Eight Non-Art Things Learned in April (plus one art-ish item)

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  1. Dragon Arum is the name of a beautiful black and maroon calla lily in my yard.
  2. I asked my trusty mechanic if he would allow his wife to drive my car to Oregon and back (I wasn’t offering my car; I was looking for advice). The answer was immediate: NO WAY. Phooey. 
  3. Rocky Hill is 5 miles in circumference; the seeds of wild cucumber make a good binder if you plan to mix it with pigment to paint on rocks (but don’t do this on public property, okay?)
  4. Grant applications are crazy hard, and don’t appeal to straight talking commonsense folks like me. However, I had the privilege of helping CACHE do an application, and learned several things, the main one being not wanting to ever apply for a grant on my own. Or possibly at all.*
  5. A friend taught me how to grow sweet potatoes, something I’ve been wanting to learn for awhile. She starts them using a potato from the grocery store, similar to growing an avocado from a seed, EXCEPT you don’t plant the potato—you root the individual shoots, and then plant those. She hasn’t had any great crops, but like me, she never gives up trying to be successful at gardening.(Bonus: the leaves are edible, good added raw to salads and taste like spinach, according to my friend.)
  6. Barbara Kingsolver’s latest book, Demon Copperhead, might be the best one yet. I found her in the 1980s with The Bean Trees, and her work just gets better and better. The story was hard hard hard, the main character fabulous, too much cussing, tons of sad difficult things, but a decent ending. It is patterned after David Copperfield, something I haven’t read and don’t want to.
  7. The one art-related item: There is a new style of drawing, called Zentangle. (The one a friend showed me reminded me of Spirograph designs.) Look it up—very interesting, very different from my style.
  8. I learned how to make a QR code; just put it into the search bar and you will find methods. It was shockingly easy.
  9. There is a new type of laundry detergent; it comes in thin squares in a small box. There are several brands, mostly called “earth something-or-other”; I bought a brand called Ecos. Instead of a giant heavy box of powder or a giant heavy jug of liquid (prolly mostly water), it weighs nothing. You can get it without scent, and it seems to work just fine. I think it is brilliant: lightweight, small, uses few materials, utter simplicity.

Good grief! I thought I was an artist, a Central California artist, a regionalist from Quaintsville**. Instead, I’m going on about all sorts of things. I hope it scratches your itch to learn new things.

*Cache didn’t get the grant. This reinforces my distaste for the process.

**I use pencils, oil paints, and murals to make art that people can understand of places and things they love for prices that won’t scare them (while I am learning all sorts of random life information and skills).

Following up on Earlier Subjects

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Does “following up” mean finishing? Concluding? Completing? Then why don’t we say that instead?

Sorry. Sometimes I get caught up in words.

  1. Remember in the Learned in March post that I showed you chocolate navels? This is how they look on the inside.
  2. Remember seeing this table in progress?This is how it turned out.
  3. Did I mention anything about going around the neighborhood with clippers and buckets to pick wildflowers? This is how they were used.
  4. Still nothing to report on the two murals in the courtyards at St. Charles, the largest Catholic church in North America, in Visalia, where I was asked to paint some murals back in October. I redid the contract to reflect the increase in mural paint prices and the customer’s request that I train someone to paint a third mural, someone who doesn’t speak English or have experience. The saga continues. . .

Nine New Things Learned in March

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Each month I wonder if I have learned anything. I seem to forget much of what I post in these monthly learned lists and wonder if anyone else does too. If you are curious, and if your screen shows Categories with searching capabilities, you can click on Learned List and see as many of the 71 past lists (I began doing this in 2017) as you care to waste, umm, no, spend time reading. Here is March’s tidbits for you to mull over (and then forget).

