Thanks for everyone's feedback! I am in San Francisco, by the coast, so unfortunately, airing out the bin may be tough during our summer(winter), but I have more dead leaves on the ground which I can rake up and throw in the bin. I may have some sawdust/wood shavings from upcoming projects, which I can mix in as well. I had a feeling the Juicing Pulp is on the very wet side - and high in Nitrogen; but it sounds like as long as there's enough airflow (and tumbling), I don't have to worry about anaerobic issues - just may have slower composting and more flies - is that right? Thank you!!!

i found the mercury glass knobs on amazon. they came six to a package; with shipping it came out to $6 a knob! i actually had my eye on them for my closet, so if i don't use them in the bathroom they'll go there. and breezy, i also thought about the MOP knob but decided against because i thought too matchy as well. -and then i moved on to glass or crystal and decided they would be lost against the dark wood. i think the mercury knobs will work well. we'll see! elle: thank you. the floor tile is some kind of italian porcelain i picked up from best tile. ditto for the shower walls, except it's a crackle tile that doesn't need to be sealed. never saw such an animal, but it's smooth and the crackle finish is much slighter than the usual. i would have carried the marble over from the vanity top but we have well water.

Flyleft - About your Russian painting. Is there a branch of Butterfield's or Sotheby's in Portland? I inherited a few oil paintings from my parents and didn't want them, so cast around for an appraiser. Found an ad in the paper that Butterfield's in San Francisco was having a big auction of European paintings and was looking for works to sell. So up we drove with two paintings and a photo of a third which was just too awkward to transport if we'd have to schlep it back home. They took the two and set a reserve which was surpassed at auction, yay. They also offered to take the larger one and named the reserve for that one. We came back home and I contacted an antique dealer who'd been after that painting for a few months. I named the reserve, she met it, I handed it to her, and that problem was solved. They were unable to ID the artists but did describe the periods very well. Also brought them an English litho which my mother always thought was from a Claude Lorrain. Well no, said Butterfield's, but it was "in the style" of Claude, and no, they didn't want it. They didn't charge anything for the appraisals. So - if you're ever in San Fran! We will, God willing, absolutely return to the McMinnville area for a couple of days on our next trip, probably in the spring. So if you're interested in gallery-hopping, I would take that very seriously. I have *never* been to a gallery with someone who could talk about art and teach me something! DH always brings along a book to read and confines his remarks to "that's very nice" or "that's pretty strange". Anyway, if you'd like to talk about this and/or the Russian painting, how could I get in touch with you? The link below is to Winifred's website. Click on Portfolio and then scroll down to the swan entitled "Angle of Repose". I think she's just one of many hobby painters who inhabit western Oregon, but I like her work, I liked her a lot, and I LOVE the painting. Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner, is my all-time favorite American novel. So the giclee literally flew into my hands. Sorry to ramble on. This topic gets me going every time! Here is a link that might be useful: The watercolor

Good topic. Isolation kind of agrees with me. I miss going to the pub, but I’m not yet missing socializing in person. Work is very busy, and my neighborhood stuff is taking up quite a bit of time as well. However, I like others am feeling like a lot is always on my mind, it is hard to switch off, I sometimes have trouble sleeping. I’m drinking more, although this translates to two beers or drinks a day instead of a drink every two days. I’m eating more and gaining weight, though I started riding my bike to work which may help a little. DD was home from college this weekend so we had the whole family which was very nice. We cooked, ate, watched movies, the kids read books, SWMBO is spring cleaning, I fixed our drip irrigation system and started pressure washing the back yard and pruning plants. That was relaxing. I wonder if crime is up or down. I’d guess down but we had an interesting incident on Friday. DD was in her apartment in Eugene, on the phone with me in my office in Portland. I heard six gunshots over the phone, DD said “that sounded like gunshots”, I said “yup”, and she hung up. I called 911, was patched to Eugene 911, the dispatcher asked if I was calling about the shooting on 15th and if so police were on their way. DD lives on the alley between 14th and 15th. About 15 minutes later DD called me back and said she had been on her balcony during our call, heard shots, saw a car driving away on 15th - which she can see from her second floor balcony, it is about 100 ft away, then heard someone yelling they’d been shot and saw people running toward the yelling, although the yelling person was obstructed from her view by the house that is right behind her apartment. Police had blocked off the area, were searching with cars, dogs and drones, and the shooting victim had been taken away. That was very weird for that area, it is only a few blocks from the UO campus, inhabited mostly by students, and generally a low crime area. News reports now, three days later, indicate the victim is expected to live and that a man has been arrested and charged. So this has me watching for signs of increased crime. I can’t stay that I’m seeing any, but I do wonder.