Category: The DayBook

A friend suggested that perhaps I could put any mice that show up in the Old Bat’s Cave to work making tiny origami models. And maybe I should. The taxes are loaded up to the new tax guy’s portal. I like that heaps better than mailing the stuff.  I still have to get things “tidy”. And shred some stuff. 

After a taxing morning with a couple of hospital reports thrown in for extra confusion, I exercised the fingers and relaxed the brain by folding some roses. 

MidJourney imagines better origami roses than I can fold. 

I just asked ChatGPT “How do I fold an Origami rose”? 

Making an origami rose can be a bit challenging, but with practice and patience, you can create a beautiful paper flower. Here are the steps to make an origami rose:

1. 1. 1. Start with a square sheet of paper. You can use any size, but a 6-inch square works well.
      2. Fold the paper in half diagonally, crease it well, and then unfold it.
      3. Fold the paper in half diagonally in the other direction, crease it well, and then unfold it.
      4. Fold the paper in half horizontally, crease it well, and then unfold it.
      5. Fold the paper in half vertically, crease it well, and then unfold it.
      6. Bring the top edge of the paper down to the center crease, and crease it well. Do the same with the bottom edge of the paper.
      7. Bring the right edge of the paper to the center crease, and crease it well. Do the same with the left edge of the paper.
      8. Flip the paper over and fold the paper in half horizontally. Crease it well and then unfold it.
      9. Bring the top edge of the paper down to the center crease, and crease it well. Do the same with the bottom edge of the paper.
      10. Bring the right edge of the paper to the center crease, and crease it well. Do the same with the left edge of the paper.
      11. Flip the paper over again and fold the bottom right corner up to the center crease. Crease it well and then unfold it.
      12. Do the same with the bottom left corner.
      13. Fold the top of the paper down, creasing it well. This will create a diamond shape in the middle of the paper.
      14. Fold the right side of the diamond up, creasing it well.
      15. Do the same with the left side of the diamond.
      16. Fold the top layer of the right side of the paper up to create a small triangle. Crease it well and then unfold it.
      17. Do the same with the left side of the paper.
      18. Bring the top of the paper down and then fold the left and right sides of the paper towards the center crease.
      19. Fold the top of the paper down again to create a small triangle at the top.
      20. Tuck the right side of the small triangle under the paper and crease it well.
      21. Do the same with the left side of the small triangle.
      22. Fold the top layer of the paper down to create the rosebud.
      23. Fold the top of the rosebud down to create the first layer of petals.
      24. Fold the next layer of petals by bringing the top of the paper down and folding it over the first layer.
      25. Continue folding the layers of petals until you have the desired number of petals for your rose.
      26. When you have folded all the layers, carefully shape the petals by gently curving them with your fingers.

And there you have it, an origami rose!

I wonder if I can follow the directions? Well, that will be a project for another day. Or, I’ll get the AI mouse right on it. 

Hello, my name is Peg and I am powerless over Trader Joe’s Sweet & Spicy Pecans.  I don’t know why I let these things in the house. They just sit in the cupboard and whisper “we are here, the bag is open, come on just have one”.

Another thing that I find hard to resist. Fortunately, they don’t have fine rolls all that often.

My arteries are relieved to know that the week’s cholesterol fest ended this morning. 

I need to go somewhere. But I also have my Unfinished Objects and Unfinished Obligations. Old places and calling me back and new places need visiting. And time is rushing onward. 

Remember to hit PUBLISH.

What happens when you don’t hit PUBLISH.  Absolutely Nothing.

Today’s accomplishment was a pot of chili. Beans, canned tomatoes (Italian of course), the usual onion, carrot, green peppers, herbs, chili powder, and turkey sausages left over from a week of breakfasts. This week the breakfast special was very good eggs florentine. With a couple of turkey sausage patties.  Hollandaise sauce plus sausages seemed like a little much for my arteries. But they made a fine addition to the chili.

Nice long walk this afternoon. (The redbud trees are in bloom.) Followed by a nice long nap. A fine Saturday.

My next-door neighbors caught 6 mice in 4 days in their apartment.  Their door is about 10 feet from mine. Today, they were having some weather-stripping-type stuff attached to their door. I hope that the mice will try to get into the across-the-hall apartment and not mine if indeed the weather stripping is a deterrent.  

I have a couple of friends who have cats. Maybe I should just borrow a cat or two. (If need be. No mice have been spotted in The Old Bat Cave. Yet.) 

If I do get mice. Maybe I could put them to work. 

