2024, animals, Farming Update, Mysteries, Nature, Theatre

Change Is Hard

57 Comments

The weekend Farm Report is from Ben.

Hasn’t been much happening on the farm lately. The header photo shows the rye planted last fall JUST BARELY turning green and showing rows.

I’ve been busy doing theater. And ‘work’ work at the college. About all I get done are the regular chores. Doing chicken chores, the other day and Luna was trying to find that rooster to play with.

She didn’t. I think the rooster has learned.

When designing a set, I read the script and talk with the director about concepts, then it’s rough sketches. Then sometimes I design it on the computer drafting program. This time I used my foamboard model. I don’t paint it or anything, I just want basic layout.

The director and I discuss it again and then I get to the actual building.

Spring break at the college this week and I got going placing platforms that I have in stock.  

I was wearing my toolbelt, which I haven’t needed for a few months. For several years, I had the same toolbelt at home as I have at work. But the work one was wearing out and I tried something different. And it just isn’t working. At home, my regular farming tools are pliers on my left hip, and the Swiss Army knife WITH the wood saw, in sheath on my right.  But then with the tool belt, all the tools are on right. But that’s where my cell phone pouch clips on my pocket, so I have to swap that to the left pocket and then it’s all backward.

It shouldn’t be this hard.

There are so many different kinds of tool belts, pouches, and assemblies; wide belts, suspenders, multiple different designs and layouts of bags and pouches, and they can be hundreds of dollars. Hammer loop or diagonal hammer slip, I’ve tried them all. I am alternating between having the hammer at my back or to my left. It should be on my right, since I’m right-handed, in order not to have to switch hands, but that’s where the tools are. Sigh.

There are drill pouches too, but the drill belt-hook works for me, and once something works, adjusting to anything different is hard, because it has to be so much better to justify the change, right?

And then organizing the tool kit! I have pencils, three different screwdrivers, a square, knife, pliers, wire cutters, wire strippers, chalk line, scissors, a level, and a tape measure. (Don’t even get me started on the different tape measures!) It’s fascinating! How many tools do I think I have to carry with me all the time?? They have to be handy and easy to get too and not be cumbersome.

Squares: how many do I need with me?? The carpenters square, the big “L” thing I don’t carry. The combination square, that’s the 12″ ruler with the sliding part that also does 45 degrees, and I don’t carry that either. I use a 7″ rafter square. Looks like a triangle, gives me a straight edge, 45 degree, plus any angle I need. Love it. Except it’s harder to fit in the tool bag. They make a 12″ one that I have on the tool rack. I also carry a plain 90-degree square, good for marking and straight edges, but the rafter square is just as good, so maybe I’ll unpack the plain one. And I carry a screw pouch on my left side, but I’m not always using that many screws at once, I have the storage tubs of screws and I just carry that to the job. I have different bits in the pouch most of the time. A puddy knife was the latest addition to the tool kit and that one is still tenuous. Sometimes it’s needed, sometimes not.

Pencils or marking devices: Black sharpie, silver sharpie, red fine tip sharpie, and I recently traded the carpenter’s pencil for a thick mechanical pencil. Also comes in yellow and red lead. I think I like that, and it may be a keeper.

An hour later, I had my tools back in the old toolbelt.

Change is hard.

HAVE YOU FOUND SOMETHING BETTER LATELY?  

57 thoughts on “Change Is Hard”

  1. After talking about it literally for years and at our dentist’s urging for the same span we finally bought ourselves electric toothbrushes. Robin has already decided she loves hers. I’m less effusive but I have no doubt it will be good for my oral hygiene.

    But the damn thing is so complex. It comes with an instruction sheet that folds out to approximately 12 inches by 24 inches and in about four point type. It has six different settings and built-in timers and you can even connect it to your smartphone, though I’m dubious as to why you’d want to do that. Supposedly it maps your mouth as you brush to assure that you reach all four quadrants evenly. Some of its signals are auditory, the instructions say, as with a sort of stutter the motor makes when it’s time to move on to another quadrant. That’s too subtle for me. I guess it enforces a kind of mindfulness but brushing my teeth has never in the past required that much attention. There are also visual signals—things that blink at intervals and a red light that appears when you apply too much pressure.

