Purging on

My dump run was 660 pounds of old door and trim, the vinyl and underlayment pieces for my hall and powder room and a lot of accumulated household trash. Nice to have it gone but there's a lot more.

I've been in this house for 20 years. 20 years of accumulated stuff. We really do expand our stuff to the space we have. And then some. I've been clearing out the family room, my main room that I've lived in for all that time. I cleared out the bookcase, cleaned it and moved it to a corner of the new living room. I put back about half the books but they probably should be gotten rid of.  I have a lot of gardening, field guides, and construction books but nowadays, when I want to find out about something, I google it. I learned a ton from those books. How we have changed how our minds learn. It used to be that one had to have a library or go to a library to learn about something. Not anymore.  It is mostly all on the web or can be gotten in a digital format that weighs little and takes little space.

I decided that my old stereo should go. I had a nice pair of speakers, a receiver, tape, and gasp, LP player because I still have a library of old vinyl LPs. I found the manuals for them too along with the manuals of several old and long discarded pieces. This stuff is over 20 years old! The tape player hasn't worked right in years so it can go to the recycling center - more loading up the van. The speakers are big and the receiver still works so they went to Goodwill. I haven't used the stereo in years because I now use a smaller much more modern unit.

I still have a VCR and old CRT TV. I thought I had a few Jane Austen shows on VHS tapes that I would like to copy to DVD but in the purge, I found that I had already bought them on DVD so those went to my neighbor who wanted them. In my cabinet, I had a ton of old movies that I had taped off analog TV. I have not had the VCR running in years and years now, so they all can be dumped. The picture quality won't be worth trying to copy them. I couldn't get the VCR to show on the TV anyway so they both went to the van to be taken to the recycling center.

That leaves some old cassette tapes and the LPs. Before I retired, I bought one of those all in one LP, tape record to CD machines that also has a radio in it meaning to digitize the old media to CDs. I hadn't ever started that project. But now, I will. I moved that unit into the new living room along with the cabinet and started it. It works pretty well altho using a program like Audacity to clean up the recording and convert it to MP3s is time-consuming. I got a pack of CD labels and used the on-line Avery program to make some labels for the CDs. That works well but I do have to pay attention to which tracks actually recorded on the CD. Sometimes, the machine adds extra tracks with nothing but static.

Pulling out the furniture that had been there for so many years is rather disgusting. The Asian brown marmolated stink bug invasion that started a few years ago left quite a collection of their carcases under it. I have a big computer Armour that has quite an accumulation of computer stuff. Most of that will be trashed because it is old now. I even found floppy disks and zip disks.  I don't think I have anything that can read the old floppies anymore.  I found a zip drive so I will have to see if there is anything on those disks that I've been wondering where they got to.  If my Win 7 computer can run that thing.  Funny how we went to technology after technology trying to squeeze more and more data onto portable media.  Now even CDs are old school and terabytes of data storage are cheap to get.

I have had a big old computer armour that I no longer want or use. After I cleared it out, my neighbor said she wanted it so she sent her son and husband to haul it out. Yay!! In my mind, having someone take it out was worth giving it away, even if I could have gotten a few dollars for it.

When I stripped the ugly wallpaper, I got a surprise that almost all of it came off easily. All the wall paper in the rest of house is like it was put on with super glue and is a horrible job. I  stripped the trim, and scrubbed the walls about 5 times to get the old paste off. The old carpet is pulled and the van is loaded up again for the dump. Then it is patching it all and then painting.  It is amazing how much bigger a room looks with white walls and no ugly wall paper.  Then it is onto the kitchen rehab before I lay the flooring in the back part of the house.

I kept getting stink bugs coming out of the mantel as I was stripping it. These are the invasion of the Asian ones that hit the east coat.  I finally pried it off the wall and found hundreds of them behind the mantel! Yuck.  When I put the mantel back on, it is going to get plenty of caulk to keep that from happening again!

Purging is an exercise in self control. As I go thru this stuff accumulated thru my life, I have to resist the urge to keep it because once I wanted it and used it. I keep reminding myself how long it has been sitting around unused. It is time to clean it out and pass it onto someone who will use it or just trash it.

Got a beautiful full double rainbow - horizon to horizon today! Couldn't get the whole thing in one pic. The sky was a perfect prism.

Whoa!!

