SenWife is gone to Tokyo again, so back to being really busy managing things full time along with work. I’m going to be spotty on following here so I appologize for not keeping up.
I’ve got to drive up to Sapporo tomorrow to get an international driver’s license for our trip to the States. It’s a two-hour drive I hadn’t thought about it in time or I could have gone to a location closer. That’s what I get for poor planning.
I’ll try to post some more later.
up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave.
Morning, mumpers! It’s 16c/2f with a predicted high of 18c/65f and cloudy. Weather app tells me that “There are a shit ton of clouds up in the fucking sky. That’s about it.” That sounds about right, I’ve been outside this morning to haul the biiiiiig recycling bin out to the kerb for today’s collection - it’s cloudy and cool out there, and I can hear the dustcart coming up the street.
nellie happy belated Doperversary, and hurrah for knee news! I’m so glad the doc has given you a sensible answer and has a plan to fix things as much as possible.
shoe I totally forgot to congratulate you on the pizza oven success!
flyboy hurrah for fixed leaks too!
Seanette good to see you back again, don’t be a stranger…
VanGo hope you had fun at the Dopefest 
CatGlove fingers crossed for hubby.
Another reasonably quiet irk day for me, things have calmed down significantly since we got past all the end of session work. Now we can start to focus on supplementary assessments in August for the students who failed stuff, and then it will be time to prepare ourselves for incoming freshers.
Big event of my day will be a 10am vet visit with Shadow. He needs a blood test because he’s old, and he’s on medication so the vet needs to make sure it’s not adversely affecting his kidneys and suchlike. So off to the vet we will go. Then I have a meeting with one of my minions, and a session this afternoon with our IT guys about something new they want us to use that probably won’t work. Happy days!
Like everything in the world, the price of local crabs is crazy high, which led me to having a dream that I paid $250 for a dozen steamed crabs that didn’t even have claws!!! For those unfamiliar with the Merrylande state crustacean, 60-some years ago, a dozen could be had for $6-7, depending on size. It would be a big treat for us when we visited the maternal grandparents. As recently as 10-ish years ago, we got a dozen locally for around $25. My brother said last year, restaurants in Baltimore were charging $100/dozen!! I had to look up what they’re going for these days, at least at one place. The local restaurant where we’ve eaten in the past won’t even list prices for crabs or crabcakes - the menu just says "Market.: Anyway, weird way to wake up.
FCD will be spending the day at Daughter’s school working on the new computer network and PA system. The husband of Daughter’s new #2 is something of a computer guy, so FCD will be talking to him about the plans - like any good engineer, he wants a second set of eyes on his design. (I help as much as I can, but my knowledge of setting up networks is pretty much nil. I can understand the big picture, but when it comes down to components, nope. So he’ll be futzing with that while I wrangle the grands.
It’s going to be a hot one. The pool got kinda dirty over the weekend because of the rain, so I emptied it, but I didn’t clean it yesterday. If the kids want water play, I’ll just set up the sprinkler and let them run around on the lawn. Otherwise, we’ll frolic in the cool of the basement. Or maybe I’ll take them early to a playground before it gets too hot…
Mystery meat still hasn’t thawed enough for me to solve the mystery. Moral of the story - put more than just a date on freezer bags. And if I do take the kids to a playground, we can come home via one of the local farm stands and get some sweet corn and peaches. I think that’s a plan.
And so my day begins. Happy Tuesday!!
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 72 Amurrkin out and foggy with a predicted high of 91 and N.O.S. for the day. This mornin’ is laundry time. I can hardly contain myself! I have a worship committee meetin’ over to the church house at one p.m. It’s goin’ to be hard to get in my daily minimum recommended sloth today! Woe. Sup shall be leftovers from last night’s sup.
FlyBoy yay for fixed leak!
VanGo glad you had a good time at the mini dopefest.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah.
Happy Tuesday Y’all!
Good morning everyone.
Flyboy – glad to hear you won’t need to swap names with Wet One.
Nellie – Yaay! on your very rare accomplishment – actually being heard. Surgery’s a cakewalk compared to getting one of the “Great Beings” to actually listen to you. I hope the new knee goes well.
I’m back from the maintenance trip to S Texas. Found out I’m a decent furniture repair-er, and strengthened everything with good bolts rather than the silly little nails and staples that pass for construction nowadays. Got everything tidied up, and it was an uneventful road trip. Sorry no day trips for us, just weeklong versions.
But, I found out my new truck has some sort of unintended, or emergent behavior with the old camper. For some reason they interact differently and I have another round of measuring, weighing and hitch adjusting to get things settled. Supposedly they are the same vehicle (albeit 5 years apart), but the trailer pushes the rear bumper much lower then in the old truck, causing some steering flakiness. So I have to adjust everything to remove the Carolina Squat from my rig. (It’s not that bad, only down 3" in back, but still needs corrected).
