respublica

It's so quiet

We are down at the cottage on the Huzzah Creek for a short couple of days. Dale was getting obsessed with checking on the bushes and plants he put into the ground a couple of weeks ago. We left yesterday afternoon when weather reports predicted rain, but very little ever came down, just enough to wet things gently.

In any event I was standing outside just now and realized how very quiet it was. No wind or breeze rustling the tree leaves, no traffic, just quiet. So quiet I could distinctly hear the single drop of yesterday's rain hit the ground leaves. The longer I stood and listened to the silence the more I heard a singular cricket off in the distance as well as individual bird sounds in various directions.

A very unusual experience.

An unsettling article for today

I started reading this article on how we are all doing housekeeping all wrong. Halfway through I was mostly grossed out. Seriously, everything thing in our daily life seems to be covered with dust mites, hair, dead skin cells, decomposing insects, dust mites and their excrement.

Also, "By applying disinfectant and then wiping straight away, nine times out of 10 all that you are doing is spreading bacteria. "There are some cleaning products only require you to wait two minutes but typically it's five minutes or more."

They also recommend doing one of the hardest jobs-washing pillows and comforters and the mattress itself. My feeling is attempting these things often makes things worse. Ever heard a washing machine while it is trying to wash bulky pillows? Supposedly 16 species of fungi can live on a pillow.

Kitchen sponges get filled with bacteria as do kitchen wash cloths. Actually this is one thing I'm obsessed about and never use a dish cloth or sponge. If I have to re-scrub a dish or pan before putting it in the dishwasher, I use paper towels.

 

Tricks on Halloween candy

A lot of candy is being sold right now with Halloween coming on Sunday. Candy will be given out in big numbers even before that day, so many communities, schools and churches are putting on Halloween walks with all kinds of groups giving out treats. Collinsville will be having one on Saturday.

But, it seems that Illinois has found another way to tax us more, this time with candy sales. Surprisingly there are two types of candy and one is taxed 6 times higher than the other. In Illinois candy made with some flour is not taxed as high as those that are not, flour makes them considered food. Who knew flour went into candy? Kit Kats, Cookies and Cream and Twix are three candies not taxed as high as a Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar or a Snickers.

Treats made with flour are taxed at 1 percent and candy without flour are taxed at 6.25 percent.

Too bad I shopped for candy yesterday before reading this article. But, what I found in the stores was lots and lots of candy still for sale. But, the type most kids like the most these days, sour, are not to be seen. At least where I was.

Don't Veer for Deer

We are entering the scary highway travel season. Deer are becoming more common along roads, both rural and interstates and they too often jump out into traffic. With autumn comes deer mating season, which is a time of increased activity at dawn and dusk peeking in October through December.

I am especially nervous on the roads at this time since we've hit deer more than once. They appear on the road almost out of no where, too often with no way to avoid hitting them. The first deer our family group hit was just outside of Venedy, Illinois, along the township road. Dale and 3 year old Lizzie coming home from somewhere when the deer jumped out in front of them. The deer was killed and the whole incident was traumatic for the two of them. Then, at home, Dale thought it would be calming if he read Lizzie the story of Bambi. Not the best move.

The motto for this season in many states is "Don't Veer For Deer". This advice tells us that our natural instinct to swerve away from where the deer is often leads to more severe accidents. Swerving or veering could land us into a car next to us, or even lead to our car just tipping over from the force of sudden veering. The highway experts recommend, if you see a deer in your lane, to slow down and hit the deer rather than veer off.

I don't know about that. But, I'm no expert even though we have hit several deer during our marriage. It's an awful experience and even if no one is hurt, the car usually is. Frankly I dread this time of year with the deer and have already begun watching the sides of the highway as we drive.  Illinois drivers have a 1 in 44 chance of hitting a deer.

