If we were only made of copper....

E'D BE SAFER!!

IN SC, We have to get a "scrapers" permit now a days just to bring our non ferrous metals to the scrap yard.  Before thieves decided stealing the wire right of the walls and the AC units disappeared from churches, there was no permit required...BUT due to this rash of metal thieves, new rules and laws were immediately put into place.  The past 2 years it was; Go to the Sheriff's office, show your ID and get a paper permit with your digits on it and good to go-- Once you get to the scrap yard, they enter your permit number and what you sold and what you were paid...THIS identifies any items that may be stolen. 

This YEAR since catalytic converters (platinum, palladium and rhodium) were added to the STOLEN LIST, the whole process GREW!! From just a copy of your Drivers License, to  three pages of questions to answer, they take a photo of you, you have to present your Vehicle Registration as well as your Drivers License AND renew it every 2 yrs. 

IT was MUCH easier  for that 18 yr old boy to buy 2 Semi-Auto Rifles at a gun show and walk into a school and gun down children and teachers than it was for me to sell my aluminum cans! 

And the other 18 yr old who went on a rampage last week and killed some grandmothers who were shopping in a grocery store because they were black!!
The lives of living breathing humans are not as valuable as the precious metals I guess...OR else there is no way ONE could walk up to a show or a store and walk out with two machines invented for KILLING humans...with no background check, no permit, nothing!!

AND yet when we got our "scrapers" permit...it's done at the SHERIFF'S office!! NOT gun permits..

check it out for  yourself..

https://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/state-gun-laws/south-carolina/

I can't carry Copper Wire, Aluminum, or any other NON Ferrous metal without a permit!! I can't sell it without this permit...but people can carry a gun, carry a weapon, conceal it, and then bring it out and kill me with it. 
Just for S-n-G check out the "LAW" pertaining to these metals:

https://law.justia.com/codes/south-carolina/2012/title-16/chapter-17/section-16-17-680

IF I did sell these metals without a permit it's a felony!! ONLY 2 yrs of metals being stolen and something is done about it!! Guns murdering kids....nothing done, Guns murdering blacks nothing done, guns murdering movie goers, mall shoppers, your neighbor...road rage, 
NOTHING DONE!! Year after year...nothing. OH actually something has been done, Republicans have made it easier to get guns, to own guns, to get away with using guns to kill others...that has been done...laws to make it EASIER, not restrict, not control, not to track, but to make it easier!!

 DID YOU  know that in this state (SC) since Death sentences have not been carried out due to the lack of the one DRUG they used for the purpose, is now suddenly not available, they have put back the Firing Squad as a means to accomplish that?? OUR Congress voted  IN FAVOR OF IT,  Even tho Morphine, or Fentanyl, or even Insulin would do the job!!  A nation of gun toting lunatics is what this country has become...never mind the zombie apocalypse, it's the gun toting lunatics. 

IF you want to LIVE, NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN!!

Changing life..

HO reads this?

Apparently no one.  
Doesn't matter,  it's kind  of become a diary of what is all wrong in my life...or should I say the changing life...

My hip problem continues but I'm about to do something about it, at least hopefully.  Tomorrow I have a regular NP visit to get my thyroid prescription refill hopefully for 6 months and not have to deal with that.  Since I had covid I picked up a cough and it has stayed with me...it sometimes makes me short of breath...I don't deal well in humid air or cold air.  I smoked in my youth so probably now Im paying the piper on that front.

At least I seem to have my BP under control...But the pain meds don't help in that regard so Ive back off for the meanwhile till after my visit to the clinic.  I really don't want to add any medication to my life...IM dealing with it as best I can with OTC. All I have to say is NO, thank you when she tries to insist that I do.  139 is right on the border. By the new standards that is the beginning stage of hypertension. A female my age they want the range to be 131/77.  

I just took it from both sides and got 139/74 pulse 92...

Before I started the otc meds I was in the 150 range I think IF I could get rid of the pain meds it will be even better, I have not been getting a baseline for a while....

