Category: FYI

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Choices, Choices. . .

Since I have used and really appreciated a Huskvarna machine in the past (OK, so it was my Wonder Woman’s super capable Huskvarna sewing machine, still. . . ), I am strongly leaning that way for my next chainsaw purchase, but for homeowner use, on a small lot, should the significant price differential between a Husky and, say, a Poulan be a factor in choosing between them? Keep in mind, I will likely also be using a chainsaw mill for much of my use of the new chainsaw (means replacing whatever crosscut chain comes with it with a ripping chain, of course).

This isn’t an immediate concern, since we are awaiting a place in the local reliable tree guy’s schedule to poll some trees and take down others.

Oh, and Stihl is right out of the running, since, though we actually have a local dealer, the prices for Stihls at the local dealer are even more than comparable Huskvarnas. *smh* Apparently one just cannot get the “street prices” HUskys are available for with a Stihl. (Or. . . maybe not. I just noticed the local dealer is having a sale through Fathers Day. . . Hmmm. . . Nah, the only ones at “reduced prices” are unsuitable for my needs.)

Also been needing a small chipper-shredder for a while, now. And then there’re the upgrades I need to make in my charcoal making process. . . and. . . and. . .

Looks like I’ll be too busy for a while to even think about shuffling off this mortal coil. ?

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Has It Been THAT Long?

Yes, it has.

I put a new enameled steel roof on TWC Central six years ago, just a year after a neighbor two doors down had a new asphalt shingle roof put on. Our new rood has proven to be a Good Thing: improved energy use, DRY (really solidly improved weather resistance), and–a surprise to us–quieter than the old roof (maybe the insulating gap helps there? *shrugs*).

Oh, and the neighbor with a seven-year-old asphalt shingle roof? Had it replaced this week.

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Food Fun

I’ve been enjoying making meals for my Wonder Woman while I abstain from food for a short while — short 3 day fast. A “keto” regimen really ameliorates any food cravings. extra fun: cleaning out and reorganizing the food pantry and reorganizing the kitchen stores, as well. *heh* I’ve not even been tempted to plan meals from the pantry items.

Not eating meals, snacking, etc., has also freed up time to do more things like working on the food pantry. Another thing about doing this coming off a keto regimen is that I have no “sugar lows” and activity–like some exercise in addition to climbing up and down a stepladder to rearrange dry goods and canned goods *heh*–levels remain easy to maintain. . . so far (a little over halfway through my selected time frame). In fact, the keto regimen has apparently been really helpful in moderating my blood sugar levels (at least according to both my last labs and amelioration — more like elimination, actually — of symptoms such as occasional dizziness, headaches, or unusual tiredness after going without food for a while). Regarding blood sugar issues: a couple of years ago, my doctor expressed concern about elevated levels of fasting blood sugar — not diabetic levels, sort of pre-pre-diabetic levels. The keto regimen is one of the things I adopted to deal with that issue (on my own; I represented it to my doctor as “eliminating bread, potatoes, etc. from my diet. *heh* I know the bias my doctor has expressed about dietary fats — another story where my choices have born results that contradict “received wisdom” *heh*).

Anywho. . . Enjoying the time being “foodless” a lot more than in past times I chose to do this.

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Drive-By Food Post

Our oldest cat, something like 17-18 years old (a very young cat when he showed up and demanded to be let in to become a part of our household) has become more and more finicky about what he eats, lately. I’ve finally found an expensive dry cat food (he’s even been known to turn his nose up at canned cat food he previously ate with relish) that is clamed to have no grains, etc, etc., that he finds irresistible. Each time I dish some out for him, I am tempted to try some. Yes. It does smell delicious.

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All Night Long. . .

All night long, it seemed my Wonder Woman’s phone just would not stop with that annoying weather alert. *heh* Constant warnings to “seek shelter,” etc. “Stop it! We’re sheltered already!” 😉

HEAVY rainfall over almost all of America’s Third World County™ yesterday resulted in many of the back roads being flooded out overnight, fords washed out, and even some state roads rendered impassable as roadways collapsed (largely because of poor initial construction, poorly-maintained, IMO). Rural schools with more than half their students coming in from areas closed off from safe travel resulted in countywide school closings. Rescues of contenders for Darwin Awards weren’t many, but a few Darwin Award aspirants did decide to drive into raging waters. Silly puppies.