  1. Masonite can only be ordered in 100 sheet bundles so local builder supply stores don’t stock it; you must go to one of those dreaded big box stores.
  2. Three Rivers Drug Store closed. They’ve been in our town since 1963, and it will be quite an inconvenience for many residents.
  3. Making ricotta cheese looks easy when one reads the recipes; in reality, it’s a different story.I ended up with about 1/2 cup of very squishy cheese and a whole lot of whey to use in baking bread. It might make sense to make ricotta if one owned a cow and had a tremendous amount of milk to use up. I’ll stick to making yogurt.
  4. People need to keep their culverts cleaned out, even in dry years. If they don’t, they will lose parts of their driveways in wet years.
  5. The Mineral King road is wrecked; it will get fixed. (That is Tulare County’s problem).
  6. The East Fork flume is wrecked; it might get fixed. (That is SCE’s problem).
  7. Chocolate navels are very peculiar in appearance, and mild in flavor. They do NOT taste like chocolate; the name comes from the brownish color. I wonder how they’ll do in the markets.
  8. Ringing the bell is something that cancer patients do when they complete chemotherapy. I learned this from a blog I follow, called The Frugal Girl. Someone in the comments mentioned that she “rang the bell”, and many of the other commenters congratulated her, so I looked it up.
  9. The liquid surrounding canned beans is called “aquafaba” and can be used as a substitute for eggs in baking. It can also be whipped up like egg whites. Isn’t that bizarre?? I regret all the gallons I have wasted when making hummus: “drain the beans”. . . NO!! DON’T DRAIN THEM!! THINK OF THE COST OF EGGS!

P.S. I added the word “new” to the title because the search engines give me a higher rating with that word there. . . sometimes I find myself caving to such nonsense. If I learned it, then it must be new, eh?

Ten Things Learned in February

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February is my favorite month, especially when it has rained and snowed around here. Orchards begin blooming, yard flowers and wildflowers are out (I saw some poppies across Lake Kaweah on February 21), the air is clean, and the weather is exciting. So few days, so much to learn.

  1. The Dream is a podcast with a series about multi-level marketing companies, and another about the wellness industry. The main lessons are A. Multi-level marketing is a useless exercise in trying to earn a living; B. There are 13 vitamins—A, C, D, E, K, and 8 different B; C. Supplements are not vitamins and are not regulated by the FDA.
  2. Remember when I told you what those scribbly squares are called? They are QR codes, and now I am participating in them. An upcoming show in Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery (now called CACHE) will have recordings with the art so that you can hear artists tell you about each piece if you scan the code with your smartphone (and I think you are supposed to bring ear dealies).
  3. Ever heard of a “sweetheart table“? This is a fad with brides and grooms: they sit at their own table at the head of the wedding reception. You ask, “Who cares?” So glad you asked. Trail Guy and I care enough about a couple getting married in April to build their sweetheart table for them. This involves more learning than you care to read about today.
  4. I learned what our average monthly propane use is. This is helpful information when one’s gauge doesn’t work, although I am pretty good at guessing by feeling the tank. (The delivery man pooh-poohed that method until he saw that I was right.)
  5. We tried a new coffee supplier: Community Coffee Company. It was part of my feeble attempt to stop using the giant A, to buy American, and to stay stocked up. They didn’t have a lot of choices, which made things easy. (There are many American coffee supply companies; no need to use the big A or drive down the hill.)
  6. A friend (Hi CK!) told me her favorite tea is Rooibus. Excuse me? It is pronounced “ROY-buss”, it is herbal (no caffeine), and it is hard for me to find any discernible flavor, so I like the version with vanilla from Celestial Seasonings, which is described here: Rooibus  (they don’t offer it any more!)
  7. I bought a huge pair of overalls (made in China, sigh) and converted them to a jumper! (Phooey, bought them from the big A).
  8. Eggs are “only” $3/dozen (fall down laughing) at Costco. My neighbor has kindly brought some to me for that bargain price.
  9. Gas was “only” $4.13/gallon at a Sinclair station in Tulare. I don’t make it a habit of driving 45 miles to save money on gas, but I certainly don’t pass up a good price when it appears.
  10. Occasionally tightening the screws on a roof of heavy gauge metal is a good plan if you like to keep your roof intact and attached. Three of our neighbors plus our church lost pieces of roofing in February storms.

Pippin isn’t too interested in learning anything other than how to sneak into the house, shove me out of this chair, and spend as much time as possible near the woodstove.

Fourteen Things Learned in January

The Learned List is Longer than usual, maybe because I was just lollygagging around while waiting to begin painting the murals in Visalia.

