A cleaning work-around

Most people have tips and tricks they use for household chores, especially cleaning. Some people share those on social media, and it turns out that many of those shared things actually work—and others definitely do not. This isn't about an actual tip or tick, but an adaptation I’ve made to make one particular cleaning task easier—even if it might not sound like it does.

As I’ve said before, Leo tracks in grass clippings every time he comes back inside—and so do I, for that matter, but he goes outside several times a day and I don’t. When I mow the lawn, it only takes a couple days before the carpet in the living area is covered with various sizes of clippings, including longer weed clippings that the line trummer lopped off (I leave them where they fall in the hope they might help kill off the weeds; I’ll clean it all up this winter when they hardly grow).

The problem is that those clippings, especially the long ones, fill up the vacuum quickly, or even cause a clog. When I realised all that a few years ago, I’d walk around and pick-up the long pieces—which hurt my back, of course.

Back at our previous house, I bought one of those “grabber” things, with pincers at the end operated by a squeeze handle, and that because of baby Leo: He had a habit of taking his toys under our super-king bed, and leave them in the middle where I couldn’t reach them, and there wasn’t enough room for me to crawl under the bed. I could grab his toy with the grabber, and then hand the toy to a very happy Leo—who would carry it back under the bed sooner or later (he eventually stopped doing that, but if he does it now, he still forgets he did that…).

The grabber has been handy for me whenever I drop something that falls into a difficult-to-get-to place, so it was logical for me to use it to pick up the big bits of grass and weeds—and bits of stuffing that Leo pulls out of his toys. The photo above shows the results of my recent hunting expedition, posed on a source of (most of) the troublesome debris.

When I’m done hunting, I vacuum as normal, and it always goes better and faster than it would if I didn’t do the hunting. Different vacuums might work differently, but the one I use (which I bought around six months ago) is awesome, and my pre-vacuuming chore means I don’t need to empty the dust bin as often.

If this wasn’t weird enough for some people, there’s this: Picking up the larger debris manually is oddly satisfying. It’s quiet (no vacuum is…), and I’m never tempted to move fast as I am when I vacuum. It’s quieter, slower, even more leisurely, than any other cleaning chore that I do, and it’s kind of nice to have that sometimes. Still, even I don’t do it every week, but when I do I never regret it.

To each their own!

A well-meaning fail

Not every project I take on works out, but all of them begin with good intentions. Recently I tried a project with the best of intentions, but it didn’t pan out. Even so, I don’t regret a thing.

The background is simple: Leo will turn nine in a few months, and I’ve noticed that as he’s grown older, he’s had more trouble jumping onto furniture, like our bed. To be honest, I think some of it is performative, because if I walk over to lift him up, he suddenly manages to jump up on the bed, or whatever. Even so, he’s a little guy about to turn nine, and, just like me, he’ll need some minor alterations to things to make his ageing easier.

I thought that there was something I could do to help him, and I designed something a kind of steps to but at the foot of the bed. I imagined a three-tier thing with storage in each tier. It’d be strong enough for me to sit on, like wooden the blanket box that’s there right now. However, the Garage of No Return doesn’t have enough room for me to build anything, and I don’t know when that will change.

It was then that I found a four-tier step system (the bottom of the two photos at left; the blanket box I was using before is the top half) that I thought would work. It’s a bit smaller than what I designed, but I thought that the four steps would make it easier for Leo. Each “step” is actually a soft-sided storage box, and each step is attached to the next-smaller step using a zip (aka zipper) on the front and back. The zips were a little tricky to fasten, but assembly was otherwise straightforward

And that was the end of the success. Leo wouldn’t step on any step, and wouldn’t jump onto a high one like he did on the old blanket box (below, right). I tried to lead him up the steps, but his reaction was as if he thought I was trying to hurt him. He didn’t “get” how to walk up stairs. He’s a smart little guy, so this puzzled me—after all, we had stair in the last house we all had together.

Yeah, well, I often forget how much time has passed since then. He lived in that house for 19 months (beginning shortly before his first birthday, and we moved away when he was 19 months old). I can’t remember how often he went up and down stairs at the old house, but we left that house more than six years ago, and we’ve lived in this one-storey house ever since.

