Tonight is the "officially declared by the neighborhood association" time for Trick or Treat. An hour into the "designated time', I had 7 tricksters demanding treats at the door.
Now, I am not complaining. We live in a subdivision, however the smallest lot is 3 acres--so it is not only a long walk between houses, but also a long walk up (and down) each driveway. The first year we lived here, people brought their children and grandchildren to trick or treat on their lawn tractors, golf carts, ATV's etc.
Silly to us at first, but I suppose it is really the only practical way to supervise the children without collapsing in exhaustion. I am amazed that any kid would make the effort to walk for some candy these days!
We have had a butterfly and (I think) Marilyn Monroe--both about 13. The butterfly lives across the street. They were followed (45 minutes later) by a group of early adolescent boys--a banana, a hobo, and what looked like a teen age kid holding a pillow case..wonder whose idea the banana was?. One of them is the brother of Marilyn Monroe I think--but don't ask me which one... They were appreciative of the sugary goodies I doled out--being grateful I suppose that I gave each a handful, not just one thing.
Next a mini van drove up the driveway. Elvis and his sister, the princess, were about 4th grade and 1st grade respectively. The princess had difficulty with the dress and the mini van door--causing shreeks! Elvis was wearing his white suit, and exclaimed how much he liked animal crackers....I also gave Dad a Kit-Kat--knew it was going to be a long night for him!
In the "good old days", when our kids were little, we lived in a subdivision where you could practically touch the house next door. We had 13 five year olds at our kindergarten bus stop the first year we lived there. The next year brought a new baby in almost every house. We got hundreds of trick or treaters per hour in those days.....Thousands all together! Little ones, big ones, clutching plastic pumpkins or pillowcases. We went for quantity, not quality in those days--buying huge bags of whatever Meijers had on sale!
Our kids would make several trips--do a street, dump the bag. Do another block, dump the bag again. Sometimes, then even took the time to sort it, and dump what they didn't like back into the trick or treat bowl, to be "recycled". Dad and I took turns going out with them, or in the years that he was traveling, another work widow mom and I would tag team them. We had Halloween candy through valentines day! When the kids were young adolescents and big enough to "do" trick or treat without mon/dad, they would see how many subs they could "do" with their friends--starting with the home sub of each. We had Halloween candy past Easter.
I have a soft spot for the cute little ones. Little pumpkins, rabbits, and witches who can barely pronounce trick or treat. I used to give out spider rings, spooky erasers, fake plastic teeth, etc. from the novelty store in keeping with my "nutrition" background. Over the years, it became easier to go to the fast food coupons, and now that I have some left over every year, we have gone to the candy bars. I try not to buy any that I like--but then no one else likes Clark Bars much either in my estimation. This year, we have smarties, nerds, Kit-Kats, and for the little ones cute little bags of animal crackers. For myself, I bought a bag of Pay-Days.
90 minutes into this and kids number 8-11 arrived. The fat lady at the circus, a hockey player, a boy in a black hooded thing (more like the gouhl without the mask) and a girl in an old navy shirt, who looked amazingly like Marilyn Monroe without the wig --and who offered a little too hastily that she really had not already been here.....they arrived via lawn tractor pulling a cart, which I suppose might make it worthwhile to come back if you had the chance to ride.
No blood, guts, or particularly clever outfits. Of course the average age of the trick or treaters so far has been 12.
I suppose it is different these days. My kids predated the X-raying of Halloween candy. Parents knew everyone on the block, and in neighborhoods, somebody always knew the other residents. Today people come and go, and I never even notice. I have met the neighbors twice at a homeowners meeting. I know a few by sight, a couple by name. I am more likely to be able to come up with what they do for a living than their name. Society is definitely different. The news had a featurette on how to look up who the sexual predators were in your neighborhood before you went out for trick or treat.
Like I said, I am amazed that the kids even bother.....
Random musings of a middle aged knitter.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
On boys, bathrooms, and other b words
I am in the "why is it that" stage of my life--akin to the 3-6 year olds who always ask "why"? I don't really ask why, but I do ponder the "why's" for many things. Guess when you get to a certain age, the experiences you have had give you a large database from which to draw some conclusions.
For one thing, why is it that male restrooms are ALWAYS more dirty, smelly, and "trashed" than women's? Now, some would wonder how I became an expert on male bathrooms (I am myself female) and it has a lot to do with my job---which I have vowed not to talk about in my blog---so lets just say that I have the opportunity to legitimately visit multiple male (and female) restrooms all over my state in the course of my work....And universally, the male facility is not as clean as the (usually paired) women's restroom.