This month, I got a new cell phone: the new Nexus 5 unlocked, and tried out StraightTalk  $45 for a month of unlimited talk, text, data.  It is on the AT&T network and can do the LTE data speeds. The down side is that once you use up 2.5GB of data, they throttle you to 2g speeds and you can't tether the phone or roam.  But I can get 5-6mbs upload and 2-3 mps download speeds on it at home on the HSPA network and 8-12+ when it gets the LTE signal.  Compared to the 1.3 mbs at best I could get on the Sprint network and it looks pretty good.  The talk and text works just fine too and it is a lot less expensive. I also got a Google Voice number that I connected to my land line and the new cell phone.  That way, I can change out plans and numbers and people can call the Google number and still get me.

My first cell phone was an AT&T but a few years ago, I could no longer get a signal from them at my home so I switched to Sprint.  Sprint was fine for a while but with the advent of LTE networks, they have really fallen far behind.  Add to that the missing coverage on my trips and it is goodbye to Sprint. In the meantime, AT&T has expanded and sped up their network pretty well.  Verizon wasn't a real option because I get poor coverage at my house from them.

I've had at home a wireless network that bounces the signal from spot to spot for rural places that I've been paying $55/month for 1mbs up and .5 down.  It was a more reliable signal than tethering my old Sprint phone and better than dial up.  I just discovered that they have been offering 2mbs up 1 mbs down for the last year for the same price and never let me know. So I asked and they want $189 for new equipment to up the speed. I know that the equipment I have can do 12mbs unthrottled and it is a very easy software setting to change the speed as that is what it did before the installer throttled it.  Doesn't seem like a very good deal to me.  A cable modem is not an option so I'm limited for internet even at home.

Today, I got the AT&T Unite Pro hotspot with the $50/5GB/month plan and yes, I went ahead and got the contract because I am going to keep it for that long anyway so I might as well save the $150 extra to buy it off contract. It isn't like they discount the monthly fee off contract.  It gets the LTE signal really well in my house and look at the speed! 18+ mbs! Plus it is fully mobile.  All I will have to do in the van is just put it in there and we are good to go.  The hotspot has plugs for an antenna as well so that is an option.

I think 5 gigs of data will be fine for me as I don't do gaming or stream a whole lot of stuff.  If I go over the 5 gigs, they will add a gig and charge me an extra $10.  I can go to using 7-8 gigs in a month and match what I had been paying for the phone and internet so I think this is a better deal by far. Now to cancel the old stuff.

On other computer stuff since I'm on the topic.  Last year, I bought an Android tablet but it was a failure after just a few months. It started rapidly flashing apps on and off and nothing I could find would fix it. It had a short warranty so I was stuck. I decided that I really prefer a laptop and got a Sony ultralight last summer.  I still like it really well and it still works.  Windows 8 takes some getting used to but it runs real programs like the Libre Office suite as well as a bunch of apps programs.  It is incredibly light and fast with a touch screen.  The Android wannabes on the tablet just didn't cut it for real work.

Musing on Thanksgiving as a Single Retiree

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone, this time with the stores deciding their employees had so little pull that they could force them to have no holiday and come to work for the mad acquisition fanatics to indulge their whims on a national holiday.  I'm one who gets irritated at the onslaught of the Christmas buying spree starting before Halloween. I like the Fall.  The right wing likes to claim there's some sort of war on Christmas because many people like to be pleasantly inclusive to others who happen to not be Christian (it's why we say happy holidays - so everyone will be included in a banal but friendly greeting.) But there is zero evidence that Christmas in is any sort of decline. Just look around you. You can't escape it. It is yet another aggressive attempt to force a particular segment of Christianity onto people who don't care for it while sending the clear message that we don't want your kind around here if you don't subscribe to it.  We used to say that kind of meanness was unchristian, but now it defines christian. But then that was when being christian was also defined as kind and charitable.

Funny thing is that the heavy Christmas traditions only date back to the 19th century when newspapers could shape a particularly monetary feeling about the holiday and set up a mythology that never existed before.  The whole holiday was originated as a reworking of ancient pagan winter solstice celebrations to relieve the tedium of long, cold winter nights and the beginning of longer days again. Because of the lag of solar heating of the earth, the hardest winter is ahead but the sun gradually lasts longer and longer. The Roman Saturnalia and other pagan celebrations were impossible to squash so the early Catholic church got the brilliant idea to take it over and layer the celebrations with the Christian myths.

Enough griping about the coming holiday. Being a happily single middle aged woman puts me in a little quandary about holidays. People often think I'm lonely and in need of being taken care of at these times. So frequently, being a fairly pleasant person despite being a strong introvert, I am often asked to join a friend's family. Don't get me wrong, they mean to be really nice to me and that is their only motivation, so I do appreciate the sentiment.

