Tuesday Morning

There's a folder of bookmarks at the top of the browser window, labeled "Anytime now."  I've had similar folders in the past with other names, like "Read sooner" and "USA" (not as descriptive, but it didn't take up much space on the bookmark bar either).

The majority of the bookmarks in those folders probably never did get followed up, but this morning I opened one of dozens saved under "Anytime now," and the following is what I learned.  

Source:  "Show Girl", J.P. McEvoy, 1928

Skillabootch?  Here's where I found out more about McEvoy, whose writing style likely would have fit in well a hundred years later.  

A few pages earlier, he'd referenced a business that was clear from the context, but I went down the rabbit hole anyway...

... and found a 1938 article from the New York Times that served as The Rest of the Story about Cain's Warehouse.  Big in '28, closed for good in '38.

"In the old days, [Cain] continued, there was always the rental from shows stored for the Summer. But soon he found consignments left overtime, and he had to sell them. Electrical fixtures might bring a fair return, but there wasn't much of a market, say, for the tropical love setting in 'Congai,' or a chariot-wheel from an ancient Klaw-Erlanger 'Ben Hur.'"  

  --  "Curtain Is Rung Down on Cain's, Warehouse for Closed Shows," 9 February 1938, no byline

Unexpected, but in a good way

I just checked, and found pictures of wood violets in my collection that date back to April 2008.  Spring is when they traditionally bloom, then they die back and only the leaves remain as low ground cover for the rest of the summer.  

What I didn't expect was to find photos that I took that are dated November 7, 2010 and October 27, 2012.  Here's one from today, October 16, 2025.  A useful reminder that there can be a small second batch in autumn.  

Some Fun Now

I was watching an episode of Victory At Sea when this screen came up.  Automatically, I tried to figure out when this footage was taken.  

At far left, I can read "Chester Morris", but not the name of the film or the theatre.  A little to the right, there's "Special Agent" at the Central, I believe, and above that I have no doubt that "Bengal Tiger" is at the Strand.  

Some minutes later, I have learned that all three films were released in mid-1936, and that the Morris film is named "Counterfeit."  What's more, the three stars of "Bengal Tiger" are Barton MacLane, June Travis, and Warren Hull.  The New York Times of July 29, 1936 notes that the film is scheduled to open on this day.

But information available says that "Counterfeit" was released May 25, 1936, two months earlier, and that bit about "Second Smash Week" doesn't add up.  Not a big deal, though.

Now all I want to do is screenshot it, and that's where it got weird.  WIN/SHIFT/S caused the YouTube screen to go black, first in Chrome, then in Edge and Firefox.  Anything I'm doing wrong to cause it?  Search says try double-clicking and then choosing save from the menu that comes up.  Nope -- the save function is there, but it's grayed out.  Then to Reddit, where they said hardware acceleration should be turned off, but that didn't change the result either.  

By this time, I would have used my phone to get it over with, but I'd left it downstairs.  A few more minutes, and I think I've found the answer:  It's a feature, applied to copy-protect copyrighted material.  OK then, I'll just bookmark it and come back tomorrow with my phone.

Which I did...

So anyway, the Globe is now the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.  The Central became the Columbia, the Gotham, the Holiday, and more before being demolished in 1998.  Likewise, the Strand was razed in 1987.  

Once more, adding to the sum total of human knowledge.

I think I've got it now

What I had:

(C:) SAMSUNG 980 SSD 500GB      PCle 3.0x4, NVMe M.2 2280   10.21   7.22

(D:) ST1000DM010-2EP102 Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA HDD

(E:)  CD/DVD optical drive SATA

(F:) Crucial MX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD  9.2020

(S:) ADATA Swordfish 1TB 3D NAND PCIe Gen3x4 NVMe M.2 2280 Read  9.2020

(with S:) QNINE NVME PCIe Adapter, M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD M Key to PCI Express 3.0 x2 Expansion Card with Low Profile Bracket for PC Desktop

I proceeded to add a 2TB Crucial SATA Internal SSD, used Macrium to clone the existing F: drive (the main data drive) to it, then Disk Management to expand the volume to make the entire 2TB accessible.  Then I changed the drive letter so the 2TB is now the F: drive.  

