kochleffel

Both Staples and Office Depot have closed some stores recently. The issue for them is that B2B purchasing has moved almost 100% online. Individual purchasing, including work-at-home, hasn't shifted as dramatically, but business volumes are larger.

I noticed the Radio Nederland tower because I used to have a shortwave receiver and listened to broadcasts from that relay. At the time, BBC World Service and Deutsche Welle had a joint relay on Antigua (they also used the Radio Canada International shortwave transmitters in New Brunswick). Radio Nederland discontinued all international broadcasting except to Cuba in 2012 and the relay was eventually demolished. BBC discontinued much of its shortwave service, except to Latin America and Africa, and Deutsche Welle stopped broadcasting from Antigua (and Montserrat) but I think still leases time on some BBC and other transmitters in other parts of the world.

I did get to Target and Staples this morning. It was just beginning to drizzle when I left; that continued intermittently, and on the way home it turned into very fine hail. The shopping was successful, and since I'm not signed up personally for the Staples rewards program, I put the purchases there on my office's rewards account. One was a toner cartridge with a 30% reward, and they offered $20 merely for downloading their app and signing in, so this purchase earned almost $50 in rewards. We have a board meeting tonight, and while there is nothing actually wrong I don't look forward to it. We have to deal with various housekeeping matters, not important or controversial but required legally, and it's typical for everyone to want to weigh in even though there is nothing much to discuss, and one matter that has been very controversial in the past. The reason for the controversy no long exists but I'm not counting on that's not exerting an effect. Only one more after this one before retirement, plus the annual meeting (which everyone loves, because we serve dinner).

Animal stories for the middle of the week Both of these involve emus. Escaped emu takes owner and police on 20-mile chase in Tennessee I remember a time when the Los Angeles Police Department chased a flock of chickens, unwisely brought in for a Jewish religious ceremony, down Robertson Boulevard. Donkey, emu find love at animal shelter (from 2018) That would not be the kind of bonded pair I had in mind.

Trash and recycling taken out. @kazuJacqui, both recycling and public composting are rather limited in my county, compared to what some of the neighboring counties have. I have in mind to remove some (mostly dead) small shrubs, which they'll accept, but I have to find out the maximum size that they can handle, in case some of them have to be cut into pieces first. Furthermore, my trash hauler (no municipal trash collection in my town) has recently been acquired by a company that has "Recycling" in its name but that appears to be greenwashing, as they seem a bit hostile to recycling. The county requires all trash haulers to pick up recycling at no additional charge, but this new company will only take what is in the official blue bin. This means that large cardboard boxes, which the county only requires be flattened, would have to be cut or torn into smaller pieces, and loose paper, which I prefer to collect in a box, has to be put into the bin, with glass added last to keep it from blowing around. I would understand this if they used mechanized trucks that lift and empty the bin, but they don't.

Should we all wear orange today? As I said, my tax return is filed and the additional tax due is paid (I have tax held from everything that I can, but it never seems to work out to the exact amount). I couldn't juggle to save my life, but I am aware of stress every day. Doctors say that too little stress can also be bad for you. Agree with Einstein. For years I've organized our Religion and Science Shabbat, sometimes with a guest speaker and lunch, since 2020 with guest speakers on video. This year's was Dr. Mayim Bialik, who has recorded a number of videos on the topic. Baked ziti strikes me as a New York City thing; where I come from in the Middle West, Italian-American food is ubiquitous but never baked ziti. I'd appreciate the cocoa more if it were spiked rather than merely spiced. Might like the wine but will probably never know. I have been to Curacao, which also has good snorkeling, but not Bonaire. We are also having the typical spring weather swings. It was 86° last Friday, but won't reach 50° today, then will be about 85° this coming Friday.

I think I might have overpaid, but if I did, it's a much smaller amount. But if I were to do what my tax software is recommending for estimated tax, it would be a significant overpayment, because the software doesn't know that I will retire in June.

The county government announced today that the public composting facility will soon open for the season. The announcement has a short list of things they will take and a much longer one of things that they won't take, such as concrete and rebar.

