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

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 3

It’s been a slow and relaxed start to this year’s series, hasn’t it? Here we are in March and this is only the third Number One of the year. Last year seemed so frantic by comparison, what with ALL those one-week hits. At any rate, there was a new Number One song this week in 1986, and it’s one I thought—well, let’s leave that for a moment, shall we? On March 1, 1986, “Kyrie” (video up top) by American pop rock band Mr. Mister hit Number One for two weeks. The song was the second and last Number One from Mr. Mister, after 2025’s "Broken Wings", which I talked about in my ”Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 25” post. “Kyrie” was also the second single from their second studio album, “Welcome to the Real World” (“Broken Wings was the first single).

As with most Number Ones, this song was definitely on the radio a lot at the time, but that didn’t help for me: I absolutely loathed this song. I liked the sound well enough, and yet… Okay, here’s the thing: As the son and grandson of Lutheran preachers, I was well aware of what “kyrie” means in Christian use: Kýrie, eléison; Christé, eléison; Kýrie, eléison. which roughly translates as "Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy." In Lutheran liturgy, the Kyrie was a particular part of Sunday services. At the time this song was popular, I still considered myself a Lutheran, though I’d probably already left the church mentally, BUT I was definitely already a committed secularist, and, at the very best, very most charitable, I felt this song was inappropriately proselytising, and I didn’t like that—at all. For historic context, this was the same era in which self-proclaimed “christians” were by far the most strident (and wealthiest) opponents the LGBT+ communities faced (not unlike these days…).

I was surprised when I researched this post and learned in the Wikipedia article linked above that “According to [co-composer and lead vocalist Richard] Page's statements, he was initially skeptical about singing the Christian text Lang had written because he didn't want to make a ‘religious statement’”. So, even he realised it was religious. What I also learned, though, is something I was oblivious to:

There is a myth that singer Richard Page wrote "Kyrie" while lying in a hospital bed after being assaulted. It was John Lang who had been assaulted three years before the composition; Lang has stated that the incident has nothing to do with the song.

Well, okay then. I guess. Personally, I don’t think that any of that cleared up the religiosity (or lack of) in the song, and that was always the sticking point I just couldn’t get past, even though I liked the sound of the song well enough. Once again, this is an example of something that wasn’t the first or last time such a thing would happen.

“Kyrie” reached Number 11 in Australia, Number One in Canada, 30 in New Zealand, 11 in the UK, and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard Hot 100”, as well as their “Mainstream Rock” chart. The song was also Number One on the Cashbox “Top 100 Singles” chart. The linked Wikipedia article doesn’t provide any certification information. Also, I see that it charted worst in Australia and New Zealand, arguably the least religious countries I write about—though I stress that may or may not be relevant.

The Welcome to the Real World album reached Number 17 in Australia, Number 2 in Canada (3x Platinum), Number 21 in New Zealand, Number 6 in the UK (Gold), and Number 1 on the USA’s “Billboard 200” chart. The album was certified Platinum in the USA.

This series will return in two weeks, on March 15, with the next new Number One from 1986, and it's also the first one-week hit of the year.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1986” series:

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

About that ‘hidden’ video

 The video above is Stephen Colbert’s interview with one of the Democratic candidates for the US senate seat in Texas, James Talarico. Colbert said that CBS wouldn’t permit the interview to be broadcast because the regime’s FCC said it would enforce the “equal time” rules on talk shows, which had always been exempt. Essentially the rule means that if a candidate is interviewed, all other candidates for that office must be, too. The FCC commissioner was quite open about the fact that this is about politics, though he framed it as about shows being “political”. His ire was apparently raised when ABC’s “The View” had Talarico on without any of his Democratic opponents. It's important to note that another Democrat runing for the Seante in Texas, Jasmine Crockett, has been on Colbert's show several times.

The first important point is that talk shows have always been exempt from the rule, and suddenly changing the rules is—odd. The second thing is that CBS itself disputes how this all came about. They deny it was the FCC “ordering” anything, but instead, about its “guidance”.

The interview was uploaded to the show’s YouTube Channel, which Colbert suggested was because he wasn’t allowed to broadcast it. CBS later claimed it was to avoid the “equal time” rule (the FCC has absolutely NO jurisdiction over streaming services, including YouTube). It’s worth noting that the YouTube video up top has had around three times the average viewership for the broadcast show, and the millions of views on other social media are on top of that.

So, what really happened? We weren’t there, we don’t know. Here’s what Colbert said to his audience before the interview:



The next day, CBS issued a very different story about what happened, apparently trying to blame Colbert, and issuing a startement without even showing it to him in advance. He responded on air:



I tend to believe Colbert over CBS, mainly because he’s earned the right to be trusted, and the spokespersons for the oligarch owners of CBS have not. Maybe that will change? Well, anything is possible, I suppose.

Let’s suppose that the FCC didn’t strongarm CBS (even admitting the current regime is absolutely capable of having done exactly that). But, IF they didn’t, why would CBS kill the broadcast of the interview? To suck up to the Republicans’ God-King. CBS is now owned and controlled by a far-right billionaire family that unreservedly backs the regime (danger enough), however, what could be behind it is that those oligarchs are currently trying to buy Warner-Discovery which would give them CNN, too (another huge danger; Netflix’s bid excludes CNN). If their offer is accepted, the regime will need to approve it, and that obviously gives the oligarchs a strong incentive to censor Colbert.

That raises a new question: Why would the regime want Talarico silenced? Because they consider him a huge threat to Republicans holding the Senate seat in Texas, and if Democrats win that seat, that may well win control of the US Senate. The incumbent Republican is unpopular, and his chief opponent is a crackpot extremist (IMO). Either Republican could be in danger of losing to a Democrat, and Republicans would fear Talarico the most because they’d consider the other main candidate, Jasmine Crockett, easier to defeat (because they automatically dismiss all they Black people, Black women in particular). Having said that, Talarico does indeed speak to a certain type of Texas voter, those that are more ostensibly more conservative than most Democrats, but they're not part of the red hat cult. Those folks are also some flavour of Christian, and Talarico speaks to them better than even the Republican candidates (not hard to do for genuine Christians…).

