A Fine-Feathered Mess

Just wanted to note that I fed another feather pillow (case and all, this time) to my compost pile. The trick is 1) don't try this maneuver while it's windy 2) dampen it down right away 3) get another layer of something heavier on top as soon as possible. Since I now own a lawnmower, I used grass clippings. I'm hoping that the clippings + some crumbled dry oak leaves will serve as insulation to keep the pile warm and help it "cook." The feathers themselves are nitrogen-rich and ought to generate some heat.

I think I'm going to need to build another bin. I'd like to leave this one alone to do its thing, but of course I will always be generating more compostable material, so I need another place to put it.

Silver Lining

This is a two-fer - really, a three-fer.  I was getting rid of something, which led to repair of a second thing, which in turn resulted in finding a third thing that I happened to really need.

Lemme esplain.

I have WAY too much silverware.  I have remnants of my first silverplate set, which, for whatever reason, I still have bits of even though I did technically get rid of that set years ago.  I have the "current" silverplate set (fleur de luce), which for about a year has lived side-by-side with a stainless steel set I bought a Pier 1 (to see if I liked that type of large-handled ware).  There's a box of my parents' stainless, which I will not let go of due to sentimental reasons.  There's also Mom's "good" silverplate (Queen Bess) in its own wooden box.  I've got several odd bits in other patterns leftover from when I fancied myself a silver/silverplate flatware collector - sugar spoons, pastry forks, gravy ladles, twisted butter knives, that sort of thing. And a small handful of silverplate flatware of my Dad's, which he loved because it was used on the Santa Fe railroad.

So, that newer stainless, I like it, but don't love it, and the knives are poorly made - I've broken two of them cutting butter (because it's not like like I'd use my actual butter knives for that . . .) so they are going (donation).

 Note that I kept the box, because I always knew there was a good chance I wasn't keeping this set.  I'm seriously thinking of dumping most of the fleur de Luce as well, so I took it all out of the wooden silverware caddy in the kitchen drawer, because the caddy was broken and needed to be reglued-renailed.  While I was looking for adhesive, which lives in the kitchen junk drawer, I came across the sliding window lock, which I didn't know I had and do not recall having acquired.

 I've been wanting/wishing for something like this now that it is warm, I am living on the ground floor with no A/C, and wanting to keep the windows open.  (This was never an issue in my second-story condo, but it is here.)  So, I promptly put the lock on one of the windows.  Here it is in action.  (that's my awesome compost bin in the background)

I know it won't keep out anyone determined to break in; I'm just trying to deter the opportunistic.  I plan on getting a variety of these and installing two or more per window so I can have airflow and some small sense of security during the night.

The Queen Bess has been promoted to everyday usage.  It is missing large spoons, but Dad's Santa Fe lot has three of those, and I'm keeping the fleur de Luce soup spoons, so I should be good.

So, something I don't need is going out, something I already had has been repaired, and something I'd forgotten I had has been put to good use.  Score!
I

The Peace of Augsburg

The Peace of Augsburg is one of the many, many topics on which I took notes in high school senior year history class.  I suppose it must have had some influence on me, as I went on to major in History in college, albeit more or less as an extra since I just kind of inadvertently piled up a lot of credits in it. 

So my notebook, now missing its cover, seems to have carried me through all of my senior year classes: Modern European History, Advanced Latin, Spanish 3, Computer Science, and Senior Seminar in English. I recorded what scores I received on various assignments and tests on each section facing/first page. 

The facing page for M.E.H. also lists every date from 9/6 through 1/22, followed by a minute count (e.g., 22 min) or "absent" or, just once, 10/2, on time.  I have no recollection whether I was tracking myself, my instructor, or some other student.  Anyway, someone was only present for 7 hours and five minutes the first quarter. 

The Latin section starts with conjugations (laudo, laudas, laudat, laudamus, laudatis, laudant) and continues into translations, some of which I translated into Spanish, as well.
Sample: "2 mules were going having been burdened with packs.  One was carrying baskets with (of) money, the other swollen sacks of much barley."
Poor Mr. Leddy.

The Spanish section looks like probably everybody else's high school Spanish notes.  Again with the conjugating - Digo, dices, dice, dicimos, dicis, dicen.
Oh, look,  a definition of quesadillas, an exotic foreign foodstuff. 
Vocabulary: Un destomillador, screwdriver.

