One a day, plus iron

Grape hyacinth, healthcare

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:59:08 GMT

There's a patch of grape hyacinth growing in the yard of one of my apartment buildings. I've let it go for a few years and it's... increasing its territory without permission, a Putin move, a Bibi move.

This wouldn't be a problem except that it is pretty thick and pretty aggressive and it's slick as hell when you mow it. It also kills off the grass where it invades by choking it out. The section of grape hyacinth is on a hill, because of course it is. That's fun when operating a mower. *sigh* I can't just live with it.

( Just poison it? )

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Not a detail-oriented production...

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:57:59 GMT

I'm watching... Prodigal Son, Netflix. It's the pilot episode because of course you start at the beginning.

Dude is filling a syringe.

( What's wrong with this picture? )

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Afghan Accountability: Halfghan!

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 23:15:01 GMT

I've been busy. Got some yarn made up (because I needed more) and whipped out the last of the squares for halfghan.

( Come and see! )

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Textile production, undervaluation of, media suggestions!

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 12:52:52 GMT

In my feelings about how undervalued and invisible textile production is, I have located some media that agree with me and are therefore right. Or informative, anyway. :)

( Read more? )

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It must be spring...

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 12:30:17 GMT

I took the plow and chains off the plow truck, so definitely it is spring. Other things got done as well.

( Would you like to read about them? )

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Afghan Accountability

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 03:28:27 GMT

There are 19 afghan squares. Two More To Halfghan! (21 squares is halfway.) I have the one almost-exactly-full bobbin of brown single but haven't swapped it out to start working on the white yet. I do not love the white roving though it makes very soft yarn but I'm almost done with the whole bag of it. Once that's finished, I can start working on white fleece instead.

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Afghan Accountability

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 22:11:22 GMT

There are 18 completed squares, which puts me at more than 40% done with the knitting. I also gave up and bought the pastel foam puzzle-piece play mat for a less-fragile blocking situation. Once I get enough squares for a halfghan done, I will lay them all out and take a picture so that you can see how it's going.

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Sunday, it was hot

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 12:50:42 GMT

We do not normally see 80F (26.67 in C) in March. That's not typical March weather. Today, today is typical March weather: overcast, somewhat damp, 51F (11C). That's March. But on Sunday, mid-June came for a brief visit.

( It was a really lovely day despite being way warmer than it had any right to be )

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Saturday did not go quite as planned.

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 03:03:52 GMT

The plan was to go to Mom's and do the met livestream for Tristan and Isolde (Wagner opera). The tickets were $24.00 each. We got there and sat down and waited for the opera to start.

( This was going to be a review of the Met's production of Tristan and Isolde )

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Oatmeal

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:22:35 GMT

I like oatmeal. I particularly like the steel cut oat groats oatmeal that involves more time than even traditional rolled oats. But, I also like brown sugar and cinnamon, though not the amounts found in brown-sugar-and-cinnamon instant oatmeal packets.

Today I had a revelation. I do not have to buy flavored oatmeal in horrible instant oatmeal packets that are overprocessed and way too sweet.

I can totally make the oatmeal I like and add brown sugar and cinnamon (or other flavorings) to suit me. It is okay to make delicious flavored oatmeal out of whatever oatmeal and whatever flavorings I might like.

This completely obvious and uncomplicated notion was revelatory to me today, so perhaps other people need to hear it too.

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Minimal afghan accountability

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 20:58:39 GMT

There are 16 squares. 7 brown, 3 mostly-brown, 6 mostly-white. All of the completed squares except for one of the brown squares have been blocked and have ends woven in. I am 38% done with the knitting of squares. I have enough mostly-white yarn for one more square (probably). Y'know, I could use my scale to WEIGH THE YARN and see if there's probably enough. I could compare to an existing mostly-white square. Let me go do that.

There are 46 grams of yarn and 48 grams of square. So, maybe not enough yarn but it'll be close. To avoid rage-quitting due to being short of yarn, I'm going to have to make more mostly-white yarn before proceeding on that front. And that means it's time for some mostly-brown squares with the new, excitingly squishy yarn that has sufficient twist in the plying. Yay!

