However, I had trouble coming up with a container small enough for one short digit.
After a thorough search in the kitchen and bathroom, I walked into the office and spied a prescription bottle left over from some cat medicine. It was just tall enough that my finger would fit, and narrow enough to only need a dash of Epsom salts and a couple of tablespoons of water.
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| Pen for size |
The test was developed by Harvard University postdoctoral fellow Dr. Jay A. Olson. It involves listing 10 nouns that are as different from each other as possible. People who are more creative tend to think of words that have greater distances between them.
I tend to overthink things and couldn't believe that I could actually complete the test in less than four minutes, so I timed myself with a stopwatch. The elapsed time from starting to hitting the submit button was 2:15! Scoring was immediate, and based on a calculation of the semantic distance between the words. Most people score between 74 and 82. Mine was 78.
Five years ago today: Heat Ho HumsDuring the cool weather part of the year I often drink a cup of herbal or decaffeinated tea in the evening. I enjoy trying new flavors. The last time I was in a fancy tea shop I saw something called barley tea on the shelf.
The associate explained the roasted barley drink was a popular in many Asian countries, particularly Japan, China, and Korea. She said it had no caffeine, and many people find the drink coffee-like in taste. When I found a small bag of Apple Barley teabags in the clearance section I decided to bring it home and give it a try.
I brew my tea a cup at a time, and I'm sure a purist would shudder at my method. After my favorite mug is filled with water I add a tea bag, heat the mug in the microwave, and then let the tea brew for a few minutes before pulling the bag out.
The barley tea is nothing like the light and minty chamomile combinations, invigorating ginger blends, or the tart and fruity hibiscus-based mixtures I usually drink, but it's a nice change of pace. Its flavor is slightly bitter, toasty, and nutty and the apple taste is barely noticeable.
How about you? Are you a tea drinker? Have you ever had barley tea (and if so, what did you think of it)?
Five years ago today: Worth A Watch
I'm sure you've heard the old saying "April showers bring May flowers". If that's true, the atmospheric river of rain we're scheduled to get this weekend should mean that there will be blooms everywhere! Newsweek quotes AccuWeather meteorologists, who say that a "1,000-mile swath through the central U.S. could see four months' worth of rain in only five days this week".
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| Wikimedia Commons |
And they did. Last Saturday I was almost able to find my clothes in the dresser using just natural light, and according to WillyWeather, today's first light was even six minutes earlier than that, so the room was even incrementally brighter. I thought that was exciting, and so did the newly-returned birds I heard chirping outside.
Five years ago today: Take One, Leave OneHowever, for the past few days the meteorologists were warning about potential severe weather in the afternoon (heavy rain, strong wind, very large hail, and possible tornadoes). To us the key word was potential, so we decided not to worry about it. However we did decide to utilize a parking garage some distance away and travel downtown on the Metrolink light rail to keep the car safe just in case the forecasters were correct.
Soccer games don't stop for normal precipitation, and umbrellas are banned in the stadium, so we both brought rain jackets. It was a good thing we did, because on the walk to the stadium it started raining. We pulled out the jackets. Ten minutes later it stopped, and by the time the game started it was sunny. I realized that I hadn't used sunscreen and worried about burning.
I decided to wear a cat shelter logo shirt, but was in the tiny minority that did not have some type of City logo clothing on. However, the shirt was a nice way for other volunteers to identify me. Today's opponent was Austin, represented on the scoreboard as ATX. Tony eventually figured out the initials stood for Austin Texas. Our seats were close to the diehard fan supporters section, where the groups waved flags, sang, chanted, and beat drums during the entire game.
After the first half City was down by one goal. Ten minutes into the second half an announcement was made that there was thunder in the area and play would stop until it passed. The total delay ended up being about 50 minutes. After the game resumed City tried their best, but lost the game 0-1. Tony and I agreed we still had a great time.
