We were getting along fairly well under a ‘reduced travel’ order, until we saw COVID-19 leap over the Cascades, and until the highway and streets departments, asked about any decline in traffic, told the governor no, it’s not working.
So thanks to people who thought caution shouldn’t interrupt their daily routine, we are statewide locked down, and many businesses that had been able to function had to shut. It’s essential-functions only. Traffic’s quieter. But Scott can’t come help us. He did, hours before the shutdown went into effect, and got us set up, and the winter shutdown of water in the back yard is now not-shut-down.
But stores lack eggs…I’m sure it’s as lovely where you are. I hope you are all well.
I’m learning to cook ramen. Sort of.
ADVENTURES IN CHICKEN:
So you’re a family of five with one chicken. What to do? Boil the chicken, remembering to remove the ‘extra packet’ from the interior. Just boil it in hot water until it starts to come off the bone. You can also do this with leftover turkey. If your family likes liver, you could boil that, too. I’m not brave enough to add the gizzard or heart, but they’re perfectly fine if you dice them fine: they tend to toughness and strong flavor.
Strip the meat from the chicken. Plunk the whole carcass that remains into a very large pot of water with onion or garlic, a single clove, diced celery or celery seed if you don’t have fresh; diced carrot. Bay leaf if you have it. Boil, lidded; and boil some more. Then take a strainer and pull all the bones out. DO NOT GIVE THESE TO A DOG OR CAT: COOKED BONE SPLINTERS! You now have chicken stock.
Cut up the meat and set it aside. Search your fridge freezer for small wasted packets of veggies like peas and corn and stuff like broccoli or spinach you can dice up—I say wasted, because most freezers have packets that were opened that you didn’t use all of and it was too much to throw out. Set these aside. Even shriveled peas and such will reconstitute in what follows.
Now you take 1 cup per person of that stock, and put it in a smaller pot. Since I like Chinese, and this is going to turn out sort of like ramen, I add 1/4 tsp of Chinese Five-Spice in the bottom of the pot. You could add ginger, or pepper, or sriracha, or whatever. Put, oh, a third of the pile of meat (saving the rest for tomorrow) into the whole pot, pour in those veggies and bring it to a rolling violent boil.
Next take a sufficient amount per person of angel hair pasta (my favorite) or broad egg noodles or rice noodles or whatever you like, and break them up a little to fit the pot. Turn the fire off to stop the boil, but leave the pan on the burner as it cools down, for the time given on the noodle packet. 8 min for angel hair, 10-15 for spaghetti, and so on. If you want soft noodles, you might kick that temperature up to boil again halfway through the cook, then immediately turn the burner off and just let it sit.
Voila! ramen, chicken noodle, whatever. You’ve still got 2/3 of the chicken left, you’ve used up some veggies; and both the stock and the pasta mean you’re not going to be hungry for hours. I’m too lazy to sort this into a list of ingredients, so print it off and use a magic marker, eh?
@BCS: Expanse next after Thunderbirds are Go! (Prime TV series, not the old cuts movie.) Original TBs were a staple of LA reruns, beore ST; earlier but also good–some people really get hooked by the end-credits song–Stingray! [!?] I got hooked by the architecture and that my brother was a submariner. On YouTube free, I think. “Anything can happen in the next half hour!” The series that trained Gerry Anderson so he could make TBs. Maybe I’ll try to find Space Precinct, live action with GA stype special effect–which is something TBrG! is good at.
My father owned a complete series of Ford TBs, from 1955 to 5th gen(?) excepting the ’61-63 “Torpedo”/”Rocket” version, which I think is the coolest of the lot. (Not all at once; only the ’55 and a current one.) Sadly, I think the TB name is dead for cars; thunder doesn’t make much sense in these days of electrification. Whinebirds? I don’t think so!
About Verne and ERB: you’ll either like a series (or them) or not. Read the first of a series (not much of a series for Verne); if you like it, continue; if not, drop it. I think the same applies often, frex The Three Musketeers.
I wonder if “Buck” Rogers or EE “Doc” Smith’s Lensman series are now in Gutenberg or at Archive.org ? These are pretty much required reading at this point if you want any geek-cred. Really, ERB and Verne, too.
Having been fraudulently forced to join A-Prime (see above), I’m now wading though TBrG! It’s a burden, but someone has to! I think.
Picard is free on CBS, but–without having watched even 1 ep–meh. The other ST remake is still locked, and I’m not paying that much for 1 series, considering the free (but dysfuncitonal??? What good is that???) Prime–or Disney , and I’d like to re-watch all the old Swamp Fox or Davy Crockett shows.
(Maybe I should note that I don’t have a 1920 x 1080 screen, so old 4×3 sources are more viewable for me. And now everyone[???] is dropping to 720×1440[?], which is trouble, trouble, trouble– Maybe I should dig out that DVD? “Goodnight my someone…”)
Stingray end credits: You mean “Marina, Aquamarina, what is this strange enchantment that starts whenever you’re near??…”
I bought both Supercar and Thunderbirds on DVD at Sasquan and its time I watched them again. Actually my childhood experience of Thunderbirds was not from broadcast (TV only got 3 channels back then), episodes were published in glorious broadsheet colour in Eagle magazine from the UK. A neighbour kid’s granny in London sent bundles and we all devoured them.
If those Thunderbirds eps aired (reruns) back when I was a kid, I missed them. I’ve only seen clips, not full episodes. But Space:1999 and the Animated Star Trek and Land of the Lost aired when I was a kid; so did Jason of Star Command, Space Academy, and Ark II. Heh, and others. We had all of 6 TV stations until around my early teens when a 7th independent started up. Shortly after, Telemundo and Univisión came in, during when cable became popular for everyone. One or two of the indie stations changed hands twice since then. So I grew up with NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, and two indie channels, locally.
We had a thunderstorm come in and take out power for a while during the airing of the classic V miniseries, a big event. Oh, it was good, it was exciting to me as a teen. I was very irritated that we missed recording it because of that storm.
—–
Whew, not sure I will be able to sleep on my bed tonight. I’ve now sprayed it with vinegar, but, whew. I asked my friend to get prices for a new mattress and box spring, but said I don’t know if I’ll do that when I move in. I may put up with it a while. So I may be sleeping on the floor tonight , oh joy.
No repeat performance however, and I’ve changed the litter, so I hope we’re good for the night.
If you can’t stand the mattress, flip it over. It’ll be okay temporarily.
Either in the morning after I get her to the vet, or tonight if the kittens get up, I’ll spray the mattress again, give it a while, then flip it. I can’t tell which I smell more, cat or cleaner or vinegar. Ick. Got the tarp on top, a sheet on that, which both keep moving, a bedspread to cover me, and…I can’t sleep. On the plus side, Peppercorn is maybe slightly settled down, not entirely, and four of the five kittens all got on the bed with me, haha, each in spots they favored. Wizard’s being sweet, liking the attention, and Dubhan has been again.
Goober was off on the ottoman, also in the bedroom, the only flaw that he wasn’t curled up with me. But I can’t blame him not wanting there. When I got up he ventured over. I think the fifth kitty is with mama, or else here in the room in some spot.
— I’ve never read the two Dreaming Tree books. I’m finding that listening to it (good narrator), I keep wondering what the Gaelic spellings are for the words I’m hearing. This has me thinking about the pre-literate era and travelers and missionaries trying to make sense of spoken languages before they saw anything written, assuming there was any written form. I’m loving the otherworldly portrayals of the faerie folk, and I really like the groigach (pretty sure I’m guessing wrong on the spelling there.) He’s a brownie or hob in the English folklore equivalent, I think. — I forget I like fantasy a lot too, since my main love is science fiction. But a really solid fantasy like this, wow, good stuff. I notice a few characters have Anglo-Saxon rather than Gaelic names, but that’s not surprising, really. I haven’t noticed any Anglo-Norman names in there.
— Word is, the Harris County Judge is likely to announce an extension Tuesday on the shutdown period, but as of last night (Monday) they had not yet decided on the date. So…oh boy, delayed again, and online orders and delivery are going to get iffy-er. Like a couple of other metro areas, there are plans to turn a large convention center into hospitalization for (apparently) non-coronavirus or less critical cases, in order to free up hospital space for greater needs.
My friend and I discussed it a little Monday morning, in case they extended to April 30th or so, since we didn’t know. So…we ride it out, reschedule as needed, hope for the best. All we can do anyway. — So no appliances or furniture in from either my side or the seller’s side, and we still aren’t closed on it, electricity and water are supposed to be hooked up; gas and internet still pending; moving and all else still pending, unknown. — At least I got to go over improvements I wanted, for which were an easy-enough job to do now versus later. Of all things, I couldn’t recall if the house has ceiling fans; my friend’s supposed to go over and check things when he can. He said adding a kitchen pantry built-in cabinet should be easy enough. So we’re not doing things yet on either side of the deal, and the seller is feeling about as stuck as I am. But that’s what we’re working with until the shutdown is lifted. How much we might be able to do during the shutdown, neither my friend nor the seller nor I know. Pretty much everything’s closed for the duration. — So I will be in the apt. through most or all of April, and the May payment may go too, if the shutdown goes to the end of April. Whee.
I’ll do my grocery order at the tail end of the week and will let y’all know if anything turns out really off-kilter, out of stock, with that.
So, right there with y’all. Hang on tight, everyone, and please be well.
@BCS, Teasel:
BCS, try: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLiH4xrCITI
The reaction to this was that it was so good, they bumped Thunderbirds from 1/2 hour to 1 hour, even though the puppet strings were far worse in the original. Thunderbirds predates ST:TOS.
Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lrqJg1Etmw
My parents returned to CA around this time, and Los Angeles had 7 channels, 4 independent. Thunderbirds had lot of room. (And Stingray was set in Marinaville, roughly inland from LA or San Diego.) My father worked on the Mercury (1 crewman)/Gemini (2)/Apollo (3) moon program. Jeff Tracy, patriarch of the Tracy family created International Rescue and the Thunderbirds, and the Thunderbird pilots were named after Mercury Seven astronauts:
• TB1 (hypersonic VTOL command craft) Scott Carpenter, early astronaut and aquanaut on SeaLab;
• TB2 (supersonic VTOL modular transport) Virgil “Gus” Grissom, died in Apollo 1 fire; I had at one time a dollar signed by the three Apollo 1 astronauts, given to my by my brother;
• TB3 (simgle stage tp orbit rocket) Alan Shepard, first American in space (sub-orbital) and commander of Apollo 14;
• TB4 (submarine, etc.) Gordon Cooper, youngest, originally USMC;
• TB5 (space station) John Glenn, for some reason disliked by Gerry, later Senator and Space Shuttle pilot.
