respublica

Collinsville ranks high

This was a nice surprise. The Post-Dispatch related the results of a survey from AdvisorSmith, a business insurance site. This company did a study on "the best cities for working at home" in which they looked at 2500 cities. Collinsville ranked 21st in the smaller city category!

The five factors used to determine the rankings were availability of high-speed internet, weather conditions, crime rates, housing prices and parkland for nearby outdoor recreation.

The study showed that among small cities — 10,000 to 100,000 residents — about 76% of all Collinsville residents had access to two or more broadband providers offering 100 Mbps internet connections. (The small-city average was 52%.)

Also, the average cost for a three-bedroom in Collinsville was slightly less than $134,000, about 53% lower than the average home price for small cities.

No other STL municipalities made the honor roll of being one of the top 100 cities in either the small-city or medium-city category, and St. Louis city did not qualify as one of the top 50 large cities."

I copied the information from the story because clicking a Post-Dispatch link often means having to complete some sort of survey in order to read. We subscribe to the paper, but not everyone does.

The most "No Duh" story of the day

From KSDK, channel Five in St. Louis, a news report on "Why You Shouldn't Hang Masks from Your Rearview Mirror."

The reasons are so obvious I won't even copy them here, let's just say, It's a safety hazard which will block part of your field of view.

 

 

How did you learn to read?

I came across a short post on Zerna Addis Sharp. You may not recognize this name, but I'd bet you very well know what she did. She was born in 1889 and was a book editor and the creator of the Dick and Jane grade school readers.

Zerna Sharp was born in Indiana and became a teacher and eventual principal who was hired as a grade school textbook consultant by the Scott Foresman publishing company of Chicago  in 1924. The Dick and Jane books came about when she happened to be walking on a Lake Michigan beach and heard young children playing and calling out to each other:  “Oh! Look! Oh, oh, look."

From that beach to the most famous and well loved grade school reading textbooks. I learned to read from them as did millions of others for decades. Sadly the 60's women's rights movement was the beginning of the end for the books in schools.

I happen to have a couple of the original Dick and Jane books. One is a well remembered paper covered book, the other a third or fourth grade hardback. I treasure them

And back page of the paper back had this. Just so we'd know the stories no longer fit our world view.

It's chilly enough for chili

I was drawn into reading an article titled: "The unexpected ingredient Ina Garten adds to her chili."  You may remember Ina Garten from the Food Network's old days. She had a show on every afternoon and I watched it enthusiastically. She may still have a show, but I have no idea what day or time it's on since the Food Network has become the Food Contest Network. Almost nothing but people cooking to win a set of judges opinion as to who was best.

So the title got me to thinking about having chili for dinner tonight, it's certainly chilly enough here this morning. But what could her unexpected ingredient be? Chili ingredients are pretty much standard. Well it turns out her chili is nothing like chili in my world. It does not have beans but does have chicken instead of beef. It's sort of like a chicken tortilla soup, the story said. They should have stopped right there. If it's soup, it's soup, not chili.

Not chili. She uses skin on, bone-in chicken breasts. No beans, but bell peppers and onions. Her seasonings are pretty standard, though. Garlic, chili powder, cumin etc.

But her secret is basil! She uses an entire cup of minced basil for her chili. Frankly, she lost me here. Basil is wonderful, I use it any number of things, but that herb is very strong and will over power most things.

You don't have to add beans to your chili if they bother you, but please, don't be adding a cup of basil. Or chicken breasts with skin on.

I am going to make chili tonight, it sounds good, something we haven't had in months. We're both tired of the Covid 19 dinner rotation so off I'm going to get some cumin, the only thing I don't have in the spice cabinet.

The changing of the mailbox

For years, decades probably, we've had the same mailbox. It was a gift from one of our Tillotson neighbors, Ruth Hall, after we'd painted the house. This has to have been 30 years ago and for many years the brass mailbox looked good and did it's job. But in recent years it began to discolor and look awful so we decided to look for a new one. This isn't as easy as it seems, there are many varieties, qualities and sizes. We knew we had to get one which was 8 inches wide or it wouldn't fit. Any smaller a width would have been useless.

We found one finally we liked on Amazon after checking all the local stores. It came quickly and this morning Dale and I put it up. Here is a photo of the old one.

I tried cleaning it last week and it ended up looking worse than when I began and unfortunately for the mailman, he came just as the box was slathered with gunk. He was pretty shocked and told me I really wasn't allowed to do this. I have no idea why, but it's probably another governmental regulation on mail. Now it's gone and here is the new one.

Nice and heavy and wider than the other. We like it a lot. I hope our mailman does too when he comes tomorrow.

