Otter's Natterings

OMG! Call out the FBI! Somebody STOLE the scotch tape! A whole roll!

Oh, the perdifidy of mankind, to commit such terrible theft!

Will we never know surcease from the pain and suffering of a tape shortage?

Who will end this terrible scourge?

What will we, the poor, suffering, un-stuck employees do without tape in the mail room?

Tragedy! Tra-Ge-Dy I tell you!

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You think I make this shit up, don’t you?

No, really. Some people around here are that crazy.

As evidence, this is the for-real e-mail that was sent to everyone in the office:

“I will no longer supply tape for the mailroom. I just filled it yesterday and someone stole it. The tape was there for everyone to use. I can’t keep providing it every day.”

I can see where it would be annoying, but WTF? Does it not occur that maybe, just maybe, somebody just . . . used a whole roll for some stupid reason? Does it really require a drama-queen e-mail to announce your snit? Oh, wait, I had it pegged at “drama-queen” . . .

Today is Enrich Josten’s day . . . er . . . cap & gown & assorted crap ordering day at PHS.

I don’t remember Josten’s having quite so much . . . crap when I graduated. Shirts and sweats and “memory books” and tassels with attached tchotchkes and keyrings and picture frames and invitations and return address labels, and they have packages of crap to make draining your parents’ wallets faster and easier, and if you don’t have a Josten’s Senior Year you’re just gonna be a TOTAL LOOSER AAARGH!

Yes, well.

When Robin first brought home the catolog-o-crap, I noticed that most of the stuff seems to be marketed toward girls (more pages featuring girls than guys). Oh come on? Are today’s girls really that stupid/gullible/shallow?!?  Please tell me they aren’t!

Ahem. Let me try this again.

Fortunately, and I really do thank all the gods, demigods, dieties, and supernatural beasties, Robin is uninterested, not in a yearbook, not in a class ring, or anything else.

Interestingly enough, the best-looking, IMO, class rings they had were also the cheapest.

I commented that when I graduated, the class shirt was something we did ourselves, not through Josten’s (probably through one of the local sporting goods stores), and Robin said that his school each class does a shirt every year. So the Josten’s shirts are not the real class shirts. My curmudgeonly heart was glad to hear that.

It was a pleasant surprise to find that the basic cap, gown, and tassel package is only $28, no shipping charge, no sales tax. Be still my heart! That actually seems reasonable, at least after looking at the packages-o-crap!

A couple days ago my WSM called and asked when graduation was, and what we have planned. At the moment, the plans are . . . completely un-formed. I suppose we could have a party-like thing, in the backyard. We’ll get Robin to clean up the minefield. And the bees are out aways, they don’t bother us up by the porch. Which may be the site of another construction project at that point in time. Hmm, maybe we should make that the front yard.  Maybe even get the permit to call it a block party, to which the Fire Department would probably come which the neighborhood small fry always enjoy, and some of us parents, because fire trucks are still cool.  Run-on sentences FTW!

I don’t remember if we sent out written invitations to my graduation party. I was too busy worrying about my parents being together at a social function for the first time in almost a decade (a needless worry, as it happened), details like invitations were minor.  But in any case, Josten’s can take a hike, I’m sure we can manage a party without their speshul snowflake stationery. And “appreciation plaques” for various and sundry relatives, and and . . . and I’ll just stop now before I get wound up again.

Hmm. If we have a party, I wonder if I could borrow one of the Messers Slushy. And a popcorn machine . . .

On the other hand, when I was getting ready to leave yesterday I noticed that one of my Echiverias has a baby!

And when I was clearing out some dead leaves for this portrait, I found a second one (the one on the right)!

Click to embiggen and un-squash.

The thermometer on my desk is reading 79 degrees F.

This explains why I can’t seem to think this morning. I’m not wired for that kind of temperatures mid-winter.

On one of the leatherworking e-mail lists I belong to there’s a discussion going on about using beeswax and/or paraffin on thread for hand-sewing. Following up a discussion about (re-)melting/forming beeswax cakes in muffin tins, one of the list members asked about the possibility of cleaning and using the muffin tins for baking after using them for wax.  I replied:

Let me put on my beekeeper hat to answer this question:

First, any chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, etc.) that the bees have been in contact with will end up in the wax, so you have to consider that those chemicals are now on your pans, and do you want to be preparing food out of them afterwards.

As for the cleaning: In theory, it is possible. It is my understanding that in industrial-scale wax-processing they use fairly nasty solvents.

In practice (at least in my kitchen), metal, wood, and most plastics that have been used with melted beeswax are written off as more or less coated with beeswax for ever more. The only exception are the silicone mini-muffin pans and cake pan that we use for wax, they seem to clean up fairly easily (although if I want pans in those sizes for food I’ll probably just buy new).

Metal pans have the advantage that it is possible to clean them with a heat gun and paper towel, or a torch.

