Keeping busy

"Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death."  -- Roger Waters

"Can't we talk about something more pleasant?"  -- Roz Chast

"It was a good day." -- Ice Cube

In fact, it was a good day.  Fair and comfortable, with cumulus clouds across a bright blue sky.  PG and I drove a little, walked a little, enjoyed two good meals together.  I learned some things, accomplished others, made dessert (vanilla pudding from scratch), and practiced a piece until I could get through the first third without error at 75% speed.  

Oh, and this.  I was driving on a side street when I spotted a cottontail rabbit in a yard to my right.  The rabbit began moving in the same direction I was driving, and I momentarily lost sight of it behind a parked car.  

Just in case, I slowed down, and a second later, the rabbit hopped across the road in front of me.  It was barely visible in front of the car hood, and if I'd been going faster, the close call might have been too close.  Didn't anyone ever tell it about hrududil? 

Time Well Spent

Sunset in a few minutes, but the overcast sky already has made it too dark to get around outside without artificial light.  It rained all day, so I haven't been outside the house.

Inside the house, I did some more organizing of the basement's contents, so there's my stuff, PG's stuff, Joyce's art stuff that can be given to granddaughter D, Xmas stuff that will be offered to family before being donated, and housewares and other small items that are likewise earmarked.  There's one other pile, consisting of boxes for packing the small stuff.  

In a Times article about a modern production of Once Upon a Mattress, pleasantly surprised to find a link to a 1964 CBS videotape of the same show, this one with most of its original cast, including Carol Burnett as the prospective princess.  Then on that YouTube page was a link to Carol's opening number, "Shy", as done on the Garry Moore show in 1960, while she was still in the show on Broadway.  That led me back to "I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles" from the Ed Sullivan show of April 6, 1958, when she was 24, and from there I got a link to her April 2023 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, just before she turned 90.  

Finished "On The Town" and deleted it from Tivo.  Some time on Facebook, putting in a plug for Tabby's Place Kitten Fund.  Some time playing WordScapes.  Practiced drums.  Watched others cover the same songs to try to learn from them.  Some time learning about chords and how Steely Dan used them, adding jazz elements to keep themselves interested and to create new music.  Paid the trash and sewer bills at the credit union website.  

New information on Slack from a TP foster of a cat and her five kittens.  There's a little video; can I edit it and add a little free music?  While I'm at it, January is almost over, so I'd better start thinking about the February correspondent update.  I organized the field reports (you could call them) and their photos today.  Soon, some word processing and uploading.

Soon, a new laptop for downstairs, replacing the 2016 Dell Inspiron that can't be updated to Windows 11.  

Things that produce a sense of accomplishment on a wet, gray Sunday.

Technology, parts 1 and 2

Part 1:  Pat likes a certain brand of salad dressing that she buys at Whole Foods.  I like a certain brand of whole-milk buttermilk that I use to make pancakes.  Over the noon hour today, we stopped by WF to pick some up.  

At the self-checkout, there was a new option, Amazon One.  Enter your Amazon Prime credit card, have a camera scan each of your palms, and you're registered.  After registration, check out as usual, but just scan your palm instead of tapping or swiping the Amazon Prime card.  

It all went off for me without a hitch.  No floor on the amount that can be charged to Amazon One, from the looks of it.  Today's bill was 13 dollars and change, and 5% of that comes back in Amazon credit.  

Part 2:  With an eye to getting away from Twixtter, I looked into Threads.  To get an account in Threads, you need an account in Instagram.  I didn't want to use my Facebook account for Instagram, so I entered a different address and filled in all the other required blanks.  The two-factor ID went through smoothly, but instead of a welcome screen, the next thing I saw was a full-screen advisory that my account had been suspended for 180 days for a violation of terms of service.

The violation appeared to be that I hadn't used my Facebook account to sign up.  There were some words about creating fake accounts and anonymous entries, and at the bottom, a notification that I could appeal.  However, if the appeal was denied, my Instagram account would be deleted immediately.

I wanted to know more, and to assure the gatekeeper that the email was mine and is active.  What made them think I was creating a fake account?  I clicked Appeal, and the screen changed to a message that the appeal had been received and I would hear from them directly.  Missing was any space for even a 25-words-or-less statement in my defense.  

So it looks like you have to use Facebook credentials to be permitted to create an Instagram account, and Instagram is required to create a Threads account.  No thanks, never mind.  I deleted the new Instagram account, and I'll just have to get along without Threads.

