Thank you!
I’m going to try my hand at making cherry preserves. I just bought a dozen small canning jars with lids, some pectin, a canning funnel, and a cherry pitter. Now I’m going to read up on tips and tricks while I wait for the price of cherries to come down. The first flush of early, expensive cherries is winding down, and within a week or so they should get cheaper. I love cherry preserves with almond flavoring in them, and maybe even a bit of brandy.
If I’m successful, I’ll see if I can do apricot preserves, as soon as the Blenheim apricot crop comes in.
I’m lucky that I live two miles away from the last stone fruit grower remaining from the heyday of the “Valley of Heart’s Delight” (now known as Silicon Valley). I can get stone fruit that a lot folks can only dream about.
That whole description made me tear up (in a good way!) what an extraordinary experience.
Aw, naw!!
Sounds like my experience trying to pay the I.R.S.
I did, in fact - thank you.
Shortly thereafter, Mr. Sandman decided I should keep to my usual sleep schedule, and I crashed back out.
It’s now a bit past 1:30 p.m. so I guess it’s time to start my day!
… maybe I’ll take myself out to lunch/dinner later.
I’ve been eating more again lately, after another week-long bout of “fuck food” and the attendant aftermath.
Ironically, the more I eat, the hungrier I am.
Oh, last night was so chilly (low 50s) that I had to GOT to put the comforter back on the bed.
In June! Imagine!!
Y’all, it felt. SO. good. to have all that weight on me, and a cool breeze through the window. No unpleasant dreams for me last night, that’s for sure.
I feel so lucky sometimes to live here now, where it’s cool and the trees turn colors each autumn and winters bring snowfall to a place equipped to handle it. As with so many things in people’s lives, I only wish I’d done it sooner.
Well, I thought your little poem was hilarious.
My mother would be so jealous. She loves fruit of all kinds, and sour cherries - quite different from the sweet cherries available in most U.S. supermarkets - are among her favorites.
Went to the new place to fill out w2’s. So nice to do it with paper instead of online. He said he cant give me many hours, 10 a week I’m guessing from how he said. Committee rules, ya know.
Tomorrow I go to the other place to continue trying to train online. I tried 6 weeks ago, gave up, they never called til I contacted them.
Wasn’t paid either.
Maybe I can do 2 jobs.
No pay for a bit though so gonna try a scratch off.
Thank you for pointing this out. I did double- and triple-check that I was on the official DMV website. You can access your own registration, and sure enough “Insurance = Terminated.” Looked up our other car and “Insurance = Current.” Again, the two cars are on the exact same policy. Then (after one last attempt to enter the relevant information brought up yet another error message) I called the number from the website (which actually did match the one on the notice) and spoke to a live human, who, after some prodding, called the state underwriter (or whatever) while I was on hold, and said they will email the verification and it should be resolved by tomorrow.
I also left a message with our agent asking her to reach out as well. Haven’t heard back yet. So we’ll see what happens when I look up the registration again tomorrow.
I went to high school with this guy. (He was a year behind me.) When I got my first girlfriend, she and I, my friend, a FOAF, and her friends went on a triple date. Well, it was a small car; so my friend’s date had to sit on his lap. Something came up. Long story short: They ended up getting married. I’m FB friends with my friend’s wife, and another friend from back in the day (and my old girlfriend, but I don’t see her posts and I don’t post on her page). So g/f’s and my mutual friend posted today that my friend’s wife has been in intensive care for the past three weeks suffering from breast cancer. She’s fading quickly. I’ve asked our mutual friend if she has my friend’s phone number.
In other news: I posted about thins in IMHO because I’m looking for advice. An asset recovery company called me about my late-mother’s IRA. I couldn’t touch it 10 or 15 years ago because the Trust wasn’t named as a beneficiary. The guy from the asset recovery company says the money is with the State of California, so I guess Franklin Templeton Investments said, ‘Here, California. You figure it out.’ Interestingly the amount the asset recovery guy quoted is one-third more than when I tried to get it from Franklin Templeton. Assuming I agree to let this company recover the funds, then after their 10% fee, paying income taxs, and giving my sister her half, I’ll have enough to pay off the house. Maybe even a credit card.
Howdy, y’all. I’m doing WFH today, didn’t feel like driving around the lake.
