Sunday, February 18
Feb. 19th, 2024 12:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
SO WARM for February today. It's been an odd few days, in that it's been above freezing during the day but down to about -15 C most nights. Quite diverse.
My Sweetie worked on putting together cupboards for the mud room while I went to the barn.
I chatted with R a bit, then she had some people show up who were there to look at things she had for sale (she's having a big clear out of her old show clothes and a few other things she doesn't use anymore).
From the sounds of things, she sold a bunch of her daughter's show clothes from when she was little.
The Sunday rider was there, and she bought that sheepskin from me that she plans to use for a saddle seat pad. I hope it works for her, and that's one more thing moved along to a place where it will be used. I've had that sheep skin a long time.
River is a bit funny these days about walking out to the Liberty circle, but he's doing well with them once we get going.
I ran through the current pattern briefly, and he's doing better with that.
I rode for a while, and he was bending better for circles, and he did a great halt from a canter each way.
I came home and we ate and watched one episode of "The Expanse", then took a look at what he's doing for the cupboards in the mud room, and we talked a bit about tweaking the lay out.
Then we watched THE LAST EPISODE of "The Expanse". What a good show.
Comoros is another archipelago, made up of three (only three!) islands with a population of around 850,000 people.
The main religion is Sunni Islam.
There have been inhabitants here since the 8th century A.D., thought to be Austronesian settlers.
Trade with Omani and Arab peoples brought Islam, and trade goods were coral,ambergris, tortoiseshell, ivory and gold. The islands were known at this time as the Perfume Islands.
Portuguese people arrived in the late 1500's mainly for trade and provisions, but no formal colonization took place.
The slave trade devastated the population: "In the last decade of the 18th century, Malagasy warriors, mostly Betsimisaraka and Sakalava, started raiding the Comoros for slaves and the islands were devastated as crops were destroyed and the people were slaughtered, taken into captivity or fled to the African mainland: it is said that by the time the raids finally ended in the second decade of the 19th century only one man remained on Mwali.[31] The islands were repopulated by slaves from the mainland, who were traded to the French in Mayotte and the Mascarenes. On the Comoros, it was estimated in 1865 that as much as 40% of the population consisted of slaves.[32]"
France established colonial rule in 1841.
The British didn't pursue claiming these islands as they claimed Mauritius, the archipelago nearby.
The islands became an independent nation in 1975, but there were decades of turmoil as many factions would rather remain French (possibly because Islamic rule would be no fun for anyone, and at least French would have been more lenient and Democratic?).
Currently it is a Unitary Presidential Republic with an elected President that has almost God-like power, though elected. Up until fairly recently (2006) it was a military dictatorship, so it's a big improvement.
"The islands of the Comoros Archipelago were formed by volcanic activity. Mount Karthala, an active shield volcano located on Ngazidja, is the country's highest point, at 2,361 metres (7,746 feet). It contains the Comoros' largest patch of disappearing rainforest. Karthala is currently one of the most active volcanoes in the world, with a minor eruption in May 2006, and prior eruptions as recently as April 2005 and 1991. In the 2005 eruption, which lasted from 17 to 19 April, 40,000 citizens were evacuated, and the crater lake in the volcano's three-by-four-kilometre (2-by-2+1⁄2-mile) caldera was destroyed.[citation needed]"
Today, one of the main industries is STILL perfume, mainly Ylang Ylang:
https://youtu.be/Ha9zkd_YFlQ?si=TLa-Kv4QUy34rjS-
It's kind of their only hope right now. The people are quite poor over all, and something like 80% of the government's budget is spent on it's "complex administration system". Right.
Their other big claim to fame was the rediscovery of a species of fish thought to be extinct. It's another one of those "living fossils", a species that has remained unchanged for millions and millions of years.
"In December 1952 a specimen of the West Indian Ocean coelacanth fish was re-discovered off the Comoros coast. The 66 million-year-old species was thought to have been long extinct until its first recorded appearance in 1938 off the South African coast.[63] Between 1938 and 1975, 84 specimens were caught and recorded.[64]"
Same sex acts are illegal here, punishable by prison terms of up to five years.
There are two kinds of marriage: "little marriage" which is a simple legal union which can also be polygamous, and the "big marriage" which can only happen once for a man or a woman that is a huge deal with great expense and ceremony.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comoros
An interesting video about village life: https://youtu.be/-LVsdFJ2vS8?si=GUUn96pO2dMmK5x7
SO WARM for February today. It's been an odd few days, in that it's been above freezing during the day but down to about -15 C most nights. Quite diverse.