  1. Pam, the cooking spray, stands for Product of Authur Meyerhoff; he invented it the year I was born. Yeppers, that old Pam and I are yearmates. (You too, JC. We are triplets.)
  2. When Tulare County Roads does not remove the removable railings from bridges in town during big storms, those bridges get damaged. (What is wrong with that department?? The bridges were designed with removable railings, and they used to do that sort of preventive maintenance.)
  3. Living in California has its benefits. By January, most gardeners have passed the window for buying and planting bulbs. This means those of us in warmer climates can get the leftovers at a tremendous discount. I used Holland Bulb Farms and indulged my love of iris. 
  4. Rain is terrible for the specialty orange called Sumo. (Have you had one of these? They are FANTABULOSO. They are also astronomically priced, although maybe not as high as eggs).
  5. A bad bird flu is killing hens all over the country. Or maybe is causing the birds to have to be killed to stop the spread. (Aren’t you thankful that wasn’t necessary to stop the WuFlu??) And that is why I recently paid $11.49 for 20 eggs and felt as if it was a bargain. (I heard they are $14 for a dozen in Three Rivers.)
  6. Watches are made to NOT have their batteries replaced. My current wristwatch is 4 years old, is on the verge of needing a new battery, and there is no way to pry the back off. The last time I replaced it, a friend got the back off somehow, and then I had to go to a jeweler to have the back replaced. I looked it up on YouTube, and realized that if it involves a C-clamp along with some other tools, I probably won’t be getting the back off or back on again. Such a waste.
  7. More about eggs: Those 20 eggs I bought were huge, so when I made a cookie recipe that called for 4 eggs, I just used 3. It turned out fine.
  8. There were 2 Ott lamps in my life, super bright floor lamps that bent over to illuminate tasks. Both stopped working. Neither one needed a new bulb. Maybe a new switch would do the job, so 2 friends and I started experimenting. We dismantled one lamp, and the friend least intimidated by electricity messed with the wires, determining that it wasn’t the switch that was disfunctional. So, he dismantled the base, which was: A. very well constructed; B. impossible to understand. Both of those lamps are now in a landfill somewhere. WHAT IS WRONG WITH MANUFACTURERS??
  9. Headlights on old cars get foggy and dull. It is the piece of plastic covering the bulb which gets messed up by sunlight. There are multiple options for restoration, all of them involving heavy elbow-grease. I combined that with baking soda, white vinegar, and used a magic eraser. They got better, but not like new. Fernando was grateful, but he is getting camera shy in his old age, so no pictures.
  10. Often when I reply to someone’s email, it bounces back as “undeliverable“. I have observed this is mostly g-mail accounts. This hands me the burden of responding over and over, checking and rechecking. I tried to understand it, but realized it will require hours on the phone with someone passing me along to supervisors, senior consultants, best of the best experts, on and on.
  11. Weird messages about viruses keep popping in and out on my laptop. I spent a fair amount of time on the phone with Apple. After installing an upgrade and then running a virus detection software, the conclusion is that my laptop is virus free and the only way to stop those messages is to not be connected to the internet. The Apple technician said all the creeps out there invent new scams faster than Apple can create ways to stop them. This is difficult to accept, but often reality is difficult to accept.
  12. My neighbors’ dog likes to get in their pool, even on a cold day in January.
  13. I stopped by my church during a day in the week and saw this on a pick-em-up truck, there to do pest control spraying.
  14. Did you know (I didn’t) that when you use a plunger properly, it doesn’t just shove the muck down; it brings it back up so you can (oh gag) pick it up with your hands and throw it away.

That was fun.

Not.

And on that note, we conclude another month of learning.