Strike of the play went better than expected yesterday, although my fears of students trying to pull Kreg screws proved accurate. Those are “pocket” screws and need to be removed at a specific angle. It can be kind of difficult to find the right way to get the driver to engage the screw. It took me all of 3 hours to assemble the set by myself, took the kids the same time to take it apart, with a dozen of them.
coppertone hope the job hunting goes better. Seems you’ve run into a bunch of crap.
shoe I also had to pull the comforter back onto the bed last night. Midafternoon and it’s a rousing 60, headed for 40’s tonight.
Only faintly warmer here, mid 60s at the moment and supposed to get into the upper 40s overnight.
Having Dollar Sto’ dumplings while Monkey runs around a bit in the sunshine. They’re pretty damn good for the price, and come in their own little microwaveable tray, so no cleanup.
I have achieved The Putting On Of The Pants ™ but am so far otherwise unmotivated to push a heavy cart among the unwashed masses.
Tho technically, since I skipped showering, I am an unwashed mass!
Works out to, what, eighty maybe a hundred bucks a week?
That’ll sure help. Hope this position works out for ya.
Thanks.
I wore my winter coat and boots, it is cold out!
in philly, things cooled off this weekend and the humidity has plummeted.
the cats are more animated. although lager chose to sleep in the sink the last few nights.
if he is misbehaving sometimes he will get put in the bathroom. his pouty place is the sink.
sometimes the sink is his happy place.
Beautiful day today now that the winds have blown themselves out. Did our exercise thing and did our grocery shopping; otherwise nothing exciting.
I’m facebook friends with one of my grand-nieces in AK, which is kind of unusual in my family, most of whom don’t seem to talk to each other. She is my brother’s granddaughter and was born with some deafness. We have corresponded in the past about her furniture refinishing and her art and she seemed to be happy. I saw when she got married and when she had her daughter, and I thought all was good. But it suddenly came out less than a year ago that she admitted to being an alcoholic, stopped cold turkey, started meetings, etc. I filled her in on the sordid history my family has with booze. Fast forward to today, when she revealed that she has a restraining order against her husband for domestic violence and abuse. Came as a complete shock to me, but then I’m not exactly on close terms with her parents and others. All I can say is that the guy is lucky that my brother isn’t still alive or the guy would be in some serious peril.
Recovering money from a state is normally painless and zero cost. I’ve done it several times in several states. Including CA.
Hiring a middleman is probably unnecessary. Unless there’s some huge complicator about this case.
Don’t look very massive to me…
Howdy Y’all! We had quality cee-mint pond time that included nappage and day drinkin’. Then it got cloudy so we decided it was shower time. Then it started to rain and we had a tstorm. Natch we had to sit out on the back porch with an adult beverage while that happened. Then we had an early sup. Looks like we might get another tstorm soonish which means we will need to do more back porch sittin’ whilst quaffin’ an adult beverage. Ah, the retired life!
Coppertone do you ever wonder what you would do with that bus if you ever caught it in your dreams?
Nettie men’s night over to the church house is the third Moanday of every month. Thus, next Moanday we shall the world’s problems.
MOOOOOOM you did a new thing! Of course Higgs was confused! My late much beloved and still very missed cocker spaniel, Jake, freaked out the first time he had to go up and come down stairs at the apartment complex I lived in at the time. Then he was all, “race ya!”
shoe OYKW and I should try those square shaped French biscuit things one of these day.
Sticky_Buns hope the interview this mornin’ went well and appropriate/inappropriate appendages crossed for the one tomorrow.
Pilot glad y’all made it safely to Panama. Continue to enjoy much yakkin’, drinkin’ and eatin’.
BBBoo yay for grandkid time tonight!
Wheelie hope you get the DMV stuff figured out soonest.
Nellie have fun with Ms. Dog! I totally sang that to the tune of “Honey.”
I had thought it was every week. Sorry about that.
The high today was 78F. It was just perfect. I took my coffee out to the porch this morning and watched the forest. I always love listening to it, it is never quiet.
I swept all of the floors with a regular broom and that was a total PITA. I will be so happy when my push dust mop gets here. July 17 is a very long time away.
During one of my many “sit on the porch and stitch breaks” I noticed a Martin swooping by with a big bug in it’s mouth a couple of times and then wondered where the nest was because it was swooping too low to get to the forest behind us. The neighbors have some trees in their yard, but the approach was wrong. I finally got up and walked to the corner of our house and heard hungry baby birds in our soffit.
There is a piece sagging enough to allow a robin sized bird to build a nest and the chicks sounded healthy enough. Once they fly the nest, we will close up the gap. While I wouldn’t mind letting them come back next season, we don’t want the wind to catch the soffit and start pulling it down.