Carlton picked up pennies. He would put his life at risk to pick up a penny on the street.

After he died, I figured he would notice if I failed to pick up a penny. Or perhaps he put that penny on my path to get my attention. 

Well, on yesterday’s one-mile walk, I picked up 23 pennies. So, what is Carlton trying to tell me? Is he pissed about something? Did I do something that he really approved of? 

An April Showers day today. So, no outdoor walking. Somehow, drinking coffee and reading seemed like a great way to spend the afternoon, after spending the morning drinking coffee and patting the tax data into shape. After all this effort, I should just TurboTax them. But, there is that whole “future” thing. I want to have a CPA in the wings for when I can no longer do it.

Old age. It is a bittersweet way forward. But, damn, it’s hard to read that Rachel Welch who wasn’t much older than me died. Or that Bruce Willis who is much younger than me, has dementia.  And you go to a lot of funerals. 

Enjoy every sandwich. You don’t have to wait on a terminal diagnosis to start. 

We formally welcomed a new member to our Asylum Family. And their spirit animal/aumākua was added to our totem stack. We are elephant, lion, pig, cat, orangutan, turtle, horse, and crab. 

And no one except the eight of us cares about this. But, this is my blog. And, I care. Because how lucky we eight are to have found each other at The Asylum? 

Carol, who is in both photos is the artist. Need I remind you of the words of St Francis of Assisi:

He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.

Interesting that four years ago my image was focused on the art. This year the focus is on the artist. 

Made more headway on my UFO projects today. Also went to the lamest meeting ever here at The Asylum. Aren’t I old enough to know:

1. 1. 1. Don’t be on committees, and
      2. Don’t go to meetings.

Kids are playing outside because it is 60°.  My windows were open today.

I have a very bad feeling about this. Mother Nature, the bitch, will make it snow 3 feet or run the temps down below zero soon. 

But, for now, I am enjoying  this April-like February. 

But, I am happy to have the sun sneaking back into the old bat cave. Mr. Sun makes it into my room about 15 minutes in the early morning. 

Progress continues on my UFOs: UnFinished Obligations and UnFinished Objects.  One of the unfinished things was culling and cataloging photos from 2022. All done now. 

This of course led me to think about “camera gear” for the Northwest Passage. I am going to try very hard to just take my GoPro and phone. If there is a narwhal or a polar bear – for an instant – I will wish I had a “real” camera. But, realistically, this adventure is going to tax my balance, brain, and body to the max. And even a minimal camera kit might be enough extra weight to kick me right out of the game. Or out of the Zodiac.  And, I don’t expect to see a polar bear or a narwhal. Or a tomato frog. So, why am I going? Because I can.

I love tomato frogs. And since it is dreary and rainy here. It seems like a great day for a tomato frog photo from December 2022 of one of the Hilo Zoo’s Tomato Frogs. 

The Asylum is having a serious case of Fucking Ass Stupid. 

But apparently these acronite think it’s spring. I hope they are right.

Little by little, I am continuing to make a dint in my Shit2Do collection. This is an old age problem that I must guard against. It think that I am where “it” starts. Where “it” ends is your home is filled with piles of unsorted mail, unread papers, unwashed dishes, dirty clothes and only a little path remains from your bed to the toilet and the front door. 

A lot of my “undone” stuff is in the computer. So. It looks better. But it isn’t actually better.  

Some of the things I have to do are obligations that I put on myself. Or they are things the I did mostly for Carlton. I have to finish what has been started. And to consciously keep up to date with ongoing projects. And this is the biggie: Avoid Beginings. Thank you Carlton for the whole concept of “Avoid Beginings”.  Finishing isn’t the problem.  Begining is the problem. It’s too easy to say “I can do that” or “I should do that”. 

I know that I have complained a lot about winter. But it really hasn’t been winter. It’s 59° right now.  The sun is slowly returning to the Old Bat Cave. 

Of course. It is still February. And Momma Nature is still a bitch. 

Made a morning out of wandering around the neighborhood. Enjoying being out. Sort of celebrating the warmness and getting my taxes as together as I can since I am still awaiting major components. But that’s progress. 

I have been loving the crow crossing the moon. So I tried an owl.

We have several problems at The Asylum that might be solved with humor and a little help from MidJourney. Our reusable food take-out boxes seem to disappear into the residents’ apartments and never leave. The boxes are not cheap. 

A more serious problem is the lack of suitable grab bars next to our unsuitably low toilets in our busiest public restroom.  Management does not seem to think it is a problem. But they are not old. They don’t have replaced body parts.