Sunday, October 31, 2021

Saturday chores

We managed to get a pretty productive day out of yesterday. We were trying to wait for the sun to come out so it would be a little warmer, but finally gave up waiting. While the big garbage can was empty, it wasn't when we got done. DH took down the 4 hanging baskets at the front entry and I dumped the dead flowers and dirt into the wheelbarrow. He replaced the hooks with something he liked better. He didn't like the looks of the metal/stainless steel, so he ordered some black ones to replace. It was chilly out so I ended up going back inside for a knit cap. Then I went around to all the whiskey barrel planters and my planters on the back patio and pulled out all the annuals and dh brought the wheel barrow around to each. By the time all that was dumped in the garbage can it was almost full. Just enough room left for me to clean out the chicken coop and dh dumped that in there, too. We have another fairly large can (not part of our garbage pickup service) with a liner bag in it, that we put kitchen/house garbage into and then dh takes the liner bag and puts in the big one, when it gets full. So, we still have room this week to take out our garbage until the big one gets emptied by the garbage truck on Thursday morning.

We came inside to have lunch and my back did it's normal hurting/seizing up. Usually a lay down for about 20 minutes resolves it, which it did, but then of course I get sleepy and take a nap, LOL. And of course the sun came all out and blue sky right then. DH went back out to his shop to work on it some more. After my nap I went to see what he was up to. Ended up helping him for an hour or so. He wasn't able throw much away, with the can full, but did get a few small things thrown in his shop garbage can and something he got emptied out with junk, he was then able to store some stuff he wants to keep inside that, leaving some more extra space now.

In the evening we got caught up watching Young Sheldon and then just watched a movie. Somehow earlier I had missed (I don't think I got?) a notification my mom had yet again unplugged her medication dispenser, so I couldn't tell if she took her evening pill or not. It was about 8:30 when I called her. She plugged it back in, thought she had taken her med "Oh, I'm sure I did". Well, not it if it was unplugged, you didn't....."so, it just needs to stay plugged in all the time?" YES! She had not taken the medication she was supposed to at 6pm

I'm going to see her this afternoon. Bringing tape with me to tape the damn plugin to the wall. I had thought about putting a note right above it on the wall, but she just does not seem to see notes at all anymore. I've tried that with other things. I have noticed the mail that she gets/builds up is way down now that I redirected most of it to my address. Most of the mail she would get and not throw out is the explanation of of benefits - each month for each prescription, and then inside the mail order prescriptions are a bunch of paperwork for each bottle. She just doesn't understand what this paperwork is anymore and to just throw it out.

I forgot to look for the Lowes gift card at our little town store when we stopped there Thursday on our way home from the vet visit, so I will have to stop in Lowes before I go to mom's. DH also asked me to stop at the drive through car wash and get the car washed. And mom has a few things she wants from the store. She was giving me her list, which always includes Honey Nut Cheerios. She was having a hard time reading her writing on her list and after the Cheerios she said "real honey". I also need some wrapping paper. I'm like hmm...she's never ever bought honey before. Then she realized she wrote down "Honey Nut Cheerios made with real honey". LOL. Gotta be specific, I guess, haha. I also just remembered I need to get my mom to either send dd a check with a birthday card, or pick up a gift card for her to put in the envelope. I think I'll just have her write out a check for her while I'm there and sign the card. I had bought a box of miscellaneous birthday cards awhile back, so she can just use one of those. I'll just put the card w/check in with the package I mail dd for her birthday.

My mom (and grandma) used to be so good about remembering everyone's birthdays. Both of them always took their calendar at the beginning of the year and wrote everyone's birthdays on it. My grandma even usually bought all her cards at once, each year. I didn't inherit that organized trait, LOL. 

It's cold out this morning, down in the 20's. Today's high is only supposed to be 45, but once this fog burns off it's supposed to be a sunny day.

