I’ve been to the Costco around here just once on a random Tuesday afternoon about 8 years ago. Everything Cookie said matched my experience. I’ve never returned and never will.
Good evening Mumpers - I’m glad to see that everyone seems to be recovering/feeling better. Last week was a rough one for quite a few of you.
Thank you to those planning on going to protests tomorrow. I was excited because it was the first one I would be able to attend, but have since decided not to. Tomorrow, April 19th, is the 30th anniversary of the OKC bombing, and I’m nervous that a nutjob would be more motivated than normal to do something terrible. I must not be the only one thinking that, as there has been no mention on social media of a protest tomorrow around here.
Unfortunately not true for diet Coke. Something (probably the artificial sweetener) starts to break down and it tastes absolutely terrible fairly quickly after the expiration date.
I love NOLA and am quite jealous. It sounds like you made the most of your limited time!
Oh I’m jealous - I love duck eggs, they make ridiculously creamy scrambled eggs. I haven’t been able to find them regularly anywhere around here.
Also, I concur on Costco. I went once and the chaos was unbelievable and have no desire to return. But I will say that I bought a laptop through them online and they provide a 1 year warranty once the manufacturer’s warranty expires. The laptop died a few weeks after the manufacturer’s warranty expired and the Costco phone support was fantastic. They had me ship the laptop to them and when it was deemed irreparable, they issued me a full refund via Costco gift cards. And I promptly turned around and bought a replacement through them.
So while I hate the in-store experience, they will be my first choice for any future electronics purchases (that I can hopefully purchase online and not have to enter the store!).
I think I did. Of course, it was only after I was on my way to the airport that I got the message that my flight is delayed by nearly two hours.
Probably for the best, though, now that I think about it…
And 4/20 just happens to also be Hitler’s birthday. That is when I think things are going to get really bad and I’m not super thrilled at the idea of putting myself in the line of fire tomorrow.
But I refuse to go down without a fight. Like doggio says, my name will not become synonymous with quisling.
Plus, they already know who I am, I’ve been making rude noises since November. I’m sure I already have a plane ticket to El Salvador so like the bard said, might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb.
I kinda doubt she will be able to supply enough eggs to reliably sell to the public, but as an employee, I will be able to be first in line to buy the eggs Boss and family can’t use.
Hubs also bought some small tomato and bell pepper plants so we now have a cherry tomato plant on one side of my big planter and a yellow on the other side. The bell pepper is in the big pot and we bought some smaller pots for other things. It still looks very bare, but it also looks like I’m trying so that’s gotta count for something.
I got a haircut today at Great Clips. Then we went to Martin’s grocery, and I went in to get some walking in. On the way to the checkout, Mrs. Nott said she had forgotten to bring in a reusable shopping bag. I said, “just go out to the car and get it, and I’ll take another lap around the store.” “How will I find you?” “Just look for the tall galoot with the grocery cart.” She found me.
She showed me something she’s giving away with purses and wallets she sells. It’s an RFID jammer card that’s supposed to prevent thieves from using a high-tech reader to steal credit card info. That’s a new one on me. I have an RFID-safe wallet, but I figured it simply physically enveloped the cards with something metallic.
While getting ready to go to the barber shop, I happened to think of the musical phrase, “Shave and haircut, two bits.” It must have been a long time ago, to have been so cheap. So, I looked it up. 1899, that’s how long ago. Since HIV surfaced, some barbers won’t give you a shave if you want one.
Long ago, I was in the Marigold Society of America. Once there was a piece in their bulletin claiming marigolds are so tough, they thrive on mistreatment. This guy said he treated his “control” batch normally. The other batch, he gave no fertilizer. He even periodically pulled them out of their pots, threw them down to knock all the dirt off the roots, then replanted them. He said the batch he was mean to grew bigger.
Pretty long post, but I’m gonna bore you a little more. Why do we eat ham at Easter? I figure it’s an in-your-face way to say, “We ain’t Jews no more!” Okay, that’s all for Nott.
Today, April 18th, I think of my mother. She loved the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and as I’ve mentioned before is the only person I knew who could recite all of “Paul Revere’s Ride” from memory. And today is the 250th anniversary of that ride. I can get about a third of the way through.
Grandpa liked Longfellow too. His parents only let him go to school through the eighth grade, but Grandpa kept reading and was not what I would call uneducated. He loved “Evangeline” best of all.
That poem got me a good grade in eight grade English. I arrived to class and had forgotten a public reading assignment. All I had was our textbook and as it happens we had selections from Evangeline in it. So I read the last part, where she finds her long lost love dying in the poor hospital. The throb in my voice was not sadness, but nervousness as to was I going to get away with this. My teacher gave me an A-, with the note “obviously well prepared” I will always love Paul Revere and Evangeline.
