Musings on a Small Life

So it's not my blog that has been hacked, but it's possible a feed that I had run was. Here's Google's response: I do not believe it is your old blog that is hacked.  This short link will open another blogger site goo.gl/e6ym9J If you look at the blog roll on that page there is a "Fuzzy Tales" listing with a URL from the canon download site.   Those blog rolls are usually constructed from a feed of some sort so maybe a feed that you had run that has been hacked? That blog belongs to https://calypsoandzazou.blogspot.com/, one I used to follow but haven't for a long time. I've left a comment for them, asking them to remove the Fuzzy Tales link from their blog roll. I'm not sure that will do the trick, though. And since it wasn't my blog that was hacked, I really don't know if there's anything else I can do.

People are still getting the spam blog posts in their reader, under the title of "Fuzzy Tales," so I would suggest you remove the old blog (from Feedly or whatever blog reader you use). I have verified that I AM still the owner of the blog, and it still looks normal when I set it to public view. (I had to set it to public to do the ownership verification, but it's back to being off-line again.) I've also got a post up on the Google Help Forum, though don't expect any help there. I'm not savvy enough to know how to proceed, given that I do still own the blog and it appears to be fine. So it's best just to remove it from your viewer (I don't intend to post on it again) and/or delete any email that appears to come from Fuzzy Tales, without opening it (flag it as spam too). Thanks.

Correction : It looks like the Fuzzy Tales name is being used for spam email: From: "Canon Driver Download" < noreply+feedproxy@google.com > Date: Jan 12, 2017 4:16 PM Subject: Fuzzy Tales BTW, "Fuzzy Tales" is used for a lot of sites; you'll see them if you Google. So I don't "own" the name (of the former blog). ***** A heads up to all : Watch out for any odd emails being sent from the Fuzzy Tales email address, it seems that it's either been hacked or is being spoofed. (Spoofing happens a lot, even at work.) I don't normally use that email address except in a reply to someone who has emailed me at it. Peace .

I was going to wait for warmer/better weather for the Salvation Army donation pick-up, but why not now? Better to keep things moving along. So they're coming on Monday the 16th, and I have fingers crossed that the weather will at least be dry. I won't have as much as in the previous two donation pick-ups in 2016, but there still will be a fair bit and I intend to go through everything this weekend, to see what else I'm ready to get rid of. (Actually, I'm ready to donate most of my furniture now, except I still live in the house and don't really want to keep my clothes and linens in boxes. LOL.) Yesterday early AM at my bus stop. What an icy mess. Hurry up, Spring!   We've had warmer temps and rain since, so a lot of the snow has disappeared now, which is fine by me. Nicki continues to improve, or at least seems to be improving, though he's not yet back to eating his meager daily ration of kibble. Derry -- well, I don't know what got...

My girlfriend sent me these pics on Monday, from this past weekend. They're in the process of replacing their old toilet with a new one and guess who came to help?    (The dog is Kailey.) Kailey and Amber sharing Kailey's bed. Though it's not hard to see who's taken over! Peace . Comments are off.

Finally I had the Habitat for Humanity Restore guys show up yesterday afternoon, to pick up my power tools and leftover 2x4s and drywall. (I kept the pressure-treated boards in case there's a problem with the fence.) Before   After At least the front of my garage is a bit clearer now! Enough so that I can get in there anyway. I need another Salvation Army donation pick up, and I need the junk guys again too--both when the weather is better. I did feel a niggling bit of guilt over the table saw, because Dad had bought that for me some years ago (2008?). But he's not going to use it, friends aren't going to use it, and I'm certainly not using anything that can sever a limb. So it felt useful and right to donate all the items to a good charity that can make use of them. Step 1 of my goal to an empty garage (save for moving boxes) is complete.   Peace . P.S. Saw this on TinyBuddha.com today and thought it was good, for anyone who is going throu...

