Random 5 for June 7, 2026 – techie stuff, projects, people, recycling, toad

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My spiffy new mouse!

Great idea but not intuitive for old people! – My computer mouse died. I bought a new one. They are wrapped tighter than Fort Knox in impenetrable wrapping. After I cut the hard plastic (nearly severing a finger), I couldn’t find the USB thingy. It was clearly marked that a mouse and a USB thingy were in the package. The print was in fly spec, impossible to read so I took out my magnifier. Nope, not a word about the thingy. Then I had a thought. Maybe it’s stored somewhere on the mouse. It was. Next to the battery area. Great idea but I never saw it when I put the battery in. Tech stuff thumbs down. They could have put a note on that said it was there or drawn a picture which is what they prefer. That’s an hour of my life I’ll never get back!

That empty rectangle on the right side above the battery is where the USB thingy was stored.

Another indoor project – Our powder room update started this week. We’ve had some bumps along the way. Our old exhaust fan didn’t exhaust anywhere. It was installed in a small, boxed area which is why it was extra loud and didn’t do much. In fixing that, he also noted that the attic insulation in the front of the house needs more and the duct tape on some HVAC ductwork had completely disconnected. That was a big problem as it was pulling return air from the hot (or cold in the winter) attic. He fixed the ductwork, but he doesn’t do insulation so that will be a project for another day. I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow. In general, the job is going okay.

Déjà vu! – I remember how annoying it is to have someone, no matter how pleasant, in your home all day. My cat Sasha spent the day in the basement muttering and Gus supervised from one of the many cat beds. It’s not a big project so it will only take a few days. There will be a lull waiting for the new countertop, but it will be done next week.

Really good news – My old bathroom vanity was in good shape. It was not my style and wasn’t sized for the room, but I hate putting good things in landfills. My contractor recycles good stuff to Habitat for Humanity. He has a contact there so it will land in a home.

Hello Mr. Toad! – I was watering the plants in the front of my house, and I saw a slight movement. It was a toad in my flower bed. We had a nice chat while I was watering. I came out later and he was gone. I have areas where he can hide under foliage. A few years back, I bought bags of potting soil. One of them contained something live. I was terrified thinking it was a small snake, but it was a very small toad. I put him in my front yard. I saw him sporadically that summer but not since. They travel for food and water. I wondered if it was the same toad. I wished him a long and happy life.

So how was your week?

64 thoughts on “Random 5 for June 7, 2026 – techie stuff, projects, people, recycling, toad”

  1. Hmmm, the USB thingy…what a mystery. I probably wouldn’t have spotted it either. Technology…ugh.

    Glad the project is going well. It never fails when you’re doing a project that something will interrupt the progress. Hopefully the insulation project will go smoothly. With energy prices being as high as they are now, it makes sense to get to it sooner than later. For the cats sake, hopefully things will wrap up soon and they can get back to canoodling together.

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  6. What a cute toad! Do you suppose that, given the appropriate treatment as described by the Brothers Grimm and M. Perrault, it would turn into a prince? 😉

    As for Déjà Vu, I’ve been experiencing that since last night. Trump shouldn’t have forced a ceasefire on us in April. The Iranians have obviously used the time well, from their point of view. They seem to have plenty of missiles left in their arsenal.

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  7. seems there is a time for new mice… bought one too. in junk store. not wrapped in foil, it was in a box. with opening one end, the other one opened automatically too and the mouse was on the floor. the thingy was found within some minutes, just the battery flap thingy is lost. now I have quasi an open source mouse… cool ;O)))

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  8. Glad the project is going well.

    We’ve had a good week ~ helping my niece who’s 7 mo. pregnant with packing for their move on Tuesday. they’ll be staying here on the occasional night through the end of June while they tie up loose ends (Nate’s graduation; Jess’s baby shower; etc.)

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  9. The worst part of any job around the house is finding stuff which was done wrong previously, and which no one knew about, and correcting it.

    Mr. Toad is quite handsome and I’m with you on the killer packaging and not being able to read the tiny print, or often even interpret it.

