Fin De HalloHanuThanksChristKwazaa - A Post Holiday MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Got up early to take wife’s son & fiance to the airport for the next leg on their journey of extended family visits.

On the way to the airport we spent 20 minutes stopped dead on the freeway awaiting the clearing of an accident. We were just a few cars behind the head of the pack at the roadblock. When the authorities completely close a 6-lane urban interstate with wide shoulders to pick up the pieces you know it must have been a wall-to-wall doozy. Naturally it had been raining lightly and folks were still cruising at 90+mph, so the smallest miscalculation gets real exciting real quick. Daily normal here in South Florida.

Kids did make their flight with just minutes to spare; them both being uber-expert travelers helps. Then off to breakfast out (buffalo chicken omelette, etc.) and now home to enjoy the silence after 4 busy days. My keyboard is the only noise in the house. Aaahh.

Soon enough we’ll launch into the domestic routine; washing guest sheets & towels, resetting the guest bedroom to home office mode, etc. The happy news is we have about 30 servings of several kinds of leftovers, so there’ll be no need of cooking at Casa LSL for quite awhile.

22

BIIIIIIIIIIG ol’ pot of sketty sauce simmering away on the stove. It should be enough for at least half a dozen meals. I got the replacement turn signal bulb for the truck (left rear is out) and I got the 'shrooms for the sauce. FCD is sleeping.

Oh yeah, and I cleaned the critter fountain and scooped the cat box. I think it’s time to chill for a bit. Then, something… Or not. I’m retired, so who cares??? :stuck_out_tongue:

23

Hiya. This morning I heard something I haven’t heard in years: a busy signal. I’ve been trying to call Amtrak. The round-trip ticket I originally purchased had me leaving at 6 PM, the only train not full. Yesterday I was able to snag a ticket (cancellation) for an earlier train today, so I have two tickets. I need to cancel just the 6PM leg. I can’t do that online, and if I simply don’t show tonight, Amtrak will cancel the return trip, too. as I need to cancel just one leg of the round-trip ticket because I was able to get on an earlier train when someone canceled. I’ve called several times, and the line is busy. I don’t think the volunteers at the local Amtrak station (Amtrak won’t staff it.) can do it. To buy a ticket there, you have to use the kiosk.

So fingers crossed.

Happy Sloth Day to those of you so inclined and Happy Busy Day to everyone else. FCM, here’s hoping MIL agrees to the nursing home and doesn’t vacillate later.

24

On the bright side, it’s 25 degrees outside this morning, the warmest it’s been since early Thursday. On the not so bright side, we woke up to no water pressure. Called the city water department, but of course it’s closed because of the holiday. The police said they had already gotten calls and the water dept. is “checking it out.”

25

Howdy all. Needs to be a busy day cleaning and laundry. I will have a house guest tomorrow as Sherry’s mom is coming for just a couple days. They are picking her up in Orlando late tonight and staying overnight in a hotel. It’s still chilly at 52F.

I got a Walmart grocery delivery. Tonight is leftovers.

Ok off to clean.

26

FCD is up - but he really didn’t sleep. He’s had breakfast. I just finished taking the tree down. Sketty sauce continues to simmer. Chillage reigns.

27

I’ve washed the good knives, a baking tin, and the big pot I made salmon chowder in; and I’ve filled the dishwasher. I’ll start it in a bit. Otherwise, I need to bring some wood into the catio and I need to get out for a walk.

I was going to finish off the linguiça for breakfast this morning, but it had gone bad. I ate my tom kha gai that I bought the other night instead.

28

I like it, it’s my birthday!

29

Mrs. L.A. got me an 8 feet by five feet by 24 inches cover for the face-cord wood stack. (She actually gave it to me in November, and I’ve been using it.) I think I’m going to build a frame for it. I was going to use pressure-treated 2x4s, but I’ve been thinking about it. (I always do a lot of thinking before I build something.) Now I’m thinking I’ll build it out of PVC pipes. I was going to put some Ts in the bottom to support the wood, but instead I’ll just build a frame to fit over the wood stack and just support the wood with a couple of 2x4s. The ‘pros’ are that the frame will be lighter, easier to build and have rounded corners. The ‘con’ is that there will be no weight on the frame to hold it in the wind. But that can be dealt with. If I have a partial length of OSB, I’ll put it along the inside back part of the frame for stability.

