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Thursday, December 24, 2020

Aren't we amazing!

 Yesterday Jan came and stationed herself on the other side of the loom, and we began. The goal was to replace forty diminishing tubes of warp with forty new tubes of warp.


That we did. When a tube was near done, she warned me to stop, and I waited while she tied the new to the old. Her help saved me from going to do that job, too. She could reach over or through to get to every spool. Alone I would have to skinny around the loom to get to the spool rack. It's so tedious.

The result was I turned the crank 1,100 turns and filled all eleven sectional bouts on the beam in one day. Actually, in ninety minutes. Isn't that amazing! Every bout but the last has a new tube of thread.


And their chubby selves wait until I get to them. Before and after:



And on to interesting news. At the beginning of this month, I lost my credit card. Six decades of a plastic card, and I lost it. I know where it went; I dropped it into the bag, in an effort to end my transaction and get out of the way of the long line behind me. Later in the day I put the bag in the waste basket, card included.

A week later I missed it, reconstructed its demise and ordered a new card. It was a tough two weeks without a card. I have another, for which I have no card. When a new one comes for that account I shred it, on the premise I do not need and will never use twice the amount of credit I permit myself.

Watching the old card on my computer, I realized recurring deductions for the old card were appearing on the new card. Hold the phone! I had congratulated myself that a couple of recurring charitable donations would go away, but there they were. I called my mighty New York bank and asked What the Hell?

Oh, yes, that deduction I'd authorized for Tree Huggers Forever, and all the rest of them, has a teensy line that says the charge can "slide up", from a discontinued card to its replacement. Furthermore, I must contact the beneficiary, not the bank. And, the only phone number I can find for the most egregious cause is 555-555-5555. Try ringing that up.

In closing, I raise my glass to the close of the most egregious presidency I've lived through. I borrowed these pictures from my hometown paper, The Akron Beacon Journal. I subscribed, by the way, and yes, the charge "slid up". Here are two photos in tribute to the man in the Oval Office.


This is one of the two mail sorting stations that served the area. The other, of course, was shut down. Look closely. Every dock has a truck unloading. There are nine trailers to be unloaded. There are three or four more in the facilities' drive. There is a yellow cabbed truck waiting to turn in, a red cabbed truck behind, and four or more waiting behind. But wait. There is a white cabbed truck waiting on the other side of the street, to turn left. 

This is a still picture. In the video accompanying, trucks are lined up on all four streets of this cross road. And here is the inside of the facility:


I wonder if an envelope I'm expecting from Arizona, since December 2, has even made it this far. So, here's to you, Mr. President. Rather reminiscent of Grant through Georgia, don't you think.

49 comments:

  1. Well, at least your missing credit card is in a landfill somewhere rather than in the hands of thieves! If you contact your credit card company, I'm sure you could discontinue your authorization of those automatic deductions that you don't want to make anymore.

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    Replies
    1. No, no and no. You might want to ask your credit card company.

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  2. What a productive day you had! And hurray for Jan!
    Like the loss of your card, the end of Trump's presidency will be causing unforeseen problems for a long time. Lord help us. It's going to take many master weavers to untangle the messes he's gotten us into.

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  3. It sounds as if you and Jan did a huge task in no time. Well done both. And at least you know where the credit card went. It's unnerving to find charges on it before you even knew it was lost, as I did once. I dropped my ATM card on the car seat out of my bag, near by bank, and realized not more than five minutes later. Ran into the bank to check, and there were already three attempts to get into my account. They didn't know the PIN so I was lucky they failed. New card ensued, with a new PIN much longer and harder to memorize, dangit.

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  4. That sounds like something I would do. Glad that it's taken care of, sort of. I hate that sliding up business; it seems like a scam. 90 minutes--wow! That is not much time to do all that. I'm sure that having an "elf" to help was a huge bonus. :) Enjoy your holidays and Xmas!