Eight Things Learned in December

  1. Do you know those little squares of scribbles that can be scanned to take you to a website? They are called QR Codes. Do you know that QR means “quick response”? Simple name for weird techie magic.
  2. Central Valley Holocaust Memorial in Bakersfield now has a wall made of 6 million buttons. Read about it here. A friend’s mother-in-law learned about the project and began collecting buttons. The idea is that upcoming generations don’t know about the holocaust, and the number 6,000,000 is just incomprehensible without a visual aid. This photo was taken by my friend of her mother-in-law. (Hi Carol and Fran!)
  3. Instead of simply burying my kitchen waste, I learned a new way of composting. This one uses a vertically buried 8-10″ diameter PVC pipe (about 1 foot tall), randomly drilled with holes. After an undetermined length of time, you end up with worm castings, which are considered gold for the garden. Time will tell.
  4. I experienced inflation in a live and shocking encounter. An 18-pack of eggs was $5.00 in the summer in Visalia, California, while it was still $2.50 in Salem, Oregon. In December, it was $6.78 at Winco in Visalia. And Trail Guy paid $9.99 for a package of 3 romaine lettuce hearts in Three Rivers. Holy guacamole!
  5. Acta is the name of the yearbook for Exeter Union High School. A friend sent me the photo from the 1957 version to ask if I knew where it was taken. I told him it was Vandever, the peak on the right side of Farewell Gap. But it was bothering me, because something was off. When I showed Trail Guy, we both saw it: the photo was flipped horizontally! When I flipped it over, it became the right version. It puzzles me how I was able to recognize it despite the backward orientation.
  6. I puzzled through why so many of my friends don’t read my blog, coming up with the following reasons, all guesses on my part and many overlapping: too busy, non-techie, overloaded with too many other things on their little machines, accustomed to more exciting things, annoyed that the photos don’t show up on their phones, already hear enough from me in person, not interested in art, not interested in Mineral King, they forget I have a blog, don’t know what a blog is, or find it to be boring. I am touched when people actually read it. THANK YOU!
  7. Some friends in Texas have a house in escrow on about 4 acres of land, in something called an “ag extension“. This means they have to do some paperwork about raising “meat animals”, actually raise some of those animals, and then they get their property taxes greatly reduced. So interesting. . . I cannot picture these friends raising anything except children (currently have 4 while planning for numbers 5 and 6), nor can I understand why Texas has such a program. If it were me, I’d raise chickens for the eggs and never be able to kill a single living creature except for some bugs (which I would not eat).
  8. The day before Christmas Eve (sometimes called Christmas Eve Eve) is called Christmas Adam. This makes me smile every time I think about it.

What did you learn in December?

More Truths (Some Borrowed)

At the end of 2021, I posted a list that I called Ten Truths of Life. Since then, I have gathered of a few more, and borrowed a few from Reader Anne, who is both wiser and older (by EXACTLY 5 years I think – we are birthday twins).

  1. You are getting older, and so am I. It is easier to accept it than to pretend it isn’t happening. Go ahead and get injections, peels, colors, eyelashes, etc., but it won’t change the truth.
  2. Old age makes you more of who are you; it would behoove you to work at being a better person right this very minute (yes, You, Cranky-Pants!)
  3. Life is too short to dry dishes or iron jeans or listen to excuses or read poorly written books. 
  4. A question: Why is Standard Time called “standard”, when we are only allowed to enjoy it for 4-1/2 months of the year? That is definitely NOT standard. This is the truth: getting our clocks changed jerks us around and it is NOT pleasant. In general, city folks prefer Daylight Savings Time and rural folks prefer Standard Time.
  5. The truth is always best. Lies just make things harder (and you have to remember what you said so you can tell more lies to keep your story consistent).
  6. Truth is often confused with opinion, so pay attention both to what you are saying and what you are hearing, in order to discern the difference.
  7. The bigger a company is, the more difficult it is to deal with. Think banks, phone companies, electric companies, mega-churches, home improvement stores. . . those giant outfits don’t allow you to talk to real people who can make decisions based on your real problems. (“Your call is very important to us” –NO IT ISN’T SO STOP LYING! “We are currently experiencing a high volume of calls”–NO YOU AREN’T, BECAUSE YOUR ROBOT SAYS THAT EVERY TIME I CALL!) Stay local, deal with manageably sized places whenever possible, and your life will be easier.
  8. Everything is easier said than done. Exception: often it is easier to show than to tell when explaining how to do something.
  9. The only pattern to covid is that there is no pattern—not in contagion, symptoms, length, lethality, avoidance, treatment, incubation period—nothing. Get used to it because it is here to stay.

  10. Change is inevitable; sometimes it involves loss and other times it involves added complications. If we accept it gracefully rather than fight it, life will be smoother for all involved. So when your favorite jeans are no longer available, find another style or brand. When your familiar computer functions get “upgraded”, learn the new methods quickly or just dump that function. When your favorite employees at a favorite store leave, get to know the new people. When a plant dies in your yard, plant a new one. When you lose a cat, get another. Better yet, get 2 more, or even a whole litter of kittens. (Pippin is just fine, thanks for your concern. So are Tuck the Dripper and Jackson the Biter.)

