my house, my thoughts are on doing work to make it better.
I have reasons to want to move, but less than I thought a month ago. I'm staying. And if you are the kind of person who remembers things like this and I mention moving again next year, remind me about the past 3 years of searches. LOL!
I argue with myself about many things. I see both sides of issues and that can really make decision-making difficult. I've had friends for whom any question gave them an immediate answer which they acted upon with no further concerns. Personally, I thought they tended to make bad decisions sometimes, but at least they were never tortured by doubt.
But thinking too much about everything can lead to "analysis-paralysis" and that can be just as big a problem. You get to a close decision and you are STUCK in between. I recently saw a TV ad that used the term "FOBO" (Fear Of Better Options). I get that.
2 years ago, I looked at houses with County water and sewage and cable and large open yards with sunlight for gardening. Last year, I looked at rural lots of converted farmland that I could build a new home on. Starting from scratch in the yard and a new house that would outlast me seemed good. But all the lots I could find were surrounded by working farmland with overpowering fertilizer smells and I never found the open house structure I could afford (like 100'x50' for one-level living and a workshop attached and a garage. This year, I looked at large Ramblers about the size of my current size over a large open basement large enough for my woodworking equipment, and had a 2 car garage (one car, one boat).
The good house was on a lawn dome that fell off into ravines in back and the large side, the house with the good yard had crumbling foundations and obvious water problems in the basement, and the last one had a good yard but was smaller than my current house and, even filtered and softened, the water tasted bad. And was $150,000 more than my house is estimated
So I have decided to remain here for a while. Perhaps in a few years County water and sewage will be installed in more rural areas, the cable companies will expand, solar panels will become cheaper and more efficient, etc. But that time is not now.
There isn't a whole lot I can do about my lack of gardening sunlight, though some ideas occur to me. Putting up silver-painted sheet metal on the shady side would reflect a fair amount of sunlight back into the garden, for example.
There isn't much I can do about the trees. They are tall and narrow. It's not the overhanging branches; it is their sheer height. And it has been years since I asked about removing them. Perhaps paying to have them professionally removed and replacing them with flowering trees like dogwoods would work. I'll at least ask again.
And if that doesn't work, I do have the right to cut out all roots invading my soil. Since they are so close to the property line, that might kill them. And THEN I can offer them lower growing flowering trees that won't cause me problems. From the shade angles, all I need is that trees be not more than 20' high. The current ones are 50 to 75'.
As far as the house itself goes, most of the things that bother me are fixable through my own or contractor efforts. The basement bathroom I installed myself 20 years ago was a mistake, but it can also be removed. I've never used it except for storage. It goes back to when I paneled 3/4 of the basement and carpeted the area thinking I would have parties. I didn't throw parties and tore out the carpet in favor of a wood-working area, but the bathroom remains as dead space. The ancient refrigerator can go, in favor of a medium chest freezer in the cat room upstairs.
I have 3 rooms with original 30 year old carpeting. The master bedroom carpet is still oddly good (it gets so little use), but the other 2 are trashable and I'm thinking linoleum for the computer room (getting rid of the annoying chair mats) and tight pile carpet for the cat room).
I have new shingles on the roof, a new deck, new siding, and I have raised the front lawn to solve drainage problems. The asphalt driveway is deteriorating gradually; that can be removed and replaced with concrete.
My 25 year old perennial beds have less in them than my pictures show these days (which is why you have been seeing more pictures of potted deck plants this year). I can dig up the good plants, rototill the areas, replant the good ones and add more. But that is what I would be doing in a new place anyway, and with greater effort.
I could go on, but you get the idea. I was desiring to escape redoing and fixing things and just starting over. Starting over is neat and clean. Summer's Mom mentioned that HER passion was big beautiful houses and those are what she wants to spend her time and effort on. I when I lie in bed at night, thinking about what's not perfect about my house, my thoughts are on doing work to make it better.
I have reasons to want to move, but less than I thought a month ago. I'm staying. And if you are the kind of person who remembers things like this and I mention moving again next year, remind me about the past 3 years of searches. LOL!
Thursday, October 6, 2016
Houses Again
I visited another house today. This one was listed a shade over $400k, but I could tell they would accept a lower offer. The elderly lady and her son seemed to want to leave ASAP.
The house is nice. 3 decent bedrooms, 3 baths, large kitchen, combined dining/living room, 2 car garage, decent basement (divided into several rooms but they didn't seem to be structural so they could be removed). Large front lawn, backyard sunny enough for gardening, and the place comes with a separate deed for 20 surrounding wooded acres. I could probably sell a few acres and even make a profit on the cost of the house.
I discussed the purchase procedure with the agent and suggested starting the paperwork. I could afford the new place, and what is the point of dying wealthy when you have no descendants?
There were some negatives. The place is on well water and a septic tank. The direct water is OK for washing and showering etc, but not for drinking. Even filtered and softened, the water tasted terrible (the agent looked at the system and said better ones are available). I would need to build a 300' fence around the backyard to protect the cats from neighborhood dogs and the garden from deer. I would have to have a large toolshed added. I would have to remove interior basement walls. The deck was tiny and I would want a much larger one.
But those are problems that can be overcome. The problem is ME! I sat down after I returned home and thought about it. Then I looked around the house and yard and realized I JUST COULDN'T GET MYSELF TO MOVE! I have become part of the property. I'm rooted, affixed, nailed down. I don't want to change, I don't want to learn a new house, I like the taste of the water here, etc, etc, etc. I have never lived in "someone else's" house before
For possibly the 1st time, I understand both sets of grandparents. All 4 died "oldish" in the houses they moved into in their late 20s. They had become part of their houses. Or their houses had become their larger "skin". My house and yard are part of me, and I can't shake that feeling. Everything in the house is exactly where I want it to be. The yard needs work, but that is always an ongoing process. If I moved, I would feel like I abandoned a friend in need of assistance and care.
I don't need to move for a new job or anything.
For what it is worth, I can easily afford to buy the new house outright, empty the current one, and then have it professionally cleaned before selling it afterwards. I could even sell the current place "as is" and not even bother with making the kinds of repairs that 30 years of living have inflicted.
Has my train gotten completely de-railed here? Am I talking myself out of a good life decision? Have you faced a similar uncertainty of moving, and if so, what decision did you make?
The house is nice. 3 decent bedrooms, 3 baths, large kitchen, combined dining/living room, 2 car garage, decent basement (divided into several rooms but they didn't seem to be structural so they could be removed). Large front lawn, backyard sunny enough for gardening, and the place comes with a separate deed for 20 surrounding wooded acres. I could probably sell a few acres and even make a profit on the cost of the house.
I discussed the purchase procedure with the agent and suggested starting the paperwork. I could afford the new place, and what is the point of dying wealthy when you have no descendants?
There were some negatives. The place is on well water and a septic tank. The direct water is OK for washing and showering etc, but not for drinking. Even filtered and softened, the water tasted terrible (the agent looked at the system and said better ones are available). I would need to build a 300' fence around the backyard to protect the cats from neighborhood dogs and the garden from deer. I would have to have a large toolshed added. I would have to remove interior basement walls. The deck was tiny and I would want a much larger one.
But those are problems that can be overcome. The problem is ME! I sat down after I returned home and thought about it. Then I looked around the house and yard and realized I JUST COULDN'T GET MYSELF TO MOVE! I have become part of the property. I'm rooted, affixed, nailed down. I don't want to change, I don't want to learn a new house, I like the taste of the water here, etc, etc, etc. I have never lived in "someone else's" house before
For possibly the 1st time, I understand both sets of grandparents. All 4 died "oldish" in the houses they moved into in their late 20s. They had become part of their houses. Or their houses had become their larger "skin". My house and yard are part of me, and I can't shake that feeling. Everything in the house is exactly where I want it to be. The yard needs work, but that is always an ongoing process. If I moved, I would feel like I abandoned a friend in need of assistance and care.
I don't need to move for a new job or anything.
For what it is worth, I can easily afford to buy the new house outright, empty the current one, and then have it professionally cleaned before selling it afterwards. I could even sell the current place "as is" and not even bother with making the kinds of repairs that 30 years of living have inflicted.
Has my train gotten completely de-railed here? Am I talking myself out of a good life decision? Have you faced a similar uncertainty of moving, and if so, what decision did you make?
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Annoyed
Well, I'm a bit depressed today. I've lived here 30 years, improved the property, improved my gardening area, and I gain NOTHING! Because every year, the neighbors' trees bordering my property grow taller and cut out more sunlight.
If I had known those trash saplings of 2 feet 30 years ago would grow to massive shady sunlight-sucking monsters 50' tall by now, I would have mowed them dead! I have asked the neighbors' if I could pay to have the tall trees replaced with fancy flowering smaller ones. They say "no" because they like the shade. Hint, hint; on the east and south sides THEY DON'T GET ANY SHADE FROM THOSE TREES! But they are oblivious to that. "Just saying NO" is easier.
So last year, after the gardening season was over, I looked at new homes on the internet. I would like an open house layout with rooms defined vaguely by 30" high walls (all the better to put plants on). and a large enough property so that trees can't block the sunlight in some 40'x40' garden.
I visited some open lands. They were all corners of farmland being sold off for cash, with working farmland next door. Well, if you don't know what farmland fertilizer and/or a horse stable smells like all Spring and Summer; *I* do!
So that idea was a failure.
Last week, I looked for existing houses on 1-3 acres of rural land away from farms. I found 5 that looked good. Within a day, I learned that 2 were under contract for sale, 1 had a fussy homeowners association controlling almost anything you can image, and 2 were still available.
I visited those 2 houses with a realtor agent today. Gosh, photographs can be deceptive. Both were 3 bedroom/2 baths and 3-5 acres.
The first, pictured here, was great inside. Lots of great features inside, nice interior, high wood beam ceilings, a kitchen island with an induction cooktop, granite counters, large rooms, 2 car garage (in my case that would be 1 car and 1 boat), dual fireplaces (right in the center of the house), etc. The basement was chopped into small rooms ( I want a workshop). But mostly, the back 2 acres fell right into a ravine practically straight out the back door. No chance for gardening there. The house is basically like a Monopoly Hotel sitting on a baseball cap (good front visor, nothing behind).
So we went to the other house. An acre wide and 5 acres deep. The backyard was sunny ("gardeny"). And it was flat further back, so I could get for open space cutting down some trees. Nice toolshed. The upper interior was cramped but more space than I have now. The basement was large; plenty of room for woodworking equipment.
But it stank of mildew and showed water damage. The reason was obvious when I looked under the deck. The foundation is crumbling from long-term rain exposure. The backyard drains TOWARD the house. Whoever leveled the terrain originally should be drawn and quartered! There were chunks of foundation spalled off from water damage. Looking back into the basement, it became obvious the basement had been routinely flooded and the owners had tried a cheap paint job to cover it up.
Both properties were being sold for $350,000 in a rural area with well water and septic fields.
The realtor pair with me had never shown the properties previously and were dismayed by the problems I pointed out. They seemed genuinely upset. To the point were they took pictures of the problem areas and even noted some they found themselves ( a water-stained ceiling tile, for example).
I'm sure that won't stop them from selling either place to anyone who wants them; that IS their job. But they WERE surprised at what they saw. I'll bet both places drop below $300,000 very soon.
For someone who never bought a used house (and only my current one new-built) I sem to have a knack for discovering evidence of problems. I noticed some other tricks the homeowners tried. One front door rubbed hard on the carpet, yet there was no wear showing. That meant the carpet was new. So when I rapped on the carpet, the subfloor didn't sound solid. That meant rain-damage through the roof. Sure enough, there was discoloration in the ceiling above. It had been re-painted and poorly, so you could see the spot if you knew to look.
So my search continues. A rambler on a basement on an open yard. That's all I ask. Looks like I will be staying here another year, though I will continue to check the listing "just in case".
Bad as my sunlight is, I refuse to move in the middle of Winter or in the middle of gardening season.
My plan is to buy a house, move, then clean/repaint/renovate the existing house. I can have 2 for a few months because the current one is paid off so there is no expense holding it for sales prep.
But I'm sure not going to move unless I like the house better and I can garden better!!!
If I had known those trash saplings of 2 feet 30 years ago would grow to massive shady sunlight-sucking monsters 50' tall by now, I would have mowed them dead! I have asked the neighbors' if I could pay to have the tall trees replaced with fancy flowering smaller ones. They say "no" because they like the shade. Hint, hint; on the east and south sides THEY DON'T GET ANY SHADE FROM THOSE TREES! But they are oblivious to that. "Just saying NO" is easier.
So last year, after the gardening season was over, I looked at new homes on the internet. I would like an open house layout with rooms defined vaguely by 30" high walls (all the better to put plants on). and a large enough property so that trees can't block the sunlight in some 40'x40' garden.