A new mosquito warning

This should not surprise anyone, 2020 has seen pretty much everything. Now comes a warning about killer mosquitoes carrying the Eastern equine encephalitis, EEE, virus. This has been found in 22 Oregon horses and Michigan last year had 25 percent of all human cases.

Michigan officials are urging people to cancel or postpone any outdoor event that takes place at or after dusk.

As if we haven't been urged to be outside to protect ourselves more from the CoronaVirus, now get inside to avoid these darn mosquitoes. At least we haven't had any sighting of the killer mosquitoes around here. I have, though, been bitten a lot by southern Illinois mosquitoes while working in the yard during afternoons lately. Which makes me a bit paranoid and who needs more paranoia right now.

Holes in the ground

All of a sudden i'm seeing holes in our backyard. They are in various areas and have popped up almost over night. I have no idea what is causing them but have to guess it's some sort of animal. But what kind of animal. We have long had a huge hole behind the garage which we know is from a groundhog. Our next door neighbor has the same type of big hole under his deck. We all figure one hole is the groundhog's front door and the other his back door. But these other holes are small but well formed. Rabbit? Too small and I don't think they are from squirrels digging areas to bury nuts. It's a puzzle.

More weird news

The news we get just keeps getting stranger and these stories are no longer confined to The National Examiner type papers. This story is on every mainstream news site.

"Dentist who extracted a tooth while on a hover board has been convicted on dozens of charges." 46 charges to be exact.

How weird we've become.

We're too obsessed with everything

It's probably the fault of the Coronavirus which has given us too much time at home and seeing things which need doing or fixing or needing to be thrown out. To believe stories in media outlets, especially the lifestyle pages, we are now obsessed with purse hangers. One story read:  Did someone say acrylic purse hangers? Beautifully sculptural with a rounded edge to preserve the shape of purse straps.

I don't know who that someone was but purse hangers have never been on the front of my mind. I guess for  many women they are though. "Not only are these purse hangers gorgeous, but you'll never have to worry again about how to store your bags in a way that they're protected yet still easy to see and reach for. Never fall victim again to wearing the same bag every day because you don't see any of the others: this solution will be a win time and time again!"

I get a kick out of this stuff. Mainly because I dislike purses and won't carry one if I can help it. A pocket for my wallet and car keys and that's about it. I often wonder just what so many women put in those huge shoulder bag purses and carry them everywhere.

In any event this new obsession with gorgeous purse hangers mainly seems to be an ad for the Container Store disguised as fashion news.

Hanging the wash out to dry

One thing I've been excited about since moving back to Collinsville was having a clothesline put up in the back yard. Years back we had one and I loved drying bed sheets on it. It was helpful for other clothing things as well although I stick to the dryer for most things. But the weirdest thing about this recently is how awful clothes pins are these days. I went out to get some and had to go to several stores before I even found any. Walmart of course had some and I bought a package of what I thought were the traditional wooden pins. They turned out to be the crappiest things ever. Every third one broke in two pieces as I tried to attach it. So, I went out again and decided the plastic pins which looked like the old fashioned ones would maybe work. But they too broke in two pieces, sometimes just by picking them up.

I was pretty ticked off, what possessed any company to make a product which served a specific function not serve that function at all. I looked on Amazon and saw lots of clothes pins of various types, many of which were the junk I'd already bought. There was one seller which had a beautiful wooden pin made in the old way but the cost was two dollars a pin. I then settled on a set of stainless pins which had good reviews and they came quickly.

They are very strong, the spring is tight and it takes some doing to open it.Dale was amazed at the strength it took to open. Not cheap parts to break in half and the tips have a rubber grip of some sort to give an even better hold. So far I'm loving these although a part of me misses the old time, never break, wooden ones.

 

 

All about the backdrop

With Corona came people working from home and needing to use their computers to meet with co-workers. Zoom meetings and Adobe Connect and other tech programs made this work. And so we've seen myriad faces on the screen all at once. But along with this came the issue of what kind of backdrop would frame our face the best.

Dale and I are always fascinated by the backdrops that news people create for their reporting. Many many reporters choose to have bookshelves behind them with books and a few artifacts for added interest. It seems as though news people use books so that viewers will see them as serious people. Local news people tend to be in their living rooms or even kitchens with the backdrop their outdoor yards. There is one cable news woman who we are convinced is reporting from a small bathroom.

This has actually made watching the news much more interesting as we comment on this or that behind each report. Dale has had to be part of a lot of those type of meetings and while he has more books and bookshelves than a person has a right to have, he has this as his back drop.

