Squirrel Food

It took them two years.

That's not raccoon size. That's squirrel size. I have no idea what was in the can that prompted the intensive chewing to get to it. I've seen squirrels sitting on top of the can, but I did not think they liked to chew plastic. After all, they left the can alone for 2 whole years. The hole is right by the handle and, essentially, renders the handle useless.

I'm not sure what kind of repair to make here. The rest of the can and the lid are fine so it's a waste to replace it for a new can and lid. Just dust tape it inside and out, once the weather gets above 45 degrees or so? Any other suggestions? Since doing this, they've left the can alone. I do encourage them to be in the yard by putting out peanuts on occasion. I just never expected this to happen.

Beverage:  Seltzer

Deb

A Hearty Goodbye

It's cleaning on a bits and pieces scale. I guess the "Today" show ran a segment on The Art of Tidying. I haven't seen it but several friends mentioned it. "How could you implement her program in an American house? I can't dump all my clothes in the middle of my floor to sort through them?" I've told them to read the book and then slowly work through their stuff. The author talked about relapses but claims, if you do her program as she suggests, you won't have a relapse.

The thing is, her program is for Japanese houses which are a quarter the size of my house, which is small. She talks about removing large numbers of garbage bags of what she calls garbage from people's homes. Instantly, I thought of the big black bags I use. "Twenty-three bags?" I thought, incredulously. Now, I'm thinking, garbage bags in Japan may not be the big 50+ gallon ones. Even if it's a small plastic bag from CVS, it could be used and considered as a garbage bag. Then 23 bags removed is not so outlandish.

I have another bag to go in a couple weeks. The work shirt side of my closet is cleaned. I'm down to the shirts that I will wear to work, that fit my tastes and that actually fit me. It was clean the bathroom time, too, and I finally decided to part with this.

I haven't used this in years, other than to put my pjs on it when I take them off in the morning. I used to think it was a vital necessity to have in the house. But now I realize that, although I do want to and should lose weight, the presence of a scale tells me I'm a failure for not being more rigorous in my exercise or eating. I don't need this silent shame in my life. So, it's in the give away pile. If there ever comes a time when I scale is needed, I think I know where I can get one, or two, or 14.

In the words of the immortal Rogers and Hammerstein, "So long. Farewell, Auf wiedersehn. Goodbye."

Beverage:  Fruit juice

Deb

It's That Time Again, Photo 10

When you work in a building just off a major thoroughfare, you can be sort of excused for not being aware of nature. It's all around me at home, but not really at the office. For a couple years, we had a pair of nesting Canada geese, but when their chosen nesting site was next to the front door and clients of the hiring service upstairs were being intimidated by a honking goose, management had take a more proactive job of moving animals that think the vinca at the front of the building is a good place to raise young. In a way, though, it makes the building kind of sterile. While I don't want to be dodging an angry, wing-waving father as I'm coming in to work, there was a bit of excitement wondering how many eggs had she laid and how were they faring.

On Thursday, I saw this gal in the parking lot.

I didn't see a drake nearby so I don't know if she's single or if he was out searching nesting sites. The ground cover to the west of the lot is littered with debris. The clientele attracted by the job placement service above us seems to regard the parking lot as a garbage can. So the plastic bag and lid in the photo are just typical of what we have seen over the years. Actually, this whole area, between the lot and the building next to us, should be ripped up and replanted. It's gone untended for a long time.

I didn't see her yesterday so I don't know if she ambled southwest where there is an actual pond with actual food and actual nesting areas. Given the unkempt nature of the ground cover, she could be in amongst all that and we'd never see her, which is probably not a bad thing.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Get Outta Here!

Ace Hardware, last week, started a celebration of their 90th year in business. I perused the sale flyer and found a few things I use for very good prices. I am set now, for a year, a year!, in furnace filters. But one thing caught my eye that I had to have.

That, my friends, is a brand spankin' new garbage can, in dark forest green. Plus, look. It has a lid that actually closes. As my friend, Jon, said when I told him I was going to get a can in something other than black, "Get outta here!"

Why is this important? Well, for years now, I've used this set up.

