Last Commented Lifestyle Blogs (2,465)

Got up at 7.30 in order to leave home at 9.15 and the garage at 9.30, so that 100 km later I could catch the 11.00 ferry and then get into a kayak and paddle into the greyness of Scandinavian December looking for seals. Everything went smoothly, until it didn’t: some 20 min into the trip the car began to sound funny and shake violently. Well, it’s an old thing and I’m used to some noise and tremor, but this time it was too much even for me. Turned and stopped and called road assistance.

Which came eventually, lifted the car on its platform and transported it to the mechanical facility. (One of the rear tyres was totally busted: twisted and almost off the wheel; could end ugly, I’s told.) And taxi came too and transported me home. Event free.

When back at home at 12.30, opened a moderate box of Ferrero Rocher and consumed it with a large cup of warm milk. Will take a glass of red with the evening meal. Also large.

Totally boring.

Haven’t paddled for 3 weeks, was awaiting this day with longing and anticipation, now am stranded on the couch. Sure, there’s always something to wash, clean and tidy up. Goodbye manicure :/

The bewitching hour of midnight.

Waiting for a train to nowhere...

I went out last night to the bar.

When I first arrived, there was a group of 4 women in there drinking a lot and having a lot of shots. They were listening to upbeat dance music with lyrics geared towards what women demanded in a man. These women were laughing, hollering and having an obvious fun time.

After they left...partying for over an hour....in comes a group of 4 men. They were all sort of quiet, drinking their beer and talking to one another periodically, but mostly they were watching the college football game. One of the men went to the juke box and started playing music. The music was men singing about how their women left them...how lonely they were...and such and such.

Sitting off to the side observing this, I was fascinated by the difference in dynamics between these women and these men. Referencing back, I think this dynamics is common. What do you think? Is this something you witnessed between women and men when they are out for a night on the town?

Flushing the toilet:
People in desert regions must be appalled that in the west we use drinking water to flush a toilet. Dirty dish water and bath water works just as well. All you need is a regular size bucket filled to about 2" from the top to do the trick. Make sure the water level in the bowl is at the normal height, not down low after a prior bucket flush or it wont work. Next, DUMP the water into the bowl, don't pour it in or it wont work. You have to raise the water level up fast. That's how toilets work.

Milk:
It's perfectly alright to freeze milk. It's not quite as good as milk that hasn't been frozen but for coffee or cereal you wont know the difference. I have been freezing milk for years. I have 2-32 oz. yogurt containers of milk in my freezer right now. The energy spent freezing the milk will be reclaimed when you put the frozen container in the fridge as it melts back to a liquid.

Washing dishes:
Hand washing uses less water and electricity if it's only you and maybe 1 other person, If you have a large family and generate a lot of dirty dishes a dish washer is probably a better choice. If you're really creative you might want to rig up a way of catching the water from the dish washer to flush the toilet but this is kind of extreme and can create a big water mess if you aren't careful. A washing machine is another source of a huge amount of flush water but this is even more dangerous than a dish washer due to the large amount of water and the speed a washing machine pumps out the wash/rinse water.

Drying clothes:
Use a clothes line, with pulleys from the back door or window. Not the kind out in the backyard where you have to carry a laundry basket full of wet clothes down a flight of stairs and walk to the clothes line. That may be "country" but it's a lot more work than a pulley system used by city folks. Just imagine if you lived on the 5th floor of an apartment building and you didn't even have a back yard. I grew up in New York city in a row of 5 buildings which had 40 families and no one had a clothes dryer. Most didn't even have a washing machine. Clothes were washed in the kitchen sink by hand.

Soda:
About 2 weeks ago I happen to be at a nearby convenience store when I looked at the little soda cooler near the checkout. I was so shocked that I decided to snap a picture of it. Are people so conditioned to fork over almost 2 bucks ($1.97 with 5% sales tax) for a 20 OZ bottle of soda? I buy Sams Club Cola at Walmart, a 2 litre (68 OZ) bottle costs 65 cents tax included. You can fill 3, 20 OZ bottles and have a cup left over. The final cost works out to 19 cents for that $1.97 bottle of soda. I have several empty soda bottles and it's no big deal to fill 3 of them from a 2L bottle of soda. What would you rather pay, 2 dollars or 2 dimes?

The time for family and friends to get together for good food and company.

The time of year when some men and women and even children, do things that sometimes even surprise themselves.
Some positive and some negative.
Some will embark on drinking binges to 'forget' and some will swear to stop bad habits and try to regain some 'control' of their lives.

All in all I've noticed that the festive time of the year affects people in different ways.
My thoughts and well wishes go out to all that are alone this festive season especially those folk that have permanently lost their family or friends for whatever possible reason.

I'm happy to say that I'm at home for the rest of this year and for me it's the best possible place to be at this time of year.
It's great to be alive and well.

You?

Okay, raise your hand if you know what the term warp & weft relates to!

Don't know? It's the way they rate woven fabric. Warp threads run up and down (lengthwise) and weft threads run side to side (widthwise) and measured by the square inch. By definition, thread can be described as a fine cord of a fibrous material, such as cotton or flax, usually made of two or more filaments twisted together and used in needlework and woven into cloth.

Cloth making has been going on for thousands of years and with the exception of a few rock stars, it took us out of the era of wearing animal hide for covering. I was almost going to say clothing, but that involves cloth... a woven fabric product. That came after the days of wearing hides.

