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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
lol Talk about PTSD...

At this point, it's all but impossible that a raccoon got into my house in time. The only roof damage was the superficial shingle damage. There used to be two "holes" that were in between the foundation of the porch and the slab for the shed on the far end. The front was blocked off with a rotted out piece of wood, and the back was just freely open beneath the siding for huge animals to get inside (and for moles to travel freely between underground.

A few years back I dug down and blocked the dirt with bricks and stones, then I built up bricks in front of the holes on both sides and finished it all off with Great Stuff.

I saw raccoon paw prints, which look scary too much like small human hand prints, all along the front of my house which seemed to stop at the hole I plugged up in the front, but then I noticed they continued on around the side and the back but much less pronounced. I checked both of the holes and there's no way a raccoon could have gotten in. I doubt a mouse could have.

That didn't stop me from panicking when I heard a noise while in the porch doing some work yesterday. I went up into the attic and filled all the cups with ammonia again... the ones which were empty from when I did the same thing and drove out the raccoon and her whole family a few years ago.


It's stupid, irrational fear at this point. It's not a question of "better safe than sorry". Raccoons aren't intangible.



I just need one normal year where nothing happens so I can finally lighten up a bit.


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A government is a body of people usually, notably, governed by Mark Zuckerborg and Slack Dorsey.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, the rain is returning. Luckily I got all that I needed to do today done.

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Originally posted by SignyM:
I feel ya, SIX! Fingers crossed this will be that year for you!

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Originally posted by SignyM:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, the rain is returning. Luckily I got all that I needed to do today done.

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So, as my mom would say, you're "snug as a bug in a rug".



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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
BTW... on the way to the grocery store as I was pulling out of my driveway, I saw the biggest raccoon I've ever seen heading toward the foreclosed, dilapidated garage behind me.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
What are you adapting?

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Oh. Gotcha.

Your old keyboard and mouse don't have the old connections, or you got rid of those already?

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:

Very cool, Brenda. I'm glad you got a new one that works!

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Oh. Gotcha.

Your old keyboard and mouse don't have the old connections, or you got rid of those already?

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The old mouse and keyboard were dead and I took them to be recycled NOT thinking about what the back of the new case would look like, my bad. I bought a new mouse and keyboard on Friday when I was out.

I talked to another friend on line and they told me to use the USB ports on the back. Which is what I did today when I got home. And all is shiny.

This case is so new and way smaller than the old one.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Still plugging away at what needs to be plugged away at. I have one more estate issue to clear up, then I need to peck away at writing a "Letter of Intent" for whoever takes care of dear daughter after us.

Spent a couple of hours with hubby composing an email to one of our nieces. It sounds like her marriage is on shaky grounds, and while we want to be sympathetic we don't want to precipitate any unthought-out action on her part. bc her email to us was an IED just waiting to explode.

Today I weeded out the biggest weeds from one veggie garden and cut up/binned up a couple MORE flower stalks from the palms. There's another one up front that needs attending to, so I think tomorrow dear daughter and I tackle to back lawn and the final palm frond, and by then we will have three greenwaste bins at the curb and one trash bin full of palm crap, and I'll be hobbling around like a cripple.

Then we get our shots, so I'm not planning to do anything for a couple of days except maybe lay around and recover, if necessary. If I'm up to it, I have "end of the year filing" to work on.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:

Very cool, Brenda. I'm glad you got a new one that works!

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:

Very cool, Brenda. I'm glad you got a new one that works!

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Indeed!!

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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Oh. Gotcha.

Your old keyboard and mouse don't have the old connections, or you got rid of those already?

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The old mouse and keyboard were dead and I took them to be recycled NOT thinking about what the back of the new case would look like, my bad. I bought a new mouse and keyboard on Friday when I was out.

I talked to another friend on line and they told me to use the USB ports on the back. Which is what I did today when I got home. And all is shiny.

This case is so new and way smaller than the old one.

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Oh cool. I should have known to tell you to try that. It's been a while since I had a computer that had the old PS/2 (circle) ports, but yeah, there was a period there where they had both ports until the old ones were phased out.

At least yours is new enough to have both.

How many others do you have that are still unused on the front and back now?

They come in handy.

If you are limited on them, you may want to buy a splitter for the keyboard and mouse so you can get them both on one port and free up another. If you have some on the front that are easy to access that's great. You can just plug in a USB thumb drive on there and have an easy way to back up all of your stories on both your computer and the thumb drive.

If you end up having to split anything, put the keyboard and the mouse on one. There's a limit to the amount of power that you can draw from one USB port and it's plenty of power for a mouse and keyboard.

