Chit Chat - What's on your mind today?

[skb]

I haven't had a bad dream for years thankfully. 

I have them all the time. It is the state of the mind, really.

[bigskygal]

I used to have a lot more bad dreams, but I haven't had that many lately. I guess that is why it threw me for a loop and spoiled my day.

[skb]

Something I thought I'd share - I dream a lot about trains. Almost every night. What could be the reason or the connection ? Any thoughts ?

[bigskygal]

Something I thought I'd share - I dream a lot about trains. Almost every night. What could be the reason or the connection ? Any thoughts ?

I went through a phase of reading about dream meanings. I'll dig out the books and quote a few for you. Off the top of my head I would say maybe the dreams have to do with change. Going from one place to another or maybe fear of going somewhere, perhaps even going/growing into old age?  I'll see what the books say later today.

[bigskygal]

I am amazed by the kindness of strangers, especially in these days of fear about the "stranger". I went to to the grocery store yesterday and was exhausted by the end of shopping and checking out. The woman behind me asked her husband to help me load my car (15# bag of cat food among other heavy things). He was so happy to help. Very nice couple and turns out they don't live far from me. We exchanged phone #'s and he said anytime I needed help they'd be happy to come over. A new addition to my "network" of friends!

This wasn't the first time this happened either. Last time I bought the big bag a young man before me in line, sat in his car and waited for me to come out so he could lift the big bag into the car.

I don't know if this is a factor of small town life or just good people willing to help, but it was sure a good feeling!

[walkerwally1]

Well, it is a sign that there really are nice people around.  This is a fairly small town and I have to say that most of the people around here are pretty nice and helpful. 
I haven't had a bad dream for many years and glad of that.  I dream mostly about kind of mundane adventures and don't really remember much about anything.

[skb]

I don't know if this is a factor of small town life or just good people willing to help, but it was sure a good feeling!

A bit of both I think. In a big city, just due to the sheer numbers, you are likely to be ignored, though surely there are people at hand to help.

[walkerwally1]

OK just a Chit Chat thing I just thought of.  In days past items that were portable and needed batteries were advertised as sold with "batteries not included".  I remember going to my brothers house for Christmas and bringing toys for his kids, my nephew and two nieces  and didn't think to get batteries for them so I had to go out on Christmas day and find a store open to get batteries so they could use them.  This morning I used my hand held vacuum cleaner that has a rechargeable battery and it dawned on me how many items I now have that depend on rechargeable batteries and how much time I spend putting them on a charger.  My phone, my watch, my iPad, my laptop, my Fitbit and the list goes on and I am putting items on a charger every morning.  I still have some things that take replaceable batteries but it is fewer all the time. 

[bigskygal]

That is so true!! I have a ton of AA rechargeable batteries and just recently my charger died! Go figure! Now I have to go buy a new charger, probably with a pack of batteries, I don't need.

The thing I have noticed recently is that everything I have bought, new scale, pulse oximeter, and wrist blood pressure reader, all take AAA batteries. Wonder if there is some kind of conspiracy with the battery makers to make us all go out now and get rechargeable AAA batteries and charger?? 

[skb]

So here is what I have heard/read

Rechargeable batteries are built for approximately 500 recharges. To avail the maximum life these batteries should be recharged only when they are completely drained out or at around 10% charge. Have you heard any such thing or know better ?

[bigskygal]

I was browsing batteries on Amazon and a lot of the ones I looked at said 1,000 charges. My peeve is that now so many things are coming with AAA instead of AA batteries, all my AA batteries are going to waste. Plus the charger is on it's way out .I charged 2 AA's today and they were so hot to the touch, if I had left them charging overnight I think they might have started a fire. I think the charger is dead...

Right now I have a lot of AAA's I bought on sale at Bed Bath and Beyond's going out of business sale. I'll look for rechargeable ones when these are gone. Seems more and more things are using the AAA's these days.

[bigskygal]

My little experiment with freezing Wholly Guacamole was a great success! I froze a little tub of it in April and last night defrosted it to have with my cottage cheese. It was just the same as the fresh tubs! I didn't know what to expect, but I didn't expect no change. Now I know if I buy extra, I can freeze some and not be disappointed in the final product.

[walkerwally1]

I never thought of freezing Wholly Guacamole but then we go through it so rapidly it would be not worth it unless I guess we got a deal on a whole bunch of it.  Good to know though.

[walkerwally1]

The idea of using a rechargeable battery until it is at 10% was true when we used NiCad batteries but with the advent of Lithium rechargeable batteries it is no longer true.  NiCads would develop a "memory" and if not discharged fully they would not charge fully then. I used to play around with RC airplanes and Quadcopters and we used NiCads and the chargers actually had a discharge option so you would discharge them before recharging them.  The Lithium batteries that we use today do not have a memory so this is not needed. 
I have items that use both AA and AAA batteries so I have a stock on both.  I used to buy rechargeable AA batteries but it was too much of a hassle and they do not last as long as the batteries sold now. 

[bigskygal]

I have items that use both AA and AAA batteries so I have a stock on both.  I used to buy rechargeable AA batteries but it was too much of a hassle and they do not last as long as the batteries sold now. 

I think I may only have 1 or 2 items that use AA batteries any more, the things I use most these days all use AAA. I think I am just going to let go of the rechargeable AA batteries as they die, since charger is dead and just buy a few regular ones when needed. As far as the AAA's go, I think I'm just going to stick with the regular ones too. You are right Wally, it is a hassle to go through the recharge process and it is just another gadget to eventually wear out and need replacing.