My Sweetie worked on putting together cupboards for the mud room while I went to the barn.
I chatted with R a bit, then she had some people show up who were there to look at things she had for sale (she's having a big clear out of her old show clothes and a few other things she doesn't use anymore).
From the sounds of things, she sold a bunch of her daughter's show clothes from when she was little.
The Sunday rider was there, and she bought that sheepskin from me that she plans to use for a saddle seat pad. I hope it works for her, and that's one more thing moved along to a place where it will be used. I've had that sheep skin a long time.
River is a bit funny these days about walking out to the Liberty circle, but he's doing well with them once we get going.
I ran through the current pattern briefly, and he's doing better with that.
I rode for a while, and he was bending better for circles, and he did a great halt from a canter each way.
I came home and we ate and watched one episode of "The Expanse", then took a look at what he's doing for the cupboards in the mud room, and we talked a bit about tweaking the lay out.
Then we watched THE LAST EPISODE of "The Expanse". What a good show.
Comoros is another archipelago, made up of three (only three!) islands with a population of around 850,000 people.
The main religion is Sunni Islam.
There have been inhabitants here since the 8th century A.D., thought to be Austronesian settlers.
Trade with Omani and Arab peoples brought Islam, and trade goods were coral,ambergris, tortoiseshell, ivory and gold. The islands were known at this time as the Perfume Islands.
Portuguese people arrived in the late 1500's mainly for trade and provisions, but no formal colonization took place.
The slave trade devastated the population: "In the last decade of the 18th century, Malagasy warriors, mostly Betsimisaraka and Sakalava, started raiding the Comoros for slaves and the islands were devastated as crops were destroyed and the people were slaughtered, taken into captivity or fled to the African mainland: it is said that by the time the raids finally ended in the second decade of the 19th century only one man remained on Mwali.[31] The islands were repopulated by slaves from the mainland, who were traded to the French in Mayotte and the Mascarenes. On the Comoros, it was estimated in 1865 that as much as 40% of the population consisted of slaves.[32]"
France established colonial rule in 1841.
The British didn't pursue claiming these islands as they claimed Mauritius, the archipelago nearby.
The islands became an independent nation in 1975, but there were decades of turmoil as many factions would rather remain French (possibly because Islamic rule would be no fun for anyone, and at least French would have been more lenient and Democratic?).
Currently it is a Unitary Presidential Republic with an elected President that has almost God-like power, though elected. Up until fairly recently (2006) it was a military dictatorship, so it's a big improvement.
"The islands of the Comoros Archipelago were formed by volcanic activity. Mount Karthala, an active shield volcano located on Ngazidja, is the country's highest point, at 2,361 metres (7,746 feet). It contains the Comoros' largest patch of disappearing rainforest. Karthala is currently one of the most active volcanoes in the world, with a minor eruption in May 2006, and prior eruptions as recently as April 2005 and 1991. In the 2005 eruption, which lasted from 17 to 19 April, 40,000 citizens were evacuated, and the crater lake in the volcano's three-by-four-kilometre (2-by-2+1⁄2-mile) caldera was destroyed.[citation needed]"
Today, one of the main industries is STILL perfume, mainly Ylang Ylang:
https://youtu.be/Ha9zkd_YFlQ?si=TLa-Kv4QUy34rjS-
It's kind of their only hope right now. The people are quite poor over all, and something like 80% of the government's budget is spent on it's "complex administration system". Right.
Their other big claim to fame was the rediscovery of a species of fish thought to be extinct. It's another one of those "living fossils", a species that has remained unchanged for millions and millions of years.
"In December 1952 a specimen of the West Indian Ocean coelacanth fish was re-discovered off the Comoros coast. The 66 million-year-old species was thought to have been long extinct until its first recorded appearance in 1938 off the South African coast.[63] Between 1938 and 1975, 84 specimens were caught and recorded.[64]"
Same sex acts are illegal here, punishable by prison terms of up to five years.
There are two kinds of marriage: "little marriage" which is a simple legal union which can also be polygamous, and the "big marriage" which can only happen once for a man or a woman that is a huge deal with great expense and ceremony.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comoros
An interesting video about village life: https://youtu.be/-LVsdFJ2vS8?si=GUUn96pO2dMmK5x7
no subject
Date: 2024-02-20 04:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-02-20 06:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-02-20 06:35 am (UTC)I would like a mounted coat rack that would prevent the side door from smacking into the wall. There's no room for cubbies or shelves.