Males seem to be flush adverse--regardless of where I am. It is some primal, "hunter" man thing? It is a marking thing? Are they just lazy? Do they need to leave evidence behind--threatening to the next competitive male toilet/urinal user? Are they just gross? Haven't answered the "why" on this one, but I can assure you that I occasionally find a lack of flushing in the women's room, but I routinely find a lack of flushing in the men's room. If a women created those auto flusher things (don't know who did, but my guess is that women are more likely than men to care about such things!)my guess is that she had a job like mine!
Which explains (I guess) the smell--sort of.
I also suspect that regardless of the flushing habits of natives in a particular location, the odor is also "enhanced" by the attitude(s) of the persons who have responsibility for cleaning the bathrooms. I suspect that there is a direct correlation between the adversion to flushing and the attitude of the person cleaning the facility. Less flushing = less enthusiasm for cleaning---or maybe the smells just hurry them along. Regardless, my "research" so far is that even if there is no immediate evidence of flushing adversion, the male bathroom will be less "clean" and smell worse than the female facility in the same location.
That being said, sometimes women can be messy. Especially if appropriately sized containers are not provided for the things they wish to dispose of...Or if those containers are full. Paper products will end up on the floor in those cases--in the vicinity of the containers...... Not so in the men's room. Their disposed of "stuff"--which often is much more than hand towels, is likely to be any and everywhere--newspaper, toilet paper, even food wrappers (I wonder why--ick!) and today, I actually happened upon a discarded 1/2 sandwich (so gross) in the middle of the bathroom floor. What is it that those men are doing in those smelly, dirty bathrooms? Surely one cannot want to spend time in there reading stuff (ohhhhhh, the smell) or (here is where I gag...) eat food in there. I guess maybe women have a purse to stuff all that into---but men just drop it wherever they are done with it???? Better explanation than actually contemplating the alternatives.
Now, most men and boys I know share a home with someone (or more than one) female. I am not sure of the exact ratio of people to bathrooms in the average household, but again based on my experience, if there are both genders in a household, I am pretty sure that at times they use the same bathroom...None of my friends have bathrooms in their homes designated "male" "female". Also, none of my friends or even acquaintances have bathrooms that approach the conditions (even on their worst day) of most "public" restrooms.
So, the Why is also that if these men/boys can somehow manage to share a bathroom with the females in their household without creating the same conditions that exist in "men's" rooms, is it tied to exclusivity? Just for males---smelly and gross--shared with females....Better behave...Be neat...Clean up....At least somewhat (hey, I have lived with 3 males in my house)
So that brings me to today's final why--related to all this pondering...
when we moved into our house in the woods three years ago, our cleaning person of many, many years opted not to follow us to the new abode. Although this was devastating (I have to clean???) I accepted it in stride, deciding that it was less effort to clean myself than to retrain someone to do it my way...And I am willing to allow a little more dust and a few more cobwebs. Also, with fewer people in a bigger house, the dirt spreads out into a thinner layer--less noticeable for a longer period of time. So, the cleaning lady who drank all the windex (a story for another day) abandoned us, and we were on our own. I pointed out to the spouse that it seemed a little unfair that I should take on all this responsibility alone--we both worked, commuted, etc. He agreed to have a job....A being no fool, I offered up cleaning the toilets--which he gleefully accepted.
He has a tool kit, with multiple chemicals, sprays, brushes, and devices. He also has an assortment of septic friendly stay clean additives that you place in the tank to extend the time between cleanings. The cleaning lady who drank Windex would have thought she was in cleaning Disneyland with all this stuff!! Yet, the bowls do not sparkle at my house like they do on the TV commercials. All four (yes four) get his attention only after I have proclaimed that unless he "gets around" to cleaning the toilets, I am going to ......(choose a relevant threat here)....So, despite my best efforts, the teaching of his mother (I saw her toilets, and she did have clean ones!) the executive vice president of toilet cleanliness in my household must be using the public men's room standard to prompt him for the proper time to haul out his equipment and give them a once over. If this is some type of male trait, it probably explains a lot of divorces....
For one thing, why is it that male restrooms are ALWAYS more dirty, smelly, and "trashed" than women's? Now, some would wonder how I became an expert on male bathrooms (I am myself female) and it has a lot to do with my job---which I have vowed not to talk about in my blog---so lets just say that I have the opportunity to legitimately visit multiple male (and female) restrooms all over my state in the course of my work....And universally, the male facility is not as clean as the (usually paired) women's restroom.
