More Miscellaneous Morning Musings - An MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

There’s a diner of sorts near us that makes really good milkshakes the old fashioned way - you can even pick any of the ice cream flavors they have for your shake! Really, really good. But even before the plague, they started raising their prices from high-but-still-reasonable to OMG-are-you-kidding??? For example, sandwiches used to come with fries. Then all of a sudden, everything was a la carte, essentially raising the cost of a meal 25-35%. And, frankly, apart from the shakes, their food isn’t all that great. It’s been years since we’ve been there.

Chance of t-boomers this afternoon and rain later tonight. Pretty much the same as yesterday, when we didn’t get a drop of rain. We’re going to spend about an hour or so working in FCD’s shop, starting the process of rearranging. His former office is going to become home to all the supply shelves. So first step will be emptying the office and giving it a good sweep. I’ll haul all the stuff out of the office and to the workbench where my sweetie can sort it for stowage, and while he does that, I can sweep/vacuum/decrudify. We likely won’t be out there more than an hour - his endurance isn’t what it used to be, and he gets really worn out with not too much exertion. :frowning: Poor guy.

Daughter texted me - last night, she was asking Roxy what people’s names are. When she said “What’s Grandpa’s name?” Roxy answered “Sweetie!” :rofl: When they were still living here and I’d call him to dinner, she’s parrot me with “Time to eat, Sweetie!” Cracked us all up!

In other news, my shoulders no longer hurt from being stabbed - HUZZAH!!! I’m now fully protected and/or boosted against COVID, flu, shingles, and pneumonia (which I got in the doc’s office.) I continue to wear my mask when I shop, as do many folks around here - which surprises me because it’s a really red county. And most people are really good about keeping distance. Maybe that’s the difference of having a governor who doesn’t play political games with the health of the citizenry. OK, off my soapbox.

It’s overcast, so maybe the rain will happen.

Happy Tuesday!

62

Good morning everyone.

It’s around 45 degrees and drizzly outside. The expected high is 57.

Congrats on retirement, Butters!

I hope the second test is negative too, Bat Boy.

I’ve had ornery dogs most of my life. Growing up, every single one of them was an escape artist, but they always came home.

As an adult, I didn’t have a dog until we got Cap’n around the year 1999 or 2000. He was a black lab and the best boy ever, but also an escape artist. He always came home, but there were a couple of times that neighbors brought him home. As he got older, he was inclined to just hang out with us and his escape days were over.

When we got Brandi and Polar they got into all sorts of shenanigans together and escaping was their favorite pastime. They also played the run and stop, and then run game. I can’t tell you how many times I had to get out of the vehicle and then chase them down. We finally got the yard dog-proofed and as they got older, they were just inclined to hang out here at the house. Polar, although he doesn’t really run anymore, will literally saunter past if he sees an escape route. He’s real quiet and sneaky about it, and then, as soon as he knows you’ve realized his intentions, takes off. The dog is 13 for Chrissakes, and he still gets up to this. It’s not often, but Jeebus.

Once again, I considered calling out, but I realized that by the time I got up to email or text my boss, and the executive leadership team of the state, and then set up my out of office reply and voice mail, I’d be wide awake, so what was the point. On top of that, my husband was tossing, turning, and scratching, so there was no sleeping going on for me anyway, I got up, cleaned up, made my coffee, gave Polar his meds, and here I am.

I’m glad the kids’ wiring is getting fixed, FCM.

Time for another cup of coffee.

63

Afternoon, mumpers! Did you miss me? Haven’t been around much for the last week or so due to work-related craziness which doesn’t seem to be slowing down yet. Utterly bonkers the amount of stuff we’re expected to get through with half our team either off sick or gone completely. I need to clone myself just to stand still!

Happy retirement, Butters, hope you enjoy not having to do anything you don’t want to do until you decide you really want/have to. You’ll be able to compete with Swampy and metalmouse for TMI and slothage :slight_smile:

Moooom we have disappearing cats too, I swear I have seen Shadow walk out of the bedroom and then not been able to find him when it’s time for food. Then he just strolls out of the exact same room I was so sure he wasn’t in. Cats are masters of portalling from all over the place.

Batboy hope the tests are negative, it is always a worrying time waiting for the results.

That’s all I’ve got time for, off to fight the next series of fires and see what crisis is next on the list to be averted.

64

And from the “It’s always something” department, SIL has torn the ACL on his good knee. He meets with the surgeon on Moanday. Well, it’s not like anything else is going on in their lives. A baby coming next month is no biggie, right? :roll_eyes:

Something tells me I’ll be spending a lot of time at their house. Crap.

65

Morning all. Rain is due this afternoon, night and tomorrow, so that will dampen things. Need to drop off my electric bill this morning (there is a collection box about 3 miles away) but that is all that is on my agenda for 2sDay. Temps should be in the 70’s, so fall is creeping up on us here in N. Ali-bama.

FCM, hope SIL isn’t in to much distress…apparently the males in your family have problems, while the women are healthy… Enjoy the rearranging with ‘Sweetie’.

boo fae, bosses probably figure as long as they work you and your colleagues to death and the job gets done, what’s the problem? Take care.

Dicey, so you have 5 guys and Dunkin’ Donuts in Switzerland; sounds like a place I’d like to visit… :wink: :grin:

Bat Boy, good to hear from you. Hope test #2 is negative and that work picks up soon.

Sari, don’t know why dogs run away like that. I don’t have any stories but my youngest nephew had a bloodhound get away for about a week, he had to get a trapper to catch the beast.

OK, pills have been taken, so get a little breakfast and do the mailing and then sloth can reign supreme. All y’all take care.

66

Years back, we had a Dalmatian, Pixel,who would dash any chance she got. We’re pretty sure that’s what ended her. She slipped her harness, climbed over the back fence, and we never saw her again. Our other dogs have been pretty good about chilling at home or coming to the door after some meandering.

Back when Bernie was still alive, she found a space in the farthest back corner of the yard where she’d squeeze out, take a little walk, then wander back to the front door to be let in. And Higgs found a spot where the chainlink had come detached at the bottom of the support so she could push out of the yard. After having her come up to the garage, we walked the fence, found the gap, and secured it. And unlike Pixel, if I let Higgs into the garage to go to the back yard and the garage door is open, she doesn’t bolt out that way. She’ll head to the door that opens into the yard.

It’s after 9 and FCD is still abed. But I know he was up in the middle of the night, poor guy.

67

My aunt called yesterday afternoon. I’d been thinking of calling her for a couple of weeks, as we only talk a couple of times a year. Good to hear from her. She’s 95 and she says except for losing her hearing, her vision, and her mind, she’s in great shape.

68

The old office has been emptied of crap, swept, and it’s ready for shelves to be moved in. Not today, tho. It’s soooooo muggy out there! Once the cold front comes thru, we’re ready!

I was surprised at the number of spider webs. It seems to be a banner year for those little boogers - inside and out. There’s one living in the kitchen window frame. I thought I’d smooshed it several times, but the next morning, there’s a web again. Bastard!!

And on that note, it’s time for lunch.

69

Congratulations, butters! I hope you’re thoroughly enjoying some good, hardcore puttering.

I just got off the most nerve wracking call. I got an invite from our VP/GM with a bunch of internal folks, thinking, “Oh, a brainstorming session with Important People.” Turns out it was a brainstorming session with a LOT of VPs and GMs plus our largest client, including said client’s CEO. Everyone was on video except me. Why? Because I haven’t showered, I’m wearing a Harry Potter t-shirt and my hair is shoved into a messy bun and half of it is poking straight up.

Overlyboy’s braces were put on yesterday. Overlygirl is today. Soon I shall have two metal-mouthed children instead of just the one with achy teeth. Braces are far less obtrusive than they were when I had them in the late 80s/early 90s. I was expecting some serious hardware and was really kind of disappointed.

Anyway, grey gross day. I’ll have to tread the mill downstairs. I figure if I stay in my Harry Potter shirt and workout pants long enough I’ll be forced to either shower, work out or both. But in the meantime, work!

70

Heaved. Coworker was swinging between “attention deficit disorder” to “hair on fire manic work” It harshed my mellow. I drove to Cary to get the lumber supplies for finishing the kitchen remodle-ish thing. Almost got sideswiped by a Benz. Damn Yankees. I need a nap and some beer.

71

batboy I hope you have avoided the COVID. Are they paying you for the time in isolation?

I have many dog escape stories, but I’ll have to share them tomorrow. I think I’m still “paying” for my weekend adventure. I’m feeling not great. On the plus, it looks like we might have rain moving in.

So far today, the curtains over the sliding glass door in our bedroom have fallen. I need to get that fixed. That side of the house gets very warm in the afternoon.

Have a good day everyone.

72

Afternoon all. Got out and paid the bills, so I’ll have water and electric for the next month. Got an e-mail that I had not logged into my e-mail for over 90 days (then how was I supposed to be reading it?). Called and hopefully got that squared away. Have broken fast and made my Wednesday catchup shopping (those things I missed Moanday). Right now it is just Pepsi and Edge Shaving Gel, which is a bit different.

Waiting to see if soccer is rained out, they are promising rain around 2pm but we’ll see.

Flyboy, I like your aunt’s attitude. May she stay forever young.

doggio, how do you know the Benz didn’t belong to some nouveau rich redneck?

OK, thinking about nappage here. All y’all take care.

