Good Omens

I've been watching Good Omens, based on the book by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman on Amazon Original.  It is really a hoot, although I may be prejudiced by having read the book years ago, and so I  have a vague notion of how it progresses.  I hate to binge watch things, I'm saving for one episode a day, 6 episodes in all.

And speaking of binging, I have once more cruised eBay for likely purchases, mainly clothes, but also odds and ends.  I can't get up to go on an actual shopping trip, so I make do with virtual shopping.  It makes my wardrobe all one-of-a-kind; now if I could only find somewhere to wear them.  My last delivery was wrong, not the top I won.  It is the wrong brand, sleeves, no pockets, no button up closure and on and on.  The only thing that matches is the color:  bronze/gold.  It is also too small.  So the seller is going to send me the correct top and I can keep the wrong one, no refund.  Works for me.  I can't wear it unless I lose weight (some) but I hate to mail things out, wrapping, addressing, traveling to PO, paying, and sending the tracking number to the seller.

R has moved into her apt., and I notice a few things there that were originally here.  It doesn't matter, I have 'way too many things, just sitting.  She is buying a lot of things; yesterday she got a nice red couch and the day before she equipped the kitchen.  I would have recommended a larger microwave, and gotten some plastic containers for left-overs, and some plastic wrap too.  Ah well, no one asked me for my opinion.  The red couch was liberally sprinkled with dog hair, but R took my dust devil hand vacuum to it and it looks fine now.  Unfortunately the appt. previous renters were smokers, and she is having to double-clean every inch of the place.  Basically, it will fade with time, and she is the one who complained (and complained) about cat hair here, so now she has a new target.  When we cleaned her bedroom, it was astonishing how much dust and fur was under her bed; not a dust bunny, this was more like a dust kangeroo.  Basketball size, it completely filled the vacuum bag twice.  Apparently, she *never* vacuumed her bedroom.  Every flat surface was *coated* with dust/fur.  So having her clean now is quite amusing.

I think we will be having Words with the new neighbors about their dog.  It was in our yard, barking at the cats, the horse, our car, etc.  C. shouted at it to "go home" and it ran away, but the neighbors were outside and heard him, and the next time he was outside they kept him on a leash.  Err, the dog, not C.  I have hopes they will fence in the back of their lot.  No more dogs for us, and probably no more cats either, once these are gone.  Once the horse is gone, we will probably move too, somewhere in town and probably a mobile home which is step-less.

Bluff

Well OK, someone up there called my bluff.  The toilet was still leaking, only this time at the juncture of the tank and the bowl part.  The plumber came and replaced the seal between the two parts, put in a new supply line, etc.  No leaks as of this morning.  Guess I won't need that port-a-potty after all.  No charge for this trip.  The throw rugs now need to be washed, and that should be the end of the squishy underfoot.

I had a hell of a time getting dressed this morning.  C picks out my clothes as it is damn near impossible for me to get in the walk-in closet because it is more like a sidle-in because it is too full.  Anyway, the pants he laid out were a pair of jeans, but when I put them on, the top button was missing, so the pants wouldn't stay up.  I sidled in, and this next pair of jeans just didn't fit (too small).   So for jeans number three, I found a new pair that zip and button.  I put on the shirt, and the three tiny ribbon roses at the top were only holding on by a thread; needle and thread time.  Finally, I was dressed.

I found the missing earring, it wasn't on the floor (which would have propelled it into a black hole) but on the table that I use for my Apple notebook.  All this time looking in the wrong place.  My Mom would have said, "If it was a snake it woulda bit you."  I'm still not going to wear them, they pull right out at the slightest tug.

It is in the 80s today, so I only had one brief foray into hot between two air-conditioned places.  When I lived in Miami, back in the Dark Ages, air-conditioned cars, homes, or a lot of businesses were unheard of.  And of course, the solution to cool off was to stand under a hose, in the shade, until you were cool.  Or until someone bigger wanted the hose.  We wore flip-flops, and the only times for hard shoes were the church for good shoes or old battered ones for roller skates that fastened with clamps and tightened with a special key.  Otherwise, flip flops or barefoot.  Don't know how we survived.

C is pleased, his new computer is working fine.  This is the replacement for the new one that would not turn on.  I think Dell needs to polish up its quality control dept.  and I will see if they charge him twice.  Meanwhile, he is saving the boxes.  I remember when, not that long ago, we would buy parts and assemble the computers ourselves.  The first readymade computer came from Gateway, in those black and white boxes that looked like a cow print.  They folded years ago I guess.  I used to see the boxes piled up in the hallways at work, followed by mighty swear words inside the office.  Somewhere I have a screen polishing figure that looks like the Gateway logo, probably a collector's item by now.  Does anyone remember 8088/16 ?  That CPU was regarded to be lightning fast.  This was before the internet, the only host connection I had was .edu and you could browse, slowly, through various sites.  I remember the one site that was used to tell the grad students up on the third floor if the coke machine on the ground floor was empty, saving them a long walk.  Computers come and go, but graduate students stay the same.

