(Old) Falling Into The MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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The weather app on my tablet said 100% humidity this morning. How can it be that when it’s not raining? Obviously I missed something in my one and only meteorology class 50-ish years ago. Only 61 Ferrets, so I’m hoping I can get some more weeding out of the way this morning before too much warmth sets in.

After we got home last night, I took the 7 lapghans I’ve made and ran them thru a quick wash and dry to remove all traces of dog drool. Plus it makes them extra soft. They’re bagged and I need to text Jessica about picking them up. I don’t know if she’s still got a patient in my area, but I know she doesn’t live too awful far away and we live off the main road of the county, so chances are pretty good she’ll pass by eventually. And I’ve got enough yarn for maybe 4 more.

FCD needs to find a place for Otis when we go to Indy next month. Our preferred critter keeper will be out of state for much of Oct. There are at least 4 kennels not too terribly far away - I’ll give him a list but I’m not calling. We’ll be lucky to come in under $300 for 5 days, probably closer to $400. SIL will come tend to Ziva, but he’s cheap. I’ll pretty much be giving him gas money.

The ads that pop up when I’m playing tablet games are often weird, but yesterday a real zinger showed up. Apparently there are “toxic” signals from everyone’s wifi and whatever else that affect our sleep and we need to buy this resin pyramid that has amethysts and copper and something else that I can’t remember. It will “transmute” all that stuff and give you the best sleep of your life. No, really! It can’t be in the internet if it’s not true! I’d give you a link to the site (I had to look - it was like a train wreck) but I forgot the name, dammit.) Then again, you don’t want that stupidity attaching itself to your IP. But trust me, it was bizarro!

OMG, I just did a search for “pyramid transmute” and a whole bunch of woo just spilled all over my desk!!

And so it begins. I’ll finish my reading before donning grubbies for some weeding.

Happy Sunday!!

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100% humidity is fog.

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Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off today. I shall do the morning cleaning and afternoon sloth. Spot woke me at 0545 for morning tramples and biting.
I have not been to the N.C. State Fair since the 1980’s.

Aspirin: “I have a headache, imma gonna gnaw on that tree.”

Washed down with a glass of Malk?

After the last two bits, that has an Ahab feel to it. :wink:

I just use a tinfoil hat to keep the CIA mind rays out.

In the South in summer, it just means the air is soup.

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Well, it’s clear here, so I’m guessing the weather app is wrong.

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And this morning, just by coincidence, we saw one of the Seetal Crocodiles live and in action. We were doing our normal walk and had to wait for a train at a grade crossing. It was taking longer than usual and then I saw the panagraph. They are celebrating the 100th birthday of the Seetal Crocodile, so it was all fancied up with a 100 year (100 Jahre) sign.

Last Sunday there was an opportunity to see a Crocodile running in Olten (not too far away), but we had too much to do since we got back from vacation. And we’ve seen it many times in the Luzern Traffic Museum, where it lived for the previous 40 years.

Our walk got shortened as hubby’s new shoes are still too new. So we took the bus back home and then I used some of our tomato bounty to make a pasta sauce with bacon, then we had the last of the homemade ice cream and then afternoon lattes. Still need to finish up figuring out how much we spent during vacation. Have to be responsible adults, or at least pretend to me. Looks like fall may arrive on Wednesday, so we’ll enjoy the warm weather while it lasts.

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I’m not sure why this memory popped up in my mind lately, but I offer … an acting lesson.

When I was in junior high, (middle school? I’m not sure the terminology … 8th grade, anyway) a friend of mine got a part in the high school play and when I saw him in it, I kind of got the bug. I started auditioning for plays and I got a small part as a freshmen. Here’s the cool thing - in my friend’s part he came out onto a dark stage with a flashlight that he shone over the audience. The drama teacher must have liked that imagery, because my part got the same treatment. It was a murder-mystery called “A Web of Murder” (if memory serves). I played a mystery person who shows up at the beginning of act two to offer some exposition and to become another victim. Anyway …

… my direction was to come out on stage quietly with the flashlight and slowly wash it over the audience, which I pulled off pretty well. Then the lights come on and I’m confronted by another character.

