Elise Matthesen

waving hello from the month of April

2026-04-10T18:26:44Z

How did it be April? It seems simultaneously sudden and somehow like it took a million years. Guess I'd better catch people up; sorry about being out of touch.

State of the Me:

Still waiting for my insurance to be reinstated. (There's a whole saga that I'm too tired to retell right now, but rest assured that Things Are Being Followed Up On.)

It's been eleven weeks and one day since my mother died. My father died three years ago; their funerals were three years apart on the same day. (Which I guess makes future anniversaries of that day more efficient or something, but the last day of January is likely to not be a great day for me next year and ongoing. Just saying.) My sister continues to be a hero on dealing with all sorts of things big and small connected with all this. (My mother-in-law Ruth made me promise to remember to say my sister is a hero, but I would remember anyhow. Also, I miss Ruth, who passed in February two years ago. Which adds to the grief anniversaries.)

There are a lot of finished pieces I need to get up in the shop. I did manage to get the "Autocorrect" series up, the ones with a duck and an ice cube, or a fork and an ice cube. There will be more. Also, I just found all these hockey player charms, and something needs to be done with those.

The interruption in insurance is delaying some parts of the work on recovering from agoraphobia, but other parts continue. I have plans for a stroll down the block with a neighbor soon.

There is so much art I want to make. And so many people I want to talk with. (Hi!)

So that's part of the State of the Me. If you feel like sharing, what's the State of the You? And hi! Hi!

comments

Cardinal John Henry Newman filk, repeated

2026-02-26T18:29:40Z

Whoops! It was John Henry Newman's birthday the other day, and I missed the opportunity to post this again. It can be sung to at least one version of John Henry, though things may have to be adjusted here and there. Here ya go:

When John Henry Newman was an Anglican

He went down to the Holy See

Said I wanna see the Pope 'cause I got a crazy hope

That they're gonna make a Catholic out of me, Lord, Lord,

They're gonna make a Catholic out of me.

When John Henry Newman was a young man

He wrote about a Kindly Light

He called it "Pillar of Cloud," and if you sing it real loud

It'll lead you through the gloomy night, Lord, Lord,

It'll lead you through the gloomy night.

John Henry Newman was at Oxford

He was a deacon and a curate too

He got to be a vicar but decided it was quicker

To scribble down a tract or two, Lord, Lord

To scribble down a tract or two.

John Henry Newman up at Oxford

At St. Mary's chapel on the side

He told them in a lecture that it was his conjecture

The middle way was fine and wide, Lord, Lord

The middle way was fine and wide.

John Henry Newman got in trouble

Reading monophysite lore

"This bit about "securus" -- it doesn't reassure us

I think I better think a little more, Lord, Lord,

I think I better think at Littlemore. "

John Henry Newman had a buddy

Father Ambrose, he liked Rome

They liked St. Philip Neri, so in the vale of Mary

They built themselves a home sweet home, Lord, Lord,

They built themselves a home sweet home.

John Henry Newman got converted

And it made him feel alive

But he lost a few subscribers the day he swam the Tiber

On 9 October '45, Lord, Lord,

On 9 October '45.

John Henry Newman bought a ticket

John Henry Newman went to Rome

But though he got ordained, he did not remain

He packed his bags and headed home, Lord, Lord,

He packed his bags and headed home.

John Henry Newman went to Oscott

To have a little toast and jam

And in a blaze of glory to build an Oratory

They later moved to Birmingham, Lord, Lord,

They later moved to Birmingham.

John Henry Newman took exception

To what he heard Kingsley say

Newman said "I showed ya ; I wrote an Apologia

And it's Pro Vita Sua all the way, Lord, Lord,

It's Pro Vita Sua all the way."

John Henry Newman got promoted

And they gave him a big red hat

They put it on his head, and everybody said,

"Mercy, will you look at that, Lord, Lord,

Mercy, will you look at that."

