respublica

We're having a real winter

So many years this area doesn't get much in the way of winter weather. We get a few small snows and a few bitter cold days, but not many. In most of my adult years I really wanted snow and was too often disappointed in the little we got each winter. When we did get a major snow it seemed almost too much. In any event, last year on this date we had ourselves a deep snow which was cleared and then piled up again. Here is a picture I took of Dale using the leaf blower last year on snow which fell over the previous day's snow.

This year's two or three snows weren't especially deep but did cover up our cars. As I was in the garage for something else I noticed a tool hanging from a shelf and I realized I'd forgotten all about this. I bought it some years ago to clear snow off car windows and it is actually perfect for that job. It's scraper part is rubber and moves a lot of snow without scratching. I've used it 3 times already this past month. I'm pretty sure I bought this at Rural King and happy to have it. So much better than those plastic scrapers for snow.

Dusting the house advice

Dusting. Who doesn't have to do this? I swear this time of year with no windows open sees just as much dust in our house as in spring or summer. I'd guess it often is due to the furnace and the filter not catching enough dust. We do change the filters regularly, but still have dust.

So here is some advice from a cleaning expert.

• Do not make your bed immediately
• Clean blinds and vents regularly
• Wipe ceilings and other hard-to-reach areas
• Vacuum, mop, and disinfect
• Limit the number of rugs in your house

Honestly, I am not about to wipe down ceilings and we have hardwood floors and they still get dust. It's just one of those things we will never get away from and dusting is a part of our daily routine.

But what is this "don't make your bed immediately all about?

"After waking up, let your bed sit for about 30 minutes, then proceed to make your bed, this will prevent bacteria and dust growth in your bed. Our body produces moisture throughout the night when we sleep and when you cover up all that warm moisture in your bed without letting it breathe, it will lead to bacteria and odor."

Locking up the cosmetics

"One of the most common things stolen from retail stores is cosmetics." This article claims many stores have seen a big rise in this crime and are going to great lengths to stop it. Why are cosmetics so commonly stolen? "these items are often stolen given their relatively small size, their comparably high cost, and the potential fact that buying certain items, such as weight loss drugs and pregnancy tests, could be seen as embarrassing."

Stores are locking many of these things up which requires an employee to come and retrieve an item. But good lock finding an available helper, too often no one is around. One Walmart even went so far as too barricade the cosmetic area. Other places have begun adding cameras to help stop theft.

In truth, as maddening as it is to have to find a person to unlock a case, if people would not steal, this would not be necessary. But here we are.

 

Kahoks to DC

Last week one of the Collinsville High School classes took a tour of Washington DC. What was fun for me was our daughter Katie who works for the senate, gave them a bit of a tour.

This sums it up around here

I came across this picture the other day. I have come to really like a man who has a Facebook page filled with amusing and funny, out of the ordinary posts. The page is named, "Life of Fred Math (Fan Club)".

Well worth seeing what he puts up during each day. Here is the one which seems like home and so much like Dale.

Popular baby names in 2022

The state of Virginia's Vital Records Office has published the list of that state's 15 most popular boy and girl baby names for last year. This is interesting for the most part to see how our culture is reflected in newborns. Are the babies being named for movie stars, sports stars, politicians (no), or anything else.

The most popular boy name was Noah and the girl name was Charlotte.

The other boy top 15 were: James, Liam, William, Henry, Theodore, Oliver, Elijah, Levi, Benjamin, Owen, John, Jack, Asher, and Lucas.

The girls list: Olivia, Ava, Amelia, Emma, Harper, Evelyn, Eleanor, Sophia, Elizabeth, Lilly, Abigail, Riley, Nora, and Chloe.

I have no idea if Missouri or Illinois keeps track of these things but it might be fun to know.

Highway ladders are still a thing

A couple of years ago, KMOX radio traffic copter reporter, Rodger Brand noticed frequent ladders and mattresses along the highways. He decided it was time to start counting them up with the year's total in December. It turned out to be fairly large numbers of these things which could be a real danger to other drivers. By doing this he hoped drivers who hauled these items would pay attention to securing them safely.