As you can see, the Thunderbirds are *extremely* personal for me (not that I don’t recognize the series’ flaws).
The Amazon TB series I find quite good, in the spirit of the original, unlike the 2004 film. Even though they made some changes, the changed (so far) have always been in the spirit of the original. I do regret they don’t use the original Thunderbirds march (Barry Gray), but they have done a fine job, and you can watch the whole series in just a few days of Amazon Prime’s free trial. And the Gerry Anderson Rolls Royces beat anything Rolls Royce actually built, just for style, not capabilities. (Some ’80s? RRs look like Toyotas to me.)
The series before TB was Stingray, which is more than wonderful just seeing its opening and ending credits:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgkk-MMif-4
Primer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vWcaqLucO0
And the predecessor, B&W Supercar, Fireball XL-5, and the sucessors…well, it’s a deep and wonderful rabbithole to go down.
(Too many links! Sorry, CJ!)
The Internet Archive has announced a National Emergency Library. It provides access to 1.4 million books still in copyright. They can be borrowed for free (to read online or in DRM versions) for 14 days, with no waiting period.
It looks like most of CJ’s books are there. Authors can contact them to take books out of the library.
I’ve found a couple of books I wanted by other authors that are out of print and difficult to get hold of, but still in copyright, so I have plenty to read at the moment.
Cats Update: Well, Mama Peppercorn reached critical mass overnight. Calling, calling, calling. She got Goober nervous enough to spit up. Where? Oh, do I wish I knew. Maybe only clear fluid. But then — before 6:00am, she got on the bed, under the window, centerboard, and…peed. Daintily? In protest? Desperate to mark territory and say she’s in heat? I’m not sure. (I changed the litter yesterday, dang it. But it’s that awful Yesterday’s News brand.) Took me a minute to realize what I was hearing (trying hard to sleep, only hour or so snatches from 2:30am on).
So I muttered a few choice phrases and stripped the bed and put things in the washer. Oh, do I wish the dryer worked. — The mattress pad I had on the bed is not as water resistant / waterproof as wanted. (It and another, if not waterproof, will be used to wrap furniture and then tossed.) Not sure the one I got out to put on is waterproof either. I did buy two that are, after Curry had christened the bed last year.
Sprayed the bed with “Nature’s Miracle” whatever-it-is anti-pet-odor spray. Will likely follow up with Tommie’s vinegar suggestion from before. The mattress is airing out, entirely exposed. I’m going to put a tarp or plastic drop cloth over it, since it’s going to have to sit there defenseless against all the cats for a day or two to dry out. UGH.
When the vet’s office opens, I’m going to call to get an appt. for Peppercorn to be boarded and spayed, possibly boarded for 24 hours or so after. She has been trying to wean her kittens, and I think is close to it, with her milk drying up and their teeth and claws sharp and bothersome. The day at the vet should help her incision heal, and I hope fervently they don’t bother her after. — I have no expectation she can be adopted out until I can get her to one of the shelters after the 3rd.
She, along with the one Springer kitten, Unicorn, tried to jump / grab my leg at feeding time overnight. I’d relented because I thought they were extra hungry. Both front paws got caught in my khakis. Very luckily, I got her detached without getting nipped this time. But that’s enough. She has to have another home, not with me. I can’t spend the rest of her life walking on eggshells in my own home, just in case she has a behavior problem. She is otherwise a good, sweet cat. I am going to remind the vet’s office of her behavior issues, in case a staffer brings her home for observation and TLC, or in case someone might be willing to adopt. They need to know that she can be aggressive and needs training out of it, if it’s possible.
(I’m hoping Unicorn can learn better before it becomes a fully ingrained habit. I’ve been working on it, but, well, not much luck.)
The other four kittens are fine, behavior-wise. — Dubhan hasn’t been sleeping with us for the past two or three nights, and Wizard, who had for a couple of nights, hasn’t either. So I am no longer sure if Dubhan wants to stay, bonded, or not; likewise about Wizard, who I was wondering about. I would like to keep Dubhan and/or Wizard.
Every time lately I’ve seen Mystic, it hasn’t worked out, often not even getting to feed him; and he’s been around much less, as far as I know, still avoiding Peppercorn. Plus h’d have to be kept separate from the others until he’s clear of parasites and known FIV / FeLV status. — I think I’ve missed the chance with him and he’s stuck as an outside cat, as sweet as he is. Getting him in a carrier would still be a problem, like last time when it didn’t work. He was glad to see me Sunday morning, but I wrote how we missed out and he left. — I don’t know if this is solvable, and I am not ordinarily one to believe in “signs,” but…maybe this is not meant to be, as much as I had thought it was. That’s such a shame for him, he’s such a nice cat. I don’t see a way around it at present. Maybe once Peppercorn and the kittens are given away, it can work.
So I am not sure if I will keep Dubhan or Wizard, and haven’t had any sign the other three feel bonded to me or Goober. I want keep Dubhan or Wizard or both. So this is still to work out what to do, what they want and what is best. — Goober will be 13-1/2 at the end of April, plus however many weeks old he was (likely 8 to 12 instead of the 6 to 8 I was told) when I got him. I count his age from when I got him as an older kitten / pre-adolescent.
So…I’m hoping to get Peppercorn to the vet today, tomorrow at latest. It depends on when they can do the surgery and how much room they have to board her. Unless we have a major stroke of luck, I’m expecting she’ll be coming back here and staying until after the 3rd or whenever the shutdown is lifted.
But as others have noted, the shutdown may be extended for my city / county / state as it has been for others.
Man, not good timing and not good for my lack of budget. But OK, I was the one fool enough to foster these cats, and I am still convinced it was right to do, they needed help. And I have enjoyed them, despite the rough spots, a great deal.
Oh, my poor mattress. I may ask that friend to look about the price for a mattress and box spring. This something like the 4th time in less than two years it’s been christened. At least Goober hasn’t, but that too could happen in his old age ahead. Sigh.
Peppercorn has come around for attention or apology. Yes, kitty, I still love you. Just not too thrilled about what you did there.
The blue tarp is all “crinkly” on the bed. So of course the kittens (4 or 5) are playing like crazy on the bed, hahaha. I have an old sheet over it, so I call tell between the tarp and the kittens. (The tarp is a dark royal blue, but in the low light, it registers as too near black for me to distinguish where the kittens are, except by their collars.)
If the novelty wears off and they need a nap, I may get a chance to sleep. Very tired, don’t want to do anything like pack remaining items, including closets and kitchen. I need to do this in the next few days. Once Peppercorn is at the vet’s, maybe I’ll feel more motivated. I don’t know why I’m not wanting to work.
The vet can take her tomorrow, but the surgery won’t be until Wed. thru Fri., depending on when they can fit her in. Then she’ll have about a 24 observation period before she’s sent home. — I’ve just recalled the onesie outfit Hanneke pointed out is (I hope) at the apt. mgmt. office. Still. So Peppercorn will have at least two to four days vacation from the kittens and me, and I’ll get a little vacation from her likewise.
LOL, oh, the entertainment value of that tarp for the kittens. I had no idea. 😀
Until the mattress dries and has no scent, I’m stuck with it that way. — I’ve ordered a sloping bag. Sigh.
No other news. I will check with my friend locally to see how he’s doing and let him know I’m OK, ask about a mattress, and so on.
We have not had news yet of whether they plan to extend the shutdown, but given how other places are extending it, I wouldn’t be surprised.
@Walt — Sorry about the order not getting there. If that cat litter doesn’t get here by the end of the week, I could be in some serious kitty dren here. :-O I’m holding off on the grocery order still, haven’t used things up as fast as expected.
Amazon was out of “Beanie Weenies” (Van Kamps) over the weekend. I was going to get some to have something quick, in case, for the apt. or new house. Guess I get to wait on those. I do have some canned goods that don’t need to be heated, necessarily.
There won’t be a second microwave. This could be a problem if I don’t get moved from apt. to house in one go. I’m nervous whether there will be an extended shutdown, and so a further delay in moving.
Ugh, going to try to do some weed-out and packing and stay awake until after 5pm or so. If I could sleep now, I would. — I hope the mattress will dry out in a hurry, without scent. Darn cat. That futon would sure be nice about now. Oh well.
The kittens are due for their booster (2nd) vaccinations after the 16th; I thought to double-check.
@BCS, as you don’t get out much, you might have a vitamin D deficiency contributing to your lack of energy and ‘get up and go’.
I was just diagnosed with a big vitamin D deficiency (25 when it should have been between 50 – 70), and lack of energy and tiredness were some of the symptoms.
Last year I had a big vitamin B12 deficiency, where tiredness and lack of energy were part of the symptoms too.
I’m getting really tired of always being tired, for years and years now, with the apneu, these vitamin deficiencies and whatnot 🙁
Next time you visit a doctor, you might want to get that checked.
Hmm… I used to drink milk regularly, but got out of the habit during a move, so it’s possible my vet. D level has been down for years. B vitamins, also possible.
And I keep meaning to make at least a multivitamin a habit, and haven’t.
I think I need to take your advice, and start back with milk plus a multivitamin and B vitamin supplement.
For a while, I was taking a bilberry extract pill a day, and need to restart It’s related to blueberries, and is said to help eye health and vision, including night vision.
Peppercorn has behaved herself today, and (sigh) lay down and let her kittens nurse once. The kittens all slept on the bed a while, then Dubhan slept in my desk chair while I was busy. 🙂 So I think he and Wizard might be keepers after all. I will be watching how they do.
I really hope Peppercorn doesn’t do a repeat on the bed tonight. All set to take her to the vet tomorrow. Sue hope this helps her settle down, and the kittens will be better.
