Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave.
Nope. Chicken thighs marinated in liquid smoke, red wine, salt and chipolte Tabasco, sprinkled with salt, pepper, roasted garlic powder, and smoked paprika, and baked.
Morning, mumpers! It’s currently 13c/55f with a predicted high of 14c/57f. Weather app says “This is the perfect fucking weather to let your dog go outside and roll in some fucking shit and dead worms.” Today was definitely a day to have borrowed flyboy’s kayak to get to work, there are delays and cancellations on several rail routes due to flooding after yesterday’s stormy weather which has caused problems north and south of my area, and today has hit us right in the middle of the country.
However, you’ll all be pleased to hear that my sick minion has done the sensible thing and stayed at home. She’s supposed to be on leave today so I’ve emailed her to ask if she wants to swap her leave day for a sick day and reclaim her time - it’s not fair to be using annual leave when you’re sick, but she’ll get paid for it either way.
J-Bats Crater Lake is beautiful, we visited there earlier this year on our last US trip. We spent the night not too far away at Diamond Lake too, then spent several hours driving round Crater Lake’s routes, stopping at most of the vantage points. It was July, hot, and busy with lots of tourists but we had a great time. The scenery is gorgeous and really very calming, and the water is a beautiful mix of blues.
Nothing much to report from over here - I made dinner last night so it was chicken and chorizo with onions, mushrooms, garlic, wholegrain mustard, mixed herbs and tarragon with some black pepper cream cheese mixed in to make a sauce. I threw a bit of cornflour in at the end to thicken it up, and served it over some curly pasta. My usual Friday lunchdate isn’t happening today as my co-irker is doing interviews all day, so last night’s dinner made an extra portion for my lunch today. Good thing really, since it’s not the kind of day to go traipsing around campus when you don’t need to.
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 56 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 80 and mostly N.O.S. for the day. I feel muchly better this mornin’. Notice I am postin’ at what is pretty much my normal mornin’ time to post. Also, drinkin’ my first cup of coffee since Tuesday mornin’. Weird, but don’t want coffee when I’m feelin’ ick. Not much on the agenda today. Large sloth and general overall uselessness for sure. We may go to Newk’s for brunch (they open at eleven a.m., and that’s brunch time), or not. If not, then it will be majik intartoobz pizza for sup cause da bear ain’t cookin’. I need the day to restore my energy. I am delicate, after all.
BooFae glad you made it in to irk OK. Hope the rain/floods decides to go away before hometime.
J-Bats glad you had a good time at Crater Lake. Doggo looks like he enjoyed it as well!
Vrooom glad the job is goin’ good so far. So glad you found other employment that you seem to like a lot better.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah.
Happy Firday Y’all!
Crashed early, so up early, but not too stoopit early, so it’s a win. Assuming the rain holds off, I’ll be mowing the ditch this morning while FCD rides John Deere around the lawn. If the weather site is accurate, we should be OK.
Today is also Furnace Service Day - dunno what time the tech will be here, but I’ll be glad to have it done. We’re not having problems - we have a service contract so the a/c gets checked out in the spring and the furnace is dealt with in the fall. Preventive maintenance is preferable to panic repairs, right? It’s also how we found out our old furnace was pumping carbon monoxide into the house, leading to the installation of a new system a couple-three years back.
The only other thing on the list is setting up FCD’s Alexa in the shop. Beyond that, I foresee crochet time. And I’m thinking I’ll do something with shrimp for supper. Or not - we’ll see what falls out of the freezer when I open it! 
Happy Firday!!
PS - glad you’ve survived the sickies, swampy!
I’m grudgingly awake after far less than my usual 4 hrs - I blame the cat. Probably shoulda put in earplugs, too, which is my fault. I drifted off enjoying the rain patter, but this isn’t ezzactly a quiet neighborhood.
Part of the unwanted awakeitude is frettin’ 'bout money, again. I have a dentist appntmnt next week - joy - for the other half of that deep cleaning. (For what it’s worth, the gums on the half of my mouth that was done are noticeably healthier.) It’s gonna mean making rent is gonna be cutting it damn close.
I think I’ve got it - tough to budget when your income varies - but the razor thin edge will mean absolutely no safety net for a while.
And there’s always something, isn’t there?