Their line was, “What are you doing?”
My line was, “I was hungry, I was looking for something to eat.”

The first night I delivered the line as best as I could; that is, making sure I got all the right words out in the right order, and it got a profound rolling chuckle through the audience. Oh, me little pee-pee tingled. That reaction from the crowd. Not even trying to be funny, but my mere presence on stage caused a profound emotional reaction from the audience. I was the best actor on earth!

The next night, knowing I was walking into the bingo spot, feeling that laughter rushing through my blood before I even stepped out on stage and I leaned into it. I delivered. “I was hungry … I was looking for something to eat …” Now bring it my minions … feed me.

Crickets. No reaction whatsoever to my line. I almost forgot the rest of the scene because I was so confused.

So, actors … don’t try to be funny. If your character is funny and your line has a hook, you’ll get a reaction, but when you get full of yourself and try to perform … you’re fucked.

Thus concludes my morning writing assignment.

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Morning all. Up around 6am, the problem with going to bed early is that Ben Franklin was right about early to rise (the healthy, wealthy and wise parts are still open to debate). Got the first load of laundry going and once it is in the dryer and the second load is started, I’ll head to Kroger for the Sunday NY Times. Today is Olive Garden day so much pasta and calories are heading my way. Will try to do the gym thing, am feeling better and spending a day slothing appears to have helped. ‘Only’ 74F this early, but the Weather Wizards are saying it’ll reach 97F later today, so outdoor time will be limited.

Swampy, I knew who you meant, was just funnin’ you, most of the big schools play a cupcake game the first week or two (Oregon was different, they played another strong team and almost paid for it, Bright Tree–and the get Oklahoma State next and don’t get their cupcake until week 3 (Portland State).

Flyboy, I concur, dinner for 2 @ $200 is expensive, but with 4-6 people at a nice place it is not uncommon these days. And cones tend to be resilient about being run over (believe me, I know).

boo fae, good news for the orphan pets there!

FCM, happy weeding, but with that humidity it’ll be a sweaty occupation-keep hydrated. ANd what can get advertised these days… :roll_eyes:

Dicey, I have to get to Switzerland someday (been in Zurich Airport for a plane change but that doesn’t count). Rode the train last April Nice, France–Barcelona, Spain and enjoyed it, I like European trains.

J-Bats, nice story. My only ‘brush’ with acting was making an introduction to a play in High School, one-time shot and that’s all it ever was.

And the underwear load has stopped spinning, so into the dryer with them and start the t-shirts and do the NY Times run. Have a good Sunday all.

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Disaster has struck; my outdoor tomatoes have blight.

I’ve cleared it all away, picked everything that looks like it may be usable and now I’m just keeping fingers crossed that the ones in the tunnel have escaped. As it’s largely rain spread, they may have.

Anyone got good vegetarian green tomato recipes?

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“Early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy, but socially dead.” - Yakko Warner

You forgot the human sacrifice for a good harvest, didn’t you?

Cool. And a bit of a contrast with the train in the background.

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I saw the pyramid ad again and googled the company - the results came up with several including SCAM in the title. Ya think?

If you’d like to see some of the reviews… their offerings are pretty much all woo…

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missred, you wrote, “Fisher Body? Delco Remy? Just a guess from your original hometown.”
I worked for about a year at Delco-Remy, making starters. I was laid off there, and was hired across town at Guide Lamp. At the time, both were divisions of General Motors. Over time, GL was called Guide Div., Fisher-Guide, and finally Guide Corp. I retired in 2003, and a few years later the place I had worked was torn down. There’s a plastics recycling plant there now.

The rest of Anderson grew up to absorb the people who had worked at GenMot.

Yike! I went to the kitchen to get a mug of coffee, which I somehow spilled on the kitchen counter. I was quick enough with the paper towels to keep it from spilling past the countertop, but it was quite a mess. My “Dagnabbit!” was loud enough to wake up Mrs. Nott, and she helped with the cleanup.

