Random 5 for April 29 – May, love noise, charities, happiness, blogging

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Goodbye April – Or as my mother would say, “Don’t let the door hit your bum on the way out!” Can’t say I’m sorry to see the month change. It brings hope for better weather and an end to some yearly routine medical appointments.

It’s white noise time! – Along with the warmer weather, our frogs are getting frisky. I like it. Amore and all that but the beloved husband is not a happy camper. The noise from the frogs and toads keeps him awake all night. He has turned on the white noise machine. It’s officially spring now. (Sort of…I still have my seat heater on in my car!)

Rounding up without permission? – I bought a small item at a store (the brick and mortar kind) recently. It cost around $3.50. I was stunned when I saw the balance come up to $5. With taxes it’s rarely an even amount but how did it get to be that expensive. I looked at register. There was a “round up for charity” item. If your bill is not an even amount, it rounds it up to the next dollar and gives that money to charity. I’m all for charity but my donation was 98 cents on an inexpensive item for a charity I never heard of. I had the clerk take it off. Must remember to be alert for those things.

Awesome! – I saw a new sign this week. It said “I can’t make everyone happy. I’m not a pizza!” Since pizza is one of my favorite foods I related to this instantly!

For bloggers – A blogger posted that her comments were getting caught in spam filters recently. I checked my spam and found three of my regular readers’ comments there. They are long time readers so I don’t know how it happened but I “unspammed” them and will be more alert. It’s good to check spam periodically.

So how was your week?

 

67 thoughts on “Random 5 for April 29 – May, love noise, charities, happiness, blogging”

  1. OH, I miss the night sounds. 1. this house is build to hurricane standards with double window and roof specialness, so even the rain doesn’t intrude. 2. we have an air cleaners as it’s allergy zone on the prairie…and the dogs likes to sleep in front of it..l.which means all the dog dander and hair is air lifted, so purpose is sort of defeated…cannot convince either Sr Staff or Molly of this fact.
    I love the pizza sign. And not the automatic “giving”. (I hate the stores/companies/businesses that have these big donation drives then they give it all in a big chunk to the charity – and brag how much they helped the charity. I’ll keep charity as a DIY project here.

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  2. I find the noise of the peepers to be another kind of comforting white noise. I actually shout with glee when I first hear them- it means winter be gone! On the other hand, the birds start chirping at 5 am here. I know they need to find their mates, but really, who’s feeling sexy at 5 am?? 🤔

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    • It goes in spurts. When the weather is nice, I’m outside cleaning up. I’ve done some “side trips” filling out in-laws trees. For my own, all the easy stuff is done. I’ve either gone as far as I can or the rest involves searching microfiche. I’ve given a printed tree to close relatives but I’d like to fill out with the history of the area. I’ve found this more fascinating than I thought.

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  4. Hmm. Which random thought should I begin with. How ’bout charity. Aren’t they supposed to ask before they roundup the total cost of an item? I know at PetSmart they do the roundup thing, but they always ask first, or at least I thought they did. Maybe I should make sure next time. I’ve been slowly edging away from PetSmart anyway, and getting some items on Chewy.com.

    I’ve had that spam thing happen on my blog once or twice. I always forget to check that folder.

    Do your frogs make that super loud bellow? We had frogs like that outside a cabin where we stayed in the mountains once. We didn’t sleep much on that trip.

    The weather is supposed to be in the 70’s here today . . . the first time since October! It’s been a loooong winter. If you’re ever in my neighborhood, I’ll take you out for a Chicago deep dish. 🙂

    Have a great week.

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    • Yesterday was another cold day but they are promising spring this week. Trees are late with their leaves. Even the grass is later. Rounding up for charity may be a good idea but you have to agree to it and they should let you pick your charity.

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  7. I have had a lot of exposure to the “rounding up” for charity, but I’ve always been asked. I don’t like the assumption! I’m with you on that. The first time I had this option was in Yosemite. The National Parks have used this method and I think that’s great…but again, and option that we can choose or not! I don’t have any toad sounds anywhere at all, and I think I would love that! I do have a nature sounds sleep app I can use, maybe I should give that sound a try? 🙂 (So glad your April medical appointments are behind you for a year. Hooray!)

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  12. Once more you have called out from atop the battlements. The spam bit got me too. Just confirms to me it is right I like pizza better than spam. Thank you. Glad youre on the Planet…you dress up the joint

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  13. One of our local supermarkets does that charity round-up thing every once-in-a-while and I really dislike it. Although it’s not automatic, I feel pressure to say “yes.” I have my own charities (it may even be one that they are collecting for) and prefer to write one or two checks to each a year… not dribble out my donations a few pennies at a time. I am also a little suspect that the store gets the full tax credit for “their” donation. I’ve learned to say “no thank you” without guilt.

    It’s good to be out of spam prison… I was surprised at how many commenters were having the same or similar problem.

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    • Yes there more than just you! I’ve learned how to say no too. I think I heard of the round up campaign somewhere but wasn’t asked. Don’t like that. Also never heard of the charity. Usually they are very well known.