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  5. My daughter works for USPS in New Mexico. She mailed her package to me last Monday (12/14), scheduled delivery yesterday. I mailed the package to her Saturday from California. The two packages crossed paths yesterday in Albuquerque, a less-than-three-hour drive from her post office. She says that Albuquerque had its automated line for packages shut down, so all parcels have to be hand-scanned. and they're backed up until sometime next week, maybe.

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  6. Very productive!

    Merry Christmas to you.

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  7. You are completely amazing.
    Sigh on the sliding up caper. I wonder whether it applies here. Probably.
    Christmas has dawned here, so I am taking the opportunity to wish you the very best of the season.
    And continue to watch your current POTUS in horror. Roll on January 20 - the start of a happy New Year for many.

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  8. I have one recurring charge on PayPal that I don't remember even ordering but I've let it continue because it's for the NYT. $5 a month. not sure it's worth it. I'll probably cancel after New Years.

    and so nice to have help with a tedious task and get it done in no time.

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    1. I had to call NYT to cancel that one. Pretty quick and painless, once I drilled down to the right number to call.

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  9. A bit much...this sliding upwards thing. Never slide downwards, do they...

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  10. Hooray for Jan and all the help she is for you! Credit cards can sure be a headache. I lost one once I thought in my clothes dryer. A repairman found it, all chewed up, five years later in the inner workings of my washer! I really feel for all the post office and delivery people right now. You have the closed stations combined with Christmas and the pandemic. I placed some orders in November and one of them just arrived today!

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  11. I have been reading about the storms in Cleveland, OH. Are you in the swath?

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    1. Yes, snowing right now. I'll know the extent when I get up tomorrow.

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  12. OMG! Congrats on getting help with the warp, so much easier with an extra set of hands and legs! But the postal nightmare (and it IS a nightmare) is truly unbelievable. I can't imagine the mental frustration postal workers there are going through right now. Talk about times when postal workers went around the bend and began bringing firearms to work. Horrible, horrible. Is there no way to fix this--is the president the only person who has authority to hire more people?? This is a very, very bad situation and it is probably multiplied many times over throughout the U.S. I was expecting a coupon that was sent out on the 29th of last month. I was told 4-10 days for delivery. LOL Nope... not even. Still have not received it.

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  13. Hari OM
    Many hands, light work and all that... as for trying to cancel subscriptions... I got the task of trying to closed down dad's account with Amazon. ................................................................................
    and that's the polite version of the story.
    Hope you have a good day tomorrow, Joanne; I have planned for myself lots of tasty nibbles, some films, reading and phone calls to family and friends who are also on their own for the day. Much love to you dear lady. YAM xx

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  14. That is quite a process prepping your loom for weaving. You and Jan accomplished a lot all in one day. I feel very badly for US postal workers. Hopefully, our new administration can, in time, put things right.

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  15. So many trucks, so many boxes of mail, yet I see no workers! WTH? Is the mail supposed to sort itself?
    Ninety minutes to do the full warp! Wow. I'm very impressed and so glad Jan was able to help.
    Merry Christmas :)

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  16. Merry Christmas , be covid safe, be happy x

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  17. Ah, that's where the cookies from Bobbie are. Three of four priority boxes arrived. The fourth was filled with her homemade holiday cookies.
    The loom looks sstupendous. I'm very impressed. So glad you had help with it.

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  18. When you and Jan did that was done at warp speed? Ok I'll go away now. Merry Christmas

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    Replies
    1. to bend or twist out of shape, especially from a straight or flat form, as timbers or flooring. to bend or turn from the natural or true direction or course. to distort or cause to distort from the truth, fact, true meaning, etc.; bias; falsify: Prejudice warps the mind.
      See how it works now.

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  19. Merry Christmas Joanne! Belting down rain here in eastern Ontario.

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  20. Yes you are amazing. Merry Christmas Joanne.

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  21. Weaving provides good exercise. It's typical for recurring charges to make the trip to the new card. The best way to cancel is to contact a business or charity to tell them you want to stop. If they continue to charge you or if you can't reach them, then you can dispute the charges. I used to provide support for credit card customers so I'm familiar with this stuff.

