I am a tad late to sharing my OLW work for February and, truth be told, I still haven’t documented this in my OLW Journal, but I’m here for it today.
Here is my February selfie:
And here is my manifesto for the year, created with the awesome worksheet from Ali Edward’s One Little Word Class for last month:
I’m really loving how this word is showing up for me so far.
The museum is back after last month’s hiatus and the guides are eager to share about the most memorable thing I learned in science class.
In preparation, let me say that I almost skipped this month’s exhibit. You see, I was a social studies and literature geek, science and math (especially math) were subjects that were challenging for me. My initial thought on this was that I couldn’t actually think of anything I learned in science class. Womp womp. But then I toured Kym’s exhibit. And Bonny’s. And the wheels began to turn and I realized that there is something very memorable that I learned in science class.
The controlled experiment.
Here are three things you need to know about this topic from ThoughtCo:
I think I learned this concept in 6th grade but it may have been 7th. And it’s something that I still think about often. Mostly, I think of it in terms of dismissing results because the variables weren’t controlled! But I know it comes into play when I’m making sourdough bread or pizza, when I’m gardening or even playing around with paint.
For the purposes of this month’s exhibit, suppose I want to know if my sourdough started responds better to bread flour instead of regular flour. I would separate my starter into two containers and feed one with the bread flour and one with the regular flour. And then I would treat them exactly the same otherwise . . . same light exposure, same temperature, same glass jars, etc. I would then measure the results and see if there is a difference. (Spoiler alert, bread flour is better for feeding a starter.)
That’s sort of it for my scientific knowledge but thinking about this month’s exhibit has got me thinking about science in general and how it shows up in my daily life more than I realize. And that’s got to be a good thing.
Do you remember when I used to be really into The Oscars? And I’d watch all the movies I could, traveling far and wide to see them?
Well.
The pandemic changed a lot of things for me and going to the movies was one of those things. After months and months of not being able to go to the theater, I just sort of . . . lost interest in the whole experience. And I sort of lost interest in movies, too. I think I saw 4 of the movies nominated for Best Picture last year, a dismal effort given my previous obsession with seeing all of them.
And, while I’m not here to proclaim that my Oscar mojo is back, I am here to say that I’m feeling some . . . rumblings of excitement about the movies again. I have no plans to go to the theater but I’m here for the streaming services. My comfortable couch with knitting and cats and wine? Sign me up.
Now, if I was really committed to this, I would have started weeks ago but I’m late to the party and only have until Sunday night to complete my quest. Dale and I watched Elvis a while back and this week we have watched Everything Everywhere All At Once and The Banshees of Inisherin. We have plans to watch Top Gun tomorrow night and are counting on a double feature on Saturday for The Fabelmans and Triangle of Sadness and a Sunday matinee for All Quiet on the Western Front. I may try and squeeze Women Talking (I did read the book back when it was new) and Tar in on my own. That leaves only Avatar and it’s off the table since we aren’t going to the movie theater.
I guess 30 some-odd years of Oscar watching isn’t so easy to give up on after all.
If you’ve been paying attention, then I suspect the title of this post should give you an inclination of how the knitting-with-Fred-and-George is going.
If not, then I think this photo should tell the rest of the story.
Yes! A finished sock! I knit the first 1/3 of the foot on our trip to Maine and I knit the rest of the foot and the toe . . . at home on my couch! With Fred & George sleeping next to me!
I have had to use the spray bottle a few times on George and I can literally see the debate going on his head . . . he wants the yarn but he hates the spray bottle more. Luckily, his hatred of the spray bottle is stronger than his love of yarn.
I think I’m back in the knitting business, friends.
Last Friday night Dale and I went out for the evening to dinner at a friend’s house. We left about 5:30 and when we returned home at 10:30 our carbon monoxide detector was going off. Fred & George were clearly agitated by the noise and we had no idea how long it had been sounding. We thought perhaps it was a malfunction, because Dale when took it off the wall and removed the batteries, it stopped. But I insisted that we call the fire department just to be safe.
They arrived pretty quickly and determined that we did indeed have elevated levels of CO throughout our house. They were calm, but told me I needed to get Fred & George out of the house because little bodies absorb toxins quickly. That was an adventure in itself . . . George was hiding under our bed (big men in big coats and boots and hats sent him right over the edge) and I had to drag him out by the scruff of his neck. I managed, though, plopped him in his carrier, and put him out on the deck. I then grabbed Fred, who was equally skittish but he’s not a hider so he was right under my feet, plopped him in his carrier, and then put them both in my car.
I went back inside and talked to the fire fighters who were getting levels ranging from the high 30s to the low 60s in our living room, bedroom, and Dale’s office upstairs. Our furnace is in the basement and the readers there were fine so we knew it was the wood stove but we weren’t initially sure what had happened. The fire was really low (we’d been out for 5 hours, remember?) so Dale shoveled out the coals and they doused them outside. They brought in a giant fan and set it up at our front door and got the air cleared pretty quickly.
In the meantime, I went out to the car to sit with Fred and George and reassure them that all was well. Keep in mind that these are cats who have only left our house ONE TIME since we got them and that was for their neutering surgery a year ago. So, naturally, they were nervous. I sat in the passenger seat with George’s carrier on my lap, Fred was in his carrier on the driver’s seat. I unzipped them each enough to get my hand inside to pet them and comfort them. Fred, the little bugger forced his way out of his carrier and sat up on the dashboard for a minute or so. And then he went over to George’s carrier and nudged at the zipper. I opened it a bit and he pushed himself inside and curled up against George and then they both settled right down. It was the sweetest thing!
Once the fire department left, we brought the cats back inside. They were acting fine at this point and, while I was worried, they have had no side effects from the carbon monoxide. Dale was able to identify the problem on Saturday (creosote build up below the point where the inside pipe enters the chimney) and we are back in business. Our chimney has a steel liner and we did just have everything cleaned and inspected at the end of December, but have them scheduled to come out at the end of the week just to be certain all is well.
I am so grateful for many things. That Fred and George are okay. That we have an alternative source of heat when we need it. That we live in a small town and knew the fire fighters who walked through our door. That things were corrected quickly. And that the carbon monoxide detector did the job and saved our lives.
You see these stories on the news and never think they will happen to you. I’m here to tell you that these situations can happen to anyone so please, check your smoke detectors, check your carbon monoxide detectors, and stay safe out there, friends.
