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Saturday, October 29, 2016

KM: Products - Personal and Household

Continuing with the KonMari tidying, my next two areas were 'personal products' and 'household products'.

The former took no time at all...maybe 15 minutes.  We basically have just what we actually use, plus a few refills for those things you really don't want to run out of.  Outside of some products that didn't work out as we'd hoped, it was all good.

I KonMari discarded just one WalMart shopping bag of items.

On the other hand, the household products took an afternoon.

Unfortunately I forgot to take my "before" photo.  Just imagine the below shelf crammed - and I mean CRAMMED - full of stuff.


Himself and I set up a couple of 8' folding tables and emptied everything from everywhere onto them.  Then the sorting started.  

Products that had been pushed behind were brought out and put where we would use them up. 


 Products that for whatever reason we didn't care for were given away.

And some products hit the trash can.

What was left was put away and we ended up with that tidy shelf in the first picture.

Looking good!



Wednesday, October 19, 2016

KonMari: DVDs and CDs

The next category we did after books was to jump over to the 'komono' (other stuff) items.  First in that list is CDs and DVDs.


I wasn't sure how this was going to work out.  All of our DVDs and CDs are in albums like the one above.  We keep the cases in a couple of tubs in the attic in case we want to sell/trade/give away any.  


We started with movies, each of us sorting our own album.  We came up with 11 that we have grown tired of.  Movies are easy because you know if you like them or not.


CDs on the other hand are a lot harder.  On the average a CD has about 12 songs.  So how many songs should you like before it goes in the discard pile? 

Around here... one.

Which means there are hardly any CDs being discarded.

Oh well, at least they are all tidy in their albums!


Monday, October 17, 2016

Being Lazy, Enjoying Autumn


I've decided to take a bit of a blogging break (as by chance I seem to do every October).  My writing mojo is practically non-existent, I'm much more focused on the beautiful autumn days and doing my household KonMari tidying.

I'll be popping in every so often tho...probably on a rainy lazy day.

Enjoy the autumn!



Sunday, October 9, 2016

Read All About It! Book KonMari Discards 132!

It's KonMari time again!



Books...oh boy.

There were books in every room of the house including my studio.  I wanted the book category to be done in one sweep so this time I did upstairs (the lesser amount) then downstairs.  It's isn't the precise KonMari method but books are HEAVY and I wasn't about to tote them up and down the stairs!

Each one was picked up and looked carefully at.  Did it 'spark joy'?


A few of the books that didn't make the cut.  There were 132 of them discarded.  Some went to Goodwill plus one bag of magazines that went to recycling.  I did list some up on PaperBackSwap and got 14 fast hits.  Works for me!

Himself will be going through his books and magazines in the near future.  He has a few other projects in the front of the queue.



Friday, October 7, 2016

Autumn Drive

This first week of October has been super busy, but in the very best way.  We are getting a lot done here at The Sticks.  My KonMari decluttering continues (more on that very soon) and is still going amazingly well.  I have all sorts of fun classes lined up.  With the weather cooling yard projects are resuming.  And we are getting ready to do a makeover of our living room.

Needless to say, I haven't been on the computer much.  

The other day we went for a drive just to get out for a bit and found out it's fall y'all!


Have no idea what they are.


It looks like Larkspur but I thought it is a bit late for it.


It's a bit dry and the rivers are moving slowly.


The earlier wet weather has made the Johnson Grass grow huge and beautiful.  Did you see the little spider?


The smoke barns are going full blast.


Don't know what this is either.  It's not Dogwood.


Now this one I know!  Goldenrod.


And I know this one all too well...

...cockle burrs!!!



Monday, October 3, 2016

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Look At The Sky: Oct




The Planets for October:
--------------------------------
A VERY poor October for viewing the major planets, with virtually all "wow" planets being in either daylight sky or in strong twilight at dusk or dawn; only the distant planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are visible all month in dark skies.

Mercury - Mercury is very close to the sun all month, starting October in very bright twilight of evening, then moving rapidly eastward  to enter the early morning twilight by month's end but in such bright sky that it will not be observable  - in LIBRA

Venus - our brightest planet will be finally moving into evening skies, visible only a very short while during strong twilight right after sunset; look for the planet low on the SE horizon at mid-month, but moving rapidly eastward throughout the month and eventually overtaking much dimmer SATURN on Oct. 28-29, at that time much higher in darker skies, but still very low in the SE sky. - moves rapidly from VIRGO into the head of SCORPIUS

Mars - Now just east of slightly dimmer SATURN and slowly moving eastward to increase that distance every successive night in October; by late month, the planet will be in evening dusk, setting about 10 p.m. local time.  Compare the ruddy red color of Mars with the yellow of Saturn - in SCORPIUS/Ophiuchus