I know that it may have nothing to do with his past, but that the small stairs I bought for him may not have felt safe to him. So, I put the old blanket box back with just a blanket on top of it (making the top he jumps onto a centimetre or so lower than it had been).I moved the fancy steps over to the other side of the bed and put some of his toys on higher steps: He’s never tried to get them, not even when I put his favourite toy on it. I think that if the steps were more conventional, he might’ve been more willing to use it—or, at least, not as frightened of it as he seemed to be, but it it what it is.

This means I’m probably back to building something for him. Right now I think it should have a wide lower step for him to step onto, but I’ll have to create a temporary one to see if he uses it. We’ll see. The point is, just as I have various plans to make this house better for ageing me, I’ll make changes to make things easier for an ageing Leo, too. This particular attempt just wasn’t a good one. Oh, well—onward.

Seasonal changes

By anyone’s reckoning, New Zealand is now definitely in Autumn. The 2026 March Equinox arrived March 21 at 3:46am. Leo and I were asleep at the time, of course, and its arrival certainly didn’t wake us up, and yes, I’m being a bit sarcastic. As I’ve made clear, in this part of the world we use the first of the relevant month as the start of the seasons, and not the equinoxes and solstices later that month.

I’ve also pointed out how the weather changes when it changes, and it has little to do with whichever date one chooses for the start of seasons. This particular autumn has certainly followed that pattern: We’ve had quite summery weather this month, and a few days ago Kirikiriroa-Hamilton hit a very summery high of 27 degrees (80.6F). It’s also been rather dry, as summer is, and not rainy as part later in Autumn can be.

However, there are obvious changes. The photo up top, which I took this afternoon, shows the tree on my street that s been in many of my photos over the years. That tree has an increasing number of yellow leaves, which means we’re not far from seeing the leaves leave. I’m not happy about that—just like every other year, of course.

Still, this particular season isn’t all bad. The cooler weather means the grass—and the weeds—don’t grow as quickly. This makes autumn (and early spring) the best times to clear out weeds, as I still need to do. It also means that the garage won’t be as hot as it is in summer, and that means I can work in there. Meanwhile, the rest of the house doesn’t need cooling quite as much, and doesn’t yet need heating, so I don’t sweat as much doing projects in the house—and it’s getting close to the all-too-brief time when I can open the windows—using my new window screens!

My list of projects to do (or just complete) is still very long—probably inhumanly so. The seasonal weather change may make projects physically easier to do, but it certainly doesn’t guarantee I’ll make any progress on any of them, let alone finish any. And yet: Every day is another opportunity to succeed, and it that doesn’t happen that day, then maybe the next one.

Honestly, though, I really do prefer that tree with it’s summer outfit on.

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 5

Another week, and it’s another one-week Number One. Wait, another one-week Number One, the week after a different one-week hit? What is this, 1985? Just kidding—I’m actually glad the pace of the 1986 hits has been slower.

Be that as it may, on March 22, 1986 the new Number One song was “These Dreams” (video up top) by the American rock band Heart. The song was the third single from the group’s eighth studio album, “Heart”. “These Dreams” was also the band’s first Number One hit.

There’s an unusual bit of trivia about this song: This week’s song was wittern by Bernie Taupin and Martin Page, who also wrote the song in Part 23 of the 1985 series, “We Built This City” by Starship. They’re certainly very different songs.

Heart is group I really liked, and I liked this particular song, though it wasn't my favourite Heart song. I first became aware of the group because of a lot of TV commercials promoting their debut album, Dreamboat Annie. However, my connection with the band really started when their "Dog & Butterfly" tour (promoting the album of the same name) appeared at my university. There’s a little story about that.

My university’s arena, used mostly for basketball (go the Dawgs!—actually, I went to one game there), had a lot of concerts, too. However, in 1977, many weren’t exactly huge stars, but then they suddenly started programming bigger acts. In my first year at university, they hosted Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, neither of whom I was interested in (though, decades later, I wished I’d seen Springsteen…). The first group I saw was Bad Company, who were promoting their new album, Desolation Angels (which I bought, but no longer have). I went because they were the first group that I was kinda, sorta, familiar with. But when Heart was there, I was really excited to see them. They performed songs from their first four albums.

Back to 1986, I have to admit that the video for “These Dreams” didn’t grab me (apparently a common thing for me in 1986… or, always?). I mean, it was okay, I guess, but it wasn’t one I was excited to see replayed. I was similarly indifferent to this song, and to me it was a pleasant background song with lead vocals by a singer I enjoyed. But—and even I’m surprised I thought this way—where were the rocking vocals I’d come to know Ann Wilson for doing? However, I think that in those days I probably would’ve listened to her sing the phone book (not a literal fact). Let’s just say my tastes are, and always have been, varied, shall we? Yes, let’s. The larger point here is that I really liked heart, and I thought this song was okay. That’s very often good enough for me, and while I remember very little of it (it was a long time agao…), I know I enjoyed it.

