Another day

Thursday is payday where I work.  The direct deposit record, without getting too specific, is for X dollars.  

This afternoon, plumbers told my wife and I that they recommend replacing the toilet in my bathroom due to nearly 25 years of hard water deposits that have built up within it.  Cost of replacement:  about 2/3 of X.

Easy come...

Our day

Too often the days go by, one after the other, with hardly any difference from one to the next.  Work from 8:30 to about noon, then pass some time with BB downstairs at the kitchen table, and back upstairs around 1:00 for another four hours.  

The weather and the season don't help.  The daylight hours are cold and the nighttime hours colder, and since the end of daylight time a month ago, the nighttime begins before 5:00 p.m. 

So I make my way downstairs by the light of the shiny brass chandelier which is missing a few working bulbs.  Finding replacement bulbs isn't the problem; getting into the position to change them is.  Although we have a large metal ladder, reaching the bulbs would require just that, a long reach across empty space some fifteen or twenty feet above the ceramic tile floor.  At 66, I don't feel lucky.

As good as life is, with more than enough money and stable good health, I fear the rut of every day the same.  

And at our age, meals don't take long.  Fifteen minutes after sitting down, the one-egg omelet with cheese and the two strips of bacon on the side are eaten, and I'm giving thought to how long to wait before reaching for the cookies/brownies/sweets.  Less than an hour later, BB is going upstairs and I'm deciding whether to watch TV from the sofa or choose from the library of YouTube videos.  

It wasn't that long ago that we'd watch something together, but since her health has slipped, she watches her cozy mysteries from Acorn or Britbox alone during the afternoon while I work.  Upstairs, she has a 32-inch curved monitor for her games and her jigsaw puzzles.  Along about 8:00 or 8:30, she shuts it down and plays with Nora in the bedroom before climbing into bed with a paperback or a Kindle book on her iPad.  

That's too early to bed for me.  Besides, there's so much interesting stuff out there to watch and to read.  

It says here...

 ...this is some kind of chamomile.  Taken earlier this summer along the road under construction leading into the Upper Macungie recreation area.  Since then, it's been groomed and the wildflowers no longer appear.

Our day

Early this afternoon, after we'd finished a meal consisting of leftovers from yesterday's Christmas feast, BB and I were sitting at the kitchen table.  

The venetian blinds were tilted to keep out the most direct of the bright afternoon sunlight, but there was still plenty of light.

(I was alone and had been for some time when I began to write.  Midway through the second paragraph, Good Queen Swirly made a light thud as she hopped off the sofa, then approached me.  I set aside the keyboard and placed a blanket on my lap.  But before she could jump up there, the hall light blinked on and BB came downstairs.  The cat went into the kitchen for crunchies and BB talked to me for a minute.  Then she went back upstairs and shut off the light.)

BB said, "This is what it'll be like when you retire."

I said, "Provided our health holds out."

Earlier, we had gotten milk and eggs (since when did eggs shoot up to $5.00 a dozen?!) and a couple of other items at Wegmans, chatting with the cashier, Noelle -- no, she wasn't born on Christmas.  Then, less than a mile up the road, we stopped at Wild Birds Unlimited for still more bird seed, plus peanuts for the squirrels and blue jays.  

(At which point Swirly re-appeared and jumped into my lap, settling down for an hour and fifteen minutes of rest as I petted her.)

It's what everyone wants, isn't it?  Romantic love with someone who knows who you are and appreciates you for it instead of reacting with ill-disguised contempt.  Add to that sufficient money to help you sleep at night, and to be able to live comfortably. A healthy portfolio and enough insurance to protect it.  

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Other tasks: removing months and months of catalogs and magazines from a floor rack in the kitchen, organizing them, and asking BB whether she wants to keep any of them.  She didn't.  

Installing a window shade in the laundry room. I got it straight, but neglected to drill the holes in places where the brackets could actually align.  Got it right the 2nd time.

