The Daily Rave

Do it, it is very freeing!

I was so, so tired of trying to keep it out of my face. When I bothered to "do my hair" for the day (which means getting it wet and putting the curling gel creme in and waiting for it to dry) it would look really nice. But out here in the desert and not working this past year I got so very lazy with it. Unless I was going to town to run errands or go to a doctor's appointment, I wouldn't do anything with it and would go several days without even combing it. I'd just walk around the house with tangled bedhead for days on end. Not a good look...

Now I can't stop running my hand through what's left of my hair because it is so soft and smooth! When it's this short it's wavy; the corkscrew curls always started further down and that is ALL GONE!

Funny how often people don't like what they have and want what they don't have. I have always had thin, straight, fine hair and have always wanted curls. I even used to braid my wet hair so that there was some semblance of waviness after it dried and was unbraided. LOL

And I desperately wanted the stick-straight fine hair that defined the 60s--all the Beatles' wives had the same hairdo and that's what I wanted, despite the fact that my hair was very thick and wavy.

SiouzQ, your new cut sounds adorable and much more manageable!

Me too! I wanted straight hair so bad that I would clamp plastic barrettes all along the length, put the pink tape across my forehead to hold my bangs down, then sit under the hood dryer!

My hair is very fine and very straight. It also grows very fast. I go every 4-5 weeks for a haircut. Turns out when I let it get a bit longer, the gray gets a bit wavy. It has a texture from the rest. I have salt and pepper hair. Natural color is dark brown.

This chemo was not supposed to affect me, but I am going bald due to it and now have very thin, sparce, white wild hair that looks like a short Don King. Thinking of shaving off.

Oh, Too Much Stuff, what a disappointment. Shaving it might work for now. My hair was perfect for the 60s, but as a child I always wanted curls...they would last an hour after sleeping on bobby pin curls all night. Now I'm ok with it...after 70 years.

Toomuch I am sorry you have to go through all that. I cut all mine off when I turned 50 a few years back. And then grew it out when I retired. Stick straight, thick, fine and rascally cowlicks. It's all in the skill of the stylist whether or not short will work again but I don't want it to look like a man's haircut.

I've let mine grow to about my collar and it's easier for me to handle--it's wavy and the length pulls out some of the curls and makes it easier to manage.

So sorry, TMS.

Our furnace broke and we had to call him on Christmas Eve and he came out yesterday and fixed it--something with a sensor. It works again and he filled the oil tank, so that feels really good.

This is both a rave and a rant: a friend in a plant society suggested I submit an article I wrote for our local rag to the national magazine. It had not occurred to me that the national publication would want it. I sent it off to the editorial board and they were enthusiastic about it and want to publish it. That’s the rave.

The rant is that they need high resolution photographs and I don’t have them. I’m now going back-and-forth with someone about that but I don’t know if I’ll be successful. I have great photographs, but they’re not high resolution so as possible my article will not be accepted after all into the national publication.

Today my cat’s photo has 240 “likes” on a Reddit sub, one about cats in boxes. It is called “The cat trap is working” and people post photos of their cats in boxes.

I am rid of an editing project I’d accepted as part of my volunteer work with the WI Historical Society. Usually I just do stuff for the maritime archaeology office, but I was asked to take on a project from a different, but related office. It was huge and needed a ton of reworking and rewriting. I’ve had it for a few months, but work has been so stressful, I’ve not had the mental bandwidth for it. My diving instructor who is maritime archaeologist asked me about it today and I confessed my struggles. She said to not worry about it. The author of that project isn’t the best writer and they’ve all struggled with his stuff. Instructor’s field reports are fun to read and only need proofreading and minor corrections. I’ll keep doing hers.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

This is both a rave and a rant: a friend in a plant society suggested I submit an article I wrote for our local rag to the national magazine. It had not occurred to me that the national publication would want it. I sent it off to the editorial board and they were enthusiastic about it and want to publish it. That’s the rave.

The rant is that they need high resolution photographs and I don’t have them. I’m now going back-and-forth with someone about that but I don’t know if I’ll be successful. I have great photographs, but they’re not high resolution so as possible my article will not be accepted after all into the national publication.

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Have you tried any of the free photo web sites such as Pixabay? Some are free (with a desired donation to the photographer, but not required) and others have a small fee...

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Originally Posted by HappyHiker

Have you tried any of the free photo web sites such as Pixabay? Some are free (with a desired donation to the photographer, but not required) and others have a small fee...

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no but thanks for the suggestion. After much back-and-forth for most of the day, it seems to be clear that these photos cannot be turned into what they need for the print publication.


They will accept the photos as is for a web article though so all is not lost.

