Fourteen Things Learned in January

The Learned List is Longer than usual, maybe because I was just lollygagging around while waiting to begin painting the murals in Visalia.

  1. Pam, the cooking spray, stands for Product of Authur Meyerhoff; he invented it the year I was born. Yeppers, that old Pam and I are yearmates. (You too, JC. We are triplets.)
  2. When Tulare County Roads does not remove the removable railings from bridges in town during big storms, those bridges get damaged. (What is wrong with that department?? The bridges were designed with removable railings, and they used to do that sort of preventive maintenance.)
  3. Living in California has its benefits. By January, most gardeners have passed the window for buying and planting bulbs. This means those of us in warmer climates can get the leftovers at a tremendous discount. I used Holland Bulb Farms and indulged my love of iris. 
  4. Rain is terrible for the specialty orange called Sumo. (Have you had one of these? They are FANTABULOSO. They are also astronomically priced, although maybe not as high as eggs).
  5. A bad bird flu is killing hens all over the country. Or maybe is causing the birds to have to be killed to stop the spread. (Aren’t you thankful that wasn’t necessary to stop the WuFlu??) And that is why I recently paid $11.49 for 20 eggs and felt as if it was a bargain. (I heard they are $14 for a dozen in Three Rivers.)
  6. Watches are made to NOT have their batteries replaced. My current wristwatch is 4 years old, is on the verge of needing a new battery, and there is no way to pry the back off. The last time I replaced it, a friend got the back off somehow, and then I had to go to a jeweler to have the back replaced. I looked it up on YouTube, and realized that if it involves a C-clamp along with some other tools, I probably won’t be getting the back off or back on again. Such a waste.
  7. More about eggs: Those 20 eggs I bought were huge, so when I made a cookie recipe that called for 4 eggs, I just used 3. It turned out fine.
  8. There were 2 Ott lamps in my life, super bright floor lamps that bent over to illuminate tasks. Both stopped working. Neither one needed a new bulb. Maybe a new switch would do the job, so 2 friends and I started experimenting. We dismantled one lamp, and the friend least intimidated by electricity messed with the wires, determining that it wasn’t the switch that was disfunctional. So, he dismantled the base, which was: A. very well constructed; B. impossible to understand. Both of those lamps are now in a landfill somewhere. WHAT IS WRONG WITH MANUFACTURERS??
  9. Headlights on old cars get foggy and dull. It is the piece of plastic covering the bulb which gets messed up by sunlight. There are multiple options for restoration, all of them involving heavy elbow-grease. I combined that with baking soda, white vinegar, and used a magic eraser. They got better, but not like new. Fernando was grateful, but he is getting camera shy in his old age, so no pictures.
  10. Often when I reply to someone’s email, it bounces back as “undeliverable“. I have observed this is mostly g-mail accounts. This hands me the burden of responding over and over, checking and rechecking. I tried to understand it, but realized it will require hours on the phone with someone passing me along to supervisors, senior consultants, best of the best experts, on and on.
  11. Weird messages about viruses keep popping in and out on my laptop. I spent a fair amount of time on the phone with Apple. After installing an upgrade and then running a virus detection software, the conclusion is that my laptop is virus free and the only way to stop those messages is to not be connected to the internet. The Apple technician said all the creeps out there invent new scams faster than Apple can create ways to stop them. This is difficult to accept, but often reality is difficult to accept.
  12. My neighbors’ dog likes to get in their pool, even on a cold day in January.
  13. I stopped by my church during a day in the week and saw this on a pick-em-up truck, there to do pest control spraying.
  14. Did you know (I didn’t) that when you use a plunger properly, it doesn’t just shove the muck down; it brings it back up so you can (oh gag) pick it up with your hands and throw it away.

That was fun.

Not.

And on that note, we conclude another month of learning.