Last year, I assume it was raccoons that ate through the top of the lid. This kind of can isn't made anymore so finding a lid that will work with the "locking" part of the handles has been futile. I'm rather used to timing the tossing of the garbage to coincide with garbage day or stacking bags of used kitty litter on top of the garbage bag only to find that didn't deter the raccoons and I have garbage to clean up in the back yard.

The old can's locking lid was nice, in theory, but the raccoons figured out that all they had to do was get on top of the can and lean on the handles and the lid could be popped off. I have no illusions that the new lid, which snaps on with a very satisfying "click", will be any less easy to open. I was looking for something that the wind couldn't snap the top off and then scatter the contents.

The new can doesn't have wheels which will be interesting come winter, when I have to drag it down the drive. The old can is going to be used for yard waste now, occasionally garbage if I'm really cleaning.

I realize it's kind of silly to get excited about a garbage can, but I am. It's going to make life a bit easier. What can you say that cost $12 that's made your life easier? And it's green.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

I Believe I Can Fly

The driveway to the south of the house has often been a gateway for wildlife to get from the backyard to the street. Since I don't have a garage, it's easy to run along the drive and make a left turn into the front yard. Rabbits use this all the time. One year, Carole had taken one of the garbage cans to the curb, turned around and saw a skunk in the drive.

Last night, I pulled in after work and got out. My eye was attracted to something brownish that seemed to fall into the drive along the house. It took me a minute to realize what it was.

It was a fledgling robin.

My neighbors have a large pine tree just south of the drive, off the northeast corner of their house. They also have a bird's nest at the immediate northeast corner, tucked between the house and the "S" curve of the drain pipe.

As I approached, the bird hopped along the drive to get away from me. I couldn't see a nest in the pine tree, but that doesn't mean it's not there. You can see that the rear feathers are not fully developed. All it seemed to be able to do was hop. After getting my picture, I left it be. I decided not to bring the recycling can back from the street because I'd have to maneuver it by the bird. It's in enough shock to have tried to fly and fell. It didn't need to contend with a human and a big blue recycling container.

This morning it was not in the drive. I walked it to be certain. I am rather thankful that I don't have outdoor cats. Betsy, Rascal, Shakespeare, even Penny or Half-Pint would have loved this. "Oooh, thanks mom. Dinner."

Speaking of dinner, there's been a morning visitor to the front yard.

I eat my cereal and have this guy staring back at me. I know they can see me because if I throw up my hands, he will take off. The girls will notice him but they seem uninterested. Squirrels on the deck, yes. Rabbits in the front yard, no.

I like that there is an abundance of wildlife, even of what could be considered a slightly mundane type, in my yard. As overgrown as it is this year, with all the rain, I'm providing a decent habitat. In return, a good habitat provides me with a healthier environment. Plus, when Mija is sitting on the magazine I want to read with my cereal, it gives me something to watch over my Cheerios.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Durability

With the arrival of my tax refund, I looked at ways of slightly improving life in the house. Twenty-five dollars spent here or there can give me long-lasting pleasure. One of those $25 expenditures came during February.

It's a big box and has been sitting in the living room for over a month. With all the snow and cold we had, I just didn't feel like opening it up, that the contents weren't ready to be put on the deck. Inside the box is, you see, a new birdbath.

This is a real bird bath, one made for containing water. It's not a lid, although it's the same size as the garbage can lid I've used for 3 years now. Here they are, side by side.

The garbage can lid is much lighter in weight. It's also deeper. But they hold the same amount of water. I could get a stand designed to hold up the bird bath, but I have seen squirrels drink from this and the stand would make it too high for them. So, I'm using the same set up as with the can lid. I have these plant discs that keep a flower pot up off the deck and allow air to circulate under the pot. I've put the bird bath on two of those on the deck.

The dark green color will absorb more heat from the feeble rays of winter sun and therefore has the possibility of more open water in the winter. If I had an electrical outlet on the back side of the house, I could consider a bath heater but that's more of a pipe dream purchase than a real purchase.

Stanley helped fill the bath with water and we are now ready for the birds as they filter back from their winter vacations. I may have to watch water evaporation more in this new bath than in the lid, owing to the dark color.

With this purchase, the garbage can lid can go back to doing what it does best, sitting on one of the garbage cans and getting blown about the yard when the wind picks up.