When John Henry Newman was an old man

He was a little on the quiet side.

He got a telegram from heaven on August eleven

And laid down his missal and he died, Lord, Lord,

He laid down his missal and he died.

John Henry Newman in his coffin

On compost did recline

He said "I have chosen, by completely decomposing,

To leave not a relic here to find, Lord, Lord,

I will leave not a relic here to find."

There. That was written by me some while ago -- September 20, 2010, I guess it was. Enjoy!

comments

Other people trying to do the right thing in grief need some help - please read. Thank you

2026-01-22T11:31:46Z

There's someone who is trying to raise funds for memorial services and to bury his brother who died of exposure last weekend. I'll just say what I said on bluesky:

His family wants to do memorial services in Minneapolis and in Wisconsin where he was born and will be buried.

If you've felt grief, if you've comforted people in grief, please help these folks.

(My own mother died this morning.

If you were gonna bring me a hot dish,

please give here instead.)

https://www.gofundme.com/f/honoring-harold-lightfeather-benny-boy

Thank you.
And thank you also for sharing the info elsewhere as well if you can.

comments

you may know this one already (On the Nature of Daylight)

2026-01-22T00:42:21Z

Here's where I am today, I guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InyT9Gyoz_o

comments

in the midst: another passage

2026-01-21T21:26:59Z

After some trouble getting ahold of me, my sister has let me know that our mother died this morning.

(So maybe don't assume I remember anything I'm supposed to remember this week?)
My sister and her husband continue to be awesome in these matters. As does Juan.

OK. Gonna go have food and meds now.

comments

National Weather Service sez

2026-01-21T19:40:52Z

...EXTREME COLD WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THURSDAY TO 11 AM CST

FRIDAY...

...EXTREME COLD WATCH NOW IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH

SATURDAY MORNING...

* WHAT...For the Extreme Cold Warning, dangerously cold wind chills

of 35 to 45 below expected. For the Extreme Cold Watch, dangerously

cold wind chills as low as 35 below possible.

* WHERE...Portions of central, east central, south central,

southeast, southwest, and west central Minnesota and northwest and

west central Wisconsin.

* WHEN...For the Extreme Cold Warning, from 9 PM Thursday to 11 AM

CST Friday. For the Extreme Cold Watch, from Friday morning through

Saturday morning.

* IMPACTS...The dangerously cold wind chills as low as 45 below zero

could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes.

And where is this for?

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE

National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN

1202 PM CST Wed Jan 21 2026

MNZ051>070-073>078-082>085-091>093-WIZ014>016-023>028-220615-

/O.NEW.KMPX.EC.W.0001.260123T0300Z-260123T1700Z/

/O.EXT.KMPX.EC.A.0001.260123T1700Z-260124T1800Z/

Sherburne-Isanti-Chisago-Lac Qui Parle-Swift-Chippewa-Kandiyohi-

Meeker-Wright-Hennepin-Anoka-Ramsey-Washington-Yellow Medicine-

Renville-McLeod-Sibley-Carver-Scott-Dakota-Redwood-Brown-Nicollet-

Le Sueur-Rice-Goodhue-Watonwan-Blue Earth-Waseca-Steele-Martin-

Faribault-Freeborn-Polk-Barron-Rusk-St. Croix-Pierce-Dunn-Pepin-

Chippewa-Eau Claire-

Including the cities of Chippewa Falls, St Peter, Mankato,

Stillwater, Victoria, Hudson, Fairmont, Blue Earth, Hutchinson,

Olivia, Faribault, Gaylord, Waseca, Owatonna, Benson, Madison, Elk

River, Redwood Falls, New Ulm, Cambridge, River Falls, St Paul,

Minneapolis, Menomonie, Shakopee, Red Wing, Durand, Blaine,

Chanhassen, St James, Center City, Litchfield, Monticello, Osceola,

Montevideo, Granite Falls, Albert Lea, Willmar, Hastings, Rice Lake,

Eau Claire, Ladysmith, Le Sueur, and Chaska

And what do we do?