Males seem to be flush adverse--regardless of where I am. It is some primal, "hunter" man thing? It is a marking thing? Are they just lazy? Do they need to leave evidence behind--threatening to the next competitive male toilet/urinal user? Are they just gross? Haven't answered the "why" on this one, but I can assure you that I occasionally find a lack of flushing in the women's room, but I routinely find a lack of flushing in the men's room. If a women created those auto flusher things (don't know who did, but my guess is that women are more likely than men to care about such things!)my guess is that she had a job like mine!
Which explains (I guess) the smell--sort of.
I also suspect that regardless of the flushing habits of natives in a particular location, the odor is also "enhanced" by the attitude(s) of the persons who have responsibility for cleaning the bathrooms. I suspect that there is a direct correlation between the adversion to flushing and the attitude of the person cleaning the facility. Less flushing = less enthusiasm for cleaning---or maybe the smells just hurry them along. Regardless, my "research" so far is that even if there is no immediate evidence of flushing adversion, the male bathroom will be less "clean" and smell worse than the female facility in the same location.
That being said, sometimes women can be messy. Especially if appropriately sized containers are not provided for the things they wish to dispose of...Or if those containers are full. Paper products will end up on the floor in those cases--in the vicinity of the containers...... Not so in the men's room. Their disposed of "stuff"--which often is much more than hand towels, is likely to be any and everywhere--newspaper, toilet paper, even food wrappers (I wonder why--ick!) and today, I actually happened upon a discarded 1/2 sandwich (so gross) in the middle of the bathroom floor. What is it that those men are doing in those smelly, dirty bathrooms? Surely one cannot want to spend time in there reading stuff (ohhhhhh, the smell) or (here is where I gag...) eat food in there. I guess maybe women have a purse to stuff all that into---but men just drop it wherever they are done with it???? Better explanation than actually contemplating the alternatives.
Now, most men and boys I know share a home with someone (or more than one) female. I am not sure of the exact ratio of people to bathrooms in the average household, but again based on my experience, if there are both genders in a household, I am pretty sure that at times they use the same bathroom...None of my friends have bathrooms in their homes designated "male" "female". Also, none of my friends or even acquaintances have bathrooms that approach the conditions (even on their worst day) of most "public" restrooms.
So, the Why is also that if these men/boys can somehow manage to share a bathroom with the females in their household without creating the same conditions that exist in "men's" rooms, is it tied to exclusivity? Just for males---smelly and gross--shared with females....Better behave...Be neat...Clean up....At least somewhat (hey, I have lived with 3 males in my house)
So that brings me to today's final why--related to all this pondering...
when we moved into our house in the woods three years ago, our cleaning person of many, many years opted not to follow us to the new abode. Although this was devastating (I have to clean???) I accepted it in stride, deciding that it was less effort to clean myself than to retrain someone to do it my way...And I am willing to allow a little more dust and a few more cobwebs. Also, with fewer people in a bigger house, the dirt spreads out into a thinner layer--less noticeable for a longer period of time. So, the cleaning lady who drank all the windex (a story for another day) abandoned us, and we were on our own. I pointed out to the spouse that it seemed a little unfair that I should take on all this responsibility alone--we both worked, commuted, etc. He agreed to have a job....A being no fool, I offered up cleaning the toilets--which he gleefully accepted.
He has a tool kit, with multiple chemicals, sprays, brushes, and devices. He also has an assortment of septic friendly stay clean additives that you place in the tank to extend the time between cleanings. The cleaning lady who drank Windex would have thought she was in cleaning Disneyland with all this stuff!! Yet, the bowls do not sparkle at my house like they do on the TV commercials. All four (yes four) get his attention only after I have proclaimed that unless he "gets around" to cleaning the toilets, I am going to ......(choose a relevant threat here)....So, despite my best efforts, the teaching of his mother (I saw her toilets, and she did have clean ones!) the executive vice president of toilet cleanliness in my household must be using the public men's room standard to prompt him for the proper time to haul out his equipment and give them a once over. If this is some type of male trait, it probably explains a lot of divorces....
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Mold and other annoyances
Lately, I have had multiple occasions in which I stay in a hotel/motel/bed and breakfast. The bed and breakfasts are usually quaint, unique, and personal. They "air" out the rooms and purchase Tilex if they need it. I like Bed and breakfasts, although sometimes it is a little weird depending on who else is there!
My annoyance is with hotel/motels. Now I am not talking about "Dan's Paradise Palace" or other such "interesting" places. I am talking about branded chains that you see commercials for on TV and in magazines. Many are to lodging what McDonald's is to fast food--nationwide, and supposedly standardized.
