Thursday, May 9, 2019
Wine, Women and Cigarettes
Well, it was 1960. And in Karlsruhe and Heidelberg. Maybe there was song, though I doubt it.
Rodent Wars
Earlier in the year, now that I'm lifting the hood of my car fairly regularly, I discovered the mummified remains of a mouse on top of one of the engine components, wrapped around it. I removed the remnants and then once more checking, I found acorn shells on the top of the engine. I cleaned everything out, and it happened again. The car is parked on a blacktop driveway, so it's not parked where the fieldmice roam., but back again, in nice weather even?
I cleaned the engine again, even vacuuming it. Where are they coming from?Joe T. happened to be here when I had the hood raised, trying to eradicate the vermin. He thumped the lining of the hood, and more acorn pieces fell out.
So I took a screwdriver and searched underneath the outer part of the hood, revealing what appeared to be not only a mouse nest, but a condominium. I scraped a bunch of stuff out yesterday and put it in the trash. Today I attempted to finish the job. See below.
I invested in a supply of mouse deterrent and poisons. I'll have to see if I can stick a mouse repellent cube up under the hood lining without risking a fiery crash.
I cleaned the engine again, even vacuuming it. Where are they coming from?Joe T. happened to be here when I had the hood raised, trying to eradicate the vermin. He thumped the lining of the hood, and more acorn pieces fell out.
So I took a screwdriver and searched underneath the outer part of the hood, revealing what appeared to be not only a mouse nest, but a condominium. I scraped a bunch of stuff out yesterday and put it in the trash. Today I attempted to finish the job. See below.
I invested in a supply of mouse deterrent and poisons. I'll have to see if I can stick a mouse repellent cube up under the hood lining without risking a fiery crash.Wednesday, May 8, 2019
I'm inept. and Update
Another thing I'm not good at---trying to replicate Kelly Ripa's pancake recipe. I halved the recipe, substituted oleo for almond butter. Anyone want some burnt banana pudding
UPDATE: In a salvage attempt of the rest of the batter, I added about a quarter cup of flour, with much better results. Next time, I'll maybe add a little baking powder, a touch of sugar, and bake it in the oven, and call it banana bread.I'll post warning it contains toxic, evil flour.
UPDATE: In a salvage attempt of the rest of the batter, I added about a quarter cup of flour, with much better results. Next time, I'll maybe add a little baking powder, a touch of sugar, and bake it in the oven, and call it banana bread.I'll post warning it contains toxic, evil flour.
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Business not as usual.
Now that my odyssey is over, as of March 1, this spring, I have no involvement, except for grocery shopping. I don't bother much with coupons, except for a dollar off catfood or such. But when I receive a coupon in the mail for $10 off a $50 purchase at the local SnS, it's too good to pass up. That type of coupon has a close expiration date. To me, that becomes a looming homework assignment, to get done as soon as possible.
I shopped, replenishing my supply of catfood, dishwasher detergent, frozen blueberries, all of the necessities for me and Maybe.I ended up spending $83, even after the $10 coupon deduction. So it goes.
That same day, I went to Rite-Aid and saw they were offering considerable savings on many items, prior to becoming Walgreen's. (In the trade, we call that an R.A.-WAG transition, so I've been told!) I stocked up on a bunch of items I wouldn't normally have bought at this time. So it goes.
I was generously gifted with a second $10 SnS coupon. I would have no trouble using that, I said. And I didn't, though I was unable to buy some things I had planned to. Just the day before, I had seen their array of really sturdy looking patio tomato plants, for $9.99 a pot. Today they were all gone. I'd wanted to buy a new broom, but I couldn't find any. So after I bought the $18 bag of frozen blueberries, I invested in a Carvel Ice Cream Cake at $23, for future use, and then, being hungry, I treated myself to a Rotisserie Chicken, only slightly disappointed because they didn't have the limited edition of Fig Glaze.
Because I couldn't find a broom there, I stopped in Rite Aid, where there was no broom either. But, as luck would have it, my Jitterbug had stopped working the other day, and they were on sale, so I bought a new one, for less than half-price. And of course, a bunch of other stuff, as the sale was now on fire. For the first time in the store, there were no available shopping carts, so I had to act before everything was gone. And so that goes. A lot of expense, but, hey, who doesn't need things.
