respublica

We're Back-I Hope

My Blog hosting site, Typepad, has been down at least for the compose page for 9 days. Each morning I'd turn on the computer and try to get to my page, but each day nothing would happen. Hopefully finding it up and running will stay that way. So many Typepad users have been really grousing (rightfully) on Typepad's Twitter page.

However my home page top banner with the title Respublica and the small images has not returned.

It's the small things that make us wonder

A couple of days ago I woke up to Dale telling me there was a soft drink cup along the curb across the street from our house. This was an odd piece of information to wake up to so I went to the front door and looked out. Sure enough a cup. Now this may not seem like much, but we rarely have litter on the street much less a soft drink cup just standing perfectly. We talked about who may have put it in such an odd spot. We doubted it was anyone who was at the American Legion. If someone had tossed it out their car window it probably would not have been sitting straight up. Maybe someone walking down the street? Probably not, unless you live beyond us, there is rarely foot traffic.

But it hasn't moved in this the third day and I am about to go get it and pitch it. Picking up someone else's litter isn't my favorite thing because of possible germs. I know, I'm weird this way.

It just goes to show how little is going on right now that a lone soda cup becomes fascinating. click the photos to enlarge and see better.

 

 

They make things too complicated

This explanation of the fastest and easiest way to defrost fogged up car windows sort of made me laugh. This doesn't seem all that easy. I have copied it below.

"The first step is to turn the heater up to the maximum temperature, to make sure as much heat as possible is heading to your windows. Next, turn on the air conditioning, as this will make the air inside the vehicle much drier - a crucial step in clearing the windscreen quickly.

Once the air con is on, turn off the air circulation - this button can often be found with a car icon featuring an arrow pointing backwards. Next, open the windows just a touch - and voila! The windscreen should be clear."

I went out to my truck and Dale's car to check for an arrow and neither of them have an arrow pointing backwards.  When we find our windows fogged up, we just turn on the fan with a bit of heat and wait til they clear.

 

A look back in time

This photo showed up on Dale's Facebook memories link today and it really took me back. He was at his desk in the St. Salvator Lutheran Church parsonage in Venedy, Illinois. This must have been taken in 1976 or thereabouts because I was beginning my fascination with photography and had set up a darkroom where I developed black and white film. So much has changed and nothing has changed. He still has a deck filled with papers, shelves lined with books and keepsakes. This image shows just the start of his collection of things. We no longer have that electric typewriter thankfully.

This describes me on many days

Trouble Sleeping?

Lots of us have those times when we just can't sleep, not fun nights for sure. This is such a big thing that pain killer companies have been doing very well by adding a sleep additive to Tylenol and Ibuprofen and labeling it with the letters PM. While this can help you get to sleep and continue sleeping, often sleepiness will hit during the day. I took one of these one night in January and boy, it was hard to wake up and even stay steady on my feet. No more of this for me.

But another idea for those who have a hard time sleeping is to use a weighted blanket. "Weighted blankets are said to work in the same way a tight swaddle helps newborns feel snug and cozy." But only as heavy as about 12 percent of your body weight.

Truth be known, I bought a weighted blanket some time back and frankly, it is just too heavy for me. I rarely have trouble sleeping but when it happens it's miserable, but I've decided these things happen and just wait it out. Full moons are a big reason why this happens for me.

Paying Election Day Judges

Fox2 in St. Louis reported that city election day poll workers will be receiving a big boost in pay. It seems they currently do not have enough people to run the precincts efficiently and hope more money will bring in more workers. This election 300 dollars will be the pay. This is fair in my opinion. Working elections, which I did for over 20 years, can be very tiring and very boring on those times when very few voters care to come and vote. You must get to the precinct at least an hour before the polls open to set up, sit around all day until they close. After that is verifying the ballot counts etc, and taking them all to some official drop off place. Long day.

I looked to see what Madison County is paying this year. It's 125 dollars now with an extra 25 for attendance at the pre-election briefing. Also an extra 35 if doing nursing home ballots. Not bad, but frankly some election days go from 5 in the morning til 8 or 9 at night with many hours of just sitting and watching the clock move slowly. Madison County election people have long made sure everyone knew what they were doing and ran very efficient elections.

I did enjoy doing this however, and hope there are still people who will continue working the polls.

Get Your 3 Cents Worth

I came across an interesting article on the worth of some pennies. I'm not a coin collector by any means, but we have pounds of loose change in various containers. I often think I'd like to get all that change put into one of those counting machines and get some real usable money for it all. However, this bit of information interested me.

It seems any penny minted before 1982 is worth 3 cents because that is the last year they were made with nearly pure copper. I have no idea who would give us 3 cents for any of these coins, maybe a copper person. But some of these are worth a ton more. One of those is from 1972, "but it's not the year that makes it so valuable. On the heads side above Lincoln, where it says "In God We Trust," you want to look for an error that is known as doubling, when the words are essentially printed twice. It will also appear in the word "Liberty" and on the year. If your penny has that, it's worth up to $14,400."

As it happens we had a small bunch of coins on the dining room table next to my laptop and just looking at 10 pennies I found 3 minted before 1982. 1970, 1972 and 1976.

It's a start.

A new, to us, tree

While we were down in the Huzzah area of Missouri over the weekend, we went to visit the old Dillard's Grist Mill. While walking around the grounds we came across loads of what we believed were walnuts all over the ground. We took a couple home with us, but the more we looked at them, the more we realized they were not walnuts.

Last night I used my Picture This app, took a picture and the app told us these were Pig Nut Hickory nuts. We'd never heard of them or heard of a Pig Nut Hickory tree. There seemed to be many of these trees in that location.

The shells seemed to open in fourths, or quarter sized shapes. It seems they can be eaten but are rather bitter.

 

A new way to put the new bag in the trash can

I don't know if this idea makes things easier or more efficient, but I'm going to try it. The picture with this article looks like our kitchen trash can as do the bags. The advice is to put the opening of the trash bag over the can opening, then push it down rather than shaking it open and putting it in bottom-up. This kind of eliminates all the unfolding followed by securing to the top.

I'll try this a new bag after tomorrow's trash pickup.