Logically, that means I’m worrying about a problem that has yet to be. This dentist payment is a one-time hit, that’s all. So I guess imma make myself toast with P.B. and this time, plug up my ears.
Mornin’ all. Tis 7:38am ET, about 20 minutes post-sunrise. Been balconatin’ and caffinatin’ like a fiend for about an hour already. It’s now 74/23 on the way to 85/30. We’re having both high clouds and a bunch of cumulus over the water, so although it’s fully light out, the blinding orb is conspicuously absent right now. That should clear out completely in a couple hours ad we’ll have 
a bright, bright sunshiny day .
Zoomie: I knew you knew. My hint was more aimed at everyone for posterity. But as you said then, it’s still darn hard on anyone’s psyche to put up with. Congrats on weathering the storm. The last time I left a bad job situation it took me a couple of years too long to really grok how bad it was. I’m older and wiser now, but won’t have the chance to use my hard-won knowledge.
Great pix there @Jack_Batty and glad it was restorative. And yes, that totally counts as a “hike”. Double credit if you wrote your initials. 
I grew up on the beach in SoCal. The first time I touched snow I was a sophomore in college, so 19. Still don’t much care for how it feels.
Yeah, but just think of the amazing stories they got from the post-midnight “customers”.
Boofae good to know you’re surviving the flooding. That sounds like an excellent dinner / lunch you’ve made. Hooray for minions who know to stay home.
Swampy Yaay for recovery! Not surprising today’s the day, but still good to hear. I don’t want or have coffee while ill either.
You’re my heeeero!
FCM Mowing a ditch sounds kinda hazardous. Do be careful. If you slice off a hand your crocheting days will be over.
Shoe God luck & sleep well on your second shift in bed! You totally deserve it.
As to me:
Last night we walked across the street to the fish place. I had a garlic shrimp app & Her Ladyship had their sriracha-honey chicken wings app which are mostly sweet with the teeniest hint of hot.
Once done we came home and she watched more psychopathic killing while I read and occasionally glanced up. One of the advantages to being partly deaf is that, kinda like listening to a foreign language, it’s just blah blah blah unless you really focus your attention on it. So her watching TV at a normal volume isn’t distracting to me. I’m not sure teaching myself to not comprehend spoken English is all that good an idea though. Sigh.
Her Ladyship will be busy with library volunteering then dinner & a movie with another library lady. So from shortly after lunch my day is all mine. I’m setting up a Big Boy dinner for myself and probably one of my pals, net of his work situation. If the clouds behave as expected there’ll be early afternoon beaching too.
I’m having ongoing challenges with getting Medicare started. Seems they think my employee health insurance is still active, so they refuse to pay for anything, since by law employee insurance is primary. Meanwhile the employee health insurer knows that insurance is dead, so they refuse to pay for anything. Catch-22.
We finally got accurate enough details to understand the underlying problem a couple days ago. A half-hour on the phone with somebody at Medicare got it fixed. Supposedly. Which fix will take 2 weeks to dribble through their systems. Meantime unpaid bills pile up slowly. That’s the docs’ problem, not mine, but it’s still frustrating. Sigh. Gotta expect admin problems in any major transition.
Running out of blather for today. It’s 8:15, so about 35 minutes since I started typing with no interruptions. Kinda quicker than usual. Back to the other part of the Dope.
Mornin’ everyone.
It’s 57F, dark and cloudy outside. We’ll have cloudy skies all day, and temps will top at around 64F. After I complete my errands, I’ll have to get the mower out. All the moisture has contributed to a tall lawn that needs a haircut.
pilot, glad you’re getting the Medicare sorted, but I am sorry it’s glacially slow.
J-Bats, those are nice pics, especially the pup!
Work was busy, and of course, the closer it got to time for me to log off, the more things needed to happen and people needed my help or to talk. I worked an hour later than normal, but it’s done. I need to validate my timecard in a bit and push some travel through and then I’m done with work until Monday after next.
I’ve got nothing but some roll-sucking, laundry, errands, and packing on the agenda for this weekend. My son will come up sometime, but at least by Sunday and spend the night, and on Monday we’ll head east.
Sending my best to all of you. It’s time to get on with the day.