When will I do this? Who can say? We still need to use the wood that’s already under the cover. It’ll get done before next season.

30

Oh, that little fruitcake. I put it into a plastic container and brushed it with bourbon.

31

The lawn care service is working today. I have started laundry, after performing a cat-ectomy on the dirty laundry basket.

32

TIL that I can’t figure out what sort of woodpeckers I’ve been seeing because they are all young birds, this years hatchlings. I learned that because I saw an adult woodpecker (Gila Woodpecker) trying to get at the suet. I’m not seeing adults because my suet cage doesn’t have a tail rest and woodpeckers put their tails against the trees when eating and use them for balance.

Learning is good! Now that I know this, I have a proper woodpecker suet cage coming and I can also tell that there are two different sorts of woodpeckers visiting. I’m pretty sure they are Gila and Hairy woodpeckers just because of the local vegetation.

33

Happy Birthday, Baker! :birthday: :champagne:

34

Oh no, did I misunderstand? I thought Baker meant that she liked New Years Eve because that is her birthday.

If i did, i am sorry for not saying Happy Birthday, Baker. I really did put it in my outlook calendar as NYE.

35

I am sooo ready to be away from family and on the way home. My sister is weirdly selfish and inconsiderate. Who sits on the floor obstructing the only entrance to a room? Just one example. She’s 42.

36

She does because it is.

I’ve been trying to read but I keep dozing. Very lazy afternoon.

37

Howdy Y’‘all! Sloth has reigned supreme today. We have slothed about in front of the teevee/Netflix, et sammiches, achieved nappage, and now we sloth some more. It’s all the way up to 45 Amurrkin outside. WOO! We may even day drink on the back porch in a bit. In a while we shall heat up feast leftovers for sup. Then sloth some more. Have I mentioned lately how much I love bein’ a retired drain on society?

Nellie hope you get the train ticket situation sorted. Can’t believe you are not able to do that on their website. That’s just stoopid.

sari does indeed sound like the critters have it made.

Flyboy Lancaster sounds like the perfect vacation destination. Maybe all of us Mumpers should move to Lancaster. We’d class the place up for sure!

I figured out how to shut off Amber Alerts a long while back. Those things are waaaaaay too much at three a.m.

VanGo drive safe.

rocker indeed. 'Tis only the second day of Christmas today.

Oopsie enjoy the day with dad and bro.

Taters sounds like a good time was had by all. Poor little Adam! Two is such a frustratin’ age. You want to do things, but you can’t do a lot of things and the grownups all keep sayin’ no.

WetOne suede chaps do indeed sound badass.

LSLGuy glad wife’s son and fiance got to their flight on time. An adventure like that earns you the right to high sloth.

Superman or should that be Man_Super, hope the water pressure issue is resolved soonest.

Butters happy cleanin’ and laundry.

JtC so woodpeckers need a butt rest while they feed?

As others have said, CupCakes’ bday is on New Year’s Eve. ISTR her sayin’ that her father called her his little tax deduction. Stuff like that I remember. Rememberin’ where I last put my phone when I want to use it is a crap shoot.

38

Makes sense, I wanna sit somewhere comfy when I feed!

Thanks for the clarification about Cupcake’s birthday, I’d hate to unintentionally snub such a nice person!

One of my BFF’s kids is stuck in traffic, so dinner won’t be until 3. Hopefully it will break up by then.

39

Oy! %slaps forehead% Sorry. :roll_eyes:
At least I won’t be belated this time. %slinks away%

40

You made me look, LOL. Look at it this way, thanks to your early warning, everyone will remember come the proper time :slight_smile: