thisendoftheswamp

We have memory foam mattresses, which tend to really hold the heat, so we sprang for toppers that are supposed to keep you feeling cool during those long summer nights.

The new pad is also memory foam, but the secret is apparently in all those little holes. The cat is terrified of the thing. He was “helping” us make the bed, but when he jumped up his feet sank into the pad a good two inches. He sprang unto the headboard and tried to make it across the bed without falling back onto the mattress. Poor baby.

Cats are supposed to be color blind (how can you see what a cat sees, anyway?) but as far as Boris is concerned this shimmery blue thing is water and it gets his feet wet! Now, if we can figure out how to keep him off the bed after we cover the pad with a sheet, we’ll be in business.

Speaking of keeping cool on summer nights, last week was in the 80s every day. Today in has barely cleared 50, and tomorrow’s low will be 32. There are frost warnings. Flanders and Swann are still my favorite comedy team, even though they’ve booth been gone for decade. One time Michael Flanders was talking about the weather. “It was nice, yesterday. Spring, wasn’t it? I missed it last year. I was in the bathroom.”

I seem to be awfully rough on smart phones

I had one that I rather liked but accidentally wore in into the shower. Even though it was touted as being waterproof it died, so The Squire ordered me another one. We never could get it to tell the correct time or date, and it didn’t have the apps that the first one had. The second “new” watch was even worse. We were supposed to download the apps we wanted, but the company took no responsibility for the apps actually working as advertised. “Maybe they will and maybe they won’t” and by the way, each one cost money. None fundable, of course.

I’m now on my third watch. This one doesn’t give my blood pressure, and has one screen that doesn’t seem to do anything, but it counts steps accurately, and have a very good sleep pattern app. That being said, it lights up at odd times, and it seems to be busiest in the middle of the night. Sometimes I feel as if I’m trying to sleep across the bay from a bloody lighthouse!

Several buttons on my favorite jacket have broken, so I trotted off and bought at entire set of new ones. While I was removing the old buttons, I realized there was a MUCH easier way to attached them than laboriously sewing them over and over with plain sewing thread.

I grabbed some embroidery floss from the box and threaded a large needle. Tied a knot in the end of the floss, leaving maybe an inch beyond the knot. One stab up, a stab through the shank of the button, another stab down and knotted the ends of the thread. Done!

I removed and reattached all seven buttons in about twenty minutes.

It’s supposed to be in the 50s tomorrow.

And It Doesn’t End Well.

About three weeks ago, we had a massive snowstorm that dumped about 9 inches of snow over Baltimore; there are still piles of the stuff around the complex. Last week we got another couple of inches. That was no big deal, as it wasn’t cold enough to stick, although it came as the same time as the Carbon-Monoxide flap chez Rice.

This past week the temps have been in the upper 40s and low 50s by mid-afternoon, and The Squire and I have been going for our walks again. It is 48 degrees right now – 1:00 pm – so we’ll mosey on out in a few minutes.

Tomorrow will only be 35, and they are calling for snow on Tuesday.

A very nice young man came over yesterday and had a look-see at the stove.

According to him, most people generally use two “favorite” burners on any stove and that can lead to the sort of problem we had. He showed us that the underside of the burner had been worn down on one side because the top plate was loose and soot had built up around it. The combination of soot and unburned gas was what had set off the alarm.

We ordered a new insert for the burner, and all is well in the kingdom.

Does anybody need six frozen dinners?

Just as The Squire was getting ready to fix supper last night, the CO2 alarm began chirping. I tried swinging a dishcloth at it, but the lady who lives inside just kept nattering on.

After some discussion, The Squire finally called 911. No, you can’t smell it, no there’s no “fog”. Just call, please!

The local fire department is less than half a mile away, so they were here pretty quickly. They never use sirens when they come into the complex, and they have a key to the main entrance of every building, but for whatever reason, they came to the back door of our building. If it wasn’t sheer happenstance that I had gone down to get the 8-foot ladder from the closet, they’d have been out there in the snow all night, as there is no buzzer on that side of the building. Anyway, I got them all upstairs with their equipment and dirty boots. They went into every room in the unit with a magic wand that beeped in accordance with the amount of CO2 and ended up disconnecting the stove.

Marvelous! Well, I guess hungry is better than dead.

After they left, The Squire and I slogged out into the snow to go pick up some frozen meals we could nuke until we can fry an egg or two. The snow was soft and wet, perfect for making snowballs, which made clearing the windows a lot more fun – until I threw away my wedding band. I have put on so much weight that I simply cannot get my ring on the finger where it belongs, so I have been wearing it on my left pinkie, where it is slightly loose. Just loose enough that when I shook my hands to get the last of the ice off them, the ring flew off onto the parking lot. Ran upstairs to get a flashlight, and found it quickly enough, a few feet away. I’ll just wear it to church, etc. Everybody knows I’m married, so . . . https://thisendoftheswamp.com/2012/06/22/with-this-ring/

And then, even though it was only a little after 6PM, both the grocery store and the local IHOP were closed. We came home and had cereal for supper.

It is common knowledge that Queen Victoria was short, even by the norms of the time, but it’s a photo such as this that really brings it home.

This dress was worn by her while in mourning for her grandson, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, who died in the 1892 influenza epidemic. He was 28.

Quite the dude, wasn’t he?