(Old) A Day Off in the MMP

[Filbert]

Um, I just tried to do a bit of checking on this, and I don’t think you should give up home yet… There was a paper published a few days ago (in Nature) about a big freeze in Texan which killed 27% of purple martins, but it’s referring to what happened in 2021, not this year. This year there don’t seem to be any reports of a big die-off, they’re just maybe running a bit late. I hope.

But they are in decline, so maybe put some more nests up just in case…

I need to get some more bird boxes up here, but I’m not sure where I should be putting them and I think I’ve missed the start of the season now; all the tiny tweety things are flying round with beaks full of fluff or bugs already.

[dogbutler]

Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. I’m on vacation. Morning cleaning followed by several days of sloth.
Spot wanted cuddles when I first woke up, so I let him lay on my chest. At least till heard my sternum cracking(He’s not fat, but he is neutron star dense). I like Sloppy Joes. I should make some this week.

@Maus_Magill

There is apparently a backup plan.

A trip to the Temu version of London?

@nelliebly

I had a psych eval yeasterday morning. Don’t breathe a sigh of relief, though, as I’m still running with scissors–OK, pinking shears. (I’m a pinko.).

But glad you passed, and hopefully it will help.

@JaneDoe42

I’m being sad tonight. Over 27% of the migrating Purple Martens died during that cold snap in TX last month, ours included.

@swampbear

The big item on today’s agenda is deheathenization in which I have Chalice duty.

Don’t forget the Iocane powder.

[FairyChatMom]

@swampbear

I am not a fan of sloppy joes, but I found a recipe with a mustard base that is way less sweet.

My sloppy joes aren’t all that sweet - really not much more than spaghetti sauce. The main flavors come from onions, celery, and vinegar, with maybe a tablespoon or two of brown sugar to 2-3# of meat.

As for FCD taking the day off - HAH!! I wish he would but he’s got this sense of urgency about the boat, as if we were on a schedule. I can’t convince him that there’s no mad rush. I don’t want to go myself - I need to clean my studio - it was the dumping ground as we prepared for the party. So that’s my plan for today… I think…

And I think I finally solved the problem of Ziva peeing in front of FCD’s closet. I put a small litter pan in the bedroom, and she used it yesterday. There’s no space in our tiny bathroom, so it has to sit against the dresser. I can deal with that better than having to pull out the shampooer every other day. I’m pretty sure she’s afraid to venture out during the day because of Otis. He’d not hurt her, but she doesn’t know that, and I expect being deaf and almost blind doesn’t help her deal.

Speaking of Otis - he came home clean and exhausted. And hungry. FCD forgot to leave his midday food and since he didn’t get picked up till almost 6, poor pup was withering away!!! In fact, even after eating his lunch in the car on the way home, he came to me with sad puppy eyes and I figured out he was still hungry. Once I gave him another scoop of kibbles, he was fine. Not sure why he come to me for food - FCD does most of the feeding. Must be my animal magnetism!

Rain in the forecast, and today starts at 57 Ferrets with 30s promised overnight. Stoopit weather! Glad the mowage got done yesterday. Today is definitely an indoor day - for me anyway. Mostly. I think.

Happy Sunday!!

[Chefguy]

I’ll be meeting up today with my eldest and family for lunch downtown and then to see his son playing French horn in the youth symphony. I’m doubtful if I can last through the whole thing (there is a second orchestra also playing), but there will be a break to change orchestras, so I can escape then, if needed. At least it’s close by. Most of his kids’ performances are a 40 minute drive from here and in the evening. I don’t drive at night anymore, so I usually see them on video. The wife’s arm is still causing her pain, so she won’t be going.

In the 40s today and then we bounce back up to the 80s by Wednesday.

[SCAdian]

@Johnny_L.A

baby back ribs (from a deadpig, not a human baby)

Stopped at a restaurant in southern Minnesota back in the '70s, and one of the items on the menu was “grilled baby, back ribs”. “I’m not sure about the baby, but I’ll have an order of back ribs.”

[dogbutler]

Me: “I can make the bed while Spot is distracted.”
Morgan Freeman: “He was horribly wrong.”

[Taters]

Mornin’ all.

It’s 44F and partly sunny. The forecast high is 70F with considerable cloudiness.

Nellie, good to hear from you. Wishing your daughter luck with the job hunt.

