Nimble Pundit: May 2022

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Om

It is bracing to have the latest national violent event kick me off my usual social media diet. I can't face it now and am choosing other ways to spend my attention. Ironically one of them is reading No One Is Talking About This which so far is about being extremely online.

SAD. Angrysad. I hesitated before talking about it with my spouse. And I would never bring it up with anyone else for fear of making them so sad. I may have had all the small talk knocked out of me now. There's very little I can imagine talking about with acquaintances. Thank gods for midwest weather, what would we do without it?

My youngest daughter's graduation party went well! I said that I would go out for drinks afterwards. But instead I went home and took a two hour nap. Ah 55, what a trendsetter you are. I suppose it would be alarming if I flipped and turned into an extrovert partier at this point.

My husband gave me an unexpected bag of birthday treats from the fancy Euro store downtown. The Bahlsen Choco Wafers Dark are smaller than I expected but they have a big gorgeous flavor. Impressions of the Taylors of Harrogate tea flavors so far:

Green Tea with Mint is much more interesting than just peppermint tisane.
Apple & Cinnamon smells wonderful, even through the wrapper. I didn't finish the cup. It's in the sour tea realm and for that I'd rather drink Cherry Berry.
White Tea is pleasant with a subtle perfume.
Mango & Cardamom Green Tea is almost as good as the wrapper copy: "Soft, succulent and sensuous."

My MIL is here visiting and wants to go to the graduation ceremony. It will be at the outdoor football stadium and was rained out yesterday and rescheduled for tomorrow. She changed her return flight. It could get rained out again and that will make us all upset. So come on rain clouds! Have pity and let us get this graduation done on Thursday evening.

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Haha, postponed again to Friday evening. If we get to the 3rd fallback date (Sunday), I'm going to yell Bingo! as loud as I can.

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New British phrase spotted in the wild: "a fair yomp" meaning a good ways or quite a bit.

Monday, May 9, 2022

Green stuff

Play in the yard
I mowed and then happily sat in the front yard for more than an hour, pulling false strawberry up by the roots. It had rained the whole week and conditions were the best for weed pulling. I even was able to pull out a couple of dandelions with their long tap roots. Sunny low 70s after a week of chilly gray showers - being outside was urgent. I am not sure that pulling is the way to stay on top of this weed. It's rampant in the back. Our backyard is not for public viewing and I mostly don't care what I'm mowing back there. I've failed at no-mow May but I promise that the pollinators have plenty of violets, dandelions, etc. in our neighborhood. The maple key spinners have just started to fall. I'll be pulling up maple sprouts over the next month.

I put the rest of the Rudbeckia (black eyed susan) seed out in the big front pot. Our purple flowering shrub there overwintered and is leafing out nicely. I limited my seed purchase to cornflowers (blue bachelor buttons) and have some started in a tiny pot inside. I think the seeds in outside pots have sprouted too, where they haven't been manhandled by squirrels. <shakes fist> Stupid squirrels. I've put some chicken wire around some of the pots to discourage their rummaging and need to add more. They never bothered the marigolds - must not like the smell.

Conclusions
My easily grossed out spouse discovered a big dead opossum under the back deck yesterday evening. And then he dug a hole and buried it. I am thankful because that was the second time in one day that I was spared having to dispose of dead wildlife. There was a small bird who hit the back glass door with a significant whap and lay on the deck long enough that I thought it was dead. But half an hour later it was gone and I hope it revived and flew off. Even if it was the neighbor cat, I appreciate nature taking care of its own.

Technology
I have been reading about using wool to wash dishes - it doesn't sour like sponges do. I was brought up in the way of the nylon-wrapped Dobie but am going to give wool a try.

I had a physical and it was fine. I am going to have a couple of follow up tests, one of which is actually exciting. (My cholesterol continues to rise, it's inherited from my mom. She had a bad reaction to statins and opted for a super low fat diet to deal. I was so offended in my 40s when my cholesterol was first measured and continued to rise. But I feel like I've worn out my anger about this.) The doctor told me about a scan I can get to measure calcification around my heart. It's noninvasive and costs a whopping $60. If it measures significant calcification that's a warning about possible artery clogging and I would definitely medicate. If not, I will smile and be happy. Medical tech like this makes me happy to live in the future.