wishful Wednesday

in which our plucky heroine is wishing for a different timeline...

... as I sit inside Acorn Cottage with both my air filters running and think: "this is the coolest and most healthful summer we will ever have". The light outside is the yellow-shifted color that our screens get when the late night filter is applied. Awake just before sunrise and the sky appeared a pleasant overcast cool day, until the sun rose

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~ old dog new tricks ~

Recently figured out that the small block anvil has yet another use. Being squared on all sides, it is a great help for accurately aligning brackets that need to be all the way to the edge of something that needs to attach perpendicular to the wall.  ideas. Never saw this concept elsewhere, but perhaps this small anvil is uncommon? 

This is part of gradual progress on assorted housey improvements, a 2nd pot lid rack for back of door. Yesterday cut out and glued up the layered wood support blocks, then woodfiller smoothed and sanded them. This morning marked the door and painted the blocks. Once they are securely bracketed to the door, another vintage yardstick will be cut to length and attached, and et voila the larger lids will have a better (out of the way but still convenient) home. Voila!!

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Handcraft progress: my Tabbycat Cowl continues to slowly grow as each day gets a few more rows of stitching done.  Noro Kiri yarn has such pleasing subtle variegation; Noro yarns were the first mulitcolor long shift yarn I ever saw years ago at Canvasworks in Olympia.

Laid out all the various recut pieces of bluegreen batik rayon for this year's summertime popover dress. Third time is the charm, fingers crossed it works well and hangs properly. It may be possible to add big "teacher" pockets instead of patch pockets (with care in how the remaining fabric is cut); this would be a worthwhile improvement.

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The mason jar self-watering inserts to grow pea microgreens arrived today. I grew pea shoots in trays back in 2020, and this looks to be a slightly easier way to get the same results. Worth a try anyhow...

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This was my yesterday: woke up early, put on mask to go outside in the peculiar light, poured water on plant babies, added water to the hydration station, hacked back the overgrown fern from next to the heat pump machinery (as indicated from research online it needs several feet of clearance, who knew?). Will check the air handler filter and order more if needed, also for auxiliary air filter and a new set to rebuild my homemade Corsi-Rosenthal after this current AQI uptick. I hate that we have fire season now, and barely any real summer anymore. Today another whole day indoors, attempting to remain sane by making progress on several projects.

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4am is for certain when the brain weasels are at their strongest, and not the best time to return to the bright world from dreamland. Sometimes the worst nightmares may be those not filled with active evil and direct horror, but the ones that instead are a torment of missed opportunity and wrong choices, the ones that are thoroughly marbled with waking life. A good strategy for the former is useless against the latter.

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August SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 Talenti shelves	Talenti shelf up	-
2	-	2nd pot lid rack	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- electricity, which runs the equipment that make summer bearable
- Past Me bought a Very Small drill press, which is just right for some tasks
- 5 flavor eggplant, so tasty. 

Time of Isolation - Day 2213

Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine begins to hide from the haze...

When growing up, there were the classic four seasons to the year: winter, spring, summer, and autumn. Now there are at least five as fire season intertwines with summer and autumn, and I sorrow at the change*... This morning after an early bike ride, went out to run errands knowing this was in the offing. By 2pm on the way home the air was becoming visibly hazy. After leaving the bus to walk the rest of the way home took off my mask, smelled how strong the smoke had become, and immediately put it back on. Our AQI is already at 114 right now (Unhealthy) and forecast to be over 200 (Very Unhealthy) later tonight and tomorrow and to then slowly decrease back to merely Unhealthy again over the next several days. Both indoor air filters will be deployed and no more outdoor activity at all until a necessary medical appointment later in the week, this will be an opportunity to focus on indoor housey chores.

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~ incremental improvement ~

One of the two new small storage shelves is in place on the kitchen wall next to the chest freezer, sized just right for 5 "talenti tubs**". When I defrost the freezer later this month, shelf number two will go underneath this one, and have room for another five. My plan is to use these to hold dry goods like grain, pasta, and lentils etc, move the larger storage jars currently on my countertop into the pantry instead, which will free up counter space in the very small kitchen.

