SPRING CLEANING

      I have been conscripted into a job of spring cleaning. 

      I started to think about the topic of spring cleaning. At one time it was strictly done by women. Nowadays this male participates . I'm not sure when the process of spring cleaning started. But I know in rural areas and in housing that we had when I was a child, spring cleaning had to be done.

      We had wood and coal heating. The heater was set up in the house before winter started. Coal and wood are dirty and they do not burn cleanly. They leave ashes which had to be taken out of the stove from time to time. All my Mom had to clean with was a broom and a mop.

      So by the time spring came the house was very dirty. Smoke and soot came out of the stove pipes that went through the room. Walls had to be washed. Curtains were washed. Sometimes the walls were just given a new coat of paint. Usually my Mom had somebody help her for a week when spring cleaning took place. 

       My  Mom as a young woman and a young guy who wasn't much help with the cleaning. Yes, the young guy is me. 

 Nowadays we don't have most of the stuff my Mom had to clean up. However with central heating and ductwork dust blows around. We have vacuum cleaners and in my case central vacuum systems, to pick up dust. 

      So in my house spring cleaning is done. Maybe it comes from my rural background and the tradition of spring cleaning continues. 

     Now I  said, I was conscripted. However the Micro manager is not really up to cleaning work anymore. So I've got an early start on cleaning so that I'm finished by the time it turns nice.

    I've done two rooms this week. I vacuum curtains, wall hangings. baseboards, closets, furniture,  and down all corners and any other place that there might be cobwebs. After this I wash floors.

    Now I made the mistake of consulting the micro Manager and much of the stuff around the computer room was neatly organized again. There are a few things I can't find. I found a few treasures in my disorganized mess. 

    So is spring cleaning just done by old fogies like me? 

NEVER AGAIN

       A few days ago I went to an ophthalmologist who has been checking my eye pressure for 5  or 6 years.  Ordinarily my eye pressure would have been high but they have discovered that people with a thicker cornea have higher pressures but it's normal and not to worry about glaucoma. 

      So this was the start of many regular checks from this ophthalmologist 

      He is known as very abrupt with very few words however he is known as a good ophthalmologist. 

     My visit this week was not pleasant. You go through a series of three test stations. The first station was with the eye chart and pressure measurement. The "tester" tried about 10 times for each eye and didn't get a pressure measurement. Her machine said that I had blinked. No one has ever had to give me more that one shot of air to measure my eye pressure. She also put some kind of drops in my eyes. Then someone came to the door and called her out and said it was necessary. I sat for 20 minutes without explanation. Two people walked in and out without communication. Then someone came in to complete the tests. They retook my eye pressure and put in more drops even though I told them I had drops. By this time I was somewhat upset. I contemplated just leaving. The rude "tester" took me to do the peripheral test. I was so unnerved by this time that when asked to take off my glasses , I told her they were in my pocket and she rudely said , "You're wearing them." 

    After the three sets of tests, his royal highness saw me. His conclusion:(1) you're seeing alright and (2) you don't have cataracts.

   Well unknown to him, my optometrist decided I should have cataracts removed. I have been referred to another ophthalmologist .

    So the staff was rude and the guy's conclusions were both off the mark. In the last year and a half my vision has deteriorated. 

    So never again will I visit this guy. 

    I'm fairly tolerant but not tolerant to put up with this service. 

THE PLANS FELL APART

       For some time I have had it in my head to do and oral post. Yes, I would sit there and talk to you instead of writing a post.

       So with my limited computer and blogger knowledge, I started to look around and see how it could be done. Spoiler alert: I didn't look on You Tube. 

      I found on windows 10 how to make a video. I also found how to move it to blogger. I am bragging! In my test I had 12 seconds of video. It took forever to load it on blogger. So thought if I talk for 5 minutes It will take the rest of the winter to load it to blogger. 

     So I have a got to learn about condensing files or some other process.

    That just wouldn't work.

    Now I know there must be a few ways to do this project so I'll have to keep working at it. 

    Who knows? Maybe someday I can make an oral post. 

SNOW ROLLERS

      I have spent 82 winters in the snow and I have never seen a snow roller. You say, "What are snow rollers?" Well snow rollers are when certain conditions are met and snow automatically forms a snow ball. Wind, temperature and snow conditions have to be just right for the little snow ball to form. So it's like when kids rolled up a big snowball to make a snow man. 

        

       Kids in my area still make snow men. 

      This morning the temperature was plus 2 C, there was a high wind and our top layer of snow was soft and light.  When I looked out there were many tennis sized balls of snow. The weight of the snow limits the size of the roller. The snow stops rolling when the ball of snow gets too heavy or rolls into a place that is partly sheltered from the wind. 

