Thoughts from Crow Cottage (My Main Blog.)
crowbelle's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Miscellany MISCELLANY I just had a few thoughts I've wanted to share, and they don't tie in together or anything. But if I don't write them down now, they go the way of all random thoughts of miscellany do in my brain these days..out the ear-holes! 1) Mel Gibson. He's pathetic. I have never liked him but it was mainly because I have always known he was a smoker, and that was enough for me. I know some of you smoke, also, and it doesn't mean I hate and despise you, but I can't abide being in the same room with smokers anymore, after having suffered that fate for many, many years previously. My mother was a smoker and she never quit - until she got throat cancer and died from it! And was she surprised! It couldn't happen to her, she thought. Boy was she wrong. All the years of second hand smoke have contributed to how I feel about it today, and it's just not good. Mel's an alcoholic too - and I should not judge him on that alone, because I was one, too, but not since 1981. Now, however, we learn he is antisemitic, to boot. Well, that does it for me! He can rot down below before I'd ever watch his work again. Braveheart or no Braveheart. He can kiss my grits! 2) The Heat Wave. I consider us lucky-ducks these last few years. We bought air-conditioner units for the downstairs window and one upstairs window, which, in a Cape Cod-style house, keep us comfortable and cool, even in the worst heat waves. This one is brutal, but so far I haven't complained - thanks to my a/c units. Paul, on the other hand, spends every day doing manual labor outside (on the water) which is sometimes cooler than on the land, but sometimes it isn't any cooler. He never complains about it. Each day he comes home from work looking like he works in a soot factory... but after a shower, he's as good as new again. I don't know how he does it... But the reason for this subject is that I read a little local article in our Salem Evening News today saying that most people in Florida set their a/c to 78 degrees and are perfectly comfortable at that interior temperature. Here, I've been thinking I was doing so well with mine set at 70 degrees! It's been lovely and cool... sometimes cold so I have to put on socks, but after reading this article that says you should set the temperature to NO LOWER THAN 78 DEGREES, I paid attention, turned mine to 78 degrees, and hope to save some money in electrical expenses because of it. 3) My third and last topic is a tip for all those of you who use a keyboard (which is probably every single one of you if you have a computer). Mine gets crud built-up in my keyboards (mainly from the dog dander and fur that is constantly flying thru the air here), and now and then I use a vacuum cleaner to suck out the crud from underneath the keys. There is always a lot there. I tend to forget to do that regularly, and the other day I read here LA-The-Sage had just cleaned out her keyboard and discovered years' worth of crud under the keys. (Ed: I stand corrected - LA informs me it was only weeks' worth of crud...so sorry LA, truly.) So the other day, I was wanting to clean out some furs that had disappeared beneath the keys on my computer keyboard, and I went looking in this catch-all jar I have next to my desk, and found two crow feathers that I had found outside and had taken home. I remember that I had washed them in warm soapy water when I first got them, so they are not dirty or oily any more. They are large black bird feathers - the kind you can find on any street if you have large birds living near you (and we do!). Well, I took that feather, and ran it, feather side down, thru the cracks between my keys, and VOILA! It pulled up all the crud instantly. It was a miracle! Now I run the feather thru there about once a day, and it's so easy-peasy, and I don't have to get out a machine or anything. So that's my tip for the day. Find a discarded large bird feather somewhere, take it home and do wash it (we don't want any bird-buggies infecting you, now do we?) and use it as a cleaning wand for that stubborn keyboard! Works for me! That's all folks. Cheers, Bex 11:47 am - 01 August 2006 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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