You might want to poke in here:
Listen my children and you will hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere…
I’ve still got about half of it.
Mom also told us about the Highway man and Bess the Innkeeper’s daughter.
Road trip in the van! I call shotgun.
Yeah, my sister had some that was almost a year past its use-by date. It was vile. She dumped the whole case.
I just did a check of the “bogus” charge - turns out it was for the bill from my podiatrist. They go thru squareup dot com and my initial call tp yjrm came back with a weird caller ID. But I figured the card was going to be canceled anyway, so I went to their site and found out I blocked a legit charge. I’ll have to go to my podiatrist on Moanday morning to pay the bill, and I’m going to call the Ober Gatlinburg lost and found to see if they have my card. Still, I should probably call and get the card replaced. Dammit.
We’re home. It took over 11 hours. Traffic got mega-sucky just north of Richmond and didn’t ease till we crossed the Potomac into Merrylande. SIL was here to transfer all their luggage, then they left. FCD is in his recliner and I’m about to get to mine.Long day on the road. I plan to sleep well tonight.
There’s no place like home, Toto.
{ looks down quietly, nudges toe in sand }
Shit, I gotta get back to 
BAH long night!
And a good evening to all y’all. Couldn’t get in the swimming pool, all the lanes were full and others were ahead of me waiting, so went out and cycled and walked the calories off. Then came home and had a mid-day snack of two cheese dogs, since the Big Bowl of Salad can be later and doesn’t make a big caloric hit. Up early tomorrow for soccer so will be an early night bedtime, I will set the alarm clocks to guarantee I’ll wake up before they go off. Still over 80F outside at 6:30pm so I guess more insulation to hold the cooling costs down may be worth it.
And now to play catch-up…
Sticky Buns, loud people in restaurants are not my favorite humans either. But the waitress sounds like a person I’d leave a 30% tip for.
flyboy, hope the new roof does it’s duty. And robins ain’t very smart…aggressive as all get out, but not too smart…
wet one, knowing what the problem is is half the battle. Get well soon.
Wheelie, sounds like a good day was had, as long as the airlines don’t require a breathalyzer test… 
Cookie, that’s one reason I got my shopping done early and avoided Wal-Mart and other big stores. And a nap is always in order.
JtC, never took the train to the Canyon, it is on the ‘to do’ list sometime (I’m going to have to live to 186 to do it all). And if they do come for you, I’m in for a part of the bail money.
Knots, I get to hear ‘shave and a haircut, two bits’ from watching railroad videos, sometimes the engineers know they are on-camera and play the tune with the train horns.
Cupcakes, I know the same two lines of that poem that everyone does, and that’s it. And nice story on the quick reading solution.
FCM, glad you made it home safe and (mostly) sound.
And it’s 7pm and time to mix that salad up. Take care all.
The roofers went away for a couple/few hours. At that point, they’d put up the new plywood (they said it’s just as cheap as OSB), and the waterproof layer. Now they’re putting on the felt and the shingles.
We like this guy (Juan). He replaced our old roof on the house. I’ll ask if he likes tequila. If he says yes, I’ve bought him a bottle of my favourite tequila.
Awwww! I won’t tell them that we are friends, you probably don’t want that on your record.
If you do take the train, spring for the first class tickets one way and then take second class on the way back. Steerage is comfortable but rather noisy because thats where most of the kids ride. First class lets you sit in a glass dome so you can get a wonderful view, but the seats in second class are much more comfortable and you get to see everything differently from there.
It got up to 88F outside and stayed at 74 or less inside. We are very impressed at the difference updated insulation and new windows made here.
Quail are about the dumbest birds ever imho. They lead their chicks off the edges of decks and into culvert ditches all the time. The grown up birds never seem to realize that most of their chicks aren’t able to fly yet, so are lucky to raise more than one or two to adulthood.
Cardinals are assholes who will return to the same window at the same time every day to fight with their reflection. They also learn that if they sit in a branch next to a window and scream their mating song, the window will amplify their voice. At dawn. Next to the bedroom window while I was trying to eek out another hour of sleep before work.
I spent so many early mornings with a pillow over my head while praying for a bird to get laid.
Once he did, they got so territorial that I once saw them chase a roadrunner twenty feet up a pine tree and pin him there for almost an hour.
Leftover Bobby-Q ribs and coleslaw (hers with raisins) tonight. Yum! 
The roofers are about halfway finished with the shingles on the 17x24 foot catio roof.
The dog got walked. It was 75º. That’s near-perfect, I guess, unless you’re in a humid land with a black dog who hates being hot. Every dog we saw was panting.
