A D Day MMP

[FairyChatMom]

@Sunny_Daze

I have 2 history degrees, so it’s hard for me to fathom not knowing these dates. I know people don’t, however.

I absolutely hated history in school - nothing but memorization of battles and dates and revisionist facts, very dry, very boring. It wasn’t until I started watching different programs on the real educational cable channels (The Learning Channel? It is to laugh!!) that I became interested and actually learned stuff. And from the musical 1776, based on one line by Franklin, I realized that the bigger-than-life historical figures we’d been taught about were just people who found themselves in extraordinary situations and managed to do significant things.

We never studied English History, but I watched a couple of documentaries on the monarchy, and it was fascinating. Apparently politics has always been dirty business! Who knew?!?!?

@nelliebly

I suspect when most of us Mumpers were kids, we were taught via drill-and-grill and almost exclusively from dull history textbooks,

Exactly! I only passed history because I could memorize, at least in the short term. Plus Mr. Carey, who taught World History, spent most of the class time talking about is family. Not ancestors, but his wife and kids. Really!

And yay for coming back to us! You know you can just stay in this playground and avoid the bullies in the rest of the park, right?

Rollsuck is done. I think some reading is in order. And I should thaw something for supper - maybe shrimps?

[silenus]

Having taught European History for 20 years, the dates and places and people are kinda ingrained by now.

Off for the summer, but not quite. This week is Finals and Graduation, but senior finals were last week, so I have no students. I just show up sometime in the morning, make sure admin or somebody in the front office sees me on campus, then ghost as soon as I think I can get away with it. This morning I used the spare time to go to Home Depot and get a dwarf lemon tree for the pot outside my office window. Got that potted, some more sunflowers planted and everything watered. Now to dedicate the rest of the day to sloth and bloat.

[Sunny_Daze]

silenus I was with you right up to the word “bloat”. I hope you’re doing ok.

@Chefguy

On the bright side, the staff is very efficient and friendly, the apartment is quiet and comfortable, and there is heated garage parking. We’re going to have to work at meeting folks who are more able-bodied and more compos mentis, though.

I have to say that I’m worried you are not in the right place for who you are and where you are in life. It just sounds like a mismatch of lifestyles.

nellie :

[peedin]

Cookie are you in a “retirement village” type living arrangement?

Companion found her way back. Took her 2 hours. I made din din, we played cards, and now await the vote if no confidence on Boris Johnson. Brit politics are more interesting than American stuff.

[FairyChatMom]

@nelliebly

Mooooom , I always love to read about those adorable grandkids of yours!

Let me tell you about today. My amazingly clever granddaughter spent 3 hours in Urgent Care because she decided to shove a bead up her nose. Adorable, huh? Her mom is soooo proud…

Supper was steamed broccoli, cauliflower cooked in bouillon, and a sweet potato (for me - he didn’t want any.) I also made some cheese sauce for the veggies - it was pretty good. I added a little squirt of dijon mustard and a few drops of tabasco to the sauce. It kinda made up for having to use American cheese since I didn’t have any cheddar.

FCD rinsed the dishes. Chillage shall ensue.

[Chefguy]

@Sunny_Daze

I have to say that I’m worried you are not in the right place for who you are and where you are in life. It just sounds like a mismatch of lifestyles.

@peedin

Cookie are you in a “retirement village” type living arrangement?

We’re both 75 years old, and stairs can be a problem. So an apartment was the best choice for the knee issues. My family members have a habit of dying when they reach 80, although all of them had more serious health issues; I do have some history of relatives living into their 90s.

I resisted the notion of living in a retirement community for a long time, but it seemed like a good idea at this time to hedge my bets. This building has about a hundred apartments and the occupants range from fairly able-bodied (like us) to people who need a lot of assistance. Most of our immediate relatives live in this area, and we could have bought a place in the town where they live, but neither of us is willing to be a burden later on in life, so this seemed like a good alternative.

[missred]

metal mouse, I hope that they get your leak fixed pronto without serious damage to your finances. The only time I’ve hit triple digits when filling up the gas tank was with a commercial vehicle.

Both of my grandfathers were too young for WWI and too old for WWII. My dad was too young for Korea and had too many kids for Vietnam. I did have a great uncle who hit the beach at Normandy on D-Day though. Two of Dad’s brothers served stateside at the end of WWII and two of Mom’s BILs served in the European theater.

