The version I used to sing:
I Owe, I Owe
So Off To Work I Go
If I Feel Ill, I’ll Take A Pill
I Owe, I Owe.
“The voices told me to stay home and clean my guns”.
In a shocking turn of events at Walking Dead Manor, our van driver quit. This is a serious blow for a number of reasons, the obvious one being that a lot of people rely on that van to go to doctor’s appointments, do their shopping, etc. In addition, it’s used for the many group outings. Harold (the driver) was a very congenial man who had the safety of his charges at heart and always went the extra step to make sure that everyone was okay. He was well-liked by all. On top of that, he knew the city really well after all these years. I’m very curious as to the reason he quit. I know that they added to his work load by having him deliver packages to the building residents. Perhaps they didn’t give him a pay bump to go along with the extra work.
Appendages crossed for something silly like a loose gas cap.
Happy anniversary herald!
Up, caffeinating, breakfasted and generally slothing on my last day off. While not yet 100%, I am feeling quite a bit better. We’ll see what tomorrow brings at irk.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
Reminds me of the older Italian lady during a discussion with RCC clergy regarding birth control:
“You no playa da game, you no maka da rules!”
Um, well I only know how it’s done for small children. For kids like my son, it usually is texture or smell-based, and basically they do it via exposure. They’ll give the kid some of his preferred food and then introduce something new or vaguely threatening, and then encourage the kid to engage with it - not necessarily eating it, but tolerating it on his plate, touching it, playing with it. And working from there to maybe smelling it or kissing it and finally tasting it. It wasn’t terribly effective for my son, who barely tolerates eating with his parents at the table, though he is more willing to try new things than he used to be, as long as they are the right texture. He just rejects most of them. Things that are slimy or the least bit wet, he will not go near. His diet is almost entirely dry goods. Protein crackers, granola bars, protein waffles and dried fruit, with some fish sticks or nuggets thrown in. (And I feel the need to add, when we do not provide these foods, he just won’t eat. He will starve himself to the point of weight loss rather than eat something he perceives as threatening.)
I’m sorry, I know that’s not very helpful. I’m not sure what they do with adults, especially adults without texture or smell issues. I’ve experienced a decreased appetite lately so I understand how that can be an issue.
Morning (just barely) everyone. 50-ish degrees here in Tejas and lotsa rain. Big plans for outdoor work and major accomplishments, but sadly it’s raining hard. I’m disappointed I have to stay inside and read/internet. Honest! Also I have this bridge…
Spent yesterday finishing the hot-tub repair and subsequent re-filling (3 leaks had to be tightened/gasketed/epoxied). It’s burbling outside now and at the prime temps for relaxing – but the bromine/chlorine levels must come down before I “test” it. I shocked it since it had been out of service for a few months. I expect it will be usable this evening and I will conduct a formal test involving beer and/or wine.
House is empty and quiet again, and our dog immediately reverted back to her previous training. Asking to go outside, obeying simple commands, etc. I guess there’s an odd dynamic when multiple dogs are thrown together. Thank goodness that doesn’t happen with people, right? Right? Guys? Hello?
Heh, just got back from the marina. High winds predicted, and I drove over to be sure all the lines were secure. Due to holidays, surgeries, illnesses, and low water I haven’t been able to use it for months, so thought I should at least verify it was floating. It was (dammit). I’m at the point I might be happier if I walked to the slip and saw all the lines leading down into the water. (kidding, kidding) Seriously, it’s so filthy I floated the idea of hiring professional cleaners to buff and polish it back to purtiness. Mizpullin agreed, considering we’re putting it on the market this spring. Might as well have it spiffed up professionally before showing to buyers.
So… not much to do today other than the occasional wandering into here and reading (and catching up on my latest binge – Joe Pickett series on Prime).
Hope all have a good week!
I got an email from our soon-to-be former marina warning of tidal surge and high winds. I’m glad we’re on the hard…
FCD talked with the boatyard guys and they have a plan for figuring out what’s weird with the boat, but they’re pretty sure they know. Nothing will happen before March, tho, since one test has to be done in the water. Problem for another time.
I got 2 of my lists done. Actually, I did all 3, but I saved one in place of another. Luckily, the easiest one got killed, so easy to redo… later.
I also found FCD’s brown gloves and repaired a black one. And was had leftover soup for lunch. Time to chill.
I’m waiting for my friend who’s also my financial advisor, to call me back. She thought she’d be free at 10:00 her time but had a client waiting for her when she got to the office. I’ve been researching. Supposedly, the national average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is considerably lower than any of the places I’ve looked at. I think I’ll have to find a small apartment building that the corporate landlords wouldn’t buy. Either that, or I’ll have to go back to work. I had enough income when I retired, but nobody was anticipating that rents would skyrocket.