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Dress in layers including a hat, face mask, and gloves if you must go

outside.

Keep pets indoors as much as possible.

Which mostly means "Keep yer ass indoors! You, and your little dog too!"
And also means "Look after each other. We keep us safe." OK? OK then.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to finish the bag for the supply depot and start on one for Pow Wow Grounds.

What's the weather going to be doing where you are? And how are the people in your neighborhood?

comments

filk: Edna St. Vincent Black Lightning Millay

2026-01-03T04:31:05Z

(Whoever hellseries on AO3 is, this is for them, because it was their comment on https://archiveofourown.org/works/75916086 that made it happen.)

Edna St. Vincent Black Lightning Millay

Says the reader to the poet, “Your verse fine and wild

My attention has caught, and my senses beguiled”

Says the poet to the reader, “Are you going my way?

I am Edna St. Vincent Black Lightning Millay

You’ll not find me in found verse; the sonnet for me

Is the path of a poet determined to be free”

And she’ll pull you on behind

And down among the Muses you will ride

Some say that her love life is skid marks and swerves

But she’ll tell you in earnest it is Beauty she serves

She is changeable weather with a quicksilver soul

Edna St. Vincent’s not the kind you can control

But she writes like an angel with a devil’s sense of style

With heavenly precision and a wicked knowing smile

She says “They all will know some day

The name of Edna St. Vincent Black Lightning… Millay”

“Come down, come down, dear reader,” said the poetry patrol

“For they’ve taken young St. Vincent for the stealing of souls

She was speed racing Sappho, the Brownings, and Poe

Oh, come down, dear reader, to her final folio”

Now her body is broken and her breath is enjambed

She’s off to be the laureate of lays for the damned

But she smiles to hear you say

“I love you, Edna St. Vincent Black Lightning… Millay”

Vincent, by all opinions, could pour power into a poem

And take your breath and your heart before she took you home

Now too many poets — I won’t name names — they just came to play

They didn’t have a soul like St. Vincent Millay

She left us all longing, in spite of our pleas

But she reached out her hand and she left us with these

She gave us her visions, she gave us her poems

And the Muses swooped down to carry her home

And the name we still reverence today

Is Edna St. Vincent Black Lightning… Millay

comments

Yuletide progress: it is posted!

2025-12-17T12:11:14Z

I have met the deadline and posted the thing! Now we just have the week between today and Reveal Day, also known as "the week where I find all the hidden typos and fix them." Main Collection Reveal Day for the fics is the 24th, and is followed by Author Reveals on January 1.

This year was more work than previous years, for a very particular reason. I got COVID for the first time in October, and while I got very lucky (Paxlovid turns out to work for me, yay!), I am so easily drained to exhaustion, by pretty much anything including brain work, which has never been this bad before. Also, I'm used to multitasking, and hoo boy do I need different strategies and approaches now.

I'm planning for a very long recuperation, since it looks like that's the smart way to go. But here we are, and today is a milestone day. The story is a story, and it's posted, and now I can catch up a little on my Etsy shop (I hardly posted anything new while writing) and my eBay offers (I'm selling most of a half-century's worth of queer and related subjects library, since I'm not a working journalist any more and somebody really should get use out of these books and periodicals).

It's been a long time. I had forgotten the peculiar satisfaction that comes with meeting a deadline.

comments

Yuletide progress

2025-12-15T18:27:53Z

Yes, I am cutting it close. I blame getting COVID Halloween week, and having to rest like a potato. Which I am still doing, but I have advanced to the stage of literate potato. I hope. Because this thing is due in, what, fifty-some hours?

Anyhow, I came here to post that I have reached the milestone in writing the current draft where I just reread a section and said out loud, "OK, so there are actually a few bits in here that aren't completely shitful." Like, it's a known milestone. So that's encouraging.

Onward.

