not dead yet

Today I learned that you can make a wading pool for your mattress springs using a 10x25 ft tarp, some polyethylene sheeting, and $8 worth of lumber. The expensive part is when you put in $40 worth of trisodium phosphate (TSP), which makes these weird-looking whitish globs come off of the mattress springs. I suppose this process is really only interesting if you wanted to soak some mattress springs in TSP, but in case you ever need to make a similar tub, tucking the long ends of the tarp back under itself makes a good friction hold.

In more exciting news, I tolerate my old sleeping bag again. I tried it out at 4:30 this morning when I realized that by trying to sleep on the mattress springs that had smoke contamination, I redeveloped that sensitivity, so now I don't tolerate blankets I tolerated a couple of days ago. A sleeping bag makes all the difference when you have to give up and sleep on the floor. Outside on the hammock didn't work, and the bed slats were bumpy, but the floor was just right.

In a more regular sort of weird news, rumor has it that people used to use borax, which is poisonous, on their teeth, and some people think a good way to lose weight is to eat only red fruits and vegetables plus a little bit of peanut butter. I think that anyone who can survive on that kind of diet without passing out from hunger couldn't possibly be getting any exercise, despite the admonition to remember to go for walks.