Jupiter - Now rising in the EAST only minutes before twilight - in VIRGO

Saturn - Very low in western skies at dark and setting quickly after evening twilight disappears. - in SCORPIUS

Uranus - distant planet Uranus is overhead about 1:30 a.m. local time and is south of overhead by the time the evening sky is dark,  It shines at magnitude 5.9, bright enough to spot in good binoculars if one knows where to look; use a good planetarium sky program or GO TO telescope to locate this distant world; by sunrise it is high in dark skies and will show a faint, blue disk in large telescopes - PISCES

Neptune - At OPPOSITION on last month - look for faint Neptune in large telescopes at midmonth south of overhead about 10 p.m. local time.(mag. 7.6). - in AQUARIUS

Pluto - at magnitude 14.1, our most distant planet is very low in southern skies, in southwest about the time evening twilight darkens; note that on Oct. 8, Pluto will be just "under" (south of) the first quarter moon and just east of ruddy red and bright Mars in the dense clouds of the Sagittarius Milky Way - only 12 inch and larger telescopes can spot this world visually.  - in SAGITTARIUS

 Meteor Showers

The advent of crisper skies and cooler temperatures during fall months lure many sky watchers outdoors during October to view the impending autumn splendors of the Heavens.  In most of North America, it has been found that the month of OCTOBER is the "cloud-free-est" and the skies more deep clear and weather-free than any other month of the year;  the cool nighttime temperatures and waning mosquito populations (thank goodness this year!) are inviting to all of us to spend more time exploring the dark October night sky.   Fortunately October's premier meteor shower - the ORIONIDS - peak after the night of the last quarter moon and observers should work around the rising and setting times of the moon for every meteor shower for the duration of each peak.

October 7  - PISCID meteors - A very long duration (Sept 25 through Nov. 2) meteor shower, very low in southern skies; these are very slow moving meteors [only 29 kilometers per second (kps)] on the Pisces-Aries border; about 15 meteors per hour, some very nice with long trains, will be seen after midnight at which time the shower radiant will be located west of overhead.  The first quarter moon will be present in the sky until after midnight  this year, so viewing should be very fair for this shower in 2016, but better for those who observe later in the evening after the bright moon sets.

October 9  - DRACONID meteors - This is a very short duration meteor shower, unlike the Draconids (above).  It lasts only from Oct. 7 through 10th, producing a very erratic number of meteors as the Earth plummets head-on into this stream.  For example, in 1933, over 30,000 meteors per hour were estimated....from the Comet Giacobini-Zinner's disintegration, the Earth passed the comet only 15 days prior in 1947, resulting in about 1,000 per hours seen in that year.  This year, the moon will be a strong gibbous in the evening sky and really hinder on any day of this shower, so observers will have a poor opportunity for dark skies for the most meteors from this shower.  Note this "circumpolar" northern hemisphere shower to be seen at its best after midnight hours when the Earth is heading directly into the stream....at dawn it will be nearly directly overhead from mid-northern latitudes,  The actual number to expect is totally unknown, but you should be prepared for as many as 200-500 per hour during some encounters!

October 19 - EPSILON GEMINID meteors - This is a week-long meteor shower peaking like the Orionids (below) during a time a bit unfavorable for many faint meteors to be seen early since the moon will be a waning gibbous during this shower.   The shower actually begins about Oct. 1 with no particular sharp peak, so observing early in the morning on the first weeks might allow for some of the perhaps 5 per hour being seen....these are among the fastest of the meteors striking out atmosphere, traveling at about 70 kps.  The radiant rises about 10 p.m. on the 14th-15th, and will be overhead by dawn (northern hemisphere observers).  A very unfavorable year to witness this meteor shower.


October 21 - ORIONID meteors - A fair year for observing the famous Orionid Meteors since the moon will be last quarter and will rise in the east shortly after midnight.  With its origins in the famous Halley's Comet, this meteor shower is in the high southeastern sky (northern hemisphere) during early morning hours.  The radiant, from near the "club" of ORION, the hunter, rises about 9:30 p.m. local time and will be south of overhead about 5 a.m. when morning dawn commences.  Normally as many as 30-40 very faint and very fast yellowish meteors per hour can be seen from this group, traveling at actual speeds when they collide with the Earth of nearly 67 kilometers per second.  This will be a moderately good year for early observers for this dependable meteor shower,  Both bright and faint meteors should be seen this year, visible from this spectacular and historic meteor shower.  However, there ARE many associated bright meteors from this shower, so heads up!