Other things to know. If you hit a deer, get over to the side of the road as soon as you safely can and call 911 to report. You can take possession of a road killed deer for your personal consumption but not sell it. Only Illinois residents may claim a road killed deer in the state.

Be watchful out there no matter what state you're in.

Here is a link with more advice.

It's too dark

After a night of tornadoes and strong winds, we wake up and attempt to see if anything bad has happened to our neighborhood. But it's just so darn dark. Here I sit at ten to seven and I can barely make out our front yard. Meanwhile people heading to work are driving in darkness which does no one any good.

It's time for the time change. The powers that be have tweaked the day when we put our clocks back too late in the month. Not everyone sleeps until 9 or ten. We won't do this until November 7th which flies in the traditional move on the first Sunday in October. There are still a couple of weeks to wait as mornings get darker and darker.

Meanwhile the winds are still roaring. I took a picture of our neighbor's flag blowing hard in the wind.

Paper towels go too fast?

We use a lot of paper towels around here. I have long been grossed out by using a dish towel on dishes and use the paper ones for items which do not go into the dishwasher. We also use them for cleaning windows, mirrors, spills, just about everything and the rolls go fast. So this idea is kind of interesting except for one thing.

The suggestion for making your roll of paper towels last longer is to cut them in half. Certainly using half a sheet would be smart for many occasions. But, I can't even imagine the effort involved in cutting a roll in half.

What a mess that would be.

Brawny Paper towels are now perforated into quarters so that brand might work.

Good words

I liked this list of words we can use in place of the word "very" to describe various things. Makes sense.

More trees down

I have to say right up front that the Ahler's Tree Service is the absolute best. These guys were amazing yesterday as they took down 4 of our big trees and chipped the branches into small bits and blew all that into a big covered truck. They were extremely knowledgeable about how to go about all this even in tight spaces. I should also mention, very efficient with no time wasted at all. They got here around 8:30 and were finished and off by a little after 11:30.

To top it all, every one of the guys working were affable and good humored all the while never taking their eyes off of their work. I'd recommend them very highly. The most difficult and demanding tree was the big old Pin Oak in the front yard, but somehow they got that down, cleared out in maybe an hour. Then it was on to the last tree which was a Birch tucked into the side of our house with branches hanging over the neighbor's driveway, almost to their roof. That came down piece by piece very carefully and cleared out.

Here is the Birch before it came down.

The guys had to move our neighbor's trailer and that even went very smoothly over to the Legion parking lot. Afterward, it was put back better than before.

This was not easy considering all the things on our neighbor's driveway including a second trailer which was left in place.

Now it is cleared up

A crazy noisy, very noisy day

Today is the day when a tree trimming company arrived to take down 4 of our trees. They showed up with multiple vehicles, trucks, chippers etc. Tillotson Ave is going to be tough to live on today because the sound of chain saws and the chipper began immediately. These guys all know their stuff. Each one headed for a specific spot and just got started working.

I do feel bad for all the noise which will go on today, but will be glad to feel much safer after these trees are gone.

And the Bradford Pear tree which worried me no end is already down.

 

 

 

Spray Paint Vandals

It seems the Illinois State Police are now searching for the vandals who spray painted the outside of their Collinsville headquarters. I'm glad to learn they want to find these guys, but I wish they would put more effort into finding the spray painters who use highway walls and overpasses etc, as their easel as well.

There are all kinds of places on the Illinois side of the river along interstates which have been spray painted. Highway walls, box cars, railroad walls and on and on. How these things can be done without anyone noticing is beyond me. It is also beyond me how they are physically able to do many of these things up high and in narrow places. Yesterday when we drove over to St. Louis we noticed along a stretch of road in East St. Louis more graffiti and this was on a stone wall only 4 feet or so from the interstate roadway. The wall was fairly high. How could this have been done without not one car or state trouper noticing.

It had to have been also very dangerous. So, good on the Illinois State Police for wanting to catch their own vandals, but how about stopping more of the rest.