Anyways it's funny how when the closer I get to 70 the more the things that used to be my priority have changed...just walking without pain is now my priority.  I can't do any of the things I want or love to do....hiking, birding, gardening without pain! I did plant my garden in pots...I muddled thru and now I have plants to tend but they are getting little care.  My grass is high and the last couple of storms stix went unpicked...or I just toss them off into the woods which is what I don't like doing it creates an imbalance.  BUT for now it is what it is. 

I had projects in mind that I am now not even considering...Like washing all my windows inside and out.  I may be able to do inside one room at a time but I can't get on the ladder not even the short one...So outside if I do them it will be A squirt with the hose.  I can not remove all the screens....that would be a huge job...I have so many windows I know I've mentioned it before.  Like 20! And 4 doors with glass...2 are French doors, then  on the porch/laundry room there is 5 more windows and a pair of full length doors that I made myself out of plexiglass...still has to be cleaned. 

I read using dishwashing soap is really the best...so Maybe I can mix some in my hose end sprayer and do the outside screens and all at once. 

Do what I can and let the rest go I guess... 

Over?

INTER IS HISTORY...

Here in our area at least.  My sis and her husband got caught in a snow storm trying to return to the western CO home from Texas, so they may disagree with me that winter is over.  I hope that's the last one for them...they are ready for spring.  

I have been feeling lousy.  My hip still gives me a lot of pain...I can't decide what to do about it...and now Im getting fatigue quite often...I take otc pain relievers around the clock.  Im still trying to get out and enjoy some birding, but hiking on trails is a no go.  

I did do one DIY project that required no walking it felt good to be useful...although the circumstances of what happened are very sketchy to me...

My son's rear car window was smashed one morning when he got up according to him.  I thought he had locked his keys in the car again and attempted to unlock the door by going thru the edge of the window...but he has not come clean on this.  So we ordered the glass.  He has 2 left thumbs when it comes to projects and he has no patience.  So I have had more practice with car interiors with my Upholstery experience, and have replaced window regulators and rear vent windows in vehicles before and done lots of windows in my home! So I said I can do it!

So yesterday I spent the day taking care of that...it went good.  Only one confusing part but I saw my mistake in time to correct it right away...I watched one youtube on replacing a right rear window on this model, but his glass was not broken, so he never had to replace the guide rail at the bottom of the glass....I did have to so my first attempt I put the rail on backwards, but then realized the problem...and took it off and put it on correctly then the glass went right into place.  I checked the price of installing a car window ranged from $200 to $450. 

The glass was $73 shipped and including tax...

I am making a video but it's going to be a while before I get it uploaded.. I had some gaps in my clips so Im not even sure someone could use it as a guide....maybe. 

That may be my last big car repair...sadly...

Well I will be 69 in a couple months much has changed for me, since I got Covid I have not been as healthy.  I get fatigued easily, I don't feel strong, and with the hip pain it's exhausting. 

All done!

Light my fire?

, IS for WRITTIN'S

I hope I can finally get another job done on my van myself...Im creeping up on 70 yrs old so my DIY life is about to come to an end.  My Van's AC selector knob is not clicking as it moves from Vents, Defrost, Upper, Lower Vents etc.   MY Van is officially 21 yrs old now...and that means more and more when I search for parts it will be listed as: 
Out of Stock..meaning no one has it.  I found some used ones on ebay $149.  WOW I won't pay that, cause I can hit the knob with my hand and make it work...annoying tho...I assume the contact points are worn down so not making contact so I had a back up plan to remove it and solder the contact to make it larger..

I have to order the complete 3 knob thing it has the fan speed control on it, the temp selector, and the Heat AC Vent selector.  So I can hopefully pull off only the part I need and stick it in there and save the rest for the future.   I do have to order the whole component just to get this one piece off it.  
I found one by doing a Used Salvage Parts search where Salvage yards list parts they have on, like a clearing house...So I emailed they have it and it's ready for purchase...$35 plus shipping...

So I asked how to go about getting it ordered and hopefully he will answer soon and I can get it AND it should be a simple fix...

So wish me luck.

My right hip joint is still out of whack.  Somedays I can barely walk...without pain meds I can't.  And then when I sit down it gets so stiff, like it will never bend again...Yeah I know it totally sucks. So many repairs I put on the back burner now my pilot light is going out!  Before you know it I will be Out of Stock!

