the laundramat strut

 

It's taken the better part of the week, but I finally think I'm done cleaning up after bugapalooza2021. I have yet to go up to the third floor. I'm afraid I'll find more green bags. The third floor is all storage and the only time I've been up there in weeks was to change the smoke detector battery. But still, I need to go.

All week I've kept a laundry basket out on the patio. (There are also small "Giant-sized" bags of trash out there.) When I undress on a cleaning day I throw my clothes in there. I also threw the bag with Pat's bedding in there. And all the liners for my baskets. I don't know about your house but my hot water is not H-O-T. At least not scald your skin hot. That's what was needed today.

I walked back and forth to the laundry several times. This time I didn't go to the one in the little shopping center. I went to the one at the old car wash on Broadway near Hoffert. Interestingly they have no single loads. All the machines are giant loads starting with 30 pounds and ending with 50 pounds. I took my basket in and started ripping open plastic bags and throwing the wash in the laundry. When I opened Pat's bedding her pillow was there. That begs the question as to what did I throw out last week? I thought it was her pillow. Oops.

After everything was loaded and I put the soap and money in I took all the trash outside to the do-it-yourself car wash that remains. I didn't want it in the building. Even after a week outside in the blazing heat, you never know. Then I walked home, removed a load from my machine and reloaded it, then headed back to the laundry. I took a paper towel soaked with vinegar to clean out my laundry basket. I would have preferred alcohol but that would have been dry by the time I got there.

Then I loaded the dryer, set it to hot and realized I put the money in the wrong machine. This was an expensive load of laundry in more ways than one.

My last trip home I brought the car. Then while the wash was drying, I vacuumed out the car, again. This is the cleanest my car has been since I brought it home from the dealer!

I packed the basket into the clean car and drove home. When I passed it off to Pat for folding it was still Hot. With a capital H. Gotta give credit to the commercial machines. When I pull the clothes out of my dryer at home they aren't even warm when I get upstairs. 

Tuesday my garbage man took two bags of trash, and the junk guys took the two chairs (the bug chair, and a chair I was hoping to have re-upholstered) and the rug, plus three more bags of trash including my yoga mat.

Saturday the bug guy comes again. This time we need to leave for 2.5 hours. He'll inspect everything again, but only apply chemicals where he sees activity. I hope the little bastards don't play possum. There are none in the traps that I can see. If he finds no activity he doesn't need to comeback.

Update: I bit the bullet and went to the third floor. No green bags. Happy dance.

brigadoon

 

It has been hazy, hot, and humid for the last five days. Triple H. It's even been hot at night. Pam and I chose to walk at the Parkway Friday morning because there was shade. 

We began at the Fish Hatchery. A section of the Parkway I rarely walk. But we anticipated it would be shady. We walked the side of the park near Fish Hatchery Road first, which meant we had to cross the wide-out-in-the-open great lawn of the Lenni Lenape Museum of Indian Culture. They were set up for camps. And, when I looked up the actual name of the museum, I discovered that they now have a partnership with the Delaware Nation from Anadarko, Oklahoma to open an extension of their Historic Preservation Office at the museum.

As we approached the creek we finally reached the shade and not a minute too soon. What we didn't expect was the cloud of haze over the creek. I heard the opening refrains of Briagdoon in my brain watching the people fishing. As we walked, the haze lifted. By the time we reached the covered bridge it was nearly gone. I wish I would have come an hour sooner.

 

We went under the roads and reached the part of the trail that continues along the creek or goes up the hill. We choose the creek. What we didn't anticipate was that only bikes must go thru there. The path was narrow. And rocky. And I had on Birkenstocks. I just couldn't bare to put on sneakers. It was just too humid.

We crossed the covered bridge and went back the other side. Now if you begin on the Fish Hatchery side there is a shorter very steep hill, and a long downhill. This is usually the way I go. Coming back, you have the long, gradual uphill with the short steep downhill. I stopped four times.

 

When we returned to the parking lot we realized we didn't take a pic so we took one. All hot and sweaty.

Miles/Steps:  5k.
Weather:       84 when we started. 90 by the time I arrived home. The humidity was climbing with the temperature.
Wildlife:        Monarch butterfly,yellow swallowtail, blue heron. (The reason all the fish are covered. An all-you-can-eat buffet!)
Bathrooms:   I forgot to ask. I know the comfort stations are basically latrines.
Photos:         Pam Lott

I came home from walking wanting a shower. But I had another hot task on my to-do list. Baking in an un-airconditioned kitchen in 100 degree weather.

