At least you could remind the adult men you have access to that the young lady is your guest that you are basically chaperoning while she attends high school. Don’t feel the need to expose her to the more unsavory aspects of American life likenpalling around with sexist old dudes.
Speaking of which, how’s the anti-social furball doing?
Roxy is apparently the official namer-of-critters-and-stuffies. She’s the one who named Trevor, and she was involved in the naming of their turtle, Carla Herman. (They weren’t sure of the sex, so…) Either both girls are cosmic twins or it’s a characteristic of girls that age.
It’s Tobias day and I still haven’t decided what we’ll do. Yesterday I was thinking we might go to a playground, but accuweather threatens rain on and off, so that ain’t gonna happen. We will make a run to Food Lion, but that will kill maybe an hour. I though about having him help make a casserole for their supper tonight, and that’s still a possibility if I can find a simple enough recipe. Or maybe we’ll just hang in the basement all day.
This weekend includes install-the-water-lines day. We need to get 3 lines in place before the fuel tanks are installed since the area won’t be accessible afterwards. It’ll involve drilling 3 holes and feeding 3 Pex tubes forward - white for the supply line, blue for cold, red for hot. The only part I’m not looking forward to is emptying the locker where we need to drill 3 holes. There’s a lot of stuff stored in there.
Oh, and today, the battery for the garage door opener arrives. So glad - the beep-beep is just toooooo annoying. It’s just a back up to open/close the door in case of power failure. But my desk is next to the wall with the garage, so I get to hear it when I’m at my desk. For whatever reason, I can’t seem to tune it out. But after today, it shouldn’t matter. I hope.
And so begins the day. Happy Thursday!
Morning all and time for the pre-breakfast report. Slept pretty well, back is still a little stiff when I sleep on my side and turn, but getting better. Coaching my 7-year old team today, looking forward to it with a mix of anticipation (kids are great) and dread (kids have attention spans of 0.03 seconds). “Only” due to reach 88F today with little chance of rain so lots of water breaks. Outside of that not much on the agenda.
God Bod just a reminder…WALKIES!! 
And school started last week here in 90F heat, so I know what you mean.
Frumious (left out the n this time, go me!) well, Izzy wanted to experience American culture…humorous for now but hopefully not a common occurrence-and chela’s advise is sound. Never had heard of the Sporcle site and not into trivia but does look interesting for those who indulge.
Sensei. Ouch! Hope you don’t have problems walkiing or moving around with that.
boo fae, “Feral Crotchgoblins” would be a neat band name, don’t you think?
swampy, happy brunching and if you go forth to the good produce stand, you’ll need this music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q91BQlw6Ynw and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfApHWlF8tg
FCM, glad the garage door will cease it’s annoyance. Happy Tobster day.
And now it is time to install my hearing aids and break my fast, so take care and have a good Thorsday all.
sorry, the phillies won 11-2.
another chilly/cloudy/misty day in philly. 61f degrees here. erin is passing by us, she has a very big reach. she should turn away from the coast tomorrow and things should clear up for the weekend.
Mornin’. Caffeinating, getting over hump day (which for me is my busiest day) and generally looking forward to a bit of a slower day to help ease into the weekend. Nothing special planned for the day other than work and home, the usual grind. Cooler weather today here in southern Ontario, which has been a nice break from the scorchers we’ve had the last few weeks (which included a lot of wildfires dotted about my province and other parts of Canada, which seems to be a more recent phenomenon. Thanks, climate change!)
For those who may also find themselves on BlueSky, you can also find me there under the same alias (but different avatar). Just be warned, I mostly post political stuff there. Thinking about creating a more generalized alt as a bit of respite from the insanity of the world.
Hi! Hi back. Yeah, I’m a bit of an old timer, though not as much so as some of the Mumpers still here. but I’ve also been out of the loop for a decade and a half (life … don’t talk to me about life) so it’s partly like starting over, partly like coming home again. 
I appear to have missed something here. Who said what now and why am I blowin’ up real good?
Happy Thursday!
Up, caffeinating, breakfasted and fixing to get sheveled. The agenda is pretty light today but I may drive over to the new place for a bit and put away some of the stuff from the car.
For those who have one, how do you like the over the tank shelving units for towels and such? My linen closet is smaller than in the old place and outside of the bathroom. I really prefer towels to be handy to the shower. I also need to order the washer / dryer and dehumidifier once my belongings are here. Da Jungle will be regular visitors for a while.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
Off to bed. I’m beat. Getting whacked on the thighs seemed to have been a shock.