    This is symptomatic of new devices in general, which offer modes of operation you never knew you wanted and likely will never use and cryptic design that is less than intuitive. Such devices either come, like our toothbrushes, with exhaustive instructions and warnings that require lengthy study and still confuse as much as they inform. At the other end of this spectrum are the devices, and Apple is particularly guilty of this, that come with no instructions at all. You are just expected to experiment and the device is presumed to be so intuitive that instructions would be superfluous. If you grew up with smart devices and have all the time in the world to fiddle with your new device to discover what it can do and how to do it, that might be true, but the devices are not as intuitive as the engineers who design them think they are and, at the other extreme, reams of instructions are a clear indication that their device is not intuitive at all.

    Going forward, I expect I will just brush my teeth electrically, using a fraction of the capabilities of the equipment, and be satisfied with that.

    Liked by 7 people

    Reply

      1. That’s a big presumption. I’ve never done that. It’s never occurred to me to do that. I’d much rather get my instructions, should I need them, by reading.

        If an unboxing video is produced by the company it should be called out on the instruction sheet. If the video is produced by a third party it’s likely to be poor quality and of questionable utility. Even knowing now that such things exist, I still wouldn’t consult them.

        Liked by 3 people

        Reply

        1. I just keep pushing buttons.

          But lately, even my bedside alarm clock radio confuses me and I don’t even try. I use it for the clock and radio. To heck with the alarm.

          Like

      1. It has gotten cheap to add features to a product. You just have to program them in. It remains to be seen whether those features are useful. The impulse is to keep “improving” products.

        Liked by 3 people

        Reply

  2. Regarding the instruction sheet/booklet that comes with devices, often the instructions are not specifically for the item they accompany but for a class of similar models and you have to figure out which features and operations apply to the one you own.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    1. why just give you a 4 x 6 piece of paper when they can give you a book? I’m sure a lot of people think of it is value for their money. Snort.

      Like

      Reply

      1. I see it as laziness on the manufacture. It’s too hard (expensive) to make separate language instructions for each shipment.

        Like

        Reply

  3. Ben, this is exactly what I go through when I get a new purse. Oh, the agony… I keep looking for a replacement purse that’s exactly like the one I’m giving up… (Actually, I’m still looking for one just like its predecessor.)

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

    2. It never fails that when you find a product that you like it will have been discontinued when you go to replace it. When I sense something that perfectly suits me is going out of style I’ll buy a couple of backups. I only have so many years left to cover, after all.

      Liked by 6 people

      Reply

      1. I bought a purse on a lark in Tijuana once, mostly just because I was wasting time waiting for the client to finish “negotiating” for some wallet she wanted. Anyway, it turned out to be a great purse and I had it for years. When it started to fall apart at the seams, there wasn’t any place that i could find anything like it. Luckily, a few months later I had a trip to Puerto Vallarta and I emailed my contact ahead of time and told her what I was looking for in broad terms.  On the way from the airport to the hotel she stopped with me at a little teeny tiny leather shop on some backstreet that was clearly not a tourist haven; I found almost the exact same purse within five minutes.

        Liked by 4 people

        Reply

        1. Another purse story. Just before pandemic hit my old purse, another one that I had been dragging around for years, but the dust. Pandemic kind of sucked the need for a purse out of me. I did occasionally use a purse, one of YAs castoffs, that was much smaller than I was used to, but since I rarely did anything but put the wallet and/or the phone in there for a few minutes, it didn’t matter. When I started to get out and about, it was clear that the small purse wasn’t going to do it for me. I hate to pay money for things like that, and since YA had several other cast offs, I was bound and determined to make one work, Three were too small and the large one was pretty large, but it was better than nothing. It’s a designer name purse, and it’s all I can do to not rip the letters out of it. It had two smaller straps in addition to the long shoulder strap, and I cut those short ones off after about a month. Despite acknowledging that she would never use that purse again, YA had a fit.

          Liked by 3 people

        2. Trying to make the new toolbag work, I started modifying it. I cut out a divider, and removed a seam. But it still wasn’t working. It sure felt wrong to be cutting up a new bag though.