Shoe, those sound like nice treats. I love the potato-and-onion pierogies.

My son came up yesterday and stayed the night. He’ll be leaving earlier than usual today to pack boxes for the move.

He could have closed at the end of this upcoming week, but the sellers still haven’t packed and left and would need through next weekend. So, now they are looking at closing on the 27th or 28th. Since my son has already given notice at his apartment, that week is a little hectic, especially trying to lock down a U-Haul rental. I think we’re all going to be exhausted, especially since my husband and I are helping him move.

My son, B, is super excited about getting a dog now, and has been looking at a Husky who is Polar’s twin. But we’ll see what things look like once he gets into his house. I’m excited for him and he’s already been talking garden and yard stuff with me, which is nice.

Since we didn’t do any yardwork yesterday, I guess we’ll have to knock some of that out today, especially since the forecast calls for rain mid-week.

Alrighty, time for another cup of coffee and a little more relaxation. You all take care of yourselves.

[Paintcharge]

Woke up, listened to the radio while still in bed. Came downstairs and found no power. Odd. Did the damn squirrels fry my downstairs power? Nope, apparently it went out for the whole area while I was going down the stairs.

[FairyChatMom]

Taking a little break. FCD and I discussed getting my kiln up and running again - maybe within a month? I need to start reclaiming all my dried-out clay. It’s a matter of adding water and working it till it’s the right consistency. I’ve got a lot to reclaim, so a bit at a time.

I did another rollsuck downstairs - hard to believe how much crud I picked up, since I did a good rollsuck yesterday. It’s hard to see crud in a multi brown, low nap carpet tile. I bet if I go over it again, I’ll still get crud - my vacuum is old and probably pretty tired.

Anyway, I’ve got a lot of organizing to do in my mess of a studio. There’s stuff in there that used to belong to the inlaws and I’m pretty sure FCD has no idea what or how much there is. I think I can safely toss it all. He has a hard time letting go of their things, but I don’t think a notebook with business cards from Ocala holds much sentiment…

OK, break time over. Back to the grind. ugh.

[missred]

Happy Sunday!

We have a cold front going on right now and I stayed under the cozy blanket for an extra half hour or so. So now, I’m caffeinating, breakfasted, have the mayacoba beans in the little crock for chicken cassoulet tonight (they’re creamy like canelli beans and I can get them dried). KP is up next.

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

[Maus_Magill]

Good morning everyone! Mrs Magill and lounged in bed until 7:15, before deciding that we should get the pup out of her crate. There was continued lounging about accompanied with newspaper reading and coffee drinking. I made some ham and eggs for breakfast.

Mrs Magill is now making Chloé regret her life choices by giving her a pre-bath brushing and face trim.

Yesterday started warm, so I wore shorts while doing laundry and general cleaning. A little before six, Chloé asked to go outside, and I discovered the temperature had dropped about forty degrees. I changed into my warm, fleece lined leggings and chuckled to myself as I thought about Red’s comment about leaving the house pants. My Not Leaving the House Pants are a lot of people’s Leaving the House Pants. It’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world. Whaddya gonna do?

@FairyChatMom

FCD and I discussed getting my kiln up and

This gives me an idea: Mrs Magill used to do a lot of pottery in the pre-kids era. Now that we’re rapidly approaching an empty nest, I wonder if she’d like to start again. What should I look for in a good kiln?

[scareyfaerie]

Afternoon, mumpers! It’s currently 12c/53f with no predicted change, and cloudy. Weather app says “Oh look. All the fucking clouds are dry humping.” I wouldn’t know, it’s too sunny to tell!

@FairyChatMom

I hope it’s more of an adventure than a fiasco!

It was certainly an adventure but it all worked out well in the end and was 100% worth the effort.

@Taters

My daughter and her family had to hide in their basement for a bit yesterday because of a tornado warning in their area.

That must be a real worry for you when you’re far away from them. I’m glad there was no damage and everyone is safe.

@susan

I was in Costa Rica for a quick trip with my sister

How lovely! I hope you had a really good time

@Maus_Magill

I’m still looking for solutions for thinning out my arm hair that don’t involve going completely hairless. Hairless arms look odd.

Is there something you could use to lighten the colour a bit while you’re working out everything else? Ah, I see JtC already mentioned that!

@Johnny_L.A

I’m too busy to do anything during the week. Saturdays are for chores, and Sundays I have to go to church.