My friend angel fosters kittens for FURR, and they are having a fundraiser on Sunday. I volunteered to bake. I had a ton of zucchini in the freezer. I thought I had a bag of sugar when I was at the store, and I had three jars of pastry flour plus one 5lb bag of AP flour. I thought I was set. I wasn't. I ran out of sugar and brown sugar. And my ripe bananas in the freezer were gone. My cookies came out the size of a dinner plate and dark because of the honey/syrup. I had walnuts but I ended up using trail mix that someone gave me that I didn't care for, so I threw it in the freezer. It's actually not bad in muffins. What I wasn't prepared for is the zucchini. I shredded before it was frozen. It filled two deli quarts and a gallon freezer bag. It filled the colander. When it defrosted there was four cups. Just what I needed. However, when I tasted the muffins you can really taste the zucchini! The flavor is so concentrated. That usually doesn't happen with zucchini bread. Oh well. I hope they don't go moldy before tomorrow. Angel doesn't have AC either and I dropped them off at 8:30 am. I hope they taste them. I tasted everything. I wanted to be sure they were good, and didn't make me sick. I always worry when I bake for other people that I'll make them sick.

 

Last night I went to a yoga/henna/bracelet making class.  It was all centered around Chakras—energy centers within the human body that help to regulate all its processes, from organ function to to the immune system and emotions. There are seven basic ones and about 30 in total. Each has a color, name and a symbol. And if you believe in that stuff, maybe it works. But we all know I believe in nothing ... easter, western and anything in between.n

The yoga studio was hot. I was really hoping to be cold. I wanted to cool my body down. No such luck. I used my thin yoga mat because it was in the car. The big, thick one was under my bed and had to be thrown out. I was surprised at the diverse group of people, and for a change I was not the heaviest one there.

 

Then we had the lesson on chakras and we made our bracelets. I was putting the last bead on mine and I dropped the string. The black beads are lava. the color beads match the chakra colors. Sort-of. After playing twenty bead pickup I put it back together. I needed 7.5 inches and the string was barely long enough for me. But it does roll on. If you believe in the power of essential oils (I don't, of course) you can add them to the lava beads. However it will make them decay in time.

 

 
As we left we got to pick a chakra card from a deck like tarot cards. I wanted the orange, the Sacral one. It's located on the reproductive system and is tied to creation and creativity. I pulled the Root Chakra. The root chakra is the first chakra. Its energy is based on the earth element. It’s associated with the feeling of safety and grounding. It’s at the base of the chakra system and lays the foundation for expansion in your life. It develops by the time you are seven. 

I gathered up my stuff to leave being very careful not to mess up the henna, even though it wasn't the one I wanted. I got everything into the back seat, went to close the door and smeared the whole thing. Typical me.

a different kind of walk

 

I walked today with my friend Pam, her child, and her cousin Mary. Mary is up from Florida visiting so the humidity doesn't bother her at all. She's also visually impaired.

Pam sent a text yesterday asking for a place that paved, and natural because Mary wanted to go for a hike. Not usually an easy to find combo. I thought about it. And then I Googled accessible trails and found an article from the Morning Call in 2017. It said there was a sensory trail at the Wildland's Conservancy and had adaptions for blind and visually impaired. What? I thought I knew all the trails there. I replied to the text with the details, and it was a go. We planned to meet at 8:30.

This trail is off of Cedar Crest Blvd, and the northern most part of the property. We turned down Farr road to get there. I missed it. There is no sign, and it's just an unpaved driveway. If you didn't know something was back there, you'd never find it. I passed it the first time and came back around again. Thankfully the Lott/Tichos were running late so I saved them the hassle of getting lost.

The path is about 3/4 of a mile. It's grass. The blind/visually impaired hold on to a rope to guide them. Pam's cousin did part rope. Part Pam. She did not bring her cane. Since she can see shapes and contrast, the  posts having white tops Mary could see, rather than feel, when a post was coming. But the weeds were out of control trying to break out of their barrier. A couple times Pam stopped her and offered her her arm to get around them. It was hard to hear the birds and bugs. But you could still hear Cedar Crest Boulevard.

I brought bandannas and Connie and I covered our eyes to see if we could experience what Mary was experiencing. She led the way. I started very slow and almost ran into Connie. 

