After three days of outdoor activity, today is being spent on small domestic matters here at Mist Cottage.
After the scare with the hopefully false diagnosis of Chronic Kidney Disease, I am on the watch for ingredients in processed food, such as Potassium Sorbate, which is used as a preservative. We love our salads, and the salad dressings we have been buying off the grocery store shelf all contain Potassium Sorbate, and a LOT of other things that I haven’t assessed as yet. To avoid all this work figuring out just what they are putting in these so called salad dressings, time was spent researching a healthy alternative. Experimentation is the name of the game, and today the first recipe was used to make Honey Apple Cider Vinegar Salad Dressing. The recipe was followed meticulously, tweaking will come later; except that 1/4 tsp. of garlic powder was substituted for the fresh shallot.
I am not a fan of apple cider vinegar, but the honey in the recipe may make it palatable.
There seem to be constant updates to the server software for this blog and for the other sites I manage. Today was no exception, as two updates were required on the sites to keep up to date.
Also, in the spirit of digital housekeeping, the Skype auto-renew on the subscription was cancelled. When we first moved here several communication methods were setup, to see what would work. At the moment administrative contacts are provided with my cell phone number, as it always works and receives any type of call. People who call from a single cell phone, or land line, are provided with a Magic Jack phone number, local to Mist Cottage; that telephone does not accept calls from multi-line callers, which basically eliminates the telemarketers, and unfortunately places like the doctor’s office and the pharmacy. A third phone number is for the exclusive use of Attila’s Mom, who lives in the USA, it is a free MagicApp number that only works on Attila’s iPad, and it means she can call us anytime she likes, without long distance charges. Attila has a cell phone he carries with him for emergencies, but it is old, and falling apart, so only I have that phone number. The Skype number, which we used while living apart last spring, has not been used since last spring. Time for the Skype phone number, and the Skype billing, to go.
The Magic Jack phone number is great, but for two issues. First, if the internet goes down it doesn’t work at all. When our internet service goes out I cannot call the company to get it back up again, because the phone is out too. If it were your only telephone in an emergency, and the power was out, you would be in dire straits. Second, it doesn’t accept calls from telephones with multi-lines, so that it cannot be used as a contact number for important entities, like the doctor’s office or the pharmacy. Other than that, the Magic Jack comes through our Panasonic cordless telephone unit just like our old land line.
The weather is cool today, just 8C. Since rain is in the forecast, I took my walk earlier rather than later, and wore my parka to cut the nippy wind. I could smell the fresh growing grasses for the first time since last summer, oh what marvellous memories of childhood that elicits, as does the calls of birds, particularly the Blue Jays.
Attila loves to be awake and outdoors during the daytime. On Sundays nights he has to work, so on Sunday during the day he “should” be getting his eight hours of sleep. Since we began visiting the Rideau Camp he often prolongs his outdoor activities at the Camp on Sundays, it is so glorious, cutting short his sleep. Yesterday he only managed three hours sleep before he headed off to work. Today is catch up day for Attila.
Here it is evening and the predicted rain has yet to materialize. The flora needs the rain, we haven’t had any for a quite a spell. Attila and I have decided to cease having campfires at the Rideau Camp until after we have had a few days of soaking rain, which isn’t in the forcast for the next few weeks. Better safe than sorry.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
8°C
Date: 1:00 PM EDT Monday 25 April 2016
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.9 kPa
Tendency: falling
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: 8.4°C
Dewpoint: -8.2°C
Humidity: 30%
Wind: NNE 10 km/h
Quote
“Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.”
Albert Einstein
1879 – 1955
