Black locust, not honey locust. Still thorny, but not as thorny.
And I don’t have any near the house; though there are some in a far corner of the property on the edge of a field leased by a neighbor. I ought to go look, but I don’t think they’re in bloom.
Most of our early spring bloom has gone by and the summer is delaying; but everything has gone very green. Temperatures have been wildly erratic and we’ve had a lot of rain, but the sun’s our right now.
Spring for me is frantically busy, but yes I do enjoy it!
Up, caffeinating, breakfasted and fixing fixing to do KP. I have to do all of the crap needed when you leave home for a week. Trash out, mail picked up, meds prepped and clothes packed.
The young ones usually have thorns, but i don’t know the species. Black locust looks right from googling, though. They are kind of invasive here. I don’t have any near the house, and i hope it stays that way. But there are a lot of weedy ones by the commuter rail station, and a big patch of them across the street from where i parked to pick up take out food last night. And while I’m happy not to be cutting away thorny shoots in my yard all the time, i really enjoy them every year when they are in bloom, and they are pleasant enough trees the rest of the year.
My husband’s uncle had a vacation house in the Catskills. There was an enormous locust on his neighbor’s lot, right next to his property line. He had a rock wall, which had a solid underground foundation, across his yard, bordering the front walk.
After he died, we visited to clean up and talk what was worth taking from the house. And it looked like a scene out of Sleeping Beauty. That locust had grown shoots all along the wall, where the roots were impeded, and they were covered in thorns, and there was this giant thorny hedge that sprang up in months! He must have mowed them early every spring while he was alive. It was impressive, and convinced me to never plant a locust near where i do stuff.
One of my favorite jobs was Records Management for a county. That was a fancy title for the Archivist in Charge of Boxes. Court cases and all records and exhibits must be stored for a certain number of years (99 for murder, others had different retention dates) and accessible for further research.
One of my jobs was to go through all of our storage recovery tech and be sure that the mini-tape players could still read the tapes and that our single disc drive actually did turn on and read the floppies. Of course, the media itself was degrading and the contents would be lost over time, but that wasn’t my responsibility. The department that owned the records was in charge of having everything transcribed and microfilmed.
It makes sense, he’s mostly Wolfhound and it is well known that they will become destructive is separated from their pack. You and FCD are his pack now, he will defend you to the death, just don’t leave him home alone or he will eat your stuff out of frustration.
I have SO many bad words to say about insurance driven health care and none of them are board acceptable I’m sorry for you and hope you find someone soon.)
I used to have one of those electrified tennis rackets fer zapping bugs. It didn’t really work that well for skeeters unless they were in a swarm, but it was great for the biting horse flies. You could smack one with it and get rewarded with a loud zap and flash of blue light. It wasn’t strong enough to actually kill the fly, it was just stunned so you would have to get up and stomp on it and then toss it into the spider web, but that was entertaining too.
He’s been complaining about our cat sitters yard and is planning on telling her that if she makes sure the grass is clear, he will mow it when he mows ours. I’m not going to tell him when I see them at home, when he cuts down all the clover in our yard, all of the bumblebees go to her yard.
Well, I am very lonesome and alone today. Hubs is out on his bike and I noticed that the metal caps on the bottom of my desk legs had cat fur wrapped around them. That meant that I instantly started noticing ALL of the furniture legs and turning things over to pick out all of the cat hair.
Once I did that, I thought that the throws should go in the wash - including the one over their loveseat - so when GG went to hide in his Cavern of Solitude, it was GONE!!! It was very traumatic and both of the fuzzbutts are now cuddled up on our bed sleeping it off.
That’s probably a good thing, if they are back there, they won’t notice that all of their beds are next.
You got off lightly… I was actually once made to sit a ‘Functional skills level 2’ maths exam because I couldn’t find my GCSE certificates (I have actually since found them).
We had a disaster at irk today. Brace yourself for trauma.
The office coffee machine has broken. It’ll be weeks until we get it back, if it’s even fixable…
It’s not going to be a fun place for a while…
I may have to order myself some more seeds so I can calm down a bit.
I was doing the irreg clekring thing today, and it seem less chaotic. At least till the wave of late Air, then it was a tidal wave of stuff, then it was mad chaos, not helped by people who were sent to help, but decided to malinger and shoot the breeze instead. When I was running one package to 32, I saw a clock, and thought “8:34? I thout it was later!” And when I got that done, I had to do all the damages from the back, which was a good bit. I stopped and got some catfish nuggets for dinner, and since the Waterloo seltzer was on sale, I picked up 2 12pks of purple flavor* But laundry is now spinning, the painters have uncovered the windows so Spot is enjoying his shows for the first time in a week, so I shall nap till hockey time.
I don’t have to train any, I already have Onan, the squirrel Berserker.
Coffee make brain go good.
We don’t have tactical assault possums around here, just a herd of deer. And bears. And zebra cobras.
And shopping is done, the dishes are washed (putting them away will be a later chore), and the garbage bins have been placed where they can be filled up again, so the morning activities have been concluded. Have also eaten an early lunch so some calorie-burning time is indicated. Rain has been on-and-off all morning (dry for the moment but more is due this afternoon) and while the temperature is below 80F, the humidity is checking in at 91% so not a good day to be out and about.
Mollie, lovely sunrise, haven’t seen a good one since my April trip (mostly because I’m still in bed at sunrise). And summoning the spiders would make me surrender in half the time it takes in the comics…arachnophobia is strong here…
Taters, hope there was a nice shower at the end of your outdoor labors.
Nut, Oh no, is there an emergency coffee stand nearby for the hard-core addicts?
And have, according to my notes, consumed 2,000 calories before noon, so need to work some of them off. Take care and back with you later today.
