When in a Recession...

As I mentioned in my previous post, we're in a recession. (3 posts in one day? It's like feast or famine here. Famine will be returning shortly. Fret not. ) This is the ideal time to apply your Yankee frugality methods. I'm all for using the clothesline. It's my Yankee up-bringing. My mother used the clothesline quite a bit when I was growing up. I say "used" because she doesn't use it nearly as much as she used to. Perhaps it's simply because the amount of laundry has dramatically decreased. Instead of doing laundry for 6, it's laundry for 2.

I got into the habit of using the clothesline more last summer when I was unemployed and I could plan my laundry days around warm, sunny, preferably breezy days. It looks like I can do that this summer too!

This picture is not my laundry though. It's Trevor's. Technically, the place mats, that he neatly hang together, could be considered "mine" since I bought them. He kindly included them in his laundry today and even hung them on the line when I told him I don't put them in the dryer.

It was a perfect hot summer-y day for using the clothesline. I look forward to many more.

Clamped

My chiropractor told me to buy new shoes. Specifically, she told me to buy Birkenstocks because they have good arch support. She doesn't know this about me, but I have 3 pairs of Birkenstocks: 2 pairs of sandals and a pair of clogs. The sandals, one of which is pictured above, are about 10 years old. They sandals were in need of a little repair. I didn't want to buy new sandals for the following reasons:

1. New Birkenstocks cost over $100.
2. New Birkenstocks take months to break in.
3. I am a Frugal Yankee.
4. We're in a recession and this is the best time to apply the "Frugal Yankee" excuse.
   

So down to the work bench I headed with my sandals. The sole of the left sandal on each pair needed to be glued together. I used GOOP water-proof adhesive and a finger "condom" (a tiny little latex condom-like thing that covers your finger - I'm sure they have a medical use that I don't want to ponder right now...) to apply the GOOP to the sole between the sole of the sandal and the bed of the sandal. Then I used a giant C-clamp to hold the sandal together. I'm sure D.O.D. (dear old dad) has other uses for C-clamps, like repairing furniture, but that's what I'm using it for. Because I could only find one giant C-clamp for that was perfect for this purpose, for the second sandal I just applied the GOOP and have been wearing them all day. Perhaps the weight of my body (!) is enough.

Sandals should be about as good as 10 year old Birkenstocks with a little GOOP applied would ever be. What I'll do come Fall, I don't know. I'm not one for socks with Birkenstocks.

Addendum: I've been corrected. This is not a C-clamp. It's a pipe clamp.

Stuck Indoors on a Lovely Day

We're having a heat wave. I love it when summer arrives in April! On Saturday, Stephanie, our Reference instructor, brought us outside for the 2nd half of class. It was great! We sat in the amphitheater on the campus and it felt very much like ancient Greece but we weren't watching a Greek comedy. We were talking about Library 2.0 tools and annotated bibliographies. And off in the distance were the sounds of a horrible amateur heavy metal band.

Ah.. gotta love college campuses in the spring. Young women running around barely clothed. Bad music. It hasn't changed much. Except, it seems like the barely clad young women are even more barely clad these days. Seems to be more prevalent at a woman's college, even at Mount Holyoke. Makes me feel old.

Summer weather or not, I spent most of yesterday inside working on a paper that's due at 5PM today. I did move outside when I had to do a bit of reading but it was back indoors when I had to get back to the writing. Now we're into day 3 of summer weather and I'm indoors again! And I will be until I get that paper done!

So, why am I blogging?

Bird Channel

Here's Tiger Lily sitting at "her" window waiting for the Bird Channel to have some visitors. It's early March and Mom hasn't paid the cable bill. That is to say, I haven't bought bird seed in while. Thankfully, a couple of weeks ago I sprang for a 50 pound bag of sunflower seeds on sale at Dave's Pet City and we're back in business. Now that we're having temperatures in the 60s and 70s during the day, the window can be open and she can enjoy surround-sound and smell-o-rama.
Regulars on the Bird Channel include:

Female American Goldfinch. What is going on down there?

Male American Goldfinch. I don't know what's going on down there but I see it too.

Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal always arrive together.

Mrs. Sparrow nags Mr. Sparrow and he simply turns his back to her.

Mr. and Mrs. House Finch. Herman, someone is watching us!

My personal favorite, the brave and daring Black-capped Chickadee.

Another personal favorite, the Chipping Sparrow, occasional guest in the winter months.

Another winter guest, the Dark-eyed Junco.

Performing amazing, gravity-defying tricks, hanging from his hind feet while he eats from the feeder, an unwelcome guest on the Bird Channel, the Gray Squirrel.

An occasional guest on the Bird Channel, the red squirrel. Not nearly as annoying and cuter than his cousin, the Gray Squirrel.

Special guest last week, the Downy Woodpecker.

I forgot to mention the Tufted Titmouse, another regular winter guest. Most recently we've had grackles and mourning doves.

All of these photos were found on Google images.

What Rhododendron?

A few years ago I was talking to my mom about our rhododendron. And either she's never been here in late May or early June when it's in full bloom or she's too busy noticing everything that's wrong with the house and porch that needs to be painted, but it's pretty hard to miss. Once when I was talking to her about my flower beds and flowering shrubs, she said, "What rhododendron?"