(Yes, that's why nothing new is in the shop this week. I have been on a schedule of sleep, write, sleep, write, with meds and basic necessities in there as needed. Not enough oomph left to photograph new work and still write and edit. Potato has limited spoonage here. But Potato is too proud to default on Yuletide. Please point people to go shop in the Etsy shop, though. Potato is fretting about this being a rough December for so many artists. Oh! Remind me to tell you about Boxing Day, which is going to be completely bonkers in a new way.)

comments

Twin Cities history: 1980s, ARA (Anti-Racist Action), Baldies, punk, music, Uptown

2025-12-14T07:42:57Z

Um.

I tried to write an intro for this, but all I can do is gesture incoherently. No, I wasn't a Baldy, I wasn't a skinhead, but the milieu affected my life for Reasons. If you watch this documentary it may give you a better understanding of (some of) what made Minneapolis in the 80s what it was. Or maybe you were there too, and this will be an interesting tour of byegone days.

I really want to get together and share stories of those times. For now, here, have a pretty good documentary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=8BSDZ1DIEIQ

comments

reading about writing, thinking about art

2025-12-09T20:51:46Z

So, just a few minutes ago in one place or another, I was reading what someone had to say about style. In the course of exploring a particular writer's habits and style, they said that they themselves weren't sure they knew what style was.

A long time ago, a sentence came into my possession that has been both comforting and humbling by degrees. It is this: "Style is what you can't help doing."

The comforting part is that if you can't help having style, or doing style, or whatever sort of verbing of style is accurate for you and your work, then you might as well stop any worrying about style and get on with the work. Saves a tremendous amount of time, really.

Thoughts?

comments

Stoppard.

2025-11-30T05:04:19Z

He were brilliant.

Mr Ford took me to London (first class, yet, as he had to use up a lot of frequent flyer miles on a reorganizing airline, so we went fancy) to see Arcadia at the NT. It was stunning.

Glad we had him on the planet. He will be missed.

comments

Still resting LIKE A POTATO but with small bits of work in between, and ASKING YOUR FAVOR

2025-11-30T03:13:18Z

I test negative for COVID these days, and feel a lot better. As directed by many people who learned some of it the hard way, I continue to rest LIKE A POTATO. And no, the giggle-inducing power of that phrase has not worn off. Juan has a way of intoning it at various sleeptimes that brings even more amusement due to the solemnity. And these things are good.

HOWEVER, what is not so good is that I'm considerably behind on getting things into the Etsy store.

Also what is not so good is that a new computer is needed. (Shopping will be done, the passive voice will be employed, and so forth.) Also, since other debts are also had, the means to pay them must be acquired.

YOUR KINDNESS is hereby requested in the form of sending people to my shop (or going yourself, yes please!) so that I may exchange the fruits of my labors for money that I can then give the computer-making people and the other-stuff-I-have-to-pay-people. If it works out right, we're all happy. (Also it will help me not freak out about money, which turns out to make resting LIKE A POTATO a little harder.)

The shop is: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LionessElise

Also also, being at the workbench is the most calming thing I know, so I'm doing a tiny bit of that, but I need to put things into the shop for people to be able to see them. Commerce does not work so well otherwise. (I am reminded of Patricia C. Wrede, who upon receiving a sheepish negative answer when she asked me if I had sent a certain story in yet, declaimed in ringing tones, "PUBLISHERS DO NOT CONDUCT HOUSE-TO-HOUSE SEARCHES FOR PUBLISHABLE MANUSCRIPTS! SEND IT IN! YOU HAVE TO SEND IT IN!")

Anyhow, yeah, I very much need to make some moneys happen, and the most direct route for me is making shinies happen for people that want shinies, so if you can help them find my work that would be awesomely helpful.

You have my deep gratitude, and if there's anything I can do for you, please let me know.

comments

Health: COVID symptom whack-a-mole?

2025-11-20T08:55:27Z

tl:dr Silly body is silly.