The power cable in the 2.5" slot had two inputs, but not two data cables, so I ordered one.  That arrived today, and I installed it without any issues.  

What I have now:

(C:) SAMSUNG 980 SSD 500GB      PCle 3.0x4, NVMe M.2 2280   10.21   7.22

(D:) ST1000DM010-2EP102 Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA HDD

(E:)  CD/DVD optical drive SATA

(F:) Crucial MX500 2TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD  9.2020

(G:) Crucial MX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD  9.2020

Missing:

(S:) ADATA Swordfish 1TB 3D NAND PCIe Gen3x4 NVMe M.2 2280 Read  9.2020

What I learned:  on the motherboard there are four SATA ports.  If there are fewer than four SATA drives, the NVME PCIe adapter will allow a stick SSD to use one of the ports.  When I added the fourth SATA, there was no more room for the adapter.  

Now the D: drive will be an onboard backup for everything on F: except the photos, which will go on G:.  There will continue to be multiple external backups, one of which will remain offsite.

One source of info, from Reddit, and another one, this one from Dell, Quote: "It has 4 sata ports (one blue two black one white).  If you have an optional ODD, then there are three left for HDD/SSD.  If no ODD, then 4 HDD/SSD max.

"note the white sata port is reserved for optional odd, but there is nothing stopping you from giving up odd and using the port for hdd/ssd.  as far as mobo is concerned, it does not matter whether it is odd or ssd.

"its 2.5 bay can accommodate two 2.5 hdd/ssd"

A better day

About a month ago, I was learning how to use Handbrake to convert video files on a DVD to something that could be viewed standalone.  Today, I picked up some more family videos that had been transferred from 8MM videotape to DVD, and ran one of them through Handbrake.  Here's what happened:

Some time later today, before seeing the responses, I figured out a way that would work.  The initial screen "Source Selection" presents three choices:  Folder (Batch Scan), File (Open video file(s)) and E:\DVD Video Recording.  I'd been using Folder and File without success, and so looked into DVD, which is where the answer was.  It shows the full time on the DVD under Title at left, but allows you to select a Range of consecutive Chapters which add up to the Duration time at far right.  

Now to hope that the DVD drive holds up through all the discs to be processed.  

You can observe a lot...

Just another old movie on TCM, Johnny Angel, not a classic no matter what the channel says.  One scene with George Raft and Claire Trevor together at a table, I realized that there were sharp dark shadows on Raft's face, but in Trevor's shots, the shadows were softer and greyer.  Not the first time it's been done, I'm sure, but it's the first time I ever noticed it.  

Anyone can make a mistake

In the mailbox this morning was a message from Medicare with the information that an electronic Medicare Summary Notice is available.  With the help of the password program, I began logging in to Medicare.gov, but two-factor authorization is in place, so I pulled up the Authenticator app on my phone and typed in the 6-digit code -- and got a message that it was invalid.  

I waited a few seconds for another code, but it also came up as invalid.  One last try locked the account, so I changed the password successfully and started the process again.  

Fast forward through frustration and four-letter words.  I phoned Medicare and said no when the AI asked if I had said I was calling about CPAP.  "Talk to a human", I responded, and seconds later I was on hold with an estimated waiting time of 9 minutes.

In those 9 minutes, I realized that the Authenticator is set up for Logon.gov, which is for SSA.gov, not Medicare.gov, and that Medicare sends its codes via text.  With that misapprehension out of the way, I hung up, logged in and downloaded the eMSN.

My wife heard my frustration during the process, and said she was still glad I was doing it and not her.

They've heard it all already

Last night, with the help of Radio Garden, I learned about the UK territory named the Isles of Scilly, and far be it from me to make any Scilly jokes.   I will note, however, that while the Isles are home to a number of seabirds, there are no Scilly geese.