They are eating dry food a little but still not regularly or as much as the moist. I’ve given up trying to wet the dry food and am giving them dry food always available and moist food, still 2 to 3 times a day , enough for half a 5 oz. can per cat or 1 full 3 ounce (Fancy Feast) can per cat per meal, typically two plates with a Fancy Feast sized can and a regular sized can each. They typically (mama and kittens) lick the platter clean at mealtime, no leftovers. I am seeing signs the dry food is disappearing faster but not sure how much is regular kitten eating versus the two adult cats.
I got a little done today, but not as much as I should have. — Some cooking tomorrow and packing / weeding out, after I get back from taking Little Mama to the vet.
Got you out of the spam trap, Walt! 😉
[hint: if you’re supplying multiple links in a post, make several posts.]
Alll is still well here. We’re just plunking along doing the normal housekeeping. Trying to get a little ahead of it, actually, while Scott is off.
Oh yow! Welcome back (sounds silly when it refers to your own blog). Dare one hope that housekeeping might include writing/editing/refining?
Thank you so much, CJ!
I got away with two, then pushed my luck to four. 🙁
I usually so exactly as you suggest, but while this whole delivered food stuff is old hat to BCS, I’m struggling looking at random-scaled pictures and trying to notice weighs. I’ve got something I expected to be like those old Kraft rectangular prisms (box-shaped) of cheese, but were many times larger…and several that are many times smaller.
Odd that we don’t have better words for prisms. A 2 x 4 x 8′ is pretty exact, except for everything being nominal, but there’s not one word I notice (other than prism) for a 4 x 4 x 1′ prism of cheese (which is not really a box!)
But I digress–shocking I know! Thank you again, very much, CJ!
Hi to Jane!!!
CJ and Jane, very glad y’all are doing OK and making some progress. — Do you know if the glitch with Audible re Alliance Rising or other audiobooks was resolved, so things are in the pipeline, and do you have any idea when we might expect that / those? Thanks. Heck, if I could pre-order Audible audiobooks like we can ebooks and printed books, I think you’d have pre-orders coming in.
—–
Mama Peppercorn got to the vet after a delay, ,so half my morning’s gone for what could have been a 20 to 30 minute trip, and she therefore has been in and out of the carrier twice. This will be the kittens’ first separation and may fully wean them, perforce. They have begun eating more dry food, but still not on it as readily as the moist. — Mama Peppercorn likely will be back Friday or Saturday, after a 24 observation period, newly spayed with a healing incision. Concerned for her on this. — Hanneke had pointed out a cat onesie for after-surgery care. I am not sure if Peppercorn will stand for that, but as the one I ordered is (still) at the apt. offices, I am going to order another. It’s worth a try if it helps her and if she’ll wear it and let me help her out of it. Sure is going to be different with her away at the vet’s. But it is needed and I hop she’ll feel better afterward, no longer under that dire stress to be a kitten factory.
—–
The Harris County Judge is expected to announce an extension of the shutdown today. I expect it will be until the end of the month, matching others, but I don’t know yet and the word was, the judge had not yet decided. But if so, then I’ll be in the apartment into May, likely, and definitely will have to reschedule utility hookups, delivery of appliances and furniture, and the move. Playing it by ear.
Going OK otherwise. The (laughingly so-called) budget is going to take a hit for all this Can’t be helped. And…if it gets me a better situation, then good, so much the better.
Hoping everyone stays well and safe and deliveries go OK.
The vet trip was a handoff and filling out a form and a brief conversation, sort of the opposite of curbside pickup. Heh. They now have a plexiglass window rather than the open receptionist counter, and the receptionist was masked and gloved. The cabbie was also wearing a mask but no gloves. I have not gotten either, but since It looks ike this is going to go on for a mont, I will put in an order, I guess. — I did my usual kitty head count when I got back. All present and accounted for. Letting the mattress air out before I flip it and make the bed. Meh.
Harris County and the City of Houston Metro Area — the shutdown and social distancing are extended until April 30th, and they reserve that they may extend the order past then if need be. Presently, the county is a little ahead of the problem; that is, we haven’t seen as rapid an increase or as many cases as other major metro areas, presumably because the county and city worked ahead and had good medical advice from the Houston Medical center as well as national and international examples. They say it is unclear whether our climate (higher temperature) and population density (high but more spread out) have been factors. However, they say we could face the same kinds of numbers at the peak as other areas are seeing. Houston and the County are looking into buying convention center space for use as hospitals, and leasing other hospital space or creating / building it similar t o what others have done.
So I get to reschedule postpone everything, after I talk to my friend to see what we still might be able tog get done during this. So, my guess is, it’ll be early May before I move, and probably the kittens and mama kitty will be with me until then, unless an animal shelter opens up.
Good news: The one pail of cat litter arrived here. The order of two more pails is due to arrive Thursday. This is a most auspicious event. Heh. No, seriously, it got here before I ran out of what I have in the pans and just enough to fill one pan maybe before.
Governor Baker of Massachusetts today announced—no surprise—that the general “stay at home/ don’t go out unless for essential services/work” is extended until May 4th. I’ve been doing some advocacy work from home (day job is at Boston’s anti-poverty, community action agency)—luckily all staff remain on full pay. My current college teaching —this semester it’s Massachusetts History— has switched to the much more tricky to prep for on-line format. Thank God Zoom turns out to work pretty well for live-time classroom lecture/discussion.
My co-professor came down with COVID-19 about a week and a half ago (but almost 3 weeks after I and the students last met with him in person). Unfortunately the current and next few weeks of topics are on his speciality, labor history. I’ve been both switching to a new teaching format and madly trying to figure out key points/learn the state’s labor history beyond just the Lawrence mills’ Bread & Roses Strike.
BCS- The Gaelic world you mentioned & spelt “groigach” is “gruagach:” a land spirit either a grumpy old man or a beautiful woman.
Thunderbirds! I never saw or knew of the original, puppet-based show when I was a kid in Canada as we didn’t have a TV (my father apparently forbade it) BUT… have been thoroughly enjoying and often playing the newish, tabletop (out of a box) cooperative game called (obviously enough) Thunderbirds! It was released by Modiphius for the 50th anniversary and is exceedingly well done (you play the main characters of International Rescue trying to foil the Hood and his many schemes). It may currently be my favorite game, although it calls for a lot of thinking and is not a quickie, brain-free pick-up game. https://www.modiphius.com/thunderbirds.html
I *think* the boardgame (the common term, even if it doesn’t have a board–maybe just a card tableaux) and the Amazon series are at least cousins. The Amazon eps are only…25 min(?) instead of 45-50, so the usual intro, extro, and launch rituals–kind of a necessary part of TBs–are a bit too much of the running time, but I still love the starting countdown.
Matt Leacock is a good designer.
You might like the Firefly boardgame.
Look at bgg,cc
Do CJ and Jane play boardgames, I wonder?
Hi All,
BCS, I’m relieved Peppercorn got to the vet. I’m sure she had a loving home and was never feral, nor even semi-feral. Just alone, with a pack of babies, starving, and not being cared for by the other family. Her only bits of acting out were easily explained by being in heat, scared or hurt when her claws got stuck, or so hungry she got a bit ahead of you dropping food down. Sometimes a little squirt or mist of water can discourage the “climb the leg” or “reach for the bite of food” too sharply instinct. We’ve had many cats, and a few dogs; I wouldn’t consider any of her behaviors to be a risk or danger to any adopters, and once spayed, with no kittens to protect, plenty of food and affection, and a little gentle house manners training, she should make a fine house cat family pet. I hope someone can help you find her and the kittens new homes soon. If the mattress pet oder lingers, try a thorough but light coat of baking soda, lightly rubbed or brushed on all over the dry mattress. Let set and air out for a few hours, then vacuum off completely. Just make sure everything is and stays dry. Repeat on the other side. You can do this again if the odors are still present; how well it works depends on how deeply the stain soaked in. Not a miracle but might tide you over till things settle down.
We are all well, but surrounded by a very dangerous, mushrooming situation. We lack for nothing important, nor does any of my family so far. We live in a small, dense town, so little opportunity to roam; we’re sticking to backyard only, and it’s not very big 🙂 My daughter is working so hard to try and keep her family as safe as she can, with a working paramedic in a full hospitals zone. Decontaminate, rinse and repeat endlessly, while working and schooling at home. She is in charge of the university Library website, and is posting Covid 19 info frantically, to disperse real science, and dispel rumors, danger and misinformation. She is a hero; Librarians are unsung heroes. And I hear the exhaustion in her voice.
CJ, glad to hear you and Jane are continuing to do okay; it cheers us.
WOL, Thanks for the Arne & Carlos knitting tip; maybe I’ll get brave. I bought the Fox Paws pattern, determined to teach myself the incredible stacked stitches work, but haven’t been able to concentrate enough to brave it yet. Books are my refuge.
Be safe, all.
@Raesean — gruagach — ah, thanks! I am not sure that the ebook and audiobook versions are set to track with each other, as some titles I’ve seen are, but I may try to follow that way, so I know the proper spellings. The Kindle app on the iPad and iMac are better for font-size adjustment than is the Kindle Fire HD model I have, which is recent but not new. The Kindle tablet is set to font-size: “Huge”; yes, literally, haha, but even that is smallish for me currently.
I have been really enjoying the first book of the Dreaming Tree duology, and it has such.a feel of genuineness in how the characters view their world in religious and folkloric terms, in world-view, in what they fear or love and why, in a way different than and sometimes similar to, the old Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman ways. The portrayal of the faerie folk and the supernatural, otherworldly and with a very non-human time sense and popping in and out of our real here-and-now dimension, feels very like the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Faerie Queene and the Arthurian tales; but I know CJ would be very well aware of those as sources.
While I’m enjoying Arafel / Thistle, I’ve liked that gruagach the most. Not sure why the preference, when arable is so well realized. The portrayal of “Lord Death” and his hound-like companion spirit is also interesting and has me thinking of how the Christmas Carol portrays him as a hollow, robed figure,. Then learning how Arafel has more than one way of appearing to humans, not the usual modern view of elves, I liked and am surprised by.
CJ hints at the stones and buildings and places of the elves in ruins and before humankind, in a way that had me thinking of how it must have been for the Indo-Europeans of the Bronze Age who displaced or subsumed or merged with the earlier Neolithic peoples in Europe, or perhaps any surviving remnants of other hominids like Neanderthals or late Australopithecines or those Gigantopithecus. They might seem strange and alien and with superstitions on both sides about iron versus bronze or other metals like silver. I keep wondering if the is the root of a lot of our modern tales, worldwide, about supernatural human-like but non-human beings.
