In my mail preview I’m getting a letter from the County Probate/Juvenile Court. Um, what the heck could it be? I seriously have no idea.
First off - skritches to the puppers!
That’s the key to any DIY job. I poke fun at FCD about buying tools, but whatever needs doing here, we’ve likely got the correct tool. As for plumbing, when I bought my first house in 1980, I wanted a terlit in the basement. There was a spot prepared for one, but prior owners never put one in. So I did. I had a Reader’s Digest DIY book that showed me how to do it, and I did! Go me!! The same book showed me how to bleed the radiators and get heat to the upper floor of the same house.
We have 3 in our county - kinda like a clubhouse for geezers! 
They offer activities like crafts, exercise classes, dancing, cards, bingo, as well as lunch (by donations for geezers, $6 for under 60 crowd.) The one nearest to me is in the same building as the library, the other two are stand-alone facilities. I keep saying I’ll go check it out, but other than seeing where it is, I haven’t gotten around to it. Anyway, I dare to assume that they’re all the same all over the country.
I was punished last night for my good sleep the night before. I woke a bit after midnight with a gawd-awful itching on my left ankle. It felt like bug bites. I got up and put some hydrocortisone on the whole area, then lay awake forcing myself not to scratch. After distracting myself with my tablet for a bit, I finally fell back to sleep some time after 1. Why do we scratch an itch? It never helps, does it?
FCD is off to the marina to talk to the managers about installing the tanks. I’ll be off to Food Lion shortly to see if I can get the root beer FCD likes as well as a few other items. When I get home, I’ll attack the storage of towels and bedding. And later this afternoon, I’ll finish the painting I started yesterday. So, as you see, excitement reigns, with a side of possible t-boomers this afternoon. For now, tho, off the Charlotte Hall Food Lion!
Happy Thursday!!
You should change those batteries once year whether they are beeping or not. Just change them all out at the same time
I would have been happy doing that work my whole life, but the military had other ideas.
Morning all. Up about 6am to micturate and decided to go ahead and get up instead of trying to get back to sleep. Feeling good, have to go through 84 player registrations to pull out the necessary information so I can start making teams. Also have my last soccer “Jamboree” this afternoon, we’ll see how many kids make it there. Hopefully the Weather will co-operate, there is a 18% chance of rain today with temperatures reaching 90F (lots of water breaks). Will try to work some gym time in there too.
J-Bats, Happy Gotcha Day for both you and Bob. Doesn’t seem like it’s been six years you’ve been together.
Boo fae, happy (?) strike day, enjoy the day off and hopefully it gets settled soon. The temperature cooled off last night enough to open windows and turn off the AC but I suspect it’ll be back on soon enough. And FCM answered your question, we have a couple of them around here too.
Sticky Buns, no problem with my detectors, but I have a little beep in my computer room that goes off on the hour and I can’t for the life of me find it. Nothing serious, but it is a mild annoyance. Glad yours was findable and curable. As for the letter, could it be a scam for something? Be mildly interesting to know what it is (if not to private).
FCM, I remember having itching like that last year, it finally went away after a week or two and I still have no idea what it was. And scratching at least makes your brain think it is doing something helpful…
Hippie, I do try to change out my batteries right at the end of every year..if I remember…
And onward into Thorsday! Take care all.
Good morning, everyone.
It’s 61°F and cloudy. The clouds are supposed to persist this morning, but we’ll we’ll have partial clearing for the afternoon, with a high temperature of around 77°F. Rain is supposed to move in overnight, and this makes me happy.
VanGo, Peach is adorable. I’m so glad you decided to give her a home and love.
J-Bats, Bob is a handsome boy.
Lily, you are braver than I. My water heater has gas, and I’m scared to death of blowing us up. I tend to try to figure out a lot of DIY on my own, but messing with gas makes me nervous. Which reminds me, I should call to get it serviced.
My mother came over from Germany in late 1963 as a military wife. She had cousins who emigrated to the eastern US, but we don’t know them very well. I’m sure they’ve passed on. On my fraternal grandmother’s side, either her parents or grandparents emigrated from Germany. My middle sister is the one who does all the family tree stuff, so I’m not clear on that.
I don’t have much planned for today. Perhaps some rollsucking and dusting are in order, though. I should pull some more stuff out of the closets for donation, too.
In other words, the day will probably be uneventful, and, if I’m honest, boring, but into every life a little drudgery must fall. Stay healthy and safe!
Thanks for the info - we don’t really have that kind of thing here. Some places do, and some sheltered housing/retirement communities provide that for themselves. Mum’s sheltered housing complex had a Retirement Living Officer who was supposed to be involved in organising activities for the oldies, but they weren’t very good at it so most of the time mum and her friends did all the organising themselves.
