Misc. (again)

[magid]

I like my backpack, but it would be even better to have one that didn't make my back get all sweaty when I walk in the summer.

I screened my knuckle; it hurt. Not recommended.

It was a nuisance to get everything off the porch, but with a good side effect: I finally got rid of the plastic bin I never should've used to grow stuff in (years ago), now falling to pieces. Four garbage bags later and it's gone (amazing how heavy wet dirt is). The bin had been clearish plastic; it was fascinating to see how moss grew down the inside of the bin, since it was able to get light (not as much air, though, which is why I was surprised to find it there). The other benefit is that I should put things out again in a better configuration, transplanting the flower seedlings, acquiring the missing elements (mint, nasturtiums, replacement rosemary), and having a more usable evening outdoor room. Ideally, I should get self-watering containters, and a bunch of windowboxes that can hang off the railing. In the meantime, if I can't put everything out before Shabbat, dinner is likely to be on the porch.

Peeve: boil-in-bag foods that say they're 2.5 servings, especially when one bag is small enough to be a single meal.

Acquired: a new lighting fixture to go above the dining room table. Installation to happen only after the plantly kitchen invasion is over.
Note to self: need to get a replacement bulb for one of the recessed lights, and figure out what kind of bulb to get for the over-stove light. ("Overstove" sounds like a Borrower name.)

Flour retrieval mission accomplished. I now have self-rising flour. What do I do with that?

I'm glad today is my produce infusion; all I had left by yesterday morning was salad stuff, which has now been consumed in the name of breakfast.

It's interesting to hear workmen scraping the house while I'm inside. It makes me much more aware of house-skin I live in. Also, all I could think as they power-washed the porch was "it's like a spa for your... porch".

Comments

[queue.livejournal.com]

I like my backpack, but it would be even better to have one that didn't make my back get all sweaty when I walk in the summer.

Do they make those? How would that even work? I suppose it would need some kind of frame that would keep the bulk of it from touching your back, so that air could flow.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Something like that, plus maybe using the technology for the wicking fabrics somehow.

[(Anonymous)]

I had a backpack a dozen years ago that when I wore it on both shoulders loosely AND belted around my waist, seemed to hang more from my waist then from my shoulders. It was as if the waist belt was anchoring it to my body and the shoulder straps were simply helping to position it.

This was mostly beneficial to me in not aggravating the back pain I had been experiencing, probably resulting from earlier use of a shoulder bag, and it felt . . . just really neat, a different sensation, to have my waist (hips?) doing the work, but now that I think about it, it did leave airspace between my back and the bag, as a good amount -- perhaps the bulk, perhaps not -- of the bag was not up against my back.

A frame would be neat. That could work.

The wicking fabrics sound cool, heh heh. This was "non-shiny" canvas-style nylon, and didn't cause problems. Is your backpack's material shiny?

What is knuckle screening?

I find that serving sizes are often ridiculous, but you are right that those of boil-in-bags (which I rarely do) tend to be especially silly.

Consumed in the name of breakfast . . . I like that.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Unless my backpack's very light, I always use the waist cinch. And if it's a noticeable walk (> 1 mile), I use it even when it's light, to put whatever weight there is on my hips rather than my shoulders. If I loosen it enough to let it hang away from my body, the pack moves around enough to annoy me while walking. :-(

I'm glad your pack helped your back! I much prefer not to have a shoulder bag (even though it would leave my back less sweaty) because I'd rather carry a balanced load. I shudder sometimes to remember how much I carried on one shoulder in college...

Currently, the only frame packs I've seen have just been sturdier, larger backpacks, still held close to the back. It makes sense ergonomically when carrying a lot of stuff, to have it close to your center of gravity. I remember the first time I used a frame pack; it made me taller when I wore it, and I had to keep remembering that I was taller than I was normally.

My backpack isn't shiny, and in all other ways is quite to my taste, having enough compartments, room for a Camelbak, and the possibility of expanding.

Knuckle screening = scrape knuckle on a window screen.

I use the boil-in-bag Indian meals at work, immersing them in boiling water (instant hot's all I've got available).

Thanks :-).

[(Anonymous)]

It's a balance, I guess. I'm glad that you as well know the power of the amazing waist belt. Growing up I never paid them any attention.

I also was glad! Thank you. The shoulder bag was a poor choice, and I was glad to go back to the pack. I think I used both shoulders in high school and beyond, but remember finding it quite uncomfortable to do so in elementary school.

A frame for a small pack that removed the pack an inch from the back is cool to imagine but not something I've seen. You were made taller because you were made to stand more upright?

Your backpack sounds like an overall good one for you. Could the material you are wearing play any part?

Hmmm, I had thought the knuckle-screening might've been what you revealed it to be, but was not sure. I also somehow did imagine it was in fact Indian food in the boil-in-bags.

Thank you for all the good word construction. I am constantly impressed and often amused by your amazing writing even when describing the mundane.

[magid.livejournal.com]

The reason I know about waist belts is my dad, who took us camping when we were little, and is very safety and exercise conscious. What I never have tried is the cinch that some pack have between the shoulder straps in front; they seem much more designed for male physiques.

I don't remember what I carried things in in elementary school, but I think in junior high I used a canvas bag for a while.

I was made taller because the pack went a couple of inches above my head when the waist belt was fastened. And though I thought it wouldn't make that much difference, it did. I guess my sense of where my body is is much more ingrained than I'd thought.

I suspect if I didn't wear cotton T-shirts but super-snazzy fabrics, I'd do better. Right now I only have two shirts like that, and neither of them feel appropriate for work. I might see if I can find some tank tops of snazziness (ie cheaper) that I could wear under the T-shirts.

Thank you for the compliment.
*blush*

[zebraartist.livejournal.com]

okay, random - but, I wish I were a porch today....but, I'd like to be AT a spa!
:-)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Hee!

It rained yesterday, and I envied my neighbors their covered porch: they can sit out in a storm and be dry enough to have dinner. I think for my next house (as they say), I'd like a covered porch and an open porch. (And a lot of other things, none of which make it worth moving.)

There's now a hot tub and massage place a couple of blocks from me... *dangles carrot*
:-)

PS

[magid.livejournal.com]

There used to be an ad for some carwashing place, with the tagline "it's like a spa for your car", which of course rhymes in MAian.

Re: PS

[zebraartist.livejournal.com]

LOL!!!