If it was me, I’d ditch the “going to church” bit. Oh yeah, I already did that one! Saturday is for errands and Sunday is for slothing

@LH75

I will post it to FB in a minute

Thank you - I saw it and it’s gorgeous!

@FairyChatMom

Glad I’m not hosting, tho. I can hide up here without guilt!

I hope the kids have fun and you get your peaceful house back without too much bother.

@dogbutler

Would it be unethical to wish to combine the two for a trolley problem exercise?

Probably, but it’s a nice idea. According to reports, the “patriots” were vastly outnumbered by those of us who welcome refugees and asylum seekers to our country. Always good to see that the good people turn out in much larger numbers when the nasty folks want to scream and shout.

@nelliebly

My daughter’s husband’s affair baby was born on April Fool’s Day.

How appropriate! I hope the poor child doesn’t suffer too much from the parents, and I can’t help thinking Chevelle is a weird name for a kid I know nothing about Chevy model names, google told me that one.

JtC that is very sad news about the purple martens, I hope the population does recover eventually.

@Chefguy

I’ll be meeting up today with my eldest and family for lunch downtown and then to see his son playing French horn in the youth symphony.

That sounds like fun, and good to have an escape plan too. I hope someone can convince Mrs Cookie to see a doctor soon.

We are back home after an adventurous trip to Manchester. We avoided the protestors and counter-protestors, and were not too seriously inconvenienced by the marathon either. We did have to navigate our way around some bits that were closed to both traffic and pedestrians but we found our way to the venue, met up with friends and had a fabulous night. My favourite band were amazing from start to finish, and it would be fair to say that you could feel so much joy in the room from the second they got onto that stage. I’m really looking forward to doing it all again on Saturday at my favourite local venue!

We got a ride back to the hotel from a couple of friends who were kind of driving home that way, which was very kind of them. Got up late this morning, had a very pleasant shower (our home shower is unreliable, needs to be replaced and is on the project list for the house), and headed to the station. There were no trains running after 10pm last night so the engineers could do overhead cable repairs, they were scheduled to start again at 11am but it was midday before the first service left. We got a train from the airport hotel back to Piccadilly which is the mainline station, then picked up some food from one of the stores in the station, and got on our train. The journey back to our home station is only just over an hour, then we walked up through town to get a cab back home. Got through the door and must have woken the cats up from some deep sleeps.

While we were picking up food, I also got some mince so I can make chilli for dinner tonight. I had intended to get something out of the freezer on Saturday but completely forgot in the excitement. Now I have a couple of hours before I need to start cooking so I shall be heading off for some slothing on the sofa.

[FairyChatMom]

Lunch break, but I’ve gotten a lot done in the last hour. That is, after a somewhat random start, I moved to the farthest back area and have been working my way out. I’ve got a thrift store bag started - it has 2 throw pillows and 2 blankets in it. I put assorted old sheets and fabric in a couple of under-bed bins - they’re parked under my slab roller. And I’ve been sweeping - LOTS!

I came across 2 large duffels on wheels - they’re going to be dusted off then put on Marketplace. I also found a floor cleaner that my mom gave me eons ago - it never really worked well, and I noticed it disappeared from the market soon after being introduced. I’ll leave it by the dumpsters at the convenience center - someone will take it.

Much of the inlaws stuff is gone - in addition to the aforementioned business cards, there were books of rules from the HOA in Ocala. And I found a couple of large white towels which I’ve brought upstairs. So I’m about halfway done. Maybe another 90 minutes of labor to go?

One thing I wish I could get rid of is the big round rug that MIL loved so much. She told me several times how much she paid for it, I guess hoping that I’d see its value and want to keep it. But it’s absolutely not my style preference, and there really isn’t any place to put it. I put it on Marketplace a year or so ago - maybe I’ll try again.

I’m getting a bit excited about working in my studio again. I know Roxy wants to try some clay work, and maybe Tobias, tho I think he’s still a tad young. So I’ll get the studio all cleaned up in time to make a mess again!!

@Maus_Magill

What should I look for in a good kiln?

All I can tell you is what I’ve got - I think this is the latest model like mine - pretty close anyway. I’ve had mine better than 20 years. Best advice I can offer is think about how big you expect to make things - smaller items can fit in a big kiln, but you can’t make it bigger…at least I don’t think you can add a level to it. Also be sure you have enough furniture so you can stack and pack as full as possible. But if she’s done it before, she should know what she needs.