I continue resting LIKE A POTATO.

Whatever's going on in there, COVID (or something) has apparently been playing with the sliders and the lit-up buttons on my disabilities and chronic ailments. The good leg because the bad leg for several days. Really bad, pain-wise. Now that seems to be easing up a lot. The bad leg is doing something with sensations on the part of the leg where some nerve rerouting/regrowth happened after surgery 16 years ago; I did not need it to play with pins-and-needles, burning, freezing, and shocks on that leg below the replaced hip. Also, the sudden decrease in my hearing was distressing, though that seems to be mostly back where it was now.

Am using what skills I have to treat everything as temporary, and not decide This Is How It Will Be From Here On Out. (Fibromyalgia has a ton of temporary things happening, at least for me, that seem like a Big Deal and then suddenly shift or go away.)

So yeah, silly body is silly.

Not as much pain in the temporarily bad leg today, so that is a huge win. I'll take it.

Does your body ever tell you something like "Augh, my toe is broken!" and then go "just foolin'! It's fine!" a while later?

comments

still resting LIKE A POTATO, with a slight lapse yesterday

2025-11-13T19:10:40Z

The status around here is STILL RESTING LIKE A POTATO, though yesterday I did give in to "this needs to be done, it is a safety issue, and I'm the only one who's likely to do it." Thus the two small stumps at the edge of the yard are now decorated with strips of rag tied around them in a way that, one hopes, will convey the notion that there is something here which should neither be mowed over nor tripped over. Also I stuck a few sunflower stalks in a brush bag. And then I came in to potato some more.

comments

idle memories (while resting LIKE A POTATO)

2025-11-12T20:52:28Z

Apropos of recent attic archaeological finds (no, I mean from my actual attic*), there was a time when Mike and I were talking about funnymen and who-knows-what, and I conflated two names. This yielded "Victor Borges" instead of Victor Borge, and THAT yielded a good several minutes of improvisatory Fordeana covering labyrinthine comedy and surrealist punctuation.

Anyone else remembering points of departure to Mike-spiels is invited, nay, implored, to post them here.

Sincerely,
Elise,
who is still recuperating from COVID by RESTING LIKE A POTATO

* Yes, the attic of which Lois McMaster Bujold said, at first sight, "It really IS the attics of Vorkosigan House."

comments

Opportunity Food

2025-11-06T22:17:40Z

At our house, Opportunity Food is defined as what you can make when you can't stand up that long today.

Currently, is Bowl o' Cronch:

take bowl
spread some nut butter on bottom/sides of bowl (note: INsides, not OUTsides) - today is peanut butter
throw some dried fruit at nut butter if you got some - today is raisins and some crystallized ginger
put in puffed brown rice (or whatever you got)
add milk, or if no milk, a couple really big spoonfuls plain yogurt
anything else you got that seems appetizing
get big spoon
eat

comments

Health Natter: still resting like a potato. also, possibly useful bureacracy

2025-11-06T22:10:32Z

We are still getting through COVID.
We are still resting LIKE POTATOES.
(Still funny. Every time.)

A helpful person pointed out it is still open enrollment time for health insurance.
Well then.

Have inquired with health insurance broker.
(It doesn't cost anything. If you are in Minnesota or Wisconsin, and need one, I have references.)
There are things that can be done, it looks like.

For right now, though, my tasks:

Wash a few dishes - DONE
Have brekkie - IN PROGRESS
Take meds - IN PROGRESS
Sit Up because it helps breathing - IN PROGRESS

OK. Onward.

P.S. Love all of y'all. You are still the best.

comments

Health Natter: COVID, and continuing to REST LIKE A POTATO

2025-11-05T04:28:07Z

Have had food. (Soup!) Have had meds. Vented on Bluesky, where I am lionesselise. Am about to rest again for a while. LIKE A POTATO. If a potato could crochet, anyhow. I'm in a mood for a little crocheting before sleepage.