I cannot stop a denizen's habit of piling boxes of recycling trash beside the side door. Even hanging framed art has not been a deterrent; the boxes nudge up against it.
This year I will figure out a handy and devious solution.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-20 07:31 am (UTC)You could try one of those boards with a row of hooks that mount on the wall for coats. We have one of those in our tiny entryway, which will likely be expanded upon soon. It's not a bad choice for a small space.
I know what you mean about piling up recycling at the door way. We currently do not have a good solution for our recycling, and we do the same thing where the kitchen door goes into the small entry way. It bothers me a LOT, but nothing seems to work to give us a proper place out of sight for it all.
In the trailer, we used to have a space between our freezer and a wall for recycling, and that was an eyesore too.
It's an ever=present ugliness for sure, and I want to find a proper solution for it too.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-20 07:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-02-20 08:00 am (UTC)I've seen boards with hooks in Canadian Tire and even Winners that would likely work okay too.
If there's room, Ikea does have standing coat racks, the kind that have a couple of shelves or a seat. Truly, Ikea is said to be "semi-disposable" by many, but we've also had a standing coat tree from there for over ten years that is still in service, two big wardrobes with drawers and rods that we've had for close to 15 years that still look brand new and everything slides well, and two bedside tables that also still look great after over ten years.
There's really nothing wrong with it, especially if you buy the nicer versions of things.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-22 05:32 am (UTC)I like IKEA and very much enjoy visiting. Some of their stuff doesn't wear well (cushion covers) but we attached a BIlly to the wall in the sous chef's room and painted it to match the walls, like a built in. It has lasted over 20 years.
I like the cafeteria, too - meatballs, salmon balls, veggie balls and plant balls. What's not to love?
no subject
Date: 2024-02-22 06:36 am (UTC)I know that Home Depot would cut a board to whatever length you wanted.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-22 07:53 pm (UTC)Then again, a doorstop spring would probably work as well. A project for spring in any case!
no subject
Date: 2024-02-20 07:43 am (UTC)I can't be the only one who dislikes GARBAGE ON DISPLAY.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-20 08:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-02-22 05:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-02-22 06:39 am (UTC)I'm going to try to push for something this summer that can go under the stairs outside the back door.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-22 07:50 pm (UTC)Perhaps I might take a look at Pinterest myself - though space by the side door is extremely limited.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-22 09:23 pm (UTC)I was thinking of just biting the bullet and buying some big bins to sit under the stairs outside, so that if we had a small bin in the house it would be no big deal to just take it outside every day when I do chores to empty it.
We are responsible for our own recycling detail, meaning that if we want to recycle it, we have to make a special trip somewhere to a depot on the right day of the week/time. That means the recycling piles up all winter because at the moment, our old truck is sitting in our yard with a dead battery, and my husband doesn't want me to drive it in the winter because it is not a 4x4.
We end up with a literal mountain of it out in the quonset that all gets taken somewhere in the spring once my husband's concerns ebb.
Going forward with a new vehicle should mean at least I could still take the truck to town during winter months so the recycling doesn't build up so badly.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-24 07:53 am (UTC)Our recycling gets picked up every two weeks, but by then there's a lot of it. It can go in the bin by the garage, but there seems to be a big pile-up by the side door before it's actually removed. At least it doesn't smell.
In the summer, garbage goes in a green bin for pickup every week. If the trash is kept outside for too long, it will smell. That's why I take ripe waste to the poubelle, a half-block away, and I will continue to do this. If it's packaging, I will put it in the freezer until garbage day, but poo-bags are neither freezer-friendly nor acceptable. They have to go immediately.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-24 08:52 am (UTC)For some strange reason, neither one of us can be f'd to bother sorting things into the three separate dividers, and now all of our recycling just goes out to the quonset in unsorted garbage bags, and sits there all winter long until one of us (me) gets angry and makes one huge, single trip to a depot in the spring.
It's going to take effort and re-training to get an improvement.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-25 05:00 am (UTC)In the basement we have three BIG boxes that are supposed to be taken to the thrift shop, but they have been around for months. And an old beat-up rug I tossed outside on garbage day has somehow found its way back into the house. I'm going to be diligent this year.