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    • This house, which showed well when it was up for sale, has been a minefield of jerry-rigged stuff. In this case our contractor said it’s common to use a couple screws to make sure the ductwork stays together and put the tape on top of that. It was a vertical section and the weight along with fluctuating temps make the tape fail and it pulled down. We have noticed a difference in 2 days.

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  11. I hate when you have to mangle the packaging to get at something. I lose my patience every time. I take my taxes in every year to the CPA and I put them on a new flash drive which, when he’s done, I keep it with the taxes. Every year, it is the same thing – multiple layers of packaging to get to the flash drive – why? I did have a mouse like that once – I think it is self-contained like that for if you take the laptop traveling, but I think I did the same thing and couldn’t find it. I actually bought a corded mouse as I nodded off one time, my hand still holding onto the mouse and the mouse went careening onto the floor, the back fell off, spilling its guts on the kitchen floor. At least now, it is limited how far it can travel. 🙂

    I use a wireless keyboard for my laptop after hunching over it for years and the battery, which lasts forever, always seems to die when I’m doing something. When I was still working, invariably I’d be on a rush, so I’d flip it upside down, turn the battery around a few times, which helped it for a few hours, then it would stop working again.

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  12. That’s a pretty mouse. But how can anyone, old or young, be expected to find the USB thingy without being told where it is?

    Bless those people who find ways to repurpose things like your vanity.

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  13. I haven’t used a mouse in so long I can’t remember, but all of my family members certainly do. I wish you good luck with finding the right insulation company. We had it done years ago, price was good, product was fine, and the customer service was great. Then she decided to transition to pest management, and we haven’t been able to find one who will just blow in some insulation and not try to sell us every other product they sell. Glad your project is going well and you got to find a new home for the vanity.

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      • Our heat/AC ducts run through our attic. We had extra blown in maybe five years after the initial insulation. Then it settled with the very tops of the ducts showing. It had been about 7 or 8 years so I thought it would be good to replenish so the ducts were totally covered. That’s when I wanted to add some, but I got totally turned off trying to deal with the contractors. Yes, I was mystified also – a female owned business employing all females and then transitioned to pests. 🙂

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  14. Mr. Toad… I am going to believe it was the same toad. I want a happy fairy tale, er… toad tale today🐸
    I am going to whisper here and say… it looks like the powder room update is moving along well. Pretty nice your worker guy fixed your ductwork. There is for sure still good people out there.

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    • The ductwork was in the rafters and my husband couldn’t have fixed it. Too unsteady. I’m sure he’ll charge us for that but I’m good with that. We don’t have a simple handyman. He is changing out some of the electrical switches too. All good. I have looked for Mr. Toad and haven’t seen him. There are good hiding places in the front border.

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  15. A mouse and a toad has me thinking. I love that you conquered one and chatted with the other. I have NO patience. That mouse would have been out the window. Like Lisa, I think it’s great your Vanity found the perfect home. Someone who always wanted one will be over the moon.

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  18. Hint for us “older” techies. If you have several things that use that little “USB thingie”, paint a spot of matching nail polish on the thingie and on the device it operates. That way you will never have to suffer through trying to figure out which one goes with what.

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    • Great idea! I used nail polish on my sewing machine needles to easily tell what they were for. I’ve been either taping them to the device of in the case of a mouse, putting both in a sandwich bag. I looked at my old mouse and dang, it had that storage port too.

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  20. It’s actually great that your contractor fixed a couple of other things he’d run into that needed fixing while he’s doing your project! I’m sure you’ll be glad when it’s over though. No doubt the cats will be happy too. Many years ago when we had our cat Sammy, he made friends with a toad that lived under our sidewalk. They were “besties”. We would laugh watching the two of them. Sam behind the toad and when the toad would stop Sammy would very gently push him so he’d hop. It was hilarious – I still wish to this day I’d remembered I could take a little movie of that. But then again it would probably make me cry. Happy Sunday!

    Hugs, Pam

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