Sculpin

Proof that the Internet isn’t entirely stupid: the King County Solid Waste Division’s “What Do I Do With…?” site. Have boxes of old motherboards and random computer components? Half a dozen obsolete old storm windows? Fifteen paint cans, each about half-full of latex paint, which you were fool enough to store where they’d freeze? (*cough*) If you’re in or near King County, this website will help you find businesses and organizations that’ll accept your stuff for reuse, recycling, or correct disposal.

It’s about time for me to reaffirm my vow of Not Being Dumb.

After a little over a year of ramping up my work on my health, I’m seeing the vicious cycle work in my favor for a change. For instance, having more energy means I can stand longer, which means I cook more, which means I eat healthier food, which means I have more energy… I’m doing very well aside from my occasional relapses. (I forgot to publicly thank Joy for coming to my rescue two weeks ago with a couple of birthday cinnamon rolls for Josh. She is my hero.)

So, I’m having a whole lot more good days and my good days are getting better. This is just the time for me to kick it into overdrive and work out all the frustrations of years of enforced sedentariness. That would be an exceptionally dumb thing to do.

These last couple of days, I’ve put in most of a flowerbed in the backyard using the newspaper-and-compost method of grasskilling. And it’s very tempting to grit my teeth and go nuts out there trying to put in the whole garden in a week, even though this current pace is pretty obviously as much as I can do. A strong worker could probably do it all in two good days, maybe even one. I am itching to say, “Screw this ’slow and steady’ nonsense!” But that would be — you know — dumb.

Gotta say, as spooked as I am of cars — and I do regularly have nightmares about having to drive — I’ve been having a hankering to go VROOM in one way or another. Maybe when Josh is over his shingles we’ll go for some bike rides together; that’s close. Though what I do on a bike is better characterized as “wobbling”.

What a fabulous gadget.

I remember when my ex-boyfriend Jay got one of those nifty Screwpull corkscrews. It was so fun and easy to use that we uncorked bottle after bottle of wine, more for the joy of uncorking than for the pleasure of drinking. The Vacuvin pineapple slicer is like that.

My mother, bless her, gave us a pineapple and a slicer for Easter. (Pineapples are sweet and sort of egg-shaped; they’ve become a family tradition.) It was so nifty that Josh and I went out and got another pineapple just so we could play with our new kitchen toy.

I don’t have a whole lot of arm strength, and I thought it’d be hard for me to use. Not at all. That thing rips right through the pineapple. With a little practice I think I could field-strip a pineapple in well under a minute. And when you’re done you have a neat pineapple shell just begging to be used as a container for a big tropical cocktail. There is a minor amount of pineapple left clinging to the rind, but it’s easy to scrape out; even if you don’t, certainly there’s a lot less mess and waste than I get when prepping with a knife. And the slicer is so cool. It cleans up easily, too. I love this thing.

Update: speaking of pineapple, whoa. I scraped the pineapple flesh out of that shell. The hand that was covered in pineapple juice for a few minutes is now notably softer and smoother than the other one. I suppose it isn’t really that surprising, but I’m surprised that the effect is so immediately noticeable. Filing that little fact away…

How early is the spring this year? I saw lilac blooms the other day. Just a few at the top of a bush, but still. This is nuts.

And if you want to go up north to see the tulip fields, this is the time. My mother and I do that every year, and while we’re up there we stop at the Rexville Grange for an exquisite arts-and-crafts show run by some of the nicest people you’d ever hope to meet. Seems like I always come back with something — a dragonfly pin, a beautiful little pitcher. This year I have my eye on some bamboo fencing and some neat concrete leaves. Mmm, and jam. And maybe one of Marguerite Goff’s wonderful blue tiles…

Unfortunately, I can never quite remember how to get there and I always lose the directions. So here’s the “external brain” portion of today’s post. The Rexville Grange is at 1929 Rexville Grange Road. To get there from I-5 northbound, take Exit 221 and head toward LaConner. Go over the Conway Bridge and follow Fir Island Road over the next bridge. Turn right onto Summer Drive and follow signs to the Grange, which will be on the left.

Anybody out there in Seattle happen to know of a source of free burlap bags? I’m trying to kill off my grass, and the folks at the Natural Garden and Hotline say that burlap (among other things) works really well to shade it out.

Die, lawn, die! I resent every moment I’ve spent mowing you!

Update: Hey, it turns out I can use the newspaper pages with the colored inks after all, just not the glossy stuff. I’d been misinformed. So while I’d cheerfully take any burlap on offer, turns out I can get by with newspaper.

“Some recipes contain candied peel, to represent the suffering of Christ on the cross…” Hoo-kay, I thought. But the recipe for Easter Biscuits does look very tasty.

Josh’s water-saving gadget for the shower is a great success. I wish we’d installed one of these temporary shutoff valves ages ago.

Other things we’ll be doing to save water in the coming summer of drought include using a bunch of rainbarrels, putting in a lot of compost so our garden will soak up the rain better, looking for leaks, and keeping a pitcher by the sink — when I need to run water until it’s hot, I fill up the pitcher and use that water for drinking. And we’re not watering the lawn. We hate the lawn and are going to try to kill most of it off.

What about you guys? What are your plans?

It’s curious. On eBay right now you’ll find dozens of gray acrylic crocheted ponchos honoring Martha Stewart, often sold with an issue of her magazines, a packet of seeds, or some other Martha item. Mysteriously, people are actually buying these things. One poncho-and-magazine combination is going at the moment for $41.00 with 19 bids.

Back in the early 90s I used to go around in a gray wool poncho. (Always twenty years behind or fifteen years ahead of my time, me.) It didn’t take all that long for me to recognize that it was not particularly attractive. Nor was it comfortable, especially when I was trying to lug around books, groceries, or laundry. I see trendy girls in their ponchos these days and I think, “You suckers.” But at least those ponchos don’t usually look as if they’ve been made out of old mop heads, unlike these Stewart-style objects.

In other news, I have it on good authority that having shingles really, really sucks. Josh is being amazingly patient, though.

I was pretty concerned about the side-effects of prednisone, which Josh may start taking for his shingles. (Poor critter.) Karl’s idea of not taking any medicine whose side effects sound like Dick Tracy villains — that there’s a sound idea, I think.

As it turns out, “Moon Face” and “Buffalo Hump” are not actually Dick Tracy villains. But I had to look it up, because I really wasn’t quite sure about “Moon Face”. I think I must have been semi-remembering Moonface Martin, Public Enemy No. 13, of Anything Goes.

Most awesome refrigerator ever?

Aw, come on, it’s a hot rod refrigerator. Isn’t that awesome?