This and That

[dreamshark]

minnehahaK bought us some magic green bags from the coop that are supposed to keep your produce from aging (I was complaining about how much lettuce Richard had bought the week before and how we would never eat it all before it got all wilty). It does seem to be keeping the lettuce longer, but now Richard has gone nuts with the idea and is happily stowing all our fresh fruit in these stupid green bags. This makes it inconvenient to get to, so I am now eating less fruit. :-( Also, I'm not sure what it's supposed to accomplish. Do the bags preserve food or do they make it ripen more quickly? It seems unlikely that they can do both.

I lost my cell phone, sometime between Sunday morning and Monday evening. I have a feeling it's around the house somewhere, but it might be out in the world. It's not a big deal because I'm on a T-Mobile prepaid minute plan, and there are only 61 minutes left on the account anyway. However, it turns out there is no easy way to get a new cell phone for the same account. If I report it missing they will deactivate the account for 60 days! Well, that sucks. So I just opened a new prepaid account with ATT, with a new phone number. So if anybody thinks they have my cell phone number, don't count on it. Not that I ever answer my cell phone anyway.

I got up and dressed for outdoor sauna weather, and then had to change to a completely different clothing strategy after I sauntered outside to read the paper in my swing. It's actually kinda nippy out there! Nice, just took me by surprise. As it does every year, when I discover that fall starts in August in Minnesota. SO weird.

Planning to leave town for Labor Day week. I'm mortified that the Republican convention is in my city (more or less) and even more mortified that our very own governor is likely to be the VP running mate. And then, of course, there's the traffic. I want to be as far away from here as possible. An island in the Carribean would be nice. But I'm thinking Iron Range. Cheaper and much easier to arrange at the last minute.

I had SO much fun splashing around in minnehahaK's Secret Swimming Hole last weekend that I went nuts on the Internet and ordered a bunch of pool toys. What I really wanted was a clone of my beloved Albert Alligator, but they dont seem to be making that model anymore *sob*. Albert is actually languishing in the attic of the garage, but I'm pretty sure that being stored in a hot place for 15 years has pretty much done him in. I wonder if my new toys will arrive today?

Comments

Phone

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

If it's in your house, you might be able to find it by making a call to it and listening for the rings.

Re: Phone

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Yes, of course. I tried that. It still might be here, however. Last time I looked at it, the battery was low. By the time I noticed that it was missing the battery was probably dead.

Among the things I didn't like about that phone, the battery only lasted about 4 days, even when I didn't use it. It was actually a pretty crappy phone, and I'm glad of the chance to buy a better one (hopefully).

[saracura.livejournal.com]

I love those green bags. Since I have a farm share this summer, I have too many veggies to eat right away. I find that they keep the veggies from spoiling. I have noticed that the veggies do get a little slimy over time, but that's instead of totally rotting so I think that's a great advantage.
Yay for green bags!

[carbonel]

What the green bags are supposed to do is let out the ethylene gas that causes ripening (and then over-ripening and rotting). So you wouldn't want to use it for something that needs to ripen longer; you use it for something that's at the stage you want to keep it at.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be so quick to give up on Albert Alligator. In 1996, I rescued carnyjack's inflatable wading pool from the attic of his family home in Bethlehem, PA. It had been there for most of 45 years at that point, and had actually been consigned to a trash box rather than carefully stored for at least a decade or longer.

Figuring there was nothing to lose from trying, I inflated the pool. It held air beautifully, right down to the two horses heads sticking up from the sides. They still squeak and everything.

The pool doesn't have ordinary plugs as closures -- the inflation straw rolls over on itself and tucks into a vinyl flap on the surface. It's quite possible that the circa 1950 vinyl is of much higher quality than that in your Albert Alligator -- it's certainly better than the vinyl in the inflatable pool toys I bought in 2002. But you adored Albert -- it seems worth retrieving him from the attic of the garage and checking on his current condition. He's a youngster compared to Jack's wading pool, which still worked fine when I last inflated it a couple of years ago.