What's New: Autumn is Sneaking Up . . . .!

Have you noticed? There are those yellow or golden leaves on the ground. The big heat-waves are mostly past-tense now. The sun sets a bit earlier in the evenings... . .

More and more clues that the seasons are changing happen all around us.

If you have children, or grandchildren, you know that school has started up for a new "year" also for those in college or university.

In my case, I notice the changes in the garden most. I've carried in a big bucket and a box of pumpkins, squash and tomatoes. I've been popping the cherry tomatoes into my mouth about as fast as they turn red. But the pumpkins and squash are yellowing under the kitchen table and I'm making them wait until I have time to deal with the cutting scooping out seeds, and deciding which ones to put into containers to freeze and which ones to bake up into pies and breads, etc.

I spent the hour after supper for a whole week cleaning up the weeds (many with burrs) in the narrow strip on the east side of my house.

Now I'm thinking, how do I find a roofer willing to let me have the old ashphat shingles from a roof they have just done over for someone?

A few years ago my neighbour/friend, Rita, was having her roof done over, and they had tossed the old shingles into a truck box, but had not come for them yet. I asked Rita if they were taking them to a dump, or could I have them to lay on the path on the west side of my house? She phoned them and was told that I should help myself before they came for the truck. I loaded some up and my cousin Gary showed up to help.

Gary kindly laid them in the path so that the shingles over-lapped just as they do when on a roof.

This has meant the path has a double-layer of shingles, and NO weeds can come up through them! I just need to sweep the path a few times a year to gather up the dead fall leaves.

That's what I want on the east side of the house too! Yes, since I came upon many weeds with burrs when I was cleaning out that space. Burrs are a great problem when they get under clothing and on your skin. Tiny though they be they can make me squeal with pain!

Maybe Gary knows some roofers who would let him pick up a big enough batch of used shingles....! I'll ask him!

<*> TIPS & SOLUTIONS: <*>

Have You met Opera, the Browser?

We all seem to have our favourite internet browser - I have discovered they are not all the same.

For a number of years I've liked Chromium best, but it has become frustrating, as it won't play videos - at least not the audio part. So for quite a while I've got my Chromium (Linux version of Chrome) in one window and Windows in another. Whenever I come to a video I have to copy the link from in Chromium and move it to Firefox so I can get to see it.

Last night I tried to find out why Chromium was such a trial, and saw a number of quotes in Google explaining that you had to install extra software to get around that. But that Opera was turning out to be a browser with an amazing array of extra capabilities.

I knew I could get it on my computer, I just had not seen all the new features. So I opened it and found a wonderful array of videos about search-engine-optimization (SEO) and I took time to watch three of them. I now see that I've been missing out on a very versatile browser. It has far more features than either Chromium or Firefox!

I have not fully explored it yet, but feel as if it is a true FIND! It works on any system; Windows, Mac, or Linux.

Maybe you want to check it out too?

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