Love you all.
You are the best.

comments

Health Natter: insurance switchover bites me hard: stuff already in progress has bad timing

2025-11-04T23:52:12Z

Because I recently turned 65, there were changes in my insurance.
I now have Blue Cross Blue Shield, which I used to have some years ago before I got switched to a different insurance.
They have now denied a med that is a cornerstone of why I am feeling better and breathing better these days.

The switch happened after my August birthday.
All the other meds are (allegedly, and I do believe them) on the way from the mail order pharmacy (who were good when I used to use them).
This med has been denied by insurance, which is BCBS. Even after special authorization, which they told me I needed, they denied it.

Am almost out.

(Yes, this is the med that the other insurance company kept only filling for one month, despite my doc writing a three-month scrip every frikkin time. Yes, this is one of the things I worry about running out of, because it matters a lot.)

Also you may imagine bitter laughter as various med and scheduling people explain to me that the insurance is apparently requiring the patient, me, go in to meet with the doc. The agoraphobic patient, these days. Though we did get to "virtual visit is acceptable," which is good, before we got to "the first virtual visit possible is a while after patient runs out of meds" which is not.

This stuff is what I was already making calls on and trying to handle before I got COVID. The two together is just a really horrible coincidence.

(Even if we did try to switch me to the insurance that was fine with it before (like Blue Cross Blue Shield was actually fine with it a few years ago when I had it!), there's no guarantee we won't run afoul of some new rule.)

There are options being looked into, for which details will be scant and the passive voice, for the moment, will be employed.

I do not have words that will cover exactly how I feel about this insurance bullshit. However the person just now taking the note to give my doc did write down faithfully that "patient is worried that without this med, she may not be around to keep this appointment," which is at least something I guess.

I am hungry. (I am the king now and I want a sandwich?) Actually what I want right now is soup. I wonder if I can stand up long enough to microwave some. Gotta put some food in or the meds might bounce, and it's meds time.

Grrrrr.

comments

Health Natter: COVID: Jelly Turtles from Spain

2025-11-04T00:08:04Z

Still have COVID.
Still continuing.
Still resting like potatoes.
(With the caveat that I do get up and sit in a chair for a while each day, because my body needs that for some things.)

Today's things included talking on phone with multiple people at new insurance/pharmacy/et cetera.
Cried twice.
This is harder than it actually needs to be.
Told them, when they asked if med was medically necessary, that I like breathing and wished not to give it up.
(I DUNNO, WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU GUYS THINK, IS A MED THAT HELPS WITH MY ALLERGIES AND MY ASTHMA POSSIBLY IMPORTANT WHEN I AM IN ACUTE COVID RIGHT NOW? WHY COULD THAT POSSIBLY MATTER, RIGHT GUYS?)

Paxlovid mouth-taste is evil.
Only have to get through tonight and tomorrow and however long the aftertaste lasts.
Am combating it with gummy candies.
Decided why the heck not.
About to open bag of jelly turtles that tells me they are from Spain.
O jelly turtles from Spain, I put my hope in your benevolent tastiness.

Thank you all for being here.
Good words help a lot. Maybe tell me something good from your life today?
I like hearing about good moments.

I do have plans.
They are not vengeance unless vengeance is making really good art.
I just have to get well enough to realize them.
Meanwhile, jelly turtles from Spain, and also some weird blueberry planets that are freaking huge.
And you all. I like you people. Hello, people!
I may be slightly giddy again.

comments

health natter: "rest like a potato!"

2025-11-02T23:06:29Z

The "rest like a potato!" protocol continues
and so do we.

comments

Health natter: Still COVID, still restine LIKE A POTATO

2025-11-01T20:28:51Z

Juan and I still exist. We are still resting like potatoes, as the delightful advice I was given has it.

