Apparently I am the patron saint of basketball hoops. Who knew? Over a year ago my son in law mentioned that he’d like to have a basketball hoop so he and some of his friends could shoot some hoops in my driveway. He and my daughter and their kids live in a duplex with no convenient place for a hoop and I agreed that this was a good idea. Shortly thereafter I found a free set up on everyone’s favorite website for used crap  trash  stuff thats’s too big for the regular refuse collection  things that no one, and I do mean no one, wants  stuff. (I would like to just mention as an aside that I have furnished my entire house and patio with stuff I’ve found on this site. I have two disclaimers: We have moved frequently recently, and we didn’t want to ship a bunch of stuff cross country that… [Read More]

I love house plants. They have to be kept under control, however. You just can’t let them get the upper hand or before you know it you’ll have the Amazon in your living room, and then where will you be? I’m not talking about online shopping here, either.  I had a notable experience with a schefflera some time ago. It was once very civilized, minding its own business in a corner, providing a bit of green relief from the dark black leather furniture we like in our living room. We were very happy together, but one day it overstepped its limits. It had grown to the ceiling, and started trying to throw its weight around. Things got a bit out of hand and I had to serve it a reminder about who’s in charge around here.  I removed it from the center of activity in our home, lest it begin to think… [Read More]