Eight Things Learned in December

  1. Do you know those little squares of scribbles that can be scanned to take you to a website? They are called QR Codes. Do you know that QR means “quick response”? Simple name for weird techie magic.
  2. Central Valley Holocaust Memorial in Bakersfield now has a wall made of 6 million buttons. Read about it here. A friend’s mother-in-law learned about the project and began collecting buttons. The idea is that upcoming generations don’t know about the holocaust, and the number 6,000,000 is just incomprehensible without a visual aid. This photo was taken by my friend of her mother-in-law. (Hi Carol and Fran!)
  3. Instead of simply burying my kitchen waste, I learned a new way of composting. This one uses a vertically buried 8-10″ diameter PVC pipe (about 1 foot tall), randomly drilled with holes. After an undetermined length of time, you end up with worm castings, which are considered gold for the garden. Time will tell.
  4. I experienced inflation in a live and shocking encounter. An 18-pack of eggs was $5.00 in the summer in Visalia, California, while it was still $2.50 in Salem, Oregon. In December, it was $6.78 at Winco in Visalia. And Trail Guy paid $9.99 for a package of 3 romaine lettuce hearts in Three Rivers. Holy guacamole!
  5. Acta is the name of the yearbook for Exeter Union High School. A friend sent me the photo from the 1957 version to ask if I knew where it was taken. I told him it was Vandever, the peak on the right side of Farewell Gap. But it was bothering me, because something was off. When I showed Trail Guy, we both saw it: the photo was flipped horizontally! When I flipped it over, it became the right version. It puzzles me how I was able to recognize it despite the backward orientation.
  6. I puzzled through why so many of my friends don’t read my blog, coming up with the following reasons, all guesses on my part and many overlapping: too busy, non-techie, overloaded with too many other things on their little machines, accustomed to more exciting things, annoyed that the photos don’t show up on their phones, already hear enough from me in person, not interested in art, not interested in Mineral King, they forget I have a blog, don’t know what a blog is, or find it to be boring. I am touched when people actually read it. THANK YOU!
  7. Some friends in Texas have a house in escrow on about 4 acres of land, in something called an “ag extension“. This means they have to do some paperwork about raising “meat animals”, actually raise some of those animals, and then they get their property taxes greatly reduced. So interesting. . . I cannot picture these friends raising anything except children (currently have 4 while planning for numbers 5 and 6), nor can I understand why Texas has such a program. If it were me, I’d raise chickens for the eggs and never be able to kill a single living creature except for some bugs (which I would not eat).
  8. The day before Christmas Eve (sometimes called Christmas Eve Eve) is called Christmas Adam. This makes me smile every time I think about it.

What did you learn in December?

More Truths (Some Borrowed)

At the end of 2021, I posted a list that I called Ten Truths of Life. Since then, I have gathered of a few more, and borrowed a few from Reader Anne, who is both wiser and older (by EXACTLY 5 years I think – we are birthday twins).

  1. You are getting older, and so am I. It is easier to accept it than to pretend it isn’t happening. Go ahead and get injections, peels, colors, eyelashes, etc., but it won’t change the truth.
  2. Old age makes you more of who are you; it would behoove you to work at being a better person right this very minute (yes, You, Cranky-Pants!)
  3. Life is too short to dry dishes or iron jeans or listen to excuses or read poorly written books. 
  4. A question: Why is Standard Time called “standard”, when we are only allowed to enjoy it for 4-1/2 months of the year? That is definitely NOT standard. This is the truth: getting our clocks changed jerks us around and it is NOT pleasant. In general, city folks prefer Daylight Savings Time and rural folks prefer Standard Time.
  5. The truth is always best. Lies just make things harder (and you have to remember what you said so you can tell more lies to keep your story consistent).
  6. Truth is often confused with opinion, so pay attention both to what you are saying and what you are hearing, in order to discern the difference.
  7. The bigger a company is, the more difficult it is to deal with. Think banks, phone companies, electric companies, mega-churches, home improvement stores. . . those giant outfits don’t allow you to talk to real people who can make decisions based on your real problems. (“Your call is very important to us” –NO IT ISN’T SO STOP LYING! “We are currently experiencing a high volume of calls”–NO YOU AREN’T, BECAUSE YOUR ROBOT SAYS THAT EVERY TIME I CALL!) Stay local, deal with manageably sized places whenever possible, and your life will be easier.
  8. Everything is easier said than done. Exception: often it is easier to show than to tell when explaining how to do something.
  9. The only pattern to covid is that there is no pattern—not in contagion, symptoms, length, lethality, avoidance, treatment, incubation period—nothing. Get used to it because it is here to stay.