As the saying goes, I don’t have a dog in that fight, however, I do have a “position”: I will happily back whichever Democrat wins the primary. There are things I like about both candidates, but I know very little about Texas voters and wouldn’t presume to say which one is more “electable”. Anyone can have an opinion on the race, of course, and I do, and beyond firmly believing that either Democrat is far better than any Republican. But I think that the Democratic voters in Texas have to make their own choice. I know that I wouldn’t want anyone from out of state telling me how to vote.

I’m just glad that Democrats have such strong candidates. I hope that’s replicated across the country, because it’ll take a massive “Blue Wave” to save the USA.

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 2

There was a new Number One song this week in 1986, and it’s one I liked—and still do. That’s certainly not always the case. On February 15, 1986, “How Will I Know” (video up top) by by American singer Whitney Houston. It was the third single from her debut album, Whitney Houston, and it was also her second Number One single, after 1985’s “Saving All My Love for You”, which was the subject of “Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 20”.

This song was on the radio a lot at the time, as most Number One songs are, and I also saw the video a lot at the time. I I liked a lot of Whitney’s early music, including this song, and I also liked the video. However, I never bought the song or her album, and I can’t remember where, precisely, I saw the video—possibly (probably?) in the video gay bars that were popular at the time, since I didn’t have MTV. There were, however, weekly music video shows were on broastcast TV at the time, so that’s also a possibility.

In this era, I thought Whitney’s songs were “good”, for lack of a better, more accurate word, but I can't listen to her old music without feeling sad at what happened to her. None of which is to dismiss her work in later years, before she stopped releasing albums, and I did like some of that, too. My point, really, is that I like a lot—though not all—of her music in this era when she was still a “new artist” for the pop music world.

All that aside, I liked this song at the time, and since, and both are still true. Sometimes, that’s enough.

“How Will I Know” reached Number 2 in Australia, Number One in Canada (Platinum), 19 in New Zealand (2x Platinum), 5 in the UK (Silver for physical sales), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard Hot 100”, as well as their “Adult Contemporary” and “Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs” charts. The song was also Number One on the Cashbox “Top 100 Singles”, “Top Black Contemporary Singles”, and “Top 12-inch Singles” charts. The song was also 3x Platinum in the USA.

The album Whitney Houston reached Number One in Australia (5x Platinum) and Canada (Diamond), 3 in New Zealand (2x Platinum), 2 on the UK’s Albums and also Dance Albums charts (4x Platinum), and it was Number One on the USA’s ”Billboard 200” chart and their “Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums” chart. It was certified 14x Platinum in the USA.

This series will return in two weeks, on March 1, with the next new Number One from 1986.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1986” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 1 – January 18, 2026

Being prepared is a journey

Three years ago yesterday, on February 14, 2023, two days after Cyclone Gabrielle had left Kirikiriroa-Hamilton behind, we lost power in my neighbourhood, something I mentioned in my treatise post about the cyclone a week later. It turned out that the power was shut off in order to repair a fallen cable, which is why it was only off for a couple hours—though I didn’t know any of that when I made the Facebook post up top.

In the part of my post where I talked about the power outage, I talked about what I did to cope, thinking the power might be off for a couple days. I mentioned going to one of the hardware home centres to buy a shop light that runs on the same 18v batteries I use for my power tools (and that now also powers the stick vacuum I bought last year). I later misplaced that light during one of my millions of failed attempts to tidy the garage, but, fortunately, I haven’t needed it since.

I also mentioned that I got an LPG (propane) bottle for the BBQ so I could cook, and that I couldn’t get it to work. That’s still not working. However, I didn’t mention that I’ve never actually used a gas BBQ, because that had always been Nigel’s job and I never learned). However, I still have the full gas bottle, and now that I’ll be able to actually use the patio I want to get the BBQ going again. Failing that, I also still have an LPG table-top outdoor heater that was the only thing Nigel wanted for his 40th birthday, and it may be more useful to me, particularly with Autumn only two weeks away. Or, not.

At any rate, I blame sleep deprivation three years ago for my lame jokes in the post. Coincidentally, parts of the country, especially the east coast of the North Island, have been experiencing a big (but non-cyclone) big storm, and that includies areas that got hit by a fatal storm three weeks ago. Kirikiriroa-Hamilton’s weather wasn’t too bad, though, fortunately.

In the three years since that cyclone, I haven’t done anything about electricity reslience, like adding a battery bank to my solar power system or getting a battery back-up that I can use to keep my fridge running it the power goes out. I still think a single back-up is a better option than a whole-house battery backup, but it’s a huge topic and researching it has require far more time than I’ve had available. Finding the right solution is still on the agenda, though—alongside so many other things.

New Zealand, like most places, has been experiencing more bad storms more frequently than, say, 30 years ago when I arrived in New Zealand. That trend will only continue in the years ahead, and we all need to do what we cane to prepare doe “severe weather events”. Despite everything, I’m actually better prepared than I was in 2023. That’s a good start.

Keeping the bugs outside

Today the flyscreens (aka “window screens”) were installed at my house. It took a couple months for that to happen, but they’re better than I expected. This is also the final of the home improvement projects I hired others to do. It’s been a long journey.

Back in October, I went to the Waikato Home and Garden Show with my cousin-in-law, and I signed up for quotes on patio covers, ducted air conditioning, and fly screens. The quotes were all in by mid-month, apart from the screens because I decided on a different kind of screen than was originally quoted, and they had to re-measure the affected windows. That happened in early December.

What I opted for were simple screens that attach with magnetic tape. Because all the joinery (windows and window and door frames) is aluminium, they put magnetic tape of one pole onto the window frame, and the other pole is attached to the screen. My windows are all awning-style, hinged at the top and opened with latch-handles at the bottom. When the window’s closed, it pushes the bottom of the screen forward, then when the window is closed, the screen snaps closed against the magnet tape on the window frame (see the photo up top).

I originally wanted a more or less conventional type with an aluminium frame, but it’s hinged at the top. Unfortunately, I couldn’t have those because the blinds I had installed when I shifted into the house didn’t leave enough room. It took me around a month to decide what I wanted to do, basically, if I couldn’t have what I wanted, did I want what I could have?

What motivated me to proceed was nature: I always open the en suite window after my shower (year round) to help the extractor fan remove the moisture better/faster, and I leave it open for around 15-20 minutes. Two different times this past Spring, a big, ugly outdoors cockroach crawled in through that open window. Both of course exited the house as ex-cockroaches. That horror was enough to convinced me to get the screens I could have.

