At the tone, the time will be ...

... eight, forty-seven, and thirty seconds ...

BEEP

For anyone who doesn't know what I'm referring to, you used to be able to get the exact time of day by calling a telephone number. Why, you ask, would anyone want to do that? Because, once upon a time, there was no other way to get the exact time of day. There were no cell phones or computers. If you didn't wind your watch (battery and quartz watches weren't invented) or clock, they would stop. Electric clocks would stop during power outages. If you didn't know what time it was, how would you find out? 

The Cambridge Tribune, Volume XLI, Number 15, 8 June 1918, page 12

Until 1918, people would call the operator. An operator, dear children, was a human that answered the phone when you dialed 0 - just 0 - on a rotary phone. People called the operator for all sorts of reasons: to report a fire or look up someone's phone number; to get sports scores, news headlines, or the weather; or to get the time of day so you could set your watch. The operator was like a search engine in human form. Interesting factoid for those of us who remember the rotary phone: the 0 was placed at the end of the dial (after the 9, instead of before the 1) because it was thought to be easier to find in the dark or in an emergency. 

After 1918, when the service was no longer provided by phone operators, people could call their jeweler, utility company, or Western Union. However, by 1920 New York City established a dedicated phone line where operators did nothing but tell you the time of day. The time was told to you by another human being who did nothing but tell people what time it was.

It wasn't until 1933, that the process became automated. AT&T provided the service and callers would heard a recorded human voice. You can hear what it sounded like here: Telephone World.

And if you want to know the official time today, you can still call the U.S. Naval Observatory at 202-762-1401.

Or you can just look at your phone.

Another Household Tip

When taking out your recycling, be sure to empty your hands of other items that might be recyclable but are not yet ready to be recycled. Otherwise, you are sure to put everything in the recycling bin including the item you meant to take with you when you left the house.

It's only when you arrive at your destination that you will notice that you no longer are in possession of the item you meant to bring. After a short panic and a phone call home to see if the item can be recovered, you will decide you can remember everything that was listed on that item.

Sure enough, when you get home you will find the item exactly where you knew you had deposited it despite your husband's feeble attempts at finding it (did he really look?) and while you will congratulate yourself on not only easily finding the discarded grocery list (and thus, feel righteously superior despite the earlier snafu) but also on the fact that you did remember everything on the list (except the paprika which you didn't really need right then anyway).

Instead, put your not-ready-to-be-recycled items out of the way lest you discover something sticky in your hair the next morning and not know where it came from, forgetting all about dumpster diving the day before.

Follow me for this and other household, recycling, and hair care tips.

My first day of not going to school.

I'm not driving to school today. Or back from it either.

For the last six or seven years I've been shuttling little ones to and from school. These "littles" are my grandchildren and they're not so little anymore. One of them is a senior in high school and drives himself to school. Another recently moved away. And the baby, well, she's not even in school yet.

And, so, on this first day of school I'm not going anywhere.

Before I drove the littles, I drove the kiddos. Ours. That was decades ago, of course, but I wasn't working at the time so I took care of the carpool duties. ("Carpool" might imply there was a cooperative feature but there wasn't. I drove our kiddos and would queue up with all the other parents doing the exact same thing.) It was and continues to be a traffic nightmare that requires spending lots of time just sitting around and waiting for your turn to drop off or pick up. Heaven forbid if the kiddos got out of school at different times or attended different schools. Seriously, how does a parent keep a job when their entire afternoons are spent sitting in line?

Delivering and pickup by drone would give a whole new meaning to "helicopter parent."

So what will I do with all this time I suddenly find on my hands? I haven't a clue although reentering the workforce has crossed my mind. That would get in the way of all the goofing off I'm prone to do but the income would be nice, allowing me to elevate goofing off to a whole other level.

Just now, I'm missing the littles, seeing them frequently throughout the week. That's okay. They're growing up. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to drive some tiny ones someday.

Grumble, grumble, grumble.

But I did it anyway.

Nothing noteworthy but not nothing either.

Maybe I'll do it again tomorrow.

Today's excuse?

All my sports bras are dirty.

Dog Days

They say the dog days of summer are over - they being the Farmer's Almanac.  But they haven't been to Indio, California, where it is said that when God offered Satan the choice between being banished to Hell or to Indio, he chose Hell because it was cooler.

It has been over 100 degrees in Indio every day since July 1, according to Accuweather, and there is no end in sight. According to DesertWeather, the average is 41 consecutive days and we're already there. The maximum consecutive-day streak for temperatures over 100°F reached 71 days in 2020 and I think there's a 50/50 chance that we tie or beat that record.

The record for most days over 100 degrees (not necessarily consecutive) is 143 also set in 2020. So far in 2026, we've had 79 days over 100°F. The first day over 100°F in 2026 was March 17, the earliest on record since 2004 so there's a chance we could beat that record as well.

Dog days of summer over? Not by a long shot.

Stay cool out there.

I didn't mean to wait until it was 100 degrees outside ...