  10. Change is inevitable; sometimes it involves loss and other times it involves added complications. If we accept it gracefully rather than fight it, life will be smoother for all involved. So when your favorite jeans are no longer available, find another style or brand. When your familiar computer functions get “upgraded”, learn the new methods quickly or just dump that function. When your favorite employees at a favorite store leave, get to know the new people. When a plant dies in your yard, plant a new one. When you lose a cat, get another. Better yet, get 2 more, or even a whole litter of kittens. (Pippin is just fine, thanks for your concern. So are Tuck the Dripper and Jackson the Biter.)

Eight Things Learned in November

  1. Postal rates are tricky: mailing 1 calendar is $2.88; 2 in 1 envelope is $4.08, 3 in 1 envelope is $11. So, if someone orders 3 calendars, it costs less to use 2 envelopes for $6.96. If someone orders 4 or more, I have to figure out the various flat rate envelopes, versus packing in lots of single envelopes. Pay attention!! Nope. The first time I mailed 2 in one package, it was $4.08. The second time, it was 8.15. Never mind, Central Calif. artist: this is why the postal employees are there. And I still am not charging postage to my customers, because we all can use a little gift. $20, including tax.
  2. “The soft bigotry of low expectations” is a phrase I recently heard, and it struck a chord with me. The phrase is best used to describe treatment of some communities, as if dealing with an ignorant and unruly child. (“Soft”? Bigotry is bigotry, plain and simple, just as discrimination is discrimination, crime is crime, justice is justice. Modifiers just complicate situations.) This phrase made me wonder if Tulare County can’t get a Trader Joe’s or keep litter off the roads because we are expected to be oblivious to the finer things of life. (Wow, talk about “lowered expectations”! I am considering a lack of litter to be a “finer thing”??)
  3. When I take merchandise to a place to sell it on consignment, I need to put every item in its own cellophane bag. Thinking I was out of Wildflower books, a stack was returned to me from a gallery that had them on consignment. Yippee skippee! But, then I flipped them over, and each book has a non-removable price sticker. I tried a razor, coconut oil, and Goo-gone. Nope. Profit gone. Ouch.
  4. Then I learned that if I soak the sticker in Goo-gone and leave it overnight, the sticker peels cleanly! (This is after a bit of gouging with a razor—true price-gouging.)
  5. Found a weird word in a book: “whilom“. It means erstwhile, former, used-to-be, and is an adjective.
  6. Train Robber’s Daughter: The Melodramatic Life of Eva Evans, 1876-1970 is a very well written history book about the daughter of Chris Evans, of Evans and Sontag infamy. So many names and places were familiar, and I congratulate Jay O’Connell on an excellent book of local history, published in 2008 and still good reading. (And a place to learn new words.)
  7. After years of ignoring these, I finally learned a little bit about using Derwent Graphitint pencils, which I will tell you about next week.
  8. While sick, I realized that my infirm activities don’t differ much from my normal. Reading, knitting, emailing, texting, letter writing, writing my blog, surfing the World Wide Web. . . what differed? I didn’t get up early, walk for exercise, work in the yard, paint, draw, talk on the phone, or go anywhere.  So almost a completely wasted week, but not entirely.

Thus, we conclude another month of learning. (But is it truly learning if I can’t remember it later?)

7 Things Learned in October

These month-end learned posts are for people with curious minds, but not necessarily short attention spans. Welcome to my world. 