Beverage:  Huckleberry tea

Deb

Days Off

Tomorrow is a work day. While that might seem like an unsurprising statement, I have been off since Wednesday. It's been a productive 5 days for me.

Wednesday was rainy, pretty much all day, until the temperatures plummeted. It was 41 at noon and 15 by 10 p.m. I am terribly aware of the furnace running and running and running as it attempts to keep the house at my desired 69 degrees. I'm also aware that the girls have migrated up. It's got to be cold along the floor. My feet feel it. How much more do they feel?

It was a time of catch up and revisiting favorites. On Wednesday, I started the day by paying bills. Everything is paid. For me, this is a fantastic feeling. I look across the pile and there's nothing. This is a small victory, something I can pat myself on the back for. I figured it out. I have saved and I'm caught up. Off to do errands.

I am involved in something slightly nefarious so the first stop on Wednesday was JoAnn Fabrics for a couple items. Then, garbage stickers. I realized, in recalling my day for guild members, that garbage stickers aren't used everywhere. In Chicagoland, most communities have gone to a sticker program. You buy colored stickers that go on the garbage you put out. You pay only for what you drag to the curb. There is no charge for recyclables. I can go 6 weeks without putting out garbage, what with recycling and my lifestyle. Having a monthly trash bill is a waste of money for me. Stickers are currently $3.49 each, but that's still quite cheap to have it hauled away.

After that, I hit the post office and had a slightly annoying discussion with the clerk. Part of the nefariousness involves mailing and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the mailing. "Why are you putting all this postage on these? Can't you make people mail it themselves?" I realize he wanted to save me money but I knew just want I wanted, I stated that clearly and I expect to be helped in that fashion. "We're up to this much already," he said, as if I hadn't thought through the cost. I knew how much it would cost me when I walked in. I've taken my business elsewhere when faced with this kind of "customer service". I came really close to saying, "Look, I know the cost. Just sell me the damn stamps. Stop trying to convince me to do this any other way because it's not going to work." Then, he wound up not selling me enough for the envelopes and I had to use the personal stamps I'd purchased. I've had problems with this guy before. I probably should complain.

From there, it was a stop to get the hair cut. I wasn't feeling particularly happy when I walked in. The post office exchange had me irritated. But, the gal who cut my hair was bubbly and chatty and put me in a very good mood. She asked about my hair care and made a couple suggestions that wound up giving me a cut that will last for awhile. It had been 13 weeks since my last cut. I do that. I get a great cut at Great Clips that lasts. Other than my bangs growing out, I really won't need to go back until maybe April. A hair cut made the irritation of the post office fade away. I'm happy.

It was time to go home. Did I want to cook or stop somewhere? As I headed west from the salon, I saw Flips approach. I haven't eaten there since summer. Flips it is. I got a #12, which is a polish with fries and a drink. Technically, I don't think that's on any diet plan but I am 'on vacation'. I'll eat what I want.

That carried through to Thursday when I stopped by Culver's after a doctor visit and another trip to JoAnn Fabrics. I got a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a peanut butter hot fudge shake. Culver's was on the way home.

Since then, I haven't gone anywhere. Taxes for both federal and state have been completed, submitted and accepted. There are small refunds coming. We've had brutal cold and snow. I've done wash. I've washed litter boxes and the floor where they sit. I've done dishes. I've crocheted. I've prepared all the valentines for mailing. I've ordered myself a small valentine's present because I'm worth it. I've slept. I've watched movies and Rocky and Bullwinkle. I've agreed with myself, finally, that I did need the time off and that just staying home really is worth it. Vacations don't have to involve the stress of packing and travel. They can be a time of catching up.

Back to work tomorrow. I will be rested and refreshed and will feel that I am not rushed because something didn't get done.

Beverage:  Darjeeling tea

Deb

Suggestions Requested

I've been cleaning and I've got quite a collection of this stuff. These are cables and cords from all sorts of electronic equipment. I know my modem, my router, my computer, my PS2, my old cell phone, my car radio, any electronic equipment I've purchased in the last 5 years has come with cords.

