I’ve had a strong urge the last few months to eliminate a lot of the clutter from my life.  I used to collect all sorts of things when I was younger and those things are now seemingly permanent residents of my attic.  Stuff like baseball and football cards, comic books, coins, buttons, patches, pins, Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars.  Things didn’t get too much better after I was an adult…just more expensive perhaps.  I have a lot of Green Bay Packers collectibles, plus a lot of CDs, DVDs and books that I don’t really need or want anymore.  I’ve started the slow process of cleaning this stuff out.  Plus I gotta say, the library system is great for finding almost all of the music, movies and books I’ve accumulated.

I wish I had the guts to just call Goodwill, have them send a truck over and help them load it up.  Unfortunately, I feel the need to try to recoup some of the money I’ve spent over the years.  Anything I make certainly won’t come close to the dollar amount I spent but hey, these days any money is good money.  I’ve actually gotten rid of a lot of stuff during garage sales the last few years  so now I’m down to the stuff where I need antique, baseball card and comic book dealers.  Plus eBay and Craig’s List will be helpful.

With a task this large it’s easy to get discouraged and give up.  Or, since a lot of the stuff is in the attic it’s even easier to go with “out of sight, out of mind.”  I did find a website that caters to people in my mindset.  It’s a blog called Unclutterer.  It’s inspirational and fun to read and helps you realize there are lots of other people around that want to get rid of the crap from their lives so that they can enjoy the things they really, truly want.

In this vein of thought I discovered another cool website, JustOneClubCard.com.  It’s a website that enables you to consolidate all those club cards (Kroger, Speedway, Borders, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Hallmark, etc.) into one card by using the software at the site to transfer all the bar code info to a card that fits much easier in your wallet.  You can print up to 8 barcodes on one 2 sided card….that frees up a lot of space in your wallet.

I put my Toledo Library, Kroger, Borders and Speedway barcodes onto one card.  The only thing that bugs me is that I still have to carry the Speedway card around because I need to swipe it at the gas pump….maybe they’ll install bar code readers someday.  (The libary card involved a little custom work, but I figured it out.)

If you’re at all like me you’ll enjoy unclutterer.com.  If you’re wary about the card consolidation idea, maybe try printing one out and carry it along with your cards and give it a trial run.  If you don’t like it then just rip it up. 

Such an interesting idea…

www.alife4sale.com

Here’s an article, one of dozens I imagine that have been written.

And here’s the link to the eBay item, it went live yesterday and will stay up till next Sunday.

Thursday was a hot day and pretty humid too.  I’ve discovered that the older I get the faster I can acclimatize to heat when it starts to get towards summer.  When I was a kid I’d sweat buckets constantly all summer long.  So when it got hot like it did Thursday (88°) I was surviving but wanted to turn on the central air conditioning.  Molly was still at work and I knew she’d probably not be too thrilled if I turned it on just because it was the first day above 80°.  So I lived with it.  She came home and, like I assumed, upon my suggestion that we turn on the air she replied that we didn’t need to. 

Fast forward to late evening when I arrived home from work…

I walk in the door and am greeted by the refreshing hum of the a/c and the cool feeling on my face immediately makes me smile.  I drop my stuff off at my desk, let the dogs outside and check on the family.  I walk into my bedroom, Molly sorta half wakes up and I said something about the a/c.  All she said was that Tupper (our Jack Russell Terrier) was panting so she turned it on.  I went about getting ready for bed simply happy that it was cool in the house.  But after letting the dogs back in and laying down next to my wife the gravity of what she said hit me like a wet noodle.

Wait a minute!  I’m the man of her dreams, provider for the family and love of her life but when I complain of the heat and humidity in the house I get nothing.  All the dog has to do is stick out her tongue and pant and the a/c gets powered up?

The next day I confronted my wife with this theory and all I got for an answer was hysterical laughing.

Sheesh.

But, it did provide me with a contingency plan for the next time I want the a/c on.  I’ll run Tupper up and down the street a couple times and then let her in to go find Molly, flop on her side and pant.