So I’m enjoying the story. It feels more like a regular tale than an epic; it feels more homely. I like it, and it’s unusual for CJ and unusual for my reading tastes lately. — It’s been ages since I reread Tolkien’s books or Le morte d’Arthur, and I’ve never read some of the medieval hero-tales like Tristan et Yseult / Ysolde.
@Cahty in PA — Hah, chances are, I will be doing more spraying to both sides of the mattress, and I will try the baking soda too, which I think Tommie had suggested last time. When I turned over the mattress this morning, LOL, there was baking soda residuee on the underside from the last flip. Geez….
I wondered too, whether there could have been some lingering scent from Curry’s misbehavior, which might have led Peppercorn to pee there to mark it as hers. Or whatever prompted her to do that. Sigh. I don’t think it was an angry, “I’ll show you, human!” sort of protest, but more as if, a need to say, “my place, for me and my kittens, and OK, maybe allowing Goober,” of it it was, “ack, I’m desperate to mate, any tomcat around, please come help.” — So oddly, I am willing not to hold it against her. OTOH, she has o˜ly done it that once so far, and Curry peed and pooped(!) more than once, thus his ban from the bedroom.
Peppercorn really, really goes strongly, such as when she nipped me, and almost on that second time getting her claws caught. But I take that for a deep fear and lack of understanding of what thing somehow had her caught, trapped, when the human didn’t quite seem to be attacking her, and yet she wasn’t sure. So she fought. When she nipped / bit me on that first time, she got me good, it bled, but when I looked at it later after things had calmed down, it wasn’t as deep or severe as I’d thought it was, and it has healed well. (There are still two places where it’s healing up, now over two weeks later, I think, but within that first week, I knew it was going to heal fine.) It was a worse nip than I’ve had in a very long time. (Smokey had nipped me once when he was starting puberty, before he was neutered. It was severe enough I considered, but kept him then.)
So Peppercorn can be a tough opponent if her aggression and fear get going. But yes, I take it from her other behavior that she likes me, likes it here, feels mostly safe, and just couldn’t understand how something got ahold of her so she couldn’t get her claws loose. — And she was too scared to see that I could be trying to help her get loose. All she knew was to try to get free, and all she has are her claws and teeth, mouth and paws, and movement, to do that. She also hasn’t had the advantage of a milder upbringing, to know she could trust that I’d help her get her claws free. She’ been outside so much that she has become used to the best defense being a strong offense. — But her mild side is a good, sweet one. She can learn, and it outweighs, I think, her alpha-female aggressive side. — She’s been harrying Goober, rather pushy, but also I think she’s been trying to court him, and mystified why he hasn’t reciprocated with the usual tomcat, ah, machismo and amorous pride. Heh. He’s still been dismayed. But I have found them side by side about three times lately, so they have managed some truce. (I got the impression once, this was, mama was needing a break from her kittens, and Goober was the adult cat in the room to provide that respite, so they were hanging out, hah.)
So — I hope someone who can understand both her spicy pepper side and her sweet loving side, will adoptt her and have a wonderful lady kitty. I like her, I feel obligated still after how she came here and her trust and loyalty. But she and Goober still aren’t fast friends, and she and I have had just enough difficulty, that I think it would be better for her to have a home with a human who can give her a better home life and love.
Unicorn, the one who’s the climber also, should be trainable out of this, and maybee while mama is away at the vet this week, I can make better progress with that. It’s Unicorn’s only bad habit. She has a big, frequent purr and seems a lot like her mama. Pinky (Digger, she of the shoulder holster) is more likely to hang back but has a playful, adventurous, sometimes assertive side. So the two girls should make fine pets. Ducky, the second boy, tends often to hang back, to be off to himself, and usually, that would be the sort of kitten who’d like me and vice versa. He’s done a bit better lately, but still is reserved. He needs a human who likes and understands that, or a human he likes so much, he’ll adopt them.
Dubhan / Beige Boy hasn’t been as firmly around Goober and me as he had been, but that’s improved again. He’s likely to stay with me. Wizard (stas-and-moons collar) (the oy with undescended testicles) has also been hanging out with Goober and me more, and I’m thinking of keeping him too. I am trying still to see if it’s truly bonding or just me wishing, to know if I should adopt. them out or keep them. But I am leaning toward keeping thee two.
Mystic — I saw and fed Mystic while waiting for the cab with Peppercorn, the first time. He was uninterested in the can of food; I didn’t put out dry for him, should have. He did want a little attention. He has a skinned place on hi neck, either an encounter with another cat or some scrape hazard, but he’d lost his collar and tag weeks ago now. So he got a little attention from me while we waited. A passing human walking a dog, talking with a friend, caused Mystic to run off. — I take it from these that he has been getting food from someone else, but is still stray around the complex. I don’t think he has an owner, a home. — But I now feel I may have lost the chance to keep him, to get him to the vet for testing, treatment, neutering, and for him to be part of the family, such as it is I don’t know if I can convince him to get in a carrier. I’m not giving up yet, but I have this feeling that I’ve lost my chance with him and that he’ll stay here when I move. Unless I can somehow overcome it. And if so, does he belong adopted by someone else rather than to stay with me? So I am stuck with feeling the chance with him won’t happen again, that he’s here at the complex. And that is disappointing. He’s a sweet cat. Heck, he stretched and smiled and rolled, to get a little attention and time with me. If only I could get him OK with a carrier, not afraid of it, and get him treated, and if only he and Peppercorn could be OK. So I don’t know for sure, but I think I have my answer that it was not to be, as much as I thought it was before. Disappointing.
Goober was happy to be on the bed with me tonight, and he has only the five kittens to put up with. hah. But he’s been a bit better about them lately. They continue to annoy him or want to play. He, oddly, hasn’t wanted to play with them, that I’ve seen yet. I think this is because Peppercorn was so persistently forceful and protective of her kittens, so that Goober ended up losing his patience and absolving himself of them all. But who knows, he may be mellowing towards them as they show they can be nice too. At any rate, he is putting up with it all better than he was, and is, at heart, not one to fight or hate. He’s non-assertive and a good, gentlemanly cat. At the end of April, he’ll be 13-1/2, so he’s getting elderly, but still spry and sharp of mind. And I love the little character very much, and have admonished Peppercorn and the kittens on occasion, when they overstep and annoy him or try to displace him. Goober may be non-assertive, ut he has rights and seniority here. He and I have a long history through some of the most difficult times I’ve had, and he’s one oof the sweetest, best cats I’ve ever had.
One of the pails of cat litter arrived, a marvelous thing! Hahah.
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I ordered disposable gloves and face masks, since the vet’s receptionist and cabbie were decked out and we have another month of this, or maybe even into May, egads. — amazon then said it would be mid-to-late April or maybe into May before they arrive, although before ordering, the expected date was toward early-to-mid April. So I will find out when they get here. Sigh.
Going OK otherwise. I slept after 7:00[m , off and on to about 2:00am, and I may go to bed again. My nose is stuffy, but I believe that’s from the mattress and cleaner and vinegar. So I will watch it and if it gets worse instead of stopping, I’ll get to a doctor. The sleep sure helped.
I intend to take advantage of the time while Peppercorn’s at the vet, to get things done around here. Unless I have to move something bigger, I don’t think I’ll have to sequester the kittens in a room while I work. They need to be used to strange human goings-on anyway; they’ve had it very light with me, compared to how a boisterous family acts.
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I had fixed chicken tenderloins with bbq sauce over the weekend. But I didn’t uncover them to let them reduce or brown or baste. So I had liquid and weak sauce, but still tasty. I fixed rice after I got back from the vet, added a veggie bouillon stock dab, and then the bbq drippings from the chicken, while the rice was resting to finish cooking. This was very tasty, not too overpowering, and I will add some veggies, maybe mirepoix, or else a veggie blend. I cooked just over a cup of uncooked rice, so I have a potful, maybe 2 to 3 cups of cooked rice. That plus the veggies will do me fine for a while, with the remaining chicken, possibly diced into it, and a nice light bbq flavor, not very strong. Too bad I don’t have green onions or an onion, those, not quite fully cooked, would add just enough zing with the bbq flavor.
I expect to schedule groceries for Friday or Saturday. Now with the extended shutdown, it’s certain I will need the order.
Nothing else right now going on.
Take care, everyone. It is very good to hear how you all are, and that so far, everyone’s getting by OK. I wish e’d hear from some of our fellow fans who haven’t posted in a while, to know they’re OK. Joe, for instance, but others too. I miss hearing from them anyway.
Oh God’s , the vaugeries of posting responses !!!
I started to say I’d been absent from the Website for a few days now, and had just caught up, then got to the point where I was going to comment on certain posts made by others, so I scrolled back up the page and clicked on a hyperlink, came back and discovered my earlier passage was now gone ,,, my bad – not yours , I really should have known better.
So Walt posted four hyperlinks to U-Tube, I just wanted to say that the first one didn’t display, said it was unavailable. it did however show the title so I knew it was about the Thunderbirds, opened a seperate tab and put that title in, lol it brought up a list of (several) videos that had that same name, but one of them was an hour long video which I skimmed through at the time, this was back in March lol, just didn’t have time to get back here again since.
There’s a number of posts about the National Archives link, but it’s already been covered by others and I only wanted to add that although I had a look at it, I decided not to go ahead either.
On the subject of Chanurs Legacy that Blue was reading about, I thought that I had that book, but I didn’t recognize the descriptions he used, clearly I was thinking of Homecoming I think. It’s been a few years since I read the Chanur book’s, and I had a little look on both Amazon and Fantastic Fiction, just to get me go to speed. I’m not going to buy any books there just yet however, at least until the situation normalized again, lol I really am a dreamer aren’t I !!! Just for reference however, I could buy used second hand colours for in some cases, Rajasthan a pound, or a Brand New Copy for, and here’s the funny part, Paperback at £52 was twice what a Hardback was going to cost. That’s a bizarre concept for me.
On the subject of Mystic ( the Cat ) – I would just say that Cats do not belong To people, although it is a shame that he may never get to belong With people.