“These Dreams” reached Number 27 in Australia, 6 in Canada, 62 in the UK, and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard Hot 100” and “Adult Contemporary” charts, and it reached Number 2 on their “Mainstream Rock” chart. It was also Number One on the Cash Box “Top 100” chart. The song apparently didn’t chart in New Zealand, but it was nevertheless certified Gold, and the linked Wikipedia article doesn’t provide any sales certification information for any other country. No idea what that means.

The album Heart reached Number 37 in Australia, Number 3 in Canada (6x Platinum), Number 19 in the UK (Gold), and Number 1 on the USA’s “Billboard 200” (5x Platinum). The album was certified Platinum in the USA. The album didn’t chart in New Zealand.

This series will return next week, on March 29, with the next new Number One from 1986, and it's NOT another one-week hit! But it IS one I liked a lot.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1986” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 1 – January 18, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 2 – February 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 3 – March 1, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 4 – March 15, 2026

Fueling the rising costs for everyone

Fuel prices are rising throughout the world due to Tr*mp’s war against Iran, and obviously New Zealand’s fuel prices are rising fast, too. A couple days ago, an economist predicted that petrol prices could pass $4 per litre (roughly US$8.81 per US gallon). I think our prices will probably reach that point in maybe a week.

Here's why I say that: Late yesterday afternoon, I used the Gaspy App to look at prices at around 50 petrol stations within a relatively short drive from my house. The cheapest price for 91 was $2.93 per litre (three stations), and the highest price was $3.26 per litre. This evening, the cheapest price was $3.14 per litre (one station), and the highest price was $3.40—that’s around 24 hours later. It will keep rising.

Despite being late to take the situation seriously, the current NZ government is starting to talk about “worst case scenario” solutions. They claim NZ has seven weeks of fuel supply, counting both what’s here and what’s on the way, but experts in the industry estimate it’s actually around five weeks. One specific—and big—problem is that around 47% of NZ’s refined fuel comes from Korea, and they’ve talked about suspending exports, and if they do, this situation could get serious fast.

The government’s first step will be to work with partner countries overseas to try to find alternative sources of fuel, and they’re talking about temporarily relaxing fuel standards (I think, but don’t know, that they mean things like allowing higher levels of Sulfur in diesel). They also are working on a series of escalating restrictions on sales (to prioritise essential users, like emergency services and truckers shipping food to supermarkets) that they could use, if that becomes necessary—along with security guards at petrol stations.

I’m extremely lucky in that I don’t need to drive much or far, so this shouldn’t affect me for a while. Sales restrictions, if they happen, would obviously affect me, too, but, like everyone else, rising prices will increasingly mean I won’t drive anywhere unless I have to.

However, we'll all share the pain of fast-rising fuel prices because EVERYTHING we need to buy will become more expensive, including groceries, which are already at too-high prices—and, of course, farmers need fuel to grow and harvest our food (plus fertiliser may be hard to obtain). We’ve also been warned that because of all the uncertainties, there could be fuel surcharges added to anything delivered directly to us. Could? Make that there will be.

Related to that, I realised recently that this situation could mean that the guy who mows my front lawn may raise his prices. However, he recently cut back to mowing every other week, so even if he raises his prices, I should still be paying less per month than when he was mowing weekly. Like I said, I’m lucky.

No one knows how this will play out, or when the war will end. It certainly doesn’t help that the USA has a government that doesn’t have a clue what it’s doing, and the Republican politicians clearly have no idea whatsoever how to bring their war to an end. So, things right now are serious and getting worse, but they're not yet dire—emphasis on yet.

New Zealand is as vulnerable as any other country, and our own “Coalition of Chaos” government hasn’t exactly been inspiring confidence that they know what to do. Even so, I’m not willing to jump on the panic wagon about all this. First, there’s absolutely nothing I can do about the cause of all this turmoil. All I can do is manage what’s within my control, and I’m definitely doing that.

But, seriously, isn’t it about time we finally got to have some precedented times?!!!

