Category Archives: Stuff

About me, Stuff

Hot, Cold, Hotter?

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Do I take the air conditioner out of my bedroom window or do I leave it in until the end of the week? The really hot days seem to be over, but temperatures are still high. I’m not one for much cool air unless it’s natural. So I generally keep the windows open until it’s time to turn on the heat or unless rain is blowing in the windows.

I should have taken pictures of the four huge piles of cuttings and wood from the lilac trees. I don’t think anyone would really believe an old lady with a chainsaw made those piles. I’m not really an old lady – only in my middle 70’s. Parts do seem to be failing, but I can still lift up to 40 pounds and carry it up stairs. I used to be able to lift more, but my strength has faded some.

I had loaned a friend my tiller, but it came back dead. She’s offered to buy me a new one, but I’m going to take mine apart to see if I can fix it. That’s another thing I do – take things apart to fix them. I used to do a lot of the maintenance on my cars, but now I leave it to the pros. Too many electronic connections now.

I had to give up my baby and find something less manual to drive. I had a 1998 Saturn that I got new and had to give it up at 251,708 miles because my shoulders and knees don’t like certain positions required to shift and steer a manual car. While I can still lift heavy things if I need to, certain body parts would lock up in the Saturn and I’d have trouble with turning to look over my shoulder or moving my foot to the needed pedal. To say nothing of trying to steer out of tight spots.

Now I have a pre-owned – what a great term for a used car – 2013 vehicle with bells and whistles and lots more bits to go wrong. So far, it’s an okay drive, but compared to my Saturn, it’s a tank. It’s taller, higher off the ground, longer and wider, and almost too big for my garage. I have to be very careful to watch my mirrors when I go through the entry.

Enough complaining. Upcoming projects include teaching more 6th graders how to sew and supervising a group of 8th graders in sewing pillowcases for a charity. There are also my 3 classes for members and the public at the maker space. I find I have more fun teaching the kids than the adults, but I wouldn’t want to be a full-time teacher of either.

I’ll try to remember to take pictures. You can tell I’m old by the fact that I don’t record every waking moment of my day, or what I do, or eat.

Stuff

Chainsaws and lilacs

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I have three dying lilacs in my back yard. The trunks lean out and most, while they are not dead, produce only leaves. They’re also over 15 feet tall. When they do produce blooms, it’s out of season. I’ve had blooms appear as late as November. Not many flowers, and they don’t last as long as spring blooms.

So I’m cutting them down almost to the ground. What portions of trunks left will sprout and they will be easier to maintain. The current trunks are 6 to 7 inches in diameter. The heartwood centers of many of the trunks have rotted out. Some trunks are rotting at the base; I can wiggle them.

Two winters ago, a trunk fell over. I used my chainsaw to cut it into 6 foot lengths so I could haul it to the street. Sometimes I say “haul it to the curb,” but my street is curb-less. Most of my immediate neighborhood has no curbs or sidewalks. We’re not due to get any yet, but we will, when the city gets around to redoing our streets.

Some of my male friends want me to call them so they can use the chainsaw for me. I keep reminding them that I’ve been using the saw for 10 years without problems. It’s electric and the second I release pressure on the trigger, it stops. I don’t have steel-toed shoes, but I’m not wearing flip-flops or sandals either.

I have my safety glasses, ear plugs and long pants, and I try to keep the fence at my back, so I can see anyone approaching. Same as when I use my table-saw. I place it so I can see out the garage so I’m not surprised by someone coming to my rear.

I ordered a couple of new chains for the saw and I’ll use the old ones to learn how to sharpen them. I’ll have someone at the maker-space show me how. No, I have not been using a dull chain for 10 years. That’s a good way to get hurt. The saw usually only got used when old man maple or old lady evergreen dropped large branches in my yard. The last branch was was from the maple and was 25 feet long.

The first branch that dropped into my yard was from the spruce or whatever evergreen the neighbor’s tree is. The branch was 14 feet long and destroyed my clothesline poles by falling across the lines. We have have an 8-foot maximum length for branches put on the street for pick-up. So they have to be cut. Since I’m just a little old lady, I generally cut them into 4-foot lengths.

The straighter of the lilac pieces will go to the bottom of the woodpile to dry out for future burning. I’ll be shifting the pile to the side fence so the neighbors can grab some without coming into my yard. It will take a few days to shift. In addition to the new lilac wood, there’s still a tree’s worth of split firewood from before I bought the house 18 years ago.

Over the the years, I’ve burned or given away a tree’s worth. When I bought the house, the wood from two trees was stacked behind the garage. That was a woodpile than ran about 10 feet across the rear of the garage, by 3 feet tall by 2 rows deep. Each section of trunk or branch was about 15 inches deep/long. Long after my kids toss me into a nursing home, the new owners will have firewood.