[quote=“missred, post:181, topic:1017029”] However, we had fun, met some nice people and friendly dogs, and saw a few ducks. I keep telling Ms. Dog that no matter how excited she gets, she is NOT going to keep up with ducks who fly as soon as she gets near, but hope springs eternal in the canine breast.
My favorite moment of today was when an intrepid three-year-old wanted to pet Ms. Dog. He held his hand out, but Ms. Dog ignored it and licked his face, causing those deep toddler chuckles that are so delicious.
I have cleaned house and taken out trash.
QUESTION: Do any of you like liver, chicken or beef or goose? I can’t abide the texture, though back when rumaki were popular, I iked those. (For younger folks, rumaki was popular in the 70s and 80s and consisted of chicken liver and water chestnuts (or variations thereof), wrapped in bacon that was brushed with a soy sauce/brown sugar mixture.
I’m glad. You had me worried for a bit.
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I’m so sorry. If it helps, I had me worried, too. The first time I rejected (decades ago), I walked into my sunny living room, and it was like walking into a bowl of milk. I’ll spare you the details of the six months following, but the idea of going through that again made me want to whimper and assume the fetal position.
It’s funny how we view tough stuff as punishment. My first thought when my vision got foggy was, “But I’ve been so good!”
Thank you! And to you as well. I always miss my mother n Good Friday. She was an empathetic woman who found joy and meaning in her faith. Every Good Friday, she’d get depressed because AGAIN Jesus was killed so cruelly. I used to call her on Good Friday afternoon to try to cheer her up. Today would have been her 104th birthday.
Oh, thank heavens, although I have to say, any fracture causing that much pain isn’t really very subtle.
How about for lunch at school? My parochial school smelled like peanut butter and tuna on Fridays.
You need credentials to process damage?
And he takes joy in making you happy. True love!
Well, that sucketh. If it helps, none of the kids in our parish had tulle dresses, either. We wore our best dresses, plus new hats, new little purses, and new white gloves. Oh, the excitement! I had very little to put in my little white purse–certainly not the fascinating lipstick, compact, and plastic rain bonnet (in a tiny plastic tube) in my mother’s purse. And I hated wearing dress gloves. Yet all that and even having to wear a coat over my finery didn’t dampen our spirits.
Howdy Y’all! I survived Good Friday. Now to get through Holy Saturday (really that’s only a half hour service at most), puttin’ all the purty shiny stuff back out at the church house (all the brass stuff got polished, so it’s really shiny and purty!), and The Great Vigil of Easter tomorrow. The Vigil will be at one of the other churches (there are three and we take turns as host), and I get to do the readin’ about the partin’ of the Red Sea. I also have to make a batch of cheese thangs to take over to the church house for the festive (cause we fancy!) reception after the Easter service.
I haven’t mentioned Easter feast at da cave, cause we’re goin’ low key this year. JDD and Partner are comin’ over around four that afternoon for cocktails (dirty martinis) and we’ll grill ham steaks. Those, scalloped N.O.T. (should make those up tomorrow, as well), green beans, rolls, and ice cream cake will be the feast. JDD and Partner will bring the cake which they ordered from DQ.
MOOOOOOM glad y’all made it home safe and sound.
JtC in defense of quail, they make for good eatin’. Haven’t had it in a while, but I’ve been to quite a few quail suppers which consisted of fried quail, rice and gravy and bizkits. Also I still think fish sticks, Mac and cheese and peas is a good meal. I have never been accused of bein’ a gourmet.
I loved wearing white dress gloves, they made me feel all grown up and stuff.
Mom made up for the lack of the tulle overskirt by saving her lipstick tubes and shaping chapstick? into cone topped clear lipstick that I could pull out and use with my little silver flip-topped mirror while ignoring all of the other girls wearing their tulle dresses.
(OK, there were only three girls who got tulle dresses but they never got lipstick and they always ripped up their dresses and got yelled at, so maybe Mom was right.)
Or maybe he’s finally figured out how to shut me up, LOL!
He really is different here. He is so much more relaxed and just happier. Had I known this would be the result of us moving, it would have happened back in 2020 at the latest.
They are very easy to raise as long as you keep them in covered pens. That’s when all of the chicks survive falls and they lay almost as regular as chickens. I knew several folks who kept them for eggs. They all said they started raising them for meat but fell in love with the stoopid birds. I guess it is hard to kill a bird that comes running as soon as they see you.
Up from naptime, having a margarita and catfish tacos.
< awkward silence regarding dinner > I’ve never had carp, though.
Where did you buy it?
Easter dinner. then they can avoid the weird relatives till Thanksgiving.
I have roomie’s spare in Carmen. I’ve exclusively used it to take people to bars.
Dunno. I know quite a few Jews who are all in on bacon.
Yep.
Okay, who is chopping onions in here? 