The radio says Bad Bunny got a record number of Emmys for his performance at the Super Bowl halftime show. Hats off to Mr. Bunny, I guess. I was a big fan of his grand-dad Bugs.

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Good morning!

It’s 50F and just a few clouds are in the sky. It’s supposed to be partly cloudy this morning and mostly sunny this afternoon, with a high of 74°F.

[quote=“scareyfaerie, post:279, topic:1032714”]
Our plans for today are a trip to the DIY store to get some weed membrane for the back garden.
[/quote] DON’T DO THIS! I sorely regret ever using weedcloth/membrane. What you end up with is dead soil and a matted cloth tangled with roots that’s a pain in the ass to pull up. I’m still in the process of pulling mine up. Most of the front is done, and part of the backyard.

Red, I hope you get your electronic issues sorted. I also hope you’re feeling a little better.

Mollie, glad you enjoyed the meal. Yeah, going out anymore is expensive; even middle-of-the-road food for two will cost nearly 100 bucks. Our recent lunch at a waterfront restaurant cost us over a hundred dollars. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice restaurant, but it’s pretty ridiculous to be paying that much for lunch.

52, I always feel better after a haircut, too,

Nut, I’m sorry about the tomato blight. Good too, for unblotched laundry! You’re braver than I would be.

Well, I’m suffering some tech, or perhaps internet, issues of my own. I’m trying to renew my Costco membership, and even though I’m signed in, the site keeps telling me that it can’t find my membership info and to try again later. My membership has not yet expired. I dunno, maybe it’s a site issue. It’s annoying all the same. I’ve given up for now and will try again later.

I didn’t get to the laundry yesterday, so I suppose I’ll do that today. Other than that, I don’t have any other plans.

I better get to it! Please take care of yourselves.

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I would second the caution about using weed membrane- it looks great for a season, maybe 2, then the weeds start growing through it or on top of it, and both and you wind up with this plasticky weed infested mess that shreds and makes it hard to remove, especially if there are plants you want to keep in there too.

There was loads of it here when I moved in, covered in gravel. Chock full 'o weeds.

Gonna try turn some of the green tomatoes that are unlikely to ripen into a vegetable chilli-ish thing. There’s a lot of assorted veg in the fridge that needs using up, because I’ve pretty much just been shoving stuff in the air fryer until it goes brown all week. I have eaten enough fresh picked stuff to stave off scurvy, but anything requiring preparation effort has been neglected.

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I haven’t even read the rest of the MMP and I already know this is the 5 :star::star::star::star::star: :trophy: winning post for the week!

(And I don’t know why this posted to trieste, supposed to be to brighttree but if I try to fix it it’ll be worse)

295

Ahhhh, that feeling when it’s Sunday morning and you get to remind yourself that Monday is a holiday… :grin:

Belated “happy anniversary” to Mollie, and belated “happy adoptiversary” to Seanette’s Misty! :tada:

Thanks to all for the work commiseration. :slight_smile: It was definitely a heck of a week…oh, and I forgot to mention that I got my corporate laptop and cell phone back on Tuesday morning. I’d had to turn them in (and have my corporate account temporarily disabled) the previous Wednesday, due to a suspected classified data spill: getting them back in less than a week was record time, which I greatly appreciated, but both devices had been completely wiped so it meant adding “configuring a laptop from scratch” to both moving and prepping for the Great Big Formal Technical Review. Luckily it went pretty smoothly, but it was time-consuming. My phone, on the other hand, wouldn’t cooperate – and the instructions I initially got from the help desk were crap – so it took three factory resets and ~2 hours with a help desk tech to get email and Teams working.

Before I went out yesterday I finished the little Buckingham Palace set…it’s adorable!