Paxlovid is quite something, and I see how people are tempted to overdue activity once it kicks in. Me, I will be sitting up long enough to have breakfast (my wake-up time had precessed around to 2-3 p.m. anyhow), taking morning meds including the aforementioned Paxlovid, sitting up for my body to do things that being upright facilitates, and then I will go back to assiduously RESTING LIKE A POTATO.

Still funny every time.

comments

Health natter: COVID: REST LIKE A POTATO

2025-10-31T15:39:08Z

Well, it was a good run. I managed to avoid getting the damn thing for more than five years. But it got me.

Am doing sensible things, and have a virtual visit with my GP (or I guess they call 'em PCPs now),and we shall see what she says. Meanwhile, my favorite advice from friends is REST LIKE A POTATO.

Juan has it too. And he was already disabled with Long COVID.

OK, heading towards sleep again.

Good wishes very much appreciated.

comments

Reading Is Educational: thanks, Naomi!

2025-10-27T04:22:09Z

In 2015, Naomi Kritzer wrote a story called "So Much Cooking." I really love it, even though it's a hard read these days. It's about a pandemic, and about making do, and about taking care of each other. One of the recurring plot points is that the narrator, a food blogger, doesn't have some significant ingredients for any recipe they try, so they improvise and this teaches the readers of their food blog useful tricks to get by when supplies are uncertain, partial, patchy. It was the account of making cookies without eggs or oil that made me think of possibilities. And the Sven-Saw cleaning actually went better than I expected.

It happened because there does not seem to be either mineral oil or mineral spirits or WD-40 or any other semi-plausible things around the house. This does not usually matter for me on a daily basis, but the Sven-Saw needed to be cleaned, and it was going to be a bigger than usual job for ADHD reasons. As is true of so many things around here.

It would be one thing if it were just the abundance of resin that the smallish tree stump I needed to saw was dispensing with every stroke. That might not have been too bad, but it got more difficult because as I was assessing what to do about this, I got distracted and had to attend to something, and then realized that meds were overdue, which meant fixing something quick to eat so the meds didn't bounce, and the Sven-Saw sat in the kitchen, patiently waiting.

I don't know if it was patiently waiting or what. It might be patient.

I try not to anthropromorphize everything, because some things don't like it.

Anyhow, it may or may not be patient. What it definitely was was resin-laden. And the distraction took long enough that the resin was doing its best to dry on the saw blade, and this is not the way a person is supposed to take care of their tools. Which set me looking for the right thing to use, and not finding either right things or wrong-but-maybe-worth-a-try things... until I realized that this was possibly solvable by the peanut butter trick.

The peanut butter trick is a thing someone taught me to remove glued-on or stuck-on labels from glass containers. When soap and water doesn't work because the adhesive in question doesn't care about soap or water, you take a very small spoonful of peanut butter, and you generously coat the label you're trying to remove with it. Go out beyond the edges some, because having it soak in at the edges is a win. Put it down and ignore it for at least fifteen minutes. Then come back and look at whether the peanut butter has at all soaked into the label. It probably has. And the now-altered label may well have changed its mind about soap and water. Try some soapy water and a scrubby or a rag or whatever you've got. Chances are, the label and its adhesive will now come right off.

I did have peanut butter, and I knew the peanut butter trick would probably work, but there wasn't all that much peanut butter, and what there was, I had plans for. So I tried an alternative.

Friends, I am here to report that it is quite possible to clean semi-dried tree resin off a Sven-Saw with mayonnaise in place of peanut butter. I did do some additional work on some recalcitrant bits with some dry baking soda, but honestly, some of those marks might have already been on there before I started. I'm pretty sure the Sven-Saw blade is shinier than it was.

But we probably should either lay in some of the usual remedies, or figure out where they have got to if we already have some, as is sometimes the case in this here palace of ADHD.

Anyhow, reading is educational, or a least good for jogging the memory, the saw is clean enough to put away until tomorrow, when I'll take up work on that stump again, and I am a relieved saw caretaker, because whew.

Have you used any interesting substitutes in household problem-solving lately?

comments