I’ve been hearing stuff about not feeding birds cuz of avian flu and them gathering, etc. Does anyone have real info on this? I like feeding the birds, but I don’t want to become Typhoid Mary (bird edition)
Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave.
Me: < joins Zoom meeting >
Alex Catt: “BEHOLD, MY BUTTHOLE!”
I have never understood why they think we humans consider that an appealing view of the cat. I have to keep telling Allie to get her rump out of my face.
I think I finally got all the bandage adhesive off. That stuff hangs on! Nice bruise on the back of one hand, probably from an IV connector. It’s apparently keeping the bruise on the same-side upper arm company (got the upper arm one from painfully tight BP cuffs that cannot possibly be accurate, since that much pain has got to skew the reading).
Slight headache today, mostly focused around my left eye. Vision’s about like normal.
12-hour shift. Do it again tomorrow. I’m so exhausted that I’m literally too tired to sleep.
I hate that “too tired to sleep” condition. Would Monkey purrs help?
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 57 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 86 and mostly N.O.S. for the day. I went beddy bye right after my last post yestiddy and pulled an all nighter. That’s right, I did not wake up to go pee durin’ the night! Thus when I awoke a little while ago I really needed to go. However, I feel all refreshed so up I am. No doubt nappage shall occur. I shall betake myself over to the church house this mornin’, maybe even soon after daylight, to hunt down an Alb and cincture to wear tomorrow mornin’. I think it wise to do so just for peace of mind in knowin’ where what I need actually is. Plus, haven’t tied a cincture in a while so some practice would not be a bad thing. I even watched a youtube video. Outside of that it shall be a day of sloth and uselessness. We shall sup upon majik intartoobz pizza and sallit.
I do not know how to set up a Zoom or a Teams meetin’. I do know that Microsoft Teams is free. OK, I am told it is free. It would be fun to do this if’n someone amongst us knows how to do so.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, alas and bother of bothers, I suppose I must purtify and don appropriate bein’ amongst the general public attire. Why must I suffer so!
Happy Sattidy Y’all!
Morning, mumpers! Happy Caturday…at least I think it’s Caturday today, I’m still a bit out of sorts with days and times. It’s really strange how “losing” a night can put you right off track. However, have to get back on track as life continues and I have to go back to irk at stupid o’clock on Monday.
nettie good to hear that you are still with us!
Sunny we got the cats back on Friday morning. I have to unpack as soon as I get home otherwise I’d be falling over that suitcase for ages. Also, there’s stuff in there I would have needed almost immediately so it makes sense to do the job and get it out of the way. 'im indoors will probably unpack in bits, his case is still in the hallway and I know he’s already had some bits out of it but the majority of stuff (including all his dirty laundry) is still in there.
Mooooom glad you’re home safely and the laundry has begun!
No chance of slothage for me this weekend. I am off to Sharkfest today, all music and not a shark in sight! I’m driving so there will be plenty of water and diet coke/pepsi in my day. A couple of friends are staying at a hotel on the outskirts of the town where we’re going, so I’ll pick them up on the way through.
Tomorrow, I will be setting the alarm (gasp on a Sunday!) and going to a spin class at the gym. Then I need to put petrol in the car and stop off at the pet store for cat litter. I should also go and get some gig tickets, I have some vouchers to use and need to go to the venue’s box office to exchange them. They don’t open until midday on a Sunday so that means a separate trip as I will have done everything else before they’re open.
Cuppa, hair washing and then it’ll be time to get some lunch and get out of the house!
Thanks.
It is just a dining room table with all of the leaves put in. i put a 1/4" piece of plexiglass over it all and we put a 70" x 36" cutting mat on it.
Back in the old routine! I slept like the dead and woke without a backache! HUZZAH!! Critters have been tended to, a load of shirts is in the washer, and I’m breakfasting. FCD and I are going to start eating like responsible adults and not like babysitters left alone with a pantry full of treats. I’m not even going to whine about how much I’ve regained, but I am determined to shed it all, and we’re thinking if my sweetie can lose some poundage, maybe his legs won’t hurt as much. The hardest part will be evening snackage… Here’s hoping we can reinforce each other’s behavior.
Trip summary:
I made the mistake of being honest in the health survey, and I said we’d both had coughs in the previous 2 weeks. It was just a cold, shared in the family, but it got us pulled out of line to be interviewed by a woman with zero medical experience and a form to be filled out. Not a huge delay, but it required a fair bit of walking (the cruise terminal is big) and FCD was struggling at one point. Thankfully, he had his cane.
But eventually she, in her non-medical wisdom, determined that we weren’t plague-ridden, and we were allowed to board. One other change to the boarding procedure (apart from scheduled arrivals) is that they don’t issue your room key cards at the terminal - they’re at your cabin door. And it actually makes sense - it’d be obvious of someone snagged your cards and tried to use your room.
At 2, we were all permitted to go to our cabins since housekeeping was done prepping them. I have to say, having a room with a big window is nice - not quite as nice as a balcony, but nice all the same. Plus the room-darkening curtains really did work, which was great for all of FCD’s napping. Our bags arrived at the door shortly after supper, and we unpacked and got settled in as we headed down the bay.
