That's Today!

"Yesterday" I promised "more" which I asserted there surely was. Before Winston the Puppy's birthday I spent four months being a blog-slug, and pretty much a life-slug, too. If you're reading this in the future, remember we have been in the throes* of a pandemic. I had written about it from a personal and theoretical point of view a few times. Four months later, there's somewhat more to say, but I'll save it for at least the next blog since you're probably more tired of it than I am. Following the RIKLblog no-suspense rule, I should mention that me and mine are OK. How about a storm report and a fig hack for now?

Storm Report

Having moved to Sedona, Arizona, years ago, I no longer fear for my antennas in New Jersey. But my place of striving and most of its denizens remain in the "Tri-State Area." Although largely antenna-free, it and they are nonetheless subject to the wind-speed and precipitation of nature, Come August, I begin to check the hurricane forecast, and had been following Isaias the Hurricane. Far less benign than Winston the Puppy, and named with no consideration of how it might feel, until the last day or so it didn't seem that it would be problematic. Sillime.

During our New Jersey tenure we have had a number of more serious and damaging storms than Isaias threatened to be. I generally viewed most of them with equanimity, and recall one notable occasion when I decided that anyone remaining at work needed a pizza, which I personally procured with no loss of life, vehicle, or mozzarella. Nowadays, the hazard paradigm has pusillanimously shifted to "if you don't feel comfortable" you can stay or go home. Personally, I feel comfortable with extra cheese, but that's just me. Sandy-the-Maybe-Hurricane was worrysome due to the extreme flooding. After we survived that I stopped worrying about flooding, and the wind speed forecast for Isaias didn't seem dire.

"Seem" is the key. The wind was sufficient to bring down a nearby power line, and the local utility was understandably overburdened by repair requests from us and many, many others.

Good Thing We Have a Generator!

Bad thing is it stopped working. After about a day of flawless operation with all indications including temperature normal, the generator shut down abruptly, whining about overheating as it did so. The generator repair people are also understandably burdened, so we have no idea why. Fortunately we were electricity free for only about a day. Unfortunately, the IT department, our work-at-home crew, and this serverless blogger found out just how burdensome a crash can be.

And so went my good intentions for "more" in this blogitem. Maybe "tomorrow." Unless we get locusts.

Fig Hack

As I've mentioned often, the banana is our official household fruit. Yet an occasional fig makes a soft and sultry snack, or so this Smyrna fig package alleges. While I make no judgment on "sultry" and am opinion-free on "organic," I can state with certainty that "soft" is right out.

I have discovered a simple method of fig-softness reconstitution. Simply extract one or more not-soft figs from the package, place in an airtight container with enough water to cover the bottom of the container to about 10% the height of the figs, and wait a day or so. The figs appear to be hygroscopic to the extent that they will absorb the water and its vapor and become soft.

Valuable Tip for Electric Car Salespeople

If you're trying to sell to a criminal, you can tout a great advantage of Teslas and other electric cars: When you come home after committing your crime, the hood isn't any hotter than the rest of the car. When the detective who suspects you comes by, you can tell him "I've been home all the time."

Congestion Charge

If you have been following the so-called "congestion charge" that New York City has been planning to implement, you'll join me in wondering what they plan to call it when and if the traffic volume is greatly reduced by the working-from-home crowd.

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* I almost said "grip" but decided that it's not quite as applicable.

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