Learned more about Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve, just south of Tabby's Place.  In 2022 I happened across several locations containing naturally-occurring wildflowers, and it's hard to believe I'm going to have that same kind of luck next year just driving to and from TP.  I would have to work harder to find undiscovered areas with wildflowers I haven't seen before, and I don't see me doing that.  

Note to self:  an end-of-year post with highlights of those new-found fields of uncultivated wildflowers. Point Pleasant across from the Fire Company; Quakertown, NJ; that field just off County Road 519; the little bridge crossing Swabia Creek.  Lots of rural places I haven't yet been, though, and maybe only a little out of the way.

Research purposes

Verbascum blattaria - Moth Mullein

Flipping through old snapshots, I found this from July 2011.  No memory of it, but knowing me and wildflowers, it's easy to reason why I took it.   Some claim health benefits from this plant.  From the looks of the lawn, it thrives in dry conditions.  Even when it's driest, I never went more than a couple of weeks between mowings.  

Well, the wildflowers died back, so...

What we did Xmas Eve:

On the edge of a bomb cyclone, we got plenty of rain while areas farther north and west got hit with bounteous snow, and they're welcome to it.  All of us have a follow-up of severe cold.

Naturally, we had to go out in that weather.  BB needed to make a cake for tomorrow's supper, and we were nearly out of bird seed.  So then, breakfast, shopping online for a space heater for the master bedroom, which dropped to 61 degrees last night.

Around 11:00, to Walmart for $125 worth of stuff, mostly bird seed.  I couldn't get a good parking spot and my face was painfully cold by the time I wheeled the cart up to BB's Subaru.  

We fed the birds.  We fed ourselves.  I replaced burned-out light bulbs in the fridge.  I napped.  BB made cole slaw for tomorrow.   I baked the Duncan Hines cake, and while the oven was warm, baked a batch of brownies.

We had a slice each of homemade pizza, I washed dishes.  BB went upstairs and I sat in the rocker recliner and watched some of the stuff on my YouTube list.  The Ford Show with Shari Lewis; Never Say Die with Bob Hope and Martha Raye; Mr Churchill Addresses Congress on 8 Jan 1942.  

Traditional Friday Cat Blogging with Miss Nora

My Friday

YouTube Music tells me who I've listened to the most over the past year.  The thing is, I first heard of Kate NV in 2021, and Room for the Moon is still my #1 in 2022.  I tweeted this graphic and tagged both Kate and her record company.  I'll let you know when I hear from them.  Maybe they figured that's what my money was for.

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A day off with pay.  A Friday that felt like a Saturday.  I did Wordle, she did WordScapes, and we did Spelling Bee.  Then we got dressed, drove to an area furniture store, and bought a new bed.  They cost a lot more than they did the last time we bought one.  Still, our backs need more support than the current 20-year-old mattress can provide.  If the store lives up to its promise, tomorrow night we'll be sleeping on the new mattress.

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Then we drove to Wegmans and bought some fixings for chili.  A red pepper and several cans of kidney beans, the house brand, if you please.  We just bought a bed and besides that, pretty soon I'm going to have to buy another tank of gas.

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Later in the afternoon, we went back out and looked for a small Xmas tree for BB.  Costco had one in its latest advertising flyer, but there were none in the store.  Walmart had one that BB liked, but there were none on the shelf and they wouldn't sell her the floor model.

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Worth Remembering

Tired this morning after yesterday's feast and a shaky night's sleep, which included one nightmare.  I woke up on the floor, groaning at the images at the end of the dream.  (That's as far as I want to describe it. The rest isn't worth remembering.  "The horror, the horror.")

Stayed in pajamas all morning, ate little, left Spelling Bee to BB.  Rainy outside.  Not going to Tabby's Place today.

The skies didn't clear, but the rain stopped. BB had found a WaPo article about the increasing number of traffic circles, and sure enough, when I followed the link I found three on Route 222 where before there had been none. 

We decided to check it out. Everyone else is bunched up in the shopping centers, so let's go in the opposite direction.  Minutes after we left at 2:30, we were driving through rolling hills in western Lehigh and eastern Berks county, enjoying the view, noting the changes made since the last time. I believe that time was during the early days of the pandemic, at least two years ago.