I checked the various lost-pet sites. The only orange tabby that really resembles this one was lost from my neighborhood, but three years ago, and this cat doesn't look like one that has been unhoused for long. It's possible that he belongs to someone in the neighborhood and is allowed to wander. I need to trap a woodchuck, too. I'm now reading to start seedlings under lights -- I don't hurry to do that, because it can be hard to bring them along until it's definitely safe to transplant them here. There are only a few varieties to deal with this year, all flowers that I can't buy as bedding plants if I want them, plus maybe Swiss chard since it requires warmer soil to grow and is hard to germinate. During the summer I'll start lettuce seeds for a fall planting, since they won't germinate in the outdoor heat; lettuce and peas for the spring can be planted outdoors now. I used to plant them earlier, but when I did that, they often took a month to germinate.

I appreciate bats, but like Jacqui I prefer that they stay out of the house. The Emerson quotation sounds like the attitude of an 8th-grader. Bean tacos would be OK with me. The drink, not so much. I'd consider a tarragon-flavored drink but not anything with serrano peppers. This is another that seems to have been invented to sell Maker's Mark, which should be drunk as it is or with just a little water or soda. I'd enjoy the wine; I think that the Dundee Hills produce the best Pinot Noir in the world, but it's beyond my means. Decades ago I wrote a wine column in that area, but Archery Summit was founded much more recently. I haven't been to French Polynesia. The other day I mentioned digging and replanting narcissi. Here is a photo from this date a couple years ago (these are already past their prime this year). On the cat topic: my house is not ready for a new cat, but I'm keeping an eye on the two bonded pairs in shelters near here. Meanwhile, an orange tabby has been hanging around, and I sort of wonder whether he wants to be adopted and whether Sasha sent him.

Was it in the Daily that we were talking not very long ago about states' unclaimed-funds offices? Last week I received a notice from the Comptroller of the State of New York that they were holding funds for me. As I am still at the same address, I was able to file the claim online, in scarcely more than a minute. That was on April 9. The check came yesterday, April 15.

That's what I've been thinking. I've had the experience of not being able to get supplies when I was finally ready for them. I'll have to make space in the garage for the lumber and soil. What I need to do right away is map the narcissi plantings so that I know what types and colors are planted where. There are also quite a few hyacinths, many more than I remember. I didn't, and wouldn't plant them, as I'm allergic to their pollen. I think it will be possible to construct and fill the new bed in a day, so the perennials won't have to be out for very long.

Last year in the Amsterdam airport I was buying coffee and the barista rang it up in USD. He had to do it over again when I presented Euros, which I had from a previous trip. The price was €4.50. The price in USD would have been $8.50. At that time they were at par (right now, €4.50 would be slightly less than $5.00 US).

Taxes are filed and paid. It was the easiest time in years with the forms, partly because the software carried over last year's entries and partly because TIAA, which in the past always issued me six separate Forms 1099-R, this year figured out how to produce a consolidated one. On the other hand, it was one of the most baroque ever with gathering the information, because of all the things that had to be downloaded or looked up online, some of which required creating new registrations with ID verification and (it seemed) 47-factor authorization. UPDATE: The Federal return has already been accepted.

Do you remember when I was studying Greek and every lesson seemed to be about elephants? When I went to Greece, I expected to see herds of elephants roaming everywhere, but the only elephants I ever saw were in toy stores. I like mushrooms but eat them cautiously, because more than a small amount of even edible ones upsets my digestion. I've concluded that it's less headache to do my own tax return than to have a bean counter do it for me (and I used to be a volunteer tax preparer), but this year's isn't complete yet and now the software is taking longer to update itself than it did to install. I like falafel but they are difficult to fry without having them either burned on the outside or raw on the inside. Baking would avoid that but baked don't seem quite right to me. Will skip the drink (wouldn't like) and the wine (would like but couldn't afford even if it could be obtained here). I haven't been to Whittier--Seward would have been the disembarkation port of a cruise that was cancelled because of you-know-what. I need to go to Staples and Target again, but not necessarily today. Staples is for a printer cartridge, but I got the old one to print some more by shaking it. This mattered because I needed to download various tax documents and it is easier to enter them in software from printed copies, which I would want to save anyway.