Dinner/jazz with my friends (a married couple) last night was great. We went to a place that we frequent because it’s near each of our homes, the food is good, and my friend S (the husband, who is also a jazz singer) knows the drummer who has the Friday and Saturday night gigs there. He always books solid pianists and bass players, and usually has S do a song during each set. The music happens on the venue’s back patio: it’s been a hot summer, but last night’s weather was awesome for sitting outside! I got a pizza so I could have leftovers today/tomorrow, and only ate two slices so I’d have room for (most of) the restaurant’s “Arabica” dessert: cappuccino caramel, caffee mousse, and chocolate sponge. YUM.

Last night’s pianist was a guy we all knew, so he sat with us before the first set and during the break. I was glad to get to talk with him – I’ve performed with him a couple of times, so he already knows me as a singer – because I want to hire him for some practice sessions: I’m hoping that in another month or so I’ll be able to start working my way back into the local jazz scene, but it’s been well over a year since I’ve sung any of my repertoire and I really want/need to blow the dust off those tunes. Happily he’s up for it, so with luck (i.e., barring any other work shenanigans) I’ll reach out to him in early October to schedule some dates/times. It’s good to even be thinking about singing with another musician again.

Wait…what?! So, like, you’d have to take a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday off??

Yep. But even before that they need to finish getting the fiber installed, moving furniture in, getting all of the unclassified connectivity working, etc. Then the DCSA inspection can happen – followed, several weeks later, by the accreditation (:crossed_fingers:). Sometime around then is when the space will become closed*, but after the accreditation we’ll still have to wait for the customer to grant an Authorization To Operate (ATO) before the classified circuit will be live.

*Security will have soooooo much fun walking back the permissions for laptops, cell phones, wireless devices, smartwatches, etc.!

That’s a massive understatement. The volume and significance of things that weren’t thought through has been mind-boggling.

Nice!

Happily, the Lego reseller I found it at on Friday had it priced for less than the US Amazon…not much less, but still less. :slight_smile:

That’s the only thing I truly don’t like about working in closed spaces; my only real complaint. The rest is just inconvenience.

(There are clocks on the walls, but it can still start to feel like Vegas… :wink: )

Very cool!!

That is great advice for all creatives (actors, musicians, etc.). Trying often gets in the way of doing!

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Green tomato relish or jam are my favorites but green tomato cake is good too if you google a recipe for it. Maybe there is even a green tomato scone recipe somewhere-now that would be fun.

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Hmm, thanks, I’ll have a look through. I’ve done chutney before. I think cake is a bit beyond me at the moment with the kitchen/brain in the chaos it’s in.

Just had a bit of entertainment- the doorbell rang, and it was the neighbour, dog on lead, looking very embarrassed. She’d just gone out to take him for a pee, and the door had shut behind her and locked itself, with one set of keys locked in the house, one set locked in the car and the third at a friend’s house almost an hour’s walk/ten minutes drive away. Phone also in the house, so no way to contact the friend with the keys. Could I possibly give her a lift to said friend’s place to pick that set up…?

Luckily I had nothing much planned for the next 20 minutes and the friend was in… We’ve barely spoken before, and I wanted a chance to ask if she a) knew who owned the fence between the properties and b) if she’d mind if I replaced it, given that it’s very ugly and has big holes in it. Turns out she didn’t know either, thought it might be mine and had debated asking the previous owners about getting it replaced, so it shouldn’t be an issue, if I’m prepared to pay.

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They removed all the weeds/ undergrowth from in front of my window! Im happy, a great view.
Of course anyone can see in but if they enjoy watching a woman read, fine.

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74F at 1200 hours.

We went down for our weekly biscuits and gravy fix in the dining room. Ended up in a conversation with a 90-something woman who is still completely compos mentis. There are a lot of very accomplished folks living in this building, including former scholars, musicians and activists.

Nothing else on the schedule for today other than to eat the corn on the cob I bought the other day.

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Howdy Y’all! Thought I would sneak in a post before I had back over to the church house. I deheathenated twice and we had a most excellent first Sunday brunch. We got some good cooks down at ol’ St. Pat’s let me tell ya! I decided against nappage as I would feel groggy when I went back for group time if’n I did. OYKW, however, is sacked out as I post. I know he’ll be up soon, maybe even before I leave.

I shall return later and make comments and stuff.