But when you spend a distinctly family oriented holiday at someone else's family, no matter how nice and welcoming they are, I am a third wheel and don't really belong. I have always enjoyed the holiday dinners with my own family which is quite extensive but who all live far far away, but I am and always have been a part of it. I belong and always will whether I like it or not. Fortunately, I mostly like it. But I really hate traveling during the holidays. Especially by air. The unpleasant air travel is made much worse by the huge crowds so I try to avoid it.

In addition, during my work life, the demands of the job mostly made it impossible to go to a relative's house for holidays.  I got used to not celebrating when in my early career I had to work 24/7/365 shifts.  I would volunteer to work the holidays (more pay!) so that the people with families could have them with their families.  At first, being at work helped distract from the all alone feeling but then it just didn't really matter any more the older I got.  I find that the holiday traditions really matter a lot more when you have children. My dogs and cats just don't care. And I haven't really felt lonely since I got rid of my sociopath ex-husband years ago.

This year, my neighbor, who I see frequently (our dogs are best buds and she has chickens!), invited me to Thanksgiving dinner with her husband's family about 2 hours driving time away.  I find it difficult to refuse such invitations because it is meant to be so nice. Then she started warning me about his various brothers and their less than ok behavior. I was raised with the "be pleasant and civil and no politics or religion topics at dinner" etiquette rules. So I started to have some trepidation about the event - with no possible escape hatch. I would be on their time table because of the distance.

The day came and went.  They were very nice to me and mostly pleasant enough.  I just said nothing about the politics discussion.  It is not the time to try to counter the Fox "news" people with actual facts (studies keep showing that those who watch Fox are less informed of reality than those who get no news at all).  But, really, it was a long day that got pretty boring when the inevitable football on TV started (which I find deadly dull - same thing over and over. Essentially playing dog-pile interspersed with endless committee meetings).  They were very nice to me and very welcoming but they are not very educated so I really didn't have much in common with anyone (since I am and always have been an intellectual).  I get along with my neighbor and enjoy her company despite the lack of comparable education because she is practical smart, logical, and thinks for herself, plus we have some common interests.  I have always found hours and hours of banal small talk with (even nice) strangers exhausting. 

In reality, I would have had a better day with no feast and by myself with my pets.  I guess because I'm not a needy social person and really like my own company.  It is amazing how few people can comprehend a single middle aged woman who is happy with her own life under her own control and needs no taking under a wing.  That is when I feel like I have to start making up prior engagements because I really don't want to be taken under someone's wing and incorporated into their family.  I like to choose individual people for friends and company who I like for themselves without being incorporated into their whole lives.  But I am really loathe to hurt their feelings with outright rejection of what is intended to be very, very nice to me.

It is a quandary.

To the Dump, To the Dump, Dump, Dump

Today, I lined the van with tarps and filled it to the gills with trash. I think it's been almost a year since the last time I went so there are quite a few bags of household trash. The big stuff is the old front door and trim along with the vinyl floor and underlayment from my hall and powder room. I don't pay for trash pickup. I figured out years ago that I just don't produce enough trash to make the weekly pickup fee worthwhile since I recycle as much as I can. The county picks up recyclables at the curb every 2 weeks for free. Normally, I go to the dump at least twice a year but somehow, I didn't this year.

The van is such a versatile vehicle.  I also used my compressor to blow all the water out of the van to have it ready for winter.

Last week, I completed the front rooms in my house with the stairs and railing, including all the trim and touch up. It feels really good to have it all done and looking like I had always imagined it could. Next up is a big purge. I'm starting to pack up some pictures and pots that I want to keep to get the family room cleared out so I can strip the ugly wallpaper and scrape the paint on the trim. After that, I'll go thru my stuff and give away a bunch of stuff I really don't need to have. It is a big job doing that but I will feel lighter when it is gone. And need room to work on the room. My rule is if I don't really love it or don't use it all the time, it goes.

Happy All Hallow's Een

Happy Halloween. All Hallows Eve, the half way point of Fall when traditions celebrated the onset of winter and ever shorter days. According to the Celts, it was the end of the old year and the veils between the worlds of the living and the dead were thinned so the hallows (ghosts, spirits) could walk among us.

I don't believe in anything supernatural so I have no fear of it but I do like to mark the marching of time thru the seasons. My silver maple tree suddenly turned a spectacular shade of orange/red today. It practically glows even in a thick cloud cover. We finally had a couple of killing frosts late last week so it has put on it's gaudy colors. It has been years since I've seen it put on such a show. Must be the extra wet summer we had. Tonight will bring a storm with high winds so I expect most of the leaves will be gone by tomorrow. A fleeting beauty.