If I were still playing baseball games, I would have a team named the Great Ganilly Scillonians.  The island is all of 0.05 square miles, or 34.2 acres, but it makes more sense when you understand there is also a Little Ganilly, which measures 6.7 acres.  You should be able to fit a ballpark on 34.2 acres, although I'm not sure about the parking.

At least the Scilly people weren't afraid of what others thought of them, and proudly have remained Scillonians.   

Lest we forget. 

Translation, please?

Awhile back, I had a local camera shop make a DVD of a 25-year-old 8mm home video.  I fiddled with it, tried to edit it, failed.  Speccy said that the CPU (Intel Core i7 10700 @ 2.90 GHz) had zoomed up to 98 degrees Celsius.  I put the DVD aside for 3 years. 

Now, as a recent retiree with more time to educate myself, it's time to try again.  After a couple of hours of trying, I still don't feel like I have a handle on it yet, although I have learned a couple of things that don't work.  

Find VOB files on the DVD: check

Import a VOB file into OpenShot:  check

Preview VOB file in OpenShot:  appears on timeline, but with blank screen and no audio

Try again.  Google some more.

Convert VOB file to MP4 with VLC media player:  Good picture, audio sounds like a chainsaw cutting down a tree

Try again.  Google some more.  Someone on Reddit advised to "Remux VOB to MP4 with Handbrake", which is another language altogether.  

Next - read and learn about using HandBrake, and remux it, don't convert it.  I think that's what next, anyway.  But not tonight, though.

Anyway, I learned something.  

---------------------------

Adding to the sum total of human knowledge

 

Are there enough clues on the scoreboard to determine the date of the photo?

Yes.  The Pittsburgh-New York game with its high score was the biggest clue.  Also, since the Braves were still in Boston, that meant it was prior to 1953.  Since the Pirates had a terrible record in 1952, I skipped that year and instead checked 1951 for the 11 Pit-NYG games at Forbes Field.  

The pictured game was Milwaukee-Indianapolis.  Also on the scoreboard is Minneapolis at Toledo, but less than a week later, on June 23, Mud Hens owner Danny Menendez moved the team to Charleston, West Virginia, leading to his indictment.  

When the Braves moved from Boston to Milwaukee in 1953, the Milwaukee team in the American Association moved to Toledo, where they were first known as the Glass Sox, but soon settled on Sox.  

 

Discord, doubled

9/24/24:  In Le Monde, an article headlined "La suppression de l'aide medicale de l'Etat, leitmotiv de la droite et pomme de discorde".   That "pomme de discorde" was a new one to me, so I looked it up.  

9/25/24:  Filling time until the beginning of the 7:00 volleyball match, I turn the channel to Cartoon Network.  Within a minute, one character approaches another, carrying a golden apple bearing a K.  The other character demands, "What are you doing with the apple of discord?"  

Something like that happened once before, with the word "myrmidon".  I posted something about that in 2022.  

This is how it was planned to go

I get up around 8:00, go downstairs,

Pour a bowl of cereal, a half-glass of juice and fill it the rest of the way with seltzer,

I do not reach for any pills.  All I have is baby aspirin and sertraline, and these days I don't feel like I need either.

I finish off Spelling Bee and begin Immaculate Grid

I check the Politics list within Xitter

I put my dishes in the dishwasher and take the iPad into the family room, and sit down on the recliner

If I'm lucky, my cat will come over and lie down on my lap

I can continue getting news from Xitter

I can read another chapter of 1776 or another day or two of The Long Season

I can put in the earbuds and listen to the machine voiceover while reading a story from Le Monde.

I can skim the headlines in the Times, Post, and Google News

From time to time, I check Facebook and Slack for news about the foster kittens.  If any, I screen shot the page or copy and paste the relevant text into a NoteTab .txt file, then save it into that month's subfolder in Dropbox.  If there are photos, I make a copy and save them into the same subfolder.  (This feels more important than the rest of the actions.  Those other actions are for my own amusement, but the Kitten Fund is the closest thing I have now to a job.)