Or maybe the sink is always his happy place and he just wants you to think he doesn’t like it.
Approaching 5pm here. Had a lazy day; my pal is quite exhausted from his last month of work and travel and work and travel. And yesterday did get rather out of hand for two geezers, albeit professional-level drinking geezers.
It quickly became an uncharacteristic mostly sunny day with a pleasant amount of sea breeze to relieve the heat. Very Miami. So we chillaxed by the pool / shore, ate, and drank lots of water until about 2pm, checked out, then ubered to our next hotel: Hotel La Compania - Hyatt. This is in the heart of the old city with lots to see and do nearby. Might stay here all 3 remaining nights or might leave tomorrow for yet another spot; all TBD.
Once we got here it clouded back up and then rained heavily for 10 minutes to ensure the humidity remained steamy. Which rain has now moved on.
Should have been napping but instead I was reading the last little while. About time to reconnect and reconvene for the evening’s festivities.
Cheers all!
If I recall my high school physics correctly, even a grain of sand has mass.
The Walliest of Worlds had the tank AND lid in stock and I’ve rounded up a buncha old newspapers I keep to crumple & shred up for their bedding.
Got them birdseed, chia seeds, and dried corn - hell, I spent nearly all my tip money on the furry little bastards!
Plus a fresh bag of treats for Monkey, the spherical kind that roll across the floor.
One single ear of corn & one avocado for me. Possibly a whole dollar’s worth - everything else for them! :rolleyes:
Oh, yeah, and a Father’s Day card for my dad.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to this whole project being done, b.c if I have them ALL in tanks (rather than converted plastic tubs) then their bedding stays inside their enclosure.
As it is, the stuff spills through their wire mesh “windows” and tracks everywhere.
So once I get them all behind glass, I can sweep their room - and the rest of the house - and it’ll STAY swept!!
Money well spent, once I get all this together. I’m a bit whupped right now.
I’ve filed a couple of claims, and I have a couple of forms I’ll sign and have notarised mañana. Then I’ll mail them off with the wills, death certificates, and trust.
I called my friend whose wife is dying. He said he’s been waiting for me to call for months. I told him I only got his number today. He was in a collision several years ago, and has traumatic brain injury. It was very hard to talk to him, as he couldn’t stay on track or remember words. (Not to mention that I hate talking on the phone – and he insisted upon using a Facetime style of thing.) But he needed to hear from me, and he appreciated my call. Stayed on the phone for about 45 minutes.
And a good Early evening to all. Got my 1.5 miles of swimming in along with significant whirlpool and sauna time. Despite that and having done exercise every day last week, scale shows I gained 3lbs (still under my 220lb. goal). With travel and eating out on the horizon, the waistline will probably expand a bit the rest of the month, but will try to keep it at or below the goal weight. Of course, Moanday is my eat out day and Burger King is up to the plate, so that isn’t going to help. Ah well, if you can’t enjoy a burger and fries now and then, life isn’t that much fun (at least for me).
Lucky, hope the preserves are worth preserving; I have no talent in that department.
shoe, it’s 84F here and cool nights are those that get to 70F. Supposed to be in the 90’s this week, including in Knoxville where I’m refereeing. Oh joy. Hope the rodent population stays manageable.
Coppertone, luck with the jobs. Maybe the scratch-off will be your lucky one (but probably not).
Wheelie, hope tomorrow will show you properly insured (at least in the system). Keep an eye on it just in case it decides to revert next month (computers are funny that way).
Flyboy,
So many ways to read that comment…of course I chose the risque one… And sorry you have to get in touch due to bad news, but I remember my Dad saying the only time you see your whole family/friends is at weddings and funerals (read your new message-tough as it was, it probably did him a world of good to hear from you). And hope the money comes through, that would be a nice dividend.
VanGo, that is true, sometimes having more hands that don’t have a clue takes longer than fewer people who know what they are doing. At least it’s done.
Cookie, glad that grand-niece is hopefully getting her life together and knows that you are in her corner.
Pilot, sometimes we forget that a big part of vacations is doing…nothing much (I’m often guilty of forgetting this). The Hotel looks great, enjoy the walkabout.
JtC, hope that bird nest is more successful that the one in my front door eaves. After clearing out the result of 2 failed nestings, I put some pipe and wood up there so the birds can’t nest in it.
And it’s nearly 6pm, which is my definition of the crossing point between afternoon and evening, so have a good evening all as I am heading out on a Whopper Run.