As has been the custom since Molly and I married, Memorial Day weekend was spent at Maumee Bay State Park on the coast of Lake Erie in Oregon, Ohio.  Molly’s parents, my parents, her immediate family as well as several of her cousins, aunts and uncles all come for a weekend of camping.  Several other family members stop by for a big dinner one afternoon as well.

I took pictures for a bit of a photo essay.  The only things I didn’t get pictures of were the lodge, the golf course and the nature center and boardwalk.

Uncle Sam’s sign says “Memorial Day at the Bay”

Everyone was relaxing this weekend…Tupper too!

Didn’t see one, but they must be around…Eastern Fox Snake.

Inland fishing / canoeing pond at the campground.

There’s a dog going for a ride in that cage.

Most bike paths…

…lead to Lake Erie.

Waaay in the distance you can spot Fermi 2 as well as the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse.

 .

How flat is it in Northwest Ohio?  So bad we actually label our manmade formations as “big.”

Yup, it’s a big hill…no bikes allowed on it tho, darn it.

The beach on Lake Erie has…

…a climbing wall, wave runner rentals, ocean kayak rentals and an inflatable water slide for your additional entertainment.

My kids love this thing!

See what I mean!

I couldn’t leave Max stuck on a chain at the campsite, he needed some fun too.

So I rode my bike and brought him to the beach in my bag.  He loved it and was well behaved too!

Kites are popular at MBSP, I suppose because it’s always windy…makes sense, right?

I don’t remember spotting Great Lakes freighters this close to land, but I did this weekend.

There are picnic tables under these airy structures and the small hill provides a nice view of the area while you eat.

Inland swimming area at the beach…safer for kids and warmer water too.

Lots of deer and rabbits in the park.

…and finally, some interesting alternating white and yellow flowers on a bush.

Hope your Memorial Day weekend was as restful and enjoyable as mine was!

Right off the bat I’ll state I’m not a fan of mushrooms.  I don’t appreciate the taste and I don’t like the texture…not even on pizza or in spaghetti sauce.  So when I find morels in my backyard it’s a lucky day for someone else.  Today I was mowing the yard and saw a couple of these babies sitting under an evergreen we have.  I didn’t remember seeing them last week when I mowed so the conditions must have been just right in the last 5-7 days for them to pop up.  It’s actually been a couple years since I remember seeing them in my yard.  Because I saw a couple I knew there were likely more so after mowing I gathered them up to give away.  I was surprised to find 8 of them, I wonder if there’ll be more later on…maybe next time I mow?

Where are the common areas to find them?  The wikipedia entry for morels states that:

Trees commonly associated with morels include ash, sycamore, tuliptree, dead and dying elms, cottonwoods and old apple trees (remnants of orchards). However, they are more commonly found under deciduous trees rather than conifers.

So the morels I found today were oddballs since they were all growing in needle covered dirt under several of our large White Pines. 

I snapped a couple pictures of course.  Happy Morel Hunting!

Stations in Toledo seemed to be half and half this afternoon.  Many of them kept the price at $3.99 but many also bumped it up to $4.19!  Why $4.19 tho?  Don’t they know going over the $4.00 mark is a HUGE step for Americans to make?  Why not just a day or two at $3.99 or $4.00 or even $4.05?  I find the 20 cent jump to be more like a direct stab to the wallet instead of just letting me sorta get used to the needle before you jab me with the shot.

I did, however, immediately swing into a $3.99 station and fill my almost-empty tank, thankful to save over 3 bucks by doing it today…felt like I was getting a bargain!

By the way, I don’t need to buy 3 shocks to get one free, I’m getting a free shock by staring at this picture.

I was getting an oil change at my mechanic today and this magazine cover caught my eye.

That’s a Smart Car being loaded into the rear end of a full size motorhome.  This picture is from an RV show that was held in Europe.  I was quite amazed…and intrigued.  This model of RV is a Rockwood Regent.  That may be a European model but Rockwood in America makes RV’s and “Toy Haulers” as well. 

Smart Cars have been roaming around Europe for a while now so this type of storage option may not seem odd across the pond.  Now that Smart Cars are trickling into America we’re bound to see more of them on the road…and perhaps more of them tucked inside RV’s, trailers and who knows what else.

