Sunday, July 30
Jul. 31st, 2023 01:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
Nice weather, with some intermittent clouds.
That we decided to get something done today.
My Sweetie cut down a large patch of thistles that are well-established in the horse pasture. This will likely not kill them, but we are trying to at least prevent them from seeding out.
It was a monstrous job to pick them up and toss them over the fence into the bush area, so that they would not kill the grass underneath them.
It was a VERY BIG PATCH of thistles.
When he was cutting (I only went out later to help remove the fallen thistles) I decided that it was up to me to get tough about taking my Sweetie's old car to our local mechanic, who is going to use it for parts.
My Sweetie bought a new car over two months ago, and when we both agreed it was time for him to buy this car, I was very firm with him that we had to part ways with his old car. Not to let it just sit in our yard (we already have an old vehicle that is mostly here for sentimental reasons).
For the last two months-ish, every time he's been home, I reminded him that we needed to part with it "this weekend", and he's always like "Yes, but I have to clean it out first". Then he does nothing, and it sits in the driveway for two more weeks until he is home again.
We had the exact same exchange the other day, and today I decided that I would clean it out for him.
I got a Rubbermaid tub, and just pulled every single thing out of it and tossed it in the bin, and put the bin in the garage.
When we were done with the thistles, I told him that I cleaned out the car and that today was a good day to drop the car off at the mechanic's on our way to see River.
He responded with "Ok, but there are things in the garage that have to go back into the car".
I wasn't going to let this happen. I just said "Fine, let's go get them, I'll help". He actually was upset that I was forcing the issue, but I wouldn't back down.
I feel some sentiment towards the car too, but COME ON! We cannot become those people that have a row of old cars just sitting in the yard rusting to pieces. NO!
So I marched him to the garage, I helped him put the items back in there, and that was that.
He drove the truck and horse trailer (we needed to practice loading River into OUR trailer, not R's ), and I drove the little car, and from the mechanic's I got into the truck and we went to the barn.
River has had a lot of issues with loading in the past, and with R's help, we have been trying to make things better. We have practiced a fair amount with R's trailer, but it's time we used our own.
That was my only goal with River today, was to spend some time loading him, and trying to make it as positive as possible.
He was pretty worried, and did back out a couple of times, but not a full-blown panic as has happened in the past. I got him right back in, and overall he did okay. I think I managed to keep everything positive.
That was all we did. We worked on that for about half an hour or so, and because he did well, I left it right there.
We chatted with R and her daughter.
We went home, and watched the first "Guardians of the Galaxy", which is such a fun movie.
I learned about Pistol Shrimp: When in colonies, the snapping shrimp can interfere with sonar and underwater communication. The shrimp are considered a major source of sound in the ocean.[3]
Description
The "pistol shrimp" grows to 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) long. It is distinctive for its disproportionately large claw, larger than half the shrimp's body. The claw can be on either arm of the body, and, unlike most shrimp claws, does not have typical pincers at the end. Rather, it has a pistol-like feature made of two parts. A joint allows the "hammer" part to move backward into a right-angled position. When released, it snaps into the other part of the claw, emitting an enormously powerful wave of bubbles capable of stunning larger fish and breaking small glass jars.[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpheidae
Nice weather, with some intermittent clouds.
That we decided to get something done today.
My Sweetie cut down a large patch of thistles that are well-established in the horse pasture. This will likely not kill them, but we are trying to at least prevent them from seeding out.
It was a monstrous job to pick them up and toss them over the fence into the bush area, so that they would not kill the grass underneath them.
It was a VERY BIG PATCH of thistles.
When he was cutting (I only went out later to help remove the fallen thistles) I decided that it was up to me to get tough about taking my Sweetie's old car to our local mechanic, who is going to use it for parts.
My Sweetie bought a new car over two months ago, and when we both agreed it was time for him to buy this car, I was very firm with him that we had to part ways with his old car. Not to let it just sit in our yard (we already have an old vehicle that is mostly here for sentimental reasons).
For the last two months-ish, every time he's been home, I reminded him that we needed to part with it "this weekend", and he's always like "Yes, but I have to clean it out first". Then he does nothing, and it sits in the driveway for two more weeks until he is home again.
We had the exact same exchange the other day, and today I decided that I would clean it out for him.
I got a Rubbermaid tub, and just pulled every single thing out of it and tossed it in the bin, and put the bin in the garage.