There were also stations where you could feel bird and animal tracks as well as leaves. The words were in braille as well as English. Neither was useful to her because she cannot read braille. Mary could feel the tracks but since she sees shapes she thought she might be able to see them too. But it was all the same color. She suggests adding contrast like they did with the posts. Although by the third one, Mary said this is kind-of silly. How could a blind person track animals? 

 

The final station was a touch and feel box. It was broken. Since we hadn't taken off our blindfolds yet, we all tried. I had about 50% accuracy. Passing items was tough.

After finishing this trail we moved the cars to the Wildland's main parking lot and did the boardwalk trail. Connie help Mary on the narrow path to the boardwalk and navigating her on to the boardwalk. But it's narrow enough that she had handrails on either side and didn't need assistance. Whenever there was a turnoff or stairs, Pam blocked them and guided her. Otherwise it was Connie in front and me in back ready to leap into action. Again, the plants were high. So much rain.

Pam was going to send the Wildland's Mary's suggestions on how to make it even better. And the maintenance issues.

Neither were long walks, but they were interesting. Angel, we should take Nan here.

Miles/Steps:  One was about a mile. The other maybe 3/4 of a mile.
Weather:       low-70s, sunny, the humidity was climbing with the temperature
Wildlife:        Monarch butterfly, heard frogs, leaf bug, aka Katydid (Microcentrum rhombifolium)
EXTRA:          Why has no one told me this outfit looks like shit on me? I thought I was looking cute.These photos tell a different story. After it's washed it's going in the Goodwill bag. I also need to rethink tank tops. I can't buy more.
Photos:         Pam Lott

 

the house looked a little like a crime scene

 Part 1   Part 2

Yesterday was finally the day. The Terminix "Death Machine" rolled into the neighborhood. My time window for arrival was 8-12. He called at 10:40 and said he'd be here in 15-20 minutes. It was a long morning waiting. While I waited, I washed the sheets and hung them out so the beds could be dressed when we arrived home. I also got a little work done before he came at 11:12. I'm glad I did. I got none done when we arrived home.

They didn't tell me what to do to prepare. Sharon lives at the senior high-rise and they had them bad a couple years ago. She told me all the stuff she had to do before her appointment. I received no list. I did a few things. Friday I made sure all the dishes were done and put away. I put all the food in plastic/glass/cupboards/fridge. I wasn't sure what would happen, but I didn't want to lose expensive food in the process.

I thought they might use a bomb, but the tech said they don't do that anymore unless it's really, really bad. A crisis situation. They spray. A lot. The whole house—molding, woodwork, floors ... For the soft furniture they spray the parts which don't come in contact with humans—the cracks and crevices, the seams, the underside. They rip off the dust covers and do everything underneath. They do the mattress and box spring, of course.

We had to leave the house while he did his work. Getting Pat do do anything for five hours is hard. I am teaching at ESU this term so we drove up there to see how long it took. (Yes, Google maps tells me. It's called a diversion.) The art building looks like a prison. Then we went to her happy place -- the cheesecake store. How do you think I got her to go to ESU?  I had planned to come home 611 because it takes longer but the traffic was so bad I turned around and came back 33.

The next stops were Angel's, Friday's, CVS, the farm, and Sharon's. I expected a call from the tech by the time we reached Angel's, but nothing. Finally, as I pulled out of CVS, he called. He had finished at 2:45 so we were allowed in the house no earlier than 4:15.

The report wasn't good, but it wasn't horrible. There were no bugs downstairs. Just in Pat's chair which was out on the porch. It's a fantastic thing that she only uses that chair. It really saved my ass.

Upstairs wasn't as good. As expected they were in her box spring. That bed-bug protector mattress cover we bought did it's job. However, they were also in my box spring. Shit. Bed bugs are excellent hitch hikers. I've been using the closet in Pat's room since Lydia was using mine in the middle room. I haven't moved my stuff yet because Lydia still has a lot of stuff in that room. I believe the middle room was clear.

Anyway, when I am putting stuff in and out of the closet I often sit the clothes on her bed. I also took care of her pee-bag the month she had it. I was usually in my pjs, on the floor. It was hooked between the mattress and box spring. I was dammed.

He talked a lot on the phone and backed it up with paperwork that he left. Homework. Apparently the work Sharon had to do BEFORE the treatment at the senior high-rise.

Mattresses and box springs are encased. He has traps under the legs of the bed, and other traps all over the house. We need to keep a one foot area around the bed totally clear. Apparently the lay their eggs close by and then they climb up to the mattresses to get to their food stuff, us. This means no bedding on the floor. My bedding is always on the floor. Also on one side of my bed I had baskets, and the same at the foot. A lot of these were seasonal baskets which I no longer display. Pat doesn't like decorations.