Taters, hope things start looking up for your mom. Nut: What kind of coffee machine? A countertop one, or a vending machine? Because if it’s countertop, someone could get a slightly-used one from a thrift shop, just for the duration, maybe?
Okay, bad news. Well, relatively bad. We thought Izzy would be leaving on June 15th. Got a call from her mom this morning, and she is now leaving on the 5th. So that’s how long we have.
Graduation was yesterday evening. Long story short, Izzy did not get to walk with the graduates. She was there, as an usher, but not recognized. Sigh. She’s also going to a grad party tomorrow. We were at Kennywood earlier in the week and had a great time. It was actually her second visit; first was a school trip. Reward for students with perfect attendance.
It’s been good overall. We’ve never had a serious disagreement. However, I wish we could have had a little more me-and-her time. For my birthday, almost three months ago, Izzy gave me a present that almost made me cry. She tracked down a lot of recipes she likes, from family and from the internet, and transcribed them into a decorated notebook. So why do I feel bad? Because we never made any of these things together!
Thing is, we always gave Izzy plenty of time to decompress after school. She needed a break from talking/hearing English all day, and of course her schoolwork had to come first. And sometimes we made a simple dinner together. But the first week she was here, she made fettuccine Alfredo for/with us…and I wish we’d kept doing that kind of thing all the way through. Still, I have one last shot. I’ve been saying for weeks “We’re gonna make tiramisu together!” But it kept not happening for one reason or another, like my not having the right ingredients. So on Sunday, I will go out and get everything we need, and the tiramisu will be our last hurrah. And believe me, I will treasure that recipe book.
Sigh. Back later; Mr. Rilch is calling me to help with some yardwork.
I will be bringing some on Monday, just roasted and ground and accompanied by my metal[1] French Press. I also have emergency mate teabags, supplied from Paraguay and guaranteed to get my pulse rate up to hummingbird levels for emergencies.
I broke my glass ones due to having to use them prior to drinking coffee ↩︎
yeah, they’ve got both advantages and disadvantages; part of why I chose the name. They make the best firewood and the best fenceposts. They’re nitrogen fixers, and benefit soil fertility. But they’re invasive, and thorny on young growth, and once they get their roots established someplace they’re really hard to get rid of.
I planted the ones on my place; but I planted them where they can be mowed around. If not enough mowing gets done, though, they may wind up fighting it out with the black walnuts.
I’m back from a quick overnight to my annual oncology visit (all routine). I’ve spent several hours on the phone re-correcting the insurance information that I’ve made sure everyone has at least 3 time, across several different offices, because I am not, in fact, on the hook for over $100K in hysterectomy-related expenses.
I’ll try to get a walk in today.
My kitties are also CUTE!!!
Read all, retained 3/4, so yays, boos, hugs as needed.
Supper was pretty good. We each had a hunk of leftover quiche-with-potato-crust and some honey-and-spicy-mustard glazed ham, plus some fresh(ish) pineapple chunks. Sadly, no cheesecake (or anything) for dessert, but I’ll have an apple later. Or an orange. Something fruity.
I bought some flea and tick spray for the carpets, etc, and was surprised that it has a pleasant scent - reminds me of febreze! I sprayed places where Otis likes to lounge especially well, including his bed. Guess we’ll find out how well it works.
Tomorrow, we’ll be chasing wiring on the boat - we discovered long ago that the numbers on the wires aren’t necessarily to be trusted. FCD is this >< close to pulling them out and starting over. Not all wiring, mind you - just the ones to the anchor light and steaming light. There’s also a mystery ground wire that seems to disappear into a black hole at some point. So, good time ahead! Thank goodness for a quality multi-meter.
Otis will go along. And I’ll be sure to pack his lunch, some treats, and a hunk of antler to gnaw on if he gets bored. For now, tho, chillage mode reigns.
Yoga yoga’d and work worked. Mrs Magill wanted wings, so while she is at her yoga, I’ll hit.the local wing shop up the road. I have to put on Leaving the House Pants.
The doorknob to the back of the basement is only opening if you turn it in one direction, so I’m off to the Lowe’s tomorrow to get a new one. I should probably dig out the master house key and get one that locks.
After dinner, I think Skyrim may be calling my name again.
Well, we’re once again without AC, probably for the weekend. I went down and buttonholed the building manager and told him that this is unacceptable and that I may have to rethink my situation here. This contractor has been stringing this place along for years, not fixing the problem and getting paid. I explained to the guy how contracts should work, and that while being a nice guy - which Minnesotans prize highly - is fine is some situations, it’s not worth a shit when dealing with tradesmen. Get it in writing, and enforce the terms! I really don’t want to have to move again, but if it comes to that, it will likely be back to the west coast.
Good evening all. Gym was gymmed and dry cleaning collected so am working my way through my Big Bowl O’Salad for dinner. Rain has been around for most of the day, another wave is due about 9-10pm according to the Weather Wizards so will be inside until bedtime unless something apocalyptic occurs. Put down a deposit on another sailing cruise next July but no roommate yet so if you’re interested…
Frumious, good to see you around these parts again. My best wishes to Izzy and BOO!! (not our Boo) on the miserable folks who wouldn’t let her walk with the grads. I hope you do get to do the cooking thing together before she goes.
Nut, enjoy your caffeine fix.
Lily, glad the visit was routine, you never know these days as we get up there in years. Best wishes that the insurance folks get their act(s) together.
FCM, happy multimetering!
Cookie, I hope others are making a strong case to Management too, it’s ridiculous and given the age of folks there, no AC this summer could be downright dangerous.
And many You Tubes are queued up and they’re waiting to be watched, so have a good evening all.
I’m sorry for you and hope you find someone soon.)
So that’s how long we have.