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  14. We’ve noticed the frogs as well. The first night (two weeks ago) was so loud that my wife asked me to mark the date in my phone calendar with a reminder to see if it happens next year at the same time. 🙂 It’s tapered off since that night quite a bit. – Marty

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  15. I agree about the stealth donation at the store. I wonder how many people even notice! At lunch yesterday the waitress brought two bottles of water to the table and asked if we preferred the still water or sparkling. Fortunately I had the presence of mind to ask if water came with the meal or if we had to pay extra for either of the waters. She told us the sparkling water was $2 extra but the still water was free. That is the same kind of stealth behavior… some people may not even have noticed the extra $2 on their bill. I remember at another restaurant the waiter brought bread to the table which is a usual occurrence. It showed up as a $5 charge on the bill (which we had taken off)! Not being upfront about any kind of charge is an insult to the customer.
    Pizza is my favorite food group.

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    • I got caught on that water thing myself. It was lunch at an outdoor sidewalk café in Florida. Nothing fancy. My companion got a soda and I asked for water. They brought this bottle of water and poured it in my glass. It was some kind of sparkling mineral water which I didn’t like at all. I just wanted plain old tap water. It was a couple of $$ on the bill.

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  17. I’m a big believer in donating to charities of my choice, by writing a check. Being asked to make a donation to a different cause each week at the grocery store is wrong. These big chains should just donate themselves. I read that same post about comments going into spam. I’d never checked before and sure enough, there were some regular commenters sucked in. Just last night, Derek and I were outside listening to the frogs around the lake. They’re so happy! 🙂

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  18. I am going to check my spam – thanks. Odd things happen on WordPress every now and then (like noticing that I’ve suddenly unfollowed two or three people without having actually done that).

    Automatically adding money for a charity – that’s bold. I’ve been asked at the till if I want to add money, but never have they just done it without permission. I get very annoyed when I’m asked to give money while I’m checking out – it feels like blackmail and so I always say no. Trying to trap me into giving (usually to something I’ve never heard of before) so that the people behind me don’t think I’m cheap won’t work. I choose the charities I support, I don’t want to feel pressured.

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    • I feel the same way you do. In all fairness to the store, I don’t know for sure if it was automatic or if the clerk did it. She didn’t explain until I asked by the bill was so high and what the charity charge was. I don’t think badly of people who don’t give in check-out lines. They may have been there yesterday and gave then. They may have written a big check for something closer to their heart. It’s best not to judge. My husband can say no to a girl scout!

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  19. Hi Kate. It’s been a good week here (don’t mention the weather though).
    Can identify with pizza. Yum.
    As for the rounding up for charity, that’s a bit of a cheek isn’t it? Glad you spotted it anyway. Some discount stores show pre tax prices on the shelves so you think you’re getting a good deal until you check out then you’ve got another 20% added on.
    I’ve had a few regulars go in my spam and trash folder too recently, but I check them both daily and reinstated them. Seems to be since the ‘romanian’ thing a while back. Hubby’s had it come into his blog this week and stomped on it so fast, the offender probably rattled and reverberated for hours.

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  20. Did they announce that round up for charity with a sign or comment?

    Doing it “under the radar” seems wrong to me. Publix always asks if we want to donate to the charity of the week. I usually say no because I don’t want 52 slips of paper (weekly receipts) to save for tax records. I’d rather make a single annual contribution to the charities of my choice.

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    • I didn’t see a sign. The cashier had to explain it to me. Without permission is what ticked me off. During the fall our grocery store takes monetary donations for the local food bank but they ask during checkout. I will do that occasionally. Like you, I prefer to donate once or twice a year to the charities closest to my heart.

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        • It’s a big drugstore chain but I don’t go there often. There may have been a sign somewhere but I didn’t see it. I never heard of the charity so I didn’t know if it was local. Too much unknown. I was very surprised. If I had bought a lot of stuff I may not have noticed but on one item it stuck out. The need to do Robin Hood with their own money!

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  22. Happy Spring! The middle/end of this week is the promise of more summer like weather. I for one am delighted. And pizza, well hits all the important food groups. It is a perfect food!

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  23. HI, Kate – WordPress must have flipped another switch this past week. I’ve had tons of regular readers in my spam folder during the past several days. It’s usually only Marty in there….and even he hadn’t been abolished to that folder for a while. I wonder what’s up?

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    • They did some updates. Things so sideways when they do that. Initially I couldn’t empty my spam folder but I saw that was corrected. WP used to say that only comments with 2 links or a funky address ended up in the spam filter but it’s other WordPress bloggers with no links at all.

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  24. Yesterday New York was breathtaking. I wore a dress for the first time in months and strolled happily. I never realized how much weather can affect your moods. I went from the Little Match Girl to Pollyanna, who’s been missing in action, without passing GO.

    Re Spam

    My comments have become more than a burden, present company not included, so if they end up spammed…good. Had to tell a certain Englishman to please stop torturing me with his criticism.

    Then there’s the fella who thinks it’s a sex site. I’ll tell ya, blogging that for me truly is like going to the gym, is becoming hazardous.

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  26. I check my spam filter daily for the reason you mentioned. Weird that this is happening to all of us all of a sudden. I like the pizza sign. The truth will set you free– and make you smile. Happy Sunday, Kate.

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