Here it is in it's former glory days. I say "former glory days" because it got infested with rhododendron borers and several branches were looking rather limp. So I did a little homework, consulted my Reader's Digest Illustrated Guide to Gardening, and then took a trip to the Hadley Garden Center. Tom, big cheese at the Hadley Garden Center, told me to trim off all the bad branches, below where the borers were. He also sort of recommended a nasty chemical I could use but suggested I do a bit more homework and talk it over with Trevor. We know him from church. He's a super nice guy. So I bought 5 bags of cocoa shell mulch (it was on sale) and went home.

The next good day the rhododendron got a trim. This is what it looks like now:


Trevor did a nice job of cleaning up and even added a rock border. He pulled out all the vines- bittersweet and poison ivy. We have more sunlight coming into the playroom now.
I was so worried that the birds would be pissed off but they still sit in the rhododendron waiting their turn at the feeders. It'll take a few years before it returns to its glory days.

Perhaps Mom will know what I'm talking about when I talk about the rhododendron?

When to Use Your Feminine Wily Ways...

In a moment of complete distraction, apparently (this is the part that I'm still not sure of...) I failed to stop at the stop sign on the corner of Linseed Road and Route 5/10. If you've been to our house you know that as the stop sign in front of our house. I was speeding down Route 5/10 thinking about was I somehow going to squeeze in a trip to the Hatfield transfer station, that is only open Wed from 12-5 and Sat from 8 - 12 noon, and since I go to school on Saturdays that pretty much rules out Saturday. So Wednesday it is! They open at noon on Wednesdays so if I can I drive there at a little before noon and then have a quick lunch at the co-op before heading to Springfield for 1pm for my weekly volunteer job there at the Central Library, it all works out nicely. I'd made an earlier attempt at going to the transfer station (Remember when it was called The Dump?) only to find that the railroad crossing gate was down across Chestnut Street (the easiest and quickest route to the Hatfield transfer station) with no train in sight! I turned around and headed home. I called Trevor to tell him I wasn't going to be able to go today and could he meet me to take the tub back in the house only to discover that his phone was disconnected! So at this point I had to go home to alert him about his phone status or lack there of...and was a little tiny bit worried and distracted about the situation since he's spent the past 3 or 4 days working on all this paper work for housing court for the big giant asshole of a housemate that we're taking to housing court, and who is moving out, by bicycle (but that's another story...). So I left and, apparently, as I said didn't stop at that stop sign in front of my house. Like, I don't know it's there??? Well, maybe it was a Missouri rolling stop. But since I've lived my entire life in Massachusetts I can't really say it was a Missouri rolling stop. I always stop at that stop sign. Suddenly there's a siren and blue lights flashing behind me! Being the good citizen that I am, I pulled over. Only to discover that I was being pulled over!

So it was the usual... "How are you ma'am?" (Yes, I'm that old...) Me: fine.
"License and Registration... Was there some kind of emergency?" (Biting my tongue.... well, the transfer station is only open from 12-5 on Wednesday and I can't go on Saturday because I go to school on Saturday....) What a really said was, "No, I'm just having a bad day." And then out of nowhere, the waterworks started. Trembling voice, shaking and everything! He asks me how my driving record is, I say "excellent". He walks to his cruiser to call it in and meanwhile I wait patiently in the car... the loser housemate goes pedaling by on his bicycle toting a trailer of belongings behind him. Oh, the humiliation!
The waterworks, trembling voice and admitting I was having a "bad day" worked because I got off with a written warning. I'm sure having an "excellent" driving record helps.

Sheep Art

Oh the things we learn in library school! It's an endless source of entertainment. If you haven't already seen this video, here it is for your viewing pleasure. What does this have to do with library school you ask? Nothing really but it was in an email from the college.

I love this video so much I'm posting it everywhere! Here, on Facebook, I've sent it in emails.

Watch it!

Hike up Petticoat Hill

Spring has arrived and we've been aching to get out and walk in the woods but most of the places we enjoy walking have been quite wet (she writes, while listening to the pouring rain on the skylight). How do we solve this problem? Hike up, woman! Hike up Petticoat Hill to be specific.

Petticoat Hill is a Trustees of Reservations property in Williamsburg, MA. It's about a ten-minute drive from our house. The summit trail is moderately steep for the first 10 minutes or so. Once you've arrived at the summit, which is a little disappointing since there's no view, the trail meets up with Locke's Loop trail. Locke's Loop, is, well, a loop trail. It's a nice amble through the woods. The whole loop trail, including the summit trail takes about an hour. We know this because the first time we hiked it last week we heard the clock in the village ring 3 o'clock shortly after we started and then 4 o'clock when we were just about finishing up. We enjoyed the hike so much on Tuesday that we went back on Thursday. I think it's getting added to our list of favorite places to hike.

What am I Infatuated With this Week?

The World Almanac and Book of Facts, of course! 2008, 140th ed.

THE ready-reference book to have with you on a deserted island. Includes lots and lots of statistics and information on a broad range of topics: economy, business, energy, crime, military affairs, personalities, arts, media, sci & tech, consumer info, US gov't, US facts, history and elections, world history and culture, and sports. Who surpassed Hank Aaron's home run record in 2007? Which state produced the most corn in 2007?

An endless source of entertainment and trivia. Love it. Want the 2008 ed. (hint, hint) Will settle for 2009 in 2010.