When we were done with the thistles, I told him that I cleaned out the car and that today was a good day to drop the car off at the mechanic's on our way to see River.
He responded with "Ok, but there are things in the garage that have to go back into the car".
I wasn't going to let this happen. I just said "Fine, let's go get them, I'll help". He actually was upset that I was forcing the issue, but I wouldn't back down.
I feel some sentiment towards the car too, but COME ON! We cannot become those people that have a row of old cars just sitting in the yard rusting to pieces. NO!
So I marched him to the garage, I helped him put the items back in there, and that was that.
He drove the truck and horse trailer (we needed to practice loading River into OUR trailer, not R's ), and I drove the little car, and from the mechanic's I got into the truck and we went to the barn.
River has had a lot of issues with loading in the past, and with R's help, we have been trying to make things better. We have practiced a fair amount with R's trailer, but it's time we used our own.
That was my only goal with River today, was to spend some time loading him, and trying to make it as positive as possible.
He was pretty worried, and did back out a couple of times, but not a full-blown panic as has happened in the past. I got him right back in, and overall he did okay. I think I managed to keep everything positive.
That was all we did. We worked on that for about half an hour or so, and because he did well, I left it right there.
We chatted with R and her daughter.
We went home, and watched the first "Guardians of the Galaxy", which is such a fun movie.
I learned about Pistol Shrimp: When in colonies, the snapping shrimp can interfere with sonar and underwater communication. The shrimp are considered a major source of sound in the ocean.[3]
Description
The "pistol shrimp" grows to 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) long. It is distinctive for its disproportionately large claw, larger than half the shrimp's body. The claw can be on either arm of the body, and, unlike most shrimp claws, does not have typical pincers at the end. Rather, it has a pistol-like feature made of two parts. A joint allows the "hammer" part to move backward into a right-angled position. When released, it snaps into the other part of the claw, emitting an enormously powerful wave of bubbles capable of stunning larger fish and breaking small glass jars.[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpheidae
no subject
Date: 2023-08-01 06:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-08-01 10:12 am (UTC)Neither one of us REALLY wanted to part with it, but there comes a time when the car is not going to be reliable anymore.
We've put a lot of repairs into it the last few years, and it was reaching the next point where some really big inputs would be required to keep it going.
This little car was the best car ever for the long drives to see family as it could go almost one thousand kilometers on one tank of diesel, I kid you not. I tend to drive at night, and all of Saskatchewan is closed pretty much after dark.
It saved us a ton of money on fuel over the years, as my husband always has to drive a lot for work.
The thing is, we also can't risk having a car break down and leave him stranded, or if it is a big fix, leave him without a vehicle for weeks. In those instances, I know the solution would have been to have him take my car, and that would leave me driving the old truck or the old Xterra, which is only so fantastic.
The little Volkswagon was just finished.
I am very glad it is now at the mechanic's, because my husband was seriously scaring me with his avoiding the inevitable.
I've seen far too many rural yards with a row of old, decaying cars in them not to take the threat seriously. It's so easy just to..you know...keep it just in case. Or just because it's sentimental.
WE CANNOT GET SENTIMENTAL ABOUT OLD CARS!!! Not once we have decided they are not viable anymore.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-01 08:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-08-01 09:15 pm (UTC)Since we already have one "sentimental" vehicle that is still running, we don't need two. As it is, the sentimental vehicle that we kept sits in the driveway most of the time, the battery keeps running down, and this is the one that I recently cleared out all the old mouse nests from.
Another sentimental vehicle would just mean more decay, and using up our driveway space.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-02 07:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-08-02 09:48 pm (UTC)We already have a lot of things in our yard; a tractor, a horse trailer, two utility trailers, several working vehicles. There are times when parking/getting out of the yard can be like a maze, and this car was just making things worse.
I could really see him thinking that if he just kept not removing it, I would "get used" to it just sitting there, and somehow it would be okay after a while to just leave it there forever.
Then the battery would die, or something else, and he would have a good obstacle that would be conveniently too difficult to overcome in order to move it. "I would have to buy a new battery", "I would have to replace a tire", "I would have to drain the gas tank because it got condensation in it".
He says I'm the one with a lot of stuff, and he's right, but HE is the one who won't let go of "joke a day" calendar. It doesn't even have any sentimental value, he just won't toss it because it has Far Side jokes on it, so it sits in a box in a closet where he can appreciate those jokes.