I wouldn't trust plugging in a thumb drive, or never an actual external hard drive that's in a case into a splitter or a hub... especially on an older computer. Save at least one port for storage.

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Oh. Gotcha.

Your old keyboard and mouse don't have the old connections, or you got rid of those already?

---

The old mouse and keyboard were dead and I took them to be recycled NOT thinking about what the back of the new case would look like, my bad. I bought a new mouse and keyboard on Friday when I was out.

I talked to another friend on line and they told me to use the USB ports on the back. Which is what I did today when I got home. And all is shiny.

This case is so new and way smaller than the old one.

---

Oh cool. I should have known to tell you to try that. It's been a while since I had a computer that had the old PS/2 (circle) ports, but yeah, there was a period there where they had both ports until the old ones were phased out.

At least yours is new enough to have both.

How many others do you have that are still unused on the front and back now?

They come in handy.

If you are limited on them, you may want to buy a splitter for the keyboard and mouse so you can get them both on one port and free up another. If you have some on the front that are easy to access that's great. You can just plug in a USB thumb drive on there and have an easy way to back up all of your stories on both your computer and the thumb drive.

If you end up having to split anything, put the keyboard and the mouse on one. There's a limit to the amount of power that you can draw from one USB port and it's plenty of power for a mouse and keyboard.

I wouldn't trust plugging in a thumb drive, or never an actual external hard drive that's in a case into a splitter or a hub... especially on an older computer. Save at least one port for storage.

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It has 4 USB ports on the front and another 4 or 5 on the back besides the ones that I plugged the keyboard and mouse in to.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Lazy Sunday by me.

But tomorrow got to get my taxes done. Found a place close by so that's good.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
... when there's still so much to be done outside.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
... when there's still so much to be done outside.

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That's the thing about yards. They need to be done ... and redone ... and redone ...

So, good luck on your yardwork!


But about the constant maintenance requirements of yards ... I discovered that over the years.

When I get to doing my yard, personally, I'm going to make it as low-water and low-maintenance as possible, with lots of 'hardscape' (pavers on decomposed granite, decking over decomposed granite), and larger, drought-tolerant shrubs and trees which don't require as much maintenance, provide shade, and allow cooling breezes underneath. It'll be low on whimsy, but high on function.

I hope.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
It has 4 USB ports on the front and another 4 or 5 on the back besides the ones that I plugged the keyboard and mouse in to.

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Originally posted by SignyM:
Took a pain pill last nite so I used today to it's full advantage and sprayed the weeds out front, did some weeding there too, cut up the remaining palm frond, edged the background lawn, and dug weeds out of veggie garden #2 while dear daughter mowed. Three green waste bins out front plus one trash bin full of palm debris. Not a bad yardwork tally for the week.

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Originally posted by SignyM:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Oh. Gotcha.

Your old keyboard and mouse don't have the old connections, or you got rid of those already?

---

The old mouse and keyboard were dead and I took them to be recycled NOT thinking about what the back of the new case would look like, my bad. I bought a new mouse and keyboard on Friday when I was out.

I talked to another friend on line and they told me to use the USB ports on the back. Which is what I did today when I got home. And all is shiny.

This case is so new and way smaller than the old one.

---

Oh cool. I should have known to tell you to try that. It's been a while since I had a computer that had the old PS/2 (circle) ports, but yeah, there was a period there where they had both ports until the old ones were phased out.

At least yours is new enough to have both.

How many others do you have that are still unused on the front and back now?

They come in handy.

If you are limited on them, you may want to buy a splitter for the keyboard and mouse so you can get them both on one port and free up another. If you have some on the front that are easy to access that's great. You can just plug in a USB thumb drive on there and have an easy way to back up all of your stories on both your computer and the thumb drive.

If you end up having to split anything, put the keyboard and the mouse on one. There's a limit to the amount of power that you can draw from one USB port and it's plenty of power for a mouse and keyboard.

I wouldn't trust plugging in a thumb drive, or never an actual external hard drive that's in a case into a splitter or a hub... especially on an older computer. Save at least one port for storage.

---

It has 4 USB ports on the front and another 4 or 5 on the back besides the ones that I plugged the keyboard and mouse in to.

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So that could be keyboard, mouse, thumb drive, and external hard drive.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Lazy Sunday by me.

But tomorrow got to get my taxes done. Found a place close by so that's good.

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I hope your tax laws are not nearly the boondoggle they are here, with layers, and layers, and layers! of forms for inclusions and exclusions!

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
It has 4 USB ports on the front and another 4 or 5 on the back besides the ones that I plugged the keyboard and mouse in to.