Some folks around TWC Central measured 5” in their rain guages. I can believe it. Our street was flooded and the recently-covered public works excavation replacing their leaking water line needs to be repacked. We didn’t even try to measure, because at least half of our precipitation seemed to be in the form of hail. 100% coverage of our lawn to the extent that it looked more like snowfall. Really beat up our impatiens. *shrugs* They’ll live or they won’t. Short power outages, no biggie, throughout the county. Touchdown of two funnels juuuust over the county line to the east.

Fun times.

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Sly Cheats

I have recently bought meat at two different grocery stores. Weighing the packages at hom on two different electronic kitchen scales, the scales agreed: EVEN WHEN WEIGHED IN THE PACKAGING, all but one of eight packages of prepackaged packages of meat were short of the stated NET weight (weight WITHOUT packaging, supposedly), anywhere from 0.15 pounds to just over .26 pounds.

And that was INCLUDING the packaging in the weighing, so NOT even “net weight.”

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What We Deserve Ain’t So Great, Ya Know

Every day I wake and have not gotten what I, in my own “righteousness” apart from Christ, deserve, BECAUSE and only because of HIS righteousness and faithfulness, His sacrifice and the power of his resurrection is a day to celebrate. And that doesn’t even begin to count all the other gifts He offers as He continues to work His purpose in me.

Philippians 2: 12-13

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Minor Victories — I’ll Take ’em Whenever I Can

So, three lil rough spots in the living room, dining room, kitchen, and hallway re-flooring project. Just conquered one of ’em–a transition from the living room to the dining room. I had attempted to match up a couple of partial pieces to link up well with the flooring coming down the hallway, and though they seemed to fit nicely, glued to the laminate planks coming out of the living room, once the hallway pieces moved into the dining room, a wee crack opened up due to a less than 1/32-inch difference in floor height. I tried ameliorating that and ended up exacerbating the problem to slightly over 1/32-inch, so backed off that.

Filled it and stained the fill. Hoped for the best, but was never satisfied. When my Wonder Woman asked if there were a transition piece I could put in that was similar to what I used transitioning between the laminate and some tiling in the kitchen, but with a lower profile, I was stumped. . . until I began digging around in a storage area under the laundry room where I had various pieces of scrap molding and found a 3/4-inch wide, very low profile piece of oak molding. “Hmmm,, I bethought meself, “if I stained this juuust right. . .”

And yeh, some nice, dark walnut stain, nicely wiped to yield a lighter walnut appearance then “varnished” with a satin polyurethane, applied to the eensy-weensy crack with a (transparent and stainable when dried) “30-year” caulk/sealer, and my, that looks nice!

On to the other minor “Oopsies,” now, then baseboards and other trim (particularly doors) changed out, new paint all around (yes, I do have drop cloths and painter’s tape, TYVM ? ), and a few other detail touches (NOW can I install the crown molding? Hmmm? *heh*), and this part of our live-in renos will be finished. Mostly. . . ‘cos the bedrooms haven’t been “re-floored” yet (though that will entail mostly just cleanup after removing the carpeting, since the oak flooring underneath it–as much as I have been able to see so far, at least–seems to be in excellent condition).

Having some real fun, now. ?

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“Selfies”

The “selfie” phenomenon generally gives me a rash. Nevertheless, here’s my most recent self-portrait. Methinks it doest have a certain je ne sais quoi, non?

Now, off to apply some Budreaux’s Butt Paste for the rash. . .

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Ongoing Projects

Flooring–including both new laminate and tiling, along with grouting and sealing the tile–is finished (well, almost entirely; a very few minor details remain) here at Third World County™ Central. . . except for installing new baseboard and matching trim for doors. *heh* As soon as I have made the new baseboard and trim from raw lumber, that can go in as well. THEN, it’s onto finishing the kitchen remodeling. I’ve had some new ideas about that I needed to think through, but I think I have that pretty well finalized, now. More storage, more usable counter space, better flow: I think I’m going to have some fun with that.

Pictures? Eventually. I may even have a couple of the old counter top, cabinets, etc. (Yeh, replacing some cabinets is gonna be fun, too.)