Batten The Hatches- A Dark and Stormy MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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It’s only 76° but according to the weather channel site, it’s 86% humidity, which explains why I almost drowned on my walk! :open_mouth:

:rofl:

I’m wrangling Roxy while Daughter starts working on lesson plans. Some time today, I need to go to Lowe’s to pick up the new terlit I ordered for the hall bathroom. Even with the new guts that daughter and I installed last month, it’s still not flushing correctly - and it’s one of them old terlits that uses way too much water! We’ll replace it with the same model that’s in the master bathroom - a chore for this weekend.

Yes, I know you envy my thrilling life…

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The rental house is owned by the trust, and my sister and I are the trustees. She knows that she would blow through the cash immediately, and then she’d be SOL. But it’s a giant pain in the ass.

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I have a BIL whose parents left his share of the inheritance in trust because he’s one of them spend-it-if-ya-got-it types. As it happens, so is his wife - my sister - so the trust is keeping them from living in a cardboard box. But as I understand - it’s a fund, not a house.

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I walked past the Little Free Pantry this morning, and it was empty! I’m so happy that everything was claimed by someone (maybe just one person, but that’s okay, too).

I’m going to replenish it on Tuesdays and Fridays (today). I definitely put enough stuff there to keep a family going for a week.

:grinning:

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Thank you for this image-I smiled big and laughed out loud. All 3 of mine are overdue for their annual vet check-up and I both dread and delight at the fun of getting 3 cats crated without leaving pools of my blood all over the house. (They are current on their rabies shots, I get the 3 year kind, but still need the check-up. I’d never go so long over due on rabies boosters. They need the check-up because they got into some old automotive anti-freeze last year [to the tune of $3,000, but that’s a story for another day]. During one past crating ordeal a few years ago one of my beasts levitated to the top edge of a interior wooden bedroom door and gave me The Death Stare. Daring me to try ensnare her into a vet visit of danger and doom. We eventually get there, but we were late. That door still bears the scars. Should be an interesting story when I sell the house…

Actually, I do🥳

I hope I said this before: “you are good people, Thel.”

Boo

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We went to DQ to get lunch, since they have outdoor tables, then to Lowe’s to pick up the new terlit. It’s kinda neat - you pull into one of the Curbside Pickup spaces and call in. I assume if there are multiple folks there, they ask which space you’re in. Then they asked for the order number, and a few minutes later, the nice lady came out pushing a cart with a box o’terlit! Wonder if that service will continue after the plague…

It’s starting to cloud over pretty thickly - we may get rain this afternoon after all. because this county isn’t squishy and soggy enough.

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Washing achieved, shopping completed (with only one adult in the store not wearing a mask, a new record!) but I chickened out on checking the bees- the temperature suddenly jumped up today, and it was too hot for a bee suit, which goes over normal clothes. I’ll check 'em tomorrow instead.

I’m not aware of any free pantries around here- it’d be a good idea, I think. There is an official food bank (which is insane in itself- this is a little town, 20 years back that would have been just a big city thing) but it has quite a few conditions attached, like limits on how often you can go. I don’t know where would work to set one up though. One of the local villages has a free shelf, but then they also have a community shop run by volunteers and frankly the whole place is so nice that it slightly scares me. It’s where I bought eggs from a street stall and the owners ran out to say hello and invited me in- it feels a little like you’re going to be invited to the village barbecue as the ‘guest of honour’, and ooh, isn’t that a nice wicker sculpture…

When I lived in Bristol everyone just stuck unwanted stuff on the front wall- I literally emptied one flat out on to the wall, and everything went- chair, unwanted books, cans of food, all sorts of junk. I also got books and similar off walls. I swear some things went round half the city that way. Luckily we didn’t have a bedbug problem.

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I need to do this. I am seriously craving three crispy tacos and a banana split blizzard. Around here they have something called “jalitos,” which are jalapeno strips battered and deep-fried. Seriously YUM!

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Missed edit window.

ETA: We also have a ginormous official food bank which is doing a booming business. People have sat in their cars in line for hours.

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It was 6 months ago today that he went into the hospital. Still sucks mightily. :cry:

I’m meeting a good friend for dinner tonight & going to Kings Island tomorrow to ride Orion with a bunch of my coaster club friends. Google “Orion POV” to see what I’ll be doing. I can’t figure out how to copy & paste yet on new tablet.

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I googled. Looks like amazing fun. If I could I’d be first in line with you to buy a ticket. Will wait for a report and pictures…

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Happy Firday!

It’s a nice cool 73 degrees this morning. Supposed to get up to 79 today.
Strange weather for August.

The saga continues with crazy b two doors up. I suspect she will be making a complaint to the city. For the first time in the 6 years I have lived here, she has cleaned up her parking pad and trimmed all the weeds growing through her fence. She cut down all the vines that were growing on the fence. Even swept the parking pad, not a leaf in sight. She must have irked her ass off getting all that done between last night and this morning.
That Thel is where I think the threat is coming from. She’s probably going to make a bunch of complaints to the city. That is why she took all those pictures.
My grass out back is a bit high, and it’s raining, well actually just stopped, so that grass isn’t going to be mowed today. By the time the city gets out here, if they even do, considering covid has everything everywhere backed up, the grass will be mowed. If the city makes my neighbor clean up her yard and fix her window, well that’s a win for me.
MetalMouse, I think you are right that she is a bit off. Screaming at me for something that happened over a year ago, that was fixed, and hasn’t happened again, is just weird.

FCM, this neighborhood is not so bad compared to the one I lived in in Baltimore.