On the subject of Cats, My Brother cares for his Daughters Cat ( she lives elsewhere now ) He’s been looking after it for years now, and also had taken care of his Sister in laws cat ( both now dead, sister & cat ) He told me earlier this year that toward the end of last year he was having a conversation with his doctor regarding his long term medical issues, and the doctor mentioned about his being allergic to cats. My brother asked just how long they’d known this ( apparently quite a few years anyway ) as nobody had bothered to tell him about it. My brother is still going to be keeping the cat, allergies be damned. In fairness his medical issue’s are not the problem with the cat, but have their causes elsewhere.
Hey Deesha — Yes, I tend to think the cat adopts the human, instead of the other way around, heh. But Mystic just isn’t comfortable enough with the situation, or the idea of that carrier and vet visit to want to stay. — I still haven’t seen him since Tuesday, darn it. Poor guy, he’s missing out, but he does know that, so it’s his choice what he wants.
Hmm, if you can find a cheap enough used copy of Chanur’s Legacy, or if you can get it in ebook in the UK, then I’d go that route. But some of CJ’s backlist titles are now in the pricey range in PB or HB. You can sometimes get a better price on the hardbound, sure enough. If you have the other four and haven’t read Chanur’s Legacy, heck, I’d say, go ahead, the used book should be an OK chance. — It picks up a few years after Chanur’s Homecoming to give not only a closure, but its own problems, with Hilfy as a new and not-so-experienced captain, getting her own set of problems to deal with. One feature of the book is how well CJ handles the doubts and insecurities, the risks and gains of being inexperienced and making those mistakes and learning better from them. The book also gets into the stsho a bit more, which was interesting too. All sorts of reasons to like the book.
But yes, if the price for a used book is too high, wait, of course. They’re available in ebook from Amazon for the US/CAN market, but I don’t know about the UK market, sorry. They’re also available as audiobooks, though as I’d noted, the narration tone and pronunciation are off from how I’ve always heard them in my head. Still worth the listen.
The five Chanur books and Merchanter’s Luck and Finity’s End are probably my favorites of hers, but it’s hard to choose. CJ is one of those few authors I know I can buy her books on name alone and get a good read. When I have delayed or skipped in the past, I’ve always later learned I should have bought it then, so now I know better. 😀
@Walt — I will check the YouTube links and Thunderbirds on Amazon Prime. (For me, Amazon Prime was worth the price, but IDK if they have raised the price lately.) I’ve seen talk about Gerry Anderson’s other series, the puppetry and innovation that led to Space: 1999, as quirky but well-loved and well-done, quality. (Heck, I grew up with Speed Racer reruns, among other things, on weekday after school TV.)
Online grocery shopping — Yeah, it’s weird how those thumbnail pictures can fool you. Is that bigger or smaller than the size I usually get? Sizes and weights / volumes can fool you, versus in-store, being able to see it, pick it up, look at other brands or see related products you might like. Also (haha) occasionally, the search results turn up some crazy other items. (Kroger’s search box currently does not blank itself out, but retains the prior search, so if you don’t blank it out, you can wind up searching for some highly humorously unlikely combinations!) — So it was a true adventure for the first several tries before I began to get used to it. Thi applies,, of course, to any online shopping for groceries and supplies. — Or the bulk packaging, when you don’t need nearly that much for one. Or products not being available, or being substituted, either when you are used to an item being in your local store, or because between ordering and fulfillment, they went out of stock. Occasionally, items they swear are available, but no, that never seems to be at the local store. — There are all kinds of things to get used to with online shopping for food. I can totally sympathize. Ah, and a prior version of Kroger’s site was prone to increase or decrease the quantity of an item if you didn’t click away from it. So for a while, I wound up with 2 or 3 of something. But the kicker was when it zoomed up to over 10 of an item! Haha, good thing I double-checked before submitting the order, or I wouldn’t have been able to store or eat all of that, besides the expense.
Moral: So be extra careful until you’re used to it. Look at the product size / weight / volume / quantity per pack, and the text description, not just the thumbnail. And even then, you may be scratching your head and guessing. (Heck, in-store when I get that, how much is that, quantity and price?) So be prepared for some odd results until you get the hang of it. Sorry! It can be misleading, yes. — I still make mistakes now and then, but I’ve gotten better at it. When you can see the product in-store, you know the size and how fast you’ll use it, and in the cart, you know by sight and “feel” (emotional impression, I guess) how much you’re getting and how fast you’ll use it and how much that costs in total. Online pictures really do not capture that. I also miss getting to see related products: If I want to pick up product X to fix a given dish, I might also want Y or Z around there. Or just browsing, walking along, I may see A, B, or C and want those. Or I may decide, hmm, too much of that, not enough of this, no, too pricey on an item. All those decisions we make when shopping in person, based on experience and personal tastes.
— Note: A couple of items in my usual Amazon Pantry order were ordered, but show mid or late April or even into May, for expected delivery date. Usually, Amazon ends up delivering sooner than they say. But due to current scarcity, there’s no telling. I may be relying on Petco and other sources for people and cat stuff in the meantime.
— I’d ordered face masks and disposable gloves, and the latter, I can use in cleaning up before and after the move. I didn’t see product / shipper origin, and they were fulfilled by Amazon as shipper, so that may have been hidden anyway. — The expected delivery date on those is coming up later in April or into May on these too. So I looked and…those are coming from outside the USA, from China in both cases. Eegad! And no real idea if others are from inside the USA. I may cancel those. Nutty.
So it is strange, doing this. Don’t feel bad, Walt. Yeah, it can be frustrating, maddening, but you’ll learn fast. Even with the current situation, you can probably find what you want and need. Except for, you know, toilet paper, haha. (OK, that’s getting to be not as funny as it was 3 weeks ago…)
I’ll put in my grocery order Friday or Saturday. I typically schedule it for the next day, but once in a while, for later that day. I do try to schedule it well within the day instead of evening.
I also found that there was the temptation to load up the cart as I thought of things through the month, but that way can lead to, “Whoa, that’s way more than I need or can pay for, for the month or so.” (I keep meaning to go back to every 2 or 3 weeks to combat this.) — And there is, alas, always the one or two things you find out you forgot to order. Heh.
Good luck, everyone. — I am mostly used to living like this, but yes, it is really unusual and can be very frustrating to deal with, both the social isolation and the want / need for products. I’ve seen calls for people to support local restaurants and small businesses, who are struggling now. This is a good idea. I wonder if I have a flyer for a couple of those take-out restaurants still.
I went through and reduced down some from what was in various boxes, for pantry items. Discovered extras or, oops, no, I don’t have those. So this will help while I use up what I have in prep for the move But now I’m expecting to move in mid to late April, or into May, and all in one go rather than in two or more stages back and forth. Still, I’m going to divide up some more on pantry and bathroom supplies and bedding and clothes, to be sure (I hope) I get this done right, unlike last time. And, labelling better. Problem: The pre-made labels don’t include “Office,” so an alternate “Bedroom” is going to substitute for that.
Take care, everyone. This is certainly weird. (I feel for the parents and the kids. Cabin fever is setting in, tempers and boredom, concerns, but people are mostly doing OK.) People around the apartments are _still_ gathering, kids and adults, to talk to and play with friends / relatives, their neighbors. So far, I think people here are OK. Sure hope so.
Yeah, it’s certainly odd, BCS. The Shipt order kind of finally appeared at random. They did have cold and refridge bags, but it was nothing as nice as the Amazon Prime delivery, where the cold bag stuff was wrapped in insulation with a few bottles of cold water. OTOH, it seemed like everything in the Amazon cold bag had been run through a shrink ray. “Honey, I Shrunk the Food!” But Amazon prime is cheaper than Shipt fees, plus I get the other benefits.
I’m hoping Trader Joe’s will get their act together. I think they and a lot of companies are doing short term improvisations. That may get us to or maybe through the April/May peak (and maybe later in some parts of the US, out at the end of the distribution network).
And the “friction” of having to treat everything as contaminated! Here–Orange County, California–contamination is still pretty improbable, but I feel I need the practice. Problem is: the practice isn’t worth much without a way to lose the exercise; and losing the exercise for-real is getting infected.
But while entrance into this crisis was exponential growth until the population saturates, the tail of the curve, until effective treatments and vaccines extends perhaps into 2021. I think the tail will be a gradual trailing off of cases, much like a wildfire is contained quickly, but lingers week after week with hotspots and flareups. Until someone who has avoided infection can go out in public with confidence. As soon as the border lockdown is released, infection will be a constant risk: an Icelandic study showed half of people shedding COVID-19 virus had no symptoms.
My home has most of its brightwork(?) in antique brass. Undoubtedly, the reason for this is that the damn builder got a bargain on a discontinued line. and they may well have a coating to prevent any deterioration, or virtue, from the brass.
But I read copper and high-copper alloys like brass or bronze are quite antiseptic, better than the low maintenance silver hospitals use. We all think of stainless steel and plastic as antiseptic, but the few studies that have been done with COVID-19 show the virus can stay viable for days on those surfaces. Common cardboard is about a day, and copper is only a few hours.
Lessons from the early 18th century, 200+ years ago.
It’s going to be a long trip back to normalcy.
And we’re already seeing loses among senior corporate management. We all joke about them, but they have a significant skill set whose lack will cause problems.
That’s what I remember about copper, brass, and bronze alloys too. Unfortunately, copper and things made with copper are at a premium these days; witness abandoned houses being stripped of copper plumbing and wiring, if they have it.
I haven’t ordered much cold stuff via Amazon Pantry, and haven’t tried Amazon Fresh yet. (IIRC, Fresh is through Whole Foods Market.) I haven’t been to Trader Joe’s, but I think they have stores here. I should look. — I have gotten cheese and a couple of other items through Amazon, but I think via their 3rd party suppliers. So results have varied on how cold stuff is packed. So styrofoam or else cold-packs or other. — LOL, and Petco’s cat litter is due today, but was shipped from CA (Anaheim, I think) rather than a TX warehouse. Wacky.