It was Spring/Easter Break, so there were lots of kids aboard. For the most part, they were easy to avoid, but every once in a while, we’d encounter bands of feral teens or pre-teens being kids. There were a few parents I wanted to smack for not controlling their spawn, but mostly it wasn’t too horrible. Kinda like out in the regular world. Oh, and the ship had fewer than 1000 passengers - about half capacity, so that was pretty nice. The buffet wasn’t over-crowded at any time.
We never got off the ship at any of our port calls. Port Canaveral is in the middle of nowhere, we’d been to Nassau and Charleston before, and what we saw of Coco Cay from the ship was a giant water park, a beach, a zip line, and generally nothing we were interested in. The best part of that stop was that the majority of passengers got off so we had lots of private hot tub time to just sit and relax.
We had most of our breakfasts in the dining room. Most days it was just the 2 of us, but a couple of times we shared a table with other couples and it was nice. We only did the buffet for breakfast once. And we only had dinner in the dining room once. Overall, the food was mostly mediocre - quite a change from previous cruises with RCCL. Lots of starches and meats, minimal veggies available, apart from a salad bar. And waaaaaay too many really good desserts < hanging head in shame > - I chose at least 2 and occasionally 3… The night we ate in the dining room, the menu showed English trifle as one dessert option, so I chose that. HAH! It was a Jello parfait with a little fruit. In what parallel universe is that a trifle??
The biggest disappointment was bad dishwashing. I lost count of how many forks and knives I picked up that had dried food stuck to them and how many times I saw stuff stuck to my drinking glasses or floating in my water. BARF!!! And for some reason, they’d stack wet plates by the dessert bar - like I want to put a slice of pie on a wet plate. And one time I grabbed a plate, it had a line of dried food stuck to it - who knows how many times it’s gone thru the dishwasher like that. ick.
No, I stand corrected - the biggest disappointment was the mattress. I woke with an achy back every morning. Despite getting extra pillows and trying all sorts of configurations, including one under my knees, I never had a comfortable sleep. I so missed my memory foam!
I did kinda miss being connected via FB and email, but it wasn’t that big a deal till Easter. I somehow got a FB message from my daughter asking me to call her. We were in Coco Cay that day and there was no cell coverage. I told FCD we could wait till the next day when we got to Nassau - surely we would get signal there. And, of course, my first thought was that something happened to my mom.
No cell signal in Nassau - I couldn’t even get a roaming signal. We tried to use the ship-to-shore phone, but the server bank on the ship was all wonky so we could never get a dial tone. We went to Guest Services and the one worker there placed the call for us and we finally got connected with our daughter. Those of you who are friends with my sister on FB know what’s coming.
My sister’s son, Shawn, was dead. He was 31. He was supposed to be at the family Easter gathering, but he was always late, so they didn’t worry at first. Finally his dad drove to his apartment and found him sitting in front of his computer, asthma inhaler in hand. The last time anyone had contact with him was Thursday evening, so we don’t know when he died, and I don’t know if my sister has heard back from the coroner yet.
We weren’t close to Shawn - he hardly spoke with us, even when he was little, he barely acknowledged us. But really, we were practically strangers to him since we never lived as close by as the rest of the family. And he would go days without talking with his parents or sister or anyone else in the family - it’s just the way he was. He’s just finished his Masters in Engineering Management at Johns Hopkins and he was up for a promotion at Northrup-Grumman that would no longer require him to travel 3-4 times a week - he was looking forward to that.
Instead, there will be a memorial Mass on the 30th. He’s to be cremated. I ache for my BIL because of the last time he saw his son. I can’t even imagine what he’s going thru.
Anyway, that news plunged us into a surreal world - I still can’t quite wrap my head around it. FCD was saying he hopes it was natural causes and not drugs or alcohol. My mom said Shawn hadn’t been to a doctor in years - was he in denial or just confident in his immortality as people his age often are? I don’t know what, if anything, my sister will share from the coroner’s report and I know it’s none of my business. Now I’m just dreading the memorial - what do I say to her? We weren’t especially close, mostly because she was 12 when I left home, so I really didn’t know her all that well. And her birthday is the day before the memorial - NOT the year to send her a card.
So the last week has just been a weird haze of disbelief coupled with exhaustion due to bad sleep. We got off the ship in record time - never even saw a customs agent. All the way down the ramp, they kept reminding us to have our passports ready, but when we got there, no one was at any of the desks and they just herded us into the area where our bags were waiting - so weird! My sister was in the pickup area and after a somewhat terrifying ride, she got us to her house and our car. (This sister has totalled 3 cars. She had her first accident - not a total - when she was still on her learner’s permit. I’m thinking we won’t ask her for a ride any more…)
It was so nice to get home. Taz was all over me. Ziva had shed clumps everywhere! And every time I sat down, I felt like the room was rocking!