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Wow. That's a lot of USB ports on a computer old enough to have the round inserts for a keyboard and mouse.

You're all set then.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:
That was a lot, Signy!
One of these days I hope to unbury myself from the stuff I need to do and get to my yard, too.
How did the weeding work out since you had a sprinkling of rain since then? (Here, I got nada.) Did the weeded areas stay weeded? I sure hope so!

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Well, the sprayed areas were consistently killed, altho it took a long time (1+ week) for the weedkiller to start to show an effect and 2+ weeks to be fully effective.

You got nada? We got a surprising 0.5".

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Anyway. since the rain I see a lot of very small sprouts, which I COULD blast with flamethrower if the FD would let me.

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There was also areas that I missed spraying, so this was the 2nd round of spraying the front.

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BTW there is a nesting pair of scrub jays in the Cape Honeysuckle which was planted by the previous owners and is a shrub that forgot that it's a shrub and turned into a tree. Ever since I retired I've given up on trying to restrain its upward growth, all I'm doing now is pruning it up so we can walk underneath it. Now that it's tall enough, the birds seem to like it better. I'm keeping the scrub jays in the area with regular temptations of peanuts. (They also tempt the squirrels. I saw three in our backyard yesterday.)

I'm also corrective-pruning the feijoa into a short multitrunked tree instead of a lollipop. The previous pruning had caused it to grow into a tight tangle of little twigs. Fortunately, it doesn't mind being pruned and thinned out in the middle, so every time I want to do something not-too-stressful I grab the pruners and clip more dead twigs and errant branches out of the middle. If it wasn't evergreen it would make a nice little shade tree for your front sidewalk.

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I'm slowly collecting the plants for a separate "pollinator garden" which will be at one end of my former "xeric garden" in the backyard. For the special "pollinator garden" I have verbena lilacina (native), one of the musk sages (I honestly forget which one), a multicolored lantana shrub, some narrowleaf milkweed (for the monarchs), and I think I'll be putting in some Joe Pye weed.

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But I also have many pollinator-friendly plants in the front yard, most of them native but not all ... I'll be planting "gold coin" which looks like CA seaside daisy (erigeron) but yellow-flowered, and for the lowest-level planting some thyme, because it is very short and has very dark green leaves.

In one corner the combination is: tall purple fountain grass (sterile), CA goldenrod, a beautful plum-colored chrysanthemum, a lime green, pale yellow and pink aeonium (dear daughter's pick), and Wayne Roderick erigeron. Along one part of the curb will be mattole select epilobium (or zauschneria, I wish they'd settle on a name) which blooms in fall, which I intend to interplant with sternbegia (looks like bright golden-yellow fall-blooming crocuses) and more Wayne Roderick erigeron. In fact, I intend to plant a LOT of WR erigeron along the borders. Along the other part of the curb I have more WR erigeron, and two "mats" of "silver carpet"- a CA native aster with almost white leaves and small lavendar flowers in late summer.

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That poor ceanothus. We'll see if it eventually recovers.

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I'm turning the veggie gardens into working gardens, again. I had hoped to grow a winter garden but was felled by arthritis. I was also planning on making an asparagus patch, but it seems dear daughter can't eat asparagus so I'm not sure it's worth it. Still under consideration.

More rain due this Wed, they say. As Brenda says: We shall see.

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
It has 4 USB ports on the front and another 4 or 5 on the back besides the ones that I plugged the keyboard and mouse in to.

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Wow. That's a lot of USB ports on a computer old enough to have the round inserts for a keyboard and mouse.

You're all set then.

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I know. I was quite surprised to find so many on the back.

Yup, I am.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:
The forecast rainfall amount keeps dropping and dropping in my area till it's down to not much at all - less than an inch.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:



--------------------------------------------------

A government is a body of people usually, notably, governed by Mark Zuckerborg and Slack Dorsey.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Trump will be fine.




--------------------------------------------------

" 'You're like the Nazis' is the new 'I don't like you'. That disqualifies her from marching around planet Who-Gives-a-Shit in a helmet? ~Bill Maher

Collection of links to Second's, Nilbog's and Marcos' death threats: https://cutt.ly/tkCvEX6]

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Quote:

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Originally posted by THG:

Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:



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A government is a body of people usually, notably, governed by Mark Zuckerborg and Slack Dorsey.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Trump will be fine.




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" 'You're like the Nazis' is the new 'I don't like you'. That disqualifies her from marching around planet Who-Gives-a-Shit in a helmet? ~Bill Maher

Collection of links to Second's, Nilbog's and Marcos' death threats: https://cutt.ly/tkCvEX6]

T

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