I read where one could link your blog to your facebook page, to drive more traffic/pageviews to the blog.  The only problem with that is my facebook link has my actual name, and that would disclose my name here as well.  So no, if I had it to do again I would change my facebook page to a pseudonym too.

Time is slipping away, so bye for now.  Here is BC, surveying her world.

Plumbers

Well, we had a pair of plumbers out twice for the commode to be reset with no leak at the bottom of the bowl.  Each visit was $250 and did not clear the problem.  I called a different plumber this time and he totally reset the entire unit, and so far (knock on wood) it is  OK.  His bill was $250 also, making a grand total of $ 750.  If this doesn't fix it, I will buy a port-a-potty to put in the back yard.

I have been working on my clear-out for this room, and I have things I don't remember getting.  The first biggie is a suede full-length coat in a pretty shade of blue, stuffed in a plastic bag in the top of the closet.  It still fits, is from Roamans, and I swear I never wore it, although I have a dim recollection of buying it.  It is a swing type, no fasteners to keep it closed, and may be why I never wore it.  That was back in the days when I never returned anything, while now, if it is wrong somehow, zipppp, back it goes.  Too late for this coat!

The other thing I found is a pair of opal earrings, still in the jewelry box, I think Mom gave them to me.  At one time I would wear a pair of earrings night and day for several weeks, and opals don't hold up to soap and water for very long, if at all.  These were in a coat pocket.  I check every pocket now and have in the past bought a pair of jeans on eBay that had $20 in the pocket.  I dithered about returning it to the seller, but they were washed in a load of jeans laundry and it could have been from some other pair.  My daughter found it in the washer and she didn't want to share...😀

The white cat Dottie is doing better, eating and using the box, in the blue bedroom where we have her isolated, so she won't get hassled by the other cats.  She sleeps a lot, but doesn't seem lethargic when she is awake.  Hope all is well now.  She is 10 years old, not old for an indoor cat.  The feistiest cat is 16.

 Here is Dottie:

Odds and Ends

Let's see:

The silk outfit I thought was undeliverable showed up.  We found it in the weeds at the end of the driveway, rather like someone pitched it out of the window.  Included was the other mail for that day. I think the lady doing the trace knocked someone loose to check for the package.  It had no sign of having been opened.  It's a puzzle.

The new neighbors do have a dog, and he barks.  A lot.  Hopefully they will put up a fence at the back of their property.  I don't think Smudge will try to get friendly (fed) by them, with a dog at the back door. There are two boys, both pretty young.  They are still carrying stuff into the house.

R has a date of June 21 to move into her apartment, but she has made no effort to box up or organize stuff she will need to have.  I have moved a bunch of times, several across the country, but has she asked me for my opinion?  No.

C caught a teeny tiny mouse in the floor vent in his room.  It is amazing how much noise one small mouse can make from inside ductwork.  I fear there is a whole family somewhere in the duct work.  C took the mouse down to the grass outside, where it looked around as if to say, what is all this green stuff?  I think it will be a nice meal for a wandering snake.  So far no further noises in C's room.

Dottie went to the vet and the diagnosis is still unknown; the vet wanted to do X-rays and an ultrasound, for really big bucks (thousands).  Instead the working diagnosis is inflamed digestion.  So more pills; the work they did for this was $200+.

We have the have-a-heart trap set in the garage for a week or so, but no takers so far.  Maybe  the possums don't like peanutbutter...

The pressure washing guy gave me an estimate and put us on the schedule.  Should be done in a week or so.  This rainy spring and now summer makes everything grow, including the algae.  It is really visible.  If I think of it, I will take a photo of before and after washing; the cleaning includes something that retards the re-growth for at least a while.

My goal for tomorrow is to clear everything off the flat surfaces, put it on the bed, and then sort it.  Once I get it sorted, I will ask C to help me with stowing it all back where it belongs.  Maybe not all of it in the first pass, but every bit helps with clearing.  I have read three books on downsizing the family home, and it is daunting.  They all say to start with the closet, but I know me; I would never make it back out alive from there.  One of the books is Marni  ____ (don't remember her last name) a professional organizer in Japan.  All I could think while I read it, was, gosh, they don't have much space, and they don't have much stuff.  It is her idea to clear from the bed, I will have to see how that goes.

That's it for today, I hope I haven't bored you to tears.  Here is a smile:

Bad Dreams

Today is our wedding anniversary, it would have been 49th.  We were tossing around ideas for #50 about how to celebrate it, but no made plans.  Now I guess I will light a special candle in front of the cremains and try to be upbeat.  I really don't need to focus on loss, this isn't doing me or anyone any good.