Also, I’ve never ordered alcohol / wine / beer / etc. via Amazon or Kroger’s, but I’d presume they pack that well against bottle breakage. — One big pantry box one time had too much at once, including a glass jar of pickles. The jar broke when the delivery guy (not Amazon) clunked it down. I didn’t discover this until I tried to pick it up. It had been there a couple of hours. That afternoon, I had to clean up after the disintegrated box plus glass and pickles, and pick out the other items. I was not pleased. But it did only happen once, and I’d fussed that, hey, why not ship heavy or larger orders in two boxes rather than the one big one? This must have reached someone, because soon after, they went to smaller boxes. — A caution too: Like other things Amazon, Pantry box orders may ship in more than one box and delivery date, so you might get two or three deliveries on different days. And for reasons unknown, cat litter has been, for months, an iffy proposition via Amazon, at least for Tidy Cat. So, buyer beware, caveat emptor.
But overall? Yeah, Amazon should probably pay me or give me stock. The Amazon Prime fee has been well worth it for me, and may be for other folks, at least while this is going on. A couple of months of that and then you could go back to the regular membership. With Prime, you get good benefits on reading ebooks and watching videos, some free with Prime, and you can then purchase if you want to keep one. Prior seasons of shows, plus some older shows, may be reduced cost or free, while current seasons carry a fee, and movies can be rented or bought. With Prime, you get fast delivery, and for folks in larger towns or big cities, that can be within a couple of days. (I was stunned when something came the next day.)
So yes, take advantage of whichever has the best bargains and fees and delivers in the best condition.
I’d expect a big chain like Trader Joe’s would work out their problems. This is going to drive some smaller or local stores to do curbside pickup or takeout and delivery, But that might help them compete in the long run, or hold out against the big guys, such as Amazon. More places ship orders now, I’ve heard.
— Last night, I watched two eps of the new Thunderbirds from Amazon. Although sometimes the CGI is too dark, and they needed better lifelike expressions in closeups, I liked the two eps, engaging but too-quick pacing. I can see they’re faithful to the original, without knowing much about the original. I’d thought I’d only watch the one ep, but liked it enough to stay for two before going on to other things. I’ll keep watching. I see there are at least 4 seasons, maybe a current or upcoming 5th. Yep, clearly geared for kids, but fun enough for the adult fans. (Hmm, Grey Ninja indeed, hahah.)
— Last evening brought a little excitement: One of the headstrong vs. bratty and loud little girls exclaimed, “What the heck? A rat! …Daaa-Deee-Eee-Eee…!” and went running off. A delay. Other voices, a boy, a girl, a man, others. I have no idea if there really was a rat. (I heard the same girl say there was a snake.) Someone made a phone call, so perhaps, I don’t know. But other activity nearby from the same kids and others, so maybe yes or no. I have never seen one around here, but given that the dumpsters are more full more often lately, both before and after the new mgmt, and now with people all at home…no telling. I hope not. Really hoping it was only the little girl’s imagination or misidentification. (Surely she didn’t think one of the kittens in the window was a “rat?”) I got the impression it was around one of the stairs, either right outside my door or otherwise. — I’d gone to bed early to try to sleep, and it was nearly dark, so I didn’t go out and join the hubbub. — So, no telling. But that sure upped the level of weirdness / nuttiness. And yeah, I hope there was no rat at all. If there was, I’d be just as affronted as anyone. — I did not hear much from any adults or kids, so I am taking it there wasn’t much, either a. false alarm or, ah, deceased souris raton. — Please, I do hope it wasn’t Mystic’s idea to provide better food than the moist food he didn’t eat…. That would be, well, cat-logic with the unwanted, unforeseen human consequences. — So…that was the freaky quota for the day.
I kept waking up last night, don’t know why. Goober and the kittens were all well behaved. Goober joined me a couple of times but didn’t stay, likewise the kittens.
There could be some glimmer of hope that Unicorn might be learning not to grab an ankle or climb a leg. One ardently wishes. Her one bad habit. She is otherwise sweet and has a big, frequent purr, so she could be a good pet for someone, I think.
— I’m through the first book, The Dreamstone, and started into the second, The Tree of Swords and Jewels. I have not run into Dubhan or a pookah yet in the 2nd book, so I guess I’m early. These two books really do give a strong feeling of the view of the world and supernatural that they had in ancient and medieval times, both the English and the Gaelic sides, and obviously, this is based in Gaelic mythology, but there was so much borrowing back and forth with English mythology that it’s similar.
I ran across something saying that people with very fair (pale) hair or complexions, or whose hair bleaches light in summer or winter sun and darkens otherwise, were said to be faerie / elven kin or friendly, in medieval times, for good or ill. So one view of my last name is that it could mean they were thought to have elven ties. (But the name’s a dialectal variant on a common enough English / Dutch / German surname, so that doesn’t seem likely to me.) The other day, I got one of the three or four common mispronunciations of it. (I once counted up to 20+ misspellings.) It’s one or two letters off from two common names, but for some reason, that doesn’t fit what people expect, and it gives a lot of people trouble.
Anyway, I’m liking the books and the narrator is really good on voice-acting and on pronunciation. (Better than the narrator for the Chanur books, IMHO.)
I’m wanting sleep for some reason, and otherwise feeling a little better, not as stuffy nosed as yesterday. I think it’s ongoing fatigue, plus the stirring up from intermittent packing and cleaning. — Still need a staging area set aside and less stuff, but making maybe a little progress. I’m going to eat and will take some vitamins later. Plus I will put in my grocery order for Friday, I think. Still no flippin’ toilet paper to be had. Not desperate yet, still hoping it’ll be back in stock before I’m out. Heh.
I may call to check how Peppercorn is doing. Her kittens have done fine without her, no calling or fretting or fear, no missing mama’s milk. They have each other, and Goober, and me, and if my attitude or tone means anything to them, maybe they understand she will be back. Maybe they trust me and are OK with Goober. But this, I think, will get them weaned. They have been eating the dry more than before, for maybe a week now. I have cut back to two feedings of moist a day, with dry always around, which matches the adult feeding pattern I use. They’re into the 2nd bag of kitten dry food. I have a bag of adult dry in use. I might have to order more dry food, kitten and maybe adult, by mid-month. Doing OK for a bit on moist food.
I found a few things surplus and a few things out, for my own pantry needs, so I want to use up more of what I have on hand, but I will need things I’m out of or low on, so no net savings, likely, this month for people food.
Take care, everyone. I’m getting through this pretty well, jumpy any time I have sinus or cold symptoms, but so far, not sick and hope not to get sick. — Neighbors are still playing, socializing around the place as if nothing’s changed. I hope they all will stay well too. Lots of young families, a few older folks, mostly minorities here; I’m one of the few white folks. Hoping everyone will be well.
Hoping you all will stay well too.
I decided not much I could do about the situation so might as well find a way to live with it – sorta kinda, anyway. So – being 76 years old (77 tomorrow – going to be a quiet birthday!), I decided to find ways to deal with it safely. I now have almost everything delivered as the residence where I live, although a nice one and not a nursing home type) has had us locked down for about 2 weeks now as they foresaw this all coming, and no one is allowed to visit – family or anyone else – but we’re still allowed to go out. So I take wee doggie walking twice a day and other than that spend a LOT of time on the computer or watching TV. Not news anymore, and I used to be a news junkie, but after catching the main headlines I go to Starz or something – this morning I watched Mary Poppins II – and loved it! Last night I watched the last episode of “His Dark Material” and before that it was “Star Trek – Picard” which I loved! So just finding ways to get through it without becoming crazed – or at least anymore than I am already! Best of luck to all of you – may we all come out survivors on the far side of the virus.
Not getting to see local family and friends must be frustrating, even knowing why. I hope you’ll get to call each other.
This afternoon was busy with phone calls, rescheduling. I still have no closing date set; we’re still waiting on the shutdown, and no idea if the seller has put in the kitchen appliancBut I can expect a long time between the shutdown lifting and the earliest available install date. They have limited it to problems keeping a connection and then Lower priority problems after. So at this point, I expect maybe mid-May before move-in and a point after that for internet hookup at the new place. Everything else for it is also on hold, appliances, furniture, improvements, move-in, pending when we can close and what we can work out with the seller.
The apt. rent had the same problem this month: rent and other fixed-cost fees were posted before utilities and other varying costs. So once again, my “complete payment” for the 1st of the month left a small balance due. I therefore set up a 2nd recurring payment to catch this, for the 2nd of the month. But it didn’t record for the current balance due, which it should have. So I called, talked with the office, and said if it doesn’t record by tomorrow morning, I will make a one-time payment to cover it. They said OK, they see what I have scheduled, and promised / claimed I wouldn’t get a letter this time. (Oh, sorry, our system had problems last time because of the changeover still happening.) (A month later? Oh, come on….) But OK, I got across (mildly) that the letter was a little much. Supposedly their phone outage was also a glitch. Supposedly, things should settle down after this. I reported the gate and fencing (half-height, privacy area) needed to be repaired. They claimed that will be fixed. — I said later, I’ll have other repairs still to do. (Items which had not been done before.) — And this afternoon, a tap on the door so I wasn’t sure I’d heard it, with other noises. Only a minute’s delay. No one in sight. There was a reminder to all residents, a printout, on the ground, not taped or clipped to the door nor in the P.O. Boxes, reminding residents of restrictions on clean and neat outer property, inside the premises, pets restrictions, child and adult behavior, etc. — The note said there will be inspections in April, but gave no dates. So…OK. I can’t give away the kittens and mama until after shutdown is lifted, and I’m getting ready to move and don’t want to have to tell them so until I’m ready. But it’s my contention that I will give away the mama and kittens as soon as I can, and the needed repairs are on them, and on record going back to the previous mgmt., plus current mgmt. when they changed and I reported it and still nothing was repaired. I will be nice. But I will be glad to move out. — The state and county and city have said only evictions and foreclosures and turning off utilities will only happen if there’s a violent crime or domestic violence, but not for peaceful issues. So a pet violation shouldn’t get me, and besides, I would hope they’d be understanding on that. Anything else, messy or full apt., boxes, I am hoping will also be OK in the meantime. Sigh. Working on it, but it’s taking longer, and I’m better motivated, but still slow.
I got word today, Peppercorn was spayed and is doing fine, and I’m scheduled to pick her up tomorrow before 5pm. The kittens are doing very well. I hope she will be OK and not aggressive, and hope the kittens will let her be. She may need her own space for a while. The kittens are eating more dry food, so yay, progress. The kitty litter arrived — only one pail instead of two. It’s showing completed, not back-ordered. So I have to get them to send a replacement or find it in the mail or give me a refund. (I’d rather have cat litter, thanks! That’s why I ordered it.)
