March Madness Mother Nature Style In The MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I have arriven in The Villages in Florida. It was a very easy drive down from Macon, only about four and a half hours. Returning the rental SUV from hell was the easiest thing about the whole trip so far. The guy was helping some other people while I waited and he looked over and said, “Picking up or dropping off?”
“Dropping off.”
“Full tank?”
“Yep.”
“Give me the keys and you’re good to go.”

Fucking vacuumed thing out and everything for nothing I guess.

The best news of the week is that I can now enjoy some real food for a change. I’ve been subsisting fast food and Doritos for a week. My mother’s cooking is top-notch. We’re having grilled chicken on ciabatta rolls tonight. I can’t wait for the chicken cacciatore.

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FCM recipe for tarragon roasted taties, please.

Lovely day in no. Illinois. Sunny, low 60s, and dry. Spent the afternoon with Ariel and had a lovely ride. Days like this kind of make me forget bad weather

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J-Bats Glad you and Bob made it safely.

I’m taking a mental health day tomorrow. I’ve been doing an extra day at the high school for a couple of weeks. Need at least 2 days with Ms Peach in a row. We may dog park tomorrow, weather depending…it’s looking dubious, but who really knows.

I replaced my under cabinet LED lights in the kitchen today after work. Still need to run the cord properly, but they’re working, and it is a big improvement.

FCM Peach can’t seem to figure out the doggie door. It makes noises which are scary. She doesn’t realize how happy she’d be if she could go in and out on her own.

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Try the canned ones. I found that they are good for certain applications (potato salad, I’m talking to you).

Glad you made it safely JBats!

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Roasted tarragon spudlets -
10-12 small (1-2" dia) potatoes cut in bite size pieces
2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tbsp tarragon
Salt & pepper to taste
Preheat oven 400° (I used the toaster oven. Thought about trying the air fryer)
Mix oil and seasonings in bowl. Add potatoes pieces and mix to coat. Put in casserole dish (I just spread them on a tray) and bake 20-30 minutes till done, mixing several times. Sprinkle with more tarragon if desired and serve.

I figure this same recipe would work using Italian seasoning, too.

Time to find something on TV.

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Howdy Y’all! The funeral was nice. Ann had a good send off. My PCP was there with his wife. He came up to me afterwards and said he was impressed with my ability to walk and go up a step while carryin’ the big Paschal Candle. I guess I got points for balance and coordination. I told him that when I serve as Verger I count it as a win if the place does not catch on fire. One of the reasons I really like him as my PCP is his sense of humor. I took care of assorted duties and then went by Arby’s. The sammiches and fries were good, but I think it will be another long while before we get food from there again. The rest of the day has been spent in high RDOS sloth.

Mollie I do think the Judas walkers should be fair game. However, because I am nice and food motivated, I would not whack the ones who leave to set up coffee hour or first Sunday brunch.

red who could blame Nelson for wantin’ to lap up bonus floor water!

MOOOOOOM that horror is beyond creepy! The only thing worse would be if it were a clown. :: shudder ::

J_Bats glad Bob and you arrived safe and sound. Enjoy mama’s cookin’!

GenJ that is some serious side eye from the Princess! I would be afraid not to give her the longer ride.

VanGo enjoy the mental health day. Hope the weather cooperates so Ms. Peach can have doggy park time.

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Hey, y’all. I’m not quite back on line, but I had to check some stuff and took the opportunity to fire up the infernal device and look in on the Dope. I promise I’ll try to catch up, and I’ll see you in the next MMP-ish if the weather doesn’t kill us all.

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I hope your hiatus has been going well :slight_smile:

I think that’s an excellent idea. You’ve mentioned being burnt out already, best to take the break before it gets bad.

Can you tape the door flap open so Ms Peach can come and go for an hour or so? Then prop the flap half open for a while? See if she figures out that its not a dog-eating mouth? (Hubs spent almost a month teaching one of our old cats to use the kitty door after moving from one house with a kitty door to another house with kitty door in a different place.)

I’m happy for both of you. It must have felt so good.

Hurray for arriving safely and for being able to eat real food again. I hope you get settled soon.

I had no idea that dogs were capable of snubbing people and treats like that, are you sure she’s not just a big yellow cat?

That’s so sweet about the UPS driver :slight_smile:

When I want to be all nostalgic, I put CHiPs on. Dad built many of the freeways they were filmed on and OMG, the hair! If it wasn’t for the casual misogyny and sexism it would be a stitching fav.

That sounds lovely (scribbles notes).

The cruelty is the point.

He was helping!

Sometimes ya just gotta sacrifice for the greater good!

We are close neighbors and there are dogwoods blooming all over the place now. The winters might be a little colder here, but they also thrive in AZ so they must not need cold winters to do well.