Later, I take a walk around the neighborhood, and to keep my mind busy, I put on a podcast or count the rabbits.  

I look over the current lesson in Drumeo and work out the sticking (Today, single paradiddles)

I pull out the four printed pages of the drum part for Rikki and work out the sticking for a few more measures.  (Today, the first four bars of the first chorus.)

As of early June 27, this is how I envisioned retirement.  Then came the Biden-Trump debate and the overwhelming dread it produced.  Then came the first Monday after leaving my job, and the suffocating grief it produced. 

I collected the WFH gear and stuffed it into a provided box, and took it to the nearest FedEx store to return it.  

We had a contractor in for a week, which threw everything off for humans and cats alike.

Then someone shot at Trump.

Then my Welcome to Medicare visit, with an abnormal EKG.

Then my 68th birthday, and a day later, my wife's birthday.  That shook me, too.

Then there was a letter from my former employer that didn't make sense, so I drafted a response to mail back the following Monday morning.

Then the plastic line from the cold water pipe in the basement to the refrigerator upstairs split and sprayed water on possessions that need to be kept dry.  I felt better about my state of mind while solving the immediate problems:  put a bucket under the drip coming from up above the sink; find the squeegee and move the water on the floor over to a drain; find the leak and turn the saddle valve from On to Off, only for nothing to change, so I folded over the plastic line and duct-taped it in place to stop the flow. Just in case, I put a large plastic box under the sealed line and tied the line to the stepladder so it wouldn't thrash around if it did come loose.

The immediate crisis was past, and then I phoned the plumber.

He recommended replacing the plastic line with one made of copper, and replaced the useless saddle valve with one made by SharkBite.  As long as he was here, I asked him to replace the other saddle valve that was controlling water for the HVAC humidifier, and replace the pipe where rubber-lined clamps covered the pinholes made by past saddle valves.  In a couple of hours, everything was fixed, and I felt better about the plumbing in the basement.  I shouldn't have to deal with that kind of problem again.  Cost?  We could afford it.  

Then I contacted the internet provider/cable/phone company to try to get them to reduce the monthly bill, which has risen sharply since the previous reduction.  Not only did I get minimal sympathy, the reduction (such as it was) corresponded with the sympathy.  

Then Biden dropped out.

Then a spring fell off under the rocker-recliner and I had to play chair repair.

All that in less than a month.  PG gave me all the loving support she could.  I walked more, ate less, took sertraline.  By the end of July, I'd gone from 229 to 225.  

Then things got better.  I kept walking and drumming, but ate more and stopped sertraline.  My state of mind was much improved, but by this morning, I'd gone back up to 232, which wasn't planned.

But now that I'm over the shocks of 2024 presidential politics and the adjustment to being without a paying job, the framework I'd planned prior to retirement is holding firm.  I volunteer, doing things to help cats, I learn more about a foreign language, and I learn how to play a musical instrument.  Repeat as long as the household's health holds out.

Our day

The usual games (Spelling Bee, Wordscapes, Immaculate Grid)

PG put the rabbit tchotchkes back in the living room display case

I gathered the fallen tree branches and limbs and took them to the township yard waste facility

On the way home, saw three deer in a bean field, stopped and took pictures

I caulked a gap under the front door where tiny ants were getting inside

PG smoothed out an area where the floor installers had cracked, then caulked, the side of a kitchen cabinet

Supper from Cactus Blue, dessert was homemade chocolate pudding.  Drove by the newly opened Cane's near the house, but the drive-through line stretched out past the parking lot and onto the street.  

The hot weather and the subsequent tropical depression have passed, so I can walk in the evenings again.  Plenty of rabbits out and about near sundown.  

We've had the current washer-dryer setup for more than a decade, but only now am I learning that the time on the timer can change according to the humidity the dryer senses.  Put it on auto dry, normal, and maybe 40 minutes will appear.  But if it's a small load of things that aren't sopping wet, and that 40 will jump down to 15, then to 5, as it did today while I watched.  It's no spring chicken, but at least it's still working 100% for now.  I'm not looking forward to spending money on a new setup.  