But also sometimes this:

But it might be better if he used this

This may add to your fears

UPDATE! I finally finally have an Illinois drivers license. After bailing on the long line in Edwardsville I decided to try Granite City. I'd heard good things about other people's experiences there so why not? It was wonderful...if that sort of thing can be wonderful. There was a bit of a wait, but not long enough to be troublesome. And, the staff working there was the most friendly, most cheerful and most efficient. They knew their jobs and wasted no time all the while staying very upbeat. Also have our new Illinois plates which I put on immediately.

 

I'm finding too many upsetting stories this morning. I apologize for posting them here, but I'm in a mood of sorts because I have to try one more time to get an Illinois drivers license. Last week we went out to Nashville, Illinois to get our new ones, but that was a total bust. Neither of us had what the two women working there would accept. To say it was a frustrated and angry drive home is putting it mildly.

Neither of us still has that ancient pink social security card and that was all they'd take. Dale pointed out the list of acceptable SS documents approved by the state, but nope. They told us to go by one of the SS offices and get a new card. That was a joke. They aren't open for walk-ins, only phone. We stood outside the Belleville SS office which had the lights on and people in there but we could not talk to them. So Dale called from his cell phone on the sidewalk. They told him to make some request in writing and mail it in to get a new card. To say we were pretty beside ourselves was putting it mildly. But when we got home, Dale said, "I'm going up to Edwardsville with my passport and get the license. I had no option because of that darn marriage license. So he did that and had no trouble at all and as it turned out any document we had in Nashville was perfectly fine for the SS number.

In my case it also included having to have an official Cook County marriage license to prove my name was changed from what was on my birth certificate. Honestly, married couples are never given the official county document, we only get the church certificate which isn't accepted. I never, ever had to show a marriage license (official) for any drivers license ever. I went online and ordered ours to be sent expedited (76 dollars) and it came yesterday. So I will try again. Dale had no trouble at all when he went to Edwardsville, got his license, registered to vote, new plates for the truck. No eye test, no sign or written test, in and out.

I'm going to study the rules of the road again before I leave because I don't trust that I'll have as easy a time as he did.

Anyway, here is a link to another fear mongering post put out for our safety. Wash Your Hands Immediately after Touching These Ten Things.

About that onion recall

It just got bigger.

Some weeks ago the story hit the wires that onions were being recalled due to salmonella contamination and onions, especially red onions disappeared from produce shelves. It wasn't long, however, before they reappeared. Now it seems what once was a problem for just a few store chains has now expanded. Not only fresh onions are involved- red, white and yellow but food with onions in it such as dips, sauces etc.

Trader Joes, Walmart, Kroger were known to have sold these onions. So far not Schnucks. But the brand names under which these onions are sold is at the link.

I was curious as to how salmonella gets into onions since vegetables are normally not as susceptible to this as meat is. So I looked it up. It could happen through contamination with animal feces, meat that had not been cleaned from the processing machines, or contaminated water or fertilizer.

 

A new tally!

Even with somewhat less traffic as people are working at home more often, these things are still falling onto St. Louis area highways.

Mattresses 50

Ladders 60

On another travel note in the STL, news this morning. The King bridge was closed for many months for repairs or some such. It recently re-opened and today we learn that today and tomorrow the westbound lane will close from 9-3 and Wednesday and Thursday the eastbound lanes will close from 8-3. For inspections! I mean, seriously? They just spent a long time re-doing that bridge, why weren't inspections done before they opened just a short time ago?

Where are the paper towels

Recently I've looked for paper towels and was surprised to see empty shelves in our local Schnucks. My first thought was: have people begun hoarding them again, do they know something I don't?" Schnucks did have a few rolls but the rolls were as thin as a baseball bat and very cheap looking, off brands. There seemed to be plenty of toilet paper, so why the lack of paper towels.

I did find some at Walmart, but even that store only had a certain amount of packages and lots of empty shelf space. I use paper towels for many things, like cleaning kitchen counters, windows, even the first scrub of dinner pots.

This morning thanks to a story on CNN I learned what the deal is with the paper towel shortage. "Part of the reason for the shortage is people keep hoarding them.  But the shortage could also have something to do with the way companies produce the paper towels. Lean manufacturing, in which companies make only as much product as they believe customers will buy on a given day -- has borne the brunt of the blame for the shortage. Also, you can't make a paper towel with only 99% of the supplies needed to manufacture them. As supply chains freeze up during the pandemic, paper towel companies have been unable to ramp up production because they don't always have access to the materials they need."

Hoarding, manufacturing slow-downs, lack of material.

This is so 2020 where knowing the why of something doesn't make it any easier.

 

A basement story, have a seat

I came across this news story today- "Here's Why Old Houses Have a Random Toilet in the Basement."    The photo accompanying it made me laugh out loud.

The reason I laughed and ran to show Dale this story is this in our basement.