I visited some open lands. They were all corners of farmland being sold off for cash, with working farmland next door. Well, if you don't know what farmland fertilizer and/or a horse stable smells like all Spring and Summer; *I* do!
So that idea was a failure.
Last week, I looked for existing houses on 1-3 acres of rural land away from farms. I found 5 that looked good. Within a day, I learned that 2 were under contract for sale, 1 had a fussy homeowners association controlling almost anything you can image, and 2 were still available.
I visited those 2 houses with a realtor agent today. Gosh, photographs can be deceptive. Both were 3 bedroom/2 baths and 3-5 acres.
The first, pictured here, was great inside. Lots of great features inside, nice interior, high wood beam ceilings, a kitchen island with an induction cooktop, granite counters, large rooms, 2 car garage (in my case that would be 1 car and 1 boat), dual fireplaces (right in the center of the house), etc. The basement was chopped into small rooms ( I want a workshop). But mostly, the back 2 acres fell right into a ravine practically straight out the back door. No chance for gardening there. The house is basically like a Monopoly Hotel sitting on a baseball cap (good front visor, nothing behind).
Both properties were being sold for $350,000 in a rural area with well water and septic fields.
The realtor pair with me had never shown the properties previously and were dismayed by the problems I pointed out. They seemed genuinely upset. To the point were they took pictures of the problem areas and even noted some they found themselves ( a water-stained ceiling tile, for example).
I'm sure that won't stop them from selling either place to anyone who wants them; that IS their job. But they WERE surprised at what they saw. I'll bet both places drop below $300,000 very soon.
For someone who never bought a used house (and only my current one new-built) I sem to have a knack for discovering evidence of problems. I noticed some other tricks the homeowners tried. One front door rubbed hard on the carpet, yet there was no wear showing. That meant the carpet was new. So when I rapped on the carpet, the subfloor didn't sound solid. That meant rain-damage through the roof. Sure enough, there was discoloration in the ceiling above. It had been re-painted and poorly, so you could see the spot if you knew to look.
So my search continues. A rambler on a basement on an open yard. That's all I ask. Looks like I will be staying here another year, though I will continue to check the listing "just in case".
Bad as my sunlight is, I refuse to move in the middle of Winter or in the middle of gardening season.
My plan is to buy a house, move, then clean/repaint/renovate the existing house. I can have 2 for a few months because the current one is paid off so there is no expense holding it for sales prep.
But I'm sure not going to move unless I like the house better and I can garden better!!!
VP Debate
The VPs had one job in their debate; defend their Presidential candidates.
My initial thoughts (listening to it on radio twice) is that Pence defending Trump and Kaine did a good job defending Clinton and got some jabs in on his own. Kaine came out ahead.
Pence mainly denied things that Trump had said, while Kaine kept pointing those things out. That made it hard for Pence, who doesn't really support most of Trump's opinions. But given that, Pence did the best he could, and in a technical sense, skillfully. He has set himself up as the top contender for the Republican nominee in 2020.
But he will face most of the losing Republican candidates of 2016 , so it will be another crowded field.
Kaine did a good job of defending Clinton, Obama, and Democratic positions in general in general, so he has a future also. Whether an elected VP, or the losing one, he did well enough to establish himself as a leader in the party. Obviously, being a winning VP will be better than a losing one, but either way, he is "noticed".
If Trump wins and fails at leadership, the 2020 election could well match Pence and Kaine and I'm sure they are both planning for that. Or if Clinton wins, as seems likely, Kaine will bide his time as VP and go for the Presidency in 2014.
But overall, Kaine won because he supported the likely next President and Pence won because he represented the conservatives who hate Trump.
This election might be the last of the Boomers, with Clinton. The next might be even more contentious.
My initial thoughts (listening to it on radio twice) is that Pence defending Trump and Kaine did a good job defending Clinton and got some jabs in on his own. Kaine came out ahead.
Pence mainly denied things that Trump had said, while Kaine kept pointing those things out. That made it hard for Pence, who doesn't really support most of Trump's opinions. But given that, Pence did the best he could, and in a technical sense, skillfully. He has set himself up as the top contender for the Republican nominee in 2020.
But he will face most of the losing Republican candidates of 2016 , so it will be another crowded field.
Kaine did a good job of defending Clinton, Obama, and Democratic positions in general in general, so he has a future also. Whether an elected VP, or the losing one, he did well enough to establish himself as a leader in the party. Obviously, being a winning VP will be better than a losing one, but either way, he is "noticed".
If Trump wins and fails at leadership, the 2020 election could well match Pence and Kaine and I'm sure they are both planning for that. Or if Clinton wins, as seems likely, Kaine will bide his time as VP and go for the Presidency in 2014.
But overall, Kaine won because he supported the likely next President and Pence won because he represented the conservatives who hate Trump.
This election might be the last of the Boomers, with Clinton. The next might be even more contentious.
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Trump/Clinton Presidential Debate
I just can't help responding to the Trump/Clinton Debate as it was just so odd. In my 48 years of watching presidential debates, I have never seen anything like it.
Right after the debate, Trump tweeted that the Moderator was very good and that he (Trump) had clearly won. Then, after a few hours, Trump learned that he had not done so well in the debate, and suddenly the Moderator was merely "OK". The next day, when the first polls came out showing that Trump had lost the debate in the opinion of the viewing public, he decided that the Moderator had been really tricky and against him personally.
Since when does the Moderator's performance change over time as one's ratings of the debate performance go down and it is not your fault?
I'm not claiming that Trump lost the debate because polls said so. I'm not claiming that Trump lost the debate because CNN said so. I'm claiming that Trump lost the debate because even Fox News admits it!
And it gets worse for Trump. He jumped at a Clinton suggestion that Trump paid no taxes like most of us have to, saying "I'm smart not to". Well, maybe that is good for his business, but it means he can't claim to support our military forces, our economy, or domestic security groups.
He lost the rest of the debate by constantly making snide remarks during Clinton's turn to speak and insulting groups of voters in his turn to speak.
Then he attacked a former Miss Universe ( a business he controlled at the time) saying she was "too fat". Have you seen pictures? She was as forced-self-starved as all beauty-pageant contestants are. As I understand it, she gained a few pounds after the contest, and that was probably good for her health.
And Trump couldn't let it go about her. I tweeted several times after midnight to dawn about her. Really? How wants a President how fixates on irrelevant issues in the middle of the night?
Trump claimed that "polls" suggested he won. Yeah, those were the kinds of online surveys where people can set up their computer to vote repeatedly. The real polls, conducted by professionals say he lost the debate about 55% to 25% (the rest unsure).
I wish Trump would discuss some details of his plans to defeat ISIS, solve US poverty, reduce crime in cities, and apportion our tax dollars among problems like infrastructure rebuilding, military training and equipment, tax reform, rebuilding the middle class, education, etc. But he just won't discuss those things beyond "I'll Make America Great Again". Good, tell me how you'll do that!
I want to hear details. Blind assurances do not move me. Clinton gives details.
I read an fairly neutral analysis that Trump stated a positive lie every 3 minutes 15 seconds as he spoke (12). They caught Clinton on 1 (about a trade agreement staement). I can accept a few deceptions for "Reasons of State", but a 12 to 1 ratio does not encourage me to support Trump. Most of his lies don't even make sense!
And then there were a couple interviews with the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson. What a sad joke. He didn't know what or where Aleppo was. And then couldn't name a single world leader he admired. A smarter person, blanking on names might have said he didn't admire any of them. But that wasn't his problem. He actually didn't know any names.
Seriously, *I* could have come up with Merkel, Cameron (only recently out of office), and Hollande, and I don't keep track of foreign leaders (paying more attention to places as nations).
His VP candidate tried to mention former President Vincente Fox of Mexico, but I haven't liked him since he referred to the illegal hispanic migration into the Southern US as "The Reconquista".
So Trump is an unqualified habitual liar and ignorant of world affairs, Johnson is just ignorant and ignorant of world affairs, and Clinton is telented at dealing with world leaders, nuanced and thoughtful.
That's a contest?
Right after the debate, Trump tweeted that the Moderator was very good and that he (Trump) had clearly won. Then, after a few hours, Trump learned that he had not done so well in the debate, and suddenly the Moderator was merely "OK". The next day, when the first polls came out showing that Trump had lost the debate in the opinion of the viewing public, he decided that the Moderator had been really tricky and against him personally.
Since when does the Moderator's performance change over time as one's ratings of the debate performance go down and it is not your fault?
I'm not claiming that Trump lost the debate because polls said so. I'm not claiming that Trump lost the debate because CNN said so. I'm claiming that Trump lost the debate because even Fox News admits it!
And it gets worse for Trump. He jumped at a Clinton suggestion that Trump paid no taxes like most of us have to, saying "I'm smart not to". Well, maybe that is good for his business, but it means he can't claim to support our military forces, our economy, or domestic security groups.
He lost the rest of the debate by constantly making snide remarks during Clinton's turn to speak and insulting groups of voters in his turn to speak.
Then he attacked a former Miss Universe ( a business he controlled at the time) saying she was "too fat". Have you seen pictures? She was as forced-self-starved as all beauty-pageant contestants are. As I understand it, she gained a few pounds after the contest, and that was probably good for her health.
And Trump couldn't let it go about her. I tweeted several times after midnight to dawn about her. Really? How wants a President how fixates on irrelevant issues in the middle of the night?
Trump claimed that "polls" suggested he won. Yeah, those were the kinds of online surveys where people can set up their computer to vote repeatedly. The real polls, conducted by professionals say he lost the debate about 55% to 25% (the rest unsure).
I wish Trump would discuss some details of his plans to defeat ISIS, solve US poverty, reduce crime in cities, and apportion our tax dollars among problems like infrastructure rebuilding, military training and equipment, tax reform, rebuilding the middle class, education, etc. But he just won't discuss those things beyond "I'll Make America Great Again". Good, tell me how you'll do that!
I want to hear details. Blind assurances do not move me. Clinton gives details.
I read an fairly neutral analysis that Trump stated a positive lie every 3 minutes 15 seconds as he spoke (12). They caught Clinton on 1 (about a trade agreement staement). I can accept a few deceptions for "Reasons of State", but a 12 to 1 ratio does not encourage me to support Trump. Most of his lies don't even make sense!
And then there were a couple interviews with the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson. What a sad joke. He didn't know what or where Aleppo was. And then couldn't name a single world leader he admired. A smarter person, blanking on names might have said he didn't admire any of them. But that wasn't his problem. He actually didn't know any names.
Seriously, *I* could have come up with Merkel, Cameron (only recently out of office), and Hollande, and I don't keep track of foreign leaders (paying more attention to places as nations).
His VP candidate tried to mention former President Vincente Fox of Mexico, but I haven't liked him since he referred to the illegal hispanic migration into the Southern US as "The Reconquista".
So Trump is an unqualified habitual liar and ignorant of world affairs, Johnson is just ignorant and ignorant of world affairs, and Clinton is telented at dealing with world leaders, nuanced and thoughtful.
That's a contest?
Sunday, September 25, 2016
The Clinton/Trump Debate Tomorrow
I'm worried about the debate. Clinton has to show great command of all national and international issues (and she will). She probably has to know the Minister of Finance of Slovakia and the exchange rate of Dollars to Laotion Kips (and she probably does).
All Trump has to do is not pull down his pants and moon the audience...
And then too many people will think him "presidential" for restraining himself.
If there was ever a difference in expectations between 2 people in a debate, this is it. And it is not fair. I grew up taught that knowledge, experience, and nuance matters in life and leadership. I went through my career that way and I have lived my life that way.
If Trump becomes our President, my brain will just EXPLODE. And not because he is, but because enough Americans thought he should be. It will be a society I no longer want to be part of.
I live in Maryland. Maryland is not a contested State. Maryland will go for Clinton without any doubt. It is some of the other States I worry about. Personal opinion of States that go for Trump; they are obviously insane.
I read a very interesting book decades ago (and re-read it sometimes) called 'They Also Ran' by Irving Stone. It details the losers in presidential elections, why they lost and what kind of presidents the losers would have made. Stone's general view is that the American voters have generally made good decisions, but sometimes really made bad ones. His judgements on the elections seem sound.
As he said in his epilogue, the American People have made the better choice rejecting Hayes for Tilden (the election was crooked in Florida and Hayes was chosen badly), Douglas for Lincoln, Blaine for Cleveland, Landon/Wilkie/Dewey in favor of Franklin Roosevelt, Dewey over Truman, Nixon over Kennedy, and Goldwater against Johnson.
We erred grievously choosing Taylor over Cass, Grant over Seymour, Coolidge over Davis, Eisenhower over Stevenson, and Nixon over Humphrey
We made a difficult choice between Smith/Hoover between equally good candidates.