So today is: gather socket set, jacks, impact wrench and such and head over to the storage lot. I’ll make noise and maybe accomplish stuff until the temps drive me inside. Also, get a car re-licensed, order some parts, install a switch, and maybe even have a few beers over the bbq later.
Hope everyone has a good week!
BIL is trying to get the kids to me earlier and earlier. Supposedly, they’d be sleeping in since Roxy was no longer going to school. Which means I wouldn’t be getting them at 8, but later. Today he texted at 7:20 that they were having breakfast. Good for them. I told him I didn’t want them before 8 - I had stuff to do. So we’ll see.
I just finished cutting up and dividing a tray of stew meat into two 11oz bags for future soups. I thought about making some soup today, but I don’t want to mess with it, so the baggies are in the freezer. Then I loaded the dishwasher and ran a rinse cycle. I think that was all my chores. But I still don’t want the kids till later.
FCD has left - he’ll likely be gone most of the day. He’s feeling a lot better now that the offending antibiotic is about out of his system. I think he had another good night last night, so yay! So today he’ll start deconstructing the PA system at Daughter’s school, trying to figure out what the heck is going on with it. Since most of the work at the school is done by volunteer parents, there’s a mish-mash of, well, stuff. Much of it will be stripped out as the new stuff is installed.
OK, time to take a few minutes to chill before the grands arrive…
nellie I’m so glad that you persisted and got the appointment with the actual specialist. I bet that you are very happy that you met with him and received a true diagnosis and treatment plan.
I mentioned the idea to drive up to Bay City on Thursday to see the Northern Lights to Hubs and he would like to, depending on how he feels after 4 days of chemo. Oh and I misunderstood. He’s still getting the subdural (sp; Boo please correct if I’ve used the wrong word) shots but will also receive oral chemo. The pills were supposed to be delivered by FedEx before yesterday but they weren’t released because the Dr. forgot to order a specific blood test for TB. Hubs went on Saturday for a blood draw but they said they couldn’t do that blood test because it has to be cultured for several days and they’re not in on Sunday. So, he had to have another blood draw yesterday morning. Now the pills will be available tomorrow (2 days late), oh well. The results from the blood draw on Saturday were pretty much bad; platelets way down, white blood cells and neutriphyls way way up. Hopefully the chemo will help to reverse these conditions.
from the midwest 
Morning all, awakened to the moans of my hostess with her back pain. She is such a drama llama. At least she admits to being one. Now, some of you might think I’m being cold, but when I slipped a disk and then got futher injury because she demanded I help her with a car problem, she laughed at my pain, so I don’t feel so bad. Last night, I spoke to her about it when she got mad at her physically-distant son for laughing at her pain. Still, I’m helping her. I’m not ungrateful nor deliberately nasty. I just pointed out that now she will see how little the able-bodied world cares about her issues, same as she laughed at mine.
We got a bit of rain last night and temperatures have dropped into the livable zone. High temp expected to be 79, and a sunny day today. Yaass, I’ll take it. Off to irk in a few.
FCM, hold firm with the BIL, family will take advantage where they can.
Nellie, so glad you met with the surgeon and he actually heard you because that PA was a letdown.
Sensei, I hope traffic was decent and you have obtained your license.
Morning all. Stayed in until 8am today, so should be well-rested. My day trip today is only about 3 miles to the dentist for my semi-annual checkup, so that will take care of the morning. Then gym later and we’ll see what else develops. No rain and heading to 88F today.
Cat Glove, hope hubby can go with you to see the lights.
FCM, glad FCD is doing better; sometimes just having a task like the PA system can make you feel better, IMHO…now as long as he doesn’t overdo.
yankers, happy car-work.
boo fae, hope things go well with Shadow.
vroom, glad you were there to help your friend, never had a slipped disc but doesn;t sound pleasant.
OK, only an hour to get ready for the dentist’s, so need to make myself presentable and get over there in time. Have a good 2sday all.
I am presently in recovery from knee replacement surgery last week. It’s not a picnic, even with the narcotics. The first few days make you think you shouldn’t have done it. Feeling fairly perky today (day 6), but I don’t sleep well on my back so I tend to nap during the day.
Advice:
Oh, as for day trips, mine consist of making it to the end of hallway and back twice a day.
Not sloppy joes?
Friday I went to Port Townsend, which is one of the quintessential day trips around here. Today we’re doing another one - Whidbey Island - but we’re staying overnight.
Today’s a bit of fun for dinner. We want to go out with friends, but many of the pub-like places will be showing the All-Star game, which starts at 5:00. Bah humbug.
