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Held a photo session of games and beer. Other options in the comments.

Switching to Valvoline oil. I found out that it’s not “valvolayn”, but “valvolin” or “valvoliin” (just so you know, these sound the same to us, but to Americans, they are completely different sounds, like black and white). Turns out, Valvoline is actually a girl’s name. Though, there is also “gasoline,” which isn’t a name but sounds similar.

Yuki and I meet deer every evening near the house, on the side of the pedestrian path. The deer and Yuki usually watch each other intently and for a long time. Yuki seems to be able to watch them for hours. The deer are also in no hurry. After the first ten minutes, I run out of patience, and the deer, seeing our approach, run away, their white behinds flashing. Unlike the deer, the hares seem dumb. And the squirrels, when approached on a bike, can easily jump under the wheels. The cleverest are the foxes. They manage to barely be seen, although by indirect signs, they are always somewhere nearby.

However, when another dog approaches, Yuki “turns on the hunter”. This never happens with wild animals. He immediately lies down on his belly, places his chin on the ground, and tucks in his tail. Then, with short dashes on semi-bent paws, he sneaks up to his target, crossed out the dog. Dogs are not surprised by this, and their owners smile. (Switching him back to normal mode only succeeded during trips. There, the dog did not behave this way) But Yuki, waiting until the distance is a few meters, suddenly jumps, and then it depends on luck. In half the cases, he plays, in the other half, he growls aggressively and starts a fight. It seems to correlate with the gender and size of the furry friend he meets, but not clearly. Apparently, he has his reasons.

Please provide the text you need translated.

I have a reason to rejoice – my first major purchase (well, besides a house) in six years. The family decided to support my dream of a new electronic piano to replace the old Yamaha P-120 — a Kawai CN39, and now, I’ve set it up and am playing. I haven’t connected it to the computer yet to properly record the sound, so this time the sound is from the microphone. Behind me, the gas heater turns on periodically, but that shouldn’t spoil Bach (only I am skilled enough to do that). Thanks to everyone who gave advice and helped choose Ivan Shapovalov Piano Studio Tatiana Loisha Nadezhda Shulga

There’s a Mac Mini 2012 in the background. It’s so slow that it’s only good for the metronome and music sheets. Yes, everyone asks about the numbers on the screen – it’s a visual metronome. I invented it to avoid turning on the tick-tick-tick, although it can do the tick-tick-tick too. I usually use it during “practice” sessions at a slow pace, so by the second half of the recording, I already stopped hitting it (regrettably, of course, I need to practice more)

The Omicron variant has skyrocketed from 3% to 78% of all infection cases in less than two weeks in our area. Three-quarters of all tests here now show Omicron. In our county, there have been just about three COVID deaths since April 1st, but the case number is climbing. Today it’s 200, a month ago it was 70. In our community, dozens have tested positive, but thankfully, most would not even have known they were infected if they hadn’t taken the tests. No specific measures are being implemented – vaccinated people are still allowed to go without masks, just on an honor system. Nadya, Liza, and I have already received our third shots, which I recommend you do as well.

Why am I not a cat? #sunbathing

In my childhood, such devices were installed in buses. On the right side, a ticket would twist out of the blue gadget, and a coin could be thrown into the top slot (or not – it depended on your conscience; tickets could be twisted out without a nickel). Alternatively, there was an open window at the driver’s where you could toss a nickel after your ride. There were no conductors at all. Back then, it was believed that the Soviet person had reached a sufficient level of consciousness, and his conscience could be the best controller. In the second photo – a puncher for ticket validation. It appeared later. Here, a ticket purchased with the help of a live seller was punched, the conscience-driven system was somewhat softer, but theoretically, the same ticket could be used ten times (though holes were punched differently, who really looked at that?)

We were told that Shiba Inus don’t bark. Yuki barks only at himself and the vacuum cleaner (out of three, only at the Dyson). The mirror bothered him at two months old, then didn’t bother him for four months, and now occasionally he seems to see something there, probably ghosts.

Discovery of the day. There are practically no steam generators/steam stations for home use on the US market. We want to buy one and can’t find anything. Essentially, there are two models – a Rowenta for $300, which almost all reviews describe as “cheap crap, do not buy” and “Laurastar Lift” for $700, described as “better than Rowenta, but still that’s all there is”. But, damn, $700 and a choice of just one model. In Russia, the M-Video site alone has 130 models from Philips, Tefal, Brown, Lelit, Bosch. On the Philips site for the US, there is one (PerfectCare 9000), but it costs $1200. There are commercial ones for $500-600, but they are not portable at all. If I had a laundry room, I would buy them there. But for now, there is no laundry room.

An article on tomguide from August 2021 titled “Why there are no steam generators in the US” states that the steam generator market in the US is smaller than, say, the UK’s. In the US, ironing has almost disappeared from households with the advent of non-iron fabrics. You know, those flannel check shirts, jeans, and wrinkle-resistant T-shirts. And since almost everyone has a dryer next to their washing machine, often gas-powered…

On Reddit, a guy is yelling how he came from England, and now does not know how to properly iron here. He was told that the only steam generator here has pipes, and you usually need to drive to it, and asked what ironing has to do with it. Basically, they didn’t offer him any useful advice.

Bringing one from Europe isn’t an option either. Needs a 110v to 220v converter, which is quite expensive for 2500W. That’s how it is.