Is it possible to appreciate husbands if you don't have or want one? I have always found Anaïs Nin's writing interesting but not always comprehensible. Income tax is not due today, which is a good think since my return isn't finished. Around here, sometimes every day seems to be laundry day. I cook salmon that way occasionally, but I really prefer it sautéed. No on the cocktail but I might like the wine. I was booked for a cruise from Venice in 2021 that was cancelled (after being shifted to embarking from Ravenna) and when I rebooked for 2022, I chose one embarking from Athens. Dinner last night was sautéed chicken, from a recipe on Julia Child's very first TV series. I had planned to bake it with a sauce, but it was 86° outside and I didn't want to use the oven. Tonight will likely be the chicken again, with baked potato--it's not as hot today--and salad. I found out why I felt so awful after mowing yesterday: there was an air-quality warning here, in addition to the wildfire warning that started on Thursday. Neither is in effect for today. Garden club: I have in mind to rebuild a raised bed alongside the (real) walk to the front door. It's only 4 inches high and the timbers are rotting, plus the soil is compacted and not very fertile. The question is whether to do it now or in the fall. I'm leaning toward the fall, both because there is too much else to do now, and because there are clumps of narcissi that will not have matured before other plants need to be in the ground. If I wait, I can dig and store the bulbs; perennials will have to be lifted, but only briefly. This raised bed was built by the previous owners, probably in the 1950s. I've added more in the back, because the soil here is shallow and rocky, especially on my street where the lots were all filled, it seems mainly with rock, to make them level.

There are two more ORD-RSW flights arriving tonight.

For once I remembered to charge the batteries before I started mowing. I had chosen my starting time according to the weather forecast, but didn't allow for the bright sun, so it was a bit warmer than I really wanted. I also need to charge the trimmer, the hedge clipper, and the reciprocating saw but I'm not entirely sure where their batteries and chargers are. And the drill, but that's for an indoor project. While I was mowing, I discovered that a package had been delivered--I don't know when--to the back door. Neither door of my house faces the street, but I think it's obvious that the paved walk with a light post leads to the front door. Apparently not, as this has happened before.

Animal news for the weekend: ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A 1-year-old Australian shepherd took an epic trek across 150 miles (241 kilometers) of frozen Bering Sea ice that included being bitten by a seal or polar bear before he was safely returned to his home in Alaska. https://apnews.com/article/alaska-dog-returned-bering-sea-ice-6f0fd32a87d17da49d2423eebefd680e BERLIN (AP) — German officials seized cooked bats and nearly a ton of unrefrigerated fish after police stopped a van that had entered the country from Belgium, authorities said Wednesday. https://apnews.com/article/germany-police-seize-bats-fish-190e8308f49ccdbfa6c288b4c9cf9aba BERLIN (AP) — Firefighters say they have freed an “uncooperative” squirrel that was stuck in a manhole cover in western Germany — echoing a similar incident that happened in the same city four years ago. https://apnews.com/article/germany-squirrel-rescue-manhole-dortmund-a2e58aaf5238a0fd0dd13512c051a72c (Quite a few weird animal stories come from Germany. Maybe there's an editor at the AP in Berlin who likes them.) YUBA CITY, Calif. (AP) — Meet Percy, the police rabbit. Yes, that’s fur real. Some bunny — also known as Officer Ashley Carson — found a lost rabbit last year in the middle of Percy Avenue in Yuba City, California. ... The Yuba City Police Department — about 40 hopping miles (64.37 kilometers) north of Sacramento — announced the rabbit’s promotion to the rank of “wellness officer” just days before Easter Sunday. https://apnews.com/article/california-police-bunny-wellness-d9b3eabff43d82d60c38b022b37092a4 (In 2001, Fergus learned about police dogs and wanted to become a police cat. He was ready to sue the LAPD for species discrimination, and maybe also age discrimination, since he was already close to feline retirement age.)