What the heck do I do with this stuff? Should I toss it in the 'give away' bags I often have up? Is there some place that will take it? Do YOU want it because you're a techie and you always want this kind of stuff? If you want it, I'll happily box it up and send it to you. I'm sure, as I clean some more, there will be more of this in various places. It seems wrong to throw it into the garbage where it's going to the landfill.

Beverage:  Irish Breakfast tea

Deb

Hallo-weiners

For treats last night, I handed out mini Snickers and a few mini M&M's with peanuts. I started with the Snickers, of course, and kind of hoped there wouldn't be that many kids so I could have all the M&M's to myself. Why buy something that, if left over, you won't eat? There were 55 pieces in the bag and I had one Snickers. At the end of the night, I had given out 34 pieces including some M&M's. Oh well. I didn't need to eat ALL of these.

My neighborhood is usually quiet. There are a lot of little kids and families who come through on Halloween night. Junior high age kids just weren't out last night, nor were the young teenagers, except for 4 boys who probably wish they'd stayed home.

Trick or treating is from 4-7 in Wheaton. Most families are done by 6:15, however. You get the pre-teen or low teenagers who just wear what they have in their closet after 6:30 and I'm really not interesting in giving them anything so I turned off my light at 6:30. I hadn't made supper so I worked on that and, since I'd received a paycheck, it was time to pay the bills.

At around 7:15-ish, I heard yelling outside and the sound of people running up my driveway. Then came a crash. See, last night was garbage night, but because it's also Halloween, I decided not to drag the cans to the street. I had moved the recycling can, a dark blue plastic can with branches and a black can containing several garbage bags of cat litter (I completely emptied the litter boxes over the weekend. It was time to start fresh.) to the side of the house across the driveway to be moved at 10:30 before bed. From the sound, someone had collided with the recycling bin. But what were they doing running up my driveway?

I went outside and saw my neighbor from across the street holding on tightly to the hoodie of a boy. Two boys were picking themselves up off the ground having collided with the recycling bin and the black can, which, no, you really couldn't see in the dark. A fourth was standing, very self-consciously, in my neighbor's front yard. Her dogs were going nuts. My neighbor holding onto the boy was screaming at him, "Just what the hell do you think you were doing? You think you're so punk ass? I've got news for you, asshole." Um...yes. We were joined by another neighbor and the gal with the dogs who said, "I've called the cops." The look on the boys faces was sheer terror.

The police must have been within a block or two because it seemed like they were here instantly. One of the boys looked like he was going to burst into tears at any moment. The officer asked what was the problem and my across the street neighbor said he'd caught these guys stomping on his pumpkins and tearing down his decorations. The other across the street neighbor chimed in that they'd hit his house, too. The officer turned to look at the boys and he really didn't need to ask. Might as well have had a neon "guilty" sign over their heads. But he inquired quietly and calmly, "Boys, did you do this?"

At this point, a car screeches to a halt in front of my house and a woman gets out. She comes running up to our happy little group screaming, "These are my kids! What are you doing? They didn't do anything! Leave them alone!" Another cop car has arrived and that officer runs over to us to try to intercept this woman. I started coughing and realized I was cold so I said I was going inside to get a coat. I came back out and the officer with the boys asks if my house had been damaged. I said, "No. They just chose to run up my drive and collided with my garbage cans." He said I didn't need to be out there then and he would knock when it was all over.

It took 30 minutes to sort everything out. The neighbor who had chased the boys down knocked on my door and said he'd take my cans to the street for me. He said the boys were from Glendale Heights, a suburb north of me. Mom had blurted out to the other officer that they had gotten in trouble with neighbors up there so she packed them into the car and drove them down here where they didn't know anyone. Um...yes. That is very smart parenting. She had dropped them off and then drove to Starbucks to get coffee. Yet another example of extremely good parenting. It seems as if these kids went around my area and if someone didn't answer the door, they smashed their decorations. One of the kids had a dozen eggs in the bottom of his bag.

The officers read the kids the riot act and chewed out the mother, my neighbor said. Then they took all the candy these boys had accumulated and gave it to the families who lost their decorations. My neighbor laughed that that, alone, was probably the worst thing that could have been done to these boys. They had been trick or treating all evening and had at least a third of a pillow case full of candy. Everyone was released and warned to clean up their act.

