It’s not everyday that I get over a thousand grubs via the mail. When the box was opened, a vaguely familiar smell came forth. Toasty, kind of fried, with an undercurrent of animal.

Pork rinds. That’s close. So far, the juncos are eating all around them, but we’ll see as the afternoon moves on.

The good news is, I got in an hour of walking. The bad news goes on and on. The actual walking was at a frustratingly leisurely pace, behind small children and sluggish couples. A family member was left behind in Returns purgatory with a waiting area full of dead-eyed customers.

The idea was to meet up in the kitchens area, but with only one cell between us, this was a lesson in futility. I wound up going back and forth many times, trying to breathe the increasingly stale air, having to ask directions several times. In a miracle of sorts, our paths crossed at last.

Even after a decent lunch and hot cocoa, I’ve fallen into a post IKEA torpor.

Some of you will go, ‘Ewwwww, how gross is that.’ Others will say, ‘Mmmmm, sardines.’ Still others would say, ‘But is that it?’

Well, no. There was the olive oil potato salad, which will have to do till I start making my own mayo, because I can’t deal with the vinegar in bought mayonnaise. I will do this soon, I miss mayo, especially in potato salad. So I wound up not finishing the sardines. Then later, I had some blueberry cobbler, which was not photogenic at all, but quite good.

Then I went out and bought more prop dishes.

From where I sit, garbage day is a procession of various waste collection trucks. I see the tops of the trucks, the flashing yellow lights, if any, and on hot days, run to close the door for a bit. Yesterday, I was surprised to see a human perched on top of his truck.

He appeared to have a couple of big recycling bins stuck in the upside down position. This made him very unhappy. He wrestled with one, got it unstuck, emptied it manually and flung it toward the curb. Luckily, it wasn’t mine. Mine was the other one, which was lowered with more respect by the truck.

Periodically, the city brings by new containers. On those days, it sounds like the citizens are under siege, what with the booming sounds of giant trash bins rolling off flatbed trucks. Unlike the metal cans of old, these bins don’t dent, have self-covers and appear to be varmint-proof.

However, the combined machine noises of the regular trash, the yard waste and the recycling trucks are no match for the tree pruners, who spent the day cutting and then GRINDING a neighbor’s trees.

Good thing I took part of the day off.

Some ingenious fixes for a few of life’s annoying problems that don’t require big bucks, but just a few items sitting around your place.

Can’t access the NYT? Try BugMeNot.

I know that as actors age, some move into the bad guy slots. Jeremy Irons seems to have found a home in such roles. But what intrigues me is that Lance Hendriksen is in the cast, along with Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris.

One of the squirrels that tries to dine here has been relocated to another city. Meanwhile, the dark-eyed juncos continue to rule the dining table, chasing off everything else when they eat. Mr. and Mrs. Towhee still look terrified when they come by, but they visit much more frequently.

I just ordered 1250 roasted grubs. Things will get more interesting when they arrive.

The woman’s cart was loaded with shelving and assorted boxed up furniture. She glanced at the sign on the elevator regarding simple DIY instructions and snorted. ‘Hah!’, she said. ‘Simple, eh? Is that why there’s always a piece or two leftover from everything I try to put together?’

During Secretary of the Treasury Geithner’s speech, the Dow drops almost 300 pts, the Nasdaq near 50. Still to come, the stimulus bill vote outcome and Bernanke speaks after that. I expect some whipsawing action. Be careful out there.

The sickly junco has disappeared, presumably dead after being attacked by its healthier kin. But it had plenty to eat up till its demise.

Being new to this whole feeding business, I had bought a big sack of grocery store birdseed, which is mostly the stuff my visitors turn their beaks up at. They pick out the good stuff, and favor the sunflower seeds, which are few. Until I popped for a 5-lb bag of nothing but. Now I’m saving up for the even pricier njer seeds, which attract finches.

The squirrel population showed no interest till they spotted the sunflower seeds. My feeding station is not the commercial variety, but simply a table with a board in the center, which is the buffet. This is located about two feet from where I work in front of a large window. Most of the birds ignore me, but if I decide to watch instead of work, sometimes they will turn their backs while chowing down. Except for the towhees, who startle if I make the slightest movement.

From time to time, I would hear a thump, then a squirrel would loom into sight. This always results in me getting up and chasing it away, usually all the way to the back where it runs up one of the trees. But as we all know, squirrel brains are highly attuned to human behavior. When I had to leave the premises, forgetting to cover up the table, I would return to find the shells of sunflower seeds everywhere. But it wasn’t just that they saw me leaving in the car. This also happened if I went to down the hall to tackle my ironing chores (more on that later).

But across the pond, there’s a solution, and an environmentally friendly one at that.

This morning, besides the usual flaxseed meal, a banana, salt and some scrapings from a block of bittersweet 100% cacao chocolate. The result is not a pretty sight, but should get me through the morning, especially the prop-hunting session.

From India, promise of an amazing product, one that could indeed change the world.

I keep my cornstarch in a container exactly like the one that holds powdered sugar. Years ago, I labeled them, C for the starch, CS, for confectioner’s sugar. You might think I would use somewhat different names. This afternoon I made a blueberry peach cobbler with the Splenda that is part real sugar. It was fine, but slightly under-sweetened. It was not photogenic enough, but tasty all the same.

So for dessert, I shook a couple of tablespoons of powdered sugar over the top. Or so I thought. Sigh.

It’s a very white dessert now.

Somehow I missed this when it first hit the intertubes. Just looking at the step-by-step photos is enough to make more than a few arteries constrict in fear.

I actually have all the ingredients on hand to make this. But I seriously doubt I will.