    Love,
    Janie

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  22. I always like reading about your weaving. A college roommate was a weaver, and I remember more than once being on a 2- or 3-person crew walking backwards down the hall outside the weaving room, trying to keep our warp organized as we helped her. No spools! Merry Christmas to you and here's to a brighter 2021.
    Bonnie in Minneapolis

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  23. On Nov 8th, I ordered an advent calendar. It still has not arrived. If it ever does, there is (hopefully) next year.

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  24. A DiL is still awaiting her birthday card...mailed October 31st just one state away. I do feel for the PO staff. Our carrier usually starts his round before 7 am and is still out delivering at 5 pm or later most days--having to stop so often to put packages on front steps rather than simply slipping things in the mailbox on the road. Not easy in a rural area.

    Glad you had help with the loom. What a blessing. Hope you have a cozy, warm Christmas. Despite the weather. Despite the virus.

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  25. Merry Christmas! And you turned a crank 1000+ times. And your shoulder is still working? Amazing woman indeed :-)

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  26. Merry Christmas from the very bottom of California and Mage who is still waiting for her cookies from Bobbie. Maybe they are in those bins at your PO>

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  27. The mail is so messed up. Someone close to me has a mail order business. The "New Improvements" are creating havoc for him.

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  28. Merry Christmas Joanne ... we're lucky nothing we ordered didn't arrive in time for Christmas! That doesn't mean presents for us aren't stranded somewhere!! Now... how do we get rid of the Postmaster General ?

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  29. That is good teamwork!
    The mail is getting a bit slower..mostly...but not too bad.
    Our postie's are going out in pairs to get the mail delivered on time, but the sorting offices are stacked up like yours. With so much being posted now it's about time they employed more to get it through on time, let alone Xmas!!

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  30. Amazing, indeed. I have made a mental note to never have a charitable deduction automatically charged to a card. That is horrifying. It also seems as if using a fraudulent telephone number out to be something you can appeal to the cc company as a scam.

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    1. Your credit card company will stop a charge, but your bank hasn't the same liberty with your debit card. I once put a gym charge on my debit card. In order to stop it I had to send a registered letter to the owner of the gym and then go to the bank with the receipt he signed. He simply did not go to the post office to get his registered letter, so it dragged on for months. Neither the gym or the bank reimbursed me all the months of gym dues deducted, though I was not using the gym. That's what I'll never do again, use my debit card.

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  31. I could not agree more about the current president! Looking forward to the changes in January. My kids opened the lovely towels I purchased for their Christmas. Now they want to know more about your work! Blessing for you in the new year. And even more blessings on that dear helper!

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  32. I've never actually lost a credit/debit card, but I once accidentally dropped my debit card into a cup of coffee at the local coffee shop. I assumed that would ruin it and I'd need a new card but it still worked perfectly!

    Here's hoping your envelope arrives soon!

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  33. I once returned to our credit union to report a lost card. I parked in my usual space, got out, spotted my card on the ground. I'd apparently lost it on my last trip to the credit union the previous week, and no one had spotted it in the meantime.

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  34. Yack. I've been getting drugs by mail since we sold the previous house and lived full time in the RV. It worked well for so long. However, my insurance plan has moved away from the good, efficient mailing company to some fly by night company which STILL has not sent any information. The switch is Jan 1. Between the new fly by night company and the troubles at the post office, I think my days of drugs by mail are over. That picture of the backups you posted are just horrific. It'll probably take until March to sort it all out.
    Good job on the warp!

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    1. Yes, and there are drugs people need to be taking in those boxes. And checks people need to be cashing.

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  35. If I understand it right, Joanne, you lost your card (very annoying) but the money that went away was for purposes you had authorised before? So no loss - that is luck inmidst of calamity.
    Good work done together with your friend!

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  36. Ugh - I hate that whole lost/change credit card mess. Takes a while to make sure all that needs to be changed, has been changed. Nice to have help with the new warp!

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  37. You are both definitely amazing! What a job that is!
    Thank goodness you figured out where that credit card went.
    As for Trump. It's not over yet. He seems to want to destroy democracy, gracious transfer of power and decency on his way out.

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