I think of flying down into a sea of pens and feathers

[rolanni]

So!  My new fountain pen arrived.  It's gorgeous, and! it writes sooooo smooth on the gritty old yellow so-called "legal pad" paper which is my preferred paper.  The pen came with a converter, which I hadn't realized, or I would've bought it a nice bottle of purple ink, instead of a box of black cartridges.  Maybe later.

What's that, you say?   Picture?  How about a link, instead?

I went shopping after doing the gym thing this morning.  Since I had been putting this off for a while, I had rather a Lengthy List and only accomplished about half.  I fear that I am no longer the Lean Mean Shopping Machine of yore. . .In any case, I'll try to finish up on Thursday.

One of the things I'll need is!  Bug repellent.  Bugs find me very tasty (it's like mosquitoes somehow know I have a lousy immune system) and I have it in my mind to be out in gardens and zoos and suchlike things, so bug repellent has moved to the top of the (remainder of) my list.  Can anyone recommend a good, not-hideously-poisonous-to-all-living-things-and-or-cancer-causing bug repellent that's easy to apply and doesn't smell bad? (not that I want the earth, or anything)

The other things I'll need on Thursday are replacement plants for the Cat Garden, which, under the combined efforts of the neighbor's chickens and the lawn guy's assistant, has mostly become a Weed Garden.  The dragon flowers are still doing well, but the bee balm was ruthlessly cut off last year by the LGA, and did not, as I had. . .kind of hoped. . .come back.  The garden is now well under the limbs of the red maple, so I'm thinking some hosta (called Jimmy here at the Cat Farm, because I can never remember what the damned thing is called, and Steve said that The Murdered Teamster sounded more like a rock band than a plant), or maybe some more bee balm, if the LGA can be educated not to cut off their heads, or some other shade-loving plants.  And there's one REALLY sunny corner where some day lilies might profit...

You see, I think, why I decided to Put Off Until Thursday what I did not finish today.

While I was shopping today, I must've seen about eight displays of those little three-sided spinner things, whatever they're called.  Not having kids, or grand-kids, either, I hadn't until recently realized that these were A Thing.  Back when I was a kid (and dinosaurs, &c), I used to have a continuous steel-link necklace that I used to spin while I was reading and/or studying, because -- though I couldn't've told you that at the time -- it helped me concentrate.  My mother took it away from me, of course, because back then such things were Weird and Not Normal and therefore Not Done.

What an age we live in.

I also learned, just today, that I live in a teensy-tiny-vanishingly-small-economically-unsupportable bubble with, like six other people (and Steve, and the coon cats.  And probably even Scrabble, who does not suffer fools, in case that's ever been in doubt) who believe in the social contract, the rule of law, repairing the infrastructure, and that a female Doctor Who is not the End of Civilization as we know it.  Who knew?

Anyway, home now to find that Steve had started the laundry, and is even now putting supper together.  After the meal, it's -- time to go to work, with a promise from the local weatherbeans of thunderstorms, maybe, this evening.

And on that note -- y'all have a fine afternoon, 'k?

Oh!  And here are Counting Crows, "Rain King."

 

 

 

Comments

[sraun]

Goulet Pens is having an ink samples special through today.

You might like Noodler's La Reine Mauve or Mata Hari's Cordial.

He's got a PDF of his ink properties. Anything that is Bulletproof has the wonderful property of not bleeding when you spill a liquid on it, after the ink has dried. And most of them dry pretty quickly.

[rolanni]

Oooh. Thank you!

[spiffikins]

I have not had occasion to use bug spray in many years - but a few years ago I was planning an outing where it would have been needed - and what I read was many suggestions of Avon Skin-so-soft bath oil as a repellent.

However - Consumer Reports tested it and refutes this belief - so the Internet Was Incorrect shocking!

Link to Consumer Reports has a handful of their recommendations.

Bug repellent

[(Anonymous)]

I have found under various small brands(usually not found twice) that bug repellents with citronella and eucalyptus oils do fairly well at repelling bugs and do smell very nice. However I can not compare with those using regular repellent.

Doctor Who

[(Anonymous)]

I think Merriam-Webster Dictionary said it best. I don't twitter or tweet but I think they nailed it.
"Doctor" has no gender in English.