       Light conditions this morning made it very difficult to get photos. Most of these rollers were about tennis ball size. 

    In the mountains these snow balls or snow rollers can get to be very large diameter about one meter. They usually form above the tree line where there is lots of fresh snow and it it can become very windy. Then if the snow roller happens to catch a slope to roll down it can get quite large. 

    So this morning was a first for my 82 years. 

        I wear, hearing aids, glasses, a  mask for covid and when it's cold a tuque.  I have never mastered wearing the mask so that my glasses don't fog up. I've tried many tricks that don't work. So I find the only thing I can do is put my glasses in  a pocket and try to put them back on when I'm in the  store. When I go back out to  the car I try to take my mask off as soon as possible. 

       Now the mask, hearing aids, glasses and tuque don't communicate very well. In fact, they don't even like each other.

       Yesterday I went for groceries. It was a nasty day. It was minus 25 C and a good wind.

       When I left the store an empty bag blew our of my cart.

       When I got to the car I wanted to get the mask off as quickly as possible. I felt one hearing aid pop out of my ear. Panic! I took the rest of my mask off but the hearing aid was not there. I took a quick look on the ground.  Nothing. Then I felt the side of my head and the hearing aid was caught on something on the side of my head...maybe a glasses leg. 

     So luck was with me to not lose the hearing aid but it was miserable. 

    I went to another store and used the same routine. After I was in the store a few minutes I pulled the glasses out of my pocket to wear them. I was having trouble to see. I found the products I wanted but couldn't see to read on them. I took things to the cashier and thought I better check my sales slip. I couldn't read it. I tried everything. Then I started freaking and wondered if I'd lost my sight that afternoon.

      I went to the car for another attempt to read the sales slip. It was the same. I checked my glasses to see if they were dirty . No. 

     After another couple of checks I noted one lens was missing! Heart failure again. How would I ever find a lens outside. I checked the pocket where I keep my glasses and there was the lens!

    I checked my sales slip and went home.

    What a couple of stressful experiences!

    Maybe I should go to the institution where the doors are locked and I can't get out to lose things.

JUST WONDERING

     Most blogs have a list on the right called friends. It's supposedly a list of people who follow your blog.

     Every once in a while I take a look at names and photos appearing on the friends list. Very few of them appear to follow or read my blog? Many of the same faces show up on other blogs. What are they doing? Do they have some ulterior motive?

     I know that some of these people could be other bloggers who follow me but have  a different name that is not connected to their blog. I check on some of these and they are not bloggers. They do not leave any information on themselves. 

     What are these people doing? Do they not have a life and spend all day visiting blogs and following blogs without any action? Do they just want a big list?

      A while ago most of the photos of followers disappeared and all that's left is a silhouette. I wonder what Mr blogger was doing?

     So I am curious as to why these things show up in my follower list?

FIRST RANT OF 2022

        I'm sick of  this pandemic just like everybody else. 

        However, I have completely lost patience with the idea of antivaxxers. 

        I can see the points the antivaxxers bring up but it's what they do  with the information is where they fall off the bus.

       Today I listened to a call in show and that's the bee under my bonnet today. People called in and were not in any way prepared to listen to science people and the research they quoted.

       Yes, we know vaccines are not 100% protective but that's no reason to not be vaccinated. We want as few people as possible to not get sick or die. We want the pandemic to fade away.

      Yes, there may be things people don't want to put in their body but there are many other things they put in their body. Have they ever looked at food labels to see what's in the food they eat? It would curl your hair to see the stuff that goes in processed food. To look at medications and across the counter medications would scare you . I just looked at one of the things I take regularly and I'm going to ask to be put on something else. 

      The freedom of choice thing is a complete joke. Our freedoms are regulated so that it's fair for all. So some of these freedoms are for the good of all. Somewhere we must have a little care and responsibility for others. Somehow, we must not want people around us to get sick and die. Is it too much to get vaccinated to protect others?

      People mix apples and oranges when it comes to comparing viruses to other germs. Polio, measles etc. have almost been eradicated .

    Many people die from influenza each year. Influenza is not a pandemic. Flu shots are available to prevent most from getting flu. 

     In Canada we have truckers making a trek to Ottawa to protest about their lack of freedom because the government has mandated that they be vaccinated to cross the border. The American government has done the same thing.

     The list of whiny excuses is almost endless. I'm just as frustrated as anybody by how long the pandemic has gone on. I would very much like to be able to come and go freely without getting covid or endangering the next guy. 

     Protests are not going to make the pandemic go away any quicker. Irresponsible behavior will ensure that the pandemic lasts longer.