You are going to need a bug-lock. Rig up a net tent on the outside of the doggy door and then put a flap door leading to the back yard. The tent must be longer than the dog for it to work right.

Oh, I didn’t take it that way and wanted you to laugh :slight_smile: Back when Real ID was starting to be implemented, it was meant to be a national ID with citizenship verified. The only difference between your Real ID is the card design. All states could have put “citizen” on them, only a few thought to do it and here we are now.

Not to mention that I should have done my research before getting my Real ID. I didn’t have one in AZ because I don’t fly and AZ drivers licenses are good forever. Hubs needed me to get my WV license right away because of reasons and I just wanted to get it done to make him shut up.

That’s just an excuse, my current citizenship verification problems are all of my own making and I have nobody to blame but me.

Back when I was in grade school, calamine lotion on an enemy was wonderful. You knew just where to slap them while playing tag.

:rofl:

Oh, I assumed you wanted to whack the people to make them leave the animals alone :slight_smile:

I get that, my bosses always told me that I couldn’t be myself at work as well.

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Princess dog is brilliant! I love this!

The lobby is switched from winter to spring. Finally home with lager on my lap.

150

Evening all. Plumbing work is done and paid for, now need to get someone in to repair the walls and re-paint (after I buy more paint). Since I was shuffling things around in the garage I ended up taking all the old paint (3-9 years old) to the disposal center 25 minutes away and cleared that out of my garage. Then coached soccer for an hour, came back home for some ham-n-cheesers and need to do my Firday shopping list. The last two week of electrical and plumbing work, besides being hideously expensive, disrupted my whole schedule and it’s almost not worth going back to normal as I leave on vacation in about 2.5 weeks. Such is life. At least it was a nice day to be out, hit 71F and is still 60F at 8:30pm, with more warm weather through the weekend.

And then to top it off, I ate two protein bars each Tuesday and Wednesday, along with some reguar protein-heavy meals, and my bladder went into overdrive. I (spoilered for anyone who does not need to know my micturation history) urinated 11 times Wednesday producing over 5 Liters and while today isn’t too bad, I’ve had to go 8 times already and nearly 3 liters worth. Needless to say the protein bars are not being touched and my kidneys seem to be returning to the status quo.

And 23-24 messages to digest (but no calories in doing that at least).

JtC, I really should learn to read the entire paragraph (regarding Nelson). Dumbth.

Knots, I donate each year to the local NPR station and to Alabama Public TV.

FCM, I must admit (like most Americans, I think), I don’t look at the ‘made in’ tag anymore. China, Vietnam, Indonesia…would have to look sharp to find USA-made clothing. Glad the cardigan is restored.

Mollie, nice of the restaurant to donate to the kids and nice for you to support them. As for the Tennessee bill, it isn’t the only state trying things like that…mores the pity/

I’ve considered that in the past, have met several Mumpers before this, but might do it by train (if Amtrak will get me close enough…).

Red, I have had mornings like yours to, where everything I try to do to correct something ends up a slapstick comedy routine.

lucky, not timing right for the Adam-12 reruns, am watching Emergency! in the afternoon when I have a chance.

Gen J, always go for the warmth, that the canine motto. And lovely princess pic!

J-Bats, congratulations for making it cross-country. Enjoy Mom’s cooking.

wet one, glad to hear your having weather good enough so that Ariel and you can get some time together.

Van GO, mental health is important, enjoy the time off with Ms. Peach.

Swampy, never been a big fan of Arby’s either, last time I asked for regular fries and they gave me the seasoned ones, so they are on The List…

Thanks for checking in and please don’t die…I will be most put out if you expire… :wink: :smiley:

And that’s all, folks. After 9pm and I have some things to do before Slumberland, so take care and I’ll all y’all tomorrow.

151

The thing about my mom is, she has this preternatural talent for cooking and she doesn’t realize it. It’s like the opposite of Dunning-Kruger. Every meal she serves comes with sighs and provisos that it didn’t come out the right way … and then it’s the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten. She could trip over a bag of groceries and fucking lasagna would pop out.

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{{{{{Mollie}}}}}

What are “detransition procedures”?

What kind of protein bars?

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Moooom, here are some brands that are made in the US. Not all of them are spendy either.

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These. Protein Bars | High Protein Bars with Big Flavor – Quest Nutrition

I normally get 1-2 on Friday since that is my “Salad” day so not much protein there. Eating two of these when having my regular diet was, upon reflection, not the best idea I ever had.

Off to bed.

155

Not just yet. We seem to have gone back into second winter here. No propping anything open when it’s below freezing.

156

Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave. It’s currently 40 degrees Ferret Height(4.444 Centipedes) ou.

There’s a "Dogs of UPS " FB page for dogs like the Princess.