Kept going after the 3rd and last roundabout, finally getting off 222 in a shopping plaza near Temple. I picked up some Pepsi and two Lindt bars at a Dollar Tree, then consulted the map app for our next move.  Finding a quick way to Route 61 north, we took it up to where it intersected with I-78.  Some construction slowed us down; evidently with all the warehouses being built out that way, they're expanding the interstate on both sides from two lanes to three.

We got home, ate just a little bit of yesterday's leftovers, and then she went upstairs while I made myself comfortable in the rocker-recliner and awaited the Nebraska-Wisconsin match.  My Widdle Baby Durl (TM) emerged from beneath the fleece blanket on the sofa and hopped up on my lap.  Soon, she was napping, and so was I.

Wisconsin had their way with Nebraska.  So it goes.

You See It Too, Don't You?

  

At left:  The 1966 Topps Paul Schaal card, and its background that bugged me when I was 10 years old.  

At right:  A quick adjustment with FastStone at age 66.  Feels good.

Miss Nora appears satisfied

I Understand Completely

In the street, and elsewhere...

Closer

Same bee, different cosmos.  The time stamp says it was taken 15 seconds after the previous image.

To infinity...

That rural New Jersey field, revisited (literally).  I went back on Saturday 10/29 and saw numerous honeybees who didn't need to go far for a meal. These flowers were maybe 40 yards from their hive in the middle of the field. This bee had just finished here and was lifting off on a short journey to another cosmos.

Reflecting on a squirrel

Why?  Because most of the year, this photo isn't possible.  Except for a brief period in early fall (and presumably about the time of the spring equinox), the late-afternoon sun is at a different place on the western horizon. It is rare when it can simultaneously back-light a feeding squirrel and reflect off our back door glass to illuminate it from the front. And of course, the squirrel has to be there within that brief window where the sun is in the right place.  But if we put seeds out there, well, a squirrel is likely to be there, too.

Hedge bindweed by any other name

 What's the difference between a morning glory...

... and hedge bindweed?

Just the name, that's all.  

Seeing the sights in Quakertown

There have been some cool fall nights recently, but not cold enough to impair the flowers in a field near Quakertown, NJ.  When I saw them just off the road, I pulled over and unzipped the camera case.  

Cornflower (Centraurea Cyanus)

Pink cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus?)

Let's take a closer look at the insect helping itself to the soft, sweet center. 

Halictus ligatus, perhaps?  (aka Ligated furrow bee, or simply "sweat bee".)

Here's a wider view, including some of what look to me like bee hives, surrounded by plenty of flowers to pollinate.  Might have to stop by there next time and see if they have any honey to sell.

 

My Days

So this agglomeration of writing began a few weeks after the beginning of the Covid pandemic.  It was "Pandemic Quarantine Diary", soon to become the catchier "Before I Forget...".

The obvious names for ***.blogspot.com were already taken, so I had to come up with something else.  I'd just watched the movie Butterfield 8, and tried summerfield8.blogspot.com, using the name of the imaginary town from the 1940's radio sitcom, "The Great Gildersleeve."  But someone else had already claimed that obscure name in August 2006 for a fantasy football league.  

Well, now what?  I shuffled the possibilities and, a moment later, I found summerfield18 was available.

After setting it up, I posted pictures from the pandemic:  a line of people outside a Walmart, multiple stickers in stores warning customers to practice social distancing.  Also, describing the things I did to get through a day off from work, considering that Tabby's Place was closed to visitors and volunteers.  None of it was intended for the public, a reversal of the usual reason for creating a blog.  It didn't matter whether anyone else saw it, I just wanted to document a period in time.

Then, I learned how to set up an existing domain name with the blogspot site, and the visitor count gradually increased.  I figured it was only made up of search engine bots passing through, but I began to feel uncomfortable, hesitant to write what I wanted to say on a medium where the general public might find it.

It turned out to be simple to create blog after blog after blog in one Google account, so soon I set up a second space for the things I wanted to put on the books, but only privately.  That's the one you're reading now.