That’s about it, the sum total of the afternoon’s business.
I’m still too tired, draggy, lacking enough sleep, but the sinus symptoms are better again, so…I don’t think I have anything. If I do, it’s very light.
Groceries may wait until Saturday, but I may get my order in tonight. I’m ready to feed the cat for the evening and feed me and take a break.
IMPORTANT
Another post about the National Emergency Library, because this is highly relevant to CJ’s books.
Those who wanted digital editions of all CJ’s books (including the old and out of print ones) can now have them – for free.
This is highly controversial and has been denounced by the Authors Guild and the American Association of Publishers as being little more than piracy. But many universities and colleges have supported it.
Authors can request that their books be removed from the collection, so it’s up to CJ if she still wants them to be available free and worldwide.
130 books by C.J. Cherryh
I got an account and checked it oit. LOTS of CJ books. I randomly looked at Cyteen. That copy is a so-so scan in a PDF. I didn’t dowload since it requires Adobe brand software due to encryption.
So, readable, but not as good as an actual e-book.
It can be taken as well intentioned, but it’s clearly piracy.
I haven’t got an account and haven’t tried to download, but clicking on Rider at the gate it came up with a screen that said: this book can be borrowed for 14 days.
So is it like the lending of e-books by a library, and after 14 days the downloaded book disappears/becomes unreadable?
If not, it’s clearly pirating.
If yes, in that case, they should also follow the rest of the library rules for dealing with ebooks, namely pay the authors once for each ebook, and pay for that book again after it’s been loaned out 10 times (or 20, I don’t know the exact number), as if it degrades like a physical copy and you’d need to buy a new copy to keep on loaning it out.
You can borrow a book for 14 days (up to 10 books at a time), but when it expires after 14 days, you can simply borrow it again. It’s easy and quick to create an account, which is useful for other things on the Internet Archive anyway.
You can read the books online, or download them as PDF or epub, and read them with Adobe Digital Editions. The Adobe reader is actually not too bad, a fairly small and simple program.
The epub versions are created automatically with OCR, so they have occasional errors in them.
PDF? Phooey. There are competing PDF reader / writer products besides Adobe’s, but it’s still Adobe’s proprietary format. PDF files can contain text as text, with formatting, but they can also contain scanned images (bitmap, raster, photo, paint) and vector drawing images (draw, CAD, Illustrator, etc.). Great, except what often happens is that text, especially tables, may get exported as images instead of text. Not good: not machine-readable, not very human-readable if the resolution is low, not well scalable for the same reasons, jaggy pixels. Terrible if you want to search or copy/paste a quote or memo or do some machine-readable task. Also bad for people who can’t see well, both normal vision range and legally blind folks.
Some ebooks can also suffer from some of these issues. Microsoft Word and Publisher, at least in earlier versions, likely in current versions, is/are also prone to export tables in particular as images rather than text tables, into ebook or other file formats. So, for example, an older ebook edition of one of the Barron’s 501 (Language_Name) verb books was…almost entirely badly-scalable images, and basically useless to me. A later edition fixed that, thank goodness, someone must have woke up and actually tried to use it.
Scanned and OCR’ed text — really has to be proofread, or you get problems with things like m for rn, other things with f and r and accented letters, just as a for instance.
But the main issue is, particularly if an author is still living, that author deserves to be paid for his/her work. Authors don’t make big money off of sales of their books, current or past, and they get paid in two or three lump sums for a new book, and then small royalties, a percentage of sales, thereafter. It takes months to write a novel, longer to write a long-form novel like CJ’s current books, so they depend on that income, feast or famine, and residuals (royalties).
If a book is out of copyright, so the living author or the author’s heirs no longer has rights and gets paid from it, such as books in the public domain, then fine for that to be made available free or low-cost, but still, a reader wants a good-quality ebook, a real ebook they can read on any device. (Kindle’s and Apple’s formats are both proprietary on top of non-proprietary EPUB2 or EPUB3 or future versions.)
But for living authors and books still within copyright, hmm, as much as I’d love to have those in ebook formats (Kindle or EPUB or both), I also don’t want to short-change the authors, because I’d be irritated if someone did that to my work.
If an author (or estate) is OK with making older works freely / low-cost available, well, cool, that’s their choice too.
I would love to get all of CJ’s books in ebook format. But I want it to be good quality and real ebooks (EPUB, Kindle) rather than (ugh) PDF.
The National Emergency Library, like that Google Books thing, would be a good idea, but with the caveats I just wrote. And it seems awfully close to piracy, without an agreement, permission, from the author and the publisher. If they do have that, then they should be proud to say so. Also, I’d hate to sign up for something and later have it withdrawn deleted, because of a rights violation. — Or because, like has happened recently, Big Company A and Big Company B had a falling out or stopped doing business together, so that A lost the rights to publish B’s content, ebooks, music, videos. (Star Trek shows, for example, many others, various networks and publishers.)
If something is good quality in ebook format, would I be tempted? Well, possibly. I could have a moral dilemma there. Or not.
OTOH, I own many of her ebooks via Amazon Kindle, which is also proprietary, but may or may not have DRM these days, I forget.
Those proprietary formats and companies being sold or going belly-up or simply dropping support for older software or formats…. Besides subscription cost, these are reasons I do not like and try to avoid Adobe products in particular. (They bought their competitor and then stopped supporting the software and formats, never fully supported the format even after they had owned it for years, and then had the gall to want people to pay inflated subscription fees every month ad infinitum to use files the users created with Adobe’s software. Bad, bad.)
Just my two cents..tow dimes…man, inflation…. Others may not agree with me on this. I don’t know CJ’s opinion, of course. She might not agree with me either. Heh.
To be fair, Adobe is certainly not the ny one who does dodgy things about software and formats. Microsoft and Apple and Amazon are all prone to it too.
Again, only my opinion.
I fully agreethe authors and publishers must be paid.
But the US copyright laws have been heavily influenced by Disney, to lengthen the term of the copyright so far that it’s created a lot of ‘orphan’ books and stories. That is something I’m not as supportive of.
Copyright used to be 50 years, or the life of the author, which seems good to me (it’s already much longer than for patents, which most often last only 20 years, so as to stimulate competition and creativity in development, when others can build on earlier inventions).
Because the Disney company wanted to keep profiting from their franchise, they’ve got that term extended a few times, by now to life of the creator plus 70 years, so the heirs of the creator could continue to earn income from the creator’s work.
This makes sense to me if a creator dies young, and their spouse and young children need that income. It makes less sense to me if the creator dies when he’s old and has already amassed a lot of wealth to leave to their kids regardless of future income; and when both the kids and sometimes the grandkids are dead or retired, it seems a bit unreasonable to keep saying “Nobody’s allowed to do anything with whatever I made, unless they pay me and my heirs for a century and a half, if you can figure out who my heirs are by now” (or longer, if the mouse gets its way again once this term starts to run out).
For a franchise as famous as Disney, run by a large corporation, this continues to work and generate money.
But for less famous writers (or composers, photographers, or other kinds of artists), once the writer dies and some time passes, it often isn’t clear who exactly holds the rights to which work. That prevents those works from being made digitally available, which means most of them will be sunk in obscurity by the time they become copyright-free and could be digitised and ulitised. That in turn means no-one will want to invest in digitising these books properly, paying a copy-editor etcetera, as the market for them has been lost.
For instance, the childrens’ books by Monica Edwards (who died in 1998) are delightful, but they’re still not available as ebooks. In 2005-2010 a publisher was interested in re-issuing them, but could only get permission from both of her children to do so on paper (I got the impression that one of them, like A.A.Milne’s son, wasn’t happy with how they saw themselves in some of the characters, but that may be wrong). By the time they could be digitised, without that permission, the nostalgic wave of interest will be long past, and nobody will remember them. Even those reprints are now mostly out of print.
The new kids who might have enjoyed them as audiobooks or reading on their iPads will have missed that boat.
That seems rather a pity to me.
Don’t Pooh amd his friends deserve to be enjoyed by new kids, even though the original A.A.Milne’s son wasn’t enthousiastic about the books? He didn’t stop them being re-issued, but under the newer copyright laws, he could have, never mind if that’s not what the author would have wanted.
And think of all the creative things that have been done based on Shakespeare, or famous baroque music, or other old classics that are in the public domain. Wouldn’t it be a pity to stifle all that inspiration?
Those are the trouble spots. You touched on how an author/artist might have his/her wishes, yet his/her heirs might countermand those. That’s tricky; I could see arguments for both sides of that. But it seems to me we need copyright law to allow for creative use, riffs off of old content, new and original works inspired by older works, and so on.
And yeah, tracing the heirs down could get awfully complex; that’s assuming the author or artist was a real person rather than a persona or pen name, e.g., arguments calming Shakespeare was really Sir Francis Bacon rather than the historically known Shakespeare.
Another issue with this is, think of all the video, audio, and books that are trapped between the printed physical publishing, or old, early, primitive digital media, versus more modern formats and streaming, online storage. A whole lot of good content is still out there, undigitized, at risk of being lost or forgotten, when it was enjoyable or groundbreaking. Oh, sure there are some things that are just so-so, but others, it would be ashamed to lose them.
Just a reminder – you can send some money to Ms. Cherryh if you feel guilty via her closed circle system.
Also, I have a box full of Ms. Cherryh’s books in hard and soft cover which I will list in bulk on e-bay. I have spent a deal of money for ebooks and audible books.
130 books!!! Amazing.
Everyone stay sane
Jonathan up here in New Hampshire
Kittens — Had a couple of fun things happen overnight:
Suppertime: The kittens are finally starting to eat the dry food more; still not as OK with it as they like the moist food, but they are better at the dry food now. So Lo, they discovered the human keeps a big container of dry food, big enough to hold all five kittens, or one adult cat, maybe. Amazing, such a treasure trove of tasty treats! And right there in plain sight with the lid open and smelling good and all. Oh, fascination!
But wait, more wonders: The human then opened another door and…got out something to eat and drink! Food smells of all sorts, meats and vegetables and other things, all sorts of smells and probably tastes! Hey, you mean that thing has been there all along? How did we miss that? I was careful to check, because I didn’t want to have a kitten get in there and close the door. Brrr! Eek! Meow! Thankfully, this did not happen. (Oh, but Goober, when he was one or two years old, once hopped in while the door was open, and I didn’t realize it for a couple of minutes. That was one chilly, confused cat when he got out, and I was shocked and alarmed that he’d done it without me knowing. Boy, was I glad I found out in time. It’s the number one most not-smart thing he’s ever done.)