Huge improvement

I’ve been very busy lately. With all sorts of things going on, plus a few not going on (rest days, in other words). In general, though, I’ve been busy enough that I haven’t had time for lots of things, including, obviously, this blog. Among the things I’ve been doing are some that I would’ve talked about here, and so, I decided, I will. Today I’m starting with what I think is an enormous positive change.

Every year, I have to get a WOF (Warrant of Fitness for my car. A WOF is basically a safety check—brakes, indicators, headlights/tail lights, no rust, tyre condition, etc. Every year I’ve hated doing it because the whole process can easily take at least an hour and a half—last year, it took an hour and forty minutes, which at the time I thought was pretty “fast” for them.

As I mentioned in last year’s post, VTNZ (where I get my WOF) started offering online booking, this year I decided to try to book an appointment—for the next day. I wasn’t exepecting much—I was trying for the very next day, after all, but I had to go that day regardless because my WOF expired that day. I was surprsided (maybe even a bit shocked) that I got an appointment for 11:40am that day, a perfect time for me (I avoid appointments for anything before then, if I can).

I got there at 11:35 (delayed by traffic slowing down for a sudden downpour), put my car in the appointments queue, and then went inside to pay. There it went south quickly (I still say their computer OS must be CP/M…). One clerk was really fast, the other not as much, but both were bogged down by customers renewing their driver licences.

After waiting in the queue for around 20 minutes, a clerk asked if anyone was there for a booked appointment and then said my plate number. Fortunately, I was next in line, anyway, because folks would’ve been annoyed if I was called before them.

By this time, the guy was nearly done checking my car, and I was gone a few minutes later—less than half an hour after I arrived. HUGE improvement! I took the photo up top standing just in front of my car (not in the photo, obviously) looking over to the pedestrian entry and the two lanes used for non-appointment WOF checks. At the time I was waiting for the guy to finalise the WOF by putting the official sticker on the inside of my windscreen.

After that exctiement, my next stop was to pick up a few things at the supermarket I moaned about early last month, and even that stop was much better than last time I went there. All in all a pretty good day.

This particular story is about how something I’ve dreaded doing for years was suddenly massively better. That doesn’t mean I’ll actually “like” taking care of that particular chore, of course, but the fact that I’ll no longer need to waste so much time doing it is huge. Sometimes, it really is the small things that make the most difference, and this improvement was huge.

Because I’m a giver, here are previous posts where I talked about getting a WOF, at least in part:

My car is fit – 2025
It was about change, not coincidence – 2024
The other real life – 2023
Sunday chores – 2016
Discovery in ordinary life – 2017
It is fit – 2013
Just a day – 2011
Testing day – 2009

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 4

Mid-March and this is the first one-week Number One song of 1986. There were more.

On March 15, 1986 the new Number One song was “Sara” (video up top) by the American rock band Starship hit Number One for one week. The song was the second single from Starship, after 1985’s "We Built This City", which I talked about in my ”Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 23” post. The song was also the second and final Number One single from their debut album, “Knee Deep in the Hoopla” (“ We Built This City” was the first single). There would be one more for the band, though.

So: While—obviously—many people loved Starship, others, um, did not. I was mostly on the fence about the group, but, to be completely honest, I actually stopped paying attention when Grace Slick left the group. Be that as it may, I thought this song was pleasant enough, though it didn’t exactly grab me, either—but, then, many (most?) pop songs don’t “grab” me, so that’s not unusual. I guess you could say of my “relationship” with Starship, “It’s complicated.”

The video for the song also didn’t grab me—and that, too, isn’t unusual, of course. I’ve always considered music videos to be their own art form, and when they’re good, they’re pretty awesome. Most music videos are not pretty awesome (obviously?), but the ones that are get repeat views from me. This video, however, was not one of those. Oh, well.

“Sara” reached Number 10 in Australia, Number One in Canada, 16 in New Zealand, 66 in the UK, and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard Hot 100”, as well as on their “Adult Contemporary” chart, and it reached 12 on their “Mainstream Rock” chart. The linked Wikipedia article doesn’t provide any sales certification information.

The album Knee Deep in the Hoopla reached Number 34 in Australia, Number 16 in Canada (Platinum), Number 43 in New Zealand, and Number 7 on the USA’s “Billboard 200”. The album was certified Platinum in the USA. (There’s no chart information for the UK, which usually means it didn’t reach the bottom rung).

This series will return next week, on March 22, with the next new Number One from 1986, and it's another one-week hit.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1986” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 1 – January 18, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 2 – February 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 3 – March 1, 2026