Cloth is usually rated in thread count... the number of threads per inch. Bed sheets, typically have a high thread count of thinner threads versus burlap that is less threads per inch of a thicker thread. Satin sheets from silk typically have a very high thread count greater than 400 where common cotton sheets would be in the range of 200 to 300 and Egyptian cotton 300 to 360 threads per inch.

My first wife liked satin sheets. I found them annoying. They were tight fitting and it felt like I was on a trampoline. I'm currently using a memory foam mattress with memory foam topper and conventional bed sheets. although cotton is my favorite, it leaves the fitted sheet with wrinkles. Yesterday, I was shopping for bath towels that are 100% cotton and came across sheets made of Jersey that is a cotton blend. The difference in Jersey is it's a knitted material (and not woven) making it stretchy which is softer than bed sheets. Jersey will probably be in my next purchase to try out.

The other day I took a short trip into town to buy some things....some of those things were not things I would typically buy on a daily or weekly basis....such as clothes and a hunting rifle.

The whole of this story really does not mean much, if a person made a ton of stops. But, I only made a limited amount of stops and the frequency of interesting events is what makes the overall experience, interesting.

I made a total of 5 stops.

2 stops went fine....even though one of the two stops didn't have a whole lot of clothes that I liked...but that is okay, I am somewhat fussy.

But the other 3 stops were interesting....making it from a mathematical stand point, 60% of my stops were unique to what I had expected.

The first of those three was at a sporting goods store. I decided I wanted to buy a new hunting rifle that day. Honestly, I had expected not to find any guns whatsoever...but, I found the opposite. Well, I guess technically my expectations were met because there were no hunting rifles....however, what surprised me is that their gun cabinets were loaded with assault style weapons. I thought to myself, if somebody wanted to prepare for WWIII, here they go. The store was loaded with those. Odd I thought, why is it they are trying to remove those style guns from the public....but yet you could buy a truck load of them if you wanted....and the hunting rifles that are deemed okay, by many, not available.

The next unusual thing that I encountered was at Walmart. I think I had three items, so I went through the self checkout. I am trying to stick my $100 bill into their machine but it would not take it. I tried a couple more times until the store clerk came up and said that it does not accept cash. Huh? Is not cash king?

On my way out of town, we decided to bypass the Chinese restaurant and get some fast food. The place was Hardees. They have great chicken sandwiches there. Well, I should say.....they used to. I ordered my hand breaded chicken sandwich and I found it very difficult to find the chicken within it. I am not exaggerating here....the chicken in the bun was about 1/3rd the size of the bun. It is a good thing that bread is filling....otherwise I would have went hungry after eating.

So there you have it....my 21st century trip into town.

happy weekend all

Have you ever thought about this. What if people who expelled all that energy exercising put it to doing something productive....not productive on a selfish level so they maintain their abs or their biceps.....but instead why not put it to use building a house for somebody who is homeless. ...or raking somebody's leaves that are unable to. Or, help them clean up their house.....or walk to the store for them to pick up what they need. or....dig a hole to put a fence post in.

Exercising just seems like a unproductive use of energy.... I am all for staying healthy while exercising....but wouldn't it be nice to convert that energy into a greater good? They have tried to capture that energy but converting exercise bikes into generators....that is a good start in my opinion. But when you go out and build something or be part of building something....trust me...you work muscles you didn't even know you had.


Just a thought from about a year ago.

Went to my paddling waters last Sunday and on the road there everything was fine for the first 60 km. Then the brakes stopped to answer to my attempts to engage them. Experienced fear of good for the third time in my life, but made it to the destination, stomach full of butterflies. Made it back home after paddling as well.

Saw no seal.

But have surprised a swain family – two adults and two chickens, now in their swainy teens – coming with the elements from behind an island. Was observing them since the late of July, when I saw them for the first time, the chickens newly hutched then. A very distinguished family, as one of the chickens was white from the beginning, while the usual dress is grey. Took a few pictures.

The car is left for repairs, I’m stranded at home… Ah well, it’s too windy anyway.

I have heard tell of a railway tunnel that few men have set eyes upon since it was abandoned many years ago. Many have sought it, and many out of that many have never returned. And few of the few who have returned claim to have found it. And it is for this reason I am able to say that few men have set eyes on that tunnel. We cannot know, of course, how many of the many who sought to find the tunnel and never returned did find the tunnel, but it is thought to be very few. I mean to find that tunnel and be one of the few of the few who have found it and returned. Although those few won’t be quite so few once I become one of them.

The Tunnel is said to lie 15 miles or so northwest of here, as the crow flies, but I will be cycling. I ride next Friday morning, weather permitting. Friday is my earliest window of opportunity, as I do my weekly shopping on Thursday and will have to wait until then before I am able to provision my journey. I always take a packed lunch when I go out and I don’t want to have to make an extra trip to the shops, so it has to be after Thursday. That’s why Friday is my earliest Window of opportunity.

I anticipate many trials on my quest, and quite a few challenges, so I expect to be out all morning and possibly into the afternoon. That’s why it is important I take a packed lunch, and why I must wait until after Thursday before I go. I will be logging in here early on Friday morning, as I know many of my supporters, or a good few of them, will want to see me off.