I even started a third blog for the most personal things in my life that I desired to put in writing, but that didn't last long.  Using Google blogspot for journaling is to have someone invisibly over your shoulder, with no secrets between you and them.  I erased the few posts I'd made, but kept the Strictly Personal space on the off chance there's a use for it in the future.  Google presumably kept the blogposts for future reference.  

About the same time, Covid eased back and Tabby's Place opened for volunteers once more.  I didn't feel like writing much, so the posts in Blog #1 and #2 were mostly in the form of photographs.  Also, I removed the forwarding to the original domain name, and traffic stats went back to single digits.  

Keeping all that straight?  #1:  "Before I Forget..." at summerfield18.blogspot.com, which served its purpose for documenting everyday life during a raging pandemic, and has evolved into a place for posting my non-cat pictures.  

#2: "The 2nd Set of Books" at the2ndset.blogspot.com for writing down thoughts that go about as deep as I'm capable of at my age

#3: "Strictly Personal" (inactive) at itsstrictlypersonal.blogspot.com

Now, during the year and a half, close to two years of the worst of the pandemic, I was taking antidepressants after a gap of a few years. It helped keep the emotional lows from going too low, but it also put a ceiling on the opposite end.  I could function and perform at my day job and my volunteer work, that wasn't the problem. I just wasn't doing the extra thinking and the additional planning that normally kept my mind active.  

I'd sit in the rocker-recliner after supper, nap for 15 to 30 minutes, and when I woke up, it'd be Netflix and chill, in the original chaste sense of the term.  If not Netflix, then Amazon Prime Video, or especially YouTube audio files.  I'd listen intently to newscasts and audio ephemera from World War II while letting my eyes and hand play level after level of Fishdom 2.  Put another way, my ambitions for personal time were self-limited.

But as 2022 moved along, I felt like I could get along without sertraline, and I was right.  No depression, more ambition.  (Although I should add that there has been more carb loading than a man of my age needs, and a concurrent weight gain.)

Another thing -- as a volunteer photographer at Tabby's Place, I'd learned about photography and photo editing, and I thought about putting them down in blog format.  

The name "Photography on the Cheap" will give you an idea of the angle I wanted to pursue. Photography can cost you a lot, but the thinking was that I could set down some things as a voice of experience, and demonstrate how I was operating without spending much.

I took a bunch of notes, and they'll be available if/when I want to edit them down to a useful form. The 25 words or less version: pre-owned gear for creating the images, and freeware for editing.  

To wrap things up for the evening, I decided to set up one more blogspot blog only for pictures that were taken at Tabby's Place. Nothing elaborate, just a photo and a link to something on the TP site, either the cat's official description or a blog post featuring that cat.  

The name afewgoodcats.blogspot.com is not being used, but it's not available either, and I don't know why.  Did I apply for it years ago and then abandon it?  I don't recall doing that.  Who else would want to claim it and then not use it?

So instead, taking a lesson from the extended commercials for "As Seen On TV" products that put "try" or "get" before the name of the product, I created seeafewgoodcats.blogspot.com and connected it to the dormant domain afewgoodcats.com.  No publicity, just a soft rollout.  

Maybe after I'm retired, I'll shift to a higher gear. By that time, blogs will have gone the way of the "home page" and only senior citizens will have them, like Facebook.  Everyone younger will be somewhere else.  Some of a certain age will be on Instagram, and some younger persons will be leveraging TikTok, provided it isn't banned as an agent of the Chinese Communist Party.  We just don't know, do we? 

Moggie Monday with Good Queen Swirly

For that matter, it could also have been used for a Tummy Tuesday, as GQS's golden tummy is on display.

She likes to nap on the couch in the family room, but I don't remember ever seeing her in this position.  The belly-up look is favored by her brother Kit.

Sunday Yellow

We're a month into autumn, but that doesn't stop the bright yellow wood sorrel in our neighborhood.

One for now, one for later (plus one)

Canada Thistle, taken 17 September 2022 at Tabby's Place, Ringoes, New Jersey.

