S is for a Sundry of Things

So, what have I been up to recently besides writing a blog post every day?

Here are a Sundry of things.

My niece as a young teen.
 A lot of things have
 happened since then
including her engagement.

--We had a Splendid Easter day with Ward's family. There were four generations there with the youngest being 16 months old. She was charming everyone with cuteness while the oldest one, Ward's father at 85, was delighting everyone with his stories and jokes. A good time was had by all especially when our niece announced her engagement.

--Things Sobered up a bit this morning when I attended the funeral for a friend's father. It was a different kind of service for me with the first part being performed by his Mason brothers and the second part being preformed by a rabbi. It was a meaningful experience and inspired me to want to do more good in the world.

--Our deck in the back is South facing and is too hot to use most of the time. We want to put a roof on it to help both with the heat and the rain. We've just gotten our first estimate and we're in a bit of sticker shock. Let's just say that it's going to cost more than we sold my parent's house for.

--Speaking of which, the closing for my parent's house was last Monday and all went well. It's bittersweet and when I think about all of the memories, I get a bit teary-eyed. However, I'm glad that we no longer have that responsibility to worry about. The new owners have great plans for it and I hope they enjoy it as much as my family did.

--Ward's eye is Showing improvement and today all of his restrictions got lifted. Hooray! He's one happy man.

--Spring is still painting its way through my yard. Here are a few of the latest developments.

The lilac bushes are blooming now.

And the crabapple trees are in full bloom.

This catbird has been around singing all kinds of songs.

And the bluebird's nest has been lined and there are two eggs in it. I anticipate more to come.

I have a few more things to do before I can Settle in for the evening. So long until tomorrow.

Thankful Sunday, April 21, 2019

I am thankful for Easter because it reminds us that all things are possible.

R is for Rules

There are rules for just about everything. Some are important for safety. "Don't touch the high voltage wire." Some are important for order. "Please wait for the next available agent." And some don't make sense. "Don't wear your hat inside."


I was having a discussion with a co-worker about this nonsensical rule the other day.  One of our coworkers was wearing a hat inside and my friend was appalled because she considered that to be rude. I said that was the rule that I grew up with, but I thought it was relaxing a bit, especially with billed hats. I had seen a lot more people wearing a billed hat inside without much notice.  Well, apparently I'm wrong because according to  Levine Hats and also, the Emily Post Institute, it's still not okay for a man to wear a hat inside unless it's indicated for religious reasons. Actually there are a lot more rules about hat wearing than I realized. You can see them at the end of the post.

How did that rule ever get started in the first place? Once again, Emily Post gives some insight to this question. She said that knights would lift their visor or remove their helmet to show that they were friendly. Failure to do so could result in battle. It's hard for me to believe that a practice from over five centuries ago is still influencing what we wear on our head, but I read it on the internet so it must be true.

Also according to the Emily Post Institute here are the rules for hat wearing. See how many you follow. It looks like I follow most all of them.

Men
Hats can be left on…

• Outdoors
• At athletic events (indoors or out)
• On public transportation
• In public buildings such as post offices, airports,  and hotel or office lobbies
• On elevators

Take hats off, including baseball caps …

• In someone’s home
• At mealtimes, at the table
• While being introduced, indoors or out (unless it’s frigid!)
• In a house of worship, unless a hat or head covering is required
• Indoors at work, especially in an office (unless required for the job)
• In public buildings such as a school, library, courthouse, or town hall
• In restaurants and coffee shops
• At a movie or any indoor performance
• When the national anthem is played
• When the flag of the United States passes by, as in a parade

Women

Fashion hats (not baseball-style caps) can be left on…

• In someone’s home
• At luncheons, weddings, garden parties
• At religious services
• At a movie or any indoor performance
• When the national anthem is played
• When the flag of the United States passes by, as in a parade

Take your fashion hat off…

• Anytime it blocks someone’s view, such as at a wedding or in a theater
• Indoors at work

Remove baseball-style (unisex) caps…

• In someone’s home
• At mealtimes, at the table
• While being introduced
• In a house of worship, unless a hat or head covering is required
• Indoors at work, unless required for the job
• In public buildings such as a school, library, courthouse, or town hall
• In restaurants and coffee shops
• At a movie or any indoor performance
• When the national anthem is played
• When the flag of the United States passes by, as in a parade

Cancer patients are exempt from hat rules. They may keep their hats or caps on at all times if they wish

Q is for Quack

or A  Duck's Quack doesn't echo and no one knows why?

or Does it?

I was brainstorming with Miss Landers for a topic for the Q post and she suggested the Q is for Quack theme. She said I could talk about why a duck's quack doesn't echo--something about the reverberation chamber in a duck's head. Wow. That was interesting and something I had never heard of. I had a topic, "Why does a duck's quack not echo?" Now for a little research.

It turns out that I was not able to figure out why a duck's quack doesn't echo because it can under the right circumstances. An acoustics professor from University of Salford in England did the most quoted study proving that the quack statement was indeed quackery. Snopes reported on the falsehood in 1999 and MythBusters did a experiment in 2003 that busted the myth.

Now the interesting part is no one is quite sure where the myth came from or why it was proposed. But it has certainly propagated over the years. There was even a British game show on from 2014-2017 with that name. Have you heard about the echo-less quack before? Did you think it was true? If you did, did you have an explanation for it?

Another day of Live and Learn for me.

P is for Plants and Pets

Plants and pets, two things that don't mix well. At least from my experience. I have had six cats during my adult life and all of them have loved to nibble on plants. Nibble, nibble. Throw up. Repeat.

I thought maybe when they were kittens, they would grow out of it, but they didn't. When I tried to grow seedlings for the garden, they would eat them. After we put the seedlings behind netting, they would dig at the netting until they could get at the seedlings and eat them. I finally told Ward to not buy me any more flowers because of the battle with the cats. It seemed no matter where we put the the flowers, the cats would somehow manage to get them and do the nibble, nibble, throw up routine. It became evident pretty fast, we needed to be very careful that we didn't have any plants that could be harmful to them because they couldn't leave them alone.  We tried growing grass for them to eat several times to no avail. That they would pull up by the roots and then string dirt around the house.


We finally started to put our plants potted and otherwise behind closed doors--usually in an extra bedroom. Then it became our problem with out-of-sight, out-of-mind and we let more than one plant die that way.

Christmas cactus before cats

As time went on and we decreased our number of cats from four to three, things seemed a little better. That's why I agreed to take a very large Christmas cactus that Ward's father was giving away. It was nontoxic to cats, so why not? The first week in residence, the cactus was left alone. Then I started to notice bite marks in the leaves. Later I noticed pieces of it laying here and there. Soon it was necessary to also banish this plant to the extra bedroom behind closed doors if there was going to be any chance for it to survive. However, anytime the door was accidentally left open, we would find more pieces and parts around the house.

Cactus after cats

We are slow learners, but we finally realized that this was a battle we weren't going to win. Then I had an idea. I would have a terrarium with a secure lid for my bit of inside greenery. And guess what? It worked. I finally have a little green growing in a place I can see every day. No more nibble, nibble,... And all is right with the world.

Terrarium before cats (Lid removed for photo.)

P is for a Perfect solution to my Pets and Plants Problem. 

Terrarium after cats. (Lid removed for photo.)