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Saturday at the Hollywood farmers market in search of local cilantro, it was a surprise and a treat to run into my old friend SueJ, who I'd not seen in almost ten years. After that unexpected visiting, I did manage to find cilantro, and cucumbers, and some beautiful Japanese eggplants. The plan is to make some 5 flavor eggplant, and preserve most of the cilantro not used immediately, using this suggestion about freezing it in cubes with oil.

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This idea of turning googly eyes into miniature drawer pulls seems quite clever, and there might be a few of those googly eyes left from last years Advent Swap. Hmmm...

Another tiny-ish treat is the creativity of Liza of HodgePodge Art Studio. Her world building and storytelling  about Mosshollow is delightful. While much of it is shared on Meta platforms, there is some here on YouTube.

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August SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 Talenti shelves	Talenti shelf up	-
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- I have two good air filters
- quite a few Talenti tubs
- making some progress every day
- local produce at the farmers market

Time of Isolation - Day 2211

* I realise that Acorn Cottage currently is quite privileged to only have to deal with windblown smoke when so many locally and worldwide are dealing more directly with fire season, having lost homes, land, livestock and in some cases their own lives. This is not the timeline I signed up for...

** "Talenti tubs" are the very useful sturdy plastic containers with screw top lids that Talenti ice cream originally was packaged in. The current containers are somewhat less sturdy, and ice cream doesn't often make it onto the grocery list any more.

Friday fragments

in which our plucky heroine has a day of small bits...

So far the best was removing the "decorative" motif from the front of the mailbox. Careful observation of how it was attached showed that while the rivets in the front were substantial and recessed into the cast metal motif, inside the mailbox were two much smaller raised eyelets. With an oval cutting burr on the flex shaft it was possible to carefully reach inside the mailbox and grind away enough to pull the excrescent casting off the front of the sheet metal, leaving it with only two small visible holes. Milliput might seal those up before painting the mailbox "hammered dark bronze" with Rustoleum

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~ recombinant ~

It is very satisfying to deconstruct my jewelry to put back together differently in a form that is more likely to be worn. The wire oak leaf outlines were made years ago, and originally had a vaguely acorn-ish group of beads hanging in the center. And the cast silver acorns that now supplant them were (by themselves) so dainty that they rarely were a first choice... 

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Almost done with priming, painting and preparing the new small kitchen shelves. I found the jar of leftover kitchen wall paint, saved for future repairs, and there is enough to paint these shelves to match the walls. They aren't intended as a focal point, so was happy to have found the exact paint, and I really wish that Metro Paint was still a going concern, since I'd forgotten how excellent the paint is/was. Slightly thicker than melted ice cream, and it covers in one coat. 

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In overall food news, have started looking around for cilantro seeds or starts. It isn't the best time of year to try and grow it, according to what I've been reading, but is worth an attempt. Will also try and get to the farmers market for some. Locally grown is less likely to have parasites. (added: just got a callback from the most local plant and garden store to Acorn Cottage and they have plenty of cilantro starts and also seeds, so I foresee a bike ride tomorrow...)

The other peculiar thing re food is that for the last several weeks have been looking for organic canned corn with no success. All the local grocery stores have none of the organic on the shelves. I like keeping a few cans with the "earthquake" pantry goods, since a can of corn + a can of beans (+ maybe a can of Costco chicken) + some seasoning = a dinner that only needs a can opener. Is it seasonal, or crop failure, or supply chain weirdness? Only time will tell...

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July SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	15 tiny masu boxes	earrings recombined	greenwaste bin
2	black scarf hem	replace C O alarm	recycle bin
3	Brambly Hedge slip	painted pony spots	greenwaste bin
4	5 more bead frogs	mailbox de-uglified	overgrown lovage
5	"Cats Invade" books	small shelves painted	greenwaste bin
6	all the bead frogs	x	recycle bin
7	two beaded dragons	x	greenwaste bin
8	x	x	unripe grapes
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- Metro paint is so dense and works so well
- Tool Girl had useful attachments for the flex shaft
- There is a decent independent garden/pet/livestock store nearby

Time of Isolation - Day 2208