Five years ago today: Rules From The Male Side
I found out that I was 24,182 days old. In addition to reading about facts about historical and cultural events that have taken place during my my life I also found out that:
Join us at the Arboretum on Medal of Honor Day for our special walking tour. During this two-hour walking tour, you will visit the graves of the 10 Medal of Honor recipients laid to rest at Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum. At each grave, their accomplishments will be read aloud from the submissions made to secure their accommodation. Attendees will carry flags to each burial location and be part of honoring these 10 heroes of our country.
There was nothing on the calendar, so Hubby Tony and I decided to go.
By the time the tour started at 1:30 pm it was sunny and warm enough to just need a fleece jacket. There were approximately 20 people on the tour, and most looked to be approximately my age. I learned that today was one of the two times each year that the medal recipients had the American and Medal of Honor flags next to their graves refreshed. (The other is on Veteran's Day.)
As the tour left the gathering building each person grabbed a flag (either American or Medal of Honor). At each grave, someone carrying an American flag placed it on the left of the tombstone and someone carrying a Medal of Honor flag did the same thing on the right. The tour guide read the official proclamation that listed their accomplishments and provided extra information.
The vast majority of Medal of Honor recipients at the cemetery fought in the Civil War, but there was one from World War I and one from the U.S.-Korean Conflict of 1871, which I hadn't heard of before. At the end of the walk the group dispersed with no fanfare.
I can't speak for anyone else, but
I was glad to have had the opportunity to combine a nice walk with a little
bit of history.
Five years ago today: Let There Be Light
The USPS Priority envelope I sent was supposed to be delivered within five days. On Day Four I checked the USPS website and the envelope was still in transit. I got the same result on Day Five and Day Seven. On Day Ten the message changed to tell me that they weren't sure when the envelope would actually be delivered.
The lack of mailing success and the reported snafus in the federal workforce made me quite pessimistic that anything would get done. Mike left a comment on the original post, which said "I think the government workers that might get fired don't give a hoot right now." My reply was "I agree. However, I have my fingers crossed that I might find the one who does."Two days ago I received an envelope from my secondary insurance company. I removed the enclosed letter and began reading....
In case it's not big enough, the letter says:
Beneficiary Notice of Late Enrollment Penalty Adjustment Report
Medicare notified us that your late enrollment penalty was recently removed. We are writing to notify you of this change and to confirm the late enrollment penalty has been removed.
I was so happy I did a little happy dance in the kitchen, then filed the letter in case I need to prove everything again some time in the future.
Five years ago today: I Am A Cat And I Sleep Wherever I WantNear the end of our visit Tony and I were sitting on a retaining wall listening to the music. I looked down and saw several sedum (stonecrop) leaves laying on the ground. I figured I the fallen leaves were fair game and knew they were easy to propagate. I picked them up and brought them home.
Back at the condo, I discovered I had gotten rid of all my flower pots, but I punched some holes in two recycled plastic containers and added soil. The mint went in one container. In the other I laid the sedum leaves on top of the soil. A month later some of the sedum leaves had shriveled up and died, but several had started growing tiny roots. All summer I watered the plants when I remembered to, and when I went out of town I took the containers down to my neighbor's deck.
Surprisingly, the mint never took off. The sedum plants grew, and when a big rainstorm came through a couple of leaves were knocked off and started growing themselves. At the end of the season I had to figure out what to do with the plants. The condo doesn't have any good place for house plants, and I knew there wasn't enough sun for the mint, but since sedum is sometimes grown as a house plant I decided to bring the pot inside and see what happened. It's made it through, but at this point is looking pretty scraggly.
Today, of course, is the first day of spring. Thanks to some above average temperatures a different variety of sedum in the living retaining wall across the street from our building has started to green up for the year. However, since the average last frost date for the area is April 7th I'm going to leave my fabricated houseplant inside until then. I think it will be happy to feel Nature.
Five years ago today: Virtual Fun
