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I've been told by a number of customers that dollar stores have readers.  One low-end pair of them at my employer's cost me sixteen bucks.  Today I got four pair for sixteen bucks.  Wonderful deal ( Read more... )

A young man got a job offer while waiting in line to be cashed out.  A mechanical engineer, he'd been let go from his previous job under circumstances that left a bad taste in his mouth.  I found out the good news when he called a friend while within earshot ( Read more... )

We've been hearing for weeks that we're due to get rain, then we don't, and it's getting damn dry around here.  Our neighbors' yards look burnt, as they usually do in August, especially if they insist on mowing them too often or too short ( Read more... )

When I got home from work Friday, I was extremely lame, and almost the first thing out of Ray's mouth was "What can I do to help?"  He deboned the chicken we had for dinner, bless his heart.
Ray and I did amazing things in the yard this weekend.  He helped me with weed removal, and I subsequently got almost all of my veggies planted.We watched ( Read more... )

One of my friends asked to see the effect of spraypainting on weeds, etc. destined to be removed.  So here it is:

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Yup, it looks like a pie plate.  A cheap aluminum pie plate, which it was.  But then I cut a keyhole - sorta shape in it.  I bought some vivid turquoise spray paint.  I went out to the back yard, and every time I saw a plant I wanted taken out, I slipped the pie plate around the stem of the plant and sprayed it blue.  It worked well.  I didn't ( Read more... )

Betty accepted two of my tomato plants yesterday.  I'd cultivated seventeen of the buggers, so I was glad she did.  In addition to the fact that it means something good to her, too.  Oh, God, getting teary here ( Read more... )

Last year, I don't think I ever got there.  Yesterday, I tried running it.  The pump obviously was running, but water couldn't get through the frog statue.  This morning, I realized this was probably due to the fact that the statue was resting on the supply hose for so long, it was pretty much squished.  I went to a nursery for a new piece of ( Read more... )

One of the transformers for my landscape iights out front died recently.  Today I bit the bullet and replaced it.  Back in the day when I bought the original (twenty years ago), they were $240 for a 600watt unit.  Today, it was $139.   Wowser.
Other changes?  The new unit is smaller, more compact than the old.  Also, the controls are digital, man, ( Read more... )