Finished teaching for tonight.
Night all.
Mornin’ all.
It’s 53°F and clear. The sun rose about five minutes ago. Our expected daytime high temp is expected to be 81°F, and it’ll be mostly sunny.
Yesterday was Zoe’s first day of first grade. My daughter sent pics and a video of them waiting for the bus. Since her birthday falls after the start of school, she is one year behind Roxy. Zoe looked adorable. She played hard at school because her hair was very tousled when she returned, but she looked delighted.
I started out watering the lawn and posies yesterday, when I really noticed the weeds growing in the seams at the bottom of the driveway, and in the sidewalk. So, I decided to tackle all of those, I dug them all out and doused the cracks with weed killer. I also weeded the garden bed next to the bottom of the driveway, and dug out some of the weeds in the neighbor’s space next to my garden. They just let weeds go everywhere, and since they’ve moved in, weeding, which used to be pretty much non-existent for that side of the house, has become a twice-a-month chore. These are the s**** neighbors, so no surprise there.
Anyway, all of that took some time, but I got it done. When I finished, I washed out the garbage bin, set that out to dry, came inside, took a water break, and then headed out back to water, deadhead, and weed the posies out there. I was going to work on leveling the space for my storage box, but ran out of steam. I came inside, puttered here and there, and then finally relaxed.
I’m not sure what today holds. I want to go down to Home Depot and obtain some bricks/garden wall stones, and I should run my Jeep through the car wash, too.
JtC, I’ve not forgotten your request to get pictures posted here, but my photos are stored on Google, which doesn’t play nice with Imgur and other photo-sharing apps. I’m still working on a way that isn’t a complete PITA.
I don’t remember if I mentioned this earlier, but a couple/few weeks ago, a stray cat managed to somehow get inside the kids’ house. They thought the cat ran back outside, but they discovered him in the wee hours of the morning, still inside. They managed to get the cat outside (they already have two other indoor cats), but the cat hung around. My daughter decided to try and earn it’s trust, and has been putting food and water on the porch for the cat. The cat has finally let the family pet him, and my daughter was able to put a flea and tick collar around his neck, because the poor guy was covered in them. Zoe has decided he will be called Pumpkin Seed because he’s little right now, but when he’s an adult, he’ll be called Pumpkin. He is a very pretty little orange cat and has no doubt found a good home at my daughter’s place. The plan is to take him to the vet once he trusts them fully.
Alright, I think I’ll scoff at some real estate for a while, and then get my day started. Please take care of yourselves.
Taters - Tobias will lose a year because of his birthday. It seems arbitrary to use birthdays as the cutoff. I wish they would test kids close to the cutoff to see if they’re ready. Oh well…
Tobias and I are watching Baby Shark. After lunch, we’ll go to the marine museum, then swing by Food Lion for a rotisserie chicken for supper. Daughter is bringing Roxy after school and we’ll dine together. My best boy in the world can help me cook. Looks like my day is planned.
Started Typing: 9:44 AM ET
Clicked Reply: 10:09 AM ET
It’s an unexpectedly quiet morning here in the office. I’m giving some training at 1pm but I have no meetings before then, and my boss + 2/3 of my direct reports are working elsewhere today. Ahhhhh. I’ll have one other meeting at 3pm, then I’ll be done for the day. I’m working from home tomorrow, so today’s drive home will be my last “easy” commute before the back-to-school traffic starts.
Of course: it’s the best place from which to both supervise you and oversee her domain.
Heh…smart!
I saw this last night, and it influenced my choice of Uncrustable for today’s lunch: I have grape, raspberry, and strawberry jelly varieties (as well as honey), and this morning I grabbed a strawberry one.
My ex and I tended to wear Nats gear to games, and one day at RFK we were walking to our seats and someone waved us over: we got upgraded to seats two rows directly behind home plate, because the section was empty except for the front row…which had people in the opposing team’s gear. They needed the cameras to see Nats gear (and more people) behind the batter. That was an excellent game for the ex and me, and my only television appearance.
I remember it taking me 2-3 years to stop being hyperaware of back-to-school. 
Not soon enough! 
I’ve got one in my postage stamp sized bathroom. I chose it for the glass doors, bathrooms get surprisingly dusty.