... to clean my garage but that's what I did. I can't tell you what came over me. Clean The Garage has been on my Projects List for five years. Essentially, ever since we moved in and were in a rush to just get everything in, loosely organized, not on fancy racks or shelving systems. We just wanted to be able to get the car in the garage on day one but it was essentially a mess. 

I guess I was moved by the slow and endless summer days. I can only do so many Sudoku puzzles, am I right? Just as I let out a sigh to start yet another puzzle, I closed my laptop, stood up, and walked to the garage, pulled by an unknown force - a force so great as for me to avoid further avoidance.

With an eye on the weather, I've been putting off doing anything in the garage because it's only cooled to 90 degrees. I'll let that sink in: It's cooled to 90 degrees. I've been waiting for a day when the morning temps are less than 90 to vacuum out the car or, for that matter, anything else.

I didn't perform miracles out there but I found a lot of empty boxes and packing materials for "just in case" - in case we need to return something. Or send something. "Just in case" hasn't happened in five years so I think we're safe.

I also have a hamper full of golf balls, a garbage bag full of other garbage bags, swim goggles that no one is going to wear anymore, a couple of empty water bottles that we could fill in an emergency but were now pretty dusty and have probably degraded to an unsafe level (microplastic-wise), two toilet seats, and a bag of wine corks. 

Decisions were made.

I've already delivered packing materials to the local Postal Store to be re-used, a trip to Goodwill has been organized and scheduled, plastic bags will be dropped off at the grocery store for recycling, plastic bottles were squeezed into an already full recycling bin, and a trip to the Habitat For Humanity Re-Store is scheduled. (Anyone need some used golf balls or kid-size swim goggles before they get donated?)

I was dusty and sweaty but I'm not done by a long shot. I don't think I was out there for more than an hour or so. Too hot. But I made a dent and I feel good about that.

It's going to be over 100 degrees all week. Not ideal for cleaning the garage. But, really, it's not ideal for anything.

This could be embarrassing.

It's not entirely my fault. Hubby decided we didn't need such a large recycling bin so he had the garbage people swap out our rather large recycling bin for a smaller one. This has proved to be more challenging than I thought it would be. It also emphasizes how much waste a household can produce when you see it filled to the rim.

One of the problems is all the cardboard that comes with delivery of goods. (I mean Amazon. Let's be real.) With our larger bin, Hubby regularly ignored the mandate to break down boxes and tossed them in fully intact. Of course, we had the room so it was rarely a problem (although I couldn't help myself from pulling them out and breaking them down anyway). 

Leaving them intact isn't remotely possible with the smaller bin. All the boxes must be broken down or the week's recycling simply won't fit. Even the smallest box, when broken down to lay flat, makes a difference. What's more, I flatten all the plastic gallon jugs from our bottled water. That also makes a huge difference. (I really need to finish cleaning the water line in my refrigerator and stop buying plastic-bottled water.)

What's more is our garbage pick-up day is Friday. In the past, when we had too much recycling to fit in our bin, we'd put the overflow cardboard in our neighbor's bin and it would go out with their trash. But they've rented out the house so now we can't do that! Not only that, if we leave for any given weekend our bins remain unemptied until the following Friday.

It's no problem if the garbage bin or the yard waste bin are not emptied weekly. There's very little waste in those bins on a week-to-week basis. But it's a very real problem if the recycling bin isn't emptied so long as the neighbor's house remains rented which is exactly our current situation.

Last weekend we were out of town and our bins didn't get emptied. Luckily, I had a cardboard box that had yet to be flattened from a recent delivery of wine. I pulled out all the cardboard that was in the recycling bin and stacked it neatly in the cardboard box and found I had a lot of room leftover for even more cardboard not to mention more room in the bin. I think I can put the box out on the curb next to the recycling bin on the next pick-up day (tomorrow) and the garbage guys will take it.

However, what was left in the recycling bin after all the cardboard was sorted out was an embarrassing amount of wine bottles. It occurred to me that those wine bottles are going to make a huge racket as they are dumped into the truck outside my house Friday morning! They probably make a lot of noise every Friday but at least there was cardboard in the bin to muffle sound somewhat.

Now I have two weeks worth of wine bottles in a bin with no cardboard. (It's true I drink a lot of wine but I had help, people. I didn't drink all of it!) There are still those flattened gallon-sized plastic jugs in there. Maybe those will help soften the sound.

Or maybe people a mile away will hear it!

Do you think I could park the bin in front of your house tomorrow morning?

Little Nervous

I just signed up for my first water aerobics class at the old folks home senior center 55+ community gym and I'm a little nervous. The last time I signed up for a class it was Pilates and I got my ass kicked by a bunch of 90 year olds old people contemporaries. I was sore for days.

There's no reason for me to be nervous. I'm in relatively good shape (I thought). I'll probably know nearly everyone in the class. I just don't want to look like a doofus.

Which is a dumb because I am a doofus. You should see me dance! Or see any candid photo of me. Or just see me lol.

Oh well. Here I go. (I wonder how long convalescence recuperation recovery will be this time.)