  1. Do you live in “a bubble“? A friend (Joy Cromwell) had something about this on her website. I took the PBS quiz and scored 44. This means I am very insulated from mainstream American culture. Wish the score was even lower.
  2. Knapheide is a word and a brand completely foreign to me. I saw this on the back of a utility truck.When I looked it up, this is what I learned: “Knapheide is North America’s most popular manufacturer of work truck bodies and truck beds”. They started out building wagons in 1848! Their mailing address is a P.O. Box in Quincy, Illinois. This is a town along the Mississippi River where a lifelong friend of mine lives. How did I never hear about this company??
  3. Some friends told us they are having solar panels installed for their home electricity. This led to quite a discussion where we all confirmed that we are probably too old to recoup the costs of the panels and installation in SCE savings. However, they are tired of trying to conserve, getting hammered by large bills anyway, and being uncomfortable in the summers. Our conclusion is that solar is a luxury item that is being misrepresented in advertising, not only as a way to save money, but as a way to “save the environment”. Those panels take an enormous amount of resources to build, and that is not necessarily “environmentally friendly”. (Truth is very hard to come by, but I do my best for you here.)
  4. Feijoa is a green fruit that I found at a farmers market in Morro Bay.  After peeling and slicing one, I tasted it. It ended up in my compost bucket because it is just weird. I read about it here (#25) and contrary to the seller at the market, this article says it isn’t usually eaten raw. I can’t remember how to pronounce it, but it doesn’t matter since I won’t be buying it again. It is also called “pineapple guava”, which I think might be a plant in my yard. Wait, that might be “strawberry guava”. Doesn’t matter, because my shrubs don’t make fruits, and if they did, the deer would eat them.
  5. A “malthusian” is a person who believes there are too many people in the world. (Is there a word for people who think there are too many people in California? in cities? visiting Three Rivers on a weekend?)
  6. This is something I knew but hadn’t followed through: I don’t like social media. It is a grind to stay current, and very little (if any) business or true friendships result. A. LinkedIn is helpful if a stranger contacts you about business and you need a clue before returning a phone call. B. Facebook is a sewer and Twitter is for birdbrains. C. I have neither posted nor looked at Instagram for several (6?) months, so I deleted it from my phone. So there.
  7. When asked which brand of colored pencils is the best, I usually say that Polychromos are the best quality, Prismacolor have the best colors, and never waste your money on Crayola. I think they don’t have enough pigment; besides, art supplies easily found at a grocery store probably aren’t professional quality. Here is a helpful comparison of Crayola and Prismacolor.

And thus we conclude another month-end Learned List, in which your Central California takes you down various side roads of often irrelevant and vaguely amusing topics.

(This is Charles-Eugene, a cat I have not met yet.) Clearly, he didn’t find this list vaguely amusing.

 

 

Eight Things I Learned in September

Started with six and then two new learnings arrived. It was a month of great thankfulness for no fires and for a little bit of rain without lightning.

  1. King Arthur Flour is supposed to be superior for baking. I have always just bought the cheapest unbleached white and whole wheat flours from the bulk bins at Winco, so this will be a giant leap forward. My tastebuds are not very discerning, so I may decide it isn’t worth the extra moola. However, I have been told it is worth the higher price. I looked it up and the shipping is high (of course!) and the website sent me around in circles, so I am not providing the link. Found the flour at SaveMart. Expensive, so it had better be good*.
  2. Simon Beck is a snow artist. Say what? He creates 2-8 acre “murals” in the snow, geometric designs, by walking in a pattern with snow shoes in new snowfalls. Here is an article about him with more photos than words.
  3. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a wonderful book, one I read many years ago, again in 2003, and just finished. Why does it seem as if I have never read it before?
  4. Fiestaware is the last pottery factory in the United States. I had no idea. Dishes are overwhelming thrift shops because people rarely buy sets anymore and definitely don’t choose “fine china” along with “everyday dishes”. Guess I was way ahead of my time when I decided against “fine china” back in the early ’80s. But oh my, I do love those bright colorful dishes. (I learned this while listening to Mike Rowe interview Salena Zito – Episode 268).
  5. Also on Mike Rowe’s podcast (episode 260), I learned about a dairy called Fair Oaks Farms in Indiana that is entirely self-sustaining. They found a way to feed their cows so that the milk is lactose free, has 1/2 the sugar and 1/3 more protein than regular milk, and Coca Cola bought the brand, naming it Fairlife. I bought some—super expensive, and good, but not sure it is worth the extra money. But I felt so hyper-nourished and righteous about it).
  6. Painting on a south-facing wall is an activity best done in December, January, or February. I learned this years ago when I painted my first giant mural in Exeter. However, when the work appears, it doesn’t often come with ideal options. (Begun in January, completed in May.
  7. Asphalt driveways DON’T need to be resealed every year. In fact, about every four years is right, according to ASR, an excellent asphalt seal and repair company. We’ve been thinking we were neglecting the driveway by skipping a year or two, and in fact that was the right thing. If you keep resealing it, it traps moisture and starts flaking. Who knew?? Obviously not the guys driving around resealing driveways every single year!!
  8. There was indeed a carousel at Mooney Grove Park. It has been restored and now is in front of Hanford’s Fox Theater, according to old friend/blog reader David Stevens, who also provided this photo (THANK YOU, Dave!)