Back to the present:  to access the drain hole in the freezer, I removed a couple of hex nuts and bent back the cover.  The ratchet removed the nuts, but wasn't working well to re-insert them afterward.  I knew we had a nut-driver kit someplace, but couldn't find it in the basement or the garage.  I almost ordered a new one before remembering I'd used it upstairs on my PC and had left it with the SSD sticks and spare parts.  Having the right tool made the freezer panel a two-minute job.

Time Marches On

Headline I did not expect to see, or "another passphrase I don't dare use now":  

"OMAHA'S LATIN DRAG SCENE"

The philosophy behind Jerry Seinfeld's comedy and his life.  I guess we shouldn't be surprised that the guy who co-created the "show about nothing" also believes his life has been about nothing much, either:

"I really have adopted the Marcus Aurelius philosophy, which is that everything I’ve done means nothing. I don’t think for a second that it will ever mean anything to anyone ten days after I’m dead."

The original sheet music from Drumeo for 16-note rock beats and fills, followed by an edited version where I've added some, um, notes.   

In lesson 2.5, we were taught 10 beats and 10 fills.  The fastest was 80 beats per minute (bpm).  Speaking for myself, I figured the intent was to be able to read the music and play the rhythms at the designated rate.  

In lesson 2.7, the final lesson of level 2 for beginners, we were given a final exam of sorts, in which we would use some of the beats and some of the fills and play along with a pre-recorded track.  The problems: first, the example set by the instructor was much faster than the speed we'd learned; second, the instructor used no sheet music and didn't expect us to use it, either.  Whoa.

It was all a blur to me, and judging from the comments, a good many others felt the same way.  The final exam didn't match the lessons.  I needed it to make sense, so I went back to the 2.5 lesson and made a copy of the sheet music for beats and fills.  Then I put on the instructor's final video and slowed it down to 50% speed so I could follow and figure out what he was doing. 

So it wasn't what they intended, but everything I need is now on one screen.  I copied a couple of beats from the left screen over to the right screen, and color-coordinated the order in which they were played.  Now I can follow what he did and play the same bars in the same order that he played them.  Memorization will have to wait, though.

 

A squatter on the property

For years, the shed at the back of our property has sheltered local suburban wildlife.  Mostly rabbits, but we believe the little black pooshka took refuge under it as well.  

There were a pair of hollowed out spots on the south side where the current residents could come and go.  But now, one of those hollows that formerly consisted only of Pennsylvania earth has on top of it a layer of stones that had been excavated from under the shed, as in the photo above.  Out of the frame were some wads of fur on the lawn nearby.  

Searches online this morning were inconclusive as to the responsible animal.  I've never seen groundhogs or skunks around here, but when we were feeding the pooshka we'd also be visited by raccoons.  

I posed the question on Facebook, and one responder advised, "My guess is a raccoon burrowing underneath to make a spot for babies especially if finding fur which they pull out to use in their dens." 

Further online searches included useful ways to learn more (sprinkle a layer of cornstarch at the entrance to obtain paw prints) and discourage them from staying (used cat litter and human urine at the same location).  

 

Windows 10 Bluetooth pairing dialog box too small

After visiting TP, I came home and tried to download photos from my phone.  I got a message saying that Bluetooth between the phone and the downstairs laptop was not connected.  I tried following the instructions in Settings, and this came up:

No yes-or-no buttons, not scrollable, not enlargeable.  The pairing failed time after time until I found that not only had many others encountered this problem, but also that it was a bug in Windows which was first detected in 2021.  Here's more info:

I ended up getting a USB adapter and plugging it in, and downloaded the photos that way.  But here's an answer I can vouch for:

So there's a bug that prevents people from pairing their phones and their contents to Windows 10 via Bluetooth.  We're coming up on the 3-year anniversary of its first appearance.  And it hasn't yet been fixed.  