OK, enough dilly-dallying. I need to get done.

[JaneDoe42]

@Filbert

There was a paper published a few days ago (in Nature) about a big freeze in Texan which killed 27% of purple martins, but it’s referring to what happened in 2021, not this year.

I also had issues with finding recent info and I did read that one. Mostly we are going by what the WestVirginiaUniversary Extension office is reporting regarding our Martens. Both waves should be here by now and they have been reported in other parts of the state, but other folks are also reporting that “their” Martens haven’t arrived either. I miss them and hope others find their way here.

We put a bat box up on the back side of our shed last month so hopefully we’ll be seeing some night time action soon

And someone coming up the driveway, BBL

[Johnny_L.A]

@scareyfaerie

If it was me, I’d ditch the “going to church” bit.

It’s important to my wife that I go with her.

[Maus_Magill]

There are now two clean adults, one clean puppy-dog, and a sixteen year old boy who probably forgot to put on deodorant again.

The county didn’t actually say the Band couldn’t go to London, but the wouldn’t be allowed to represent the high school, be able to wear their uniforms or use any school owned instruments, have access to PTSO fundraising, nor hove liability insurance. Why? They ain’t saying.

[dogbutler]

I cleaned, dusted, and vacuumed. I changed spot’s litter, and took out the trash and recycling, and did 2 loads of laundry. We had excitement earlier. Onan was at the feeder, and his buddy Smol Squirrel was on the porch. Spot was twitching with joy. it’s currently 58 degrees Ferret Height(14.444 Centipede). I had some Manchego cheese for lunch, and Spot had some also. My cat has expensive tastes.

@FairyChatMom

FCD and I discussed getting my kiln up and running again

I still got your works.

[FairyChatMom]

I think you have more of my creations than any other Doper.

I bit the inside of my lower lip. Repeatedly. All day. Dammit. So, of course, it’s swollen, so easier to bite. Dammit.

My life is such a trial!!! < pose of woe and despair >

[missred]

I made chicken cassoulet for supper using mayacoba beans. I also threw in some celery that needed to be used up and added mushrooms, because, why not. 'Twas wonderful!

[swampbear]

Howdy Y’all! We deheathenated and I didn’t drop the Chalice or knock over the Paschal candle so I call it a win. The provider of coffee hour goodies went all out. There were ham and cheese sliders, bagels and schmeer, little Danish pastries, brownies, grapes, strawberries, yogurt and granola. Needless to say we had a nice brunch with all that so didn’t need a McLunch. Nappage, day drinkin’ and sammich eatin’ were accomplished this afternoon along with some Netflix. Tomorrow is men’s night over to the church house, thus steaks are marinatin’ and beer is chillin’. Also the biiiiiig trash can has been hauled all the way down to the road for pickup tomorrow.

MOOOOOOM maybe Otis figured since he got his lunch kibble from the hairy primate, he could con his dinner kibble from the smooth primate. It worked!

Cookie lunch and a youth symphony. I suppose there are worse things to do, I suppose. Seriously though, hope you enjoyed family time.

SCAd was it like a sampler platter of grilled baby and back ribs? Did it come with side orders of coleslaw and fava beans with a nice Chianti?

Taters glad you had a nice visit with your son. That first house is one of the most excitin’ experiences in one’s life. Mr. Taters and you deserve the parents of the year award for agreein’ to help with the move.

VanGo hope you have power by now.

Mollie I have what I call church, doctor and when I need to look like I am civilized clothes which are my nice dress shirts and slacks. I have my funeral and wedding suit. I have jeans, decent shorts and decent shirts which are my bein’ amongst the great unwashed clothes. I have around da cave clothes, some of which I probably shouldn’t answer the door while wearin’. I have sneaks, decent loafers, sandals and my formal, i.e. black leather shoes that lace up for public footwear. I have slippers and socks to wear in da cave. Some of those things can be interchangeable dependin’ on what I think I can get away with. I used to be a shirtaholic in my pre-RDOS days. Nowadays I might wander out in public lookin’ like a combo of almost homeless and wandered off from the home.

BooFae glad ‘im indoors and you had a good time with few transportation woes. If I were goin’ to name a child after a Chevrolet, I would choose Corvette, Impala or Bel Air. It would give the child sump’n to talk to the therapist about.