*Good, but not awesome.

Many New Things Learned in August

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. It was a month of lots of new information.

 

  1. Victor Davis Hanson interviewed Dr. Steven Quay who explained the 5 different types of gain of function research, three of which are considered acceptable and two which are considered bio weapons. I had to listen over and over, taking notes, slowing down the podcast to half-speed in order to understand. Interview with VDH on August 5.
  2. Dresser couplings (may you never need to know this): a brilliant simple device for repairing broken water pipes, available in plastic or metal.  A dresser coupling also has “teeth” in the center, and this is why: it gives a pipe wrench something to grab onto while you use a second pipe wrench to tighten up the twirly ends.
  3. Blueberry facts: A. farmers plant grass between the rows; B. they can be harvested mechanically; C. the plants benefit from sawdust.
  4. Oregon facts (many of which I already knew, but maybe you didn’t): A. No sales tax; B. Everything I bought was less expensive than in California; C. Trucks (big rigs) can haul three trailers; D. The roads are lined with Wild Carrot, AKA Queen Anne’s Lace, in August; E. Many of their town names are copycats—Portland, Salem, Glendale, Albany, Dallas, Harrisburg, Jacksonville, for example; F. Although most of the state is small towns and rural areas, the 2 largest cities decide the politics.
  5. Something very peculiar is happening with a book, Dawn at Mineral King Valley, by Dan Selmi. Trail Guy and I met Dan and his wife a number of years ago (5? 8?) when he was researching for a book about the lawsuit that prevented Disney from building a ski resort in Mineral King. I recently discovered that the book was published in June of this year, and I ordered a copy on eBay. I received an old paperback titled A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. What? I returned it, and ordered a copy on Amazon. This time I received a message that the book was out of stock. I ordered a third time from another seller and received the same message. I ordered from a third Amazon seller and received the message again. I ordered a fifth time (4th attempt on Amazon), and this time I received another copy of A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. This is truly baffling! When I worked out how to return the book, underneath the description of the book was this:In case you can’t read it, it says “There is a newer edition of this book” and it lists A Manual for Writers of Research Papers. . .” HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM. Next, I need to compare the ISBNs on the 2 books. The Manual for Writers has ISBN 0-226-81619-2 Selmi’s book has ISBN 978-0226816197 (the 13 number version) AND 0226816192 (the 10 number version) Aha! Does the assigner of ISBNs have a problem? Looks as if Daniel Selmi has a problem. I certainly do, if I want to get the right book!**
  6. Perler Beads are tiny plastic macaroni that comes in multiple colors with little molds. You arrange the colors on a mold, melt them into place with an iron, and get these items. I made the blue one which is sort of a coaster.
  7. Do you know how much a gallon of propane weighs? 5.25 lbs., compared to 8 lbs. for a gallon of water. You’re welcome.
  8. This is more opinion than fact, but I believe it is better to drive through the Central Valley on Interstate 5 than on 99. Other people believe 99 to be superior; they are allowed to be wrong, because it will keep more traffic off 5.
  9. There are ice packs made from a gel that when thawed, can be put on your plants as fertilizer! They are called Enviro-Ice. My plants haven’t shot up as a result, but time will tell.
  10. If you want to package things securely in a ziplock bag, close the seal until the last inch, squish out all the air you can, insert a drinking straw, and inhale like crazy to suck out the air. Then, while still inhaling, pull the straw and speedy-quick-like-lightning, seal the bag. (I KNOW you are dying to try this!)
  11. The President and the Freedom Fighter by Brian Kilmeade was a wealth of new information about Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. I learned so much about both of these remarkable men and the War Between the States. (“Civil War” sounds to me as if there was a plot to overthrow the USA, when in reality, it was an effort to secede from the United States, not take it over.) My conclusion is that if everyone at the time simply acknowledged that slavery is sin, plain and simple, it would have ended and there would have been no war. (Can I get an “AMEN”?)