But there are downsides. When I got home, I found there was no room in the freezer for the Carvel's cake, even though I'd cleared the freezer last month. Those big bags of frozen blueberries take up space.So I had to revisit that task. One item that had to go to make room was most of a mincemeat pie frozen last Thanksgiving. So I need to eat that in the next day or so. My stomach already is aching---Rotisserie chicken and half-frozen pie will do that. Plus, I'm already tired of the chicken; one helping is enough for me.
But more unsettling than anything else is what the clerk in Rite Aid said to me as he was handing me my receipt, "You have a $10 credit, but be sure to use it by May 19."
I shopped, replenishing my supply of catfood, dishwasher detergent, frozen blueberries, all of the necessities for me and Maybe.I ended up spending $83, even after the $10 coupon deduction. So it goes.
That same day, I went to Rite-Aid and saw they were offering considerable savings on many items, prior to becoming Walgreen's. (In the trade, we call that an R.A.-WAG transition, so I've been told!) I stocked up on a bunch of items I wouldn't normally have bought at this time. So it goes.
I was generously gifted with a second $10 SnS coupon. I would have no trouble using that, I said. And I didn't, though I was unable to buy some things I had planned to. Just the day before, I had seen their array of really sturdy looking patio tomato plants, for $9.99 a pot. Today they were all gone. I'd wanted to buy a new broom, but I couldn't find any. So after I bought the $18 bag of frozen blueberries, I invested in a Carvel Ice Cream Cake at $23, for future use, and then, being hungry, I treated myself to a Rotisserie Chicken, only slightly disappointed because they didn't have the limited edition of Fig Glaze.
Because I couldn't find a broom there, I stopped in Rite Aid, where there was no broom either. But, as luck would have it, my Jitterbug had stopped working the other day, and they were on sale, so I bought a new one, for less than half-price. And of course, a bunch of other stuff, as the sale was now on fire. For the first time in the store, there were no available shopping carts, so I had to act before everything was gone. And so that goes. A lot of expense, but, hey, who doesn't need things.
But there are downsides. When I got home, I found there was no room in the freezer for the Carvel's cake, even though I'd cleared the freezer last month. Those big bags of frozen blueberries take up space.So I had to revisit that task. One item that had to go to make room was most of a mincemeat pie frozen last Thanksgiving. So I need to eat that in the next day or so. My stomach already is aching---Rotisserie chicken and half-frozen pie will do that. Plus, I'm already tired of the chicken; one helping is enough for me.
But more unsettling than anything else is what the clerk in Rite Aid said to me as he was handing me my receipt, "You have a $10 credit, but be sure to use it by May 19."
Ah, Obituary Last Laugh
I understand a lot of people now are writing their own obituaries, often from viewpoints which diverge from the truth. Harmless enough, I guess, but it's the final straw when someone alludes, in all modesty, to having written the lyrics to "Itsy Bitsy Yellow Polka Dot Bikini." That was to have been the high point of my own obituary. The plagiarist.
A Migrant Memory
I was parked alongside the driveway waiting for the child to get off the schoolbus. In actuality, it wasn't a driveway but a long dirt road that led to her house.The road was formerly a main road, but now led only to a single home, occupied by two families, though there was still access to old farmland, which was occasionally driven to. So I would park near the mailboxes and wait for the child to get off the bus. Of course, I would not drive her down the long road to her home. I would never do that unless her mother had arrived to meet her, as she often did, carrying her baby brother, and then we may all have driven to her house.
The outreach agency I worked for then was in part federally funded, so we employees were always swamped with paperwork, as per the government. On this day, I was, as usual, in any downtime, filling out various forms as I waited. It was the early autumn of eleven years ago, in October to be exact, because I remember the mother was awaiting news of the arrival of a baby, and that baby was Andrew Thompson. The name of the baby brother in that family was also Andrew.