When I get around to the new laptop, I'll see whether it still exists in Windows 11.

Insomnia

Awake since 2:15.  After a largely sleepless night last night that I blamed on the caffeine in the Pepsi I had with pizza, I don't have a similar easy explanation for this.  

Anyway, I lay in bed for an hour before giving up, getting up, and going downstairs.  Xitter doesn't work with Google Chrome, either upstairs on my PC or down here on my laptop, but it does work on Edge, which is based on Chrome.  I'll use that workaround rather than clear all cookies, which would force me to sign in everywhere else all over again.  

I had to wrestle the snow thrower once again yesterday in the wake of an unexpected storm that left six more inches on the ground.  A body would think that would tire out a body.  

Completed the Connections without a mistake, and even began with the tricky purple one.  Some are harder, some are easier.  Some days I don't even get one correct answer.  Followed Connections with Spelling Bee, which is generous with pangrams today.  I found two in the first three words, then checked the Buddy and learned that there are six in the puzzle.  So I found a third pangram and sent an IM to PG, telling her only that I had found half the day's pangrams and was leaving the rest for her.    

Yesterday, no drums, not even a half-time shuffle.  The day did have its share of things that kept me busy in an interesting way.  Now that the new laptop is here, I went through the app executables on file and deleted some outdated ones.  Unlike Samsung phones, Microsoft will only re-install apps that were on your old Windows machine if they are also in the Microsoft store.  That leaves out a few, like ACDSee.  

Not sleepy yet.  Watched another OpenShot tutorial video, and will bring up France Info after I finish writing.  Tried to find a free open source Windows video clip manager, without success.  I want to organize the video clips, recognizing that I'm probably the only person who cares about them and that after I'm gone no one is going to save them.  

C'est midi passé de six minutes quelque part, je viens d'entendre.  Moi, j'ai besoin de sommeil.  Bonne nuit à tous.

Conversation

Me:  I've heard the stories, and it sounds like to become a major star, a woman had to be hard, tough as nails.  Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck.  

But then I read about Jack Benny and Bob Newhart, and the impression I get is that they understood that letting the rest of the cast get the laughs was the way to success.  Not tough as nails at all.  Are there any women like them who made it big ?

PG:  (after a moment's thought) Carol Burnett.

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.

Less Eventful, mostly

Today's event:  a cap fell off one of PG's teeth, leaving a sharp stub behind.  She phoned her dentist, but got no answer and no return call, so I looked for something I didn't know existed:  an over-the-counter tooth repair kit.  Not entirely surprisingly, they do exist, and after supper we went to the Walgreen's down the street and picked one up.  It'll do until she can get an appointment for a professional job.

Years ago, there was a webpage called The End of Free, documenting the gradual shift toward no-holds-barred capitalism on the internet.  I submitted an entry back then with the story of a person who advertised free web sites, and who later tacked on mandatory fees while nominally retaining the no-cost price tag on sites.  

Free is still out there, if you're in the right place at the right time.  I was telling PG that I wouldn't have started learning the drums if it hadn't been for the YouTube videos that showed me it could be done, and the emergence of Moises, which splits songs into separate "stems", or audio files, of vocals, bass, drums, and all else at no cost*.  

* - Five songs per month, no longer than five minutes each.  

With a drum stem, I can use Audacity (free open-source audio editor) to slow down the part until I can understand it.  

No Quality Time with any cat tonight, but PG and I watched Graham Norton together, and I made some chocolate pudding from a recipe by Epicurious.  After she went upstairs, I went downstairs and broke down some cardboard boxes for recycling.  The basement looked so cluttered a few weeks ago, but come to find it out, a lot of the objects that were taking up space were just the empty boxes from a microwave, a PC, and a toaster oven, to name just three.  

Ongoing project:  Gathering tax documents.  Notifications are trickling in daily, and I've been diligent about fetching them from the individual websites.  All we need now are her Social Security and her pension 1099.