Although he doesn't do this anymore that I can tell, I always keep this in mind when we are on the highway near trucks or cars with mattresses or ladders hooked up to their vehicles. We give them a wide berth.

So today I read this from a friend of ours: "Beware of unsecured ladders that fly off pick-up trucks as you’re driving on the highway. 3 Hours later, & 2 damaged tires, we’re headed home."

This comment brought me right back to Rodger Brand. And, yes, be watchful as you are driving near people with ladders or mattresses or couches or whatever attached to their cars or trucks.

 

 

One memorable weekend

Dale's mother passed away early last week and her funeral was in Chicago Heights on Saturday with a Friday visitation. All in all it was a beautiful couple of days as many many people came to share their memories of Norma with the family. The service was a testament to her faith and a witness to us attending. One of the things which stood out to me was seeing all the relatives, especially the great grandchildren.

Our grandsons were a joy to behold as they took part in each thing with composure, helpfulness and interest. It turned out to be a blessing in many ways.

But now we are home and of all things I suddenly decided our stove top really needed a good cleaning. What a weird thought after the past few days. It is stainless steel and the cook top need some work with hardened grease and food. Not terrible, but could just not stop looking at it. This got me to Google to find the best way to clean and the most common answer was Dawn dish soap in a bowl of hot water. Then take a cloth of some type, swish it in the soapy water and then lay it on top of the greasy areas. Leave it for some time and the wipe off. 

Seriously, this worked, worked fast and did the job. So glad it did not take all day.

Odd things go on after an emotional and sweet time. I needed to do something constructive. Also off the Wild Birds Unlimited to get more hot pepper bird seed. Looks like we may have snow tomorrow.

Here we go again Highway 40

Back in, I think, 2007, MODOT closed a large stretch of Highway 40 (64) for construction and replacement of some bridges. This did not end until 2010. We lived in Clayton those years and travel was tiresome. We rejoiced with thousands of other drivers when this was completed. Now MoDOT is hoping to close Highway 40 from Kingshighway to Jefferson to repair or replace 13 bridges which cross the highway.

According to MoDOT the bridge roads are in bad repair and need replacing. Highway 40 is a major east west road through St Louis and shutting down that stretch is going to be 2007 all over again. I've had to head back east to Collinsville from Concordia Seminary several times recently, mostly during the afternoon rush hour and the streets entering the highway are packed. Closing those miles is going to make the surface streets a nightmare once again.

It's possible to make a way to I-44 to downtown and back, but it won't be easy.

A Panic Inducing Bridge

This is one of those "I never knew this" articles. Denmark has an 8 kilometer bridge connecting Copenhagen to the Swedish city of Malmo. That is almost 5 miles. What makes this different is that the end of the bridge becomes a 4 kilometer tunnel under the Flint Channel. That is 2 and a half miles. It looks beautiful, but I am not sure I could relax driving under the sea.

Photos at the link.

 

Something good for the Fridge

I'm not much for buying every single, supposedly great, for the home. But I am seriously considering by these refrigerator shelf mats. They can even be cut to the size of your shelves as well as being easy to clean. How many times have I laid something in the refrigerator and got drips which dried on to the shelf making it difficult to clean. Often this meant taking out the entire glass shelf to wash, or being bent over trying to do it in place.

So I am heading to Amazon this morning and get some of these.

Illinois is number 1

Sometimes being number one is not a good thing and this title for Illinois is in that category. "Three Illinois Cities Among the Worst For Bed Bugs!

The Three cities are Chicago, Champaign and Peoria. Chicago is number one overall. Not really something to brag about.

Word of the Day

I did not realize the Merriam Webster Dictionary people put out a Word of the Day with definition. Today's Word is Countenance. We all probably know what this means, "facial expression" or some look on the face. But a joker added another definition in another place.

