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Eight Things Learned in August

August in 2024 has been a month of activity and learning and a full schedule. Good thing I don’t teach drawing lessons during this month because there was no extra time. Most of my learned items this month are accompanied by irrelevant photos.

This has nothing to do with anything other than I liked the smoky morning light on these little puzzles from my childhood.

1.William Faulkner is not for me. I tried As I Lay Dying as an audio book and only made it through the first CD on my recent road trip. So much repetitive pointless conversation by unexplained characters. So I chose some rather mindless but entertaining “literary” fiction (which I think means modern but not formulaic) by Anna Quindlen, an excellent storyteller.

2. On hard curves on Interstate 5, vehicles lose hubcaps. I don’t know why, but it probably has something to do with excessive speed and centrifugal force (my hubcaps are all intact and in place—thank you for your concern.)

No curves here but I kept both hands on the wheel when navigating those hubcap-thieving stretches of highway.

3. My peripheral neuropathy is most likely due to being in the “pre-diabetes” category. This feels quite unfair and rather unlikely, but there is no other possible explanation.

4. I have learned to use a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) in an attempt to understand what is happening to my blood glucose levels when I eat this or that or eat things in a particular order or drink vinegar in water prior to a “bad” food or meal. It is a combination of interesting (because it is fun to learn) and highly annoying (better when I learned to silence the warning alarms) because I had to keep my phone with me constantly. This was a real nuisance in Mineral King, and then I had to borrow a charging device. I don’t take my phone up the hill because there is no signal and the camera is crummy.

I forgot the title of this piece but I know who has it!

5. I learned about a texting problem: messages will only go through when texting a non-iPhone from an iPhone IF YOU ARE USING CELLULAR SIGNALS. They will NOT go through if you are using wi-fi. That sure explains a lot of missed messages.How do you know if you are texting an iPhone or a non-iPhone? If the messages are blue, it’s iPhone; if the messages are green, it’s not.

6. Indoor malls are a thing of the past. I learned this in Salem, because I am not a shopper at malls, having always preferred catalogs and not being one who views shopping as a recreational activity. The mall we visited had each store open to the outside. I wonder what is inside all the space where people used to walk from store to store. I wonder why people stopped doing that (besides the fact that the malls are now all outside access types).

This is not a mall. Malls are not photoworthy.

7. Frass is the sawdust made by insects chewing on trees. (Thanks, DV)

8. Learned the ins and outs of In-N-Out Burger. I read the book about it by Lynsi Snyder, who is the big kahuna there. I’ve only eaten there once, and not being a burger aficionado, it was probably wasted on me. The family is full of very rough edges, and the book read like an infomercial. But now I know, and it was worth reading, since memoir is my current favorite genre.

This will not be in Simply Home; it sold awhile ago. I didn’t learn about preparing for a solo show because I’ve been there and done that. No tee shirt because I don’t wear clothes with words on them (except for the tee shirt that says “Easily distracted by plants”, which was a gift).

4 Comments

  1. #7 – I beg to differ with DV here. Frass is insect poop, not sawdust. I worked for the Entomology Farm Advisor in Bakersfield for several years; I know frass when I see it!

    • Marjie hmmm, I wonder if I misunderstood DV. Maybe he said that frass looks like sawdust. The stuff definitely does look like sawdust, but it slays me that tiny bugs could produce that quantity! (Sorry, no photos available—can’t get up the hill now due to that stupid fire.)

  2. 3-4. Just looked it up at the Mayo Clinic website. “Peripheral neuropathy can result from traumatic injuries, infections, metabolic problems, inherited causes and exposure to toxins. One of the most common causes of neuropathy is diabetes.” While I don’t have PN, I am dealing with diabetes (no surprise to anyone, I’m sure). It can be controlled if one is willing to work at it. Maybe we should compare notes.
    5. I knew about the blue vs. green difference, but not cellular vs. wi-fi. I learned something in September!
    8. Not even the T-shirt that says “Mineral King” that a certain Central Valley Artist designed??

    • Sharon, it was a huge surprise to me and to my GP that “pre-diabetes” can be a factor in PN. I REFUSE to become diabetic, so am doing all I can think of to get out of that category.
      The wi-fi thing explained why so many of my texts don’t go through or get to me.
      Nope, not even that tee shirt.

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