ahmik | Reading

It rained on my sheets. Only lightly, but rain!!! Then all afternoon was histrionic skies, high humidity, and the temp bounced up to at least 80 and the a/c fired. I took the dog for a walkies right after lunch and she led me all around the block ... then suddenly got scared when we were almost opposite the house. I think by the dark clouds that were again rolling in, but who knows.

Mama Violet reappeared on the porch. After throwing up on the sidewalk/pavement. (Yes, I cleaned it up.)

weofodthignen

A sudden and dramatic heat wave today. Walking was a bit of a chore. An equally dramatic fall-off in temps is forecast for tomorrow, but I'm sceptical.

This house is for sale locally. $1.5m. Note that the preceding sale was in 2008, for $525,000 out of foreclosure, and that the Street View link goes to what it looked like back then, pre-renovation, when it still had its porch and its little garage. Some real estate sites dated it to 1970 rather than 1930, so I suspect there was another renovation back then.

ravan

Glad Equinox to you and yours!

Officially the first day of Fall, the temperature was still hot, in the 89+ °F range. Tomorrow is forecast to be 94 °F. Ugh. Then maybe rain on Wednesday. I hope we get a good amount of rain this year. The water table needs it.

In other news, I'm still mired in all the paperwork associated with Datawolf's death. The amount of cussing I'm doing at the sheer mass on self-satisfied, smug bureaucracy is astounding. All of them just throw more forms and leg work back at me, like it's my fault that she's dead. WTF, assholes, WTF? Why are you punishing me for having to close out my wife's life? Do you think I like it?

Current Mood: bitchy
Crossposts: https://ravan.insanejournal.com/70998.html

weofodthignen

First bad air day warning since late May, for tomorrow. So I ran an errand on foot today. Next to the payment machine at an under-used car park (may have something to do with both payment machines being out of order since forever), there was a hefty paper grocery bag, which when I peeped inside held two wilting celeries. Nearby, a sagging cardboard fruit & veg box had some elderly kale, a potato, and a green apple. Maybe dumped after the farmer's market on Saturday. So I took the apple and have just consumed it after cutting out the bad bit.

... And I blóted for Harvest. Not with the apple, since it had a bad bit.

weofodthignen

Fluorescent pink markings have appeared on lumpy pavements/sidewalks all over the neighbourhood, and the absolutely worst one, a big heave caused by a tree root with something like a 5" difference in height between slabs, has been fixed with soft gravel. There's also a recent patch where the water line work was happening at the one house; same stuff, already has parallel marks from a construction vehicle's enormous ridged tyres.

weofodthignen

My monstera is extruding another new leaf. I kept looking to catch the first signs, but once more didn't spot it until the furled leaf was poking out. I turned the pot a tiny bit to reduce the poking through the curtains, but I know it's fruitless, the plant will just corkscrew fluidly into the light.

weofodthignen

The fruits have been chopped off that vine. Maybe for eating.

Both Monty and Prudence showed up for breakfast, but Mama Violet is again making herself scarce. On the other hand, a couple of days ago I saw another orange cat, a block away. He crossed a dangerous road and continued straight past me. I thought it might be Monty until I saw his tail was shorter—and he wasn't neutered.

weofodthignen

A curiously cloudy and humid day, but so far no rain ... The park was pretty much deserted in the early afternoon. We'd seen three people when we finally came upon a couple sitting in a corner of the playing field on lawnchairs. The squirrels and crows were busy busy.

mdehners

So, today I was clearing up past it flowers and one of the things on the list was my patch of Swamp Milkweed. It's floppy, covered in aphids and hasn't bloomed in at least 2 yrs. I'd decided to cut it back and dig it up once the weather gets cooler BUT today there were a handful of Monarch caterpillars! Couldn't be much more than a couple weeks old. Guess it's staying but might get replaced by one that would bloom regularly like the Yellow kind...
FridhR,
Pat

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Location: Lenoir City(Nevermore;>!)
Current Music: Heilung Radio

weofodthignen

That vine that reached over the fence to embrace a tree got cut back, but it still spills over the fence.

I was wondering why it didn't seem to be producing any grapes, so today I paused my walk and looked closer. I think it may be a luffa vine.

weofodthignen

Bi-weekly grocery run. To my horror, on the way there we found ourselves behind a matte black Cybertruck tricked out with some sort of military-looking armature over the cover of the truck bed. I suppose it could have been for securing bikes or surfboards or something. But it looked more like Judge Dredd's latest. I was very glad when they turned out to be going to a different store in the mall.

