Dot`sThoughts

Saturday,March 28, 2009
Cleaning the new car for the first time.

Today started out good. Even though the sun wasn`t shining through the clouds, it still felt warmer out. At 9AM it was 41 degrees F. with no wind blowing. It was supposed to hit the high 50`s, so I decided it would be a good day to clean my car. I went down cellar and turned on the well water line that connects to my outdoors faucet. Then I started getting everything together and setting it out on my back porch- the small ladder, the large sponge ( never ended up using it), the long handled brush that connects to the hose, the water proof gloves, soft cloths, old soft white socks, etc. I like using old socks with the ribbed top folded inside for rubbing on the cleaner as I can slide my fingers up inside the sock- like a mitt. I have trouble hanging onto a regular small cloth, But do use the larger soft cloths for wiping off the cleaner. Then I went out to the shed for the long hose, and drove the car from the garage to the empty lot I own on the other side of the house where the faucet is. Now, figured I had everything ready, so went to get the cleaner/wax container.

Now, this is where the day started going wrong. Reaching for the cleaner on the high shelf in the laundry room, it slipped from my crocked fingers, hitting the floor. The plastic bottle broke-splitting down the whole seam side and dumped all over my laundry room floor. I used a large putty knife to scoop it up and most of it was ok to still use. Had to finish washing the floor and other items before heading back outside. Took what could be used and headed outside. Next, when I hooked the hose to the faucet, it leaked. Checking I noticed the gasket was missing, so I borrowed one from another hose- fit and worked great. So another problem solved. Now, to hook on the long handled brush. The brush came unhooked from the handle, found the head where it connected was cracked. So, back to the house for the old brush. This one leaked- so borrowed the second gasket from the other hose to stop that leak.

Finally was able to start hosing off the car and start cleaning it. Before I finished, I found out why they always say to keep the cleaners off any rubber decoration on the car. Long before I was finished the rubber gloves were being destroyed. Spent all morning cleaning and waxing the car. It was worth all the time and trouble I went through just to see it shining like new again. What should have been about a couple hours work ended up taking me all morning to accomplish. I sure will miss that larger, longer handled brush. It had a neck part that could be adjusted to any angle and the center of the large sized brush swiveled as the water flowed through it. It was great for washing higher outside windows on the house.
Wish the long handled additions would fit the old brush, but no way. I will need to check Sears to see if they still sell the better brush. Guess mine just wore out from years of use. I can`t complain as it gave me good service for years. As they say, nothing lasts forever.

My daughter Theresa offered to wash the car for me this afternoon after she got home from work. But, that first new car washing is when you notice if there is any defects in the paint, so better to do it myself and know. Plus, she works two jobs all week long and I felt she needed to rest and be with her husband when ever she had any spare time.

Labels: First washing of new car

March 18, 2009, Thursday

Spring is almost here. A few days ago I started planting my veggie seeds and most are already sprouting. Bought one of those small plastic greenhouses with 72 peat pellets to plant seeds into. Never tried this way before. So far, so good. Most everything is already starting to sprout. Used to take 1 to 2 weeks in regular potting soil. Hope they continue to grow and strengthen so they stand well. I do love fresh garden veggies over bought ones. I had to stop planting the larger gardens when it became too hard to get up off the ground. For a few years I used my short handled pitchfork stuck into the ground as a crutch to get up with. Then I smartened up and figured out another way to keep having my garden without reaching the ground. I started buying what they call Earth Boxes and I built standards to sit them on. Then I named it my Stand-up garden. Now, each year I find it much easier to grow my vegetables without working so hard. I am able to care for the garden by just walking around the boxes. The boxes come with covers, so no weeds or grass to keep pulling. Using potting soil, i learned weeds do not grow in it like in regular soil. The bottom of the Earth boxes has a reservoir ares under the soil platform that can be filled with water. So, the sun doesn`t dry out the soil like it did the larger gardens. So, you do not even have to re-fill it every day unless it is real hot out. Less water wasted and the plants have a constant water supply to draw from. The person who invented these Boxes deserves a lot of credit.

I cannot figure out why my dog suddenly decided the tiny Koala bear shouldn`t be clipped onto the top corner of my monitor screen. My older sister brought it back when she visited friends in Australia last summer. It has hung on my monitor for a whole year now. I awoke a couple days ago to find it laying on the kitchen floor destroyed. My border Collie must have climb her front feet up onto my keyboard table to reach it. It had a good clamp on it so it`s paws held it real tight and it couldn`t fall on it`s own. I keep wondering if it was the starring eyes that drew my dogs attention or what. Over a week ago I had taken a fall when a knee gave out and I caught my other foot on her dog bed and went flying. Luckily I only got bruised up and strained an arm and broke nothing. So it wouldn`t happen again, I moved her bed from the dining room into the other side of my kitchen where my computer also sits. So she now sleeps out here at night. In fact she now spends most of the day and evening laying on her dog bed behind my chair. Maybe her eyesight isn`t as clear as it used to be. Maybe she thought the trinket was real. Who knows. She isn`t the type that normally chews up anything except the treats I give her. This is so unlike her. But she turned 13 years old this month, so maybe her eyesight isn`t as good as it used to be. I had the vet check both her hearing and eyesight a few months ago when she went for her yearly check-up and he felt she was doing good. Maybe she never noticed the tiny bear hanging there until she started sleeping out here. I know she has chased flies in the past, but this bear was not moving. Guess I will never fully understand what caused her to attack it that way. I picked it up , let her see me holding it and placed it into a small plastic bag and re-hung it using a clip to hold the bag there. I am hoping that her watching me taking care of it will make her realize that it was ok for it to be there. Hopefully it will show her that it is ok for things to be hanging there so she won`t attack something else in the future.