Eight Things Learned in November

  1. Postal rates are tricky: mailing 1 calendar is $2.88; 2 in 1 envelope is $4.08, 3 in 1 envelope is $11. So, if someone orders 3 calendars, it costs less to use 2 envelopes for $6.96. If someone orders 4 or more, I have to figure out the various flat rate envelopes, versus packing in lots of single envelopes. Pay attention!! Nope. The first time I mailed 2 in one package, it was $4.08. The second time, it was 8.15. Never mind, Central Calif. artist: this is why the postal employees are there. And I still am not charging postage to my customers, because we all can use a little gift. $20, including tax.
  2. “The soft bigotry of low expectations” is a phrase I recently heard, and it struck a chord with me. The phrase is best used to describe treatment of some communities, as if dealing with an ignorant and unruly child. (“Soft”? Bigotry is bigotry, plain and simple, just as discrimination is discrimination, crime is crime, justice is justice. Modifiers just complicate situations.) This phrase made me wonder if Tulare County can’t get a Trader Joe’s or keep litter off the roads because we are expected to be oblivious to the finer things of life. (Wow, talk about “lowered expectations”! I am considering a lack of litter to be a “finer thing”??)
  3. When I take merchandise to a place to sell it on consignment, I need to put every item in its own cellophane bag. Thinking I was out of Wildflower books, a stack was returned to me from a gallery that had them on consignment. Yippee skippee! But, then I flipped them over, and each book has a non-removable price sticker. I tried a razor, coconut oil, and Goo-gone. Nope. Profit gone. Ouch.
  4. Then I learned that if I soak the sticker in Goo-gone and leave it overnight, the sticker peels cleanly! (This is after a bit of gouging with a razor—true price-gouging.)
  5. Found a weird word in a book: “whilom“. It means erstwhile, former, used-to-be, and is an adjective.
  6. Train Robber’s Daughter: The Melodramatic Life of Eva Evans, 1876-1970 is a very well written history book about the daughter of Chris Evans, of Evans and Sontag infamy. So many names and places were familiar, and I congratulate Jay O’Connell on an excellent book of local history, published in 2008 and still good reading. (And a place to learn new words.)
  7. After years of ignoring these, I finally learned a little bit about using Derwent Graphitint pencils, which I will tell you about next week.
  8. While sick, I realized that my infirm activities don’t differ much from my normal. Reading, knitting, emailing, texting, letter writing, writing my blog, surfing the World Wide Web. . . what differed? I didn’t get up early, walk for exercise, work in the yard, paint, draw, talk on the phone, or go anywhere.  So almost a completely wasted week, but not entirely.

Thus, we conclude another month of learning. (But is it truly learning if I can’t remember it later?)

7 Things Learned in October

These month-end learned posts are for people with curious minds, but not necessarily short attention spans. Welcome to my world. 

