Category: Good Things

I’ve been sorting and tossing stuff, (Not nearly enough as I should have been,) my progress has been, umm… Uneven.

I’m putting that politely.

Part of the issue is that a lot of the stuff is Jerry’s, some of it is mine, and some of it is Pre-Fire. The latter is stuff that I had no idea still existed, and that I’d written off in the weeks following the fire because… it was easier to erase everything from my memory rather than be frustrated by looking for something I thought I had, only to remember it was one of a thousand things I’d lost.

Nonetheless, every once in a while amidst all the papers, statements, and partially melted items, stuffed in dusty boxes some of which had been inhabited by mice while everything was stored in a storage unit, I’ll find something of interest.

Yes, I’m wearing gloves, and a mask, and trying very hard not to create a dust cloud of ash and soot.

Items of recent interest happened to be a large spindle of CDs and DVD that contained data.

In the fire, all of my computers were destroyed. With them, all of my data, photos and music. My CD collection was slagged, as were most of the DVDs when the living room burned.

After the fire, I was able to pull a bunch of my music collection off an iPod. It too had been damaged, but the drive spun up long enough to recover the music that had been stored on it.

However almost anything pre 2008 was lost. The spindle is of particular interest because it looked like some of the CD’s contained photos. Several of the photo CDs were damaged beyond recovery. But those that did mount properly, allowed me to fill in missing years of memories from our life together.

Some of the photos are bittersweet and more than once I’ve been misty eyed. We were so young, so hopeful and looking back despite everything we went through, we had a good life together.

Further into the spindle, I found 5 DVDs. On those, I found my music library. It appears that I’d made a backup in 2004. In those days you had to purchase the physical CD then plug it into the CD on your computer and let iTunes rip the files processing them into MP3 or the later M4a formats.

Since money was always tight, I didn’t spend a ton of our budget on music, but generally speaking, the music I had was stuff I really enjoyed.

The loss of my CD & DVD collection was one of the things that hurt the most. 

Finding these discs was kind of a whooping & hollering moment. I’ve never fully replaced my collection, because I didn’t remember all the CDs in the collection, and had nothing to work from except seeing a title in a store I recognized. As streaming came into its own, I’ve replaced some albums by searching for a bit of music in iTunes that I suddenly recalled. The problem with that is, if I ever choose to stop paying for iTunes, I’ll loose access to those albums because I’ve never bought the albums, instead I’m essentially renting access to them.

All the DVDs mounted. I now have 19GB of recovered music.

Now the job is to reintegrate my original collection into my current music library avoiding duplications, and preserving the higher quality versions. From what I’ve seen, at least part of the collection I’d updated to m4a from mp3.

Given hard disk constraints (and expense) in the early 2000’s there are few really high quality aiff format files. That being said, since I’m not an audiophile the m4a format plays just fine on wireless speakers. If I was after a totally “Lossless” experience for a particular album, the only way to go is with vinyl or some form of original master. 

Apple offers a “lossless” experience via headphones or hardline speaker connection via either their internal DAC or one that is externally connected.

Honestly, that’s overkill for a heathen like me.

The discs that didn’t mount all go into the trash. Those from which I’ve managed to recover data will be stored on a new spindle and put away in the event that I need them again. 

The box they’re stored in will be properly labeled this time.

When I find things like this, I can’t wait to find out what’s stored, or if it’s recoverable. 

In other words, it’s a distraction. I delude myself into believing that I need to review the materials, instead of continuing the sorting and tossing. After all if discs don’t mount or work properly then I can in clear conscience throw them away…

Same reasoning I used as a kid when I didn’t want to clean my room…

Yes, it’s spring, and has been for a while, but up here, one day it’s freezing, the next you’re in shorts.

I typically leave the plants alone, even those we think of as weeds during this time of the year. My run of thumb is, “If it blooms, I’ll leave it so the bees have something to eat.”

The down side is that next season, there might be more weeds. The up side is that I’ve found a lot more native plants in this area have some of the nicest little blooms. Many are short lived, but they’re really neat. The bees like them, and that makes me smile.

It’s no skin off my nose to leave things be, until after the blooms are done. This year because of the wild variations in temp the normal Spring progression has been very weird.

For example, the mountain lilac is in full bloom and fragrant but there are definitely not the normal number of bees. Normally there would be a constant hum within the lilacs but not this year. I think the cold snaps may have harmed some of the local bee colonies. 

Then there’s the other possibility. Someone in the neighborhood poisoned the hell out of their yard which killed off the colonies. I hope the latter isn’t true but it’s an unfortunate likelihood.

Nonetheless, I’ll continue to provide a safe place where there are no pesticides.

That being said, yesterday, I was outside with the weed whacker and cut down the taller native plants whose flowering cycle was done. Most of the work was in the back yard. There are some plants that get tall and provide cover for snakes.

That is a problem because the dog has the run of the back yard and the last thing I need, is him scaring or harassing a rattlesnake. The dog is fast and agile, but I don’t know if he’d be able to avoid the strike much less understand the danger. Sometimes, he’s not the brightest bulb in the pack.

Case in point, here’s a picture of a poor snake we encountered on our walk a couple of days ago. This snake is in “Stick Mode”, because Jesse came round a corner on the trail and completely missed that it was there. Jesse never broke stride and walked right over the poor thing. Exposed like it was, the snake decided to be a “stick”.  This guy was maybe 2 feet long and isn’t poisonous but could just as easily been a rattler.

Today, my arms are rubber, and my shoulders, chest and back are a bit sore.

I could use a massage!

I have a love / hate relationship with the yard work, I mostly enjoy doing it but as I’m getting older, it takes more out of me and longer to fully recover.

I did the yard stuff after our usual walk. So I got my steps in, and was outside for a few hours. It wasn’t until after I came in that I remembered I’d been outside without my hat. On the plus side I remembered to put my gloves and eye protection on before I started working in the yard.

Often the first few times I work outside in the Spring, I’ll forget gloves or eye protection and only remember after something has been kicked up in my face, or I look down and notice I’m dripping blood from a cut on my hand or something. 

This time, I just ended up with a bunch of plant debris in my hair and down my shirt.

When I was done in the front yard. I was just about to go inside and let the breeze carry the clippings away. (There wasn’t much to speak of.) Then I remembered the neighbor across the street who loses his mind if anyone uses a leaf blower in their yard.

I still had 25% charge in the battery. So, for the sake of being a bastard, I pulled the battery from the weed whacker & put it in the leaf blower. That gave me 30 satisfying minutes of driveway and step cleaning, with the neighbor screaming about this not being a parking lot and how it disturbs his sleep, and the usual staccato of obscenities.

I was vaguely aware of his complaints, but I couldn’t quite hear him over the music I was listening to via my AirPods. 

The two huskies across the street had been quiet throughout my working in the yard. They watched quietly and didn’t make a peep even while I began running the leaf blower. When the idiot started shouting and complaining from behind his screen door. They trotted over to their fence facing him, and began to howl as only two huskies can do.

When the battery on the blower died, I went inside for a nice glass of tea.

The huskies continued howling in his general direction for another 5 minutes or so. I must remember to take them some treats!

Have a lovely Sunday.