My sister-in-law is stable. Thanks so much for all your kindness.
My friend Bill used to sing in a church choir. He stood next to the father of the priest who was saying Mass. The priest’s homily was about the evils of birth control. His father leaned toward Bill and muttered, “He no playa the game, he no make-a the rules.” 
What a shame. He sounds like he’ll be irreplaceable. I mean, they’ll get another driver, but they probably won’t have all the wonderful attributes Harold had. The shuttle driver at my mom’s place was an amateur opera singer. On Sundays, he took Mom and the other little old Italian women to Mass and would take requests. They’d call out, “Sing ‘Mama!’” or "Sing " C’e la Luna Mezzo Mare! and he’d comply in his rich tenor. Some shuttle drivers become something like family. I ho[pe your place gets a great one or gets Harold back.
Speaking of Harold, Herald, nice wedding photo! You both look so happy and so comfortable with each other.
FCM, your mom looks great! I love that she got to wear a tiara and that everyone wore matching shirts. She’s obviously beloved to a lot of people.
Wheelz, I hope the flights work out and aren’t too bumpy. If your flight gets canceled and you have to spend the night, surely the new employers would spring for hotel rooms, right?
shoe, have you always had issues with your appetite, or did this only appear in adulthood? I have no advice, just sympathy.
National averages are pretty useless for what’s ultimately a purely local market. What can be useful is national average rates of year-over-year increases.
I’m sorry you’re getting squeezed by these bastards.
Afternoon all. Did the shopping and got my sammich for free (after you collect enough points at Jersey Mike’s you get a free sammich), so that was nice. Then paid my Tru-Green bill on-line after several false starts, tried to reach their chat line and it was not available, so I managed to figure it out myself (the system had the expiration date for my account at 12/2023, so bumped it up a year and it worked fine). Saved $40 according to Tru-Green. And the new ice cube trays worked fine, and even if the cubes are bigger than the ones the refrigerator makes they still work on the ice cube dispenser, so all-in-all a fairly successful start for the week. Heading off to swimming and sauna shortly, will try to keep my 1-mile workout going.
Shoe, 16oz in a pint of Vodka, according to Google, who knows all…good luck.
VanGo, a wise decision.
Cookie, sounds like a management being penny-wise and pound-foolish to me. Hope they do get someone else to do the work, but probably won’t be up to Harold’s standards.
Yanker, I suspect your formal test may last longer than actually needed… 
nellie, I wish you the best on the apartment dealings. Loved the story of the driver at your Mom’s place.
OK, need to get the swim trunks on and get my backstroking in. Take care all.
“National” average means jack diddly squat in a country as huge and as socio-economically diverse as ours.
The average 2-bdrm in Detroit vs. the average 2-bdrm in San Francisco … yeah.
(ETA: mostly ninja’d)
SOMEbody owns the building. Those owners can choose to do whatever (within legal range) they want, regardless of whether or not they’re “corporate.”
Eons ago, I was renting a single-home house that got bought out (cuz the landlord declared bankruptcy and I got zero deposit back, since I became another “creditor” and it was a whole fiasco) but until the bank got involved, there was nothing corporate about it.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your ^^ is unfortunately not any insurance against future 
What a warm, lovely story. I bet they loved “bossing” him around with their requests, and I’m sure he was equally charmed to indulge them.
Considering one of the first words I ever heard my German father learn to say in Polish was, “jecz” (“EAT!”) and I have memories of being forced to sit at the table for hours in front of cold congealed { whatever } until I learned the “mouthful + water + choke-swallow” trick to get the hell out of it so I could go back to my books and Lite-Brite toys … I’m realizing my non-anorexic and fairly body-positive self still didn’t manage to escape the childhood “food wars” that seem to be a hallmark of raising a daughter in the 80s.
… jeebus, I hadn’t really put a lot of that together until now.
What a lovely picture. Dark colors so elegant. I don’t like froufrou dresses. I noted the kilts. When Frederick and Mary(soon to be king and queen of Denmark) got married, the father of the bride walked her down the aisle in a kilt.
Ain’t nobody ever learned you how to use your cat irons?
Smooth your t-shirts out on the bed, cover with a clean towel or pillowcase and tell the moggies to stay off. This means they will spend the entire day dozing on the “forbidden” towel, and their body heat and weight will gently iron your t-shirts to perfection.
Are there houses or parts of houses around you that are possibilities? Two of my apartments when I was in college were actually parts of houses that were divided into 3 apartments.
I’m really glad that after my dad died, she didn’t shrivel away. I know she misses him, but after he was gone, it was the first time in her life that she lived alone, and I think she rather enjoyed it. She and my youngest sister do this southern Caribbean cruise just about every year, plus she’s gone to Australia/New Zealand, Hawaii, Great Britain and Iceland, the Amazon, and a northern European cruise, plus a land tour in Poland. I’m sure that helps keep her young.