"We were curious how many insects were in the colony so we spent the whole day countenance."

One ad too over the top

It seems to me that one very annoying commercial is showing up on every local and national station, every type of programming.

This ad has a very loud guy screaming that we can get Spectrum mobile for the amazing price of 29.99 a month. He says this over and over and louder and louder until I mute the TV.

29.99, 29.99 Yes, 29.99. And the first month FREE!  FREEEEE

I just heard this guy already this morning on the local news. He is too much for this early in the day.

Funny Illinois City Names

I came across this story link:  "These Ten Towns in Illinois Have the Strangest Names You'll Ever See."

Of course I had to go to the article, living in Illinois as I do. But, frankly, whoever made up this list chose some good ones, but I take issue with El Paso and Paris being on the list, nothing really strange there.

Here is the writer's list:

Goofy Ridge

Bone Gap

Cave in Rock

Sandwich---I had relatives living in Sandwich when I was a kid, it's near Big Rock.

Timewell

Perks

Lowpoint

El Paso

Paris---My mother in law lives in Paris, Illinois

Ransom

 

Disappointing food news

I should not be all that surprised to learn the secret behind grocery store rotisserie chickens. We happen to really like these chickens and dinner is easy to make. But here is the secret stores don't talk about.

Rotisserie chickens in grocery stores are often the unsold raw chickens that are about to expire. By selling them at a lower price, grocery stores make less money than they would on raw birds, but way more money than they would if they tossed the chickens out. The ones that don't sell are chopped up and made into chicken salad.

There is probably little health risk with these practices, but it is unsettling.

Shopping issues I've missed

It seems as though many shoppers have found that Walmart has begun locking up products which cost less than ten dollars, forcing customers to find an employee with a key. Finding someone to unlock a case really difficult most days and many have begun going other places for those products. Often the most locked up things are in the beauty department. Things like mascara, other makeup items and even shampoo and pregnancy tests. One store even locked up underwear.

Target is doing this as well as other stores. Places like Macy's and Dillards have long had cosmetic and beauty products manned by a worker behind a counter.

I can see how this would be frustrating, it's rarely easy to find an employee to help or even answer a question. I also understand that things like makeup are probably frequently shop-lifted, they are usually small items easily tucked into a pocket of bag. Other stores have had certain things behind a counter accessible only by employee, but the area is normally staffed.

When I shop, I am normally aware of the fact that there are probably cameras every where and while I am not inclined to steal things, I don't want to do anything that looks suspicious.

In the end, though, if stores are going to lock up some things there needs to be workers in place with a key.

Interesting price changes

I came across an interesting bit of price changing at Schnucks this week. For some time I've purchased a couple of Pinot Noir wines I like at Schnucks with costs ranging from 18.99, 16 something and maybe 19 something. But early this week when I shopped I saw that all of them were in the 24.99 range and was shocked that the price had gone up so much. Then Friday I went back and saw each of the wines had sale stickers which had the original price. So they raised price and then put them on sale at the old price. This just seemed weird and irritating.

No Cell Service

Yesterday I realized I could not make a phone call or receive a call. I have gotten into the habit of texting people I want to get in touch with so was not aware that at some point my phone has "no service". To say the least this worried me because there are times when a person really needs to make a call or at least in an emergency a call can be made.

I went over and over the phone yesterday trying everything I could to see if I could get the service back and working. Nothing worked and its a mystery as to why this happened. So today we are going over to Verizon to get new phones and also ask what happened to my cell service. We do need new phones, we've each had our current ones for some time.

Chair Yoga for elders

It seems all kinds of new year's advice is being directed to older people this year. I get sort of a kick out of these things, it is just a reminder I'm not as young as I feel or think. But these exercises for seniors which can be done while sitting in a chair intrigued me, but also made me laugh. Click the image to enlarge and have a go at some of these. I'm ok with most, but the criss corss may not be for me. I can just feel my lower back scream.