This morning, the garbage and recycling cans of everyone on my street had been tipped over. I had a lot of water bottles brought home from work in my can so I had to spend a good 20 minutes cleaning that up off the parkway and in my driveway. But that was better than the people across the street. Their garbage had been gotten into by raccoons or opossums and was strewn into the street.

This doesn't happen in my neighborhood. I do just chuckle when I think of the horror I saw on the face of one boy when Erica came out and announced she'd called the cops. In two weeks, we'll have forgotten this. I'm hoping they were scared enough that they'll never forget. They might have gotten a kick out of smashing pumpkins but they didn't count on a dad being close to the front door and being faster than they were.

Beverage:  Green tea

Deb

Yard Waste

I hauled the garbage, recycling and yard waste out to the curb last night. This is what I did on Sunday, filled these three containers with sticks and pruned back one of the buckthorns, just enough that I can do more clearing this weekend.

You know what, as proud of doing this as I am, this hurts. These aren't that heavy. They are just awkward. It's difficult to haul them to the curb. Even with sturdy handles, the containers can bend my wrists in awkward and painful ways. It's times like this that I walk back to the house and think, "Why am I still here?"

That's quite the question to ponder. The black and white answer is that I can't afford to move. The financial problems begun in 2009, are still not, 3 years later, resolved or nearing resolve. Add medical bills to the mess and it will be years before I feel something other than loose sand beneath my feet.

But dealing with RA has thrown the idea that I would be better served to live in a condo, where someone else does maintenance, someone else shovels the walk, someone else prunes the bushes. I've done more this year than I have in the past two. I never knew I was as bad off as I was until someone said, "Let's have you take this stuff and see if that doesn't make you feel better." I do think about doing things that I just shrugged and filed in the "long, long range plans" file.

I like my home, love the town I live in and like my neighborhood, even though the kids across the street seem to get into trouble pretty much once a month. One of these days, an officer is going to come to the front door at 9:45 at night, ask if I know anything about someone keying a car across the street and I'll say, "Can you wait right here? I have to run back and help the guild kill Cho'gal," and he's going to look at me and ask, "10 or 25-man?" I can see, however, my time in this house is growing limited. That is inevitable. I can see me moving, not immediately, but down the road. I can see a condo with a deck with flowers and I can see myself being happy there. Hauling 3 containers of yard waste to the curb makes me think it's not bad that it could be sooner rather than later.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Just an Hour

I am a weekend warrior. It's not much but I do what I can. Step one last weekend was to sharpen the loppers.

It has been awhile since I used the sharpening steel. It was also awkward to try to get the proper edge on the loppers. I used to do this every time I took the loppers into the yard. I didn't have a good feel for whether I was sharpening the edge correctly or just window-dressing.

Once finished, the loppers and I took to clearing the area by the hydrangea off the northwest corner of the deck. I have no idea what kind of tree it is but it's not where I want it. Thirty minutes later, the corner was liberated and you could see the hosta again.

It was slightly oppressive in the heat and humidity department, but I was on a roll. I spent another 30 minutes pulling Queen Anne's lace and other stuff that wasn't where I wanted it, spraying Round-Up on the trunks of trees that I had sliced off and cleaning up a section of limbs that Zeke had cut in the spring. In the end, a nice section of the back by the house is tidy again. I had to quit at an hour as it was just too warm for me to continue.

This is a small victory. I couldn't do this last year. There's a lot I couldn't do last year. This year, I'm limited in what I can do by how many yard waste stickers I can purchase. I have to wait for extra cash for stickers. We used to pay a monthly fee for garbage and yard waste to be hauled away. But some people, like me, can go a month or more without putting anything, other than recyclables, to the curb. So, the city decided to go to this sticker program where you pay only for what you put out. Garbage and yard waste are the same sticker and price. Leaves, in the fall only, are less. Recyclables are free. From an economic stand-point, it's a great deal. The stickers are $3.50 each and I don't always have the cash for some. That means that the yard trimmings get piled instead of hauled.

It felt good to haul 3 containers of limbs, twigs and branches to the curb this week. The deck looks better; more open and inviting. It was good exercise, physically and mentally, to be outside working in the yard. Huzzah! This weekend looks just as productive.

