things that have needed to be done for a while...
[ie, I've been putting them off...]
stuff like doing the dishes...
3 loads of laundry, etc., etc., etc...
and going back to the dry cleaners to pick up all the stuff...
that I left there back in February...
[they said they'd call me...but they didn't...]
for some cleaning, but mostly alterations/mending...
my black wool blazer I used to wear in the orchestra...
had a ripped pocket & needed cleaning...
the dress I wear in the Renaissance group needed a stitched hem...
we had glued it for the Christmas concert so it needed a real hem...
I had 2 pairs of cords that needed mending...
and there were 3 pairs of jeans that needed holes mended...
like this...
and like this...
Mom used to do all my mending, etc., but she's gone now...
and I have finger issues that make sewing very problematical...
the nice lady at the church who did these kinds of things professionally...
passed away over a year & a half ago, forcing me to go to "strangers"...
she charged $1.00 per hole, these guys charge upwards of $6.00, each hole...
and when I went to put on a pair this morning...
the tear in them hadn't been fixed...
$85 plus, for cleaning 1 jacket, mending the pocket, hemming a dress...
and "supposedly" mending 2 pairs of cords & 3 pairs of jeans...
and they totally skipped one pair of jeans...
I could tell that they had been "cleaned"...
I was very clear with them when I left them that all the pants were just washed...
and did NOT need to be cleaned before being mended...
so this morning, I took back the still torn pair...
they are supposed to be ready tomorrow, no charge...
and I didn't even have to get upset...
I just wish it had been done properly the first time...
yesterday, responding to a phone call...
I went back to Port Mudville Nursery, my favorite gardening place...
because the dark red ivy geraniums I wanted...
to refill the front porch baskets, were in...
while I was there, they were unloading a huge shipment of seedings...
both in 6-packs and 4 inch pots, rolling rack after rack of flats...
veggies & annuals... there were several of us just cruising the racks...
I found 3 nice pots of English thyme for the herb garden...
red, yellow, green & purple bell peppers[1 each in 4 inch pots...]
a couple of gallon Brandywine tomatoes & a gallon grape tomato...
as well as a 4 inch,"Tigerella"[like "Mr. Stripey"]...
and a 4 inch "Mortgage Lifter"...
[the "Mr.Stripey"'s & the "Green Zebra"s will be another couple of weeks...]
if you're counting, that's 7 heirlooms & 3 cherry tomatoes...
I also picked-up ONE zucchini & ONE crookneck squash...
I'll try them in the boxes like the peppers...
Molly dug them up last year, the year before, the critters ate them...
yesterday, I also stopped by one of my "old haunts"...
the music store I've dealt with for a long time...
[how long ? the current owner's Dad sold me my first NEW trumpet, 40+ years ago...]
my goal this day was to have Bill'sSonBart[BSB]...
help me figure out how to best adapt my new bass recorder...
to my thumb-less right hand...
BSB is a woodwind repairman, extraordinaire...
so I figured that he would be the guy to help me solve this problem...
he looked at the instrument, we discussed what I thought I needed...
then suddenly, he walked over to his supply case behind the counter...
returning with this... a bassoon hand rest or crutch...
here you see one in place on a bassoon...
here it is in common usage...
but we decided to reposition it to be more like this...
[this picture shows an added adaptation for better wrist alignment
for the bassoon...]
so I left it overnight and this morning...
the "crutch" in place...
and my hand in place using it...
[notice how similar it is to the "good wrist"position...]
I will probably also use the thumb prosthesis...
to allow me to better anchor my stump...
but this, as they say, will work out very well...
I also tested & then purchased a saxophone "swab"...
to help clean all that pesky "water" out of the instrument...
the total bill ? $54.00 for the part [the list is now $75...]
the labor and the swab[about $15.00 list]...
so the grand total so far...
bass recorder, used, online from Amazon... $200...
shipping of same[arrived in 2 1/2 days...] $ 6...
adaptation for physical handicap & swab... $ 54...
grand total $260...
being able to participate in a recorder consort... priceless...
this morning, before I went "out"...
I did this, with Molly giving "helpful hints"...
I filled the seed starter tray cells with "starter" mix...
and planted these pole bean seeds...
some scarlet runner beans...
Kentucky Wonder beans...
and some purple & yellow bean seeds...
I watered them in & put the clear cover in place...
leaving it covered, in a semi-sunny place with a lot of indirect light...
when the sprouts are "up" I'll remove the top...
letting the seedlings harden off before planting...
if they all sprout, my bean poles will be sporting blossoms...
in red, white, yellow & purple...
all that & beans too...
after I planted the beans, I watered my inside plants...
I had just found a replacement for my indoor watering hose...
and online, it appeared to be the same product that I had used before...
but when it arrived, I discovered that it would need an adapter...
to allow it to connect with the bathroom faucet...
when I went in search of one, I discovered that there's a new law in CA...
one that restricts the amount of lead allowed in any plumbing supplies...
and that state inspectors had recently come by & removed all such adapters...
after a protracted search, I found not only a local hardware store...
but a saleswoman who could help me "put together" enough parts...
from what they still had, to allow me to use my hose...
the initial problem was that the hose had a female, 1/2 inch pipe threaded end...
and the faucet needed a 13/16, 24 thread/inch, MALE adapter...
we found this, the correct size,[13/16, 24, MALE]...
but it had a "quick-connect nipple", not a threaded connection...
but since it was the ONLY one that was the right size, etc...
to connect with the faucet, we made do...
by connecting it to a hose quick-connect fitting...
had we been able to find one of these, we would have been done...
a 5/8 inch to attach to the quick-connect on one end...
a 1/2 inch to attach to the hose on the other...
but no... none of these were there...
so we ended-up using a connection to the hose size...
that would accept a 1/2 inch nipple...
once we added the 1/2 inch nipple, it worked...
ending-up with a contraption about 4 inches long...
all because CA took all the adapters & the industry hasn't caught up yet...
but it did work... I got my plants watered...
now I just have to get organized to get my taxes done...
ARGH...
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