I've been working hard putting down the flooring in my hall/living room/powder room/closet and it is complete! I moved my desk and some furniture into it so I can tackle the back rooms. I am in the midst of putting the flooring on the stairs and will set the newel post/railing as I do that, then the whole front part of the house downstairs will be completely done! Feels good but sheesh, it is only 1/8 of the whole job.  I do believe I met my goal of making it look like a lovely cottage.

It's Always Something ...

Ow

We got cleared for dog swimming and walks this week along with instructions to do core exercises on an air mattress and I am directed to pull my dog's tail.  The tail pull is like chiropractic for dogs and helps to align her spine and release pressure. She thinks that is a bit weird but does seems to feel better with it. So it was off to the lake yesterday to have a good swim which she really enjoyed.

Today, we took a walk on the tow path in the C&O Canal NHP that runs along the Potomac River. Only walked for an hour because we need to get back into exercise gradually. Somewhere along the path, my dog stuck her nose into something by the side of the path and suddenly jumped a foot and a half. All I saw was a very quick flash of white. Towards the end of our walk, she was less enthusiastic. We went down to the river and she swam some. I thought we had over done the exercise from her lethargy.

Later in the afternoon, I noticed she had a big swelling under her chin so I took her to the vet. The vet found two spots right under her chin and thinks she got a snake bite and it was possibly venomous. She also said that most of the snakes here do not pose a life threatening bite and she didn't have a really rapid swelling so that is a good sign.  The vet gave her a Benedryl shot and prescribed an anti inflammatory, antibiotic, and a pain killer. Good thing she is easy to pill. I think that I saw a quick flash of the snake's underside with the flash of white but it was gone fast. The dog refused to get a water bottle discarded a bit off the path after that. Maybe she has learned to be a bit more cautious now.

Her swelling has gone down quite a bit in the late evening so I think she will be all right. The cat continues to heal. I took a picture of his wound to show the vet. She said when the hole in his skin heals/scabs over, then he can go outside again and it is healing up as it should. That can't be too soon. He keeps chasing the other cat and is generally a pain in the neck.

The fool dog finally paid the price for sticking her nose into everything.  It is always something ...

UPDATE: The dog is much better in the morning. Her spirits are up, the swelling is much smaller altho there is a swelling on her chest between her front legs (the vet said that would happen). Her neck measurement is 6 cm less than it was yesterday. So it looks like it will be all right. I love my vet!

Life with Furry Invalids

It's been the better part of a week with my 2 furry invalids. The feisty cat with the nasty bite and the dog with newly diagnosed but early spondyloses. The cat has been wearing a lampshade on his head to keep him from licking and irritating the wound except when I feed him. The wound is looking like it is slowly healing - darker in color but no weeping fluid. He acts drunk with cone on. Odd jerky movement and postures, the poor thing. By Friday, he started trying to wash his face with his paw but only got the cone. He is constantly trying to get outside and do his regular hunting, lazing around outside, and cat fighting so I have to catch him every time I open the door. But he must convalesce inside. This morning, he started howling repeatedly for about an hour (my poor ears!) but finally settled into a nap on the floor upstairs. He has finally stopped going after the wound so I let him have some time without the cone to take a cat bath. Then the brat entertains himself by chasing the other other cat and brawling. He also spends a lot of time insisting on laying about my desk which I find rather inconvenient.

Syl wanting to go outside

Still sitting crooked which indicates she doesn't feel right.

My poor dog is bored out of her gourd. I looked up the spondyloses treatment and prognosis on the interwebs. It really is good to find out early. One good piece of news is that they recommend swimming as really good exercise for her so once she is cleared to resume that, we will take daily jaunts to lakes for her to swim. Meanwhile she wants to run and can't and she wants to play fetch. She's a good girl tho. We are also going to start carting training in the fall. The vet says that will be good exercise for her. It's the jumping and twisting actions that she loves that won't be good for her to do.  I got the long rope I use in the van for her to be leashed outside so she can keep tabs on the world but not go crazy dog. She's learned a new trick this week - to beg. It grew out of her waves when she got excited and lifted both paws up.

Meantime, I am cleaning up the living room of all the tools and supplies to ready it for floor laying. There is a lot of stuff in there to clear out.  Much of it is going into an upstairs bedroom for now that will function as a shop area. I am also clearing out the van so it can double as a trash hauler and to work on the pesky refrigerator again.  I'm putting all the cushions and things in the corner of a bedroom.