When I returned from this evening's attempt to get the dog to walk, Monty emerged from a hiding place and shot me a look. The dog didn't notice, of course. Prudence was on the neighbours' shed roof. So I returned with food for them both. She started eating but he wasn't visible, either demonstrating his pique or waiting to be sure the dog was safely stowed.

arlie

susandennis recently posted about several technical things she's trying. She's much more bullish on digital tech than I am, and even enjoys shopping (!), but she's been a great source of pointers for me of things I might like.

Today's post included a for-pay ad-free, surveillance-free search engine called kagi. She says she's been hearing about it a lot; I on the other hand have been hiding under my rock, and only just noticed it. (I really should read Ars Technica more frequently.)

After thanking Susan for bringing it to my attention, I just spent some time looking at it, finding myself on the fence about trying it. This Ars Technica article from Aug 5, 2025 says much of what I might have said myself, only better.

( Read more... )

I'd appreciate other people's comments.

weofodthignen

Yes, it was hot. Kind of oven-like on my afternoon walk.

Saw my first commercial Cybertruck. Home builders. I have to admit, it's suited to that kind of business. Presumably has good a/c, too.

arlie

The latest newsletter from YLE ended with the dreaded "Continue reading this post for free in the Substack app". I.e. they've gone blatantly freemium. Presumably if asked they'd say they need more subscribers to support all the "value add" that isn't part of their original fact-focussed take on public health in the US, then with emphasis on Covid. They "need" funding for more videos I don't watch, and heavens knows what all else.

They also included their take on gun violence, a subject they insist is part of public health epidemiology. Its inclusion was acceptable to some readers, wanted by some, and rejected by others, to the point that YLE provided an option for subscribers (paid and unpaid) to opt out of receiving such posts. I did so, but nonetheless received today's mixed post.

I have high standards for YLE, formed by their behaviour during the years of the covid lockdowns. Their current behaviour isn't even bad by the standards of substack posters, or modern businesses in general, let alone by the standards of politicians.

But I'm disappointed to see them reverting to the mean/possibly joining the race to the bottom.

And I wonder how much money is being taken home by the YLE principals, and how that compares both with other jobs available to young doctors and with my own best earning years.

To be fair - this was a quite meaty post, before the freemium bit, which seems to be about registering for a paid-subscriber-only live webinar on fall vaccines. (Live webinars are another "value add" I don't want; people who want them are welcome to pay for them.) YLE has a long way down to go before they reach parity with Paul Krugman, and much as I often complain about him, he's good compared to others from whom I've long ago unsubscribed.

weofodthignen

It's supposed to get hot again starting tomorrow. Pity; I've been able to let the dog stay out a bit without the a/c trying to cool the back garden.

The first non-tiny green orange fell off the tree. Or was bitten off, more likely.

weofodthignen

Monty and Prudence waylaid me on my way out to walk, asking to be fed. Sadly, I needed to do the walk before the sun broke through, so I had to feed them separately later: Prudence in the back porch at lunchtime, Monty at dusk in the driveway. Maybe the issue was that the guy from the house that supplies better cat food was doing pre-fall inspection and maintenance on his roof.

weofodthignen

Yesterday—the day after it rained—I found and pulled a large white toadstool from the grass in back. This morning there was a small crop of little brown ones to be removed.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning I again spotted a bag of groceries left on the bus stop bench. I took the plastic bag of white peaches and left the rest. No milk and no meat; either others got there first or whoever's leaving the food is first taking out what they can use. I was glad I'd taken them because the rain will have disintegrated the paper bag. However, the peaches are stubbornly refusing to ripen. They're not bad, but they're very firm and don't hold a candle to the ones the tree around the corner was dropping a month or so ago. (I took a few from the sidewalk / pavement. I consider that fair game.) California-grown, but clearly harvested way, way too early. Would not purchase.

weofodthignen

A fine drying day, which I made use of. It felt a bit like fall. Other than Mama Violet, no kitties sighted.

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ahmik

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Skapi's Porch

Tinkering and Pottering since 1956

Reading

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Happy Equinox

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Of Course;>!

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Kagi - a search engine you pay for with money

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Name and Shame: Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE)

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