It rained again today and washed down more of the snowbanks. It sure feels good to be able to see to safely while backing out of my driveway. The banks sure were way too high this winter. Spring will be here in a couple days and there is still snow on the ground. Was in the 50`s for a couple days, now back in the 40`s again days and 20`s and teens still at nights. I will post pictures showing the high banks before the rain and their height after the rain.

February 28, 2009
Here it is- almost the end of February, 2009. Part of me wonders where the past couple months went to. Seems like Christmas was just about three or four weeks ago. The other part of me can`t wait for winter to end and the high snow banks to start melting so I can see to back out safely from my driveway onto the road that runs in front of my home. My road is just wide enough for two cars to pass comfortably in the summer, but in the winter they don`t plow the road as wide as they could. I think they are afraid of hitting the mailboxes that sit near the side of the road. Maybe I should explain the mailboxes for future generations in case they stop delivering mail to every home years from now. We have home mail delivery. The mail delivery person drives a vehicle and puts each family`s mail into their own mailbox that sits on a post that is driven into the ground to keep it from falling over. If I lived in the city I would only have a small letter holder on the outside of my house on the front porch and mail would be delivered by a postman or postlady who walk on foot while delivering.

We have always had our mail delivered 6 days a week-- every day except for Sunday. I heard on the television that they are thinking of stopping the Saturday delivery and only leave mail on the 5 week days instead of 6 days. They figure it would save money. Might save the government money, but what about how much harder it might make it for the family if the post delivery person lost a days pay every week. Who is thinking of their families? One day a week might not sound like much till you realize the paycheck would be 4 days less every month . With 52 weeks delivery every year, that would be 52 less pay days every year- like having almost two months vacations without pay, How does a family manage during those almost two months. Do they go on Government paid welfare help? How much would be really saved if the Government had to support the whole family instead of paying the 52 days pay to the parent supporting this family. But the government would not help these families for that one missing payday every week. So, the Government might give them one less working day each week, instead of the almost 2 months off because this way they won`t have to help support the family. But that one day less pay becomes a lot of less pay for the worker as the weeks go by.

A few years ago they spoke of making the 5 day a week school days into 6 days a week. Now, that would cost much more than what the one less mail day pay would save. Paying so many teachers , plus more supplies, heat or cooling for all the school rooms, more gas and bus repairs to transport the children the extra day each week- all this would sure amount to quit a bit. So, property taxes would probably be raised to help cover this extra cost. So, again, it would be the people who would suffer with paying out more.

To get back to the road that isn`t plowed very wide- to make matters worse seems there is always at least one or two cars parked in the road to drive around. One was parking across from my driveway making it hard for both me and my daughters to back out of our driveways. There is just a couple feet between our two driveways. Once the snow is gone then they can park further off the side of the road instead of in the road. The town snow plow had to drive around the parked car leaving the snow in our driveways in order to get passed the parked car. This one car didn`t even have a license on it, so according to laws it can`t legally be on the road. Still the police didn`t wish to do anything to have it removed. Finally the town got tired of only being able to plow part of the road so they turned in a report. They first tried to give the owner a chance to remove it off the road, but no one was willing to admit they owned the car. So, the town had it towed away. Wonder if the owner ever went to claim his vehicle.

They say we might get more snow tomorrow into Monday. I hope the weather report is wrong. The snow banks are so high it is getting hard for the snow blower to reach that high and very hard to try and throw a shovel full up that high. I am ready for spring to get here.
I hear people saying this winter reminds them of the old winters when they were small.Sometimes I feel the same way. I just do not remember having the weeks of warmer weather in the middle of winter that makes the snow bank melt down and start building all over again with the next snow storm like it did this year. Maybe my mind has forgotten that, but what I remember is the banks just kept getting higher and higher and they didn`t seem to lower until spring. I remember what they call Indian summers only lasting about three or four days, not as many days as it seems to last in recent winters.

----------Remembering the styles of Clothing back in the 30`s and 40`s---------

But one thing that has improved greatly is the clothing that is allowed in school today. Still not sure how I feel about wearing pant-suits to Church, but allowing girls to wear slacks, etc. to school is a wonderful change. I was surprised when in later years they started allowing jeans worn in Church.
Years ago we were not allowed to cover our legs. Leotards had not been invented, neither did we have knee high socks yet. It was dresses and short thin bobby socks with fold down cuff tops that just went above the ankles leaving the legs bare from the ankles to just above the knees. I remember how that cold winter wind would make your legs so cold you lost the feelings in them and Oh, how they would ache once they started warming up again when you went inside a building. Now boys were lucky as their clothing also changed, but for the better. Those knee high pants or knee knockers as some called them, became foot length covering their entire legs and so their legs were better protected from the cold winter weather and freezing winds. We walked a mile each way-including lunch time- making a 4 mile total walk every day starting at the age of 5 in First grade. When I first started school some boys were still wearing the knee knocker pants so there legs were only a little more protected than the girls legs were, but some of the boys had already started wearing the new long length pants. I still have one of my grade school class pictures showing boys wearing both styles.I often wonder if that leg freezing over so many school years might be why so many have leg problems when they are older.

So there was a good change in clothing styles that helped the boys when I was young. It may have taken years to allow girls the same leg protection, but time did bring that good change also.
Hopefully there might be less leg problems for the future generations. They often say that History repeats itself. Let`s hope not where the bare leg clothing comes back into style for winter wear.