          Liked by 2 people

  4. I have an old Oral B electric toothbrush. It’s really old. The only feature it has is the pulsing it does when you have brushed for two minutes. It has two speeds but the lower speed doesn’t really work anymore. It doesn’t hold a charge as long as it used to, which probably means it’s dying. I will continue to use it until it won’t charge anymore. I don’t plan to replace it. There’s just way too much of this type of garbage around.

    My new Civic is a techie’s dream come true. It has everything I have never used before. Those of you who have newer cars may be familiar with some of the new technology. It’s a pretty big learning curve for me. If you leave your headlights switch on “Auto”, the lights will come on automatically when the sun is setting. As it gets darker, the high beams start coming on by themselves. If a car is approaching, they will revert to low beams until the oncoming car is gone. I’m not wildly in love with this feature. Last night on my way home on a darker county road, someone was trying to enter the roadway from a driveway. Because that car’s lights weren’t shining on my car’s front end, my bright lights would not dim on their own. This was likely a blinding experience for the other driver and I frantically grabbed for the lights to dim them. How to do this? Do I pull back on the lever like in the older cars? Do I turn the switch to manual? I pulled back and they dimmed but suddenly I was on manual. I probably should have just left it there, because when I turned it again, the lights turned off completely. It’s a learning curve. Also, the climate controls are new to me, as is heat in the seat. The display screen is a whole computer and will almost fully function as a separate screen for your phone. Is this a good thing? I don’t know. I’m still learning.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

      1. It’s the learning curve for me. The only way to learn it is by doing it and that kind of distraction isn’t a good idea while driving down the road.

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

        1. One of my besties bought a Tesla last fall. It also has a massive computer screen upfront. When we were there test driving it and asking questions, I asked about how big the owners manual and the sales guy said there is no owners manual. He told us that any owners manual would be obsolete within a week of you having the car because they makes updates and they just send them out through cyberspace to your car. Very weird.

          Liked by 3 people

  5. I purchased 5 devices to help me with my hearing issues. Hearing aids would be problematic. One is a small sound bar for my tv. Why do all tv’s now have the speakers in the back? So they can sell you sound bars of course. It came with oversimplified instructions on the four ways to connect it to the tv. Nothing on how to use the several buttons. Very simplified instructions online. It’s all base. I need lots of treble.
    Second thing was a device to make the sound of cell phone ringing louder. It did not sound until the fourth ring and on the fifth ring my phone goes to voice mail. And it does not sound any louder than the phone.

    Third was a little wooden box for $8 that projects the sound of the ring out through a sort of megaphone. Quite effective.

    Fourth were expensive Bose headphones that are wonderful when they work. Their support site is one of those places that prevents you from talking to a person. Finally got a person. He hung up as I was explaining. Finally got another person. Issue was left side made a cracking noise and went silent. Got the new pair. Two small things did not work. Called in. Now I have the secret number. She said they did matter and I had to send them in. I said I wanted my money back. They don’t refund. Sent them in. They are not back and they cannot trace them. They arrived at their site but they don’t know when or where. $286 for great famous Bose headphones the third pair of which they are now sending me.

    Fifth thing is called an amplifier. Has a microphone and earbuds and the microphone can be extended out 6 feet. Works wonderful at medical appointments and the like. Came with clear and detailed instructions.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  7. Right now I am washing wigs, Sandra’s backup wigs for when I wash her best wig, which I will do next week. Here in the Salon de Clyde we never wear ceintures de toutils.

    The instructions on the back of the bottles are quite clear.

    Liked by 6 people

    Reply

  9. Ben, for the record, I seldom wore a tool belt. For roofing I did or putting up siding. In both instances nails, pliers, knife, hammer. I did not like the weight of it.

    Do you remember Norm of This Old House, not the one who got fired for parking his Dodge pickup so the Dodge brand would show ostensibly on camera, for which he got paid? When Norm build furniture in his workshop, he wore a tool belt. Many people complained about that. A real craftsman, they said, would never wear a tool belt in the workshop.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    1. It depends what I’m working on. Sometimes I just need a hammer loop. (Dad always put the hammer in his back pants pocket. He must have had bigger pockets than I have). I don’t like the hammer loop built into some pants, it’s in the wrong place.