The rest of the elections seem to have been the better choices.
Let's hope this election doesn't go down in history as the worst decision the voters have even made...
All Trump has to do is not pull down his pants and moon the audience...
And then too many people will think him "presidential" for restraining himself.
If there was ever a difference in expectations between 2 people in a debate, this is it. And it is not fair. I grew up taught that knowledge, experience, and nuance matters in life and leadership. I went through my career that way and I have lived my life that way.
If Trump becomes our President, my brain will just EXPLODE. And not because he is, but because enough Americans thought he should be. It will be a society I no longer want to be part of.
I live in Maryland. Maryland is not a contested State. Maryland will go for Clinton without any doubt. It is some of the other States I worry about. Personal opinion of States that go for Trump; they are obviously insane.
I read a very interesting book decades ago (and re-read it sometimes) called 'They Also Ran' by Irving Stone. It details the losers in presidential elections, why they lost and what kind of presidents the losers would have made. Stone's general view is that the American voters have generally made good decisions, but sometimes really made bad ones. His judgements on the elections seem sound.
As he said in his epilogue, the American People have made the better choice rejecting Hayes for Tilden (the election was crooked in Florida and Hayes was chosen badly), Douglas for Lincoln, Blaine for Cleveland, Landon/Wilkie/Dewey in favor of Franklin Roosevelt, Dewey over Truman, Nixon over Kennedy, and Goldwater against Johnson.
We erred grievously choosing Taylor over Cass, Grant over Seymour, Coolidge over Davis, Eisenhower over Stevenson, and Nixon over Humphrey
We made a difficult choice between Smith/Hoover between equally good candidates.
The rest of the elections seem to have been the better choices.
Let's hope this election doesn't go down in history as the worst decision the voters have even made...
Saturday, September 17, 2016
Groundhog
I have a particularly wary groundhog this year. I set out my live cage trap but it wont go in. I've named it Radar.
It is unusually observant. And, apparently, groundhogs have great long-distance vision and hearing. Radar creeps out of the backyard underbrush (which I really ought to get out and cut down) slowly. To the extent that it can think, it might call ME Radar too.
Radar can see at least 200 feet and can tell if I so much as slowly poke my head over a windowsill. If I do, he stands up, looks straight at me and runs away. On the other hand, he cannot creep out into my wildflower garden (which must seem like a Eden of food to him). I know every stem as well as HE does and he can't hide his little head whenever I look out the window.
I see him as well as he sees me. I've been kind. As long as he eats the clover in the lawn, I don't mind. And my garden is covered with chicken wire he can't get into so far. If he would stick to the lawn clover, I wouldn't mind.
But he has a natural taste for the wildflowers I am trying to grow in a patch for the cats to prowl through, and when it comes to the cats desires to prowl seeking mice and voles vs the groundhog's eating habits, Radar has to go.
I have tried to scare him away. I have tried to just discourage him when he wants to eat the wildflowers I'm, trying to grow. No success on that.
So I will have to set up the Hav-A-Hart live trap cage again. I set it up in years past when I had groundhogs and caught them right away. Radar is more cautious. I read that covering the cage with long grasses is good for suspicious groundhogs, even draping it with landscape fabric is good.
I don't want intelligent cage-wary groundhogs around. From my point of view, stupid and catchable is better. The websites say that cantelopes and peaches are the best cage bait. I have a honeydew melon bigger than I will eat, so I will try some of that. Radars predecesors ate my honeydews last year before I finished enclosing my garden are last year, so that should work.
I'll hang a slice from inside the top of the cage (because otherwise the ants just eat them).
It is unusually observant. And, apparently, groundhogs have great long-distance vision and hearing. Radar creeps out of the backyard underbrush (which I really ought to get out and cut down) slowly. To the extent that it can think, it might call ME Radar too.
Radar can see at least 200 feet and can tell if I so much as slowly poke my head over a windowsill. If I do, he stands up, looks straight at me and runs away. On the other hand, he cannot creep out into my wildflower garden (which must seem like a Eden of food to him). I know every stem as well as HE does and he can't hide his little head whenever I look out the window.
I see him as well as he sees me. I've been kind. As long as he eats the clover in the lawn, I don't mind. And my garden is covered with chicken wire he can't get into so far. If he would stick to the lawn clover, I wouldn't mind.
But he has a natural taste for the wildflowers I am trying to grow in a patch for the cats to prowl through, and when it comes to the cats desires to prowl seeking mice and voles vs the groundhog's eating habits, Radar has to go.
I have tried to scare him away. I have tried to just discourage him when he wants to eat the wildflowers I'm, trying to grow. No success on that.
So I will have to set up the Hav-A-Hart live trap cage again. I set it up in years past when I had groundhogs and caught them right away. Radar is more cautious. I read that covering the cage with long grasses is good for suspicious groundhogs, even draping it with landscape fabric is good.
I don't want intelligent cage-wary groundhogs around. From my point of view, stupid and catchable is better. The websites say that cantelopes and peaches are the best cage bait. I have a honeydew melon bigger than I will eat, so I will try some of that. Radars predecesors ate my honeydews last year before I finished enclosing my garden are last year, so that should work.
I'll hang a slice from inside the top of the cage (because otherwise the ants just eat them).
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Apple Intrusions
I had an annoying incident today. I decided to download a new version of MacKeeper, some protection software.
Usually, you just press a few buttons to download a program. Instead, I got a live Apple Helper. Who took over my screen... I won't tolerate that from anyone. THEY TOOK OVER MY COMPUTER!!! For all I know, they still have control of it. I'm uninstalling the program (but who knows if that actually works).
When that is done, I will use a few anti-virus, anti-intrusion programs NOT from Apple.
But this really bothered me. I might have to consider Windows again.
Usually, you just press a few buttons to download a program. Instead, I got a live Apple Helper. Who took over my screen... I won't tolerate that from anyone. THEY TOOK OVER MY COMPUTER!!! For all I know, they still have control of it. I'm uninstalling the program (but who knows if that actually works).
When that is done, I will use a few anti-virus, anti-intrusion programs NOT from Apple.
But this really bothered me. I might have to consider Windows again.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
September 11, 2016
Bitter is the memory and unforgiving is the anger. It will not fade in my lifetime...
To the innocents ON the planes and IN the buildings, to those who tried to save lives and lost their own... To those who sufferred from the attempts and lived in hardship after..
Retribution will come eventually... BY humans ON humans. Guilt will be found out some bright day.
To the innocents ON the planes and IN the buildings, to those who tried to save lives and lost their own... To those who sufferred from the attempts and lived in hardship after..
Retribution will come eventually... BY humans ON humans. Guilt will be found out some bright day.
Monday, September 5, 2016
Previous Cars
"15&Meowing" posted about the car they would like to have. And as I commented, I relized that what I wanted to say was too long. So here is the long version. Thank you, 15&Meowing!
My first car was a 1966 Pontiac Bonneville convertible. The convertible top was HYDROLIC. Push a button and it opened or closed without effort. It was 4 years old, a 20th birthday gift from my parents. I adored it. I added a removable (for security) 8-Track player under the dashboard. I learned the back seat side panels could be removed so I added inset speakers there. I was working at an auto-aftermarket part of a department store at the time, and one day they sent us a gadget called "Quadraphone". Basically, that let you send the music to four speakers, front left speaker and back right, and right front speaker and back left. It was cool at the time.
But I didn't know anything about car engines. Dad wasn't big on teaching. I learned decades later that he really believed if you wanted to know something, you asked, and if you didn't ask you didn't want to know. I'm not an "asker". So I didn't know about changing oil and stuff like that.
From lack of maintenence, the engine was destroyed and when I asked for money to fix it, Dad said that was my problem. The car sat in the apartment parking lot and they hauled it away before I could afford to repair it.
After I gave enough horrible stories of trying to bus 15 miles each way to and from work, walking 3/4 of a mile to the bus stop, transferring 3 times and being penalized for lateness when traffic was bad, Dad bought me another car. He chose the ugliest cheapest car , a purple clunker Chrysler New Yorker ($800). I saw a beautiful 4-year old 1970 tan Monte Carlo with a brown pebble roof and a sporty extended hood($1200). And it wasn't that he was poor. I could say "cheap", but he would have said "thrifty".
For the first time since I was a child before Christmas, I begged. I argued gas milage. I argued "2 years newer - better value". Dad was buying from a hunting buddy, so he knew he would get the best deal possible. He fussed and hesitated.
But he bought me the Monte Carlo... I was so proud to drive that around. And while we didn't know then, it had speakers in the back. Great sounds. I loved that car!
By then, I had learned about basic car maintenance. I kept good care of it. But it had a bad engine from the previous owner and the engine locked up one day. It gets a little strange here. My sister was married to a car fanatic. He used to take his engine apart for fun, clean everything and put it back together.
I couldn't repair a toaster at the time, so that seemed really impressive. He said it was the same engine as a Chevelle, and he had one and would be happy to replace mine wit it for free and get the Monte Carlo engine and repair IT and use that somewhere.
Dream come true, and he didn't even want my help (as if I could have given any). Dad thought tat a good deal and drove the 60 miles to me with a car towing device. We hooked it up, and drove off, whereupon Dad decided that he wanted to buy a cigar so we stopped at a strip mall.
He mistakenly put the car in nuetral, aimed downhill and we stepped out. When I saw the cars moving forward, I jumped back into the passenger seat and hit the brakes. Dad was frozen in place outside the car. The front bumper on MY car was slightly bent and Dad went ballistic!
Hey, I saved a store-front crash and it was MY car that was only minorly damaged in the bumper. And Dad was angry at ME. The trip went seriously downhill and very quiet from there.
Yeah, I know he was embarassed. I reacted fast when he didn't. And he was "the Dad" so he should have. But I didn't blame him. I was just nearest and acted faster. He said I should have pushed on the brakes slowly to not damage MY car's bumper.
I understood he was embarassed by leaving the car in neutral (it was a habit of his generation of stick-shift parking using the parking brake). I understood that he was embarrassed he hadn't reacted
faster. I didn't blame him, but he blamed me.
I suppose that was the first time I ever realized that Dad was just another person struggling to maintain a self-image. And while I had caught Dad in some minor errors in life (and trust me, not very many), that one was the first where he totally lost it...
I'm guessing I was 25 at the time, underemployed at minimum wage n a department store, sharing an apartment with 4 other guys. And realizing that *I* did something right and Dad failed and that just because blame was ascribed didn't mean it was right or fail.
Dad complained to Mom tht I had damaged my car. When I explained it to Mom later, she merely said, "Oh dear",.
I think that was the day I actually became an adult.
As it turned out, the Chevelle engine didn't seem to fit, the Monte Carlo carcass was sold cheap to someone who did know how to restore it. And I never asked my parents for any help except once and that was a loan for a house purchase I they made me pay full interests on (so that they wouldn't lose a dime).
I struggled to buy a Chevy Hatchback that lasted 5 years or so. It had a horrible reputation but I got away with it. Then, not knowing anything about buying new cars, I went to a chevy dealership and said show me the cheapest car on the lot.
In my ignorance, and with a more knowledgeable "friend" with me, I paid full price on credit. My "friend" told me later that he was amazed I paid full price. But I brought him along because he had bought cars before and he was a negotiator in his business.
I went off with a Chevette Scooter, which was about the least car you could legally drive on the road at the time. I got away with that one for 8 years.
He said it wasn't his business to intrude with advise to me on purchases. Um, isn't that what friends are for? I gave him advice on some purchases whenever I had information. He appreciated that. But woudn't do it for me. I think he liked seeing other people make poor decisions.
It was the start of a long 30 year road downhill for us (and no, there was no "relationship"). Just a long one-way friendship that finally ended after 41 years.
But I wouldn't want THAT car again...
My next car was researched. I had learned a few things about buying cars. I carpooled ans towed a boat. The Ford Taurus Station Wagon was perfect. The front seats were split, the back bench seats were rated "very comfortable". I cared about that. My carpool LOVED the car.
And it was the first time I ever really negotiated a deal. I had info on the dealer's costs for all the options from Consumer Reports. The salesman, in 1988 hated it. He tried to dismiss it it. He tried to deny it. He said they lied...
But eventually, I got the car for $300 over their real cost, it lasted 10 years and I sold it back to the dealership for $3,000. I loved that car, but it wasn't my favorite.
A member of my carpool had a Dodge Charger and I liked it. So I checked Consumer Reports magazine about it. Turned out there was a family of it, the Dodge, a Chrysler, and the Eagle Vision (being the top of the line). And when I checked all the features I wanted (nothing too fancy), the Eagle came standard with those at a lower price! The basic Eagle I wanted was cheaper than the other brands with options.
I had Consumer Reports car info on that one too, but I paid $500 above their true cost. It was in slightly more demand, and I wanted it more.
