From the The Universal Household Assistant or What Every One Should Know (1884):

Lamps — why they explode. — Many things may occur to cause the flame to pass down the wick tube and explode the lamp.    1. A lamp may be standing on a table or mantle, and a slight puff of air from the open window or the sudden opening of a door, cause an explosion.    2. A lamp may be taken quickly from a table or mantle, and instantly explode.    3. A lamp is taken into an entry where there is a draft, or out of doors, and an explosion quickly ensues.    4. A lighted lamp may be taken up a flight of stairs, or is raised quickly to a place on the mantle, resulting in an explosion. In all these cases the mischief is caused by the air movement -- either by suddenly checking the draft, or forcing the air down the chimney against the flame.    5. Blowing down the chimney to extinguish the light is frequently the cause of an explosion.    6. Lamp explosions have been caused by using a chimney broken off the top, or one that has a piece broken out, whereby the draft is rendered variable and the flame unsteady.    7. Sometimes a thoughtless person puts a small-sized wick in a large burner, thus leaving considerable space in the tube along the edges of the wick.    8. An old burner with its air drafts clogged up, which rightfully should be thrown away, is sometimes continued in use, and the final result is an explosion.

Somebody left their zero cabinet outside in somerville...

Yesterday evening was a bit of an adventure. purpleglitter bought a huge club chair at the Salvation Army in Saugus on Saturday. There was no way this thing was going to fit in her car. Neither of us could find anyone with an appropriate vehicle to pick it up. Running out of options to get the thing back to Arlington, yesterday she gave in and rented a U-Haul.

However, purpleglitter was very nervous driving it, and I have my vertigo spells - so it seemed a good idea if neither of us drove the thing. We called around to various people who might be able to drive it, but none of them wanted to. Eventually I drove it to Saugus and purpleglitter drove it back. dalious was about to help move the chair into the house, and move it he did. He took it most of the way himself, only requiring assistance to maneuver it through the doorways.

To top off day, purpleglitter was named best employee at her company yesterday. She rocks. Sitting in her new throne with her certificate in hand, she knows she rocks.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the United States.

Happy Thursday to everyone else.

I'm having a good visit. Maddie is a ball of energy, literally bouncing off the walls. She knocked on my door and got me up around 7:30am this morning showing me a clock that had been set to 9:30. Tricky, but I'm glad I'm up. I don't really like to sleep too late these days.

Dinner last night was good and I loved the port later in the evening. Christian is intelligent and charismatic, making conversation with him generally a pleasure. And, of course, it's always great to see Bridgette. She's made quite the life for herself and has not ceased to amaze me. I'm proud to call her sister.

Still going strong.

I made the birds a new mix this morning: beak appétit, mashed organic peas, organic spring salad mix, crumbed Ezekiel 4:9 bread, seed mix, and fruit and veggie mix. Not as fancy as some of my other bird mixes, but they still love it.

mazzycat is always a joy to spend time with, and she seems to prefer the regular scheduled playtimes over the more haphazard playtimes of the past.

I did much cleaning. I did a load of dishes downstairs, took out my air conditioner which hasn't been used for over a month, worked my altar, organized my desk, did some other decorating, and did quite a bit of cleaning and organizing. The octagonal table is now the only one non-floor surface in my room containing anything that shouldn't go there. It has been years since it has been in this state. In fact, my room is rapidly and finally approaching that magic word: CLEAN. If I continue this for the rest of the week, it may just reach that point.

I also hung a sign above the door to my room which reads: "If you find yourself in a hole... STOP DIGGING!". Perhaps some might think it cheesy, but I think it a good message for me to keep mindful of.

I took purpleglitter's camera along with me on my walk this morning. This is what I saw:


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Yesterday, while I was out with merryperseis, while walking past a group of teenagers, one of them yelled "Nice hat!". I walked quickly on as a couple more of them repeated the yell. I ducked into a local shop, and three of them followed me in. One of the girls came up to me and asked "Where did you get that hat?". I responded that I didn't know, that it was a gift. She said "Okay." and left. As she went out the door, I heard someone from the group yell to her "Did you find out where they got the hat?". It was then that I realized they really liked the hat and simply wanted to know where I had gotten it.

I'm still in the mode where I assume shouts from random groups people mean they are trying to harass me, as that used to be the case more often than not. Groups of teenagers especially freak me out, as they were often (though not always) perpetrators of the haras