Ditch is not exactly the right word:
I doubt there’s 2 feet from street level to the bottom. The slope in a couple of spots is a challenge to walk across, but I have a self-propelled mower, so I can worry about my balance and let the mower move itself with minimal guidance. And it would be quite a feat to slice off a hand - I’d have to tie down the safety bar to keep the blades spinning, then lift the side chute cover and jam my hand in there - That would be one spectacular accident!!
Anyway, push-mowage is done and FCD is finishing the front lawn, having done the back yard. I’m having a bubbly beverage while awaiting a call from the HVAC guys. (Not sexist - it’s always been guys. The plumber, however, was not a guy. Same company, different services.) Not quite 9AM and the worst chore is done for today. Huzzah!!
Curious thing about that photo - according to the properties, it was created in 2019 and modified in 2003 (before we even lived here!!!) 
Morning all. Starting this at 8:46am local, after reading the thread, so we’ll see how long it takes. Slept in until 8:30, guess this was my day to sleep in, will have to be up at 6:30 tomorrow for soccer stuff. Heading to 76F today and 81F tomorrow, so some marvelous Fall days here in N. Ali-bama. Swimming-n-Sauna planned (if I can remember my swimsuit) and referee two games ‘under the lights’ at 5:30 and 6:45pm…should be fun for the kids, playing a soccer game after dark. Not much else on the agenda, may do a little house-cleaning. really need to figure out how to give my window blinds a good cleaning (been years…many, many years). Google will be my friend.
J-Bats, lovely pictures of Crater Lake (and Bob, IIRC). And I remember a few kids being amazed at snow when I was in the Rockies one summer (at about 11,600 ft).
red, here’s to an quick 18 months and less idiot-boss time.
vroom, hope the job keeps going well; always will be a few down-at-the-mouth people anywhere you work, once you’re acclimatized and a regular part of the workforce, I’m sure it’ll get better.
shoe, in my callow youth I often closed a restaurant that stayed open until 1am, so didn’t get out until 1:30am or so. So yeah, that was different.
boo fae, excellent idea offering to swap leave for sick time; depends on how much of each she has. With the US Government, I got what amounted to 13 days of Sick leave a year, but it could accumulate, so by the time I retired I had about 11 months saved up. Stay dry (or as dry as you can).
Swampy, glad you are feeling better.
FCM, I get the service in March, they usually check both systems at the same time. Also have a CO2 monitor in the house. So far, so good.
Pilot, hope the Medicare gets started sooner than later. Do you have any type of Medicare Advantage plan?
OK, need to be thinking about breaking fast and finishing the morning internettin’. Have a good Firday, all.
and…it’s 9:09 as I type this…23 minutes, but no distractions.
When I get hungry for fast food fish, they are the only game in town. We used to have a LJS, but it’s been gone a few years.
BTDT and you have my sympathies.
Your Crater Lake pics are gorgeous (and your doggo is a handsome boy (girl?) too) J-Bats. Glad you had a nice drive.
Up, caffeinating, breakfasted, bed stripped, a load of sheets / towels in the dryer, a load of jeans in the wash and everything else on deck. I’ll move my carcass shortly to do KP and houseirk before getting sheveled to go forth in public.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
Ain’t it always the way - the 10 minutes you’re away from the phone is when they call… I was out in FCD’s shop connecting his smart speaker (the account is on my tablet) and that’s when the HVAC guy called. Luckily, he also texted so I was able to respond when I got back to my phone. He’s here now doing his tech thing. Higgs is pulling her bad-ass barking routine. Hilarious how the little dogs act the most bad-ass!
We have neither Capt D’s nor LJS. I like both. Dammit.
Could you please remind me the name of your good lookin’ hound?
Either way, getting baked is involved. Got it.
And there was much rejoicing throughout MumperVille.
Ever had one of those “what would you do if …” B.S. sessions, often semi-inebriated in someone else’s dorm room or apartment? When the topic inevitably turns to " … if you swapped genders for a day" wanna guess what approx. 96% of my female survey sample said first?
Thanks, I did!
And thank all the gods I put in earplugs. When I re-emerged from DreamLand, and poink! pulled them out, I was treated to the dulcet sounds of a jackhammer on concrete, accompanied by the incessant beeping of semi-heavy machinery.