I haven’t burned as much as I could, because for a long time, and maybe even still, you couldn’t bring your own wood from home to a campsite at the State parks. That was enforced to curtail the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer.

Once I get the wood done, I’ll be working more on my craft room and get back to crafting. I have more classes planned for the maker-space including melt and pour soapmaking and book-binding. I’ll keep you posted.

Crafting, Stuff

Craft Room

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I was actually in my craft room last evening for several hours. I made a painting of a cat. It’s “ugly-cute” as my youngest grandchild once described my former dog. It’s not one of my best, but it represents an effort to get back into creating art, and books, and other types of crafting.

My goofy cat painting

It’s been almost a year since I’ve actually created anything. The depression has been bad. Before The Road Trip From Hell, I was up in the craft room almost every day making junk journals, drawing, and making collages. After TRTFH, I was deeply distressed after the breakdowns of the car, the unexpected extra hotel bills and the lies about being reimbursed for the tows and the extra stays.

My sister called me last week, asking if I had a passport and if I wanted to take another trip with the two of them to Europe. I declined, citing the need for a new roof. My next trip will be to Pennsylvania for my granddaughter’s wedding. I don’t plan to travel with any of my siblings again. I might visit some of them next year if the world doesn’t end.

I’m not certain my son will be going to the wedding with me. He called yesterday after visiting his doctor and he broke his pelvis. I know he fell down stairs, but I don’t know if it was work-related or if it occurred at home. So long as he can still work and not move in with me, I’m not going to worry about him. He can only lift 10 pounds for the next 4 months which affects his work. I’m not certain how comfortable he will be sitting in the car for the trip to Pennsylvania.

Stuff

Lawn mowers.

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My gas mower became hard for me to start. When I was still able to start it, I had to use a bungee cord to keep it running. It was just too difficult with my bad shoulder to keep yanking the pull cord. Eventually, the pull cord became too difficult for even my son to start it.

I bought a battery powered mower and have been keeping up with the front lawn until this year. We have had so many alternating days of rain and sun, that the electric mower can’t keep up. I only get 45 minutes to a charge, but it takes both batteries to run and the chargers takes at least 4 hours to fully charge them. The mower originally came with just one charger for both batteries so I bought a second charger so I wouldn’t spend all day charging two batteries.

Yesterday, I wheeled the gas mower out to find out what the problem was with the recoil starter. I disassembled the housing then pulled out the cord casing. I rotated the motor fins a few times and it was moving freely, so the motor hadn’t seized. I did check the oil and it was clean, since the mower got a tune-up and oil change when I did the snowblower.

I tried to start it and I’m not strong enough to pull the cord to start it, so I asked my neighbor if he would get it started. It was a little rough but did start. I used a bungee cord to wrap the handle and managed to get my front yard mowed. Yay me!

The mower conked out when I tried to cut the back. It’s gets like a hay field back there sometimes. I finally hauled out the battery powered one and most of the back is now done. It was too hot to finish.

Tomorrow – weed whacking.

Crafting, Stuff

Storage Shed and Other stuff

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The big project today was to assemble the shed I bought a month ago. The Boy Wonder came over early to finish laying the pavers for the shed base. But we didn’t finish because we both got over-heated preparing the ground for the paver base.

Tomorrow we need to re-do the pavers we did today. I totally forgot to put down the weed barrier. We still have one row of pavers to finish. Then we can assemble the shed and the yard equipment and furniture will no longer have to be stored in the garage. I might finally have enough room to pull the car all the way into the garage and be able to walk around it.

I’ve been working on my Will. That’s a lot of work. I spent 4 hours typing 5 pages. I’m not the best typist for words. Nor am I any longer a great number typist. I worked retail for so many years, and I was fairly fast with either hand, depending on how the checkout counter faced. But now I’m Miss Pokey. I never learned to touch type. That was taught in 9th grade, but I worked in the library at that class period.

The funny thing is that to replace missing pages in a book, we had to borrow a copy from the local library, create a page template, and then manually type the replacement text. So I did type but never learned the keyboard properly. Those replacement pages were then cut to size and inserted into the book. That’s how I learned book repair and re-binding – a skill I still use to make my own books and journals.

Today was supposed to be the day I held a paper-making class, but only one person had signed up. She’s willing to attend the August session which should have more people signed. Several who were interested had planned vacations for this July weekend.

I need to drive over to the Quilt Museum. I actually have a piece on display as a part of the 25 Million Stitches Project. It will be interesting to see the full display. Sad as well. Each stitch represents a refugee from an area with war, or drought, or other life-changing disaster. At this point in time, 25 million stitches is probably too few. I did 2500 stitches on my piece. Not nearly enough, considering the current state of the world.

And that is today’s update. I promise I will get back to crafting and posting pictures. The depression still has a tight hold on my brain, but I am getting better.

Crafting, Stuff

Rainbow

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I’ve never seen a rainbow at night.