My last comment is burning your household garbage waste outside is disgusting! Wood and yard debris, no problem. Even cardboard, but even that isn't ideal. DH doesn't like to do cardboard because so much of it floats off as ash pieces, so doesn't stay contained to our fire pit/property. But household food, plastics and what not? The smell is awful. Here's what I found googling the dangers/harm is causes (from Wisconsin.gov website). 

Backyard trash burning is especially harmful because it releases chemicals that are persistent in the environment, polluting our air, food, lakes and streams. A recent study found that residential trash burning from a single home could release more dioxin into the air than an industrial incinerator.

But, I guess if you won't spend the $40 a month for garbage pick up like the rest of us on our street does, what are you going to do with it? Apparently it used to get dumped at their employer's big container in town, but that business closed.....and burning it at the crack of dawn doesn't lessen the smell any.....at least when I got up yesterday and saw it being burned, the wind was kindly heading the opposite direction.

14 comments:

  1. Does your trash service pick up yard debris? Ours does, but you have to pay for a separate can. Most people just compost, or, toss it into the woods. I understand the angst of illegal burning. I get headaches from the fumes of it. While burning is permissible here, if you get caught burning something illegally, like plastic, the FD fines you...problem is, someone has to report it.

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    1. our trash service doesn't have separate bins, no recycling or yard waste. Everyone just burns yard waste here, but the garbage is rude. We had a neighbor lady years and years ago who used to burn it and she got in big trouble by the Fire Dept. Then she started trying to bury it in her back yard. I think she ended up getting huge fines twice by the FD or I think it might have even been Dept of Ecology or something like that. I recall someone saying after she had like the first fine and kept doing it, her next fine was like $30k.

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  2. Is there not anyplace to put yard waste that is going to go back to the earth anyway? I would not expect plastic pots to be thrown in the woods, though. Some people in the country throw some sort of screen over their burn barrel to keep from burning down the country.

    Hopefully, she won't take the tape off the medicine dispenser plug! I suppose you can have it hard-wired! lol

    When I go to lie down for my back, I usually go to sleep. So, I tell Tommy to wake me at a certain time. Otherwise, I would sleep for hours.

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    1. it's not the yard waste that is the problem. Pretty much everyone around here burns yard waste. It's the household/kitchen garbage/plastics type stuff that has the most noxious odor and smells so bad. Yard waste just smells like a campfire. Kitchen garbage does not at all.

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  3. To clarify - we can (and do put yard waste) in our garbage can, it just often takes up a bunch of room. Large stuff dh throws in the fire pit and burns as soon as the burn ban lifts in the fall.

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  4. You can buy a few things on Amazon that she won't be able to unplug it from the wall. That might be much easier.

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    1. if she keeps unplugging it, I will have to try something like that. This med dispenser works awesome - when it's plugged in, LOL.

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  5. Wow, burning off that stuff, smh! Why can't they ask to split a service with a neighbour or something? I hope your keeping the wall plug in method works!!

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    1. At least they don't do it super often. There aren't very many times a year around here where it's open burn. It's either fire season and no burning at all or you need a permit to burn.

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  6. I wonder if there is a gizmo to keep a plug plugged in all the time? Hope you have a relaxing Sunday after so much work yesterday.

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  7. There is a company called Lock in Plug, online, that makes an item that it supposed to prevent a plug from being unplugged. I don't know if it will work with your mom, but you might want to look into it. I can't recommend it, as I just googled it and found the company that makes it. There's another option with Amazon but it is currently unavailable and I'm not sure if it would do the job, anyway. Good luck with the tape, but maybe this is a back up plan, just in case? Ranee (MN)

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    1. I just clicked onto buy now and it linked me to Amazon and it's currently unavailable - looks like it might have been the same item after all. Sorry. Maybe you could check on it later to see if it is available or many some other place like Lowes even has something like it. You could pull it up on your phone for a picture and description to help identify it. I thought I was helping, but now I'm not so sure. Ranee

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    2. thanks for the tip. I will keep something like that in mind, if she keeps unplugging it.

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