Yay for knee replacement surgery - my mom moves so much better after hers.
There’s more to read, cause you all are really talkative.
Your recommendations are right on point. I wish as well I had been more physically prepared before my injuries.
Heaving went well. They fixed the Good Ice machine at work, and maintenance hasn’t turned off the water, so I got to shower. Of course during sorting, I saw that some psychopath is already buying Christmas stuff.
I’m glad you were able to get in to have your knee checked out, nellie. I wish you pain relief as soon as humanly possible.
I love a good day trip and try to occasionally peel everyone from the couch to the car on a weekend morning. They complain, but once we get where we’re going (apple picking, hiking, whatever), they’re usually pretty glad we went.
Overlyboy had his physical yesterday and poked me awake at 3:30 a.m. because he had a fever. The kid’s immune system has begun reacting more strongly to vaccines the older he gets, especially the ones given less frequently like COVID and meningitis. After giving him some advil & water and saying our goodnights again, he putzed around until around 5:30 this morning, when he crashed. I did not crash, on the other hand, but I probably will at some point late afternoon/early evening. In the meantime I chugged advile, too, since my head and everything else hurts after taking mom to the hospital yesterday for her appointment.
It went…surprisingly well. It was truly the best conversation we’ve ever had with mom’s oncologist. He said she looked absolutely incredible, and the most recent shot of radiation seemed to help, but that there were no more treatment options available to her that would prolong her life without making the time she has left pretty awful. He said there would be no more scans, no more infusions or invasive procedures, just some checkups along the way while she was still comfortable getting to the hospital having one of us kids drive her. He did recommend a hospice consult, which we expected and were honestly kind of grateful for. Most people I’ve talked to have said they wished they engaged hospice sooner rather than later, so I appreciate that he did that and explained more about what hospice is and isn’t.
I don’t think I’ve seen my mom that truly engaged in a conversation about her cancer since she had surgery nearly three years ago. Thinking about a world without my mom in it is awful, but I’m glad she gets to choose how she leaves it and where she’ll pass.
The kids, husband and I have a trip upcoming to Yellowstone and she told me I still need to go since it’s next week and my sister will be with her the whole time. So I suppose we’ll go. I told the kids we’d have some hard months ahead but haven’t told them that she’s likely to be in hospice soon; I want to wait until after we’re back from vacation so they aren’t thinking about that the entire time.
So that’s the day - I bumped as many meetings as I could today until later this week. I can manage the Diet Coke of work today, but despite yesterday being a good conversation, I can’t focus very well. I may wind up saying screw it and take the rest of the day off. What I"m doing for megacorp can wait.
Whidbey is where I gave myself a week’s writing retreat in a lovely little cabin in 2021. Helpful for getting the memoir organized, and a great spot for driving out to Earth Sanctuary or a walk around Langley.
We were going to go to Whidbey Island Saturday to visit the Admiralty Head Lighthouse, but we went out to dinner on Friday night instead. I need to get a new Discover Pass. Ours expired at the end of June. We’ll need it for the trip to the light house, and for taking the kayaks to Birch Bay State Park.
I might go to a friend’s concert this month.
I have a weekly bread order. This week they said it was delivered, but I haven’t gotten it. Maybe it went to the wrong mailbox. This bread order is usually a large part of my food for the week, so I don’t know what I’ll do.
Been dealing with depression lately. And the usual being tired.
Call them, and say you didn’t receive the order you paid for.
Might have gone to the wrong place; might have been porch pirates … but that’s not your problem. That’s their thing to deal with, and they (should, hopefully) have a process to solve it.
At minimum, you get a refund.
Shut off Coolio and opened the windows last night, to enjoy the cool air and rain. Thunderboomers, yay!!
Woke up sweating like a whore in church, due to the humidity.
… also to a notice that the fan I ordered off Amazon had arrived.
Y’all never seen a naked woman throw on a shirt and run to the door that fast, since that one soap opera episode.
Fan retrieved & plugged in (“screw you, lamp that I use all the time … shoe is overheated!”) and holy socks, Batman, between the fan & a popsicle, I might just live another day.
ETA: Coolio is back on duty. But it’s just one window unit; there’s only so much one unit can do.
ETA 2: snerk
Silly me - I meant SIL. Anyway, he didn’t get here till 8:30. We spent a bit over an hour at the playground, then came home for lunch. After, the kids got in their swimsuits and played in the water for another hour or so. Roxy helped me pick 'maters and cukes before we came in. Both are in dry clothes and I’m hoping against hope for some nap time. In 90 minutes, they go back to their mom.
We stopped at the farm stand on the way home but the peaches were disappointing. I got corn at least.
Countdown to sending them home…