On the Alaska ferries, it's also allowed to sleep on loungers in the solarium, which is roofed but open-air, and to pitch tents on the open part of the top deck. This was on the Matanuska.

No ex-spouses here. One of my friends is a certified laughter therapist. I look up at the sky when there is something to see, but most of the time here it is just wall-to-wall clouds. However, it was sunny yesterday and is again today, with wildfire warnings. In a few minutes I'm going to mow the front lawn, before the temperature gets to 85°. I'm not sure that I've ever had Arctic char, but it's listed as a sustainable fish. Bourbon would be OK in hot apple cider but the cocktail strikes me as an excuse to sell Maker's Mark, which would be wasted in it. I will drink Pinot Grigio if it's being served, but I don't like it enough to buy it. I haven't been to Prince Rupert; my only Alaska cruising has been on the Alaska Marine Highway System, including the Matanuska (see above) and the Kennicott. Málaga is a cruise port and is in my itinerary for the fall, so here is a relevant article: "Were he to turn up in Málaga today, Picasso might be shocked to find a museum bearing his name — the Museo Picasso Málaga opened in 2003 and now draws nearly 700,000 visitors a year. Then again, given his reputation for having an outsize ego, maybe he wouldn’t be surprised at all by the museum, though he’d likely be charmed to find his childhood home, the square where he used to play, the church where he was baptized, as well as the art academy where his father taught — not to mention the city’s famous bullring, cathedral and other landmarks — pretty much just as he left them." https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/14/travel/malaga-spain-picasso.html The article also discusses the many historic sites and sights.

I hope they are enjoying their vacation. I plan to purchase a second Air Tag before my fall cruise, since I will check two bags on the outbound flight.

Mark Twain is buried here, and in the cemetery it's common to see people searching for his grave. The way to it is signposted, and they're usually close to it, but he has only a small marker in a plot with a very large one in the center bearing the name of his wife's family, Langdon. The same cemetery has the graves of several (moderately) well-known abolitionists, many of whom were connected with the church the Langdon family, and the Clemenses when they were here, attended; one of the Beechers was the pastor for much of the 19th century.

I do. It's not 100% effective, even with a higher dose than recommended, so I try to get lactose-free or non-dairy versions as much as possible. I was wide awake at 4:00 a.m. and didn't get back to sleep until after 6:00, and that only with some Benadryl, so it has been a slow start this morning. I've scrubbed the dishes from the garage and they're now soaking in a bleach solution (they're glass and clean up nicely), before rinsing and rewashing. For all the time I've had these dishes, I've stored them from one Passover to the next in the original boxes, which date to 1998 and 1999. They are two sets of four settings each, same pattern but one set has mugs and the other has cups and saucers. The boxes have deteriorated, accelerated by two cross-country moves, and so I'm repacking them in fabric china covers, which will make it easier next year--especially because putting them back into the boxes required three hands, or two hands and a carving knife--the knife was to hold one part of the packaging in place while inserting the other.

I think that I appreciate some plants more than others. Most places I lived had bookmobile service but I've never used one myself. When The Prairie Home Companion was doing a show in Louisville, where the public library operates a radio station, Garrison Keillor said that they picked him up from the airport in the bookmobile and then continued on its rounds in the rural parts of the district. I like both peach cobbler and peach pie. Mark Twain's advice was sort of echoed by Shirley Jackson: "If your heroine's hair is golden, call it yellow." Lactose-free ricotta is now available, but otherwise, no ricotta for me. Ricotta and mozzarella are made in the same process, with most of the lactose ending up in the ricotta. Hot buttered rum is out of season, I think; it's going to be 85° this afternoon. The wine is a type I like but way beyond my budget. I haven't been to Monte Carlo. I was reading right before I came here about the rain in Fort Lauderdale, and wondered if there were cruise embarkations today. I also thought of Palm Beach and Miami as alternatives. Passover has passed over, for me, so I'll be at the supermarket later. Wegmans had almost nothing for Passover before it began, then received fancy Passover baked goods right after it started, and just as it's ending, received kosher frozen items from Israel. I'm sure the manager wonders why these things don't sell better, but they arrive just as the demand for them is ending.