I sat in my car, pulled over to the side of the wide dirt road, engrossed in the forms I was filling out, and as usual oblivious to any vehicles that might have driven past me down the road. I was startled back to reality by a sharp rapping on the driver-side window of my car. I looked and the first, and only, thing I saw in my window was a gun in a holster worn, I soon learned, by a New York State Police Investigator. His unmarked car had pulled over to the opposite side of the road, and he was not in the usual uniform. He identified himself and asked what I was doing there. I told him, waiting for a child to get off the schoolbus. He asked what time the bus came, and I said about 3:55, which was several minutes away. He waited. A few minutes later, the mother appeared down the road carrying the baby, just as the schoolbus arrived and the child alit. I got out of my car to meet them. The mother, for reasons unsaid, was not intending to approach.
Emotions were high for several reasons---law enforcement officers in that venue were to be avoided at all costs because who knew who they were looking for, and of course the news of a new baby. When the officer saw the scenario, he turned his car and sped out onto the main road. I recall that as he abruptly entered the highway, another driver had to brake and leaned on his horn behind the unmarked trooper car.
At some point, the trooper told me why he was asking me the questions. There had been a series of break-ins and burglaries along the homes in that area. He was looking into whether I might have been involved. Aside from the shock of staring into a gun next to my car window, it was in a way almost flattering to think I had been considered part of a crime ring. Abetting, I suppose the charge would have been.
The outreach agency I worked for then was in part federally funded, so we employees were always swamped with paperwork, as per the government. On this day, I was, as usual, in any downtime, filling out various forms as I waited. It was the early autumn of eleven years ago, in October to be exact, because I remember the mother was awaiting news of the arrival of a baby, and that baby was Andrew Thompson. The name of the baby brother in that family was also Andrew.
I sat in my car, pulled over to the side of the wide dirt road, engrossed in the forms I was filling out, and as usual oblivious to any vehicles that might have driven past me down the road. I was startled back to reality by a sharp rapping on the driver-side window of my car. I looked and the first, and only, thing I saw in my window was a gun in a holster worn, I soon learned, by a New York State Police Investigator. His unmarked car had pulled over to the opposite side of the road, and he was not in the usual uniform. He identified himself and asked what I was doing there. I told him, waiting for a child to get off the schoolbus. He asked what time the bus came, and I said about 3:55, which was several minutes away. He waited. A few minutes later, the mother appeared down the road carrying the baby, just as the schoolbus arrived and the child alit. I got out of my car to meet them. The mother, for reasons unsaid, was not intending to approach.
Emotions were high for several reasons---law enforcement officers in that venue were to be avoided at all costs because who knew who they were looking for, and of course the news of a new baby. When the officer saw the scenario, he turned his car and sped out onto the main road. I recall that as he abruptly entered the highway, another driver had to brake and leaned on his horn behind the unmarked trooper car.
At some point, the trooper told me why he was asking me the questions. There had been a series of break-ins and burglaries along the homes in that area. He was looking into whether I might have been involved. Aside from the shock of staring into a gun next to my car window, it was in a way almost flattering to think I had been considered part of a crime ring. Abetting, I suppose the charge would have been.
Monday, May 6, 2019
Rensselaer County Welfare Sweep
Arrested or wanted are 26 people who allegedly claimed benefits totalling $56, 700. That amounts to an average of $2,180.76.
Of course, all theft, of money or services, of great amounts or small, is wrong. But isn't it an over-reaction to publicize the wrongdoing of individuals for lesser crimes, to exploit their crimes for political reasons, when there are so many un-charged individuals who regularly mis-direct "our money" by over-reporting contributions and/ or under-reporting income, in under the table payments.
The poorest are least able to mount a credible defense when and if they are caught. I would hazard a guess that very few of those stone-throwers who comment have clean hands themselves.
P.S. It turns out that a significant portion of the amount stolen was for medical services. Let'em pay the price.
Of course, all theft, of money or services, of great amounts or small, is wrong. But isn't it an over-reaction to publicize the wrongdoing of individuals for lesser crimes, to exploit their crimes for political reasons, when there are so many un-charged individuals who regularly mis-direct "our money" by over-reporting contributions and/ or under-reporting income, in under the table payments.
The poorest are least able to mount a credible defense when and if they are caught. I would hazard a guess that very few of those stone-throwers who comment have clean hands themselves.
P.S. It turns out that a significant portion of the amount stolen was for medical services. Let'em pay the price.
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