Rainbow 8:25 pm. Taken with phone.

I was at the Maker-space for Craft Night, but due to the weather reports, most people stayed home. Those of us there stayed until a bit after 8. The drive home was nothing special until I saw the rainbow the red sky.

I didn’t want to pull over on the side of the road so I took the photo after I pulled into the garage. It was weird seeing the multicolored arc in the evening sky. I thought it might be a moonbow, except the sun was just setting behind storm clouds in the west and the rainbow was to the east. So technically, it should be a rainbow not a moonbow. But someone who knows more can feel free to correct this old lady.

So far, I only have one person signed up for my first Basic Papermaking class. I hope I get a few more students by Saturday or I’ll have to cancel. And move that person to the session in August. Ah well. That’s it for now.

About me, Stuff

Old?

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In the last two weeks, I have been called “old” more than once. Not directly, mind you. (Okay, that’s an old people phrase.) But old? I’m only 76. How can I be old?

When I look in the mirror, I don’t see an old face. I see a face with some maturity, some lines, a bit of sag, but not old. My hair is 90% grey and not as curly as it used to be, but I’ve been going grey since I was in my early 30’s. Parts ache, but I’ve been hard on this body. Sprained wrists and ankles. Broken bones. Scars from all the stupid stuff I did as a kid growing up with mostly boys as playmates.

Arthritis seems to be invading so I have trouble with my hands and knees. My memory is still sharp. My memory is still sharp. Okay, I did that on purpose. But yesterday, I was referred to as “that old woman.” Say what?

And I have an appointment with the Geriatric Fall Clinic. Old people go there. I can’t just go to the regular Fall Clinic. And I keep hearing, “people your age…” I mean I use the “people your age” line when I’m telling my son he needs to consider his life choices, or telling a child they’re too old to be behaving that bratty.

But I’m not old. I know people a lot younger than I, who behave as though they’ll fall over dead tomorrow – they’re old. They shuffle along like 90 year-olds and complain about “young people”. They eat at old people restaurants so they can stuff bags with food from the all-you-can-eat buffets. They know where every restroom is in a three state area and they drive 10 miles under the speed limit. That’s old.

I know I’m getting there. Almost everyday I get an email – “so-and-so from our high school class has died” or the euphemistic “has passed.” I think of it as I failed to die. I’ve outlived a lot of friends, classmates, and relatives. In a way, it’s not fair. There won’t be anyone left to go to my funeral in 30 or 40 years from now. Or tomorrow, which ever comes first.

I’m not really concerned with my life ending. No one gets to live forever. When I go, I’m gone. Fast or slow. And on that happy note, have a good day.

About me, Stuff

Clearing Clutter

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I decided to clear out my file cabinet. The first thing I did was get rid of 25 years of receipts for oil changes, tires, and repairs for my former wheels. That was quite a thick folder.

Next went 10 years of gas/electric bills. Another fat folder but not as fat as the one for the car since I stopped getting paper bills when I started paying electronically. Ditto for the water bills.

I then moved on to instruction booklets and receipts. I reduced three folders to two much thinner ones. There were a lot of instructions for small appliances and tools that I no longer own. There was a fat folder of veterinarian receipts, some with rabies tags still attached.

I figured that out when I had to spend 20 minutes attempting to pluck aluminum shards from among the cutting blades of the paper shredder. I succeeded until I put too thick a sheaf of paper in and jammed the blades again.

The shredder still works. It was guaranteed to shred credit cards. It’s my third shredder — I’ve had this one maybe 10 or 12 years. I filled a clear recycling bag with two shredder bins-worth of paper shreds to go into the recycling bin. I think I can shred tax returns up until 2016 or so. At any rate, I’ll start shredding from around 2008 and fill another bag.

I’m getting better. The funky fog that trapped my brain is lifting. Eventually, I will be able to get back to weaving, bookbinding, and printmaking. But for now, accomplishing one or two small things is progress.

Stuff

Smoke gets in your eyes…

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…lungs, furnace filters, air conditioner filters, car engines, and other things. The Canadian wildfires are wreaking havoc everywhere. In my case, the smoke is triggering asthma attacks. I’m a coughing asthmatic, not a wheezer. I don’t have regular attacks because I’m generally as active as a slug. But all the smoke in the air caused me breathing problems.

So I cough. And then my chest hurts, but not bad enough to go to the doctor. Right now all the windows except one are shut. That one has a fan to send the hot air upstairs out. I’ve been running the furnace fan to help circulate air. It does pull air from outside so I’ve had to change the filter sooner than normal. I was gone for a couple of weeks and when I checked the filter, it was a serious mess, almost completely clogged.

The filter is changed now and we’ve had a little rain. The air quality alerts have been cancelled. However, with the fires still raging, air quality may go down again. Eventually, the fires will die down, but the cycle will repeat.