We have been having "water hammers" for awhile now. For anyone who might not know, this is when water gets trapped in a steam radiator, and it makes sounds that are literally like someone banging a hammer on a metal radiator. Unfortunately the problem radiator is in our bedroom, so water hammers are especially unpleasant there! I read up on it a bit and it can be caused by the pitch of the radiator. It needs to be pitched so that when the steam inside the radiator turns to condensation, it drains back to the boiler. I took apart the radiator cover, and there's a little shim under the bracket that appeared to have shifted. Instead of the little shim, we cut a piece of a 2 x 4 and wedged it under the radiator, lifting the end by about 1/2". No water hammers in the two days since we did this! The problem and possible solution had been marinating in the back of my brain, but I believe watching this reel is what made me put the pieces together and pursue resolution! There are a lot of these videos in the series and they are pretty fun:
https://youtu.be/N0hwoNQEm5s?si=KJWbH23XEzguQv-W

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Originally Posted by rosarugosa

We have been having "water hammers" for awhile now. For anyone who might not know, this is when water gets trapped in a steam radiator, and it makes sounds that are literally like someone banging a hammer on a metal radiator. Unfortunately the problem radiator is in our bedroom, so water hammers are especially unpleasant there! I read up on it a bit and it can be caused by the pitch of the radiator. It needs to be pitched so that when the steam inside the radiator turns to condensation, it drains back to the boiler. I took apart the radiator cover, and there's a little shim under the bracket that appeared to have shifted. Instead of the little shim, we cut a piece of a 2 x 4 and wedged it under the radiator, lifting the end by about 1/2". No water hammers in the two days since we did this! The problem and possible solution had been marinating in the back of my brain, but I believe watching this reel is what made me put the pieces together and pursue resolution! There are a lot of these videos in the series and they are pretty fun:
https://youtu.be/N0hwoNQEm5s?si=KJWbH23XEzguQv-W

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Wow, Rosa, you are my hero!

That is a great fix, Rosa. I have lived with radiators and know exactly the water hammer problem.

Applied for a new job this morning that is closer to home. I currently drive 65 miles each way and the new job would be about 20 miles each way. My only concern is the 12 hour rotating shifts and being an essential worker during bad weather. We rarely have snow but if we do, the last thing I'd want is to be out on the road especially since I'd be going over a rather high bridge. Plus I am not a night person and not sure how I'd do working days one week and nights the next. Hopefully I can get an interview to discuss the logistics of all of it. Really hoping that working 30 years in the same industry might make them reconsider my working hours and necessity during bad weather. Worst case scenario is I go for an interview, don't like what I hear, and tell them I'm not interested any longer.

It would be nice to finally have a job nearby though. I have been doing this commute for 27 years and I'm tired of it. Not to mention my distain for my current co-workers and boss for that matter. I will put up with it if I have to but am looking forward to seeing everyone's face when I give my two weeks notice and they realize just how screwed they will be when I'm not here doing all the work. :)

That is a heck of a commute. I would also be happy to leave that behind if I could. The twenty mile one might be a lot better, but I couldn't handle the night day shifts--my son is a night shift worker and has trouble if he has to shift temporarily to day. With the essential worker thing, can someone pick you up in bad weather? That would be a rule out for me. But don't you have that now, with the worse commute?

Well, we got a goodly amount of snow in our little North Carolina town. And as there is very little in the way of snow removal equipment, our town has come to a standstill. Most everything's shut down.

Yesterday, for the first time since we lived in Michigan quite a few years ago, we got to shovel our sidewalk and un-bury the cars. No snow shovel so we improvised with the garden shovel, a push broom and a regular broom...it was good to get some exercise and get rosy cheeks!

So quiet with no traffic to be heard. It's so peaceful, truth told.

No errands to run, no doctor or dental appointments...

And plentiful books to read-- and as we still have power--this forum to peruse and movies to view.

Thanks, Nature for this pause...

Snow CAN be a beautiful pause, agreed.

our recent snowfall came with ice, so that stuff is NASTY. I am so glad to be retired and I don’t have to figure out how to get to work.

My tiny town has 4 vehicles they can use as snow plows. They did a great job on our icy streets, a difficult task.

In the 30+ years I lived in the city of St. Louis we never once saw a snowplow on our street. Their policy was to plow only “snow routes.” And that is fine except we do live in a winter environment so snow comes here.

I remember when we first moved ro St. Louis and had big snows. We were from the frozen tundra of Northern Iowa. We asked neighbors when the snow plows would come to oir neighborhood and they just laughed at us. :)

Taxes are less than half here than in the city.