I won’t know until dispatch calls me 48 hours ahead of time. At this point, it will be either Saturday or Sunday.
As do I!
They are places for seniors to gather, take classes, do group activities. They usually have government and/or private grants sponsoring them. Some of them also serve as senior nutrition sites. My SIL has taken Spanish and watercolor classes at the one that she goes to. I figure that it may be a place to meet people.
Up, caffeinating, breakfasted and waiting for a call. I’ll take a few more things out to the car in a bit, then clean out the fridge (nearly done, but condiments remain) and take out the trash.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
First closet cleared and organized. I found 2 queen-size electric blankets. One was ours, one belonged to the inlaws. We don’t need 2, so I spammed my sibs. With luck, one will claim it. Otherwise, it goes to FB marketplace.
I also found yet another foam mattress pad - I know there are at least 2 in the basement and the one I just pulled out of the guest room closet. Pretty sure they’re destined for FB market, too.
Next stop - basement bathroom and laundry room - I know there are a bunch of miscellaneous towels in both places that need to be sorted. And while I’m down there, I can launder the new towels and the electric lap blanket that MIL used. I can’t recall if I washed it earlier this year.
There are also several drawers filled with MIL’s stuff that FCD doesn’t want to get rid of. At least they’re out of sight in a bureau that we hardly use. I don’t mean to be cold, and I know he’s having a hard time letting go of his parents’ belongings. Maybe we can take some of the stuff to his aunt when we visit her.
OK, back to work.
Federally subsidized and really two layers of services: the ‘geezer clubhouse’ with meals and programs, cards, van outings, lots of exercise classes, etc and beneath all that a comprehensive network of services and staff like social workers, nutritionists, nurses, to cover just about every kind of help a senior might need, like property tax exemption application, taxes, home repairs and maintenance, transportation for shopping and doctor appts, all kinds of case management. Most of that you might never see or know about unless you needed it, you can just go for tai chi, a nutritious meal and companionship.
You can get help with your income taxes in our centers, too. The biggest complaint I hear about the center in Leonardtown is parking. Apparently there aren’t enough handicap spaces. I do know when I go to the library, finding any space can be a challenge. Not that big a deal, except when it’s raining.
I’ve sorted a gazillion bath towels, hand towels, and washcloths that were downstairs, tho I just now remembered some more under the kids’ play table. So those are next. The new towels are in the washer and the electric blanket will go in next. I’ve got a pile of towels for Daughter and SIL - he wanted some rag towels - and another pile for FCD’s shop. I put a few of the better ones in the drawer in the bathroom for hand towels.
Slowly but surely…
We went to the farewell lunch for our building manager, only to find out she has covid. And I was talking to her in her office just the day before. Now the waiting game.
Taking the wife to a dermatology appointment today. She’s had a persistent rash for a long time now and the last place they referred her to had her seeing an intern who was less than helpful. Hopefully this actual doctor will be able to help her out. Now if we can just navigate the road construction to get there.
It’s only supposed to hit 80 today and cloudy, which is a relief. May have some nasty weather headed our way by Saturday, though.
You are a smart and intelligent woman who knows that other non-plumbers are able to do such things and thinks such skills can be learned.
Do you know that I was making highly advanced cheeses, including non-dairy cheese before being able to make a proper cheddar? Pioneer women were doing over cook stoves and all I was doing with my advanced tools was ruining milk.
So, I’m sharing that to say that I agree that when you see how it should have been done, you will laugh at yourself as well.
I had a friend who had a gas hot water heater and she would call the gas company to come out and relight it when needed. As far as I knew, there wasn’t a charge or she would have learned to do it herself.
I hope you have nice clear hot water by now.
TIL that S.CA public education made a mistake there and I’ve been judging people unfairly for years. We used to have white porch ceilings and I knocked wasp nests down every year.
Happy Gotcha day to you both! Who’s the handsome guys, huh?
I do understand. We had locks installed on the windows in our last home so they could only open three inches. We used them because of people back there. Our current windows came with the locks already installed and we use them now because Jolene just has to sleep on the windowsill, leaning against the screen and I don’t want her to pop the screen out and end up outside.
Hurray for the day off…but are you getting paid? I assume your budget can absorb a few days of no pay so let us know when we need to start worrying about your ability to go out to all of the cool pubs around you.
Hurray! Three smoke detectors here went off at night and I totally destroyed two of them in a sleep induced rage. All of them were replaced after the second one got bounced off the sidewalk at 0’dark-thirty.
The new ones have ten year batteries, but still need to be checked yearly. That will get done in the spring along with draining our water heater. It is electric which seems to be much easier than dealing with gas.