One time I didn’t let my Mom’s dog Nikki(Nicole Yvette) out fast enough, so when she came in, and down with her back to me to shun me, then went on a 2 day hunger strike.

157

Morning, mumpers! It’s currently 5c/40f with a predicted high of 14c/56f and a chance of fog. Weather app says “It’s probably a good day to stay the fuck in bed. Today will probably fucking suck.”

That’s what we were thinking about, we’re intending to leave everything to each other when the first of us goes, he wants to leave a bequest to one of his nieces but not the other so he’ll need to be specific about that. We have no kids, both my parents are gone and his mum is in her early 80s - we’ll need to work out how to distribute things amongst his siblings (if he wants to). I’d quite happily leave everything to Little Paws and his favourite niece!

What a great idea, and very good of them to do that. And you got a bonus tasty meal out of it. I call that a win.

I miss that series, it was so much fun.

Hurrah! Yes, they worked and I can see them over here. Princess dog is gorgeous but definitely in a snit there.

I’m glad you and Bob arrived safely, and the rental return was uneventful. I hope you enjoy all that good home cooking!

That sounds like a good plan, you need time to recharge and I’m sure Ms Peach will be happy to have her human around for some extra playtime too.

Sounds like something to try here too. ‘im indoors is a fan of the tarragon chicken, and likes bearnaise sauce on his steak, so anything else with tarragon is bound to be a hit. I’ve done rosemary roasted hasselback potatoes before, something with tarragon will be an interesting change.

I’m glad you decided to pop in here and let us know you’re ok. I hope the hiatus is doing you good.

Yesterday was an uneventful irk day. Troublesome Minion has found new things to be irked about, so our meeting was ok but not great - there is nothing I can do about her new irkage, it’s neither my business nor hers, but (as we found out) she cannot let go of things once she decided she’s aggrieved about them. Thus I will no doubt be hearing about this for the next few months.

I got home in good time, courtesy of a late-running train from campus and a very crowded overheated train from Big City Station. I was really hot when I got off that train so I had a nice walk back home in reasonably pleasant temperatures. Got in, did chores, made chilli for dinner, watched some tellybox stuff and was in bed around the time I hoped to be.

I do have a little irkage of my own. One is that someone’s sent me something that requires a signature before the postie will part with it. I wasn’t at home, and ‘im indoors didn’t hear the door, so I missed that and they’ll try to redeliver today. Otherwise I’ll end up having to traipse to the sorting office and collect it myself.

My other irkage is that I pre-ordered the new album from my favourite band in the whole entire world. It releases today, and the pre-order meant I should have had it at least two days before it’s on general release. The order (CD and t-shirt) was packed and labelled on Monday, it is coming via Royal Mail’s 48hr tracked delivery so it’s cost more than normal postage. It should have gone in the post on Wednesday at the latest, and been with me on Thursday. The tracking info says I will not get it until tomorrow. Several of the people in our fan group on Messenger are in the same situation, including the lady who does most of the UK merch orders for the band. She didn’t do this one and is equally annoyed that her package is delayed until tomorrow too.

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Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 40 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 75 and sunny. Spring is officially with us again. We shall be bears who lunch at the local good fish place today. I have a gnawin’ and a cravin’ for catfish. That will take care of today’s main need to feed. Outside of that we will be our usual grumpy old RDOS selves.

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah.

Happy Firday Y’all! Happy Astronomical First Day of Spring! If you’re in the southern hemisphere, Happy Astronomical First Day of Fall!

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My theory - people who are good at certain things know where they fall short so they can’t be satisfied if it’s not perfect. I know I’m that way about my knitting and crocheting. Chances are no one notices if I do a double crochet instead of a triple, but it makes me crazy if I see it after I’ve finished. Or I could be completely wrong about that.

While I do prefer US-made items, I’m OK with imports. It’s just China that ticks me off. Slightly irrational on my part, but there ya go!

Today is starting with 36 Ferrets, creeping to upper 60s with sun moving to clouds by evening. Yesterday afternoon I cut up a bunch of fallen branches and restocked the firewood pile. Today after laundry is done, I may attack the wisteria before it leafs out too much. I need to figure out which battery to charge.

If the long range forecast is to be trusted, we’ll only have a few more sub-freezing nights, so yay for that! Which means I can put away the electric blanket soon. When that happens, I’ll believe it’s spring. Then about 10 minutes later, summer will descend… :roll_eyes:

Till then, I’ll finish my morning intrarwebz reads, then gather our dirties.

Happy Firday!!

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This guy had a good suggestion for that. He recommended taking photos of everything you want to leave to relatives/others and give a copy of them to each of the potential heirs, and tell them to rank what they would like to have and send it back to you. It may turn out that nobody wants any of it, which is then another headache.