  1. Do you live in “a bubble“? A friend (Joy Cromwell) had something about this on her website. I took the PBS quiz and scored 44. This means I am very insulated from mainstream American culture. Wish the score was even lower.
  2. Knapheide is a word and a brand completely foreign to me. I saw this on the back of a utility truck.When I looked it up, this is what I learned: “Knapheide is North America’s most popular manufacturer of work truck bodies and truck beds”. They started out building wagons in 1848! Their mailing address is a P.O. Box in Quincy, Illinois. This is a town along the Mississippi River where a lifelong friend of mine lives. How did I never hear about this company??
  3. Some friends told us they are having solar panels installed for their home electricity. This led to quite a discussion where we all confirmed that we are probably too old to recoup the costs of the panels and installation in SCE savings. However, they are tired of trying to conserve, getting hammered by large bills anyway, and being uncomfortable in the summers. Our conclusion is that solar is a luxury item that is being misrepresented in advertising, not only as a way to save money, but as a way to “save the environment”. Those panels take an enormous amount of resources to build, and that is not necessarily “environmentally friendly”. (Truth is very hard to come by, but I do my best for you here.)
  4. Feijoa is a green fruit that I found at a farmers market in Morro Bay.  After peeling and slicing one, I tasted it. It ended up in my compost bucket because it is just weird. I read about it here (#25) and contrary to the seller at the market, this article says it isn’t usually eaten raw. I can’t remember how to pronounce it, but it doesn’t matter since I won’t be buying it again. It is also called “pineapple guava”, which I think might be a plant in my yard. Wait, that might be “strawberry guava”. Doesn’t matter, because my shrubs don’t make fruits, and if they did, the deer would eat them.
  5. A “malthusian” is a person who believes there are too many people in the world. (Is there a word for people who think there are too many people in California? in cities? visiting Three Rivers on a weekend?)
  6. This is something I knew but hadn’t followed through: I don’t like social media. It is a grind to stay current, and very little (if any) business or true friendships result. A. LinkedIn is helpful if a stranger contacts you about business and you need a clue before returning a phone call. B. Facebook is a sewer and Twitter is for birdbrains. C. I have neither posted nor looked at Instagram for several (6?) months, so I deleted it from my phone. So there.
  7. When asked which brand of colored pencils is the best, I usually say that Polychromos are the best quality, Prismacolor have the best colors, and never waste your money on Crayola. I think they don’t have enough pigment; besides, art supplies easily found at a grocery store probably aren’t professional quality. Here is a helpful comparison of Crayola and Prismacolor.

And thus we conclude another month-end Learned List, in which your Central California takes you down various side roads of often irrelevant and vaguely amusing topics.

(This is Charles-Eugene, a cat I have not met yet.) Clearly, he didn’t find this list vaguely amusing.

 

 

Eight Things I Learned in September

Started with six and then two new learnings arrived. It was a month of great thankfulness for no fires and for a little bit of rain without lightning.

  1. King Arthur Flour is supposed to be superior for baking. I have always just bought the cheapest unbleached white and whole wheat flours from the bulk bins at Winco, so this will be a giant leap forward. My tastebuds are not very discerning, so I may decide it isn’t worth the extra moola. However, I have been told it is worth the higher price. I looked it up and the shipping is high (of course!) and the website sent me around in circles, so I am not providing the link. Found the flour at SaveMart. Expensive, so it had better be good*.
  2. Simon Beck is a snow artist. Say what? He creates 2-8 acre “murals” in the snow, geometric designs, by walking in a pattern with snow shoes in new snowfalls. Here is an article about him with more photos than words.
  3. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a wonderful book, one I read many years ago, again in 2003, and just finished. Why does it seem as if I have never read it before?
  4. Fiestaware is the last pottery factory in the United States. I had no idea. Dishes are overwhelming thrift shops because people rarely buy sets anymore and definitely don’t choose “fine china” along with “everyday dishes”. Guess I was way ahead of my time when I decided against “fine china” back in the early ’80s. But oh my, I do love those bright colorful dishes. (I learned this while listening to Mike Rowe interview Salena Zito – Episode 268).
  5. Also on Mike Rowe’s podcast (episode 260), I learned about a dairy called Fair Oaks Farms in Indiana that is entirely self-sustaining. They found a way to feed their cows so that the milk is lactose free, has 1/2 the sugar and 1/3 more protein than regular milk, and Coca Cola bought the brand, naming it Fairlife. I bought some—super expensive, and good, but not sure it is worth the extra money. But I felt so hyper-nourished and righteous about it).
  6. Painting on a south-facing wall is an activity best done in December, January, or February. I learned this years ago when I painted my first giant mural in Exeter. However, when the work appears, it doesn’t often come with ideal options. (Begun in January, completed in May.
  7. Asphalt driveways DON’T need to be resealed every year. In fact, about every four years is right, according to ASR, an excellent asphalt seal and repair company. We’ve been thinking we were neglecting the driveway by skipping a year or two, and in fact that was the right thing. If you keep resealing it, it traps moisture and starts flaking. Who knew?? Obviously not the guys driving around resealing driveways every single year!!
  8. There was indeed a carousel at Mooney Grove Park. It has been restored and now is in front of Hanford’s Fox Theater, according to old friend/blog reader David Stevens, who also provided this photo (THANK YOU, Dave!)

*Good, but not awesome.