2415 Her Urchin Name Would Be Rags Dumplin.

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You don’t see many street urchins these days. The time of the professional urchin has long since gone. A society with a large urchin population is probably not one that’s thriving. Those are the ones that don’t care for the less fortunate. Jo is probably too old to get into the urchin game anyway. Once you leave your teens it becomes a lot harder to successfully urch.

Thanks for the well wishes for my birthday. It wasn’t one of the better ones, if I’m honest, but we’re reaching the end of the line as far as birthdays go, so I should probably be glad I had one at all.

Currently my cake is hidden in the microwave because if you don’t hide food grandpa will get up when he thinks you aren’t looking and eat as much as he can before he gets caught. I’m not sure what eating an entire cake would cause, but I’m certain I don’t want to be the one who cleans it up. The cleanup for regular disasters is bad enough & I’m gonna run out of bleach.

If you feel like contributing to the fund for more bleach please feel free, nay encouraged, to support me via the links above.

29 Comments

When you say street urchin, are you referring to the guys on the street corner doing shell games?

Ok, took me a moment, but have yer up-vote and my gratitude.

In other news, happy birthday, Jackie, wishing you all the best.

I think [street urchins] is- kids under 18-19, who: are homeless…or close to that poverty level, who live without parents, + have a legal or illegal jobs. Some steal or scavenge for food
.
Think of the kids in the novel- Oliver Twist, or tv or movie versions of OT.

Don’t think you have to be that old to be a street urcin.

Huh. Ok. I was trying to say that maybe kids from birth to 19 could be street urchins. Who knows?
I guess I phrased that in an awkward way.
I guess it doesn’t really matter. :)

I’m not sure what you use bleach for, but maybe this is news you can use: there’s a gadget called “Force of Nature” that turns water into a disinfectant. You add the secret chemical mix, plug in to wall power, and run the electrolysis cycle. The water becomes a mild solution of hypochlorous acid, a highly effective and safe disinfectant, and it is a pretty good cleaning solution.

The secret chemical mix is vinegar and salt. I make my own mix rather than buying the pre-made capsules, but I think even the capsules are not that expensive. They would cost more than bleach but frankly bleach is nasty stuff and I would rather use HOCl solution.

The other secret cleaning solution you should know about is enzyme cleaners. The one we use is called “Bac Out” but there are many others. You put the solution on any organic mess and it will sort of digest the mess. I have used it on the carpet when our cats threw up or otherwise had some kind of accident. It’s also good for organic messes on clothes; pre-treat with enzyme cleaner and throw in the wash.

Actually, chlorine bleach is not that nasty if used properly–that is, minimize skin contact (it turns your skin oils to soap), and don’t expose it to anything it will wreck or that is acidic. If you react it with acid you get chlorine gas–not good–but when it is fully reacted in solution, what’s left is saltwater.

Also, it disinfects at pretty low concentrations, so you don’t need much.

That said, I do a lot of kitchen cleaning with dish soap, baking soda, and vinegar. They do a good job, too.

Also–Happy birthday, Jackie. May spring bring better things to you.

After a certain age you have to become a saucy urchin, learn some saucy songs and dances. There’s probably a saucy urchin sage she could visit on the top of a mountain– or in a mansion somewhere (you don’t want to learn from a poor urchin).

Terry Pratchett covers the last point, regarding the “King of the Beggars” who feels obliged to ask passers-by for a mansion for the night, or the price of a banquet, to keep up the standards expected of his position.

Jo has missed her time, she could have been an “Oyster Girl”…

I was just gonna say. You don’t see urchins any more because they’re no longer as musical as they once were. You get more singing, dancing urchins to do what amounts to public street theater, you can promote it to the tourist trade. Might get a subsidy deal from the local municipality that way.

Happy birthday … week!
Wish you the most out of life, health, love, and bearable almost-failures.

… if we disregard the prompt and utterly wearing consequences, this is a hilarious strategy from the old man. He seems to have a sense for comedy, too. and a blissful disregard why the plan may not work. A personified tribute to life really.

Happy (if rather belated) Birthday Jackie, I hope you got to enjoy your cake yourself before your grandpa found it.

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