Old Age and other pending dooms

HEN WE BECOME OUR PARENTS...
My Mom Asked a Doctor once, "why does my head hurt when I cough?" He replied..
"I don't know." 

At least he was honest and didn't try to add yet another prescription to her already long enough list.  Today I wanted to aske the same question...why does my head hurt when I cough? I am now using my mom's walking cane to get around!! So much can change in one day but this came on slowly but suddenly if that makes any sense...I really have no clue since I hate doctors and will do almost anything to avoid seeing one. 

My right hip joint is in constant pain and sometimes I can barely put weight on it...I have always had SI Joint issues with it being basically unstable.  But now it's way more than that.  I hope a chiropractor can help but so far I haven't made an appointment have not been to one in like 30 yrs?? So not at all familiar with who is out there to be  honest.  
Meanwhile I moan groan, take otc pain meds and do the best I can.  It has eaten into my birding as I find myself wanting to go and I do go but I avoid long walking trails that I used to enjoy being on.  

I now wish I had kept some of my moms other old age tools...

It took about 2 trips with my sisters Jeep for us to cart all her 
old age aides to the goodwill...she had a couple of those rolling walkers, a regular walker, a bath chair, a bedside potty chair,  a quad cane, and three regular canes, a wheel chair, a lift assist recliner, an oxygen machine and oxygen bottles, the list was pretty long.

And I since I had covid in 2020 I have not really been 100%.  I now have this rather annoying cough.  I have become my mother and my son is becoming his dad.  

Does it help to...

RITE LEADERS & OTHER JERKS...
I don't know but I do it.  Everyone is always preaching about the 1st amendment and so that is my right...I don't post any threat I threaten to withhold my vote, to spread the word that this person is not fit for office, and I sometimes demand they resign.  

I have written my Representatives and Senators, both Federal and State level, local city council members, local Sheriff, Federal cabinet heads, Presidents, and others, such as TV News, Newspaper and Magazine Editors.  

Most of the time if they respond, they do with a "form letter" that says NOTHING...like "I am working hard to represent the people of my county, state, and country." I call BS...
So this is the first time I've written to a Supreme Court Judge...

I have never been a fan of Justice Thomas, I totally believed the charge of sexual harassment that Anita Hill testified to about him before he was put on the Supreme Court.  

NOW more of his true character is showing.  He has an agenda, and his wife who has helped to spread Conservative fake news in the form of writing for Fox news websites, submitting videos and attacking Democrats is pulling some strings.  She continues to say that she has no sway on Thomas's decisions, saying she finds it boring to read briefs and decisions...I find that very hard to believe.  She has degree in law and she has worked as an aide to a former House of Rep member from her home state of NE.  She also worked in the US Chamber of Commerce as a right wing lobbyists,  She is a self proclaimed Conservative news "journalists" which I say that tongue in cheek.  
She created her own law firm called Liberty Consulting....which she calls her job, "a bridge building role"..my question is a bridge to where?

I thought was so odd....

HOW can Thomas be the only dissenting vote on the decision of Trump handing over his messages, emails, correspondences to the Jan 6 committee? And of all the Justices seated his wife was the only one who attended the Jan 6th rally right before the Capitol was attacked?  That's way too much of a coincidence.

So I wrote to him "you need to step down, you have your own agenda, which is  biased and not independent based on the latest information we are hearing."

I am certain I will get no reply...but every little bit of pressure to have him step down should be applied...his wife is 10x worst that M. Taylor Green!!

O'POSSUM named Zaxby's

EIRD DAY..
You know that old saying one thing leads to another?  Today was the perfect example of that...I went birding early and I didn't take the time to make myself a sack lunch. So of course I got hungry..

We are about to get 2 more days of rain so I wanted to just spend the day peacefully engaging nature, hiking, birding, listening, observing...this is how I spend my time when Im birding...it's not just about the bird.  