I ordered nine screens: One for the en suite, three for the main bedroom, one each for the other two bedrooms, one for a little window in the living area, along with one for the window in each set of stacker doors (and because they’re stacker doors, this was the only screen option possible).

I chose not to put them in the two front windows because Leo might go through them to try to get at a passing cat or dog, and, anyway, I’ve never opened those windows, and can’t image that I ever would. I also didn’t get screens for the two windows in the garage (I’ve never opened them, either), nor for the toilet (room, not throne) or main bathroom, mainly because of cost.

The guy arrived a little after 9am (ugh) this morning, and he was finished a couple hours later. I kept Leo close to me, on lead, and he eventually settled, though he wasn’t too pleased about it—apart from when I slipped him a little treat. Twice.

So, that’s that: The last project I hired people to do is now finished. The first to be completed were window blinds for the toilet (room not throne), bathroom, and en suite. Then it was the ducted air conditioning (with an add-on project to remove the broken split unit from the living area, along with its compressor on the patio). Next was the roof over my patio (installed on my birthday, no less), and today the screens.

I’ll probably have more things done, but the only one I’m planning at the moment is having the range hood/extractor fan raised because it’s far too low—though, technically, it’s in the common range of height above the cooktop. I’ve my head on the thing many times, and I can’t see any pots on the rear elements unless I duck—and probably hit my head. I’ll need to replace the backsplash, too, but I’d thought about doing that, anyway, because the builder installed grouted tile, which is hard to get/keep clean.

I should add that I’m aware that there is an ideal height for hoods so that they can work efficiently, but this thing had a very powerful fan motor, so much so that when it’s running I feel like a guy at the airport loading luggage onto a jet—only a slight exaggeration. Actually, when I began talking about this above, I accidentally typed “rage hood”, which is a pretty fair name for it, really.

Mainly, though, the projects will now be all mine. I still have my outdoor work to do, delayed by all the heat and rain. The rain will come and go, but the heat will ease in a few weeks—which also means I’ll be able to open the windows and use all the new screens, and not just the en suite one.

Inside the house it’s mostly about redecorating, but I’m also prioritising decluttering/downsizing. Then I’ll do whatever decorating, organising, etc. that each room needs, including putting in shelving systems in each wardrobe (this will the third house I’ve done that, actually). The garage will be last, and in mid-autumn or so, after the temps are cooler, but before it gets too cold. Then, if the fates allow, my entire house will be done. Finally.

Whatever happens—or doesn’t—I’ll document every part of it. And I thought that getting all those projects I hired people to do had been a long journey…

Obsessions

From time to time, I become obsessed with something or other. I’ve probably always been that way, but it was noticeably different in the Covid lockdown era, but then it morphed again, turning into something different and quite useful. But noticed that change only recently.

I should explain what I mean by “obsession”. I don’t mean that in the way that online influencers use the word to describe their focus on the latest trends in fashion, home decor, food, skincare, whatever. On the other hand, what I’m talking about is about a kind of hyperfocus on things, but mine is about stuff for my personal life and usually it isn’t remotely connected to anything trendy.

That out of the way, what I become obsessed with usually refers to things for projects or to solve some problem or other in my home. Like lamps, for example.

During the first Covid lockdown I became obsessed/hyperfocused/whatever with lamps to put on the nightstands either side of the guest bed. This was odd because during lockdowns I couldn’t have guest, so bedside lamps were irrelevant. I ended up ordering a couple inexpensive ones from a discount chain rather than the ones I actually liked because I wanted to see those in person, which I couldn’t do, obviously.

I think the reason I was so obsessed with lamps was because at that time we were all powerless against a disease that we still had no vaccine against. Maybe it gave me a feeling of some control at a time when we had very little of that.

I still have those lamps, so ordering them wasn’t a terrible decision. However, there was one other purchase born of obsession that was a huge mistake: A garden shed I bought online in February 2021. In the weeks that followed, I eventually realised that it was a mistake. In 2022, I sold it at loss just to be rid of it.

That shed debacle was both a low point and a turning point: Since then, I’ve never ordered something expensive merely because I was obsessed about something. I’ve ordered a few things I ended up regretting, but none of them were the result of an obsession, nor were they expensive.

As time has gone on, there’s been a change. I may become obsessed with something and do hours of research to to find the best option—and then I stop without buying anything. I saw a YouTube video in which the person described that sort of thing as enjoying the shopping without actually spending any money. I think that’s true, but it’s also true that doing all the research can make me realise I don’t want the solution I thought I did, but sometimes I realise I already have a usable solution.

The photo up top shows a grill named after a famour boxer. Nigel and I bought it many years ago, and we’d also had an early version of the grill (which was quite large). We used it mostly for making things like Rueben sandwiches, though we also sometimes used it to grill meat. We used it less often as time went on, and I think I may have used it only once since shifting to Kirikiriroa-Hamilton, though my lack of use was mainly because it was hard to get out of the cupboard (I had to get down on the floor and reach into the back of the cupboard).

I recently became obsessed with buying a sandwich press (this Google search shows examples). It’s a kitchen device for making toasted sandwiches, like Reubens and what Americans call “grilled cheese” (called a “cheese toastie” in New Zealand). I wanted to get one years ago, and Nigel didn’t want me to, though he never said why.

I don’t know why, precisely, I became obsessed with getting a sandwich maker, but I was. And then I remembered the red grill I already had. We used it as sandwich press, so I knew it was suitable for that. Last week, I used it to make ham and cheese toasties (using what the supermarket called "ciabatta pockets" instead of regular bread). At first I used the two ribbed grill plates, but then I remembered there was a smooth one for the top grill and switched to that. I think it worked better for the later sandwiches (like what's pictured).

I’ve also realised that the grill would be the best way for me to make burgers. I have a “grill pan”, which has ridges so the grease can drain. However, there’s often a lot of water added to the raw beef mince (aka “ground beef”), and that means the burger is steamed as much as fried. The grill machine has angled grill plates, which allows the grease (and added water…) to drain out. The thing is, I can’t remember if we ever used it for that, but we may not have because we used to have cheeseburgers and melted the cheese on the burger in the pan, so I may need to experiment a bit.