73

*whew* Busy morning. I got in later than I wanted to – the boss beat me in (but I was in before eight) – because Washingtonians don’t know how to drive in the rain. (Nor the sunshine.) A client returned signed forms. They didn’t fill in their name or address on the (Word document) contract, so I had to write it in. Then I had to fill out another form and send the whole package off to Big Credit Company. It will take them weeks to do their vetting and then give us what we need to send data.

Almost eleven now. In about 15 minutes I’ll go out to get my Cobb salads for the week.

74

My friend/cleaning lady is here. We spent two hours talking before she got to work. It’s amazing how much there is to catch up on after two weeks. This time it was about mutual acquaintances who went to the stupid anti-vaxx/anti-mask rally at the Capital. Idiots en masse is never a good thing.

Here’s my dog-runner story. My now-ex and I had two dogs, one of which was a runner. (I wanted to call him Roameo.)The runner got old, slow, hard-of-hearing and blind but still enjoyed walks. We were on a quiet dirt road almost 2 miles from home and decided to let both dogs off-leash. We threw a stick into the creek for the non-runner to fetch, and when we turned around a minute later, Old Dog was gone. We called. Only the coyotes answered. So we jogged the rest of the loop home to get the truck to go look for him. And there he was, waiting for us on the porch. I guess his nose got him home.

batboy, hope the isolation isn’t too miserable.

Love the name. :wink:

I’m with you. I love eggnog. Pumpkin spice is OK, but I don’t understand the hullaballoo over it.

This cracked me up. I hope “Sweetie’s” stamina improves. Also, I hope SIL isn’t down for long post-op.

wordy, good luck to the braces-wearers. How long do they have to wear them?

75

Read lots, retained little. Just killing the last few minutes of my lunch break. At least we’re staying open today!

76

They’ll be on for at least two years per kid - overlyboy will probably have his closer to 3 years, poor thing. I was thinking earlier that between the general awkwardness, braces, social weirdness and other things I would not repeat middle or high school for anything.

77

Happy Toosday!

Was a drizzly foggy 62-degree morning at the park.
Echo got pissy with Athena, but then decided they can be friends.
I always pick on her saying she is a bad dog, but when it comes down to it, she’s not really bad. It’s hard to look good next to Ripple, who is a very good dog.
VanGo, most of my subscribe and save order is stuff for the dogs.
My dogs are very spoiled, and they have trained me well.

We had run out of their favorite treats, which were delivered last night
So now all is right with the world.

My son got his vacation approved so he gets a full 7 days off, then irks two days and gets four days off.
I have a list for him.
I wonder if he will ever irk a normal schedule.
He got off at 1:15 this morning and I seriously need a nap, but am irking all day. I have dozed off several times.

I’ve had many escapee dogs over the years.
I get very upset when they get loose.
Echo is exceptionally stupid about streets and cars.

Buck sounds like he was a huge handful Shady . I had a red Doberman. One day somebody opened the gate and all my dogs took off, except Troy who stood at the open gate and cried until I closed it. He loved to run though. Sometimes I’d take him to a beach where dogs were supposed to be leashed and let him run anyway. He’d run so far down the beach that he was just a speck in the distance, but he always came right back to me. One time in the winter he took off across the ice, got so far and fell through. I look on his face was priceless. I was glad he got himself out, I was not looking forward to wading out to get him. After that if there was even a speck of ice on the beach, he wouldn’t walk on it.

I know what you mean about the flippers. A lot of houses I put in contracts on went to flippers who could pay cash. It sucks but you can blame the sellers for preferring a cash buyer.
The problem I’m having now with looking for houses is that so many of them are rentals with tenants that don’t want to leave. I don’t want to buy a house and make somebody leave, and I’m not looking to buy a rental property.
I’ve got time though, not doing anything until November.

78

sari, Nelson has enough tags on his collar (ID, license, chip indicator) that I always know where he is. :stuck_out_tongue:

Glad you tested negative batboy. I hope the new gig gets less weird and no one else gets sick.

My sister has had a few runners in her day. A pair of the notable ones were a greyhound type dog and chihuahua who would tag team the gate to take a joy run. Sis would have to take the car out and open up the door when she found them.

She also had a schnauzer mix who, who, when he was a puppy, would be wet when Sis would get home from irk. One day, she came home early and caught him coming back into the yard via a loose board in the fence. He was going over to visit the rottweilers next door and the female was licking him as she would have her own puppy. :slight_smile:

Irked, came home in a sprinkle, suited Nelson up in his slicker and walked. After KP, I’ll give Dad a call to wish him a happy birthday (84 today!).

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

79

Hi! Just thought I’d pop in.

I’ve been doing all right. Always tired, but I have a doctor’s appointment.

80

Sort of. We agreed that the break would be covered by what’s called here “The Disaster Payment” from the Govt to cover Covid affected businesses. And because I am part time, I only get partial coverage, but that’s better than nothing.