Darkoshi

It took me all day to clean out one small box out of many that I have around the house. This one had a few items I brought back from Qiao's house after breaking up with him. Deciding what to do with each item. Where to put them, and which things not to keep. It takes me forever.

The dog tags were the hardest. I finally found a small cushioned box to keep them in.

The colorful shiny metallic foil chocolate wrappers compacted into various shapes, I put together with others, in a bigger box with clear lid.

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I came across the receipt of a 14" flat CRT TV and a Memorex DVD player I bought from Sears in 2006. The TV cost $99. The DVD player cost only $34.99! Both prices were much less than I would have guessed. I still have the TV in a bedroom though I rarely use it. My mom has the DVD player; I have other DVD players now.

I also have a large CRT TV which used to be Qiao's; he didn't want it anymore. As well as an extra LED TV which I was going to replace the CRT with. But the CRT TV turns on instantly while the LED TV (a Toshiba FireTV - avoid them is my advice) sometimes takes several minutes. I suppose I will eventually get rid of the CRT. I don't know if I can find someone local who would want it, considering it still works. I might have to pay someone to take it to the dump. Or take it myself if it's not the horrible smelling landfill place that it would need to go to.

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On the coffee table is a row of audio cassettes, on which I had copied music for Qiao back when he had a vehicle that played cassettes. I still have the original copies of the music; I don't need the cassettes. So I don't know what to do with them, and they sit there and sit there. I could erase them and take them to Goodwill, I guess? I have occasionally seen home-recorded tapes like that at Goodwill which weren't erased. But I don't think I'd do that.... Hmm, then again what could it hurt. They won't have my name. They won't follow me home to arrest me for having copied copyrighted music to audio cassettes, and then having given the cassettes away.

If someone wants the cassettes for recording their own music to, they can record over them. And if they get a kick out of listening to the music that's already on them, that's great too. But cassettes are old tech; few people would probably want them either way.

Well good, that's one decision made, and an easy solution. Give them to Goodwill in a box along with other stuff I've already put aside to take there.

Luna Mae tears holes in all the doggy beds, doggy bed covers, and sofa covers. Including the ones I mended not long before. She chews up the rubber floor mats. Then she wonders why she is left with no place to lie down but the bare hard floor.
Even those green outdoor rugs which I'd think would be completely unappealing to chew on - hole!
There is no lack of chew toys on the floor. She also brings in sticks to chew on; fine. Both she and Venus enjoy chewing on conch-type shells which were originally yard decorations. At first I worried they would splinter, but they have held up well, so fine.

Errant thought: Imagine how much even harder parenting would be if human children were as voracious chewers as puppies.

I've been summoned for jury duty already again, barely a year after the last summons. This time it is for a "magistrate" court. The summons mailing indicated I should fill out and return the form, but didn't include a return envelope like last time. The address is written in very small text, and the form was folded on that line, making it even harder to read. The form also says, in slightly larger text, "PERSONS FAILING TO RETURN THESE FORMS AS REQUESTED MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHARGES OF CONTEMPT OF COURT".
I am curious what their actual return rate of forms is, considering all the above. I wonder if they just forgot to include the return envelope.

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This evening I kept hearing noises by the doggy door. At first it sounded like something scratching at it, trying to come inside. That raised my hackles, as our doggy was inside laying on her bed. I locked the doggy door and looked outside, but whatever it was seemed to be gone.

Earlier this evening while outside, I had heard what sounded like a pack of coyotes howling. They must be living down in the undergrowth of the mostly dry lakebed. Surely it couldn't have been a coyote at the door? Maybe a cat?

We've had many toads and frogs sneak inside, but they don't make nose.

Later I heard noises again, now more like thumps against the glass window. I finally discovered a cicada by the bottom edge of the door flap. I moved it away. Later I discovered two cicadas on the nearby screen of the kitchen window, apparently attracted to the kitchen light. I considered leaving the kitchen light on all night. Better to have them at the window than down by the doggy door where they might get inside.

The next time I checked, the two cicadas were still on the window screen, but there was a green katydid down by the bottom of the doggy door flap!

Now I've chased off the katydid at least.

Oh sh*t. Another thump and scratching (that must be their legs or wings skittering on the glass) at the doggy door window even though I closed the blinds and dimmed the lights. What is it tonight?