There have been times that similar things happened, but this particular reuse of something I already have is the most recent. I like that I’m getting use out of stuff I already own even more than that I'm not spending money I don’t need to. That’s what’s changed the most for me—and it's so thrifty, too!

Seriously, though, it really is satisfying to come up with solutions for my home using stuff I already have. Sure, I still sometimes spend a lot of time researching options to buy, and sometimes I still buy things, too. As long as it’s not a garden shed, I’m okay with that.

NZ government prescribes change

Beginning a week ago today (on February 1), New Zealanders learned were eligible maybe, quite possibly, be able to get a 12-month prescription. Or not. The government claims it will save money for patients and time for GP practices, and that might be true sometimes, but for many—perhaps most—people, it's more complicated than the government makes it sound.

When the government first announced they were doing this, my first reaction was. “are they insane?!” That requires some explanation, beginning with a bit of history.

When I arrived in New Zealand in 1995, people on regular prescriptions generally got a 6-month supply. At some point after I started on regular medication that was shortened to three months because, we were told, too many people weren’t taking all their medications, and so, there was waste. I probably thought that was a bullshit excuse at the time, but the result was incredibly annoying.

I had to go to the chemist three times a year, which was annoying when the chemist was quite a drive from our house. Worse, one drug (the blood thinner) has special restrictions and I had to pick it up monthly. So, I had to go to the chemist every damn month.

Awhile back, I switched to an “online” NZ-owned pharmacy, and my prescriptions are delivered to me monthly, so I don’t have to go get them, which is so much better. They also remind me when it’s time to request a new prescription.

The medical practice I go to sent a message to patients, saying, first, that some patients “with stable, long-term health conditions” may be eligible, however, “not everyone will be clinically appropriate.” Patients who need close monitoring, for example, won’t qualify. This doesn’t fully apply to me. Also, they said, “controlled drugs”, which they said inlcudied drugs “such as morphine, ADHD medicines like methylphenidate, benzodiazepines including temazepam, and zopiclone”. This doesn’t apply to me at all.

I don’t have “regular monitoring”, as they call it (like of my blood pressure), and so, I probably qualify for 12-month prescriptions. However, there’s also not much of an incentive for me to switch.

Not many people will save a lot of money by switching to a 12-month prescription. However long the prescription is, there’s a dispensing fee of $5 per item up to a maximum per year (I’ve forgotten what the annual maximum is, but I always used to hit it). The previous Labour Government abolished the co-pay, but the current National-Act-NZ First coalition government reinstated it. Not all pharmacies charge the co-pay: Australian-owned Chemist Warehouse and the pharmacy in the Australian-owned supermarket chain Woolworths also doesn’t charge it, but smaller pharmacies often do (the pharmacy I use doesn’t charge the co-pay).

For example, suppose a patient has four drugs. Each one would carry a $5 co-pay at the time the new prescription is filled. So, right now, with 3-month prescriptions, that would be $80 for the year. Under the new system, people who qualify to use it would pay $20 for the year, but they’ll have to pick it up every 3-months, because that part hasn't changed. This means that the pharmacies that charge the co-pay will be doing more work for less income.

On top of that is the fee the medical practice charges for a prescription renewal, and that varies a lot. In my case, I pay $26 for every renewal ($104 per year for the four 3-month prescriptions). If I got a 12-month prescription, I’d pay $26 for the year (and I’d save $78 for the year).

Some people may save a bit of money, others would save very little, and some would save nothing because they’re not even eligible for 12-month prescriptions. I’d probably be in the middle category, but I don’t care about that, I just want quality healthcare. Mind you, it’s easy for me to say that when I get my prescriptions without a copay and delivered to my house for free every every month.

Healthcare is difficult enough to manage, especially with the current government chronically underfunding the healthcare system, but I still think that it would’ve been wiser—and safer—to go back to the former 6-month system than to jump to the 12-month system that the current government chose. Maybe it really will help people save some money and also reduce workload for GP practices, as the government claims, but I’m not convinced it’ll do much of that, either. It’ll take time before we can know who’s right about this.

Side quests

I completed a project today. It wasn’t exactly on my list, though it was at least somewhat related. And overdue. I also completed a chore that was also somewhat related to my current projects.

I’ve been fighting weeds on my property for most of the time I’ve lived in this house. It took them about a year to get started, but once they did, it became a constant battle. In fact, it’s the biggest challenge I face in getting my back yard under control, let alone to make it what I want it to be.

At the moment, the biggest challenge is still clearing the weeds that grew around the edges of the patio, but today I went to the other side of the house where there’s one spot that had the same problem. The photos up top are of a spot right next to the side door that goes from the garage to the spot where the clothesline used to be attached to the fence. Obvious, but left is before, right is after.

Undeneath that mass of (mostly) dead weeds (kikuyu) were three black rubbish bags and an LPG (aka propane) gas tank. Those weeds took around nine months to get to that point. I clear the weeds there once or twice a year, but this time was a bit longer than usual. So, my first step was to spray weed killer on them. A week or so later, I sprayed them again, and they finally started dying.

The thing is, the only reason I thought of spraying them is because the compressor unit for the ducted air conditioning is just along the wall from this spot, and the weeds were starting to grow behind and next to it. I couldn’t get the line trimmer behind the unit, and I don’t use it every week where I can use it. So, I decided to try to kill the weeds instead. Since I was out there spraying, anyway, I sprayed the kikuyu mountain, too.

Actually. , it was the second attempt at spraying that worked. A couple weeks earlier I sprayed an “organic” weedspray. It did nothing. A week or so later, I used the spray again. Still nothing. So, finally, I used stronger weed killer, and also twice, but this time it worked.

The mountain of kikuyu was mostly dead, so it was somewhat easier to remove than it would have been if it was alive, but I still needed to cut it up with secateurs before putting it into a large black sack. Once I cleared all that, I needed to deal with the three black bags that were underneath them.

When I clear weeds anywhere on the property I put them into back rubbish bags to begin to make sure they’re dead, and to let them start to break down. Then, I dump them into my compost bin to finish breajing down. This seems tp work better with kikuyu, which is extremely difficult to compost.