Beverage:  Pepsi

Deb

Concert Tickets

I stopped by Arby's yesterday. I had to go to the hardware store to get garbage/yard waste stickers and to inquire if I can get a second free quart of paint from the upcoming promotion. I took advantage of a free quart to get a color I want to use in the back bedroom, assuming I ever get that far in household chores. But I was looking around my living room, which is painted in colors I really like and I could use a quart of the custom color on the walls for touch ups. I wasn't sure if it's a one-shot deal. The gal at the counter said it wasn't so the next free coupon that comes my way means I'll hie thee to the store for touch up paint. Arby's is one door down from Ace Hardware.

They are doing this promotion where you sent them a photo of special concert cups turned to the artist you'd like to see. You could win VIP tickets to see that artist in concert. The choices are: Trace Atkins, All-American Rejects and Taio Cruz. I've at least HEARD of Trace Atkins.

See, this semi-irritates me. I realize that Arby's has to go with whomever they can find to be a part of a promotion like this. Plus, they have to look at their demographic; where are they most popular and then, by extension, what kind of music does that demographic listen to? And factor in which age group is most likely to actually photograph their drink container and email it. I'm not inclined to photograph and submit the drink container to an online contest. I'm not their target audience.

But what if they gave away tickets to the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra? What about the Dallas Symphony Orchestra? Or say the Lyric Opera of Chicago? It's hard to imagine, in this day and age of corporate sponsors being pretty much anywhere, that they couldn't find someone other than these three to go along with the whole VIP idea.

A promotion like this doesn't affect, one way or another, the amount of times I go to Arby's. I do think, however, that companies limit themselves when they don't think beyond country, pop and rap. There's a huge audience for other music and just once I'd like to see a company akin to Arby's acknowledge this. Who knows. By offering VIP tickets to something like the Dallas Symphony, they could entice someone who never would consider classical music, exposing them to that vast repertoire and enriching their life.

Yes, I am tempted to send in the above photo, even though it's half-way between Trace Atkins and All-American Rejects. "Well, I couldn't decide," I'd say. But that's not true. I have decided. I decided I'd just drink my soda and chuck the container. I'll take Old Blind Dogs over any of these any day.

Beverage:  Edinburgh's Finest tea

Deb

I Didn't Realize It Was Earth Day

Last Friday, our office Internet was sporadic. You all know that adventure. It will randomly cut out at weird intervals, usually when you haven't saved about 30 minutes worth of work. Jon showed me how to reset everything once it goes out. After the 3rd resent in 2 hours, it took longer to come back up than usual. I decided this was a good time to clean out some boxes.

Now, we use a lot of paper in the office, currently. We have a major project with 18 machines and the client wants all the data printed and shipped. Fortunately, they only want one report but a week's worth of data times 18 machines is a lot of sheets of paper.

It means we go through toner on the average, right now, of one cartridge a month. The copier needs to be changed about once every 3 months. Every box of toner comes with a recycling label. You just slap the label on the outside of the box and put it out for UPS. The guys don't do that. Mike even said they were "lazy". They stuck the used toner cartridge in a box and put the box in a pile across from the printer and left them there. And so the boxes piled up.

On Friday, I decided, when the Internet was taking its sweet time to restart, I should deal with these. You can see how many there were. There are three more that have to go back to Office Depot the next time we need supplies because I didn't have a label for them. What I should do, if we don't have a run for supplies planned soon and a toner gets used up, stick the three without labels in a larger box and ship the whole thing back.

When I started working here, we didn't recycle. My boss wasn't interested in that, poo-poo'd it, in fact. I bought a trash can and set it between our offices. I made sure to use it. We don't have a building-wide recycling opportunity so I take it home with me and add it to my can. I used to put this container out for the recycling but then we got the big blue rolling containers. It's time to empty this one so I'll take it home tonight and dump it in my can. I would say we've gone from recycling 5% of our paper waste to 90%. The guys across the hall use an old paper box which makes it easy to transport.

We also recycle batteries, plastics and cans. That's less productive, about 75% gets recycled. I have a smaller bin in my office for plastics and cans. Batteries have their own spot and we need to do a battery run.