I just finished installing the new car seat - did you hear me cussing? I had to do it twice - when I got it in the first time, I realized I hadn’t adjusted the shoulder straps for Tobias and it couldn’t be done in place. On the plus side, when I had it halfway taken apart, I was able to move the strap that secures it to the car so that the adjustment was on the door side instead of in the middle, making it lots easier to deal with. It’s an Evenflo and not nearly as nice as the Graco I bought for Roxy, but it will do the job.
Guess I should register it in case of recalls. Off I go…
Happy Anniversary!!
LSLGuy, you painted the most incredible picture. I hope you have an amazing time.
Today is another grey day. It’s supposed to rain, then snow. I’m going to leave soon to get overlygirl and take both kids to the orthodontist. I feel like I live there now. That’s definitely where I spend a good portion of my money.
It’s gonna be a long week. My sister is coming to town again and more cleaning of mom’s place will commence. I hate going to mom’s condo now. It smells like her and is so much like walking into a time capsule. I’m trying very hard not to make my house the Warehouse of Mom, but it ain’t easy and I can only do it in small bits. Her car is getting easier to drive, though. I’m more used to its dimensions and it doesn’t smell as much like the sick version of her as it used to.
Oh! I almost forgot the husband unit’s birthday is Wednesday. I’m still not sure what to do for him. We don’t typically get birthday gifts for each other, so I usually make a cake, which is probably what I’ll do.
My financial person crunched the numbers and said I could take a higher monthly distribution without running out of money when I’m 90, so I guess I’ll renew my lease, but I’m going to wait until the very last minute. They no longer offer the six-month lease, so I’ll be here for another year. That should give me time to figure out where I go next. I wish I still owned a house. I was a homeowner for 25 years. As I’ve said, I let my ex buy me out cheap thinking he’d stop stalking and harassing me. So dumb.
My comment on the national average wasn’t very clear. It means there are probably apartments in crime-ridden, rat-infested cities that are much cheaper than $1300 a month to offset the super-pricey apartments in New York and other cities. There are still a lot of two-flats in suburbs near Chicago. Maybe I’ll end up there. I don’t know.
shoe, dear, I know there’s no guarantee I wouldn’t get screwed if I got a private owner. I’m just saying that if I live in a corporate-owned complex, as most of them seem to be, I’m inevitably going to pay very high rent. Also, my research shows that private individuals don’t raise the rent nearly as high as corporations. Heck, I was a landlord ,though only for a year. I do want to avoid first-time landlords. I had that situation before I moved here, and they wanted to charge me for repairs made when someone broke into my house.
In a few years, maybe corporate landlords won’t be able to pull the price-fixing BS they’re doing now. Amy Klobuchar, who chairs the antitrust committee, is determined to change anti-trust legislation, which, as pilot said, is antiquated.
That’s a good question. I wonder if there are websites that feature those. Private landlords don’t seem to advertise on the sites I’m on (zillow, apartments.com, trulia).
Around here, such ads are on local classifieds sites or Facebook Marketplace. I’m not sure if local realtors handle such places, but it might be worth a phone call or two.
Guess I need to see about building something for supper. We’re about out of leftovers, so I need to create some more. 
Brief complaint: Work is outta control. For the nth time someone has scheduled a meeting with me during the time I’m clearly out of office (it’s marked on my calendar). I decline - I’m not taking a call in my kids’ orthodontist office. “BUT IT’S UUUUUURGENT. This must be handled as quickly as possible.”
A client’s data is bad and they want me to fix it immediately, even though a) I can’t because it came from an unknown source, b) I’m not in technology and I need someone to code the fix and c) I’m relatively certain that the changes they want are at the very least unethical. So decline saying, “I’ve gotten you as far as I can at this point; you should have what you need at the end of the week from the client.” It’s like I just told them to go screw themselves. Instant messages, emails, texts. “But you haaaave to join! It’s IMPORTANT. We can’t ask the client - that’s embarrassing.” Ma’am, I’m not a surgeon. No one will die if I don’t tweak this data, but I could justifiably get fired, so no. And if you’re embarrassed for refusing to do something unethical, you might want to reconsider your life choices.
Hey, I just finished doing that. I assume you meant the tv Joe Pickett series. They did a good job with it-noticeably better than was done with Longmire series (Craig Johnson wrote those books).
Since you liked the series I emphatically urge you to read the books-the Nate Romanowski and Mary Pickett characters are much more developed.
CJ Box is the Joe Pickett author. Craig Johnson and Box are my 1 & 2 favorite authors.