When I empty out the compost bin each summer, I take the oldest black bags and put the contents into the compost bin. And that repeats every year. However, those particular black bags have been there longer. In fact, two of them had weeds I’d pulled out of the bank along the side of the property, something I know because there were chunks of bark mixed in. All of those black rubbish bags are now in one big black sack (it’s the one in front—you don’t need to know that, but including that fact here will hep me remember it later). Because the back back contains weeds that were sprayed, I need to give that stuff some extra time to make sure any residue (and there’s probably not much after all the rain we’ve had…) can finish breaking down.

That LPG bottle is one Nigel and I bought many years ago. In fact, ten years ago it reached the date at which it needed to be tested (at our expense) or taken to the tip (dump) to have it disposed of responisbly (at out expense). But, it still had gas in it we wanted to use up—and, in fact, it still does. The problem is that I’ve never used my barbecue, and I’m not sure I even know how (Nigel always did the BBQing, and the only kind I’ve ever used had charcoal).

The other thing visible is the hose reel thatis once again the hose reel I’ll be using, since the handle broke off the one I’d had on the patio (this one’s handle is aluminium). Which I haven’t needed a hose in awhile, I will be needing a hoose, and, fortunately, I’ve now liberated that hose.

This was a good test run for what I plan to do with the weeds around the patio, sp I now have a plan of action. It’s also possible that some of the weeds in the black rubbish bags came from near the patio.

Once all that was done (it took me maybe an hour or so), I went inside to have some water and to rest and cool down. Then, I went back out and mowed the back lawn, something I also did last week, but I was suprised at how much the lawn itself had gown so much in one week when last week, despite all the rain, it was mainly the weed stalks that had grown. I’m probably the only person who finds that interesting, but that’s not unusual.

Today I completed an outside project and an also an outside chore. Sure, maybe I should’ve worked on the bigger project around the patio instead, but progress is progress, and sometimes that’s really all that matters. Today was one of those times.

A day of challenges

This past Wednesday was a day for some errands, and it ended up being a day of challenges. Still, I was happy about how I navigated the challenges—spread over two days.

First of my errands was a (very) long-delayed haircut. I’ve always hated getting a haircut under the best of circumstances, but with the all the holidays and kids off school over the past couple months, the last place I wanted to be was Te Awa The Base, the shopping centre where the barbershop is located. Tuesday was the day I finally went, and I got the barber I often got in the past, but she was clearly a bit grumpy. I tried my usual friendliness, she didn’t respond in kind like usual, so I just kept quiet figuring she’d prefer that.

As she worked, I tried to think of something positive to say to her, and when she finished and asked how the result was, I said it was good and added, “you always do a great job”, and she thanked me. When I paid, I smiled and thanked her (despite the charge being a third higher than it was a few months ago…).

Next stop was The Warehouse because I needed a few things, and the first Tuesday of the month is Super Gold Card day and I get a 5% discount for having reached 65. Going there that day was the main reason I got my haircut done, too (the barbershop is nearby). If I’m honest, that Warehouse is always a bit of a gamble: Sometimes it’s totally disorganised (or worse…), sometimes terribly understaffed, or the workers are grumpy or indifferent. But when I walked in that day, I was surprised by how cool it was (I don’t remember any Warehouse ever having air conditioning). It was a good start.

Shopping was fine, though I found one thing only by wandering around because their App no longer says what aisle and bay an item is located in (maybe because it was often wrong?). Things became more difficult at the checkout: There was an older woman (and, fact, she may have been not much more than 10 years older than me…) who was struggling with what she was buying, including how her gift card worked. The young worker was very patient with her, and never showed any sign iof irritation. Even so, she wasn’t exactly friendly.

What struck me about all was that there were times in my past when I would’ve been seething at how long it was taking, but around the time I turned 65, I suddenly realised that chronologically I’m often no longer that far behind an older person who’s frustrating me. So I decided to simply accept their reality, and try to work out what their difficulty is so that maybe I can avoid something similar happening to me when I reach that age.

My next stop was the supermarket closest to my house, and I have a love/hate relationship with it. I love how close it is to my house—10 minutes or so even when I get stuck at the traffic lights. I hate everything else about it (yes, I’m joking. Mostly.).

What I dislike is how untidy and under-stocked it often is, but what I really annoys me is how understaffed it is, including at after 3pm when mums arrive after picking up their kids at school. I was ready to pay and leave around quarter past three, and there was one checkout open, with five people wainting in front of me. They opened another checkout, and the queues for both continued to grow. Part of that was because the checkout operator I was waiting for turned out to be unusually slow, abd there were queues waiting at both checkouts (the self-service checkouts also had a queue, but they aren’t for trolley-sized orders, only small ones).

Once it was finally my turn, the operator wanted me to move things, like one thing to the end of my stuff, not at the front where I’d put it. I have not idea why, and at first I wasn’t sure what she wanted because she mainly gestured. She did the same when she wanted me to put one my shopping bags (which she’d over-stuffed) into the trolley. I’ll admit that this was very nearly my breaking point, but I breathed, and thought about the fact it was her fault that the company constantly had the sotre understaffed, nor even that they apparently hadn’t given her thorough-enough training. So, I continued with my usual “please” and “thank you” politeness, though my voice probably sounded as tired as I felt by then.

I should’ve known it was going to be a bad trip when I arrived and saw a bunch of trollies gathered on the carpark and waiting to be taken to their usual parking right near the entrance to the store. I grabbed one from the stack (one with a wonky wheel, no less…), and I headed to the entrance—only to find there was one trolley there, when even on buys days before holidays there are usually dozens sitting there.

When I was leaving, the better part of an hour after I’d arrived (much of that waiting to pay and leave…), there was still only one trolley at the entrance, and the stack of trolleys I spotted when I arrived was still there, untouched. Understaffing throughout the store’s operations, apparently.

I got home to a very happy Leo, and got on with my evening. And that was that—until the following morning.

When I checked my email Wednesday morning, there was an email from the comapny asking for feedback on the store, something they do from time to time, and I ignore them. But not that time.