So I bought one. My carpool member immediately bought a fancier car (and admitted why - there are crazy people all over the place, which is why they are always broke). I kept that one going for 10 years until there was an engine problem the mechanics couldn't get fixed right.
One problem with the low-profile Eagle Vision was that I was commuting on back roads and crowded traffic. I got SO tired of the new bright headlights in my face. When The Eagle died, and I was hauling the boat and a trailer more often, I bought a 2005 Toyota Highlander SUV new.
I had researched THAT on Consumers Report magazine too, but I didn't get the best deal. They were simply too much in demand. One problem was that they weren't being built in the US at the time, so the only ones available came "as is" and most came with features I didn't want. So the ones I did want were selling about as fast as they arrived.
Sometimes ya just have to bite the bullet. But it has been a fine car for 11 years. and only 26K miles (I REALLY don't drive much)
So what car would I like to have of all the cars before (restored)? BTW, how do you like my choice of cars over the years?
1. 1966 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible
2. 1970 Monte Carlo
3. 1986 Eagle Vision
4. 2005 Toyota Highlander
5. 1978 Trans-Am with the Eagle decal on the hood (that I lusted for but never owned)
Well, in order...
1966 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible
1986 Eagle Vision
1970 Monte Carlo
Not the Trans-Am. I gazed in wonder, but that wasn't my style. Speed Kills! And the Highlander is my style, but not my desire.
The 1966 Pontiac Bonneville is my first and true desire... The Eagle Vision is still too recent in memory.
My first car was a 1966 Pontiac Bonneville convertible. The convertible top was HYDROLIC. Push a button and it opened or closed without effort. It was 4 years old, a 20th birthday gift from my parents. I adored it. I added a removable (for security) 8-Track player under the dashboard. I learned the back seat side panels could be removed so I added inset speakers there. I was working at an auto-aftermarket part of a department store at the time, and one day they sent us a gadget called "Quadraphone". Basically, that let you send the music to four speakers, front left speaker and back right, and right front speaker and back left. It was cool at the time.
But I didn't know anything about car engines. Dad wasn't big on teaching. I learned decades later that he really believed if you wanted to know something, you asked, and if you didn't ask you didn't want to know. I'm not an "asker". So I didn't know about changing oil and stuff like that.
From lack of maintenence, the engine was destroyed and when I asked for money to fix it, Dad said that was my problem. The car sat in the apartment parking lot and they hauled it away before I could afford to repair it.
After I gave enough horrible stories of trying to bus 15 miles each way to and from work, walking 3/4 of a mile to the bus stop, transferring 3 times and being penalized for lateness when traffic was bad, Dad bought me another car. He chose the ugliest cheapest car , a purple clunker Chrysler New Yorker ($800). I saw a beautiful 4-year old 1970 tan Monte Carlo with a brown pebble roof and a sporty extended hood($1200). And it wasn't that he was poor. I could say "cheap", but he would have said "thrifty".
For the first time since I was a child before Christmas, I begged. I argued gas milage. I argued "2 years newer - better value". Dad was buying from a hunting buddy, so he knew he would get the best deal possible. He fussed and hesitated.
But he bought me the Monte Carlo... I was so proud to drive that around. And while we didn't know then, it had speakers in the back. Great sounds. I loved that car!
By then, I had learned about basic car maintenance. I kept good care of it. But it had a bad engine from the previous owner and the engine locked up one day. It gets a little strange here. My sister was married to a car fanatic. He used to take his engine apart for fun, clean everything and put it back together.
I couldn't repair a toaster at the time, so that seemed really impressive. He said it was the same engine as a Chevelle, and he had one and would be happy to replace mine wit it for free and get the Monte Carlo engine and repair IT and use that somewhere.
Dream come true, and he didn't even want my help (as if I could have given any). Dad thought tat a good deal and drove the 60 miles to me with a car towing device. We hooked it up, and drove off, whereupon Dad decided that he wanted to buy a cigar so we stopped at a strip mall.
He mistakenly put the car in nuetral, aimed downhill and we stepped out. When I saw the cars moving forward, I jumped back into the passenger seat and hit the brakes. Dad was frozen in place outside the car. The front bumper on MY car was slightly bent and Dad went ballistic!
Hey, I saved a store-front crash and it was MY car that was only minorly damaged in the bumper. And Dad was angry at ME. The trip went seriously downhill and very quiet from there.
Yeah, I know he was embarassed. I reacted fast when he didn't. And he was "the Dad" so he should have. But I didn't blame him. I was just nearest and acted faster. He said I should have pushed on the brakes slowly to not damage MY car's bumper.
I understood he was embarassed by leaving the car in neutral (it was a habit of his generation of stick-shift parking using the parking brake). I understood that he was embarrassed he hadn't reacted
faster. I didn't blame him, but he blamed me.
I suppose that was the first time I ever realized that Dad was just another person struggling to maintain a self-image. And while I had caught Dad in some minor errors in life (and trust me, not very many), that one was the first where he totally lost it...
I'm guessing I was 25 at the time, underemployed at minimum wage n a department store, sharing an apartment with 4 other guys. And realizing that *I* did something right and Dad failed and that just because blame was ascribed didn't mean it was right or fail.
Dad complained to Mom tht I had damaged my car. When I explained it to Mom later, she merely said, "Oh dear",.
I think that was the day I actually became an adult.
As it turned out, the Chevelle engine didn't seem to fit, the Monte Carlo carcass was sold cheap to someone who did know how to restore it. And I never asked my parents for any help except once and that was a loan for a house purchase I they made me pay full interests on (so that they wouldn't lose a dime).
I struggled to buy a Chevy Hatchback that lasted 5 years or so. It had a horrible reputation but I got away with it. Then, not knowing anything about buying new cars, I went to a chevy dealership and said show me the cheapest car on the lot.
In my ignorance, and with a more knowledgeable "friend" with me, I paid full price on credit. My "friend" told me later that he was amazed I paid full price. But I brought him along because he had bought cars before and he was a negotiator in his business.
I went off with a Chevette Scooter, which was about the least car you could legally drive on the road at the time. I got away with that one for 8 years.
He said it wasn't his business to intrude with advise to me on purchases. Um, isn't that what friends are for? I gave him advice on some purchases whenever I had information. He appreciated that. But woudn't do it for me. I think he liked seeing other people make poor decisions.
It was the start of a long 30 year road downhill for us (and no, there was no "relationship"). Just a long one-way friendship that finally ended after 41 years.
But I wouldn't want THAT car again...
My next car was researched. I had learned a few things about buying cars. I carpooled ans towed a boat. The Ford Taurus Station Wagon was perfect. The front seats were split, the back bench seats were rated "very comfortable". I cared about that. My carpool LOVED the car.
And it was the first time I ever really negotiated a deal. I had info on the dealer's costs for all the options from Consumer Reports. The salesman, in 1988 hated it. He tried to dismiss it it. He tried to deny it. He said they lied...
But eventually, I got the car for $300 over their real cost, it lasted 10 years and I sold it back to the dealership for $3,000. I loved that car, but it wasn't my favorite.
A member of my carpool had a Dodge Charger and I liked it. So I checked Consumer Reports magazine about it. Turned out there was a family of it, the Dodge, a Chrysler, and the Eagle Vision (being the top of the line). And when I checked all the features I wanted (nothing too fancy), the Eagle came standard with those at a lower price! The basic Eagle I wanted was cheaper than the other brands with options.
I had Consumer Reports car info on that one too, but I paid $500 above their true cost. It was in slightly more demand, and I wanted it more.
So I bought one. My carpool member immediately bought a fancier car (and admitted why - there are crazy people all over the place, which is why they are always broke). I kept that one going for 10 years until there was an engine problem the mechanics couldn't get fixed right.
One problem with the low-profile Eagle Vision was that I was commuting on back roads and crowded traffic. I got SO tired of the new bright headlights in my face. When The Eagle died, and I was hauling the boat and a trailer more often, I bought a 2005 Toyota Highlander SUV new.
I had researched THAT on Consumers Report magazine too, but I didn't get the best deal. They were simply too much in demand. One problem was that they weren't being built in the US at the time, so the only ones available came "as is" and most came with features I didn't want. So the ones I did want were selling about as fast as they arrived.
Sometimes ya just have to bite the bullet. But it has been a fine car for 11 years. and only 26K miles (I REALLY don't drive much)
So what car would I like to have of all the cars before (restored)? BTW, how do you like my choice of cars over the years?
1. 1966 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible
2. 1970 Monte Carlo
3. 1986 Eagle Vision
4. 2005 Toyota Highlander
5. 1978 Trans-Am with the Eagle decal on the hood (that I lusted for but never owned)
Well, in order...
1966 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible
1986 Eagle Vision
1970 Monte Carlo
Not the Trans-Am. I gazed in wonder, but that wasn't my style. Speed Kills! And the Highlander is my style, but not my desire.
The 1966 Pontiac Bonneville is my first and true desire... The Eagle Vision is still too recent in memory.
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Another Anniversary
This week, 30 years ago, 1986, I moved into this house. I don't have the exact date because the legal purchase date and the move-in date aren't the same. And it took a week to move everything. But basically, around Labor Day, I moved into my own house. No roommates, just me and Mean Old Tinkerbelle the cat (who I loved dearly in spite of the name).
It doesn't feel like all that many years, but it is...
It was a "starter house". I guess I'm still starting... I look at this place on Google Earth about once a month. The pictures changes sometimes. But the house doesn't really. I know every blade of grass and garden weed. I can walk around in the total darkness of the middle of the night and know exactly where I am (shuffling my feet carefully to avoid stepping on a cat of course - because THEY move).
If the power went out, in the middle of the night, it wouldn't matter until it got hot or cold. I know every creak of floorboard, every sticky cabinet door, and every pipe noise. In fact, I didn't hear a familiar sound last Spring and went down to check. Sure enough, the A/C condensation reservoir was blocked by some surprise algae growth blocking the disposal pump overflowing onto the basement floor.
I know when the aquarium needs more water from the sound of the pump. In my sleep.
It is unlikely that anyone will ever know this house like I do. I was the 3rd person to build on my street and the other 2 left a decade ago.
I know every cat sound and if one jumps onto a kitchen counter, I know which one it is. They hate that.
And I want it to stay that way for a long long time more!
Wish me a happy 30th in my home...
Mark and the Mews in The Green House, Maryland, United States, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy, Virgo Supercluster, and we aren't sure beyond that.
It doesn't feel like all that many years, but it is...
It was a "starter house". I guess I'm still starting... I look at this place on Google Earth about once a month. The pictures changes sometimes. But the house doesn't really. I know every blade of grass and garden weed. I can walk around in the total darkness of the middle of the night and know exactly where I am (shuffling my feet carefully to avoid stepping on a cat of course - because THEY move).
If the power went out, in the middle of the night, it wouldn't matter until it got hot or cold. I know every creak of floorboard, every sticky cabinet door, and every pipe noise. In fact, I didn't hear a familiar sound last Spring and went down to check. Sure enough, the A/C condensation reservoir was blocked by some surprise algae growth blocking the disposal pump overflowing onto the basement floor.
I know when the aquarium needs more water from the sound of the pump. In my sleep.
It is unlikely that anyone will ever know this house like I do. I was the 3rd person to build on my street and the other 2 left a decade ago.
I know every cat sound and if one jumps onto a kitchen counter, I know which one it is. They hate that.
And I want it to stay that way for a long long time more!
Wish me a happy 30th in my home...
Mark and the Mews in The Green House, Maryland, United States, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy, Virgo Supercluster, and we aren't sure beyond that.
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Chess game
Friends, for those of you who can read chess notation, I present you with what MUST be the ugliest win ever against a computer...
The computer game was set for looking 3 moves ahead because I can't do more more than 2 myself anymore...
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Catching Up With Weeds
I guess I haven't posted in a while. I guess I haven't done much to mention. Who gets excited reading that you watered the garden and routine stuff like that? But such things do need to get done and in August, sometimes just keeping up with watering the garden and flowers is plenty. Never mind all the inside work which I had gotten behind on as well.
So we had a couple relatively cooler days (meaning 90 instead of 100F) and I took a look around for other things needing attention outside. Weeds are insidious! They look about the same one day to another but after a few weeks have gone from a few innocent inches high to 2' high (some straight up, some spreading out sideways).
You may (or not, LOL!) remember that I set up 3 roundish prepared edged planting beds last Fall.
The far one was for wildflowers and I scattered 2 pounds of wildflower seeds there. A little thin for the space, but I figured I would add transplants into the area later. I have native flowers growing in a few areas and would add them to places without flowers. The results have been rather "less than mediocre". May have been 2 dozen blooms in the whole area. But most were perennials and they don't bloom the first year much, so I will add more seeds and some transplants this Fall and hope for better next year.