Wasn't there a scarf?

I do not want to talk about the scarf. It's not scarf season anyway and won't be for a while.

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Thursday, with some things done!

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 02:37:06 GMT

I got my car inspected today. I also got me inspected today, about which more below the cut.

( You know what to do. )

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Pothos Pole Project Progress

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 02:45:13 GMT

In the pothos project, where I discovered that the houseplant pothos can get a lot bigger than it normally is if you give it something to climb, I selected a (free) pothos a tenant had left behind, built it a moss pole, and pinned it to the moss pole to see if I could get it to climb that moss pole.

( And how is that going? )

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March snow, ugh.

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 13:22:07 GMT

It snowed last night, enough to cover the ground. I'm not a huge fan of snow in March, but this post is not actually about the weather.

( Fiber arts! )

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Afghan Accountability

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 03:40:12 GMT

There are 15 squares. I'm working on more white single to use up the other half-bobbins of brown. I am getting to the end of the white roving, partly that's a relief (Turns out I do not really like roving and much prefer working with raw fleece) and partly it's irritating because I'm just getting consistently good with it.

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Some things got done.

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 12:36:38 GMT

Last weekend I didn't have any internet so you didn't get updates. However, not having internet makes me go outside and do things, so still kind of winning. This post is a combination of last weekend and this weekend projects and updates because there's not really enough stuff for two posts.

( Read more? )

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Taxes are done!

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:30:20 GMT

All the business taxes (federal and state, 4 S-corps, 2 limited partnerships) and my personal taxes (federal, state, and local) are done. It's a lot of paperwork and it still is paperwork.

I have zero interest in "filing online" or whatever. I do it the old school way, no turbotax and no efile and none of that shit. Trees will die for my taxes until it is impossible for me to file paper versions of my returns.

( But e-filing is super easy! )

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Springtime, kind of.

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:38:51 GMT

It's been a bit warmer than is typical for March, daytime temps in the 70s (about 21C for non-USians) and nights well above freezing. There is liquid water in the places that get springtime (vernal) liquid water. And we've had some nights that were both warm-ish and rainy, which means... it's time for amphibians!

( Lookit! I have pix!! )

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My internet has been down since Friday

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:32:41 GMT

Sorry no updates, dsl is broken and frontier sucks. There are 14 afghan squares.

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It is starting to look a wee bit like spring...

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:32:22 GMT

Dad's house has daffodils about 1" above the ground. My house gets less sun and is a little behind his, so no daffs at my place yet.

( In other news... )

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Well, that's not disturbing AT ALL...

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 05:42:09 GMT

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation claims it is getting complaints that at least one US military commanding officer has told troops that the current efforts in Iran are "a biblically sanctioned conflict intended to bring about Armageddon and the return of Jesus Christ." This alleged "news" is getting some traction.

( What the actual fuck...? That can't be right. )

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Accountability picture!

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 23:19:22 GMT

I am pleased to announce that I have 11 squares completed. (In the photo, one brown square looks slightly misshapen. Do not be alarmed, it is not actually wrong --it has not been blocked. Blocking will fix the issue.)

( See the squares? )

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Afghan update

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 03:36:14 GMT

There are ten squares done. Nine squares are blocked. The 11th square is in progress. I have a full bobbin of brown and a full bobbin of white (it's been a spinning week) and I need another bobbin of white (ugh but less ugh than it has been so... winning?) in order to make up more 2w1b yarn.

( So about that yarn supply... )

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Tiny Afghan Accountability update

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 06:21:51 GMT

Summary update (no pix)

Need 14 brown squares (6 knitted, 1 in progress)
Need 14 mostly-brown squares (2 knitted)
Need 14 mostly-white squares (1 knitted)

Total of 9 squares, which is slightly better than 1/5 done? Yay. Progress. Of the squares, 7 have been blocked, 2 still need to be blocked.

Today was not a spinning day. No spinning happened. Scarf still in timeout.

( I lied, here is a picture of some of the blocked squares... )

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Afghan, you know how it goes. There are pix!

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 15:01:58 GMT

I had a busy evening of afghan work. Lookit!

( Even busy evenings generate a relatively small amount of work product... )

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