Month: August 2022

Well I have been having various problems with my phone lately.  Among other things, I have come to realize that we are all WAY too dependent on these things.  There are no payphones any more, so how do you communicate with the world if your phone is dead and you are stuck on a highway somewhere?

I also discovered there are many websites that assume you have a phone . . . to which they can text you various security codes, and they offer live phone help if the website does not work . . . but if you have no phone, you are screwed.

Anyway I called a client this morning and she could not hear me.  I called other folks, same issue.  I did a messaging/chat on my provider’s website and we went through hours of troubleshooting the SIM card.  no use.

Finally I figured out that there was an issue with the microphone.  So just for the hell of it I looked at the bottom of my phone and right where the microphone hole used to be I saw a little white dot.  I had been disposing of paint last week and sure enough, I got a little glop of paint in there and it solidified and created a perfect sonic barrier.  I scraped it out with a safety pin and now the phone works again.

Sadly, I already bought a new phone.  I spose I could return it but the glass on this one is cracked and there is an ice melt pellet stuck in the microphone jack, so . . . time to upgrade I think.

I remember the day in the 90’s when I realized, I am way way way too dependent upon my computer to only have one– I need a spare in case this one breaks.  That same day has repeated for me today, with my phone.  I will use the new one and keep the older one as a backup for days like this.

I am also thrilled to say, that I have a working phone right here right now.  And I fixed it.

Well this post has very little to do with handymanning but I am just so excited I have to tell somebody.

Several years ago I read or heard that monarch butterflies were having a tough time of it . . .  loss of habitat, insecticides, disease . . .  so I decided I would try to do something about it.

I have a phrase I try to share with folks when it comes to making changes, which is, “take an inventory of your power.”  After all, your power is all you have to work with, so, look around and see what you got.

So I decided, I don’t have power to pass any legislation but I CAN plant some milkweed for them to eat as they fly by on way to Mexico.

A little embarrassing, this is how ignorant I was:  I actually thought adult monarchs would just stop in as they flew by and drink some milkweed flower nectar.  And on that impression alone, I got some pots and some dirt and a shipment from cheapmilkweedseeds.com and gave it a go.

I was late planting but six plants came up.  They were little stumps, and of course no monarchs even looked at them.

I did virtually nothing for a year but lo and behold, the milkweed stumps actually grew into milkweed plants.  They flowered, but . . . nothing else.   At end of season the flowers turned into seed pods and flew all over.  Again, forgot all about it.

But what I did not realize was. all those seeds had landed in all my other pots, and this year, I had milkweed all over.  They grew to good size, and then . . .  and then . . . holes appeared in the leaves.  A momma monarch had found my plants worthy.  I soon had 3 little monarch caterpillars.  Oh Joy oh rapture.

So for the past 10 days I have been observing these little guys eating and growing.  Utterly fascinating.

I have to tell you, this guy was a cross between Tarzan and Nadia Comaneci.

This morning they all crawled off into the wild green yonder to pupate.  So Mother Nature started with a momma and a daddy, that’s two, and I sent back three.  Such a deal.  I made a difference.  I had the power.