So, scary outcomes avoided with the kittens — With the fridge door closed — Not one or two, but all five kittens had appeared at the base of the refrigerator, sniffing, fascinated. Cool air from inside, warm air from underneath, condensation because the sorry, cheap apartment refrigerator’s door seal is no longer good, after only three years here.
It was hilarious to see all five kittens in a row, smelling and looking at the base of the fridge door. Cheap comedy routine, there.
I had all five kittens on the bed with me at one point overnight. Aww. They were being good, too. Goober joined me briefly when they got down, a couple of times, but he and they are only intermittently sharing. He lets them outdo him, unfortunately. But I keep trying to give him extra time and attention. He is doing better than he was about this. He and they are not best buddies but he is more tolerant sometimes, less so, others.
—–
I’m really. really tired again today. I don’t feel like cooing, but may have to do something simple, or warm a can and cook tomorrow. — At midnight and 2am and once more, overnight, loud noises from the upstairs apartment, bed or moving things or who knows what. I do not think it was anything bad, just…loud and annoying, and if you’re already having trouble sleeping…yeah. So I am very tired this morning, and this keeps happening, no fixed imbuing to it, no idea quite why, just…I would love some peace and quiet at night, any time of night. I am a night owl anyway, but this is taxing me.
I’m dressed in case maintenance or anyone comes by, and I have to pick up Peppercorn between 4 and 5 this afternoon late. If I can sleep, I’m going to. But this messes with my already-shot sleep/wake cycle. I don’t know how much is the kids and how much is the adults, ut…I would love to have more than two to four hours of sleep at a time, a full night’s or afternoon’s or morning’s sleep. This is really rough and too frequent, and I can’t sleep through it, sometimes can’t get to sleep or back to sleep for hours. I’m shot. I shouldn’t be sleeping, but yet another day, so…I am going to nap. Likely won’t be more than two to four hours, though. Phooey.
I haven’t seen or heard Mystic at all since Tuesday when I took Peppercorn to the vet. I really feel I’ve lost my chance with him. If I somehow do get the chance to get him into a carrier, to the vet, and moved, I will be vastly surprised. At this point, I don’t think it’s going to happen, and I’m saddened, but it’s been so many weeks ongoing, I just don’t see it happening anymore. Such a neat cat. Such a shame if he doesn’t have someone to belong to.
Goober and the kittens are fine. I am hoping Peppercorn will do fine when she’s back, with maybe less fuss or risk. She may need some isolation for a while, or else periodic chances for alone time away from the kittens while she’s healing. There is not really a convenient way to provide that here, with the packing going on, too much stuff, and she and they will want to be anywhere in the apartment. But it’s likely to be the spare bedroom. I’ll see what the vet’s office says when I pick her up. Possibly, she will control her own need to rest and be away from the others.
I wonder when the repairs will happen, if ever.
Groceries didn’t get ordered. That’s a to do for today or tonight, delivery Saturday or Sunday.
But right now, I am having trouble keeping my eyes open after moving routine’s done.
Be well, everyone.
No luck napping after nearly an hour, so I got back up and started some fish broiling / steaming for tonight, with ready-made hush puppies baking. Some veggies along with leftover rice, flake the fish into it, and I should be good for the weekend. One load of laundry, with maybe another over the weekend, and ho-hum.
So…I’m going to tackle one of the closets, packing, because I don’t feel like cleaning out the kitchen pantry, which needs a deep cleaning at the top shelf, at least. Weekend task, maybe, and the fridge needs it too.
If I sneak up on it, maybe I can get done with packing all but necessities until the move, and then I can sort through boxes and get rid of some more stuff, I hope. — I need to sort through clothes and get rid of what I don’t need. Not entirely sure, but I’ve lost enough weight that one size of pants needs to go, while the other can stay until I know how much the new dryer will shrink things. Presuming I get to move into the new house in May, much hoped for.
My old CD playing boom box is finally giving up; the tape part died long ago, and yesterday the CD part decided to only play 1 song incessantly. I have to manually goose it whenever I want to hear the next song. Only the radio part still works, and the last radio I had refused to toggle between FM and AM towards the end of its career. Newer CD players all look cheap; there has to be a sweet spot between a googlephonic stereo with a moon rock needle, and a junky player that has awful sound quality and quits after a month. I should probably bite the bullet and rip all my CDs to a flash drive; I’ve already done that for some of my driving music.
Peppercorn is back home, doing fine. She was spayed yesterday and came home this evening after a day for observation. She is very glad to be back home and is on her best behavior. Heh. And wants attention from me, petting, to know she’s still OK and welcome. Well, of course she is. (I still know to be wary, but she’s smart, maybe she’ll learn better how to handle things, and that she can trust me more for help.) She and the kittens greeted. Goober and she may have greeted, I’m not sure. But he’ll be aware she’s around if he isn’t already. I fed her, she’s gingerly checked out one litterbox, she’s had water, so I think we are good. I will need to check how her incision is healing. I’m not too sure how well she’ll go for that, but maybe OK. Gotta look and/or feel to be certain it stays clean and doesn’t have any problems, either from her grooming or from it healing.. Got her rabies tag, belatedly. But the vet’s office forgot her collar and name ID tag in her box, rather than with her carrier. I found this when I got home, called to make sure she hadn’t lost it after getting back here, and so I will need to pick it up again when I am back with the kittens for their booster 2nd vaccinations, the 16th. So after a little silliness, I have another collar on her and the alternate name tag. I ordered a spare tag and got spare tags for Dubhan and Wizard. These are due this month. I had to hunt for someone who’d deliver this month, and the previously reliable supplier shows currently unavailable, likely due to the virus shutdown.
So everything’s going about as well as it could be today. The gate was not repaired today; no other repairs done. And neighbors in one apartment were moving out when I left to pick up Peppercorn. No, not the noisy upstairs neighbors. I didn’t ask the reason.
The grocery order still in’t placed. Maybe before bed.
The pocket magnifiers I use — I needed a spare for by my bed. It still hasn’t ben shipped, and may not arrive until a month from now. I am going to look to see if I can get one faster from another shipper.
in less than 6 days, it will be a month since we were supposed to close on the house. It will likely be 2 months before we can do so. :-/ No helping it. No word yet if we can get it done during the shutdown.
But I am well, the cats are well, the apt. is mostly OK, packing is going slowly, but happening. Groceries will happen. So all in all, counting it a plus. I’m very tired, likely going to call it a night in a little bit.
Have you ever seen something at work labeled, “For commercial, industrial, or institutional use only”? (The running joke in one of my offices was, “We aren’t a store. We aren’t a factory. We must be in an institution!” A related label is, “Not labeled for retail sale.”
So, “the toilet paper industry is divided into two markets: consumer … and commercial (bulky [9 inch!] rolls of thin, scratchy paper you find in public restrooms).” With a huge number of people not going to work or out to restaurants, more consumer paper is being used and less commercial. They’re made on different production lines that can’t change easily.
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/4/3/21206942/toilet-paper-coronavirus-shortage-supply-chain
A Google shopping search for commercial “toilet paper” seems to work.
Grocery List — I had wanted to fix a beef and cheese enchilada recipe from YouTube, so I went through to add the ingredients to my grocery list. But I didn’t look through my spices like I’d meant to, so I still have to do so, to avoid getting what I don’t need.
Aha, I found a casserole dish here among previously packed items. Where the other one is, is now a mystery. It should be here, packed. Another is in storage. Oh, life is too complicated. Heh. So hey, I can put the enchiladas in a pan and cook them, a plus.
The hand can opener got packed up last week. So of course I broke the tab on a cat food can and the electric can opener refused to open it. The can’s unsealed and unusable. Not cool. Tossed it out. Refrained from saying a few choice words.
Peppercorn and all got fed because everyone, including Goober, let me know they were hungry. Note I’ve had four hours of sleep since going to bed this evening. So back to bed it will be. Peppercorn also used the litterbox and drank water again, so as long as her incision is doing fine, we are past 36 hours or so since her surgery, and the longer we go without trouble, the better chances she has to heal up fine. Bless her heart. — She wanted attention, which amounted to putting herself forward, right there, sitting down pointedly, and staying: “Hey, I need attention, human! Love me, for I am a cat!” Hahah. Not a problem. But it tells me she’s glad to be back home and is feeling a real need for comfort and to know she belongs again and is loved by me. She’s been quiet. Yes, she was assuredly in heat. Poor baby, ow she won’t have to be a non-stop kitten factory and can have a less stress-inducing life. Spare tags are ordered.
I am going to miss her when she’s adopted. I am going to miss the kittens. Er, but I am indeed thinking of keeping Duvhan and Wizard. The other three are liking attention more, but not really showing signs of bonding. Dubhan and Wizard, it’s hard to tell if they feel truly bonded or not, but they do keep showing up. Then again, now the other three are too. Only Ducky is less likely to be on the bed or want much attention. He isn’t aggressive about it, just seems to prefer being off to himself. I guess he hasn’t found in me the kind of human he wants, or maybe he’s the kind of cat who isn’t much into humans. He is a good kitty and deserves a good, loving home, someone who understands a cat ike him. I’m perplexed; I often seem to be drawn to, or cats are drawn to me, whether they are like that, or the introvert or runt of the litter. Dogs generally like me too. It’s a thing, I guess. I am fine with that, I like them also.
Hoping I can get some sleep and get the spices looked at, then get in my grocery order.
I was surprised, an ep of the History of English podcast claimed the word, grocery, comes from French gros(se) for large, big, or a dozen dozen, 144, and then the meaning was extended to selling in gross, (larger or 12*12 qty.) and then was extended to certain kinds of shopping sales, before the US meaning of groceries and grocery stores acquired its final extension. (I believe he said the British meaning is more specific / limited than the US meaning, but I don’t recall the nuance.)
— Oh — That enchilada recipe, both sauce and filling, does contain both onion and garlic. — @CJ , do you have an enchilada recipe you and Jane favor, which makes a substitution against those? I’d be interested, although I’m not allergic to either.