Fifty percent off at Value Village today for card members, in advance of the general sale tomorrow. I hemmed and hawed, but decided to go and am glad I did! Seven short-sleeved tops for the warmer weather (I didn't try them on, but any that don't fit well enough for work can be worn on weekends or with pj bottoms), a small cushion with a removable cover (the only way I'll buy a pillow second hand is if it had a removable/washable cover), a textured fabric shower curtain and a table runner, for less than $31 including tax. Woohoo! The most expensive item was the shower curtain at $4 (regularly $8). Cute little pillow for $3.   Nicki approves of the shower curtain.   Close up of the shower curtain. Nicki's not so sure about the table runner. It was $1, so I don't care if I have his approval.   He fixated on the shower curtain. LOL.   All the great finds!   As for Nicki himself, he was feeling perky enough this morning to scratc...

It's a bit cold right now for a nekkid tummy!   Thanks for all the good wishes and healing energy for him. He's spending most of his time in the basement in "his" spot--blankets folded up on a Rubbermaid storage container. He's eating, though, and even played with Mr Stick last night for a minute or two, so that's a good sign. I'm holding my breath to see whether he'll get sick--a few winters ago he came back from the vet and then got so sick with a virus, which he passed on to Derry, of course. He's been sounding a bit chesty since Thursday and last evening he had an asthma attack, but I hope he'll stabilize now with rest and TLC. Peace . (Comments are off.)

(Apologies for the long post.) Nicki went for a dental yesterday. Fun, fun, fun. Enlarge to read the amount! :-O It went okay, except he had part of his left pre-molar missing and "type 2 re-absorption" with the roots. Fortunately, type 2 re-absorption meant he didn't need the roots removed (one already was absorbed into the bone), just the remaining part of his tooth. He has a couple of stitches in the gum which will dissolve in about 10 days. However, his blood work showed his ALT and Globulin levels up -- Nicki's ALT always has been high normal (liver), but the increase in Globulin levels was new. Could be infection, inflammation, cancer, liver disease, other. Anyway, I opted to have the vet do an ultrasound while Nicki was there, to check things out. It was pricey ($275 plus tax), but indicated that his organs appear normal. The vet said he could send the x-ray to a radiologi$t, but since nothing seemed amiss, I declined. Nicki also had his ana...

A co-worker's dad just adopted Carlos a few days ago from a shelter in the area. Both pics are from my co-worker and are posted with permission. Carlos is 13 years and 9 months old and has had a few homes. The first was with someone who had to go into a care facility, the second was with someone who turned out to have allergies, and the most recent previous home was with an elderly man who just passed away. I don't think Carlos had been at the local shelter very long at all before my co-worker saw the ad and sent it to her dad, who went to meet him right away.  Happily, Carlos now has his true forever home and has settled in without problem, has taken over the house. I wish them both, cat and human, a happy life together.  :-) How does it get any better than this?  :-) Peace .

First, let me me state outright that I do not want to see anymore flat-pack furniture for a very long time to come. Yesterday being the holiday, everything was closed and of course there wasn't any bus service. That meant it was a great day to put together the Ikea desk I had ordered. I started around 7:30 AM or so and finished in the early afternoon, with breaks to take down my outdoor Christmas decorations, talk to family and friends on the phone, etc. So it wasn't as onerous as the TV bench, though I had to pause a lot and enlarge the PDF instructions, puzzle over the drawer rails, etc. All the hardware.   Hardware sorted.   Nicki's ready to help!   It's progressing...slowly.   There were 34 instructions on 24 pages. The drawers were almost at the very end. Done at last. Even though the desk is plain and utilitarian, it works really well in the space. I love having my laptop on it, in view of the TV and freeing up my dining ...

Happy New Year, everyone! My wish is that 2017 will be less crazy , for lack of a better word, than 2016. However, I somehow doubt the world will be any saner just because the calendar date changes, especially for the foreseeable future. All the more reason to focus our energies on what we can do, to make our little corners of the globe better places. And if we can't help in any way, however small, at least let's do our very best to do no harm. All images snagged from Facebook, the first two from a page about introverts. 2017 will usher in significant work changes in our office, with the impending retirement of our old director next fall (and a new one to take his place, obviously), a new assistant director position created and now posted on our HR site, as well as an external review of our little unit (not the merged department overall). Whether I have a job there--or choose to have a job there--by the end of 2017 remains to be seen. Whatever happens...