The middle area was going to be for Lysimachia, which has lovely purple foliage and small yellow flowers, but it is invasive. So I thought putting it were I could mow around would control that. Alas, I discovered that it is also called Loosestrife and if you look at the common name "loose" and "strife", you can tell it is a problem plant. I found it growing in several places on its own and I am trying to pull them all up! Now I am thinking several dwarf butterfly bushes intermixed with Knockout roses which are generally pest-free and self-dead-heading. They have no fragrance, but you can't have everything. I will add a few oriental lilies for some fragrance.
The near area is for color. I planted 100 or so tulips and another 100 hyacinths in mesh cages (protection from the voles) and a couple of hundred daffodils straight in the ground as they need no protection). I'll be adding another couple hundred daffodils in early November.
The hyacinths never came up last Spring, and I figured I planted too late. But as I was digging around, I found one of the cages and opened the top and pulled out a few bulbs. To my surprize, they were all solid and had some roots! They didn't get enough chill time to bloom last year but they seem firm and healthy, and I expect them to come up gloriously in Spring! And if not, I will dig the cages up and try again. And if they don't grow next Spring, I will dig the cages up and plant more tulips!
This Spring, I took divisions of standard daylilies (as odd as it might seem, I had a couple dozen 6" pots of daylilies just sitting around existing on rainfall for 2 years) and planted them between the tulip
and hyacinth cages.
There's a reason for that; the tulip/hyacinth bulbs like to be dry in Summer, and lilies have tuberous roots that store water so they don't need watering in Summer (much). They make a good combination. I think I will add some Sedum 'Dark Magic' as they are about a foot high and drought tolerant as well as blooming in Fall. A drought tolerant threesome in Spring Summer And Fall would be awesome.
But the near spot looked terrible when I paid attention to it last week. Grasses were growing up all over and spreading weeds below them.
So I took care of the tall ones first. Well, there are only 2 good times to weed. The first is when the soil is soaked. The weed roots can't hold on to the loose wet soil. The other time is when the soil is bone dry (unless it is clay). In good soil the roots come up like they were growing in powder.
So I pulled up all the tall ones in bone dry soil. I left that one small pile to show them pulled up. Actually, I filled a trashcan with them. Not that I would trash them; the nutrients are free and they are great compost after being heated up by sunlight in the closed trashcan for a couple days to kill any seeds. They look like cooked spinach afterwards. And then straight into the compost pile they go...
I have some annuals around the outer front edge just for some color this first year. Being downslope, I can water them enough to keep them happy without soaking the tulip bulbs that don't want to see water until Spring.
And I'm putting up with the orange landscaping flags this year. Some mark the small newly-planted daylillies (so that I don't pull them up thinking they are grass weeds - because they sure look a lot alike when you are tired) and some mark the tulip and hyacinth cages (so I don't plant anything on top of them).
Next, now that the tall weeds are gone, I can get at the low-growing weeds.
So we had a couple relatively cooler days (meaning 90 instead of 100F) and I took a look around for other things needing attention outside. Weeds are insidious! They look about the same one day to another but after a few weeks have gone from a few innocent inches high to 2' high (some straight up, some spreading out sideways).
You may (or not, LOL!) remember that I set up 3 roundish prepared edged planting beds last Fall.
The middle area was going to be for Lysimachia, which has lovely purple foliage and small yellow flowers, but it is invasive. So I thought putting it were I could mow around would control that. Alas, I discovered that it is also called Loosestrife and if you look at the common name "loose" and "strife", you can tell it is a problem plant. I found it growing in several places on its own and I am trying to pull them all up! Now I am thinking several dwarf butterfly bushes intermixed with Knockout roses which are generally pest-free and self-dead-heading. They have no fragrance, but you can't have everything. I will add a few oriental lilies for some fragrance.
The near area is for color. I planted 100 or so tulips and another 100 hyacinths in mesh cages (protection from the voles) and a couple of hundred daffodils straight in the ground as they need no protection). I'll be adding another couple hundred daffodils in early November.
The hyacinths never came up last Spring, and I figured I planted too late. But as I was digging around, I found one of the cages and opened the top and pulled out a few bulbs. To my surprize, they were all solid and had some roots! They didn't get enough chill time to bloom last year but they seem firm and healthy, and I expect them to come up gloriously in Spring! And if not, I will dig the cages up and try again. And if they don't grow next Spring, I will dig the cages up and plant more tulips!
This Spring, I took divisions of standard daylilies (as odd as it might seem, I had a couple dozen 6" pots of daylilies just sitting around existing on rainfall for 2 years) and planted them between the tulip
and hyacinth cages.
There's a reason for that; the tulip/hyacinth bulbs like to be dry in Summer, and lilies have tuberous roots that store water so they don't need watering in Summer (much). They make a good combination. I think I will add some Sedum 'Dark Magic' as they are about a foot high and drought tolerant as well as blooming in Fall. A drought tolerant threesome in Spring Summer And Fall would be awesome.
But the near spot looked terrible when I paid attention to it last week. Grasses were growing up all over and spreading weeds below them.
So I pulled up all the tall ones in bone dry soil. I left that one small pile to show them pulled up. Actually, I filled a trashcan with them. Not that I would trash them; the nutrients are free and they are great compost after being heated up by sunlight in the closed trashcan for a couple days to kill any seeds. They look like cooked spinach afterwards. And then straight into the compost pile they go...
And I'm putting up with the orange landscaping flags this year. Some mark the small newly-planted daylillies (so that I don't pull them up thinking they are grass weeds - because they sure look a lot alike when you are tired) and some mark the tulip and hyacinth cages (so I don't plant anything on top of them).
Next, now that the tall weeds are gone, I can get at the low-growing weeds.
Friday, August 19, 2016
Cmputer Updates
Well, I defeated Apple. Sort of... One of the good thing I have is called 'Time Machine'. I may not use it the way Apple intended. I have it set up as an external drive. I'm sure I'm not the only one. But it does mean that I can restore my Mac to previously saved times. I did that last night and today. It took about 7 hours and I'm glad I did it.
Everything works the way it did before and the way I liked it. iPhotos shows the file names again, the graphics aren't annoying-looking, and the help bar actually answers questions.
I may have to upgrade to the newest Apple OSX someday, but it will not be this day.
I will not go to the iCloud this day, I will not be forced onto Facetime this day, I will not accept the loss of features I valued on this day. Apple can be slipped around on its plans again on this day!
I have taken back my computer to when it worked for me, and that is all that matters to me.
And I will hope that when my last program will no longer function, that Apple or Microsoft will have finally solved their problems and made things that are user-friendlyagain.
Because if they don't, someone else will.
Everything works the way it did before and the way I liked it. iPhotos shows the file names again, the graphics aren't annoying-looking, and the help bar actually answers questions.
I may have to upgrade to the newest Apple OSX someday, but it will not be this day.
I will not go to the iCloud this day, I will not be forced onto Facetime this day, I will not accept the loss of features I valued on this day. Apple can be slipped around on its plans again on this day!
I have taken back my computer to when it worked for me, and that is all that matters to me.
And I will hope that when my last program will no longer function, that Apple or Microsoft will have finally solved their problems and made things that are user-friendlyagain.
Because if they don't, someone else will.
Thursday, August 18, 2016
Random Thoughts
1. It doesn't look like my neighbor is coming back to cut down that tree shading my flowerbed. He has a trailer still sitting by the street that I know he wants to retreive. So if it is gone one day and the tree is still there, I'll know I'm out of luck. I dare not cut down the tree without permission.
2. I had the sharpest lightening strike ever two nights ago. There was NO gap between the lightening flash and the thunder. And the thunderclap was SO loud and sharp it physically staggered me. The cats vanished.
I was sure a neighboring house had been struck, but went I went out and flashed a light around, I couldn't see any damage. Not that I could see very well. The torrent of rain was so strong and the wind swirling around so much that I was drenched instantly looking out both the front door and the back.
3. I finally had to update my Mac operating system. It gets to where some programs just won't work anymore. I hate that. It USED to be that system upgrades added features and security. Now they seem to restrict them. Apple seems to be trying to force me in certain directions they think are socially sharing and beneficial. *I* think they want to deliberately create a society where everything is shared with everyone else and there is no privacy.
I've read some dys-utopian sci-fi books like that and that is not the world I want to live in. I left Microsoft Windows 8 years ago because it crashed all the time and required a lot of serious security software. But I've read recently that Microsoft is a lot more stable and Apple viruses starting to spread around. It might be time to consider changing...
The general problem is that Apple is becoming more and more "control freak oriented".
4. The specific irritation (and a good general example) is with the changes to Apple iPhotos. For a decade, my camera has provided sequential file names to each picture (IMG 5223.jpg, IMG 5224.jpg, etc and iPhotos accepted them as titles. No more. They want me to give specific names to each pictures, plus locations, face names, and general subjects. Like I have time for THAT? And they are making it hard to not save my files of "the cloud". I know what that is, I just don't trust them with that kind of access and control.
But what is driving me crazy right now? The iPhoto program no longer shows the file name of each picture. I have to go through a couple of menu actions to get that. And I like having the main toolbar above the window. It used to just stay there. Now it won't. I spent 1.5 hours today trying to find out how to get it to stay.
I used to be able to look at the top bar and see the day/date/time, now I have to deliberately go look for it. Sure, I can stick a calendar and a clock next to the computer and check my watch for the time. But wasn't that one of those things the computer was supposed to free you from?
What's next? When I change an autocorrect spelling, will it argue with me? Will it tell me I am making an unwise statement in an email or blog comment? Will it refuse to allow me to post a comment Apple does not agree with?
I wonder when the monitor screen will become a camera that watches me as I post, to judge my sanity and mood. 1984, anyone?
2. I had the sharpest lightening strike ever two nights ago. There was NO gap between the lightening flash and the thunder. And the thunderclap was SO loud and sharp it physically staggered me. The cats vanished.
I was sure a neighboring house had been struck, but went I went out and flashed a light around, I couldn't see any damage. Not that I could see very well. The torrent of rain was so strong and the wind swirling around so much that I was drenched instantly looking out both the front door and the back.
3. I finally had to update my Mac operating system. It gets to where some programs just won't work anymore. I hate that. It USED to be that system upgrades added features and security. Now they seem to restrict them. Apple seems to be trying to force me in certain directions they think are socially sharing and beneficial. *I* think they want to deliberately create a society where everything is shared with everyone else and there is no privacy.
I've read some dys-utopian sci-fi books like that and that is not the world I want to live in. I left Microsoft Windows 8 years ago because it crashed all the time and required a lot of serious security software. But I've read recently that Microsoft is a lot more stable and Apple viruses starting to spread around. It might be time to consider changing...
The general problem is that Apple is becoming more and more "control freak oriented".
4. The specific irritation (and a good general example) is with the changes to Apple iPhotos. For a decade, my camera has provided sequential file names to each picture (IMG 5223.jpg, IMG 5224.jpg, etc and iPhotos accepted them as titles. No more. They want me to give specific names to each pictures, plus locations, face names, and general subjects. Like I have time for THAT? And they are making it hard to not save my files of "the cloud". I know what that is, I just don't trust them with that kind of access and control.
But what is driving me crazy right now? The iPhoto program no longer shows the file name of each picture. I have to go through a couple of menu actions to get that. And I like having the main toolbar above the window. It used to just stay there. Now it won't. I spent 1.5 hours today trying to find out how to get it to stay.
I used to be able to look at the top bar and see the day/date/time, now I have to deliberately go look for it. Sure, I can stick a calendar and a clock next to the computer and check my watch for the time. But wasn't that one of those things the computer was supposed to free you from?
What's next? When I change an autocorrect spelling, will it argue with me? Will it tell me I am making an unwise statement in an email or blog comment? Will it refuse to allow me to post a comment Apple does not agree with?
I wonder when the monitor screen will become a camera that watches me as I post, to judge my sanity and mood. 1984, anyone?
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Are You Not Moving?
Are you sure?
As you sit unmoving in a chair, you are probably moving about 750 miles per hour as the Earth rotates. More if you are near the equator, less if you are closer to the poles.
But then the Earth is in orbit around the Sun. That has you moving at about 67,000 miles per hour.
The sun is part of The Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way rotates at about 540,000 miles per hour in the main body of stars.
Our Milky Way galaxy is part of a local cluster of galaxies moving generally along together at higher speeds, and the local cluster is part of a supercluster moving faster than the local cluster, etc.
You are moving at something like a million miles per hour. It gets worse than THAT but I'll spare you... And you feel like you are sitting still. That's what gravity does.
And yet gravity is weak. You can easily lift a brick against the full force of the gravity of the entire planet! The human record seems to be 1,102.3 pounds of deadlift (just off the floor).
