Mindless Brain Dump

I had decided prior to retirement that the first task I'd undertake would be removing a large amount of clutter from my home. Four weeks later it's closer to the door. Is that success? I doubt it.

Everything from the kitchen and living room now resides in the dining room. Two large totes of it have been stacked in a corner to be placed in storage. The resident furball producer has determined it's a fine sleeping place. How does one take the favorite sleeping place away from one's beloved pet? I haven't the heart yet.

One of my numerous excuses for not having all that much accomplished in 4 weeks is that there's so much snow it's not safe for me to carry anything out to the storage shed. I may run out of that excuse soon. I'm hoping. Even have my fingers crossed. I won't mind losing this excuse since it means the snow will go away and warmer weather will arrive. I do still have a few excuses I can replace that one with.

There's always the *my daughter-in-law decluttered her deceased father's apartment by sending me some clutter* excuse. I wouldn't be lying either. Well, not too much, anyway. Her father was a person who believed in stocking up for the winter or something. He had two replacement coffee pots for his maker and close to 400 coffee filters left. Neither of the pots come close to fitting my machine. They're glass, mine is a thermos style pot. The filters work so those I'm keeping but have no idea what to do with the pots. Apparently neither did she which is why I now possess them. Hey! Maybe I can find some poor schnook to gift them to? It's a thought.

It's been warm enough these past couple of days that running the woodstove makes it too warm in here. I'm just using the propane right now. I decided to take the opportunity to clean the darn thing up so it isn't such an eyesore. When it's not hot you see stuff you don't care to see. Like soot all over the glass and something that looks like ashes all over it. So, I blackened my hands washing it. Tonight's fire, because it's going to get colder again, will occur in a sparkling clean stove. All that effort just to get it dirty again. I think I'll go take a nap.

Then I'll go see how much more clutter I can move into the dining room. Maybe I'll do that after lunch, and then I'll take a nap. I don't even need an excuse for that. All this thinking about decluttering is making me sleepy.

The Internet Isn't A Lifestyle

Over the weekend I ran afoul of a Libertarian over my post on the Google ranking change. He appears to be someone who feels that he knows everything and if we don't agree we're drinking the koolaid. He also seems to feel the need to insult when he calls out a person rather than provide facts. Somehow or other we've lost sight of the idea that opinions aren't always facts.

I felt I was holding my own during the exchange and being ever watchful for the dogpiling that usually happens, I was totally flabbergasted when one person chose to defend me. I do hope you're sitting down. The person who stepped up to my defense is the Commander of the Right Wing Hit Squad that has it's stranglehold on that site. I honestly was so shocked I stopped speaking to the Libertarian and let him continue his vituperative attack upon my person.

OMG the Libertarian called me a  "Liberal" like that's a bad thing. He also called me a liar, scum, miserable old hag, etc. Somehow in the minds of the under 40 year old internet residents this is winning an argument. This is calling you out and proving you wrong? How?

I will admit that the Commander wasn't giving a balls to the wall defense of me. After all I am a socialist or maybe that's a communist? I have a hard time keeping up with my labels, so you'll have to excuse me. He did point out that the Libertarian's behavior was uncalled for. Even said that we don't agree on anything but at least we do it nice.

I don't make it my business to school anybody. If I know the facts of a matter I may step up and provide them. I've found that for some people facts bounce off their opinions the same way water runs off a duck's back. No amount of my frustrating myself to try and change their minds is going to work. If someone has chosen ignorance, who am I to bother them?

These days my life revolves around me and what I want to do. We have a warming trend going on this week here in CNY. Snow is beginning to melt. It isn't dark at 5 PM anymore and I can look forward to the sunny days ahead when the robins return and my morning coffee will be accompanied by the songs they and all the other birds will sing.

I'm spending less time on the internet now and that may drop further as Spring advances. The internet can be a good thing when used right. And a not so good thing when used the way I'm seeing it used these day.