Douglas Alpenstock

Gick or no, a mattress warmer is incredibly efficient when you look at its miniscule electrical consumption. Electric blankets are too, but not everyone (and particularly not me) likes that heavy sarcophagus on top of them. Add a dual-zone heat controller and domestic harmony follows. My 2c.

Well, each to his own, I guess.

I certainly expect my doctor to wash his/her hands well after performing intimate exams on a couple of dozen strangers who are not well. So, sauce for the goose ...

You know, chickweed is a nuisance here. But if I could seed chickweed late enough, it would generate a ton of veggie matter without forming seed. Hmm...

My experience with Moen has also been stellar. I would take a leaking cartridge to a plumbing shop and they would exchange it for a new one, no questions asked. Wow.

(Another company that does this is Leatherman. It's a genuine 25 year warranty. Fill out the return request and mail it to them, and they'll make it right. No receipts, no nonsense.)

I have used a long section of pipe attached to a shop vac to thin them out before removal. It was fixed in place so I could plug it in from afar and listen to the little finks rattle down the tube.

I am facing this with a 15 year old rescue hound. His mobility is so hard and painful that I know a long winter of ice and snow will border on cruel. His hearing and eyesight is fading; but his enthusiasm and loyalty is unwavering; his body has let him down. I am in no hurry, but his time is near, and I will not allow him to suffer. I hope someone will have equivalent courage and compassion when my time comes.

BTW, I'm not sure where Lorinne's post went.

Cindy, I confess that your post leaves me breathless with your enthusiasm ... and the amount of work involved.

Although I am always intrigued by the notion of "rebuilding civilization after the apocalypse," in practice it's more than most humans can achieve on their own.

The John Ford "Wagons-Ho!" narrative is a lovely fiction. Humans thrive and survive as communities, farms and villages bound together, and have done so long before written history.

So, in answer to your question, I would add as a vitally essential skill: "The ability to build and foster community, a sense of common cause, support in the face of disaster, and honest trade in skills and goods, for the common good."

This is awesome. An accidental side business that started as a Covid project for kids -- and grew.

Given the slug disaster at my place, I would happily trade with someone and let their feathered dinosaurs do the deed.

It sort of falls between cottage industry and agile work, but I think you need the home base for the birds so I put it here.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/chicken-hen-pesticide-service-1.5715746

Some uplifting news for a change:

Rudy Riske started a hillside flower garden at age 85, in a patch of swampy weedy public land. It's in a rough neighbourhood in Toronto, notorious for many social problems. He pulled weeds and thorns, built terraces, endured thievery, and at 95 still goes out twice a day, seven days a week.

I love this. I hope I'm doing the same at 85 -- let alone 95. Go Rudy!

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-the-tale-of-rudys-garden-in-jane-finch/

Cool machine! Sort of like a Mars rover.