      Course all of this is what you’ve gotten used to.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  10. Jacque

    Rise and Shine Baboons,

    Some of you already know I chose a better way to communicate by setting up a Caring Bridge site for Lou. Actually my DIL set it up when she and my son came for the afternoon to assist us. After an initial email to family and close friends, we have had many calls and visits from people concerned about him. I sent invitations to the Baboons for whom I have addresses, as well as all the other folks I emailed. That way friends can stay informed only if they want to, and on their own time. This is much easier than endless phone calls and alot of emails. Thanks to those of you who already visited. His symptoms seem to be intensifying quickly. His pain has passed, but his memory has not come back which is now the primary problem. Today his beloved cousin, a retired physician, gave us some family history that is important. The family has a history of a particular dementia which Lou did not know about–apparently either they kept it a secret or did not think it was important, but it is. 

    I hope the CB site makes communications less stressful. Our neighbors have already been pitching in, walking Phoebe and playing with her, which she loves.

    Now if I could just invent a device to engage the dog’s interest and play tug with her, everything would be better.

    Liked by 6 people

    Reply

    2. Strangely very few people have any interest in Sandra, only three outside of my immediate family. Poof like that, none of her many friends care any more. It has been hurtful to me.

      So I do not have a caring bridge and never will.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  11. I can’t do a tool belt with more than 5 lb in it

    I’ll run up and down a ladder

    put my stuff in a 5 gal bucket to cart it around had a suitcase with roller wheels for a while til I toasted the suitcase I’m not building sets and tweaking lighting stuff or maybe I’d think differently

    bless you ben

    those tool belts of today are something else

    30 lbs on my hips . Nope

    trying new stuff? I like to try new if it won’t slow me down too much. I love trying new ways

    new musical things are some of my favorite stuff. New mini clarinet and sax have my interest now to use on a guitar like you would on a cello is very cool. Accordion and violin and trumpet are on my to do list but guitar and piano are my resting spots

    i sing harmony almost exclusively in the car I noticed. When singing lead it’s hard to stay on the melody line I want to harmonize with what I hear in my head

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

    1. I will be changing the clocks in the truck, two tractors, then the living room wall clock, stove, microwave…it is annoyingly frustrating. Not to mention the bedroom alarm clock radio!

      Liked by 5 people

      Reply

  15. Back in my tool belt wearing days of set construction I had a couple I liked for different purposes – though really a good pair of overalls with well placed pockets for different things suited me better. Tool belts and I didn’t always get along going up and down ladders (probably would have done better with a pouch and a belt, with the pouch hanging off the back vs hip – because girl hips…). Pencils and small paint brushes could get tucked in a ponytail – which was often handier than remembering which pocket I had shoved them in this time.

    Daughter’s car has some slightly newer stuff than my car – some I like, some I am less fond of, but will get used to it. The one that it weird is how it tries to keep you in your lane on the highway – I get that it’s a safety feature, but sometimes a person needs to swerve. Sheesh.

    One thing I tried to get used to and gave up, eventually finding a better solution was high-heeled shoes for dance. I got a wild hair and started taking flamenco lessons last summer – the first shoes I used were loaners and they hand the “standard” flamenco heel. When it came time to buy myself a pair, I bought a much lower “Cuban” heel – and although I like it better for most of the dancing, it is harder to do some turns on that lower heel, so now I am having to adapt to that.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    2. My new Civic has that feature too. It’s annoying but now I know how often I come close to the edge of the lane. Much more often that I would have thought!

      Like

      Reply

  17. I usually do a foam model set. It helps to see the different elevations and wall connections and how things will fit. For example, that arched doorway in the middle, is actually the magic mirror used in ‘Tommy’. I am finally going to get rid of it after it’s sat in the shop for 10 years and only used in one other show besides Tommy. I will be using the frame as a french Window for this show. And using the model helped me decide if I wanted it inside or outside the wall, plus how much room I needed in front of it for ease of actors moving.

    Same with the circle on the left side. (Or ‘Stage Right’ because it’s left and right from the stage as you face the audience). I very seldom use it and I’m tempted to get rid of that too. But thought it would work well in this show.

    Having levels creates interest in watching, and you never ever have a wall flat to the audience. Hence the angles. Plus, corners help support the walls. One long straight wall is hard to hold up right and keep solid.

    Thanks for noticing ‘tiny Ben’. I hoped someone would!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a reply to verily sherrilee Cancel reply