See you in September, maybe in about one week…

**I made a sixth attempt to order the book, this time from eBay. Instead of receiving the book, eBay sent an email saying the book was damaged in transit so it got returned to the seller, who, OF COURSE has no more copies!! 

Ten New Things in July

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. In the last week and a half of July, I became aware of so many new pieces of knowledge, enlightenment, and information. Enjoy!

  1. Mustang Mint appeared in my wildflower book as an unknown, or an unsure. This year I discovered it along the Mineral King Road, near Wolverton Point. It wasn’t in a good place for photos, so this is blurry. But I knew right away what it was—very fragrant.
  2. Have you read the Declaration of Independence (since the 8th grade)? I didn’t remember that it is a list of grievances against King George III. It was also interesting to see that it was signed by 56 men. For fun, look at these first names: 6 Williams, 6 Georges, 6 Johns, 5 Thomases, 3 Samuels, 3 Benjamins along with one each of these unusual monikers: Carter, Button, Elbridge, and Step. (This doesn’t add up to 56—there were other names I didn’t mention.) All of them were putting their lives on the line FOR US!! I highly recommend listening to Mike Rowe’s podcast Episode #104, The One Percenters.
  3. I learned that red, white and blue stand for valor, purity, justice.
  4. What Makes This Song Great is a wonderful YouTube site (station? channel? series?) by Rick Beato. This is another great find from Mike Rowe who interviewed him on Episode #259. Rick is a music producer (I think that is what it is called) who is musically brilliant. He breaks down songs from different eras and explains why they are so endearing and enduring. His enthusiasm will make you smile, and if you are around his age (born in 1962), you will enjoy the songs he picks by groups you probably used to love. Chicago, Boston, Kansas, and Toto (what’s with the geographical group names? and then “Toto”, appropriately listed here after Kansas?) But where is the Little River Band, hunh?? And where are the Carpenters? How about Bread? (L.Mc., he has a video on Gordon Lightfoot!)
  5. A friend told me about a daily 15 minute podcast for news, Morning Wire. So far it seems pretty straightforward, just the facts ma’am, but the reporters have that trendy youthful way of speaking. What I mean is that they talk fast, begin many sentences with “well”, “yeah”, or “so”, and when the anchor thanks them for reporting, they respond with either “my pleasure” or “anytime”. Those quirks are simply distractions, not a commentary on the quality of the reporting and at least they don’t talk through their noses with that dropped growl thing at the end.
  6. If you catch a bushy-tailed wood rat in a Hav-A-Hart trap and release it far away, it will come back. We’ll have to release it even farther next time. No photos. Ick, rodents.
  7. Sacrifice: A Gold Star Widow’s Fight for the Truth showed me that upper military personnel sometimes lie, file false reports, cover up mistakes, deny responsibility, and as a result, people die. Michelle Black wrote an engrossing book about losing her husband and uncovering the truth. Scary. What a brave and determined woman! (I met Michelle’s mom, who told me about the book.)
  8. If you are bitten by one mosquito, others find you more easily. That’s why sometimes the mosquitoes go all nutso over one person and ignore the other people in the area. I don’t know specifics, and I didn’t verify this fact, but it makes sense to me. (This tool box has nothing to do with anything other than the light caught my fancy.)
  9. Class Reunion: by the time 45 years since high school arrives, people have become comfortable in their own skin, everyone feels like a true friend, people are ready for real conversations, baldly honest and authentic. I had a wonderful time wandering around the room, reading name tags, getting reacquainted or making a new acquaintance. Out of a class of about 400, only about 80 were in attendance, there was no music (the voices alone were LOUD), and no one (that I could tell) got sloppy drunk. Initially I only signed up out of guilt, because some people travel great distances, so I should have the courtesy to drive 35 miles. I’m glad I went.
  10. Over the last several decades (I don’t know the specifics), California farmers are using 14% less water and producing 31% more food! THANK YOU, FARMERS!! (Food comes from farms, not from grocery stores. And do NOT complain about farmers if you are wearing cotton, or eating food. Go ahead and complain if you are eating a Google, driving a Facebook, sleeping in a Twitter. Comfy?? Be warmed and filled.)