Work, work, work

About done with the 80% of the work that takes 20% of the time.  Doing it with as little prep as possible.  No plastic on surfaces, no masking tape anywhere.  If I slop a bit of paint, I wipe it up right away, but generally I don't slop a drop.  

The beige is a good neutral shade and a big improvement on the deep tan that was there before.  One more coat tomorrow, and then PG and I will share the trimming duties.

Besides the painting, I did my day job for the standard 8 hours, and I wrote about 500 words for supporters of a Special Needs cat.  My secret?  All month long, I'm taking notes, scraps to put each visit in memory.  Also, I'm looking for cat-related items to work into the letter.  This month, the praying imam who was climbed by a cat; Charles Barkley's deliberately offensive take on cats; a photo story in a NJ newspaper.  

If I write something that doesn't fit in the 500 words one month, I save it for possible future use.  At the end of the month, we're given a summary of the health of our assigned cat.  So I'm assembling something consisting of medical news, pop culture references, and a little story involving the cat.  The framework looks like this:

1) Hi (I usually don't spend much time on it, because often I wind up writing about myself instead of the cat.  Address the reader; "May greetings to you, and to all Buddy's buddies!")

2) Health (the cat's medical issues are the reason for this letter, so put it up front for the sponsor)

3) Anecdote (I've learned that something always happens to write about.  Just keep your eyes and ears open and be ready to record it.)

4) Kicker (always leave 'em laughing)

5) KTHXBAI (thank the donor and sign off.  Keep it short and simple.)

I reserve the right to shuffle the order of the five steps, and even to skipping one of them.  #2 and #5 are the only mandatory ones.

 

"Specialization is for insects."

This whole thing started a couple of nights ago, when I sat down on my rocker-recliner and found that the first half of that description no longer applied.  

I turned over the chair and saw only powdered padding and copious amounts of cat hair.  Remembering that I'd found a chair repairman a few years ago, I dug out the man's business card and prepared for another unexpected hundred-dollar expense.

But last night, I looked again with a brighter light and saw a bar crossing the front of the chair.  At one end, a bolt and nut held some mechanism in place.  At the other end was a hole where a similar bolt and nut belonged.  The two pieces of the broken bolt lay under the half-connected mechanism.

So I decided to go to the nearby hardware store and pick up a replacement bolt, and use the nut from the broken old one.  It looked doable, in other words.

This morning, I worked until 11:45 and came downstairs to find this half-grown rabbit outside our front door, enjoying the clover.

Driving to the hardware store, I looked across the road at an intersection and saw more suburban wildlife.

These wildflowers were growing along the gravel road across the intersection.

I'll have to use Google Images or some app to identify this likely common wildflower.

Edit:  Google Lens produces a number of results, and after looking at them my guess is that it's Scentless Chamomile.  

At the hardware store, there was a staff member in the small hardware section, and he quickly identified the type and size of bolt I was looking for.  I bought two, because if one of them had broken, the other was liable to as well.

Back home, there was a bit of work getting the carriage bolt to stay in place while I ratcheted the nut tightly.  But in a couple of minutes, I flipped the chair back upright, sat down on it, and rocked once more.  

So, it's fixed and it cost 27 cents.  An unexpected 27-cent expense is OK; I can handle that.  Besides, I got to see some wildlife and I'm going to learn more about wildflowers.  See why I'm filing this under "accomplishments"?  

Ancora Imparo

 

If not for this, I would have guessed that "The Four Questions" was the name of a doo-wop group.

Source:  Tablet Magazine, "A Conversation with Donald Fagen"

Saturday Evening Post

 

A new road to township property under construction, right across from the entrance to our development.

It's late in the season, but fall Indian Blanket flowers look as good now as they did during summer.

On my way to an appointment today, I took a back road and saw plenty of chicory and hawkweed flowers in the bright morning sun.  

And now another Western conifer seed bug has appeared inside the house, this one in my bathroom.

 

Working on getting better at manual mode

And it's nice not to have to travel for interesting subjects.  I have dozens of shots of indian blankets taken with varying shutter speeds and varying apertures.  (With varying degrees of success.)

It seems to be the custom for the photographer to note the ISO, the shutter speed and the aperture, but in this case that might imply a level of professionalism that I am far from having achieved.  Anyway, if you care, you know how to find out.

When I'm 64 no more

 And as the saying goes, I'll live to be 100, or die trying.

After drying overnight

 Ready for sanding and then another layer of glop.  Should have it finished this weekend.

At the top of the to-do list

At long last.

But not until tomorrow.