So gravity is weak, and we are moving at about 1 million miles per hour... Ever wonder what keeps us on the Erth surface and just not jumping away? LOL!
As you sit unmoving in a chair, you are probably moving about 750 miles per hour as the Earth rotates. More if you are near the equator, less if you are closer to the poles.
But then the Earth is in orbit around the Sun. That has you moving at about 67,000 miles per hour.
The sun is part of The Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way rotates at about 540,000 miles per hour in the main body of stars.
Our Milky Way galaxy is part of a local cluster of galaxies moving generally along together at higher speeds, and the local cluster is part of a supercluster moving faster than the local cluster, etc.
You are moving at something like a million miles per hour. It gets worse than THAT but I'll spare you... And you feel like you are sitting still. That's what gravity does.
And yet gravity is weak. You can easily lift a brick against the full force of the gravity of the entire planet! The human record seems to be 1,102.3 pounds of deadlift (just off the floor).
So gravity is weak, and we are moving at about 1 million miles per hour... Ever wonder what keeps us on the Erth surface and just not jumping away? LOL!
Friday, August 12, 2016
Legal Property Ownership
Its maddening, utterly maddening. Insane and Inane! Completely beyond any failure of any system of records I ever knew in my career in government! OH MY GOD, the dimmest nitwit I ever met in Federal Government was a FREAKING GENIUS compared to the State Government.
There does not appear to be ANYONE IN THE UNIVERSE who actually knows who LEGALLY OWNS THE PROPERTY NEXT DOOR TO ME! NO ONE!
I have spent 5 days calling various banks, real estate organizations, and local government offices and searching websites following all possible leads to offices seemingly connected with property ownership. Not one single person in any office can actually say for SURE who owns the property
No one knows but everyone thinks they know who SHOULD! I have talked to 100 offices and EVERYONE is truly sympathetic and really helpful, and has an idea who I should call next! Even when I tell them that's the office that sent me to THEM!
OK, look, I spent years of my Federal Government career in "Administrative Services", the catchall Division of the catchall Office of the catchall Agency. We were the office where questions were sent that no one else could answer, and I was the best at it.
So the idea that "Who Owns That Property?" being unanswerable drove me completely NUTS!
Fanning myself down....................
Oh dang, apparently, no one actually DOES know who owns the property. It has to be SOMEONE SOMEWHERE of course, but no one seems to actually know. It is as if they had a stolen artwork and cannot admit it.
The resident has abandoned the property, some sites have notices that it was sold at auction June 14th, local newspapers won't claim to find any legal notice of the sale, no real estate agent can find a listing for it. It is as if the property doesn't exist.
And that has got me royally upset! How can you buy a property when you can't find out who OWNS it!?
There does not appear to be ANYONE IN THE UNIVERSE who actually knows who LEGALLY OWNS THE PROPERTY NEXT DOOR TO ME! NO ONE!
I have spent 5 days calling various banks, real estate organizations, and local government offices and searching websites following all possible leads to offices seemingly connected with property ownership. Not one single person in any office can actually say for SURE who owns the property
No one knows but everyone thinks they know who SHOULD! I have talked to 100 offices and EVERYONE is truly sympathetic and really helpful, and has an idea who I should call next! Even when I tell them that's the office that sent me to THEM!
OK, look, I spent years of my Federal Government career in "Administrative Services", the catchall Division of the catchall Office of the catchall Agency. We were the office where questions were sent that no one else could answer, and I was the best at it.
So the idea that "Who Owns That Property?" being unanswerable drove me completely NUTS!
Fanning myself down....................
Oh dang, apparently, no one actually DOES know who owns the property. It has to be SOMEONE SOMEWHERE of course, but no one seems to actually know. It is as if they had a stolen artwork and cannot admit it.
The resident has abandoned the property, some sites have notices that it was sold at auction June 14th, local newspapers won't claim to find any legal notice of the sale, no real estate agent can find a listing for it. It is as if the property doesn't exist.
And that has got me royally upset! How can you buy a property when you can't find out who OWNS it!?
Moves
My sister (and hubby and daughter) are moving far away. She's the 1st of us elder children to leave MD. They are really going "small" in the new place. Some people do that after retirement. I wish them happiness.
My neighbor has moved away. He said he was coming back to get a trailer he can't store at his new place, and to cut down 2 trees that shade my flowerbeds as they grow larger. But I'm betting he abandons or sells the trailer and doesn't cut down the trees. I know how it is when you leave a place. You leave and forget about the old place. I wouldn't blame him in the least for "moving on" with his life.
I don't think he actually owns the place now, and I sure can't just go over and cut down a couple trees myself. Unless I buy the house...
I COULD. I've accumulated a lot of stocks over the years and they are at a high right now. Selling some to buy a rental property MIGHT be a good idea, but you never know. I'd really only be buying the house to control who is my neighbor and get rid of trees shading my flowerbeds and garden.
Yeah, they mean THAT much to me. Not that I would expect to LOSE money, but breaking even on rent and maintenance over the years and making sure I didn't have a crazy neighbor there sounds good.
I would have the tall junk trees cut down and plant flowering ones, like dogwoods and star magnolias (to match what I am doing in my own yard). And since it is a smaller 1 story house, I might move there someday and sell my split-foyer (2 level) house when I can't handle the stairs anymore. I like to plan ahead.
But it is all just thoughts for now. For all I know, the bank has already auctioned it off or something. The neighbor doesn't even know who owns the mortgage now. After several hours trying to find out by phone and internet yesterday, I can't tell either. Everyone I talk to says it may take weeks for the records to catch up with the foreclosure as these things get sold/traded around very fast.
I could find someone moving in next week, or it could sit abandoned for months while some investment group collects a 100 foreclosed houses to sell to a commercial group. All *I* can do is wait to see a foreclosure notice on the front door or a For Sale sign in the front yard some morning.
Arghhh!
My neighbor has moved away. He said he was coming back to get a trailer he can't store at his new place, and to cut down 2 trees that shade my flowerbeds as they grow larger. But I'm betting he abandons or sells the trailer and doesn't cut down the trees. I know how it is when you leave a place. You leave and forget about the old place. I wouldn't blame him in the least for "moving on" with his life.
I don't think he actually owns the place now, and I sure can't just go over and cut down a couple trees myself. Unless I buy the house...
I COULD. I've accumulated a lot of stocks over the years and they are at a high right now. Selling some to buy a rental property MIGHT be a good idea, but you never know. I'd really only be buying the house to control who is my neighbor and get rid of trees shading my flowerbeds and garden.
Yeah, they mean THAT much to me. Not that I would expect to LOSE money, but breaking even on rent and maintenance over the years and making sure I didn't have a crazy neighbor there sounds good.
I would have the tall junk trees cut down and plant flowering ones, like dogwoods and star magnolias (to match what I am doing in my own yard). And since it is a smaller 1 story house, I might move there someday and sell my split-foyer (2 level) house when I can't handle the stairs anymore. I like to plan ahead.
But it is all just thoughts for now. For all I know, the bank has already auctioned it off or something. The neighbor doesn't even know who owns the mortgage now. After several hours trying to find out by phone and internet yesterday, I can't tell either. Everyone I talk to says it may take weeks for the records to catch up with the foreclosure as these things get sold/traded around very fast.
I could find someone moving in next week, or it could sit abandoned for months while some investment group collects a 100 foreclosed houses to sell to a commercial group. All *I* can do is wait to see a foreclosure notice on the front door or a For Sale sign in the front yard some morning.
Arghhh!
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Fare Well Good Neighbor!
Well, it turns out my neighbor really IS moving! I'm glad I was out trimming my lawn this afternoon, because it turns out he was making his last trip. I saw him glance over at me and I waved. He waved back. I went over and asked if he was moving. He said he was. I told him I thought he might be, but there was no For Sale sign, so it might have been his daughter was leaving for college or a place of her own.
It turns out that after failing to refinance his mortgage twice recently, he was turning it back over to the bank and just walking away! That is very sad... He says he has rented a place across town. Says he never really liked the place; his wife chose it.
Not to be gossipy (I can't; I never KNOW anything), but that was a real mess! I only found out a year later. And I didn't know that I didn't want to know until AFTER I was told about it by a neighbor woman. But YOU will never know any of them, so I suppose it doesn't matter.
About 8 years ago, my neighbor guy had an affair with the woman next door, her husband found out and filed for divorce, she shot herself, and and his wife left him. Unusually, the daughter stayed with him. Tragic all around.
Of COURSE he didn't "seem like the type". Who ever does? I knew so many guys who cheated (and wives who made passes at ME) that little of that surprises me. But it is still sad... Whenever I hear about stuff like that, I'm glad I am happy living peacefully alone!!!
But I do not judge, not knowing the situations. He has been a good quiet neighbor (at least since he got rid of his motorcycle years ago), no loud parties, no barking dogs, etc. The next residents may be loud and annoying. He said I had been a great neighbor (I merely helped out with a couple small projects, but I suppose I'm quiet myself and keep the house and yard looking decent).
I asked him why he couldn't just sell it himself and he explained that he owed WAY more than he could get. Personally I think he is looking at things short-term, as housing prices are rising again, but I don't know his finances of course. Divorces and child care can be brutally expensive. I mentioned that I was thinking of a rental property and it couldn't be more convenient than next door.
But since he was just abandoning the house and the mortgage, the bank will be selling it free of the old mortgage, and cheaper. I would have an appraiser go in and estimate renovation needs and current real value, of course. And of course it might not make financial sense. But I'll see. I mean, since he's gone, it all starts fresh. I wonder if the bank knows yet?
I did ask him about some troublesome trees along our property line. Mostly a mulberry tree that started from seeds from one *I* had and cut down years ago. The roots and sprouts and shade are causing me grief in my main flowerbed. Then, just before I asked if I could come over and cut it (and 2 other saplings that will only grow larger) down he offerred to come back this weekend and cut it down himself and haul off the debris. WOW!
It will certainly be interesting seeing what happens...
It turns out that after failing to refinance his mortgage twice recently, he was turning it back over to the bank and just walking away! That is very sad... He says he has rented a place across town. Says he never really liked the place; his wife chose it.
Not to be gossipy (I can't; I never KNOW anything), but that was a real mess! I only found out a year later. And I didn't know that I didn't want to know until AFTER I was told about it by a neighbor woman. But YOU will never know any of them, so I suppose it doesn't matter.
About 8 years ago, my neighbor guy had an affair with the woman next door, her husband found out and filed for divorce, she shot herself, and and his wife left him. Unusually, the daughter stayed with him. Tragic all around.
Of COURSE he didn't "seem like the type". Who ever does? I knew so many guys who cheated (and wives who made passes at ME) that little of that surprises me. But it is still sad... Whenever I hear about stuff like that, I'm glad I am happy living peacefully alone!!!
But I do not judge, not knowing the situations. He has been a good quiet neighbor (at least since he got rid of his motorcycle years ago), no loud parties, no barking dogs, etc. The next residents may be loud and annoying. He said I had been a great neighbor (I merely helped out with a couple small projects, but I suppose I'm quiet myself and keep the house and yard looking decent).
I asked him why he couldn't just sell it himself and he explained that he owed WAY more than he could get. Personally I think he is looking at things short-term, as housing prices are rising again, but I don't know his finances of course. Divorces and child care can be brutally expensive. I mentioned that I was thinking of a rental property and it couldn't be more convenient than next door.
But since he was just abandoning the house and the mortgage, the bank will be selling it free of the old mortgage, and cheaper. I would have an appraiser go in and estimate renovation needs and current real value, of course. And of course it might not make financial sense. But I'll see. I mean, since he's gone, it all starts fresh. I wonder if the bank knows yet?
I did ask him about some troublesome trees along our property line. Mostly a mulberry tree that started from seeds from one *I* had and cut down years ago. The roots and sprouts and shade are causing me grief in my main flowerbed. Then, just before I asked if I could come over and cut it (and 2 other saplings that will only grow larger) down he offerred to come back this weekend and cut it down himself and haul off the debris. WOW!
It will certainly be interesting seeing what happens...
Monday, August 8, 2016
Mosquito Problems
This Zika virus problem reminds me of an event in the past. In 1999, I was suddenly getting bitten by mosquitoes in the daytime. I managed to hit one of the little blood-suckers against my arm with a cupped hand. It was completely dead and completely intact. The air pressure killed it.
It didn't look familiar when I looked at it under a magnifying glass, so I did an internet search. It was an Asian Tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), only known as far north as North Carolina at the time (I'm in Maryland, 2 states north of there). I put it in a small plastic container and set it in the refrigerator. Then I called around looking for anyone who might be interested.
The University of Maryland Entomology offices weren't interested. The Washington Post newspaper was not interested. I should have called the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, but I didn't think of them at the time. After a few months, I tossed it away. After all, there were plenty of others around.