Since our June shipment for my special projects assignment isn’t in yet, I was lent to the area that I was in a couple of weeks ago. I felt kinda good that the lead of that department requested me. We had some thunderboomers right before I left irk, but it was dry at home.

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

[swampbear]

MetalMouse sorry about the plumbin’ woes. Hope the insurance covers it and it’s not to much of a blow to the bank account.

Cookie yay for finally bein’ in the new digs. Hopefully you and some ot the other younger whippersnappers can get together and form a cool kids clique.

Yank check out the Russel Stover’s outlet if’n it’s still there. They sell “seconds” which are their candies that got rejected for their first class stuff. We call them “chawklit abominations”, but they still taste good.
T
{{{Nellie}}} :: gentle tackle hug :: now that you are back you cannot go away again. That will not be allowed.

[Paintcharge]

sunny Fortunately, the sciatica is doing much better. Thanks.

metal mouse Good luck with the plumbing leak. I hate plumbing, it’s my least favorite fix-it task around the house. With electricity, you know right away if it went right…just don’t let the smoke out of the wires. With plumbing you gotta turn everything off, fix it, and hope it doesn’t leak. Ugh.

My dad’s dad was too old for WW II, but my mom’s dad was a radio man in Europe (I think). He never talked about it much. He had a great voice. Sounded kind of like Bob Edwards.

Got the truck back (with a nice rack) so now I can go pick up a bunch of re-claimed lumber that a client wants me to plane and tongue-and-groove to make flooring. I told him I’d do that, but I no longer install floors. No more knee work. Hope there aren’t too many nails still in the wood.

Stay safe, y’all!

[Sunny_Daze]

Red 'tis nice to be wanted.

[LH75]

My dad was a welder and worked for the UPRR in their train car repair facility. He tried to enlist for WWII but his job was declared essential and he was not allowed to join the army

[Johnny_L.A]

Busy day irking.

Tuna-half mile walk completed.

[The_Stainless_Steel_Rat]

Evening all. Got my S&S (swimmin’ and sauna) in and dry cleaning is hanging in the closet. Decided that I wanted the good stuff for hamburger night, so went to 5 Guys for my monthly fix. Then picked up a couple more items from Kroger and came home before the promised rain (75% chance after midnight) sets in.

Thanks for all the thoughts on the plumbing. Fortunately, unlike several years ago, it doesn’t appear to have damaged the flooring or walls at all; my house is on a slab and the leak is probably under it…Exactly how they plan to fix it outside of picking up the whole house is a mystery that hopefully gets solved Wednesday when they come back. And yes, I’ve sent information regarding a claim to my insurance, I’ll have to see what the financial damage is before I submit it, I do have some money set aside for things like this.

VanGo, hopefully having a nice rack will be good for business…

Cookie, glad you’re settling in. And I would have never guessed you’re 75.

FCM, kids will be kids…glad it wasn’t anything more serious.

wet one,

@peedin

Brit politics are more interesting than American stuff.

I would have dared you to say that a couple of years ago…

@FairyChatMom

And from the musical 1776 , based on one line by Franklin, I realized that the bigger-than-life historical figures we’d been taught about were just people who found themselves in extraordinary situations and managed to do significant things.

One of my favorite musicals, and the movie wasn’t all that bad either (“for God’s sake, Moooooommm, sit down”).

nellie, always gladdens my heart to see you around the premises. And don’t let anyone outisde the MMP bully you; we’ll have Jane hit them with her cane.

Sunny, been lucky so far, Cook’s pest control seems to have the ants driven off, which is good since we have active fire ant colonies around and you don’t want those buggers in your house…

Since everyone else seems to be adding it, my dad was a staff sergeant in the Army, he moved convoys of Lend-lease stuff thought what is now Iran and Syria up to the Russians. His best friend was a gunner on a B24 and one of my uncles was pulled out of Officer school at Yale University and thrown into the Battle of the Bulge, which he never talked about to anyone in his remaining 50 years.

OK, need to finish up internettin’ and do some reading. All y’all have a good night and/or good morning.

[JaneDoe42]

I’m glad you are back nellie. You are right, memorizing names and dates of a bunch of unrelated events really isn’t a good way to learn history. I was over 40 before I learned that both the Civil War and the Indian Wars were going on at the same time. (Settlers found silver, more folks came to dig it out of the ground, the Native Americans didn’t like white folks moving in and messing things up so started fighting back, Lincoln wanted the silver and sent troops to Arizona to protect the silver mines.

I would have paid much more attention in school if things were connected. I’m sure things have changed since then.