We also can't have anything under the bed. That is my biggest storage area!

When he called he told me he bagged stuff. It need to be gone thru and thrown out or washed in hot water. There was a lot of bags. The cushions were off the furniture and the furniture was helter skelter. It was somewhat controlled chaos. Somethings were untouched. It really did look like a crime scene. Except I know what they were looking for.  Pat's room looks like a bomb hit it. He went thru all her knitting projects. Her room was ground zero.

I put the living room and office back together last night. I'm going to have a lot of afghans to do in hot water. Or maybe I'll just throw them out. It's hard. When something was a gift, or made by someone just for you it feels wrong to toss it. But if there's even one bug in there, I'm back to square one in a few months. So I just need to toss it. I can do it. Maybe.

Today Megan and I pulled up the living room carpet. It was worn out, not infested. I've being putting off ripping it up. But since everything was ripped up already, it was a good time. Now the chair on the porch has company. So the living room got cleaned. I did that while still in my pjs. Then I took a shower. That was a mistake. I have a basket for hot water wash.

I spent a good portion of the afternoon in my room. Now my room is always the dirtiest room in the house. With just me doing the cleaning it is always last on the list and therefore rarely done. There is only so many hours in a day. I'd love to move the bed and vacuum under it, but it's too heavy for me. I cleaned every basket and washed pottery and stuff in HOT water. (Let's just say the poison on my hand has died up quickly!) I used air in a can, a rag, and even my fingernail. I see some odd spots on the baskets. Could they be bugs? He asked permission to throw out a wooden box Glenn made in high school. I kept receipts in it. He pulled out all the stuff and put it in a plastic bag. But since it was at the foot of my bed he checked it. It had cracks and the mo-fo's were laying eggs in the cracks. I threw away most of the papers and put the rest back in the plastic bag.

I couldn't scrape the spots off the baskets. They were either under my bed or next to it. I will ask him to check them when he comes back in 14 days. (What will I do with Pat again?) If they are bugs all the baskets are going to have to be tossed. That's a huge investment of money. I don't think I can physically do it. I think I'll have him do it. I'm prepared for the worse but hope for the best. I'll also ask him if I need check wall decor. I have wallpaper and I know that they get into wallpaper. When this is over I might have a very bare room.

I was so dusty when I was done I changed into clean pjs. It was 4 pm. I have a basket in the middle room for all the laundry that needs to be done in hot water. I might lose some of it. It might not fit after it shrinks. Thankfully most of my clothes are hand-me-downs. I also put the fabric liners for my baskets in there.

Tomorrow I have to vacuum my room, the middle room and the hall. Pat is on her own for her room. I might be too-over-the-top serious about this (almost OCD), but I don't think she gets the gravity of it. I need this to be a one-time solution. I spent five hours today calling for my follow-up and they had nothing readily available. I have to wait 24-48 hours for them to call back. They better not &!ck the schedule.

Then I need to haul all the trash out. I'm recycling nothing. And I feel guilty not sending perfectly good stuff to the thrift store but the risk isn't worth it. It all gets trashed. This is one week where the per-bag rate I have is useless. Unless I save it all for the junk guy. They are coming between 9-9:30 on Wednesday. 

I have generated more trash in the past few days than I have in the last two decades. I have used more hot water in 2021 than I have since 1970 when mama stopped using hot water for laundry. It hurts my heart. And there will be more. I'm following mama's advice from canning: "when in doubt, throw it out".

Tomorrow, before vacuuming, I need to get some work done. School starts in two weeks.

BONUS! In my quest to clean out crap I found daddy's eclipse glass. I've been looking for it for years. Why I didn't look near the binoculars is beyond me. It's a little smaller than a phone. I'm 100% certain that this would not pass 2021 guidelines, but he always said if I can look at molten lava steel with this glass, we can look at the sun with it.  And as kids, we did.

back on the saucon rail trail

 

Normally I don't repeat walks this quickly, however, today was the volkssport walk on the Saucon Rail Trail. I did not expect  many people. Most of the club lives in suburban Philly. But the sisters like in Perkasie and another couple in Souderton, so I had hope.

I arrived at 8:30. At 8:58 the first -- and only -- person arrived. It was Bill who walked with us on the D&L last year. We waited till about 9:05 and then headed out. Bill's email was recently hacked so it gave us some conversation points. And I talked about prepping school. We also talked about the club picnic and bike routes he had done.