I answered the questions honestly—they asked!—and was even brutally honest when talking about their chronic understaffing and how the stre is so often untidy. I explained that included when items on shelves are low in stock no one pulls what’s left to the front, especially on lower shelves. I said that they ned to give more time and attention to presentation because a mostly tidy supermarket creates an impression of freshness, and an untidy one makes customers unconsciously wonder about freshness. I don’t know that anyone at the corporate offices will take any notice of what I said, but I honestly told them what I thought of their store, and as far as I’m concerned, that was the end of that. However, I think that from now on when I’m going to a supermarket in person, I’ll probably go to the other one in the area.

Despite all the incentives to lose my cool that day, I didn’t, and that made it a good day. Other days may not go as wekk, but Tuesday did, and that’s enough.

Shadow of change

I’m still getting used to the changes already made to my house, but I’m also starting to visualise what further changes I might make. But it’s the “getting used to” part that’s dominant at the moment.

There was so much rain since the patio cover was installed (including on the day of installation) that I couldn’t really tell what it’ll be like sitting under the roof when the sun is shining. The photos above from last Friday show part of the reason I wasn’t clear. The photo at left shows the roof panels clearly cast a shadow on the lawn. However, in the photo at right (special guest appearance by Leo), the shadow isn’t obvious. That day was the first time I noticed that.

And then came this weekend.

On Saturday, and especially Sunday when I was installing the gate lock, I thought to myself, “golly, that sun’s hot” (or similar words…). But, was it really? After all, when I was working on the gate I wasn’t standing under the roof.

Nevertheless, yesterday I researched options for awnings supplied by the company that installed the roof, and I think that it's a no-go. They crank out like an awning (ironic, since at one point I considered installing an awning), and are hooked to the beam running on the outside edge of the roof. They say that it’s best done with two people (first strike against it), and it’s meant to stay out all season long, which was strike two.

Getting people to help with things I can’t do is fine, but I want to be able to do routine things on my own. Having awnings that are “best” extended with two people is kind of deal breaker by itself. In addition, I don’t want shade all the time—especially not on rainy days—so that’s another important negative. The third negative is that I’m sure it’s probably expensive for what it is.

Right now, I think that, first, I should take more time to figure out what it feels like when the summer sun is shining, especially at a time when people (or even just me) might be sitting there. If I think it’s hot, I think a simple shade cloth (some people call them a “shade sail”) would be a better option.

I also noticed during the (many) rainstorms that when the wind blows the rain, hits the patio even though the roof extends over the grass a bit (the left photo above is the area I’m talking about). There are options for that, if I feel I need it, and the company also provides some, but I’m even less certain about any of that.

The truth is, I’m pretty much out of my depth with all this. I’m not a landscape/garden designer (or even much of a garden maintainer, if I’m honest), so I’m thinking again that maybe I should hire the folks who are. This is, after all, a Project!, but that doesn’t mean I’m necessarily going to do it all personally.

Besides, I still have lots of other projects, big and small, so it’s not like I risk running out of things to do. Running out of gumption to do them is another matter, but still—I have choices.

Turns out, though, that I’m still finding out what the exact shape of all these changes will end up being. But, honestly? That kind of makes them more interesting to me. That, at least, is nothing new.

An old project no more—again

Five years ago this month, I wrote: “Sometimes it just takes time to get to a project around the house, let alone finish it.” No kidding: For me, “taking time to get to a project” is an understatement. But even for me a five year delay is a new wrinkle.

In February of 2021, I replaced the bolt locks on the outside of the gates on both sides of the house, and also installed a second one on the inside of one gate, but not the other. At the time I wrote a post (linked above) describing the project and why I did it, and I added this:

So, this project is now, finally, nearly done. I say “nearly” because I have one more padlock latch to install on the other gate, but I dropped in in the garage somewhere and haven’t found it yet. Oops. However, the ordinary latch on the outside was always fine (though much better now that it has a longer bolt), so it’s padlocked on the outside (I never use that gate, anyway).

The following year, in October 2022, I moved the Vegepod onto the patio, and I put it right in front of the gate. I don’t think I used that gate again until the broken air conditioner on the patio was removed this past December. Because of that, I never got around to adding the lock inside on the inside of the gate.

The new patio roof meant I’d need to move the Vegepod (a project not yet done, oddly enough…), and that meant there would no longer be anything in blocking the gate. But first I had to find the missing lock parts.

I somehow remembered that I’d dropped it in the garage, but the main part was on the garage shelves where they both should have been, but the loop part the padlock closes on wasn’t there. I assumed it was on the floor.

I tried searching on the floor, but it wasn’t easy with the garage such a disaster area. I decided to see if I had some sort of replacement. I kind of did, but it wasn’t ideal I then went to one of the home centres that sells more parts and odd things (unlike the other shop), and bought a new loop thing for a couple bucks. Once I got home, I tried it out, and it would work—but it wasn’t the original thing, so it wasn’t effect.

So, at the end of last week I got my telescoping magnet thing and stuck it under the shelves in the garage: The loop thing wasn’t there. Then I saw a bolt latch on the shelves, and noticed some other metal things, so I moved a couple things around and there it was: The missing loop.

Yesterday was the day to finish the project, technically some five years after I started it. It was also really hot out there, but that just added another layer to the experience.

The installation (before and after photos up top) went fine, really, though I forgot that the hinge-like thing moves and that made it hard to get it level; it ended up level enough. The only difficulty was the final screw: I didn’t drill the pilot hole deep enough, and the head of the screw started to strip. So I removed, drilled the pilot hole a bit deeper, but still not deep enough, because the head of the second screw started to strip, too. Third time was the charm—for the last screw.

Now, because it’s been five years, the hinge thing on the five year old one is rusty, as are the screws. NOW I realise I could have painted them to help keep the rust away longer. Maybe someday a new owner can worry about that.

Something I didn’t talk about five years ago is why I added the second lock inside the gate: It’s because the gate latches should never have been put on the outside of the gate because the only thing needed to open the gate is a screwdriver. Adding the second latch inside the gate means it would take an intruder longer to get through the gate, and they’d probably make much more noise—the goal is to slow down and deter miscreants.

However, my major reason isn’t about intruders per se, it’s about stopping someone opening the gate and Leo getting out. Even so, the gates are now both far more secure than the way teh builder left them. I’d like to get one gate widened a bit, and the builder could install the proper latches, and on the inside of the gate. Whether I do it—sorry, I meant have that done for me—or not will depend on what I do with the rest of the back yard, and I’m not there yet.