Part of being good at something is knowing where the hit something with which hammer. Sometimes spending money on a one-use tool is well worth the difference in the amount of effort and likelihood of project success.
We have a senior center about five miles away. They serve a nice lunch to anyone who shows up and have game nights and such. They also have a very eclectic but well shelved lending library and a sign up list for volunteers to shelf the returned books.
I’m the same as you, I went to see what was happening and haven’t been back since.
And that’s the big reason I haven’t gone back, no tai chi. Darn it.
So you folks all good influenced me into digging around in our linen cabinet. All of the ratty stuff was at the bottom of the piles which made it easier. Some of it got turned into cleaning rags and the majority got put in Hub’s trunk to go to the dogs.
Some of the full sized bed linen we had got packed despite selling that bed, so I’ve put it aside to see if Tara has a use for it. If not, it will go to the dogs or to Sally’s depending on other errands we will be running.
The closet in my room is almost full, it will be good to have an overflow area in the linen closet for the next needlepoint kit auction.
Thanks for the concern 
We’re all good union members and pay our monthly dues so there’s a local strike fund that should be able to cover everyone’s lost pay. We are part of one of the country’s largest trade unions so our branch can apply for help from there too. Personally, I can absorb a few days’ lost wages without doing too much damage to my drinking habits
Started Typing:12:12 PM ET
Clicked Reply: 12:34 PM ET
I only have 30 minutes to write this; then I need to go set up for the 1pm training session I’m facilitating. I’m sure y’all will appreciate seeing a brief(ish) post for a change! 
I have no regrets about skipping last night’s work dinner. The heaviest rain ended before I would’ve had to leave the house, but I was still much happier at home with Bailey. Oh, and I’ve since learned that the people I would have wanted to see actually were there, because leadership made their attendance mandatory! “We’re going to thank you right now whether you like it or not!” 
Kind of makes me even more glad that I skipped it.
I watched the first two episodes of Butterfly (the new Daniel Dae Kim action/spy series) on Amazon, but despite always enjoying Kim the show just didn’t grab me. Has anyone else seen it yet? I abandoned it, and reverted to binge-rewatching Elementary for the rest of the night.
After the 1pm training session I have two more meetings this afternoon before I can go home, but then I’ll be done for the week: I’m taking tomorrow off work so I can play hooky with WifeBFF and her sister-in-law. We’re meeting for lunch, and will do some shopping if WifeBFF feels up to it. At the very least, I will go back to WifeBFF’s place with them and refresh my stash of homemade baked goods.
Ha! 
Not scared/crying squeaks, I hope!
Indeed.
A jury duty summons…?
Yaaaaaay.
Sensei, you are in my thoughts.
So, I think I forgot to mention that on Monday, I took Izzy to the high school for the second of three scheduled visits. The first was to get her registered, Monday was for her to choose her schedule, and this coming Monday will be the orientation for all new students, which will include a tour of the school. What I’ve seen of the school so far, I like. The high school I went to was like an Army base. This seems more like a place for young people to thrive.
Also, on Tuesday, Mr. Rilch had some business to conduct in the state capitol, so he took Izzy with him. She seemed to enjoy it, but went to be almost immediately on returning; that’s a long drive. Last night, she made dinner, with some assistance from me. Linguini, with some kind of egg wash. Never had that before, and it was quite good! Then we watched Back to the Future, which she had never seen. And tomorrow, we’re going to the Warhol Museum, and then a ride on the Gateway Clipper! Maybe we’re overstimulating her, but then school will seem like a respite, eh?
No, just sort of…“This sucks, I was just running around in the whole house, now I’m confined.”
I’ve never had such a food driven dog before, I suppose it will make training a little easier. I think she’s a little skinny, perhaps the SPCA folks were being overly careful? But squeaky tennis balls and ice cubes are good too.
My yarn will be delivered tomorrow! Time to break out the patterns and the hooks and needles.
I’m just about done sorting miscellany. SIL will take 8 towels tomorrow. FCD wants the unclaimed hand towels and washcloths. The ones held for household use are stored tidily.
I decided to finish the painting tomorrow because I can. This RDOS life is great!
I once was a member of the Amalgamated Meat Cutter’s union. They went on strike at my plant. It lasted a couple of weeks and I needed rent and grocery money. I found another job. When I went back to the plant to get the stuff out of my locker I was physically attacked by a couple of coworkers for crossing the picket line. I made it across, got my stuff and had to fight my way through the line to be able to leave.
I am not a fan of unions
OMG! Got an email from Lowes offering me a deal on a set of PINK tools in a PINK toolbox. I got so excited, I almost chipped a nail!!