For English class, it looks like we started out with The Plague.  "Why don't Rieux & Tarrou turn in Cottard?"  Indeed.  We read Crime and Punishment that year, as well.
    The Three motives of Raskolnikov:
        Manner not matter
        unity of present
        Epilog regeneration.
Well, yeah.

My Computer Science notes begin with "Class Hint: Don't ever trust Miss Bailey."  That wasn't fair; she turned out to be one of my best instructors, even if (ok, *because*) she did scare the daylights out of me. 
The text was "Oh! Pascal!"  which should give some idea of how much use I've gotten out of this class.  Why, I was declaring and referencing some arrays just yesterday.

All this is interspersed with anagrams, random language translations, bits of near-suicidal adolescent angst, and poems and passages I had memorized (from Jabberwocky, Ulysses, The Tell-tale Heart) and written out in my notebook to make it look as if I were being studious.  Some notes I wrote out with my non-dominant hand, for the same reason. There are also lots of bad sketches of bats, not unlike the Batman symbol.  I just liked the word in various languages: Fledermaus, vespertillion, murcielago, chauvenisouris.  This last came in handy when many years later I traveled to France and purchased their version of the Weekly World News.  Feature story: Bat Boy found in cave. (I still have that paper somewhere, and when it turns up, not only am I not getting rid of it, I might just frame it and put it on my wall.)

As for the notebook itself, I'm keeping a few pages I'll hopefully scan sometime, recycling the rest right now.

Last quotation on last page: "Blood is thicker than water.  So is toothpaste."

Griddle me this . . .

This griddle goes in the donate box.  It's been in my kitchen for about 10 years or so.
I think I once mentioned to a friend I wanted to try making crepes, and he brought this over.  It's used, but not by me.  I like crepes, but I know they're fiddly to make and not something I am likely to learn to make well.  I don't even make regular pancakes, really.  I will be keeping my waffle iron, since I do use it, and it belonged to my parents.
A griddle might be good to make bacon - and now that I think about it, I might have done so at least once - but I really prefer my broiler pan for that.

This Bud's For You

As Seen on TV, the Paint Buddy.  I think I must have started lusting after seeing these in a commercial in maybe the 1980s?   By the time I had a reason to use one, they were a little tough to find.  Maybe I got one from Home Depot, maybe had to order online?  They are OK, but just OK.  Turns out I'm happier keeping leftover paint in regular small paint cans, or even old spice jars if it is just for touch-up of a small thing. 

Ah, the free Apple earbuds that no one uses.  These are from my two iPod Nanos.  Even I, possessing not a single audiophilic gene in my body, don't like these.

I bought more "stuff" today, but it is all outdoor gardening supplies (planting mix & flower flats) so nothing that I need to make space for inside or that I will ever have to pack and move.

Un-

I just like the no-nonsense no-excuses attitude at Unfuck Your Habitat.  It's not totally my cup of tea, since I can already deal with straight up mess when I want too.  In fact, I'm probably a little too good at it - since I'm so good at hiding things, it's too easy to think I don't really have too much stuff.  But I do like the site's emphasis on dealing with specific, small, and/or manageable tasks, and that they are very functional goals, like making sure you are ready for work and can use your kitchen.

For advice on how to actually get rid of things, I go to Unclutterer, where there is a lot of emphasis on the emotional aspect of things.  For instance, there are a lot of articles and questions on how to deal with inherited items.  There is practical advice, too, like what items to avoid acquiring (site author Erin Doland calls these "Unitaskers,") but also what organizing tools can help you access/display the items you do retain.

Misery loves company

I wasn't planning more posts today, but I'm waiting for my drill battery to charge so I can put up a shelf in the garage to get some of the crap I'm keeping off the floor.  In this case, that would be leftover paint from both this house and from the condo, and also my painting supplies. 

Lest one imagine I'm getting rid of so much as to be soon left with nothing, have no fear.  Today I bought a big (huge) decorative planter, and I know I'll be back to that store. :-[    I also placed an order for a lawnmower.

But those things will live outside.  Indoors, I'm adding one of these to the donate pile, obviously.  I think I bought a copy of this once new, and really liked it, and then stupidly lent it to someone who never returned it, and bought a used copy as replacement, and at some later point bought *another* used copy, probably with the idea that the second one was "better" somehow.