Peered out the window to find they’ve closed the street about three houses up from me, all the way to the corner.
That’s right; I’m fenced in.
Absolute worst case scenario, I’ll call my Sweet Manager for a ride into work. But they have a few hours to stand around finish up.
Well, it’s nice that you found a hobby. /s
Are they the kind with slats? And do you have old, worn-out socks and/or socks whose mate is gone?
If so, slip one over your hand, and simply wipe wherever your sock-covered fingers can reach. Once it’s coated with gunk, invert while removing (to contain all that dust) and toss into trash.
That’s the stoopit simple, free method. Google will no doubt inform you of other ways.
There’s one right across the street from my pizza joint…
… or rather, was.
Funny this came up here, just yesterday someone at work idly mentioned how that LJS looked absolutely dead. No cars, nuthin.’
“Wait. Are their lights even on … ?”
We were slow enough that someone got bored/curious enough to call. Reported that nobody answered. And apparently, Teh Googlez informed them that the parent company has been “quietly closing” a buttload of locations.
I guess we’ll be selling more fried seafood now.
Ever since my old job (the BBQ joint across the street) closed down, we’ve been seeing a noticeable uptick in orders for ribs.
To the point where a couple days ago, one of the Oven Masters was kinda talking a bit of smack about all the rib orders lately. Phone rings, I answer … guess what they want?
I stick the ticket on the line and announce, “Another full slab, coming up,” and he didn’t believe me.
Nope, lookit the ticket, my man. Look at the ticket.
Well, the beeping and hammering has resumed. Maybe I should let Monkey out. He’s not going across the street now!
I believe J-Batt’s pupper is named Bob. Not 100% sure about that. I do remember reading of his adventures travelling over the spring and summer.
shoe Here’s to hoping you can keep the wolves from the door.
As to me, I’m in the shop, my idiot assistant is making things. I’m dreading having to sell my self in a little over half an hour. But, if I’m good, work for 6-8 months.
FCM that ditch isn’t deep, but the hill slope is enough to be a challenge. You know how “Safety First” DoD is about everything. The change is forever with me as I expect it is for you too. Can’t see an even remotely potentially hazardous situation without planning a mitigation.
“Medicare Advantage” is Part C, which replaces your Medicare coverage entirely with a commercial HMO. I don’t have that.
I do have a Part D (drugs) and Part G (very complete) Medicare Supplement plan, both from UHC through AARP. Which operate in addition to, not instead of, the “traditional” Medicare Parts A & B for hospital and doctor coverage respectively.
See what all you youngsters get to look forward to: Alphabet soup! At least it’s easy for us oldsters to chew gum. 
In USAF I had a GF (not my then-future now-late first wife) who claimed she could write her initials. I never saw it demonstrated but knowing what I did know of her, her attitudes, and her prehensile private parts, it’s totally plausible. :evil leer:
From the other end of the gender-gap telescope I gotta say most guys are “intrigued” by that whole multiple long-lasting orgasm thing. Just sayin’.
Given your recent success with the museum, you seem to be pretty effective at it even if you don’t much enjoy it. Here’s to another half-year plus of sweet, sweet revenue.
Buena suerte mi amigo.
As to me a bit after noon:
Shevelment and breakfast are complete, a load of my laundry is cooling in the dryer & will get a short shot of reheat (“bachelor ironing”) then put away after I finish fiddling with this post, and the clouds aren’t gone yet but are clearing out nicely. Beach beckons.
for those that wanted a circus/monkey shirt. redbubble has quite a bunch (intended) from which to choose.
I’ve been there many times, starting when I was a child and we visited relatives in Portland. Drove around it a few times, too. I like the tree-lined road going up to the lake area. Not too far south of there is Ashland, OR which has a Shakespeare festival every year. Some decent restaurants there.
The wife slept until 10 a.m. Says she was feeling ill all night with a sore throat. Covid test is negative, which is good.
For some reason, she is enamored of prepackaged foods and will grab some random thing out of the freezer section at the grocery for us to try. They’re pretty uniformly poor, IMO, and at age 76 I’m not interested in eating bad food when my number of remaining meals may be small. The last choice was a frozen pizza. “Selected as the best frozen pizza in Minneapolis!” said the sign. It was horrible, with a cracker crust and worse-than-tasteless ingredients. Can’t even imagine what the runners up were offering. I quit after one piece. She finished it, which may explain her feeling poorly.