If you want to make/re-melt a few beeswax cakes and not make a mess of your muffin pans, I’d suggest paper or plastic cups. 

The discussion rolled on, until we got to this reply:

um, beeswax is not full of chemicals,,,, and your pans will be fine,,,they will actually be a lil better as they probably would allow your muffins to release a lil better lol ( it might work lol) but I use beeswax all the time to make lotions and they use it all the time for all kinds of stuff, the beeswax come from bees, an the honeycombs,,so unless your allergic to honey, or are a vegan, beeswax is not going to hurt you at all,,if its pure beeswax,,,,here is you some more information ,,,http://www.honeyflowfarm.com/articles/beeswax.php

AAARGH!  Natural does not equal safe!

I failed to restrain myself, and said:

> Posted by: [name and e-mail redacted] said:
>
> um, beeswax is not full of chemicals,,,,

 I never said beeswax was “full of” chemicals. However, if the bees are exposed to chemicals, it will end up in the wax, and yes, in the honey. There’s a reason many miticides and other pesticides/medications for honeybees are not to be applied while there’s a honey flow.

 Do you know why beeswax is yellow? Pollen. Dirt from little bee feet. Cocoon residue. Fresh cappings of honey cells is *white* and translucent, and it commands a higher price from processors.

 The vast majority of beekeepers are very careful about using miticides and other chemicals properly – ie: not when bees are actively producing honey, not over-dosing, etc., but there are a few fools out there, and that only protects the honey and doesn’t keep the chemicals out of the wax. In addition, unless you own several square miles of territory and control all chemical application, you can’t guarantee what your bees will get into outside of the hive.

>here is you some more information ,,,http://www.honeyflowfarm.com/articles/beeswax.php

 While that web page is accurate on how bees produce wax, it does not actually address possible contamination of wax.

Try these PDF documents for a discussion of the issues and risks:
Pesticide Residues in Beeswax Samples Collected from Honey Bee Colonies (Apis mellifera L.) in France
Beeswax: Quality Issues Today

 Everyone has different levels of acceptable risk. I’m comfortable with wax from my hives or from North American or European suppliers, but it would be wrong to say that there’s no risk at all. 

 Actually, I’d trust wax and honey from Australia, too.  And possibly S. America and Africa, if there’s much production/importation. Mostly I don’t trust China, because of known and repeated food contamination issues.

I can’t help but assume that the person asserting honey and beeswax are absolutely safe is forgetting (or ignorant of) warnings that infants under a year old (check with your pediatrician to make sure I’ve got that age right!) and people with compromised immune systems should not eat honey because of the botulism risk.

It’s fairly rare, and arguably blown out of proportion, but a quick google for “rhododendron honey” also puts a hole in the “honey is safe” foolishness. Hmm. The “Bees and toxic chemicals” Wikipedia article seems to be a useful starting point for further education about unsafe honey.

So, all that said, the main reason I don’t use pans and utensils used for wax processing is not what chemicals are in the wax (cocoons are more icky), but because it’s just a pain in the backside to the get beeswax residue off of everything.  Yeah, my honey and wax from our hives probably has some contamination of Ghu-knows-what, but that’s true of any foodstuff.

ETA: I’ve sent a note to the list in question apologizing for continuing the off-topic tangent, and inviting discussion to continue here.

The drive home Friday night was, as expected, not particularly fun. But the traffic gods were kind and I got very few red lights, so I just kept puttering along.  I considered stopping at the grocery store as I puttered on past, but I decided there was sufficient food in the house to last until morning.

Saturday morning we went shopping. And shopping. And after karate Robin and I went shopping. Nothing interesting, groceries and useful things like water and salt.

Saturday (between shopping) and Sunday I worked on Otter Necessities stuff.

And that was pretty much my weekend.

I’m not enthused with the weather – thunderstorms last night, and the temperature is supposed to fall back below freezing this morning. Friday’s snowstorm was annoying in regard to driving home, but at least it was seasonable weather.  One expects snow in January, not rain!

And apparently I’m updating the look of the blog…

 This is Cookie, who is staying with us while her people are out of town at a funeral. IIRC the original plan was for Ron to stop and check on her a couple times a day, but that meant that she’d be in her crate 23 hours a day with only cats for company. So she came home with Ron Tuesday evening.

She’s a very very solid little girl. Not so little, either – she’s shorter than the huskies but probably weighs the same amount. I swear her tail is made out of steel cable. And it rarely stops wagging (ouch). I’m pretty sure she’s under a year old. Ron thinks, based on paw size, she still has growing to do.

She’s pretty good, but still a puppy, so she’s full of energy and when she gets wound up it’s hard to remember how to behave. OTOH, she figured out almost immediately that Eowyn is off-limits. I’m not sure if Eowyn or Elrond told her, or if it’s something she Just Knew.  She’d really like it if Elrond would play with her, but most of the time he’s in Grumpy Old Man mode.  As of this morning I’d say she’s got the dog door mastered.

A little while before I took this picture Robin asked if all puppies were as rambunctious as Cookie, and I pointed out that she’s still in as strange house, and that she just had been let out of her crate for the night a little while earlier.  We don’t trust her having the run of the house or yard unsupervised,  so we’ve been crating her at night and during the day. But at night it’s in our room with us and the dogs, and during the day in the kitchen with the dogs, so she’s got company, and if she really really fussed during the night we could check on her. She has to be shoved into her crate by main strength (by Ron or Robin), but once there at night she’s settled down fairly well.

 Moving on to other things, I was not a happy camper Tuesday, with the sore muscles from Monday. By the end of the work day I was ready to be done. Then I went to the grocery store. Oog. Ouch. Not happy.  Yesterday was better, today it’s very minor, more of a pulling sensation (as opposed to painful) if I move certain ways or cough.

Ron’s got an outpatient procedure, one common to many men over a certain age, today. Xap is kindly doing chauffeur duty. A first thing in the morning appointment seemed like a good idea, until one remembers the pre-procedure prep. Yeah, a little short of sleep today, although I got more than Ron. Procedure will identify/locate any diverticulitis problem areas for possible surgical treatment.

As you may have noted, the living room is a disaster, yes. I’m pretty much sick of it, but haven’t had an opportunity to do anything about it, although after taking the pictures some of the papers have been thrown out. And I don’t think we’ll try vacuuming until we’re back down to the usual number of dogs underfoot. The dining room is even worse. The kitchen, however, is not too bad, although I ran out of room in the dish drainer for the last few things yesterday.

Whatever I had Monday still hasn’t attacked Ron or Robin. Knock wood it won’t.

Hopefully-final inspection of the revised side porch steps is this afternoon, mumble weeks after actually doing the work (damn round tuits). If the inspector has a problem with the fix that he told me would be sufficient (just put wider boards on – overhang doesn’t count against tread depth, he claims) I’m definitely going to have a hissy cow.

Is it naptime yet? No? Drat…

Ok, off to post on the business blog.

Well, carp.

I had a post where I nattered on and even had a picture, and a troll under the ethernet bridge ate it.

So, to sum up:

Robin has lumber to build shelves in his room, but is holding off construction until he does some cleanup. Xap and X2 joined us for dinner after the MuseCon meeting Saturday afternoon. Carts for merchandise bins not built, but Otter Necessities now owns a road case/contractor’s tool bin. See the other blog, in a little while, for more details there.

Sunday night/Monday morning I spent too much time with my friend, Mr. Bucket. Yesterday, which I had off, was supposed to be spent somewhere other than in bed and asleep.

Today my diaphrapm/lower abdominal muscles are sore. Coughing, sneezing, and laughing all hurt. The laughing part is insult to injury.  Was still vaguely queasy-ish this morning, but probably due to last solid food consumption being dinner Sunday night, and thus a blood sugar level somewhere about floor level. Somewhat surprisingly, I had not turned into a homicidal psychotic murderer. Probably because it would hurt.

Tuesday and Wednesday I was not a happy Otter. My head was spinny and it was upsetting my tummy any time I tried to move around. Ron had had the same thing over the weekend and Monday. I’m not sure if we had a bug, our sinuses were acting up in reaction to the crazy-warm weather, or some of both.

Yesterday I had jury duty, downtown at the Daley Center. Not being barking mad, I took the train.

My group was called reasonably early (9:30-10:00-ish), for what turned out to be a medical malpractice civil suit, against a neurosurgeon. Thank Ghu I was in the first bunch of potential jurors interviewed, the plaintiff’s attorney made it a long long long slow slow boring process.

The end result was that I was dismissed, I’m guessing by the plaintiff’s attorney, probably for being educated, an engineer, with Opinions, quite a clutch of medical professionals in the family, and a husband who can walk thanks to successful surgery by a neurosurgeon.  I wouldn’t blanket/blindly say I was comfortable awarding a multi-million dollar settlement, I said something about computing lost wages (and I specifically ended with “I’m an engineer”). I said I had questions about how “pain and suffering” compensation is computed, and if the jury decision was that the doctor was not responsible for the patient’s disability (the fact that she has a disability is not disputed), I could sign off on a decision awarding her $0.

I wouldn’t mind jury duty, except that I’m one of those people unlikely to actually serve – my education/profession, and various facts of personal/family history and circumstances. OTOH, I can’t say I was sorry to not serve on this jury, as the judge estimated the trial would run through the 23rd. And the plaintiff’s attorney was such a twit I’d probably have been ready to murder him by the end, which would have been bad for his client.

On the good side, the drive home on the snowy slippery roads from the train station parking garage was all of a mile (-ish), so I’m definitely not complaining about the timing of the jury duty summons.