Still, a project I began five years ago is now done, and that’s a good thing. The only casualties were two screws and my left forearm: Because of where the lock had to go, I had to use the screwdriver in my left hand (my right hand is dominant, but, oddly, I can use a screwdriver with my left hand), and the muscles were sore today. But the jobs is done, so it’s kind of worth that.

Cost of creating

I spent most of my working life in what is said called, somewhat overly grandly, “creative industries”. In my case, it was doing design and layout of ads, newspapers, magazines, and various other printed materials. I’ve owned products by Adobe for years—right up until they stopped selling the software and instead made users subscribe to their “Adobe Creative Cloud”—at fees that keep going up. We had no other choice than to accept that because the software was vital to do our jobs. I’m not sure that’s true any more.

Now that I’m not working anymore, it doesn’t make sense for me to pay nearly $100 (roughly $US60) a month so Adobe will allow me to use the software. To be clear, I DO still use their software: I use Photoshop to prepare all the photos I post to this blog, I use Illustrator to create things like album art for some episodes of my podcast, and I use InDesign for general layout work, including all the labels I made for my pantry reorganisation. I’m really glad I have the software when I meed it, but am I nearly $100 a month glad?

Last year, I started researching alternatives to Adobe. At the time, Affinity was highly rated and cost less to buy permanently than paying for only three months of Adobe’s Creative Cloud. Last year, Affinity’s publisher was aquired by Canva, an Australian-own software company whose site, Canva, is used by people to creat visual assets, like title cards for YouTube videos. Affinity is now “freemium”, but a paid subsription is needed to access AI features (Adobe also offers AI features).

Today I got an email from Apple about their new subscription service, Creator Studio. Some of the programmes are more powerful versions of their free software, like Final Cut Pro to replace iMovie, and Logic Pro to replace Garage Band, but everything seems to have added other things under the paid model, including—surprise!—AI features. Apple also promises to protect users’ privacy.

The various parts of the “suite” can also be purchased separately, basically like all software used to be. As is often the case with Apple, subscription pricing is—interesting. Here in New Zealand, users can pay $24.99 per month ($US15.08), or $249 annually ($US150.30), which is like getting two months for free. This is a fraction of what Adobe charges, but that assumes the Suite is comparable. However: In the USA, Apple charges users US$12.99 (NZ$21.52) per month, or US$129 ($NZ213.72) per year. As usual, in other words, Apple charges overseas users more than it charges users in the USA for something entirely digital.

At the moment, I don’t have a solution to entirely replace the Adobe software I’ve depended on for decades. Rightnow, I think it may turn out that “good enough” will have to be enough. I hjave a lot more research to do. All of which means this is yet another project for this year.

The weather gods cooperated

I don’t want to alarm anyone, but today there was a bright light outside all day. It seemed to be coming from a bright disc in the sky—so bright, in fact, that I couldn’t even look at it! Also, the clouds broke apart revealing a pale blue colour behind them. Am I on a television film set, like in The Truman Show? Or was it the end of the world?

Well, just in case it wasn’t the end of the world, I mowed the back lawn today, something I haven’t been able to do since January 9—two and a half weeks ago—due to all that rain we’ve had. It looked pretty bad, but it was mostly because of the long weed flower stalks.

I also trimmed all the edges (!), though the fates didn’t want me to. The line in the trimmer ran out after only a few minutes (not a surprise—I was expecting that), but then the battery gave out much earlier than expected (it wasn’t at 100% charge when I started, but I thought there was more power…). I swapped the battery and continued on—and the line ran out again! It may have broken off in the bump head, but by then I was over it, put the trimmer away, and brought out the mower.

The mowing went without incident, however, there were two medium sized birds (I have no idea what they were) that kept landing on the lawn where I’d just mowed (looking for disturbed bugs, probably). They flew away when I started walking toward them again, landed when I’d turned around and was mowing away from them, all of which was repeated several times. I’ve never had that happen before.

When I was doing the last bit of lawn, I mowed close to the fence to chop up the weeds the line trimmer sliced off, and I noticed a tiny green frog trying to get away, moving toward the fence. It was the third time I’ve seen one, but it’s been a few years.

I then came in and drank some cool water, which helped cool me down. It was 26 today (roughly 79F), which is the warmest day my neighbourhood has had for a couple weeks, I think, and it had pretty high humidity. I did a few ordinary chores before dinner.

After dinner, I decided to go back outside because the temperature was lower—though the humidity was not. I started chopping at some of the weeds I hadn’t been able to get to before, swept up after myself, and then repotted a couple plants. And that was my day, the first one I’ve been able to get outside things done in a couple weeks.

I have some errands to do tomorrow afternoon, so I hope to get a few things done in the morning. But my main event will be to pick up stones for making the new Vegepod parking spot. And once I get that done, I’ll have cleared enough space on the patio to start working out what I want to do with the space.

Today, though, was a productive day. It apparently wasn’t the end of the world, fortunately. But whether today took place in a version of The Truman Show remains unknown.

It’s now my roof

Today I received the final invoice for my patio cover. I have no idea why it took them nearly a week to send the invoice, but I paid it today, too, because the due date was also today (as it was with the other two invoices, so it’s no big deal). At any rate, I now officially own it.

It’s rained, often heavily, though not constantly, pretty much every day for at least couple weeks. Because some of the dowpours were really bad, I didn’t want to start any outside work, even under the roof, because I knew I might have to stop suddenly.

It turns out, though, that the same weather that kept me from doing much outside also showed me that when I set up the patio I’ll have to keep things away from the edges, because—surprise!—rain doesn’t fall straight down. I know they make shades of very kinds, so they might also provide the clear vinyl ones like cafes use. Maybe? I think I’ll try managing the arrangement first.

The weather will be improving from tomorrow, with a sunny afternoon and then two days in a row (!) of sunshine, then a weekend with two days of mostly sunny weather before the rain returns on Monday. Put another way, I should be able to get some outside stuff done over the next few days—fingers crossed?

Still, the new patio roof is now officially mine, and so is all the work I need to do to be able to actually use it. With great privilege comes great responsibility, they say. At least I should sleep well for several days.

Paths to redemption

This morning, I saw a meme on Facebook. It said: “I’ve done a lot of stupid shit on this planet, but at least I’ve never voted for [the convicted felon]”. I shared it because it’s true for me, too. However, for me, the meme is only part of the story.