Deborah J

So many questions

[ireneha]

For the garden: I have lovely hostas and day lilies. However, I live in suburbia, where the occasional wild beast makes the news. I understand from my friends who have 99 acres of woods, that deer think hostas are lettuce. However, if you can put in either of those species, and not have them eaten to nubs, there are amazing different colors. I have white (fragrant - called Princess Diana), to a 'very purple' in hostas. I have day-lilies in standard orange, double-petal orange, salmon, yellow and red. Lastly I live on 'sandy soil' but I have found that 'weeds' grow good, so try Black-eyed-susans, a daisy mine have a hairy stem. These grow great - but tend to spread to the "weed" level, and each year I have to pull out half of them.
For bug repellant: there are a couple of personal-bracelets that are supposed to work - but I've not had a chance to try them before they pass their end date. Just recently (I think consumer reports) Deep Woods Off made the top of the "works good/safe to use" listing. But you will need to look for yourself.

Re: So many questions

[rolanni]

The deer don't bother the existing hostas -- over there -- so I have some hope. Something got into the new planting of day lilies over the winter, which is...annoying, but the established lilies don't seem to be interesting.

The Cat Garden started out as a butterfly/hummingbird garden. Unfortunately, many of the plants that are butterfly-friendly look like weeds to people who tend lawns -- I give you bee balm, cone flowers, Queen Anne's Lace (as we called 'em down Baltimore. Up here, y'all call 'em "wild carrot" which -- I'm sorry -- Just Can't Compete with "Queen Anne's Lace" as a name). Therefore, the Lawn Guy's Assistant, who the Lawn Guy had failed to educate in the matter of the customer's Weed Garden, waded in with the weed-whacker, and such was his efficiency that half the garden feel before the boss even started yelling at him.

Ah, well. It's an Opportunity...

[hairmonger]

When I lived where twenty deer at a time paraded across the acre behind the house every afternoon I was amazed!!! that they did not eat my hostas. Probably because they were right next to the house, and twenty feet was about as close as the deer came.

I use citronella for bug repellent, which some people think smells bad, but I think smells pleasantly citrus-like and not overwhelming, and whose cancer-causing properties remain unknown to me because I Am Not Allergic to it (yet.)

Mary Anne in Kentucky

[rolanni]

We have hosta in another part of the property and to my knowledge, the deer have never bothered them, so I think we're OK there. The damn' chickens...well. Neighbor has been good about keeping them home lately, so maybe they've had their free range license revoked.

purple ink

[jecroft]

You will be spoilt for choice for purple inks. Pilot's Iroshizuku Bottled Fountain Pen Ink has quite a few in the purple range.

Not that small a bubble

[crussel]

I don't think your bubble is quite that small. There are many of us who think it was time and more for the Doctor to be a woman. Heck, I might even start watching again! And yes, I believe in the social contract, mostly in the rule of law (except for appropriate and necessary social disobedience) and very much in repairing the infrastructure.

Hopefully the LGA has been properly educated. Hostas are perfect for that area. They come in all sorts of different looks, and are deer-tolerant. But something with a bit of bloom for the bees and hummingbirds would be nice too, so replanting the bee balm (Monarda, for those who like official names) is an excellent idea if you have at least some sun there.

[mbarker]

Just a PSA, I guess. One of our local TV shows had a mosquito expert on the other day. One of the bits of info that he let drop, with video of experiments to back him up, was that mosquitoes will happily land (and bite) black cloth, while they will avoid white cloth. He asserted that the spectrum in between had a similar response, although he didn't show us anything. But it was impressive to see an arm in black cloth go into a glass box full of mosquitoes, and watch them cluster all over it, while the same arm, in white, did not have a single mosquito land! Convinced me that I am going to wear white when I am outside in mosquito season (which we are in here). I don't thInk he recommended a particular brand of repellant, though.

Oh, one thing he showed us -- swat them before landing, or let them drink and leave on their own and then swat them. But don't swat them while they are drinking. Two problems. Probiscus -- long sucker! In your skin. Plus, apparently they inject a little juice, which they suck out when they are done. Those two are the reason for the itching. He said if you let them finish, they don't itch (as much, anyway). And he had video of a volunteer letting the little bugger finish up and pull out. That probiscus was almost as long as the mosquito! I don't want that in my skin!