Nine Things I Learned in June

If you subscribe to the blog and read the email on your phone, the photos might not show up. (Some people get them, some do not; it isn’t a problem I know how to solve.) You can see them by going to the blog on the internet. It is called cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.

  1. There is a new(ish?) company that makes an alternative to soda (“pop”, “soda pop”, or my favorite “sodie”). Olipop is very expensive, and after the sample pack arrives (not free samples but six each of 2 flavors for a total of $31.03 including shipping when I used the promocode POUROVER for 15% off), then I will tell you what I think. This sodie has 2 grams of sugar, fiber, probiotics, carbonation (that’s the “pop” part of the name), all made from good-for-you stuff. As a highly frugal person, this will be consumed as a treat, and water will continue to be my beverage of choice. And black coffee (with 70% chocolate dunked in it). And Dr. Pepper, which I probably will never consume again. Sigh. (If it tastes good, spit it out.)
  2. The grass in our one small remaining lawn might be Korean Lawn Grass, or Zoysia japonica. This is the third summer of not letting Trail Guy mow in case it will spread by seed, transplanting new clumps as I find them behind the house (23 years ago it was back there but got wrecked during our remodel), hand weeding, and using Miracle Grow to get it to thicken. 
  3. No matter how many wonderful visits I make to Hume Lake, it never ceases to amaze me that most of the guests there are more tuned in to relationships than the natural world around them. They love the location but give me the side-eye when I go all nuts about a flower or a tree. Lovely people, lovely place, so different from Mineral King, except that cabin communities do share many common cultural practices. (Here are three posts from 2018 about cabin communities: Cabin Thoughts, Cabin Thoughts Part 2, Cabin Thoughts Part 3.)
  4. I discovered a redwood tree (Sequoia gigantea) at Hume Lake for the first time! How did I never notice this before? The elevation there is 5200′; I think most sequoias grow at around 6000′. Wait, The Duck just told me they grow from 4600′ to 6600′ in elevation. This tree was such a surprise to me that it took me awhile to decide that it actually is a redwood. It is so hard to tell when the needles are too far away to see, and when one is confused about the trees’ preferred elevations—those are my excuses. After I took this photo, I KNEW it was a redwood, because I have drawn and painted that kind of bark so many times. Alas, why did I have to see it on a screen to know? I need to get out more.
  5. Salt & Light, or Reading Rabbit, oil on board, 11×14″, Not for sale
    I read a fabulous book called The Ride of Her Life, by Elizabeth Letts. I read a tremendous amount of books and rarely post about them. This one is exceptional, so you get to look it up. Annie Wilkins rode her horse from Maine to California in 1954. She stayed in Tulare for awhile! (The name of my county, but not the county seat, oddly enough.)
  6. Many subscribers to my blog cannot see the photos in the email with the day’s post. Lots of thought has gone into (not) solving the problem, so I finally decided to add this paragraph to the beginning of each post: “If you subscribe to the blog and read the email on your phone, the photos might not show up. (Some people get them, some do not; it isn’t a problem I know how to solve.) You can see them by going to the blog on the internet. It is called cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.” I wonder if anyone will click through to the internet.
  7. Slowly, slowly, I am learning to stand up for my work. If a customer wants an addition after the job is bid, it is called a “change order”, and it is fine to state it as such. If a customer wants something that goes against my better judgement, it is fine to state that and present the reasons. I don’t know why this is so difficult; in most parts of my life I am not a shrinking violet, so why am I like that in my business? (Prolly need counseling.)
  8. There is an excellent art museum in Fresno, appropriately named the Fresno Art Museum. It has multiple exhibits, an auditorium, and a gift shop, along with other things. How did I not know of this place, built the year after I was born?? I went to a “musical memoir” there, the entire presentation created by a dear friend from childhood. She wrote the music, the lyrics, all the dialogue, figured out the whole thing, and performed it, along with 4 others who had some parts too. It was simply amazing (an overused word that actually fits here)!
  9. This lesson was a reinforcement rather than something new: it is great fun to do little enhancements to my neighborhood. It is my hope that reading all the words on this sign will cause people to slow down and think.* Good, but not good enough to spend that much money on something so unnecessary.