We've been talking about this toilet down there fairly frequently lately. Dale has begun tearing out another wall down there behind and to the right of the toilet. The toilet stands out like a sore thumb. I suggested he get the water back running so he'd not have to come back upstairs. But in the end we aren't sure what is going to happen with it.

It's not quite in the same era as the Pittsburgh Potty written about in the story, but it does have some age and used to be part of an actual bathroom until someone here began tearing everything up.

 

Your Saturday advice

Hints for the week which too often fall into the Captain Obvious column. But here are a few anyway.

It's spider season and the Real Homes website has some advise on how to get rid of them humanely. Frankly, Fall does find us walking into spider webs constantly. They spin their webs on anything and every thing outdoors and try the same indoors. After reading through the whole article waiting for the actual advice on getting rid of spiders in the house, it just came down to "don't clutter and clean well."

Here is another article this morning for women of a certain age-"The Best Colors to Wear if You Want to Look Younger." And who doesn't? Turns out the best color is turquoise or some variation of it. This color supposedly brings out the glow in every skin tone. Here's how to choose the right shade of turquoise: "If you have a lighter skin tone, turn over your arm and look at the veins in your wrist. If they look bluer or greener, find a shade of turquoise that leans toward that color." If you have a darker or medium skin tone, you are in luck, any shade of turquoise will look great on you.

I have tended toward this color in recent years without knowing all the experts recommended it because I saw a lot of that color for sale and as it happens, I have a pair of glasses that color. So I match. I will say I don't think of these colors as turquoise especially, more of a blue green.

Now for food advise from Captain Obvious. "what it actually means when ground beef turns brown."  We all have had that happen, right?

"If the outside of your beef is a different color than the inside, the red outside is due to oxygen interacting with pigments in the meat. If the inside of the meat is gray/brown, it the part which hasn't been exposed to oxygen and it's safe to eat."  I'm not totally convinced of this, but it's the science. However, If you aren't sure it's safe first smell the ground beef and then feel it. We all know what smell bad beef smells like (rotten). Bad ground beef will feel slimy, tacky or sticky. Throw all that away.

More than you needed to know, right?

 

Car hacks

I get sucked into stories which begins with "What you probably don't know, but should know, about...."  The topic could be anything these days, but there is always something we never knew.

Today I came across this one: 35 car Hacks Every Driver Should Know. Of course many of these most of us will never need to use, but some might just be those we can file away in our memory bank just in case.

The first one that interested me was using hand sanitizer to unfreeze door locks. Who doesn't have hand sanitizer right now and if your car doesn't have locks which open with the key fob, this may help come winter. Squirt into the lock area or on the key and for some mysterious reason, the sanitizer will heat up the lock so it can be opened.

And, many of us with the electric or key fob push button locks may one day find the key fob won't click open the locks. It seems many cars have a manual lock hidden under the door handle. Stick the key into that small opening and your door will unlock. I checked our vehicles this morning and my truck does not seem to have this, but Dale's car does. 

And this one I love and it doesn't necessarily have anything specific to cars. When you have to add to remove a key from a key ring it's really hard on the fingers or finger nails. Those darn round rings you have to separate and open a bit to slide a key on or off can be frustrating. Here's the trick. Use one of those small staplers or staple removes to pull the ring open. I'm getting one today.

And there are more at the link. Some we will never use, others may come in handy.

Size matters and size changes

I was just looking at this picture comparing the size of Ferris Wheels in Chicago about 100 years apart. Supposedly railroad cars were used that riders stood in during the 1893 wheel. What a difference. We can see how much more safety minded we are in this day and age.

2160 person capacity back then!

One more travel post

Today Dale and I are going out to replace our Missouri Drivers' license for an Illinois license and this is causing all kinds of mental stress. We've been pouring over the Illinois rules of the road (103 pages!) and are hoping we won't have to sit down and take a test on all this. We know we'll have to be quizzed on road signs and take an eye exam.

When we moved from Illinois to Missouri 15 years ago, it was easy in and out of the drivers license office. An eye exam and sign quiz, that was it. But now we have no idea how much will be involved today and so are hopefully prepared for anything. But 103 pages of rules is almost too much to absorb and so, I least, am stressed. Dale not so much. We do have to bring along a whole packet of proof of everything from social security numbers to birth certificates to marriage license, signature, residency and so forth.

We have heard stories of how long the lines have been near us in Collinsville so we've decided to go to Nashville, Illinois in Washington County for the licenses where it should be less wait time. It could also be true that fewer people may mean more testing because the staff has the time. But that's just the way my mind works and why Dale is the most patient man on earth. We know Nashville, Dale's first church as pastor was in Washington County and we know a lot of people out there still.

This should finally be the last major thing to take care of from this move.