Category: FWIW

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402 Pages of Not Quite Wasted Time

Every now and then, I pick up a John Sandford pseudo-mystery (OK, they fit the genre, but are just a bit too predictable, mmK?). Usually, it’s for a similar reason as the one I picked up yesterday. My Wonder Woman had a flat, and, to my eye, it looked like a full-on replacement, despite the massive amount of tread left on the thing (when I got there, it was sitting on the rim and looked like it had been driven on it–not something I can really fault her for, and it wasn’t but for a fairly short distance).

So, I took it on the spare to the closest place I could get a passable replacement tire. Goodyear at WallyWorld a couple of miles away. Didn’t want to drive it far on the spare, because the spare that came with the–used–car is directional, and in the position it was on the car, it was rotating backwards. Yeh, yeh, I know I could have switched it out with another tire, but no. Not a big deal for a short drive, but this is the second time it’s been used in that wheel position, and I just did not want to drive it far.

So, as I said, WallyWorld. I hadn’t prepared myself for the wait, so I picked up a book there. The absolute best on offer at WallyWorld was a John Sandford novel. OK. Read the thing (>i>read most of it while waiting). Not bad but not much of a mystery, really. A few quirky characters did liven the plot a bit, but it was still something of a slog. Just not that good, and filled with things that, had it been a Kindle ebook, I could have “report[ed] content error” on many, many occasions. Putnam really needs better quality editors, IMO. Literate ones, at the very least.

*sigh*

Oh, well, I’ll always have the quirky characters–oh, and the descriptive narrative about the geography, etc. There are those, at least.

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Just a Wee FYI

Just an FYI: you probably (almost certainly) do not know everything you think you know. (I know I do not, which, perhaps, makes learning new things daily much easier for me in a way.)

No one’s knowledge is exhaustive, even in areas of professional specialization. KNOWING that there is always more “out there, somewhere” to learn about every topic one is aware of (there are many topics that you and I aren’t even aware are areas of knowledge–think on that one, eh? 😉 ) can, if one lets it, encourage one to just keep on learning.

A day w/o learning something new–even, or perhaps especially, when it is something new about something “old,” old knowledge to us–IMO, is a day wasted.

Just sayin’.

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Light Lunch — Easy-Peasy

1-oz. tortilla chips
1 – habanero pepper, diced
1 – serano pepper, diced
Microwave for 55 seconds

Just the right size for a light lunch, and tasty, indeed.

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Success!

She’s baaaaack! *heh*

Well, despite occasional game cam and live trap failures, my Wonder Woman’s cat is finally back. Haven’t checked the game cam again, yet, but somewhere between 1630 and 1810 this afternoon/early evening, the live trap finally, urm, trapped her. Surprisingly, for all that she’s not come when called, and has run off on the one other occasion when spotted, she seemed enormously happy to be back inside, found pleasure in pets (of both kinds: her comrades–well, the dog, at least–and being petted and cuddled), and, of course, some nice, fresh canned cat food.

Now, I’m not going to set the live trap back out for the opossum. Nope. Glad to have one (and where’s there’s one, there are likely to be more) around. Great for pest control.

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One Implication of the Imago Dei

I saw this earlier today, and it spurred the following thoughts, outlined in very brief form below the graphic.

“I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” (Romans 12:1)

This is what Jesus was trying to tell ears that refused to hear when he showed a coin to those who asked him whether it was “lawful” to pay taxes to Caesar. THe coin was stamped with Caesar’s image. We, as His own, are stamped with the image of God. We owe mere money in taxes, but we owe our very selves to Him.

Related:

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Not Quite Deerslayer Mode

So, my Wonder Woman’s cat, who is a completely lifelong inside cat, got out a week and a half ago, and we’ve not actually seen hide nor hair of her since, except for the game cam Son&Heir installed under the deck where I have been leaving food and water since the second day. The photos show her in seemingly good health, so that’s good, but syncing up her schedule and ours has not happened. Yet.

So, bought a live trap. It just came, and I assembled and tested it, then put it, unarmed under the deck with her food just inside the trap, to accustom her to it. I’ll move the food and water further back over the next few days (with the trigger set, but the trap disabled by tie-downs) until we have evidence (disappeared food AND photos of her inside the trap) she will take the food past the trigger. Hopefully, this will work.

One hitch: yesterday AM, about 0100 hrs, an opossum showed up on the pics, nosing around the empty food bowls (Catrina–my Wonder Woman’s cat–had emptied the food about an hour earlier). That could pose a problem. Battery was low on the camera, so nothing was caught last night, though the food bowl was cleaned, as always.

Hopefully, the opossum hasn’t run her off.

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Literary Influences

I relearned how to walk (well, learned how to wak under some circumstances) from Natty Bumpo and Hawk-Eye when I was nine.

Thank you James Fenimore Cooper.

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*sigh* Well-Intentioned, Poorly-Executed

Looked at an email-based Bible study, after reading a couple of reviews and snippets. First installment came with “course” spelled “cource,” and several factual errors in the content. (One, for example claimed that “psalm translates from Greek, meaning ‘instrumental music’.” No, “psalmos” = “a song sung to harp accompaniment.” This was just one of several boo-boos) Not a good sign. . . *sigh*

Oh, well. I can just read the suggested passages and skim or ignore the study guide.

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All Good Things. . .

. . .must come to an end, I suppose. But good endings of good things are a good thing to shoot for.

Back about 10 months ago, I found a pretty nice rice cooker at my fav “fell off the back of a truck” store *wink-wink-nudge-nudge* (really just cheap stuff, returns, and salvage, etc.) for a dirt cheap price–less than a fourth of the price I found the same item for at Amazon. The return notice on it said it didn’t work, so I got a promise I could return it of it dod not. Took it home, set it up, and. . . it didn’t work.

Hmmm. One of “Pournelle’s Laws” states that 80% of computer problems are bad connections (paraphrasing), and I’ve found that applies pretty well with just about anything electrical, so. . . I went to one of my tubs of cables and cords (yes, ONE of them) and selected a known-good cord of the same kind as came with the unit, and the thing has worked well for the past 10 months.

But. The pot started flaking bits of the PTFE coating. Bad pot. Bad, bad pot! I used parchment paper to line the bottom and continued using it for a little while, but I just haven’t felt all that good about it. Now, do note that I rarely used it for cooking rice. I mostly just used it as a sort of “instapot” to cook all kinds of meals, so. . .

Replaced it today with a “pressure air fryer” that has auto settings for rice, chicken, beef, fish, stew, sauteeing, air frying, steaming, slow cooking, yogurt making, and sous vide cooking. Between this thing, the induction plates I really enjoy using, and our lil countertop convection oven, I may need our range/oven only once a year, assuming I actually decide I want to cook a turkey for a holiday meal.

First time: tonight’s meal is around some “air fried” hamburgers. Simple. Worked a charm.