The insect may be Ceratina, or small carpenter bee.

"Canada Thistle is one of our worst weeds."  Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station

Flower-Of-An-Hour

 Bladder Hibiscus

Bright Red October

 

Sunflower on a rainy day

A rural area of suburban Lehigh County. Only a few hundred yards away are modern housing developments. An old, narrow bridge crosses Swabia Creek, and on the bank of the creek are some of these flowers.  Yellow like the bidens polylepis from a week ago, and both were growing near water, but that one had only 8 petals and was a different shade of yellow.  Maybe some variety of helianthus or heliopsis.  This one looks the closest to it.

Still time

  

Not too late in the year for wildflowers to bloom, wherever a seed happens to land and take root.  

This one has some chopped-off stems, but one flower is out and a couple more are nearing that point.  

 

Thanks, Bidens

Bidens polylepis, that is.  There was a big patch of these flowers in a field alongside a road in rural southeastern Pennsylvania, and conveniently, there was a fire station with an big parking lot right across from it.  All I had to do was park and walk across the road.  It's not often that easy to find a place to park a car when taking pictures of wildflowers.  

Not Too Late

The asters down the road that blossom in late summer are mostly past their peak now, in the first week of autumn.  But this one still has enough for a pollinator to stop by.  

Oriental Lady's Thumb

 Persicaria longiseta

 

Pretty

Google Images has so many yellow daisy-like wildflowers, and although some sort of resemble this flower, I'm not going to commit to any of them.  Just look, save the image, and enjoy.

Now, what is this?

Orange Butterfly Weed

I was at Tabby's Place today, but not inside.  OK, I was inside petting cats some of the time, but along about 2:30, everywhere I wanted to go was already occupied with humans, so I went outside and wandered around looking for wildflowers.   

An unexpected pleasure

Growing next to the garage, some volunteer Helianthus divaricatus L., or Woodland Sunflower/Rough Sunflower to you and me.  

September wildflowers

Evening Primrose in the afternoon

Milk Thistle with Peck's Skipper

Just off the parking lot of a bank in Lower Macungie.  Driving home after getting a Wally Hog, which might not have to close.  The co-owner told us today that the news stories which appeared earlier in the week had attracted job hunters.  Let's hope so. 

 

Two from here, two from there

These two are in our back yard...

Sweet Alyssum

Scarlet Sage

...and these two are in a field of wildflowers near the post office in T'town.

Crown Vetch 

Japanese Bindweed

Keeping Busy

Friday afternoon:  Tabby's Place; organizing and looking over the pictures I took

Saturday:  Kohl's so BB could shop.  Tagging, editing, and posting to Flickr the pictures.  On YouTube, listening to WWII newscasts from Q1 1945 and "Right Ho, Jeeves".  

Sunday:  Kohl's so BB could return merchandise; Walmart so BB could pick up needles for Kit's meds.  Baking M&M cookies, cleaning up afterward.  On YouTube, wallowing in nostalgia.  The United Air Lines commercial that used "Take Me Along"; Captain Kangaroo from 5/5/69; David Brinkley without Chet Huntley from 1/6/59; The Good Guys (Bob Denver, Herb Edelman) from sometime in 1969; Jane Withers as Josephine the Plumber from 1969; an episode of "Do You Trust Your Wife?" from 12/11/1956 (man, Edgar Bergen didn't even try not to move his lips); finished "Right Ho, Jeeves"; Jack Paar recorded just prior to 11/22/63 and postponed until after the funeral, with guests Liberace and Cassius Clay.  20:14 Paar to Clay: "You know, you are a very good-looking boy." Just couldn't help himself...

All along:  feeding birds, filling and refilling their water, watching them wallow in the old garden.

Spotted knapweed, spotted

Spotted knapweed, found in the same area yesterday as the purple loosestrife, and just as unwelcome.  

EDIT:  That's how Google Lens described it, but to tell you the truth, it looks to me more like brown knapweed.  Or maybe it's meadow knapweed.  Can we just agree it's likely knapweed?