Klunick, Ugh on the 65 miles one-way commute! Been there, done that, but way back when I was way younger! I also get the time switches. I'm 2nd shift, unless there is no school or 1/2 day of school. Then I usually go in at 6:30 a.m. Going in that early, after just working until 11:30pm the night before, is a pita. Unless, of course, the 6:30 a.m. falls on a Monday. LOL.

I also understand the reactions after giving notice. I'll be submitting my Intent to Retire letter next week and I'm curious to see what - if anything - may happen.

Snow shoveling is a good alternative to yard and garden maintenance, which I'm usually tiered of by the end of fall leaf pickup.

We've barely crawled above freezing and in a routine of light snowfall every few days for the last week or so. It is a good time to kick back, read, eat warm foods, and reflect. And sleep in under warm blankets on cold mornings. We usually have days of sun and warmer temperatures when the snow goes away before the next one, which is nice. I'd not want to live a place without real seasons or where snow stays on the ground most of the winter.

Whenever I get tired of the cold and snow here, I remind myself of the relentless heat of Texas. I know that I can have a real summer here whereas that stopped in June there because of the heat. Both situations force me to stay inside more than I like however.

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Originally Posted by pinkytoe

Whenever I get tired of the cold and snow here, I remind myself of the relentless heat of Texas. I know that I can have a real summer here whereas that stopped in June there because of the heat. Both situations force me to stay inside more than I like however.

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I agree. Our summers are so nice, but too short.

Today is a nice day. 26 degrees and sunny. No wind. Balmy. I was outside shoveling for a while.

It is 28 here, but wet and nasty so I'm staying in. Things are starting to ice up after having been a tad warmer for a little while.

34 here. We are under an advisory for freezing drizzle, but nothing so far. Been just staying in and working on an editing project.

All of our snow melted in the past week and we had one day that was nearly 70°. But I guess we’re in for another bout of precipitation that might turn to snow. Snow is better than ice. I mean it is February here so winner is not nearly over. .

There are a number of days next week with snow in the forecast. We’ll see how much we actually get.

Tradd you earn your salary every day, but especially in these times of quickly changing rules and regs.

Waiting for a big storm to start. Have already been called in to work for 8 am tomorrow. Only saving grace is double-time on Sundays. Sigh.. I will NOT miss this!!!

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Originally Posted by happystuff

Waiting for a big storm to start. Have already been called in to work for 8 am tomorrow. Only saving grace is double-time on Sundays. Sigh.. I will NOT miss this!!!

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Not long now!

I remember when DH was working for the tree company and they had snow clearance contracts during the winter. I hated worrying about him out there on the icy roads. I was so glad when he started working for himself because 90% of the time he was working in our neighborhood, no highways to conquer.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

Tradd you earn your salary every day, but especially in these times of quickly changing rules and regs.

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Yep!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pinkytoe

Whenever I get tired of the cold and snow here, I remind myself of the relentless heat of Texas. I know that I can have a real summer here whereas that stopped in June there because of the heat. Both situations force me to stay inside more than I like however.

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Don’t know where in TX you were but I prefer the heat over cold any day. I don’t have to worry about falling on ice or shovel before I can leave the driveway. It is beautiful here now. I look at the forecast for the north and shudder! Also enjoy seeing sun most of the year rather than 6 months of dreary dark days!

I was in central TX most of my time there and the heat finally got to me. Different strokes.

Shipwreck event in WI this weekend was a big success. It was held in Milwaukee for about 15 years until the organizers just couldn't do it anymore. The shipwreck group I'm part of resurrected it last year to great acclaim. Smaller venue and associated with a shipwreck museum helped. I'm on the board of the organization. We plan via email and Zoom. People are scattered about WI and IL. They tried walkie talkies at event last year and they just didn't work well. I suggested WhatsApp this year. All the board members have smartphones (even the older folks) and we can't do group texts as they don't work well for mixed Apple/Android. It worked VERY well. Even the WhatsApp naysayers had to agree. They all said we need to do a WhatsApp group now for good.

Congrats, tradd. Glad the event went so well.

Old lady gardenng: I was talking to one of my friends who’s really into gardening and we both decided that it’s important to have one bed, one single bed, that is always perfectly weeded and beautiful. That way it’s easy to ignore weeds in the other beds.

this really speaks to me because I have a large flower bed below our deck. I can sit on the deck, drink wine or coffee, and look at things that are beautiful and weed free. If I don’t have my glasses on I do not notice the weeds in the vistas beyond, weeds that live in the other flower beds because I can’t really distinguish them.

so maybe that’s the real gardening tip of the day, take off your glasses. Enjoy your gardens that way!