Ten Things I Learned in May

  1. I learned about a Redbud booth location that was new to me: a. the patio is very convenient for set-up and breakdown; b. that location would be too hot if it was a warm weekend; c. sharing a booth is an excellent idea; d. my screens can blow over.
  2. Selling a home without an experienced and organized realtor is UNTHINKABLE. (Nope, not my home; I’m still here). I highly recommend Diana Jules of Sierra Real Estate if you live in my neck of the woods. (Woods have necks??) She made it stress-free and is a joy to be around.
  3. It is very complicated to be simple. Setting up a new landline at our cabin has taken 4 very lengthy phone calls with Huge&Rude, the dominant (and only) communications company for Mineral King. I could fill a page with the things they promised and did not deliver, along with all the lies I was told (probably by accident of ignorance, due to the complicated nature of simple things). 
  4. Look what happens when you neglect to pay attention while baking; let’s call it Flour Deficit Disorder. I kept ignoring the little voice in my head that said, “Not enough flour—the dough is too thin”. (It sounds an awful lot like the voice that tells me that a knitting project is going the wrong direction).
  5. Iron-on patches don’t work. (And isn’t it interesting that my jeans wore out above the knees rather than on the knees?)
  6. I learned that there is a Murphy bed with an attached desk that keeps its load when you lower the bed. See that desk/tray piece beneath the mattress? It stays in a horizontal position even when the bed is down.
  7. Precis is a real word. It is pronounced “PRAY-seez” and it means a concise summary. 
  8. Have you ever bought or seen squished pennies at a tourist site? They were introduced to the USA in 1892, although begun in Austria in 1818. The elongation machines cost $4-5000, and and it usually costs .51 to squish a penny. Even if a single transaction costs $1, it seems like a pretty long shot to make one’s money back. The coins are called “elongated coins” and collecting these souvenirs is a popular hobby. Souvenir collection itself goes back to the early history of humans when one needed to bring home something foreign from travels to prove one had been somewhere. The Three Rivers Historical Museum plans to get a machine, and one of the designs will be the logo I made for the Mineral King Preservation Society. There are maps online for the dedicated collectors which show where the machines can be found throughout the USA. When I was first asked about the use of my design, I had my usual response:
  9. A friend showed me an app for the phone called Picture This. If you take a photo of a plant using their camera, it tells you the Latin name, common name, and characteristics of the plant. To keep the app free, you have to hit “cancel” a few times each time you use it. Otherwise, after 7 free days, it will cost you $29.99 for a year. I wonder if the subscription comes with benefits other than just not having as many interruptions to sell you things. . . see? My mind is flooded with questions. (Discovered the name of a terrible smelling weed in our yard is “stink grass”!)
  10. For several years I have used DuckDuckGo as my search engine. I didn’t like the sense of being stalked by Google. Now I have learned of a new search engine called Ecosia It plants trees when you use it a certain number of times or something like that. I just like the idea that it isn’t trying to make a gazillion dollars by selling ads instead of helping me find stuff on the World Wide Web. We’ll see if it works. I learned about it from Seth Godin’s blog. He is a little bit too smart for me, but I do trust him when he tells about a good product that I can actually use. Not sure how, not sure if it will work, but I will try it.