We were almost back when Bill mentioned that the email volunteer would want a synopsis of what happened. We created a minimum of three tall tales. I sent them to her. I wonder which she'll pick?

The tall tales:

We heard this odd bird-like sound and looked up and it was a bald eagle. It must have saw something yummy in the creek.

At the golf course we watch someone hit a hole-in-one and watched them celebrate this victory. Then they were so happy then knocked over their golf cart. No golfers were injured.

 And my favorite (it started out as a bank robbery) ...

The last one involves a robbery. There's a lot of fancy expensive houses on the trail. The security system was blaring. The sirens from the police cars were in the background. The robber was fleeing the scene running down the trail coming right at us. Bill tried to block him but the robber ran him over. I helped Bill up but we didn't see where the robber went. Probably a get-away car was waiting at the cross street.

May all your walking tales be exciting and may they all be tall ones.

Miles/Steps:  Walk was about 4 miles. I ended up with 5.5 miles for the day.
Weather:       high-70s, sunny
Bathrooms:   I-3.5
Wildlife:        Chippy

the animals slept or hid

 Bonnie and I have been doing a few things with the grandchild since camp has ended. We have one more adventure to go. It actually coincides with the unit in Noom about spontaneous exercise. I honestly didn't realize how many steps you took in such a confined space.

 

Today we went to the Lehigh Valley Zoo. Or for those of us that are old, "The Game Preserve". It was a cool day, but going to the zoo in the summer is always problematic. The first problem is the animals sleep or hide. For many of them it's just too dang hot. Thought I have no idea why the Roos were sleeping. The second is summer camp groups.

I know that the loop is about a mile. It's a starter zoo. Someplace to test your children before you drive to Philly or New York. What I didn't realize is that they had these mile markers. I already have my 165 for this year so I stopped logging. But if  I log my miles for Tail on the Trail will the zoo come up in the list? Yes it will. They redesigned the website and now you can earn "badges". I noticed that there was a Musikfest badge. Ten miles. Ten days. Guess I have my walks planned for next week.

But I digress.

We enter the zoo and the first animal we saw was the penguins. Then the snake house. It's much different going places with a boy. He was a little short for some of the upper windows so I picked him up. We had to wear masks. He's so used to it, he just pulls it out of his pocket.

Then we went to see the otters. Then he started running from exhibit to exhibit. I get exhausted watching him. He want's no part of pictures until Bonnie and I start doing stupid things, then he wants to join in.

We went to see the farm animals and the alpacas had a really bad shearing. It was either an apprentice or a doctor. No professional would shear like that. Poor babies. Oddly, the lamb looked fine.

We also did this cool maze about endangered animals. The child just wanted to do the maze. We wanted to do the endangered animals education. I was too tall for the monkey bars and too heavy for the zipline. I couldn't get my second leg up to hang like a sloth. Bonnie things we were too tall. I think the child was shocked that Aunt Gayle would try everything ... once.

Afterwards we went to the Schnecksville Diner for lunch. The child did not want to go. I think he's only eaten fast food while out.

 

Saturday, my niece and I went back to finish the mural. I did not do a lot of walking. She did a lot of outlining. I did a lot of touch up. Above this section will be the word "Emmaus" in cursive. They remarked that she did so well on the curves they might invite her back to do the lettering.

You can see from the picture that the right end is not done. There is a wasp or hornets nest there. We were not allowed there until Public Works could take care of it. That last hex sign will need to be done. PW will do the long, flat, painting. There's no artwork there because that's were the teams stack their stuff. You'd never see it.

 Last Wednesday we took the grandchild to the Crayola factory. I walked 2.5 miles, and we only walked around the block once and in the building. There are four floors and a lot of activities. I honestly didn't think we were walking all that much. We created our own crayons, race cars, and silly faces. Of course Bonnie and I had to do everything first before he joined in. Oh, we put ourselves in coloring pages as well.

On the next floor a lot of painting happened. They have some cool products. On the final floor we did spin art with hot wax, so cool. And he melted a crayon and made a ring. Among other things.

Again, we had to do the silly stuff so he'd leave us take pictures. Hugging a giant plastic crayon is not on my bucket list.

Our final adventure will be at the Lego Experience in the Plymouth Meeting Mall. He's seven and over the moon with Lego. If he does well next summer we'll take him to Legoland in New York. Now that will be a lot of walking!