I was taught young to always shake out my shoes before putting them on, especially if they have been sitting outside. The caterpillar trying to climb in my sneaker when I was checking on chickens was a subtle reminder why.
Caterpillar shoe invasion
Oh, that and snakes, which are now coming out from their winter rest.
Blurry picture of a rat snake, probably wouldn’t fit in my shoe, despite how skinny it isRough earth snake, ten of these would fit in my shoe, non venomous, but very wiggly
Here is a short of the rough earth snake, which is so wiggly because it was having trouble getting traction on the sidewalk.
Oh, and the scorpions, which would be an ouchie shoe find. And rocks, which also hurt, but don’t defensively pinch or sting. But spiders bite. Basically, always check your shoes before putting them on.
I was cleaning the kitchen faucet when I noticed flakes of rust around the top of the wand (where the sprayer attaches to the neck). I cleaned it up, and kept cleaning, until the rust and chunks where gone. Then I went to put the wand back and it wouldn’t snap back into the neck. Hm. Apparently the part that was the second half of the magnetic clasp rusted completely and I had just wiped it all away. The wand was still magnetized, but the neck wasn’t. Well that’s frustrating. My husband did some research, and we couldn’t get the part that rusted, and couldn’t buy the neck separately, and a new comparable faucet would be around $500. (I’m sure that is not what we paid over four years ago.) I decided to do some experiments.
I tried to put a neodymium magnet in the handle, which was not the right shape. I tried using bits from a roll of magnetic tape, but it was too thick and wedged it in. I tried some bare floral wire, which is steel, and had some luck, but couldn’t secure it inside the neck. Then I realized that the recessed indent in the faucet neck was about an inch in diameter. Keychain rings, the split rings made of stainless steel, come in about that size. I raided the junk drawer and found one. I was able to slip it around the wand hose (yay for split rings), and the steel hoop fit perfectly in the recess of the neck. I mixed up some five-minute, two part epoxy and glued the ring in place. Some tape held the ring while the epoxy cured, and kept the hose from gluing in as well.
Split ring taped into the faucet handleSplit ring glued in place
When mixing two part epoxy, I always keep the waste mixture out until it is cured. If the stuff in the cup is cured, then the stuff holding the part is cured. I removed the temporary tape and tested the wand against the neck. Snick. Oh what a wonderful sound! It works! The faucet wand pulls easily away from the neck, but when replacing it, the magnet sticks to the steel keyring and keeps it in place. Neat.
How very considerate of the shoe designer to put a tension loop on my sneakers. It is just right for anchoring a braid so I can use my foot to apply tension so the braid comes out even and straight. I do appreciate thoughtful design.
Tying the end of a braid to a shoe loop to apply even tension
I love my spider plant, and love the curtain of off shoots it sends out around the perimeter. However the top starts to get thin, and the parent plant droops. It is under a vent, so gets dry. I’ve increased the amount of water I give it, but it still doesn’t fill in. I used to root out the baby spider plants in water and replant, but they wouldn’t always take. So I have a new method. I keep the baby plant on its lifeline and set it in the soil. It is still getting support from the mother plant, but its base is touching the soil and moisture, which promotes root growth. When the baby is firmly established, then I cut the cord. It has worked several times so far. In the picture below I have used a twist tie to secure the cord to keep the little plant pressed into the dirt (else it goes flying back out with its siblings).
A good way to neaten up the last bit of yarn from a project is to take the label, roll it up, and wrap the yarn nostepinne style around the label. Then the information stays with the yarn bit, and the yarn stays neat in your stash. I’ve mentioned this before, but it came up again in my life, and I discovered if the label is small, wrapping it around a pen gives a temporary handle, and makes winding yarn easier.
Yarn label, wrapped on a pen, then the start of the yarn wrapNeat ball of leftover yarn
Critters and Craft 