Then 2 years later, I read an article in The Washington Post about how Asian Tiger mosquitoes had arrived in our area. Gee, I tried to tell them that 2 years before! I keep wondering if it would have helped if they had listened to me then.
I have a mosquito-unfriendly yard. I have some standing water (a 5' pond and a tub used for cleaning garden tools). But I put Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) dunks in them that kill mosquito larvae. I even have trap pots of Bt water around the yard. But they are still here. They don't travel more than a 100 yards, but I suppose my neighbors are less careful than I am.
My point is that that another mosquito (Aedes aegypti) is the most common carrier of Zika virus, but is climate-restricted to the very far southern US. Asian Tiger mosquitoes, however, have also been found now to carry it. Asian Tiger mosquitoes survive as far north as New England.
And the June 2016 issue of Smithsonian magazine has a cover article about how we can kill off mosquitoes using genetics. The method seems convincing, effective, and relatively straight-forward.
Yet there are people in the article who question the morality of deliberately causing the extinction of mosquitoes. REALLY? We are killing off much more advanced animal species almost daily and they are worried about MOSQUITOES?
Sharks kill about 6 people per year, scorpions 3,250, snakes 100,000, and mosquitoes 725,000. 725,000! Most mosquitoes don't transmit diseases. KILL ALL THE DISEASE-CARRYING MOSQUITOES!!!
Sign me up to "push the button", "throw the switch", "give the order", whatever! I'll accept the ethical blame... With peace in my heart...
It didn't look familiar when I looked at it under a magnifying glass, so I did an internet search. It was an Asian Tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), only known as far north as North Carolina at the time (I'm in Maryland, 2 states north of there). I put it in a small plastic container and set it in the refrigerator. Then I called around looking for anyone who might be interested.
The University of Maryland Entomology offices weren't interested. The Washington Post newspaper was not interested. I should have called the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, but I didn't think of them at the time. After a few months, I tossed it away. After all, there were plenty of others around.
Then 2 years later, I read an article in The Washington Post about how Asian Tiger mosquitoes had arrived in our area. Gee, I tried to tell them that 2 years before! I keep wondering if it would have helped if they had listened to me then.
I have a mosquito-unfriendly yard. I have some standing water (a 5' pond and a tub used for cleaning garden tools). But I put Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) dunks in them that kill mosquito larvae. I even have trap pots of Bt water around the yard. But they are still here. They don't travel more than a 100 yards, but I suppose my neighbors are less careful than I am.
My point is that that another mosquito (Aedes aegypti) is the most common carrier of Zika virus, but is climate-restricted to the very far southern US. Asian Tiger mosquitoes, however, have also been found now to carry it. Asian Tiger mosquitoes survive as far north as New England.
And the June 2016 issue of Smithsonian magazine has a cover article about how we can kill off mosquitoes using genetics. The method seems convincing, effective, and relatively straight-forward.
Yet there are people in the article who question the morality of deliberately causing the extinction of mosquitoes. REALLY? We are killing off much more advanced animal species almost daily and they are worried about MOSQUITOES?
Sharks kill about 6 people per year, scorpions 3,250, snakes 100,000, and mosquitoes 725,000. 725,000! Most mosquitoes don't transmit diseases. KILL ALL THE DISEASE-CARRYING MOSQUITOES!!!
Sign me up to "push the button", "throw the switch", "give the order", whatever! I'll accept the ethical blame... With peace in my heart...
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Random Thoughts
1. Why are the Summer Olympics being held in Brazil? No offense to Brazil, but it is WINTER there! They must have warm Winters...
2. My neighbor appears to be moving out. That will be a shame. Not that we ever talked much, but he has been a good one. Quiet (at least since he stopped idling his motorcycle a half hour in the driveway each morning at 5 am a few years ago), no loud parties, no barking dogs, and mostly absent. There is no "For Sale" sign, but he might be doing what I would do: Move out, clean up, THEN sell it.
3. Last Fall, after years of one side of the front lawn settling lower than the drainage easement along side it and flooding periodically, I had a landscaper add 2 truckloads of topsoil and raise it 2 feet. It was part of a larger project involving removal of several trees and leveling a 6' high ridge in the back yard. I roto-tilled the soil, added compost, and planted new grass seed (a high quality brand). The grass is now dying (and the older part of the lawn is fine). I hope there wasn't something bad in that soil!
4. Donald Trump is self-imploding. YAY! I have previously wondered if he was doing it deliberately to avoid the restrictions of becoming President. But now I think it just comes naturally to him. Republicans are starting to bail out all over the place. And I won't call that "rats deserting a sinking ship". I would call it sensible people trying to escape a burning building.
5. By the way, what is bad about rats deserting a sinking ship? It is a rational thing to do. I don't even think CAPTAINS should go down with their ship...
6. I surrendered to the cat claws. I can't clip them (my hands aren't steady enough anymore and they resist)! In spite of having scratchers they use and running around outside briefly, they were starting to stick to blankets towels and carpet. So when the vet announced he was offerring clipping for $13, I brought Marley in yesterday. He is far more compliant at the Vet, and there are 2 people to do it (one to hold and one to clip). Iza goes in tomorrow!
7. I had a new bathtub installed end of May. And the room needs to be painted. I painted the entire interior of the house 15 years ago. I haven't painted the bathroom yet. Suddenly, the task seems daunting. All that wall-cleaning, all that taping, all those drop cloths. And all those accessories to be removed: towel rack, TP holder, toothbrush holder, soap dish, light switch cover, outlet cover, mirror! I can't get myself to start...
8. On the other hand, my garden is finally starting to produce! I have home-grown heirloom tomatoes again. I have heirloom flat italian beans again! I'm getting carrots and zucchini. I'm getting cucumbers. I have some Fall crops started. And the chicken-wire enclosed garden structure is keeping the squirrels and groundhogs out!
9. I had been having constant battery problems with my 11 year old Toyota Highlander and my equally old riding mower. The recommended batteries weren't lasting. In Spring, I replaced them with ones recommended by Consumer Reports magazine. Well, who would have thought that Walmart sold the best batteries for my 2 vehicles?
10. I love the odd little butcher/deli/liquor store in town. They were selling filet mignon whole for $8.99/lb this week. They trim it to perfection and slice it to your desire (I like 1.5"). They normally toss the trimmings, but I have them save them. I can get another whole meal from those with a little knife work (which I enjoy doing). So I end up with six 6 oz filet mignon steaks for $4 each.
They also sell frozen large deveined shrimp at $6/lb. And they used to sell a Zinfandel (Twisted Zin) that I really loved but dropped it. But they special order it just for me. I get a case of 6 1.5 liter bottles for $10. They really appreciate their regular customers.
11. Speaking of local businesses, the barber shop I used to visit suddenly started wanting appointments. But the barber shop close by them, that used to be busy as heck is now a no-wait place. So I tried them. Hey, I have dead-limp straight hair, I'm retired, and I'm not fussy. Who COULDN'T cut that? And they do just as well as the previous place.
2. My neighbor appears to be moving out. That will be a shame. Not that we ever talked much, but he has been a good one. Quiet (at least since he stopped idling his motorcycle a half hour in the driveway each morning at 5 am a few years ago), no loud parties, no barking dogs, and mostly absent. There is no "For Sale" sign, but he might be doing what I would do: Move out, clean up, THEN sell it.
3. Last Fall, after years of one side of the front lawn settling lower than the drainage easement along side it and flooding periodically, I had a landscaper add 2 truckloads of topsoil and raise it 2 feet. It was part of a larger project involving removal of several trees and leveling a 6' high ridge in the back yard. I roto-tilled the soil, added compost, and planted new grass seed (a high quality brand). The grass is now dying (and the older part of the lawn is fine). I hope there wasn't something bad in that soil!
4. Donald Trump is self-imploding. YAY! I have previously wondered if he was doing it deliberately to avoid the restrictions of becoming President. But now I think it just comes naturally to him. Republicans are starting to bail out all over the place. And I won't call that "rats deserting a sinking ship". I would call it sensible people trying to escape a burning building.
5. By the way, what is bad about rats deserting a sinking ship? It is a rational thing to do. I don't even think CAPTAINS should go down with their ship...
6. I surrendered to the cat claws. I can't clip them (my hands aren't steady enough anymore and they resist)! In spite of having scratchers they use and running around outside briefly, they were starting to stick to blankets towels and carpet. So when the vet announced he was offerring clipping for $13, I brought Marley in yesterday. He is far more compliant at the Vet, and there are 2 people to do it (one to hold and one to clip). Iza goes in tomorrow!
7. I had a new bathtub installed end of May. And the room needs to be painted. I painted the entire interior of the house 15 years ago. I haven't painted the bathroom yet. Suddenly, the task seems daunting. All that wall-cleaning, all that taping, all those drop cloths. And all those accessories to be removed: towel rack, TP holder, toothbrush holder, soap dish, light switch cover, outlet cover, mirror! I can't get myself to start...
8. On the other hand, my garden is finally starting to produce! I have home-grown heirloom tomatoes again. I have heirloom flat italian beans again! I'm getting carrots and zucchini. I'm getting cucumbers. I have some Fall crops started. And the chicken-wire enclosed garden structure is keeping the squirrels and groundhogs out!
9. I had been having constant battery problems with my 11 year old Toyota Highlander and my equally old riding mower. The recommended batteries weren't lasting. In Spring, I replaced them with ones recommended by Consumer Reports magazine. Well, who would have thought that Walmart sold the best batteries for my 2 vehicles?
10. I love the odd little butcher/deli/liquor store in town. They were selling filet mignon whole for $8.99/lb this week. They trim it to perfection and slice it to your desire (I like 1.5"). They normally toss the trimmings, but I have them save them. I can get another whole meal from those with a little knife work (which I enjoy doing). So I end up with six 6 oz filet mignon steaks for $4 each.
They also sell frozen large deveined shrimp at $6/lb. And they used to sell a Zinfandel (Twisted Zin) that I really loved but dropped it. But they special order it just for me. I get a case of 6 1.5 liter bottles for $10. They really appreciate their regular customers.
11. Speaking of local businesses, the barber shop I used to visit suddenly started wanting appointments. But the barber shop close by them, that used to be busy as heck is now a no-wait place. So I tried them. Hey, I have dead-limp straight hair, I'm retired, and I'm not fussy. Who COULDN'T cut that? And they do just as well as the previous place.
Monday, August 1, 2016
Crown Of Gold
Well, I'm sitting here contemplating the Gold Crown on the table in front of me. Unfortunately, its not the kingly type of crown. Its the kind that comes loose from a tooth!
It hardly seems fair. I don't eat hard candies. I don't crunch on ice cubes. I don't eat really sticky stuff like taffy. I was simply eating a bit of marinated boneless skinless chicken breast. But it seems there was a tiny flake of bone in there. It jammed in between 2 teeth like an ax into a log.
I was careful, I really was! I used a wooden toothpick, I tried to remove the bone flake with downward pressure front and back for several cautious minutes. When it finally seemed to loosen slightly, I OH SO CAREFULLY tried to lift it back out the way it entered.
The length of time between feeling a slight movement and the realization that it was a crown coming loose was infinitesimal. Seriously, I didn't even know that tooth HAD a crown. I have a half dozen scattered around and after a month I can't tell where they are. That's kind of the whole point of having them...
If dental stuff is icky to you, you might want to just skim ahead...
The last thing I was expecting earlier today was having to call a dentist tomorrow for an appointment. But life is what happens when you aren't expecting it. I suppose I should have though. I may have gotten good cold and flu resistance genes from my parents, but the tooth genes were not so good. Dad had only half his teeth by my age and a mouthful of partial dentures that seemed to come loose every 3 or 4 years. He complained about it a lot.
In fact, my wisdom teeth never emerged. X-Rays show them, but apparently they are blocked or something. Side note: Wisdom teeth are slowly vanishing from humans. Some people don't have them, in others, they don't emerge. Someday we won't have them at all.
I don't hate dentists! What they do is valuable for relieving pain and making it easy to eat, etc. But I DO hate dental work. I was cursed with a small jaw and therefore crowded teeth. When I was in my 20s one dentist wanted to pull a couple of teeth "to give me a better smile". That sounded miserable and I wasn't concerned with what I perceived to be cosmetic dentistry. I wish he had been more straightforward! I only learned many years later that there had still been time for the remaining teeth to slowly spread to normal positions (or so another dentist told me in my 50s).
And some dental work is seemingly worse for most but easier for me. I'll just say that layin on my back while someone is messing around in my mouth is physically horrible (2 words - "nasal drip"), but sitting upright is OK.
So when a tooth utterly broke 2 years ago and the dentist had to pull it out, I was worried at the time, the the pulling was mostly just boring. And when he told my the tooth root was interlocked with the one next to it and had to come out too, I just said "sure"...
