We’re spending an hour to batten down the hatches and do some preparation (yet again) for another potential emergency evacuation in Altadena, CA. This one due to potential mud slides and debris flows expected in the Eaton Fire burn scar areas with impending heavy rains this afternoon. I suspect we’re probably reasonably safe due to our neighborhood’s location with respect to Eaton Canyon (i.e. the mountain and the canyon walls should divert flow to the Southeast of our neighborhood). This being said, having endured one catastrophe this year, I know to anticipate the worst.
The notice came at about noon as dark clouds impinge on us from the mountains North of us and from the East. Weather reports began last night and some have predicted intermittent rain, highly uncommon for us this time of year, which may see rates as high as 2 inches per hour. We have several evacuation routes and plans ready (including escape to the roof if necessary).
The sun is still shining overhead with a sustained breeze of about 5 miles per hour.
Fingers crossed.
A mid-19th century typing accessory in steel with putty colored paint.
9" x 7" x 4 3/4"
I picked this copy holder up at a thrift store in early 2025 for about $2. Along with a binder clip or some small magnets, it’s great for transcribing notes using one of my typewriters.
Public Service Announcement: Here’s your gentle maintenance reminder to clean the slugs on your typewriter to keep your type fresh and crisp.
A punch for making file tabs of 2 1/4" x 3/4"
P/N 68500
I had been considering getting a custom punch made several times, but never looked to see if one already existed commercially. Today, while doing a 5 minute peruse of the thrift store, there it was!
When you use as many tabbed index card dividers as I do, this can be incredibly useful. It’s just the right size for doing 1/3 cut tabs on 4″ x 6″ index cards.
Acquired at Acts Thrift Store on October 7, 2025 for $2.50.
Design by Gibson Greeting Cards, Inc.
I’ve been wanting a vintage desktop index card holder and pen set for a bit. This excellent version has a nautical theme featuring a ship with subtle blue lines on the sails and red rope lines that call to mind the red and blue lines on standard lined index cards. The fact that the blue color pairs well with my executive tanker desk doesn’t hurt.
$3.99 at Acts Thrift Store, Pasadena, CA. Acquired on 2025-10-07.
Sorry Ron, but that is more likely a late 40s Underwood SS than an Underwood 5. But I too want to type up every word I know.
Made up a new batch of homemade sugar syrup for the bar and realized I’d never typed up a recipe for the card index. Sorted…
Thinking about the current storage capacity of my card index collection, I made a back-of-the-index-card calculation:
172,000 index cards * 150 words / card [average maximum, using front only] * 1,200 bytes / 150 words [rough average with Unicode encoding] * 1 kb / 1024 bytes * 1MB/1024 kb = approximately 200 MB of text storage
Having it well organized and indexed… Priceless.
Material: Steel
Design: art deco, two pedestals with an adjustable lamp head
Color: Brown crinkle paint
I love the fact that there are small grooves in the base that seem to be designed to hold a pen or pencil.
Today’s reading and writing space.
Tonight it’s a double pairing: first it’s the 1955 Royal HHE typewriter and an Isle of Skye 18 year old Scotch whisky and an almost perfect pairing of the Royal HH with my new (to me) brown vintage (1940s?) desk lamp with art deco styling.