Unexpected updates

Apparently, I sometimes do Updates posts. Who knew? At any rate, there are a couple posts that have updates, and both of them were totally unexpected.

The big cover-up

Of my many (many, many…) conundrums (mostly about food), there’s one that has kept popping up: The best way to cover may patio table. Part of the reason I wanted a roof over my patio was so that I wouldn’t have to keep my table and chairs permanently under a cover, but even after it's installed I’ll probably still use a cover in the winter, when it rains a lot and I’m less likely to use the table. However, until then a cover is required at all times.

On May 23 of last year, I talked about needing a new cover for my patio table and chairs, and how I wasn’t sure what I’d do. In the end, put the old patio cover on top of the one that was wearing out, and just taped over the holes. It functioned well for quite awhile, but a few months ago I noticed it was starting to fall apart, and several storms with winds started to shred it. I needed a new cover.

I went to the big box hardware and home centre store where I bought the two old covers, and then I noticed that a higher quality one was on special, and it touted its resistance to UV light, which was the main culprit in the old covers’ deaths. So, I bought the more expensive option (pictured in the photo above, but it’s actually a very dark gray, not the silver gray the photo suggests).

The new cover is the best yet: A kind of heavy vinyl, it doesn’t get whipped around by the wind like the old ones did, and, being a dark colour, it dries quickly when it gets wet in the rain. Had I known, I’d have bought this cover in the first place. When I put it on the table, I put it on top of all the old covers, mainly because storms were on the way. Then I looked around and found chunks of the old cover that the wind had ripped off and thrown into the weeds at the edge of the patio. When the new patio cover is installed, I’ll permanently get rid of what’s left of the old covers.

I changed my mind about food. Again.

Back in June, I published a post called “Cereal selection” about high fibre breakfast cereals I tried. I was pretty dismissive of the Woolworths own-brand, “High Fibre Bran”. However, one thing in that post stuck in my mind. I wrote: “The bottom line for me is that [High Fibre Bran] was better than All-Bran in all the things I monitor, however…” and yet I chose to not switch. I later decided I may have been too dismissive, and I recently tried the High Fibre Bran again precisely because it is healthier for all the things I track, things related to my particular health needs/problems.

So, I decided to continue to buy it—for now: If history is any indicator, it probably isn’t forever, because Woolworths has a habit of dropping it’s own home-brand products, though for all I know, they may just stop exporting them from Australia to New Zealand. In any event, it may not be around forever, but, for now, it’s my choice.

I probably don’t update posts as much as I “should”, but sometimes updates to old posts surprise me so much that I need to do updates. Both of these two topics are definitely in that category.