@The_Stainless_Steel_Rat

nellie , always gladdens my heart to see you around the premises. And don’t let anyone outisde the MMP bully you; we’ll have Jane hit them with her cane.

You betcha! Nobody gets to be mean to our nellie.

@Chefguy

We are now in our permanent apartment at Wrinkle Acres, but it will take us weeks to unpack all the boxes,

I’m hoping your apartment is as nice as you expected and that you will make new friends soon. Moving sucks but at least you are almost done.

@peedin

Brit politics are more interesting than American stuff.

I’m so glad you are enjoying yourself. I’ve always enjoyed watching Brit politicians go at each other, they are so very polite and civil until they aren’t. I was once told that the reason all of the chairs in parliament are fastened to the floor to stop folks from flinging them.

@FairyChatMom

My amazingly clever granddaughter spent 3 hours in Urgent Care because she decided to shove a bead up her nose.

OK, someone hasn’t been schooling that kid right. You don’t use pretty beads for that cause the grown-ups will throw the bead away. Use a peanut instead, you can always get more peanuts.

@The_Stainless_Steel_Rat

I’ve sent information regarding a claim to my insurance, I’ll have to see what the financial damage is before I submit it,

Double check your policy before submitting the claim. As a general rule leaks are only covered by homeowners if they are sudden and catastrophic. Coming home from the store to a flood because of a broken pipe would probably be covered, an issue that has been going on for months probably won’t.

I learned this when we had a broken pipe under the porch.

Chewy came today and left 20 lbs of sunflower seeds. I’m wondering how much longer I’ll be able to afford them. The price of everything is going sky high and Ukraine is a big fish in the sunflower seed and oil pond.

[dogbutler]

50 years before I was born?
The Irish War of Independence
The end of the Russian Civil war
Sacco and Vazentti are convicted of murder
The Battle of Blair Mountain
White Castle is founded

@Sunny_Daze

looks for rolled up newspaper

@The_Stainless_Steel_Rat

I’m sure many of you have already had the dubious privilege of seeing 3 digits on the gas pump

I don’t hit that per month.

@The_Stainless_Steel_Rat

apparently I have a pipe leaking in the ground

Bummer. hope it’s not too expensive to fix.

@Chefguy

We’re going to have to work at meeting folks who are more compos mentis, though.

So you’re not hanging with us anymore?

@FairyChatMom

Let me tell you about today. My amazingly clever granddaughter spent 3 hours in Urgent Care because she decided to shove a bead up her nose. Adorable, huh? Her mom is soooo proud…

Kids | Retirement | MassMutual

Glad you’re back, nellie. {{{{hugs}}}}

@JaneDoe42

Hubs got some more beer started this morning, he’s using up all of his malt syrup and ground grains so he can start playing with his new system

From last MMP: I’d love to be his beer drinking buddy. And VanGo could build us a bar.(3.5 cubits by 1 rod by 1.5 steps )

[Paintcharge]

What’s a cubit? I know he ain’t a good guy, but it’s a good bit, and what I always hear when I see the word cubit.

And that “steps” link led me to something I never knew about The Princess Bride. Agrippa was a real thing that someone may have studied. Even if you’re not left handed.

[JaneDoe42]

@Paintcharge

What’s a cubit?

I dunno, but the bible says the Ark was 300 of them long. Maybe you could work it out from there? (Yeah, some things just stick with you, LOL.)

@dogbutler

I’d love to be his beer drinking buddy.

Let us know if you are ever out this way and I’ll change the sheets on the guest bed. You can bring Gordie, Alex has already cat trained him and GG would love to hang out with a new friend.

I’ve just taken my shower and GG fled as soon as I came out of the bedroom. I’m going to have to cover the bunny slipper eyes with masking tape and see if that makes a difference. It was funny at first, now its just sad.

[Paintcharge]

Poor GG. Save him from the scary bunny slippers.

[Seanette]

@JaneDoe42

I’ve just taken my shower and GG fled as soon as I came out of the bedroom. I’m going to have to cover the bunny slipper eyes with masking tape and see if that makes a difference. It was funny at first, now its just sad.

Does he react to the slippers if they’re sitting still and unoccupied?

[JaneDoe42]

@Seanette

Does he react to the slippers if they’re sitting still and unoccupied?

Yes. VBC thinks they are a nice pillow and NSGC ignores them. Oddly enough, GG has a sock monkey with eyes that doesn’t’ scare him. I’ve blindfolded my slippers but GG is sleeping under the loveseat.