I haven't had any problems with the 2 removed teeth. Can't even tell they are missing when I chew.
But last year, suddenly 2 small fillings came out in upper back molars. I had been planning to (and delaying) making an appointment. Now it's forced, so I will have something done to those. I hope they are refillable, but if they have to be removed I might find that easier.
And since I'm going on a dentist journey, I may see about implants for the 2 previously pulled teeth. If (and only if) they will be essentially permanent.
Some day, we humans will learn how to grow new teeth as adults. And there IS research toward that end. Until then - AARRGGGHHH!
It hardly seems fair. I don't eat hard candies. I don't crunch on ice cubes. I don't eat really sticky stuff like taffy. I was simply eating a bit of marinated boneless skinless chicken breast. But it seems there was a tiny flake of bone in there. It jammed in between 2 teeth like an ax into a log.
I was careful, I really was! I used a wooden toothpick, I tried to remove the bone flake with downward pressure front and back for several cautious minutes. When it finally seemed to loosen slightly, I OH SO CAREFULLY tried to lift it back out the way it entered.
The length of time between feeling a slight movement and the realization that it was a crown coming loose was infinitesimal. Seriously, I didn't even know that tooth HAD a crown. I have a half dozen scattered around and after a month I can't tell where they are. That's kind of the whole point of having them...
If dental stuff is icky to you, you might want to just skim ahead...
The last thing I was expecting earlier today was having to call a dentist tomorrow for an appointment. But life is what happens when you aren't expecting it. I suppose I should have though. I may have gotten good cold and flu resistance genes from my parents, but the tooth genes were not so good. Dad had only half his teeth by my age and a mouthful of partial dentures that seemed to come loose every 3 or 4 years. He complained about it a lot.
In fact, my wisdom teeth never emerged. X-Rays show them, but apparently they are blocked or something. Side note: Wisdom teeth are slowly vanishing from humans. Some people don't have them, in others, they don't emerge. Someday we won't have them at all.
I don't hate dentists! What they do is valuable for relieving pain and making it easy to eat, etc. But I DO hate dental work. I was cursed with a small jaw and therefore crowded teeth. When I was in my 20s one dentist wanted to pull a couple of teeth "to give me a better smile". That sounded miserable and I wasn't concerned with what I perceived to be cosmetic dentistry. I wish he had been more straightforward! I only learned many years later that there had still been time for the remaining teeth to slowly spread to normal positions (or so another dentist told me in my 50s).
And some dental work is seemingly worse for most but easier for me. I'll just say that layin on my back while someone is messing around in my mouth is physically horrible (2 words - "nasal drip"), but sitting upright is OK.
So when a tooth utterly broke 2 years ago and the dentist had to pull it out, I was worried at the time, the the pulling was mostly just boring. And when he told my the tooth root was interlocked with the one next to it and had to come out too, I just said "sure"...
I haven't had any problems with the 2 removed teeth. Can't even tell they are missing when I chew.
But last year, suddenly 2 small fillings came out in upper back molars. I had been planning to (and delaying) making an appointment. Now it's forced, so I will have something done to those. I hope they are refillable, but if they have to be removed I might find that easier.
And since I'm going on a dentist journey, I may see about implants for the 2 previously pulled teeth. If (and only if) they will be essentially permanent.
Some day, we humans will learn how to grow new teeth as adults. And there IS research toward that end. Until then - AARRGGGHHH!
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Threatening Notice
I received an interesting notice yesterday:
Your HTTPS settings have changed. All visitors are now able to view your blog over an encrypted connection by visiting https://cavebearslair.blogspot.com. Existing links and bookmarks to your blog will continue to work.
I can't say that I have ever been threatened with violating any European laws before, and I'm not sure I care. I don't expect to visit there in the remainder of my lifetime, since I never have previously.
But Google has a long reach. So I willingly state that, to the best of my knowledge I will not and have not violated any cookie rules and do not plan to.
Which is easy, because if there are any "cookies" in my blog, Google put them there...
European
Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information
about cookies used on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require
you to obtain consent.
As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies.
You are responsible for confirming this notice actually works for your blog, and that it displays. If you employ other cookies, for example by adding third party features, this notice may not work for you. Learn more about this notice and your responsibilities.
As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies.
You are responsible for confirming this notice actually works for your blog, and that it displays. If you employ other cookies, for example by adding third party features, this notice may not work for you. Learn more about this notice and your responsibilities.
I can't say that I have ever been threatened with violating any European laws before, and I'm not sure I care. I don't expect to visit there in the remainder of my lifetime, since I never have previously.
But Google has a long reach. So I willingly state that, to the best of my knowledge I will not and have not violated any cookie rules and do not plan to.
Which is easy, because if there are any "cookies" in my blog, Google put them there...
Monday, July 25, 2016
Hurray!
The first tomatoes are turning reddish! It may be a week, but finally the long lack of REAL tomatoes is near an end.
Which is real good because the corn is just sitting there knee-high, the melons vines are 18" long, the cucumbers are just starting to grow up the trellis, the zucchini haven't set fruit yet, the carrots are coming up only 4" long (but with great flavor), and my recent radishes have no radish.
At least the flat italian pole beans are producing. Only a half dozen a day, but it sure beats the frozen or canned ones. And they sure taste better than the regular ones. When Dad was still here 4 years ago, he said those were the best beans he had ever eaten. And he remembers growing regular beans in a garden himself.
It may sound silly, but I go out and look at the ripening tomatoes a couple times a day. I CAN'T WAIT. I am SO tired of of supermarket tomatoes (buying the cherry ones because they sure taste better than the larger ones but not by much).
Those regular ones taste so bland because the stores have learned how to make them red without actually ripening them. Its an enzyme trick. And then they refrigerate them. What little flavoroids (technical term - really) develop in the fake ripening process are killed when they are kept below 54F. And the producers store them below 54F...
Reddening and ripening tomatoes work together on the plant, but they are actually 2 separate procceses. Tomatoes turn red in the presence on ethylene gas (which they naturally produce during ripening, but produce-sellers apply to unripe tomatoes to turn them red). Green tomatoes ship best, so they apply ethylene gas to redden them for sale.
Plant that produce fruits do it so the fruits will be eaten and (hard-to-digest) seeds pooped out by fruit-eating critters all over the place. I'm not sure if you wanted to know that, but that's why there ARE fruits. And to go a step further, that WHY we see colors well. To recognize fruits with ripe seeds in them. The PLANTS did that to let us know when to eat them. Which is WHY ripe fruits have sugar - to reward us fruit-eaters who successfully learn WHEN to eat the fruits (by color) when the (unimportant-to-us) seeds are mature. And you thought they were "just" tomatoes or cherries, etc... LOL!
The naturally ripe flavor of a tomato is a whole different thing than reddening. There are about 400 chemicals involved (internet search), but carotene and lycopene are the 2 major ones. Most of the rest involve soil minerals and a starch-to-sugar transaction that the tomato plant produces in its actual ripening stage (which is why commercial suppliers can fake the red color but not the ripe flavor).
Yeah, I know I sound going overboard about my first ripe tomatoes, but I look forward to them all Winter and Spring and half of Summer! And these are heirloom tomatoes naturally ripened with real flavor. If you haven't had one of those, you just don't know!
And now you know why...
Which is real good because the corn is just sitting there knee-high, the melons vines are 18" long, the cucumbers are just starting to grow up the trellis, the zucchini haven't set fruit yet, the carrots are coming up only 4" long (but with great flavor), and my recent radishes have no radish.
At least the flat italian pole beans are producing. Only a half dozen a day, but it sure beats the frozen or canned ones. And they sure taste better than the regular ones. When Dad was still here 4 years ago, he said those were the best beans he had ever eaten. And he remembers growing regular beans in a garden himself.
It may sound silly, but I go out and look at the ripening tomatoes a couple times a day. I CAN'T WAIT. I am SO tired of of supermarket tomatoes (buying the cherry ones because they sure taste better than the larger ones but not by much).
Those regular ones taste so bland because the stores have learned how to make them red without actually ripening them. Its an enzyme trick. And then they refrigerate them. What little flavoroids (technical term - really) develop in the fake ripening process are killed when they are kept below 54F. And the producers store them below 54F...
Reddening and ripening tomatoes work together on the plant, but they are actually 2 separate procceses. Tomatoes turn red in the presence on ethylene gas (which they naturally produce during ripening, but produce-sellers apply to unripe tomatoes to turn them red). Green tomatoes ship best, so they apply ethylene gas to redden them for sale.
Plant that produce fruits do it so the fruits will be eaten and (hard-to-digest) seeds pooped out by fruit-eating critters all over the place. I'm not sure if you wanted to know that, but that's why there ARE fruits. And to go a step further, that WHY we see colors well. To recognize fruits with ripe seeds in them. The PLANTS did that to let us know when to eat them. Which is WHY ripe fruits have sugar - to reward us fruit-eaters who successfully learn WHEN to eat the fruits (by color) when the (unimportant-to-us) seeds are mature. And you thought they were "just" tomatoes or cherries, etc... LOL!
The naturally ripe flavor of a tomato is a whole different thing than reddening. There are about 400 chemicals involved (internet search), but carotene and lycopene are the 2 major ones. Most of the rest involve soil minerals and a starch-to-sugar transaction that the tomato plant produces in its actual ripening stage (which is why commercial suppliers can fake the red color but not the ripe flavor).
Yeah, I know I sound going overboard about my first ripe tomatoes, but I look forward to them all Winter and Spring and half of Summer! And these are heirloom tomatoes naturally ripened with real flavor. If you haven't had one of those, you just don't know!
And now you know why...
Astonishingly Stupid Blogs
I am constantly amazed by the horribly bad advice given out by some blogs that seem to purport to know what they are talking about.
For example, a friend mentioned a wasp sting, so to be careful of my advice, I did an internet search of sites referring specifically to wasp stings. The top 5 results said to carefully remove the stinger without squeezing the venom gland.
I'm so pissed reading that, I can barely even type!
Thats BEES!!! Wasps don't sting the same way. Bees lose their stingers when they sting and part of their insides come out that continue to pump venom. And that causes them to die. Bees sting once.
But wasps don't sting the same way. They can sting over and over and don't lose an inside part, more like fangs on a snake. They don't leave the stinger or any part behind.
So the advice was so stupid I nearly screamed in frustration.
Bees and wasps are not very closely related. The stinging aspect is called "covergent evolution" (where some animals get similar traits indendently).
If I recall correctly, bees evolved from termites (thus the solid body structure) and wasps evolved from ants (thus the segmented body structure). They both have stingers, but from entirely different origins.
But, OMG, if you were a parent of a child who was stung by a wasp and searched these "first up" sites, you would be desperately searching for the stinger in the child's flesh and you wouldn't find one! Well of course not, wasp's don't leave stingers behind!!!
And their advice tells you to look for one. AAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!
I can't even tell the site how bad their answer is. I would have to join it and that would mean weeks of scammy emails until they gave up on me.
The site is http://www.lifescript.com/. Based on the wasp sting post, DON'T EVER GO THERE FOR ANYTHING...
For example, a friend mentioned a wasp sting, so to be careful of my advice, I did an internet search of sites referring specifically to wasp stings. The top 5 results said to carefully remove the stinger without squeezing the venom gland.
I'm so pissed reading that, I can barely even type!
Thats BEES!!! Wasps don't sting the same way. Bees lose their stingers when they sting and part of their insides come out that continue to pump venom. And that causes them to die. Bees sting once.
But wasps don't sting the same way. They can sting over and over and don't lose an inside part, more like fangs on a snake. They don't leave the stinger or any part behind.
So the advice was so stupid I nearly screamed in frustration.
Bees and wasps are not very closely related. The stinging aspect is called "covergent evolution" (where some animals get similar traits indendently).
If I recall correctly, bees evolved from termites (thus the solid body structure) and wasps evolved from ants (thus the segmented body structure). They both have stingers, but from entirely different origins.
But, OMG, if you were a parent of a child who was stung by a wasp and searched these "first up" sites, you would be desperately searching for the stinger in the child's flesh and you wouldn't find one! Well of course not, wasp's don't leave stingers behind!!!
And their advice tells you to look for one. AAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!
I can't even tell the site how bad their answer is. I would have to join it and that would mean weeks of scammy emails until they gave up on me.
The site is http://www.lifescript.com/. Based on the wasp sting post, DON'T EVER GO THERE FOR ANYTHING...
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I think I have it figured out now. I needed basic frame strength (cubes) plus top support (arches with a ridgepole) for shedding rain and s... -
I like to plant Pansies in the Fall. I replace the dead Tomatos and deck pot flowers with them most years. Best deal I found was 12-packs ...