So when I left Goodale park it was coming up to noon and I felt hungry...so I did for the second time this month go to a fast food place, Zaxby's.  I went inside not wanting to waste any gas idling in a drive thru...I ordered Fries, a piece of Texas toast and a soft drink.  I should of brought my own container in since it was a self serve drink machine...but I didn't think of that till I was faced with a Styrofoam cup, plastic lid, and plastic straw.  I almost reacted like she had placed a tarantula on the counter in front of me.  I think I even said out loud...."OH,  Its all bad stuff."  She was too busy saying next..

So off I went like a good little American and filled my crap cup with my crap soda.  Then when my fries came they were in a Styrofoam tray with lid, it had a wax paper liner, my toast was in a paper foil lined pack...and the entire meal I carried out in a paper bag tote, and there was 2 paper napkins in there too.  
I was mentally picking this packaging apart as it was handed to me...I poked around inside not even bothering to check the food.  

But it was my cross to bare since I had made this blunder of not bringing my own sack lunch with me...and so with my head down I headed out to the van...and headed out to the highway turned right and over the Wateree river bridge to my next stop.  
The Riverside park...it's a new spot that has only been a park about 3 yrs and the first year it had major flooding and was in pretty bad shape and closed for 6 months!  So there is some picnic tables, so I sat to have my lunch and while I ate I replanned this packaging...the cup could be a waxed paper cup, there is now plant based plastic cups...that bio degrade! Lids too...And the Styrofoam tray could be a paper/cardborad tray or what's wrong with a waxed paper container for this? Straws can be paper, and the paper tote was good but it had a little plastic reinforcement at the handles...The whole meal could have been placed in a waxed cardboard box! And If they encouraged people to bring their own cup....that would be wonderful...In house drinks should be in washable glasses.  
I noticed the bags going out the drive thru window were Plastic like the kind you get in Walmart!!

I had 2 big problems to bring home...one says it degrades in 4 yrs...one did not I put the plastic lid and straw in my plastic recycle bin...I don't trust my county is doing the right thing and I've thought of doing an investigative report on this and send it to the paper! I think they take the plastic and dump it in the city dump!!

Any ways...we should NOT have to attempt to recycle this corporate debris.  It's their product...they are forcing us to pollute our planet in order to use their product.

So I was gonna toss my paper items in the trash can at the park...at least that would degrade...when I went to do that I spotted an O'possum in the can! He was not actively digging he was curled up in a defeated ball and looked exhausted...he got in but the slick tall sides of the can prevented him getting out! POOR thing. 

 He looked as if he had been in there a while.  So first off I went to the edge of the woods and got a long stick...placed it in the can...But he had no strength to climb this stick...the can was very heavy and hammered into the ground but the actual liner was removable..so I set about removing the top which was a heavy metal with a large hole in the middle for tossing the trash inside the can.  I tossed that on the ground...and then he looked up at me and kind of hissed...poor thing...

So I then attempted to remove the plastic liner it was one of those large black rigid plastic trash cans so I managed to get it up the metal holder was at least 3 ft tall...and with the trash, water from yesterdays rain, and the possum it was heavy...BUT I got it out...then I tipped it over on its side and tapped the bottom of the can with the stick...he still did not come out but he stood up...So I held the bottom up higher to give more tilt and out he came....He was so stiff and sore he could barely move, poor thing I can relate!! 

He was quite an old fellow and it was obviously a male....but eventually he hobbled over to the woods...And I put the trash can back together...

Later I flagged down the ranger, and he said he had removed all but this one can from the park, for this reason...and he has asked for a wildlife free type can but so far none has come  his way from the County...He said he has released 3 and found one dead in a can when the flood came...he said he only empties the can every other day!

The point is trash is dangerous stuff!! I may contact the county parks n rec and request this can be replaced..

So I was able to save this possum, if I had not stopped for the food and been so disgusted with the amount of rubbish I had to discard just for one meal I would not have found the Opossum...a silver lining I suppose.  

Companies have to help us make this a zero problem! They created it, not US...so they should fix it!!

I wrote to Zaxby's and recommended they take another look at the one time use products they send out the door and into the environment. I asked for a reply so we'll see.  
https://www.ecoproductsstore.com/

ITS not like we don't have solutions we do as you can see, if you follow that link...and here is the lucky guy who gets to live another day!

            Trash affects this whole planet...in so many ways...

                                                   FREE