Problem is that despite all their attention to wall paper and textiles--they seem to never buy any Tilex. Almost every establishment that I have stayed in in the last 2 months could have used a little help with the mold in their showers! How hard is that? Chlorine Bleach works fine--but in case that is prohibited by OSHA, there must be products that will kill the mold just like the Tilex that I keep around and actually use two or three times a year! Even with that minimal application, I have no visible black mold lurking in my shower/tub!
I don't understand it! I once had four teenagers living in my house---and often 8 to 10 showers a day! We still did not get moldy build up like most of the lodging rooms I am assigned! How many showers do the people who rent motel rooms take anyway? They aren't really big enough for more than 4 or 5 people. Each person would have to take more than two a day to approach what my kids did as teens, and yet I did not have nearly the mold/mildew problem in the bathroom that the establishments have.
I just don't get it. They have these fans that are automatic--I had kids who would "forget" to turn them on! They have cleaning crews--I had four teenagers--who would sooner die than clean anything. I attribute the difference to infrequent but effective use of Tilex.
I am going to start packing Tilex in my suitcase...Wonder if they make a travel size? I am allergic to molds--so it is not just a matter of aesthetics with the mold problem in hotels/motels for me. You would think that for what they charge, the Tilex should be included along with the little soaps and shampoos.
Could it be that the people who own and manage these guest properties never actually stay there? Or maybe they have a side line culturing black mold for some type of lucrative market???? Or am I the only person on earth who notices that they have black mold creeping around the edges of their tiles and tub? Lately, it has been obvious I am the only one who seems to care....
My annoyance is with hotel/motels. Now I am not talking about "Dan's Paradise Palace" or other such "interesting" places. I am talking about branded chains that you see commercials for on TV and in magazines. Many are to lodging what McDonald's is to fast food--nationwide, and supposedly standardized.
Problem is that despite all their attention to wall paper and textiles--they seem to never buy any Tilex. Almost every establishment that I have stayed in in the last 2 months could have used a little help with the mold in their showers! How hard is that? Chlorine Bleach works fine--but in case that is prohibited by OSHA, there must be products that will kill the mold just like the Tilex that I keep around and actually use two or three times a year! Even with that minimal application, I have no visible black mold lurking in my shower/tub!
I don't understand it! I once had four teenagers living in my house---and often 8 to 10 showers a day! We still did not get moldy build up like most of the lodging rooms I am assigned! How many showers do the people who rent motel rooms take anyway? They aren't really big enough for more than 4 or 5 people. Each person would have to take more than two a day to approach what my kids did as teens, and yet I did not have nearly the mold/mildew problem in the bathroom that the establishments have.
I just don't get it. They have these fans that are automatic--I had kids who would "forget" to turn them on! They have cleaning crews--I had four teenagers--who would sooner die than clean anything. I attribute the difference to infrequent but effective use of Tilex.
I am going to start packing Tilex in my suitcase...Wonder if they make a travel size? I am allergic to molds--so it is not just a matter of aesthetics with the mold problem in hotels/motels for me. You would think that for what they charge, the Tilex should be included along with the little soaps and shampoos.
Could it be that the people who own and manage these guest properties never actually stay there? Or maybe they have a side line culturing black mold for some type of lucrative market???? Or am I the only person on earth who notices that they have black mold creeping around the edges of their tiles and tub? Lately, it has been obvious I am the only one who seems to care....
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Where does the time go?
So it has been about a month of non-blogging now. Just got too darn busy with "stuff". Still have the 75 daffodil bulbs to plant, and baring a monsoon tomorrow, it is first on the list.
Have been traveling extensively for the job--and need a mental health day and a few nights in my own bed. Also need to spend some time getting my garden beds ready for the fall.
Did acquire an interesting totempole from a dear friend....very long story. He is on extended loan, and I will care for him until??????? Perhaps the repainting (colors and paints supplied by the dear friend) will also begin tomorrow. Think I may even figure out how to post a picture, so I can share the new "Chief Passow" with you bloggers.
Sock knitting continues...boy, it my life boring, or what?
Have been traveling extensively for the job--and need a mental health day and a few nights in my own bed. Also need to spend some time getting my garden beds ready for the fall.
Did acquire an interesting totempole from a dear friend....very long story. He is on extended loan, and I will care for him until??????? Perhaps the repainting (colors and paints supplied by the dear friend) will also begin tomorrow. Think I may even figure out how to post a picture, so I can share the new "Chief Passow" with you bloggers.
Sock knitting continues...boy, it my life boring, or what?
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