But we’re home safe and sound, debating whether we’ll do the October cruise or not - we’ve got till the end of June to decide. I did 2 loads of laundry yesterday, and today’s second load is in the washer, all our shirts are out on the lines. Once that’s done, we’ll swing by to give Roxy her presents (there was absolutely nothing aboard appropriate for Toby, and he won’t care anyway.) They we’re heading to the boat to do whatever FCD has been stewing over for the last week.
It’s good to be home. happy Saturday!!
Are non-alcohol beverages acceptable for this? 
All right! We have a designated driver. :d&r:
I’m sorry to hear about your nephew Moooooom.
Up, caffeinating, breakfasted and fixing to do KP. I’ll complete the usual Friday chores that didn’t get done yesterday today, but other than that, nothing much planned.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
::blushing::
Good morning everyone.
Just…wow, FCM. I am sorry to hear about your nephew. It would be horrible to find anyone, much less one of my children like that.
I got an itsy bit of yard work done yesterday and then I Netflixed and chilled. Plus, I watched the next two installments of Outer Range because my husband is really into it.
I’m going to mow the lawn this morning, clean up and then head to the hardware store and the birdfeed store. I need weed and feed for the lawn; dang dandelions and clover are taking over.
nellie; I think two of the most popular plants for the hummingbirds last year were cardinal flower and some type of salvia. I also had some red and yellow snapdragons in there. Finally, they seem to like the lupine that I had too. I also had some time of plant that I can’t remember for which I can’t remember the name, but it was lovely. It was sort of pinkish and white and would put the flowers out on tall, droopy runners that hung out. I’ll try to find a picture.
The flower on the right is the one I can’t remember the name of; tall droopy stocks but very pretty. Not the best pic, it was late summer and the lupines had quit blooming. You can see just a bit of the salvia and the tail end of the cardinal lobelia blooms. They are in the gray planter at the back of the photo.
The quality is not the best because I had to download from my Google album and then over to Imgur and I can’t directly embed photos either. I need to get a photo program for my computer again.
I’m fine with filling that role.
Skimmed all, retained little. Welcome back, FCM!
I was dead-ass sound asleep when my alarm went off. It’s an absolutely gorgeous Saturday, sunny and mild temps. I’d love to bring all my plants back outside after their winter hibernation - hell, I’d like to hibernate myself! - but it’s hi-ho, hi-ho, off to work again I go.
So of course, I had to check out YouTube cincture videos. I’m curious like a cat (an Siamese cat, if you must know). They have at least 7 videos on cincture tying! Who’dda thunk it? So, Swampy, are you doing the Roman knot, the deacon knot or the altar server knot? Curious mind wants to know
Zoom is free to be on, I know how to be on Zoom. The app is free to download. As I understand it, it can be free to host a Zoom, with some limitations in length of meeting or guest numbers, with their free version. Know nothing of Teams, I can barely work Apple iOS. I bet Swampy could find a YouTube video on setting up a Zoom meeting and do it for us poolside, with one hand tied behind his back with a cincture.
moomm nice to have you home. So sorry about your nephew. I’ll be holding your sister and family in the light.
nuttie nice to have you home too. The world seems more balanced now, with you back home.
Here’s the low down on how to set up and host a Zoom:
Do we have a volunteer?
It’s a bit beyond my bonked brain and general tech daftness (is too a word) but one of you youngins’ out there can no doubt do it in your sleep.
We can get around the 40 minute meeting limit on free Zoom by taking a break at 40 minutes and then right away restarting. Think of it as a potty break.
Thanks, that worked!
Hubby does it all the time, so I think I can get an assist. I think a Zoom meetup sounds like fun. 
BooFae yay for kitteh return! It sounds like you’ve got enough planned for the weekend that you’ll be back on your regular time by Monday. I’m not sure if I should offer congrats or condolences.
Having been one of said babysitters - those kids were a LOT. I earned those treats. 
I’m so sorry to hear about Shawn. I know you weren’t close, but losing a member of the younger generation is hard. It must be really hard on your sister to lose a child. My condolences to you all.
I’m beginning to feel like a new mom. Akiko’s meds have her drinking a lot of water, so she pees a lot. She needs to go out about once an hour at night. I can’t leave the door open because someone has to go bark at bats or aliens at 3 am, which absolutely no one appreciates. I’ve got things ready to attach Yoshi to our bed frame tonight, and leave the door open. We’ll see how that goes.
Which circles back to my point that I am tired and will babble more than usual. My apologies. I’m sure that I’ve missed some posts. Hugs and best wishes to all.
Happy Weekend everyone!
Back from the marina. We got most of FCD’s list done, plus a few more things. We went to Roy Rogers for lunch, and I had the beer-battered cod sammich. I decided that beer-battered means the fish was pummeled with a Yuengling bottle. 
FCD thought that was a most clever observation. I crack me up!
When we were done working, we drove thru the part of the boat yard where various vessels were stored during the winter, and we saw this:
OK, time to bring the clothes in from the lines.
Incidentally, my one and only attempt at Zoom failed miserably, but I’m willing to give it a shot on my tablet. I know what a bunch of you look like, but I don’t necessarily have voices to go with faces. I do know, however, that swampy does not sound like Foghorn Leghorn. 