Why do I think they’ll be so popular you ask? Well, we’ve all seen these monster motorhomes and bus sized RVs traversing the country and often they pull behind them an additional car that the family will use once they are settled in somewhere for a couple days.  These vehicles, I learned today, are called dinghys.  Interestingly, when I was growing up, the lobster fishermen in Maine would have a dinghy to travel to and from their anchored boats.  They were small boats tho, not cars.  But I guess the term works in order to reference the small car being hauled behind a land yacht too.  So instead of hauling a second car behind them, one that may not be terrific on gas I suppose some people are going to start stowing Smart Cars onboard.  They’ll get better mpg in the RV because they’re not towing anything, won’t wear out the tires on a car they aren’t driving and will get excellent mpg when they leave the big rig at the campground.  Makes sense to me.

Here’s another example of a Smart Car that fits into an RV, an Outlaw Workhorse Coach.  These RV’s specifically promote their inclusion of a garage guess this guy took that idea pretty seriously.

If only I could take advantage of the Jeep/Dodge/Chrysler plan “Let’s Refuel America” I would be able to pay a full $1.00 less per gallon than what gas is going for today.  It’s another new record…did I really need to say that?

This week I’ve had a heck of a cold and it’s left me quite uninspired to write anything at all.  Sorry ’bout that.  Since I’m always adding links to the section on the right side of the site but not mentioning anything about them I thought I’d showcase some interesting websites I’ve found.

HybridCars.com - follows all the news relating to evolution, design and release of hybrid cars.

MattPalka.com - website and blog of a local guy who wrote and published his own book -plus recorded and produced an accompanying album-  and is on tour promoting said book and album wherever the road takes him.

PostSecret - each week the postcards change on this website but each week anyone’s secrets can be anonymously revealed.  (then anonymously published in a book that’s available for anyone to buy)

StarbucksGossip.com - a website devoted to monitoring every move that Starbucks makes.  Quite a few Starbucks employees weigh in with their comments.

CatsThatLookLikeHitler.com - a website where cat owners can submit pictures of their “kitlers” AKA cats that have a small patch of black fur under their nose.

Click here and follow the directions for a cool illusion that’ll trick your brain.

Honor Flight of NW Ohio - this organization provides a day trip for  veterans to visit the memorials to their respective wars in Washington, D.C.

A calendar like no other you’ve seen!

StephenWiltshire.co.uk - website for a gentleman who -after viewing a cityscape for a short period of time- can accurately draw, from memory, everything he saw.  It’s truly amazing.  Check this one out.

EnergyFiend.com - offers you information on ANY caffeinated beverage on the market today!

Snopes.com - get any forwarded emails lately that seem a little far fetched?  Copy and paste a line that contains some key words into the search box at Snopes and you’ll be able to find out the validity.

Unclutterer - a blog about getting organized and staying that way…lots of neat tips here.

StrangeMaps - a blog that highlights all sorts of weird and wacky maps.

GroceryLists.org - a wacky collection of discarded grocery lists.  Yup, that’s it.  But’s it’s strangely fascinating.

I have lots of other websites on the list but these are some of the highlights.  When I feel better I’ll hopefully have some more to write about.

Did I miss something or did we skip the 80 cent range altogether?  Last Wednesday I took a picture of this station with $3.79 and all of a sudden it’s $3.95?  Are all the jumps going to be this big from now on?

On an interesting note, however, comes news via hybridcars.com:

April sales figures for cars and trucks sent a clear and resounding message to the auto industry: Make smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, or die. About one in five vehicles sold in the United States was a compact or subcompact car. Sales of traditional Sport Utility Vehicles are down more than 25 percent this year—and full-size pickup sales have fallen more than 15 percent. And for the first time, fuel-efficient, four-cylinder engines surpassed six-cylinder models in popularity.

“It’s easily the most dramatic segment shift I have witnessed in the market in my 31 years here,” said George Pipas, chief sales analyst for the Ford Motor Co. Is this a one-time fluke or have we hit a tipping point again? According to Jesse Toprak, chief industry analyst for the auto information Web site Edmunds.com, “This shift appears to be a permanent situation.”