I'm rather proud of my efforts to get recycling in the office. It took a bit to get the cleaning service trained. They kept emptying the recycling bins and putting garbage bags in them. For a month, I had to leave increasingly more strongly worded notes about not emptying the bins. It's probably tough because they are trained to clean and clear and I'm telling them not to.

Recycling is so much a part of our mind set now. We had stacks of cardboard from boxes we cut down and one of the guys finally loaded it into his car and took it to a large recycling facility where you can just dump off cardboard of any size. To fit in my can, we had to cut things down to 3 by 3 feet square and that's just not going to get done when we're busy.

I don't know if other offices in my company recycle. I know one doesn't. We sent someone to help them when they were busy. He asked, "Where is your recycling bin?" after finishing a soda. They looked at him and laughed. I like to think that at least here, we're doing our part to make every day Earth Day.

Beverage:  Edinburgh's Finest tea

Deb

A perfect weekend for catching up.

This is kind of beyond "Indian summer". The weather has been glorious. I have taken the opportunity to do things around the house I have put off.

1. I pruned branches from the volunteer trees next to the deck. I filled another container to go out on Thursday. Yard waste will be collected through mid-December. I might get these trees taken down by then, one can a week.
2. I cleaned up debris from the old compost pile way in the back. Zeke, who mows my lawn, dismantled that a couple years ago and piled the stuff next to the air conditioner. I have had other things to toss besides that, but I decided I needed to get rid of as much of it as possible. I have one piece that didn't fit in the can.
3. All the floors were swept which yielded dust bunnies the size of armadillos. I keep forgetting that a big black cat means big chunks of fur everywhere and that fur collects dust.
4. The kitchen was cleaned on Saturday so I could, on Sunday, bake. So far, I have made 3 Grain Pear and Fruited Bran muffins and 2 loaves of Butterscotch Banana bread. I have to wash the muffin tins again so I can continue to bake. It's fall and that's when I really enjoy baking.
5. The bed has been stripped and the mattress turned. I still need to figure out how to go get Jessie's mattress. I probably should just rent the appropriate size vehicle.
6. I read 95% of the newspapers I had piled in the living room. I need to try this recipe for butternut apple soup that was in a Wednesday cooking section.
7. And I washed every single rug in the living room. That's a chore because they tend to unbalance the washing machine. But, I tell you, the girls love clean rugs. Pilchard has been attacking a couple of them since I put them down. I love being able to drape them over the deck railing and allowing them to air dry.

The house is thrown open and the gentle breeze certainly helps with my allergies. As much as I love fall, my allergies do not. I'm worse now than in the spring. This unseasonably warm weather has helped me get a handle on the allergies so when it turns cold and damp, I might not be so miserable. Part of me thinks I should take a "mental health" day tomorrow, but that would look really bad.

It's been a wonderfully productive weekend. I need a few of those.

Beverage: Huckleberry tea

Deb

New Game Show!

How could this idea fail?

It's July 1st. Half of the year is over and another half is set to begin. It's a good marker for taking stock of what you've accomplished and what needs to be done.

Like cleaning out the fridge.

I started over the weekend. How many of those containers of marinara sauce from Arby's do I really need? Zero actually because, when I order the mozzarella sticks, I never use the marinara sauce. So, I brought all the sauce tubs home thinking the sauce would be good over pasta. Well, 15 tubs later, which spans the whole first half of the year, they are just taking up space, like the Alfredo sauce that's now yellow with small greenish spots. Yup, time to be ruthless.

But in the course of being ruthless, things "accumulate" in the garbage can until tonight, when I will haul them to the curb with the recycling. And that spawns the game show idea.

"What's that smell?"

I'm sorry. I should have warned you. There are monitor cleaning cloths you can buy.

After tonight, I won't have to play that game for awhile. I have the last shelf and the compost drawers, I mean fruit and vegetable drawers to empty. If there is anything in those drawers, it can go into the composter. I have wonderful compost in the back yard that I never use. But I'm being green.

I don't really take out a lot of garbage. Tonight, however, it's going fast to the curb. I'm not interested in playing "What's that smell" any longer.

Beverage: Free Coke from Chipolte because Mike won lunch there.

Deb