Shoe, I can’t text Friend1, she is technically challenged. She has a very nice apple phone, with all the bells and whistles, but she doesn’t know how to text. Every now and then I’ll send a picture or a meme to her and months later she’ll see it. She is a very good person, and has been a good friend, but she is going through something I guess, because she seems to be arguing with a lot of us. Maybe it’s just cabin fever, she always likes to go out and about, even if it is to run to the bank or the store. And yes, she goes inside the bank. I think she has never used an atm, and sure won’t look her account up online. She goes to the bank and asks the teller for her balance. I think she still pays most of her bills in person too. Maybe I’ll send her a little gift from da jungle, a nice surprise for her. I always hate to send her stuff as she is a bit of a hoarder, but something edible shouldn’t be a problem.

The thunderboomer is over and now the sun is shining. I don’t know for how long, according to TWPTB, we should have some more storms.

I love the curbside pickup, but they have always asked what kind of car I’m driving.
I hope it does continue, it’s very convenient.

I need to go to Pier One, they are going out of business. I hear the prices and selections are pretty good. The one here is still open, all the ones in the surrounding areas are closed.

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We went to Busch Gardens a couple times when I was stationed in Virginia. I’d sit and watch the baby while my wife and her mother went on the rides.

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Well, wonder of wonders, I crawled underneath the beast with a pair of channelocks and the whole assembly backed out without a whimper. A replacement will arrive tomorrow. Very happy, me.

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sari - you’ve been there 6 years already?? dang, that doesn’t seem possible. So that means it’s been more than 6 years since we met at that very LOUD concert. Wow. Anyway, good luck with the whack-a-doodle. I wonder if she’s all bent out of shape because someone reported her and she thinks it was you?

I’ve been doing some jigsaw puzzles that I downloaded a few years back from JigsawADay. For a while there, I downloaded one every day, but I quit about 3 years ago because I had hundreds I hadn’t solved yet. Right now, I’m up to June 2016. :smiley: It passes the time.

Not sure what supper will be - burgers and salad maybe? I’ll decide later.

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I’m doing laundry. Oh, the excitement! I do like that I have a washer and dryer in my apartment and that they’re conveniently located. I always hated going to a dank, cement-y basement to do laundry. Very first world problem, I know.

flyboy, I’m sorry about your sister’s situation. What a nightmare. It sounds to me like she should kick her husband to the curb before doing anything about the rental house; otherwise, he’ll end up getting half, I assume. But way easier said than done.

OW, those anniversaries of this and that are hard, no doubt about it. I hope you have some heart-lifting moments today as well.

Seconded.

nettie, potato chips are a vegetable, and ice cream has calcium and protein. Why, that meal was a health treatment! You couldn’t afford NOT to eat it. Watch for my new book, Lard: Miracle Food for the Masses.

MetalMouse, butter pecan is good for the soul.

sari, neighbor sounds like a menace. How soon can you get that fence up?

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Good fucking grief. Where’s that danged headslap emoji?? I’ve been needing it a lot today! Someone’s yard is hardly a priority in this Time of the Plague. :angry:

When I went to replenish the pantry just now, there were some groceries in it! Reasonable stuff, too, like a can of tuna, some canned veggies, jars of peanut butter, jars of jelly, a sack of rice, and a sack of pinto beans (the stuff/staff of life in these parts). Maybe I’ve primed the pump. This is how I left it. I feel quite giddy! It’s only about $35 worth of stuff. Hell, I’ve spent more than that on an item or experience and haven’t felt half as giddy. :upside_down_face:

[Album] pantry
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Blurf. On mah break, nukin’ a Hot Pocket cuz I classy like that. Didn’t accomplish much yesterday, besides a bit of mopping, so I achieved a flurry of adulting before irk as compensation.

I need to go get a new phone - this one is like me, it’s old and it’s got no memory. :smiley:

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That sounds like a lovely, considerate, thoughtful way to reconnect with your friend. What I think is especially impressive is that you’ve figured out a way that is face-saving for her. That is an incredible strength for you to have. Keep it up, it will serve you and yours well.

On another tack, I think she is lucky to have an iPhone, my professionally techy son says they are more intuitive and therefore easier to learn. I’m techdaft and I have found it so. When things are on better ground, give that friend a gift certificate that you will spend some sessions (make it fun and no shame) showing her how to get more out of her phone (the better for your purposes too).

not trying to be bossy but to share hard won wisdom.

Boo

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I fight the same battle with my next door neighbor, have for years. My grass too long by an inch, he reports me. Something on my front porch he thinks I shouldn’t have (like recycling bins), he reports me. The city sends me a terse warning. I’ve asked, they send these out based on an anonymous phone call so he can harass me without any accountability. Many of these complaints end up costing me money for handyman work. The last one was I had to rebuild or demolish my useless decrepit garage way on the back of my property as far away from his property line as it could be. The garage wasn’t posing any kind of hazard, it was on a dang alley. That demolition cost $2000, which I didn’t have and was a hardship to borrow. His last name is Schmuck which I find hilariously fitting.

Beck, to my credit, that garage was stuffed to the gills with ‘stuff’. I asked my workers to throw it all in the dumpster (they were welcome to keep anything they could resell) just please not consult me further if I wanted any of it. I knew if I even looked in the door I would be hopelessly mired down. I’m an unreconstructed poor kid/hoarder, but I’m trying to overcome so my kids don’t disown me when I move on to that Great Cat Ranch In The Sky.

Otherwise, same old, same old here. My cats are delightful, enjoying the heck out of MMP, my nutrition is horrifying, all my vices are retained.

Boo