On or about: 06-16-08  09:24, Ardith Hinton did engage James Bradley
regarding, but not limited to: Trash or Treasure...  3.


 AH> When Dallas & I were first married we had friends 
 AH> with two dogs & two cats.  It seemed like a lot to us.  But 
 AH> then, a few years later, we realized we also had two dogs & 
 AH> two cats.  They sneak up on a person one at a time....  ;-)

Dems the facts, mam.  I have to ponder what I am going to do when
this cat departs. I suspect the pet is good for my health, but I would like
to be able to devote more for their health, before I subject another pet to
my care.
 

[RE: Hanging by thread]
 AH> Correct.  At present I have one bit of thread about a foot
 AH> long  which I'll probably use within the next week or two for 
 AH> some project where the colour doesn't really matter, plus a 
 AH> few scrap ends which I left on my needles to make them 
 AH> easier to locate in the pincushion.  The rest is on spools. 

Precisely reasonable.

 AH> I don't claim to be Susie Housekeeper & neither do you...

...Because that's exactly the way I work. 

 AH> I imagine that's one of the reasons we get along.  But I
 AH> can't help wondering what goes on in other people's minds.

Sometimes, ignorance really *is* blissful. Equally, I have a collection of
sound engineering periodicals I should find a new home for. I can't talk
from a pulpit, but you knew that.


 AH> As I was struggling to understand how a person might end up
 AH> with  such a congealed mass, I thought to myself "I presume James 
 AH> is referring to ordinary sewing thread... not embroidery 
 AH> thread or knitting wool or something else which usually 
 AH> comes in skeins."  Then I did a bit of research to ensure 
 AH> my concept of "skein" is more or less in agreement with 
 AH> standard usage.  According to my GAGE CANADIAN DICTIONARY a 
 AH> skein is a "loosely organized bundle".  Okay, that's what I 
 AH> meant.  But there is another definition too... "a confused 
 AH> tangle".  With the passage of time the former could change 
 AH> imperceptibly into the latter as people try to save space 
 AH> and/or redirect a few spools to a different function....  :-
 AH> )

I never did think of the yarn bundles, but it remains, it's a pretty
massive amount of socks one could make from a three foot diameter ball of
the stuff. I guess one would ask about a collection of knitting/darning
needles, and note how far away they were from that mass of material, if not
attached to one end.

"skein >noun  1 a length of thread or yarn, loosely coiled and
knotted.  2 a flock of wild geese or swans in flight.
-ORIGIN Old French escaigne."

That's from Oxford University Press, as released with Corel Word Perfect.
It sounds like "loosely coiled and knotted." is a reoccurring
requirement. My first instinct was to call it a "ream" but "
2 a large quantity of something, especially paper." as expected, had
me second guess myself.

 
 JB>  me, in what to squander, and what to let go of and when.

 AH> difficult either way.  But I'm glad to see you thinking in 
 AH> terms of "I have more than I'll probably need", rather than 
 AH> "I'll never be able to do xxx or yyy again as long as I 
 AH> live".  :-)

Sure, there's that "Glimmer of hope" but I can't live by that
either. For some hours, I was pulling nails from scrapped pine planking to
fix the neighbouring fence, and yesterday, I spent about an hour on the
same. The excuse I made for yesterdays shortfall, was the mosquito swarm
and bloodletting I devoted to the chore. I knew full well I had to keep
some 'leg' under me for a raft of business I need to take care of, but I
had to justify my truncated effort. 

I suppose the modifications I make to my work saves some effort, but
thinking about building a work surface to save me from dropping to a knee
was a lot more prominent then it every has been. Maybe my mid life crisis
keeps my pride from building that work surface, but I may drag the last few
boards to a table I have about thirty feet away. Chances are good, that
those thoughts will figure more prominently in the future, than not.

Then I just thought of a table saw-base, that the meth-heads forgot to
steal with the broken table saw.  Ya... And I can
prop the other end on a racking system for the prepped wood. Maybe I *have*
entered old age! 
 
 
[RE: Priority rehabilitation/clean slate]
 AH> Hmm... I could say the same, but it seems to me the marking
 AH> is  highly subjective.  Do people who would just bulldoze the 
 AH> place receive A's?  Do those who exclaim "You *can't* get 
 AH> rid of *that*... it's too pretty!" receive failing grades?  

You draw a fine line, and which side you fall - I propose - is highly
subjective, and dependant on the item, utility, (EG: Is a vase coming home
to place flowers in immediately, next month, next year???) along with a
raft of considerations I'm too foggy to think too hard about.

The subject of an old hospital imploded some years ago, often comes up in
conversation. The heating bill would have been enormous on the old beast,
and trying to retrofit some insulation into her could be a challenge. OK...
Some form of solar augmentation could improve that, but nothing like a
modern building. The bottom line, is there was more money in extended care
facilities at the time, and the push was on to turn the land into condo
property from the start, which I believe is near completion, if not
completed totally if the last long term resident has passed. Swept under
the rug, is the deed to the land, stipulated the property was donated to
the city, under the proviso that there always remain a hospital on the
site. The "Right(eous)" don't let the dead dictate terms, so now
we have inner city condos. (Apologies for the political slam.)

 AH> What about those whose visible living space is so
 AH> painstakingly neat & tidy that you daren't touch anything 
 AH> because you might mess it up, but who also admit in moments 
 AH> of rare candour that they spend a full day each year 
 AH> unloading the bedroom closet in order to get at the 
 AH> Christmas decorations?  Realistically I think we have to 
 AH> decide for ourselves what works for us.  As an introvert, 
 AH> as a "P" person, and/or as an intuitive person you'll 
 AH> probably take awhile to make up your mind about such 
 AH> things.  Unless they understand your priorities, others may 
 AH> not be able to help much.  I may seem slow of thought, 
 AH> word, and deed while they seem to thoroughly enjoy clearing 
 AH> the decks.  I'm no more likely to change than they are, so 
 AH> I often feel I'm on a long & lonesome road too... [wry grin].

Does one keep plastic on their couch 24-7-365, or on a pile of scrap wood?
If the scrap is usable, or if it is disparate for a good fire: If the couch
is a Victorian era museum piece, or bought new from The Brick. Too many
variables make the head spin.

EG: I don't have to worry about *any* pests with wood storage. I keep it
off the ground, and the ants and the worms don't touch it. (Well, I guess I
have to worry about those pests.) If we had termites here, they'd
eventually find it. I can store many things with our lack of humidity here,
but old cloth isn't one of them. Now I'd have to consider climate controls,
if I were to house precious furniture.

Mom tells a story, where the housewives would gossip about who had or
hadn't aired out their bedding every spring. This was in Manitoba - land of
a thousand lakes IIRC. Moving here, made mom ecstatic that that chore was
no longer on the docket. We had a big ugly humidifier in the house, and
that kept it less than moldy, and not too brittle. Now we know, that a dust
free environment tends to raise allergic kids, but we also know about black
molds not being the best for our lungs. In my estimation, those are two
sides of the same coin. Should we stop babies from eating worms, or should
we offer to wash them first? 


... James

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