Yeah, but that means those ads would be running all year round… Arghhhhhhhhh…
True.
Besides, I’m more worried about January 6 and whether or not we’ll need a
“Defense Against the Dark Arts” thread…
“Expellium Nunes-Bovium…!”
< Boeuf…! >
I bought a cute little ceramic container with a bee embossed on the side. I was happy, until I took off the plastic band that was wrapped around it, and the lid fell apart. 
The store I bought it at is 45 minutes away, and I really don’t want to drive all the way there to exchange it. I could use it without the lid, but it feels incomplete. The whole Christmas/New Years time has been very disappointing this year.
We had a heavy snowstorm yesterday. We stayed home (unlike the tons of people - including our Senator) who got stranded on I-95 overnight. We were congratulating ourselves on having had our huge dead pine tree removed last fall - as the storm would not have been kind to it.
Then we looked out front.
Our huge crape myrtle lost two major branches due to the snow. The walkway from the driveway to the door is completely blocked. Luckily the branches did not hit the house, but until we can get a tree service out to deal with the higher-up stuff, we have no idea whether the tree can be saved.
So there’s a fair chance we’ll have to replace TWO trees in the next couple of months.
At least one of our neighbors owns a chainsaw and has offered to help us get the front walkway cleared out.
Does the bee seem okay?
If so, don’t worry; bee happy!
It sucks to lose trees, you have my sympathy.
I couldn’t find the My Ex was so Stupid thread and wanted to post an update to it, so I guess I’ll have to do it here.
Back when I was young I dated bodybuilders. I shared a few stories about them in the above referenced thread. One I didn’t tell was about a photo session on the beach, both of us tanned and oiled, me in a g-string, rouged nipples and lots of jewelry (including chained nipple rings aka Sweater Bumpers), him in a gold sequined thong. He was on his back lifting me and I was doing that bored, head propped up on one hand thing that you see on TV.
For the record, being the lifted girl is HARD! Keeping stiff and balanced takes a bunch of concentration and practice, getting my bored expression right took forever. Not to mention that he would sometimes leave bruises if he grabbed too hard when I was falling.
Anyhow, we looked hawt and the pics were great. Over time, my physical copies degraded and/or got lost.
I was recently contacted by his widow who said he had treasured those pictures and kept the negatives and did what he needed to do to preserve them and kindly offered to send me online copies of the five pics he kept.
Hubs wants to have one printed and framed so we can hang it in the living room.
In case you still want to…
Just bought a new monitor. The user manual came as a DVD. Who the hell has a DVD reader on their computer anymore? Certainly not my brand new work laptop (which is what I hooked the new monitor to). There is of course no strong need for a manual, but still . . .
I have one in my desktop computer.
But it’s not plugged in because I don’t want to waste power and resources on a device I haven’t used in years.
I’d take it out but I lost the slot cover and don’t want a big hole on the top of my tower.
My brother and sister-in-law live in a part of central Virginia that’s had multiple prolonged power outages in recent years, due to a combination of severe winter weather and what seems like ineptitude/indifference of the local electric utility when it comes to handling emergencies. Predictably, their power went out again following the late weekend storm in Va. and officials were talking about days until restoration.
Awhile back, Mrs. J. asked why they didn’t get a backup generator. My sister-in-law’s response was “We shouldn’t have to.”
Still shaking my head over that one.
When we got ours, we fixed the utility problems for a couple of years. We did actually need to run it for a few hours last month (not sure how long, it turned off after we went to sleep), but it has turned out to mostly be a peace of mind thing (which it is very good for).
Was that defiance or complacence?
I understood it as “It’s unreasonable for there to be long blackouts, so we shouldn’t need to get a generator.”
I agree that a good way to forestall power interruptions is to buy a generator. We got an automatic standby generator after experiencing two five day+ blackouts in the dead of winter at our previous home. Never had another bad one after that. One of the first things we did on moving back to Kentucky (remembering another bad outage after an ice storm when we lived here before) was to get a good portable generator and transfer switch. Last winter we had three ice storms within a week. Trees and large limbs fell around the area. Total outage time was less than 2 hours. But by god, we were prepared. 
That sucks. Happened to me a few years ago. Luckily mine was a bolt in type and they left the bolts lying in the driveway. I was able to repair it myself for only the cost of the new part.
Did they cut yours out?
Yep.
Literally the first thing that happened to me in 2022.
My dad has been in a rehab facility for a broken hip, the Dr. Finally said it was healed enough to out weight on it and start building strength to maybe come home. It has been hard on my mom as well, she spends most of the day at the rehab center with him.
Covid has run rampant at the facility and Monday my dad caught it. They rushed him to hospital but Monday afternoon he quit breathing.
My mom is quarantining she was with him that morning.
I had some rapid tests that arrived Monday afternoon, that I took over to her (I have a couple as well) and we had to stand a room apart from each other. She looked so small and sad it broke my heart not hug her and her hug me. She has lost so much weight and she has never lived alone until now. My heart aches for her. And for me.
I tell myself he isn’t in pain and I was blessed to have him for so long but it doesn’t help. I never heard of anyone who had a bad thing to say about him, many people have told me he wad one of their favorite teachers.
Fuck covid and fuck the people who won’t vaccinate, mask and distance themselves.
I am so sorry. I wish you didn’t have to go through this and that your mother didn’t either. I think the lack of ability to touch one another is just the most awful part and I hope that you are both able to get through quarantine as fast as possible so you can help each other cope together. I’m going to be thinking about your mom and you so much. I wish I could really do something but all I can do is say I’m so sorry.
How awful 
I’m so very sorry 
Your rant isn’t mini (it certainly made me forget about mine), and I’m so sorry to read about what you and your mom are going through. 
Fuck 2022, Bob Saget is now dead at 65.