I really hve made a lot of huge mistakes in my life, and, obviously, voting for him was never one of them. However, we all make mistakes—everyone—but the trick is to recognise our mistakes and then to try to repair the damage, beginning with admitting our mistake. Sure, voting for him is arguably the biggest mistake that some Americans have ever made, but if there’s no path to redemption for those who made that mistake and regret it, then, in my opinion, there’s absolutely no hope for healing the deep divisions and wounds in the USA.

Those of us who never supported him in any way also have a choice: We can be smug about having been right about him all along, or we can help those who were wrong about him get back out into the sunlight. There will be some folks who will never be able to admit their mistake (for lots of reasons), and there’s nothing we can do to help them. But I want to see otherwise good people have a path to help to undo the damage they helped enable.

At the same time, though, I’ll never condemn the folks who can’t forgive those who voted for him. I totally get that—in fact, I often felt the same way, especially when the regime unleashed its reign of terror. Even so, I nevertheless persist in holding onto hope for the folks who made the mistake of voting for him, but who truly seek and then work for redemption.

My attitude comes from two completely different places. First, it’s arguably an enduring lesson from literally growing up in the church: There were all those messages about not judging, about forgiveness, and turning the other cheek. However, the biggest thing has been my adult life studying and volunteering in politics. In a democracy, victories are built on coalitions, and if democracy is to survive in the USA, it will take a massive coalition of people working and voting together to create change. That’s because of the systemic and structural barriers that the felon and his party are trying to erect to prevent pro-democracy people from voting—or even speaking out. I’ve often spoken about my own personal political pragmatism, and this is an example of it: Leave no opponent of the regime outside if they repudiate their former support for the felon.

Having said all of that, I’m under no illusions about any of this. It’s human nature to never admit mistakes, especially ones that people are embarrassed about having made, but even those folks can still do the right things quietly. My personal preference would be for his voters to admit their mistake publicly and join the pro-democracy coalition, but I don’t know how many will be strong enough to actually do that. That’s fine—as long as they still vote out the felon’s political party.

History shows us that there will come a day—hopefully very soon—when it will become nearly impossible to find anyone who will admit to ever having voted for him. For example, that happened in Germany after World War 2 ended, and the reasons it will happen in the USA are quite similar. Until that time, and to help it arrive sooner, we need to try to help his now repentant former voters find a path to help us all build a better future in which this nightmare cannot be repeated.

A new project now begins

My outdoor project can now begin. Obviously what I need more than anything is yet another project, and, sure, this one has basically also been hanging around since I moved into this house six years ago. None of that changes the fact that this is now real.

The reason that this long-delayed, often derailed project can happen at all is that On Wednesday the patio cover was installed. Among other things, that means that I can now see the space I have to work with, both on the patio and in the backyard more generally. I needed to see the site (and sight-lines) in order to be able to visualise what I want it to look like. There’s still quite a lot to do before I make that vision, let alone make it happen.

I did my first real inspection of the outdoor stuff yesterday, and a lot of what had been my outdoor furniture will need to be replaced after several years exposed to all the weather in all the seasons (and also the high UV of the sun). At this point, though, it’s still about cleaning everything up, including the patio itself and the area around it.

I picked what looked to be the dirtiest plastic chair and did a fairly light scrub. I think I can get the chair (and it’s three siblings) to a “yeah, it’s okay, I guess” stage, but at that point I’ll probably give them away. Those four are white ones that could be used at a table, but I don’t think I’d ever need them, even if they were pristine. Nigel and I bought them for our Civil Union (what we called our wedding) on January 24, 2009—seventeen years ago this coming Saturday, to the very day. I’m fine with letting them go, not the least because in the unlikely event I ever need more seating, I still have two long foldable benches we also bought for the Civil Union, and they’ve always been kept inside and are in pristine condition.

I also have three Adirondack-style plastic chairs I bought for us at our last house (there were four: I broke one when I was moving to Hamilton). Those will be fine for just sitting outside until I work out what I want out there and how I want to use the space.

Which brings me to the table and chairs. Two houses ago, they were always undercover, but were exposed to the sun and elements for nearly three years at the last house, and probably about as long here until I finally realised I needed to put a cover over the set. The frame for the table is aluminium and in excellent condition. The removable top, however, appears to be somewhat cupped or warped at an edge (it was hard to tell from my quick look at the top when it wasn’t on the table). When I have space on the patio to work, I’ll take a better look and decide from there. I think the top is MDF and painted with exterior grade paint, and it certainly wouldn’t be hard to just make a new top for it if necessary.

The six chairs are faded and dirty, but they appear otherwise sound—for now? The whole set is probably as much as 18 years old, so I may replace all that, too. Over the past the past couple days, I’ve been thinking that maybe I should replace the seating for six with something smaller, maybe seating for four expandable to six. That’s mainly because a smaller table would give me more space under the new roof. I’ll first arrange the space with what I have, and then work out what changes to make.

Finally, I found out the handle of the hose reel has rusted-out and it broke off, five years after I bought it. That hose, which is even older, has always expelled hose fittings (even Nigel failed to keep it attached!), and both the connector to the outdoor tap and the one for the hand trigger thingee are shot. They’re all probably destined for the rubbish.

Amid all that deterioration and mayhem is a bit of creation: I now need to finally create the new parking spot for the Vegepod, which is currently on the lawn-end of the patio (so it doesn’t sink into the ground). Although unpleasant, this work will be slightly easier because of all the rain: In summer, the heat and lack of rain normally makes the heavy clay soil turn nearly solid, like concrete. On the other hand, it’s extremely heavy when it’s wet, though at least I can dig it out.

When that’s done, I can move the Vegepod from the patio to its new home. Then, it’ll be about clearing out the weeds at edges at the other end of the patio. That, too, will be getting gravel to keep the weeds down. I also still need to remove all the other weeds in the area.

However, I’ll only work on removing the weeds on days when it’s not raining, and on rainy days I’ll work on the things under the roof, including figuring out how I want to arrange the patio area. There’s plenty to keep me going.

I’ll be talking about all these things as I work on them, along with photos. This may be “another project on the list,” but it’s now real. And, actually, it’s pretty exciting, too.