Thought: It's no good taking a break from work and going for a "quick 10 minute walk" if I then spend an hour writing about it (in my daily notes file) and looking up things* that I got curious about because of it.
(*such as today, the different types of dog ears)

Woofenbark dog grooming

Family dog stops traffic in Ottawa neighbourhood to help owner during a medical emergency (March 19, 2021)

While I'm at it, I'll post these other old links I saved... meant to do a "Good Stuff" links post with them after accumulating enough of them, so now it is. Several of these were via andrewducker.

Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2020 finalists revealed

Near Donegal the trees are on the march (surreal video)
More: Watch: thousands of tonnes of peat and trees slide downstream in Donegal

Quest Sprout: 'The most wholesome thing on the internet'
More: Quest Sprout - webcomic archive, Swords - webcomic

2020 Bulwer-Lytton winning entries and dishonorable mentions

Online meeting, when everyone starts turning their cameras on (funny video)

lalalalalalalala nevermind, don't need to write about that.

Little frogs all over Qiao's back yard. Big ones too; there were two on the back steps last night. Had to shoo them away last night before the dogs saw them. I'm surprised but glad that the dogs haven't been going after the little ones. I worry I might accidentally step on them as they are hard to see when they're not moving. They jump away and then I see them from the motion.

I found a nice plant with grape tomatoes growing in the yard. We didn't plant it. How could it have gotten there? I don't like raw tomatoes; when Qiao sometimes brings me a take-out meal that includes them, I give the tomatoes to the dogs as they like them. The plant is growing in the area where I bury the dog p**p. So that must be where it came from.

Dandelion trees... Weeds that look like dandelions from their leaves, but grow tall with a thick steam. I was watching one such plant grow tall at my house. It finally got even taller than me, and only then did little flowers start blooming at the top. There was one in Qiao's yard too, similar but different; also taller than me.

There's a sassafras sapling growing out back too. I tasted a couple of its leaves; they didn't taste much like root beer, but they were very mucilaginous. From what I read it is actually dangerous to eat, and so they don't use real sassafras as a flavoring any more.

Yesterday I found our little dog Serena in the back yard chewing on a bird. Not enough of it left to tell, but probably a fledgling.

While carrying the remainder on a shovel to the front yard for burial, I found a dead frog by the gate, its skin dried out. The dogs probably killed it too.

Per my notes, the last bird killed was actually 2 weeks ago, not a month as I had previously guessed. The squirrel was this Wednesday.

Me: She's turned into a murder machine.

Qiao, later: I have a new nickname for her: Villanelle.

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I will get a bell to put on her collar.

I'm also considering one of these bright-colored collar attachments, though I'm not sure it will help: https://www.birdsbesafe.com/

In the meantime, she's on restriction. She gets hooked up to the tie-out cable when the doggy door is open.

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Last week I cut down some of the saplings growing in the dry lakebed by the pier. Today I cut down a bunch more. They were turning into a thicket.

If I think about it, it seems like a useless endeavor. Unless the dam gets fixed and the lake becomes a lake again, they'll keep growing back. It seems even less likely now that the dam will get fixed anytime soon.

Three years ago when it was still a lake, there were a bunch of tall plants growing near our edge of it, growing high out of the water. When the lake level was lowered, I endeavored to pull a bunch of them out, thinking they would keep taking over otherwise. I suppose that ended up being useless, what with the lake being mostly gone now, and those plants as well as others still trying to take over.

If I let myself think about it, I feel bad for cutting down saplings, pulling out plants, killing things. But if I don't do it, the area will turn into a dense shaded wilderness.

If I don't let myself think about it, it is just another task to be done. Maybe that is what it is like for people who work in slaughterhouses.

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It's probably not safe what I was doing, traipsing through the undergrowth. It seems a likely place for poisonous snakes to live. I only saw a snake skin though, nothing more. And I startled a cat, black and white.

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This evening, Serena started barking at something from inside, so I hooked her up and opened the doggy door. A while later, Zorro started barking at something outside in her excited voice. I went to look. There was an opossum on the other side of the fence on the lake side, scared and unmoving.

I coaxed the dogs back inside and shut the door.