davidd's A Doll A Day 2019

[Lejays17]

We started (I started...) tidying up the library over Easter. We now have 3 neatly-ish organised bookcases, the couch is 90% free of books, and we have 3 large tubs of books to donate.

I’ve now stopped as I’ve run out of room to move things around in there (it’s akin to moving the deck chairs on the Titanic). Unfortunately, the dollls have never been in that room, so are no help at all with the last parts of the tidying & putting books on shelves.



Cerise does look disapproving at the mess

[neon_jellyfish]

Cerise is such a beauiful doll!

When I have something I need to sort and I rrrreeeaaaallllyyyy don't want to, so, like, every time I have something I need to sort..., I just pick one or two things from the pile every time I pass by. That doesn't hurt so much. It's a slow process, but still much faster than when I just keep postponing it, and eventually it gets done without me having to torture myself too much.

[davidd]

I am currently at war with mousedom and they keep coming.  And far from cleaning up anything, they're just leaving s*** (literally) everywhere

I am facing a similar battle in the storage shed. I have been using live traps, which thus far have been more effective than the standard mouse traps in numbers captured. However, they just keep coming! And they just keep pooping! And now I am beginning to re-think my use of "humane" live traps after one of the little monsters chewed the tip off one of Maudlynne Macabre's shoes!

I'm in need of cleaning and organising too... Do we all just keep putting it to the side?

Responses to this post suggest that many of us appear to have that behavior in common, yes.

The plastic tub matches her coat, so she can practice her camouflage skills.

  Clutter camouflage!

We started (I started...) tidying up the library over Easter.  ... I’ve now stopped as I’ve run out of room to move things around in there....

Why is it that tidying should, in theory, lead to having more space, but it never seems to work out that way?

When I have something I need to sort and I rrrreeeaaaallllyyyy don't want to, so, like, every time I have something I need to sort..., I just pick one or two things from the pile every time I pass by.

That sounds like an effective strategy. I shall give it a try!

---

3 May – Antique Porcelain Bisque Doll Fragment

Antique Bisque Doll Foot

Today, while I was traipsing about aimlessly through the sagebrush of the open range, I ran across what appeared to be an old rubbish dump consisting mostly of rusty tin cans and broken glass. Amid the trash I spotted this little bisque porcelain doll foot.

I have run across similar piles of rusty cans and broken bottles before. I refer to them as "cowboy campsites," because most include old coffee and baked beans tins, and appear to have been small temporary campsites, probably where cattle ranchers or sheep herders stopped for a night or two back in the olden days. Several times I have been able to approximately date these sites based on vestiges of labels on the coffee cans or the markings on medicine bottles. Until now, the sites I have found appeared to have been from the late-1940s through the early 1960s.

The site I found today, however, was significantly larger than most of the similar sites I have come across, indicating a seasonal camp, or perhaps even an old home site. Along with the damaged doll fragment, I found a broken Coca Cola bottle. Coca Cola bottles are useful items from which to approximately date old dump sites. To my surprise, my research this afternoon indicated that the "straight sided" Coca Cola bottle with an elaborate script logo likely dates to no later than 1915, and possibly a decade or more earlier.

I may try to find my way back to this dump site to retrieve the Coca Cola bottle. There could be additional markings on the surviving fragments to help me come to a more accurate date.

It appears, however, that this doll... or this doll part... is over one-hundred years old, and in fact may have been discarded and forgotten on this desert dump pile for over a century.

[Alliecat]

Wow! It's neat when you can kind of feel the sense of history in a place, and imagine the echoes of the people who were there. The little doll foot is sad... It's a poignant photo and your investigation of the dates was interesting to read. I wonder what else may be there, just under the surface?
A photo essay on old "cowboy campsites" might make an interesting article for a photo magazine!

I am facing a similar battle in the storage shed. I have been using live traps, which thus far have been more effective than the standard mouse traps in numbers captured. However, they just keep coming! And they just keep pooping! And now I am beginning to re-think my use of "humane" live traps after one of the little monsters chewed the tip off one of Maudlynne Macabre's shoes!

Oh no! At least they didn't chew her, but still. I have a friend whose beloved leather bomber jacket was chewed up by mice and he was outraged.
We are on the same page, apparently... I try to aloha aina and respect my fellow critters and all, but, when they keep coming and keep pooping, and if they're not going in the live traps...
Have you ever tried those high-frequency electronic things? A neighbour recommended them but I'm very skeptical, of efficacy as well as unknown effects of the sound over time. Haven't researched it. Yet.

[davidd]

Have you ever tried those high-frequency electronic things?  A neighbour recommended them but I'm very skeptical, of efficacy as well as unknown effects of the sound over time.  Haven't researched it.  Yet.

Yes, I have ex.perimented with those devices, but for cats, not for mice. In Hawaii, our neighbor was claiming that our cats were stinking up his yard, so I purchased several of the high-frequency sound transmitters based on online reviews that claimed they were effective in repelling cats. The frequency on the devices was adjustable. I set the frequency to "cat" and placed four of the devices in the areas where the neighbor said the cats were causing a problem.

The cats ignored the devices. But I noticed that I could hear the devices myself if I did not set the frequency high enough. Also, the setting tended to drift, so eventually ("eventually" here meaning "within a matter of days") all the devices became audible and annoying.

(Additionally, in my "adventures" under the house while setting up the high-frequency transmitters, I noticed that most of the neighbor's drain pipes, including the main sewer drain, were leaking. And stinking. And likely causing the smell about which he was concerned. I also discovered that his tenant had been tossing the remains of his shrimp and fish plate lunches under the house! Another source of a quite impressive smell! Ah, Hawaii life! It is not always as blissful and idyllic as it appears on the surface!)

[neon_jellyfish]

Fascinating! The 'culture' of dumping our waste literally anywhere without thinking has always been a valuable source for learning about history, too bad it's even greater source of environmental degradation...

That little doll foot is sad...

[werepuppy]

That is seriously fascinating - to think there's so much history in this dump site that you could otherwise pass by.

I have to agree that something about the little foot is just ... sad.

[davidd]

4 May – Monster High Rochelle Goyle

[werepuppy]

What has happened to poor Rochelle? There's a great feeling of sorry with this shot

[Alliecat]

Oh my
Was she sentenced for not helping adequately for the renovations...? Cool lighting, again.

I also discovered that his tenant had been tossing the remains of his shrimp and fish plate lunches under the house!

Gross!! I drove through some neighbourhoods where that wouldn't surprise me...
Neither do your observations about the ultrasound thingies. I kind of thought they either wouldn't work or I'd end up being able to hear them. I suppose there's a huge range of quality with such things. I quizzed the neighbour & he thought they were just great, no mice in his cellar. But, he also has a cat!! duh!

[Elfy]

She’s a gargoyle, more than likely quite happy in that state.

[neon_jellyfish]

Given the whole 'being quite literally made of stone' thing, I think she'll be able to get from there without any significant trouble.

Beautiful lighting!

[Lejays17]

What a fascinating and sad find of the doll foot. It does make you think of all the history of the area.

Poor Rochelle.

[davidd]

5 May – Astronomical Beltaine, Solar Midpoint Between the Vernal Equinox and the Summer Solstice

(Northern Hemisphere) - aka The First Day of Summer!

Monster High Venus McFlytrap

[Elfy]

That’s rather psychedelic. You used a filter, right?