Since exercise is cancelled, I’m going to head down to the workout room and use the NuStep, then the treadmill for a bit.
Started Typing: 11:26 AM ET
Clicked Reply: 12:22 PM ET
Morning, all!
My property manager’s brother never made it to the house yesterday. At a little after 10am I texted him about being OK with the walls not being painted, and less than 15 minutes later he replied “I’m getting the paint at my shop. I’ll be right over as soon as I can.” He has since been, painted, cleaned up, and gone! It’s all done! 
He said the paint should only take a few hours to dry: I have fans blowing on both spots, and the windows are open (we’re expecting rain, but not until ~3pm). Remarkably, there seem to be no paint fumes; Wednesday’s primer was smelly! We put my desk back in place, but I’m not going to move my work stuff until the paint is definitely dry (I need to be able to run cords and cables and bump the wall). I also still need to put Bailey’s “I put my front paws up here so I can look out the window” ottoman back under the office window/against the wall. I’ll check the paint in that room sometime after lunch, and am hoping to put everything back where it belongs this afternoon. It will be nice to finish the day back in my “normal” setup!
I went to the gym yesterday, and will go again tomorrow morning (make-up session). I was supposed to go to Baltimore tomorrow afternoon to play some charity bingo with my oldest friend (since 8th grade), but the organizer cancelled the game. I almost offered to drive up there anyway just to hang out, but frankly I’m not crazy about spending time with friend’s hubby (I’ve known him for 35 years and love him like a brother, I just don’t like him very much these days). She didn’t suggest getting together anyway, either, so I think we’re both just as happy to have our Saturday afternoon back.
Sunday morning there’s a local jazz jam session that I’m planning to/really should attend. I haven’t been doing any singing at all lately, and it’s easy to forget how much I enjoy making music with other people – and how good it is for my general well-being.
In just-about-as-mundane-as-it-gets news, a mobile knife sharpening service will be in my neighborhood on Sunday: the scissors and knives in my kitchen knife block are at least 10 years old and have never been sharpened, and the prices seem reasonable (I think), so I’m planning to drop them off in the morning before heading to the jam session.
Time to reply to some stuff and then decide what to have for lunch… 
QFT!
Nice photos (and dog)!
There needs to be an emoji for “I just spit Gatorade on my keyboard”…
Wait…what? Are you saying there’s more to the Dope than the MMP?!? 
Not that mundane; a sharp knife is wonderful to use, and having someone else - who knows what the hell they’re doing - perform an occasional service is a treat for you, and bread on the table for them.
Went outside earlier to spy, and snap a quick pic for Sweet Manager in case of imminent travel woes.
Couple of the guys immediately came over, "Do you need to leave? We can take down the sign on the other side … "
How very polite and solicitous.
I assured them I had a few hours and was just seeing what’s up.
After a suitable lunch break they got back to work. Their language to each other is what you’d expect working blue-collar laborers who are under a time crunch ( “leaves are fallin’ all around” 
) to sound like, and it amused me that the incessant beeping served to censor their cursing. 
My lunch break was pierogi. Dunno what they ate.
Anyway, here’s the view outside & inside:
They’re packin’ it up now. I think I’ll wander around a bit & see if I can get some nice pics of the trees in their autumn glory.
The name is indeed Robert T. Dog. Bob, for short. Or Bobby-Boy. Mob name: Bobby Weird Ear.
I was on the 200 slide all day, so there was a minimun of chaos. I almost even got out at a normal-ish hour, but “Rover” waited well past the time the package cars left to bring me the damages from the PDCs. But I get paid by the hour, so it’s all good. Speaking of which I got the make up check for the extra cash for between when the new contract was supposed to start, and when we actually started it. I can have extra debauchery this weekend! I stopped at HT on the way home for a sweet potato, since I couldn’t get to them yesterday, because some old coot was giving a full physical to each and every one in the bin.
God help you. Roommate has UHC through work, and everything is denied unless you have a prior authorization. Plus they get in frequent snits with hospitals and doctor practices, so you may or may not be in network on a given day.
< skritches Bob >