Don’t forget about Lowe’s. You can go to the store and touch things, then go home and order them from their online catalog and have them delivered to your door.
What a lucky kitty, poor lil guy must be so scared to be out in the big world all alone.
Are you loving Newsom’s trolling as much as I am? The meme’s are hysterical!
Meetings that involve cat pictures tend to be good ones.
So currently I’m watching the hummer feeder and wondering if I should change them now or wait half an hour. I need to do it before I leave, I’ll probably be home late again.
Or not, I’ve found a new needlepoint store, I might find something I can’t wait to get started and give up all of my other plans so I can come home and stitch. My dream is to find somewhere to kit out an old pattern that was a whole lot of fun to do. The problem is that it is from a kit and doesn’t have brands or sizes listed. I’ll need a more experienced stitcher to help me choose suitable threads and textures.
She’s slightly less anti-social than she used to be. She still divides her time between the bookcase and the poorly-accessible space under the radiator, but she seems largely content with the two places. I’ve been able to fuss her a little bit, I get the occasional nip but she doesn’t sink her teeth and claws in like she used to. I even got a faint purr the other day! She isn’t coming close to me, but she doesn’t run away either, just a dignified retreat!
She has a lovely black cat called Tilly, who is 1.5yrs old and looks very much like my Blossom. She’s also currently got a cat living in her kitchen which she took in via a neighbour - the cat appears to have owners who lived locally, moved away and left her behind. Some sleuthing on neighbourhood groups revealed that the cat is possibly around 10yrs old, and her name is Pudding. She’s currently nervous and hungry, has been to the vet for a check-up, and is waiting for a space in the nearest shelter that can take her. Until then, she’s in a crate - she may well be coming out of the crate soon, depends how Tilly reacts. I’ve seen a pic of the cat, and she is gorgeous.
Mindfield >> Minefield >> Kaboom!
I am both tickled to death (both by his own parody trolling, and the loads of third-party parodies and trolls it’s inspiring) and pleased to see someone finally realizing that the high road has collapsed, so it’s time to navigate the mud tracks below.
Oh! Right, of course. I should have clocked that, considering it’s what my alias is a play on.
75F and partly cloudy. Looks like 70s all next week with low humidity. Perfect summer weather in my opinion. We’ll actually be able to turn off the AC for a change.
I went in search of Johnsonville hot Italian sausage this morning, as our regular grocery doesn’t carry it. They have their own in-house brand of hot Italian, but it’s bland. I found the mild version Jonesville, but not hot, which shouldn’t surprise me in the Midwest, where flavor and spice are not a priority. I’ll use the mild in the dish I’m making, but it won’t have the same flavor. Maybe I should have gone with carne adovada, for which I can actually find the ingredients I need at local Hispanic groceries.
Cat fed and played with, all puzzles puzzled. I should take a walk, but the back feels tweaky after yesterday’s exercise. My bagels arrived late yesterday and are now stashed in the freezer.
I actually had some communication with my eldest niece (my brother’s daughter). We had a small falling out over politics a few years ago and we haven’t spoken. We pretty much grew up together, with her being eight years younger than me. I took her to her first movie, which she still remembers vividly. Anyway, she turned 70 a few days ago, and after some hesitation, I sent her a gentle poke about her age, to which she replied in good humor.
Another “bet with their heart” anecdote:
A local fighter somehow managed to get a title fight and it happened right here in Omaha. The local fighter was Ron Stander went up against Joe Frazier on 05.25.1972. A friend of Ron’s was sure he was going to win. He backed his opinion with $500.00. I couldn’t take the bet fast enough. I knew Ron too. He was a good puncher but not in the same class as Frazier. Ron trained in a neighborhood bar that had a small boxing gym in the basement. In the weeks leading up to the fight Ron could be seen drinking beer by the pitcher after his workouts.
I liked Ron. He told me that, even if he lost, he would walk away with a lot of money. His pay out was 100K. The referee stopped the fight after the 4th round. Ron was bleeding pretty heavily and was almost out on his feet. It took more that forty stitches to seal up all of the cuts on his face.
Every time I saw Ron after that I sent him a pitcher of beer.
Well this is shaping up to be a week of unpleasantness. The tire thing just started things off on the wrong foot, and then late Tuesday afternoon some unexpectedly powerful thunderstorms popped up. One storm cell collapsed over my neighborhood and the downburst winds really wrecked some havoc. Lots of downed tree limbs and fences and just about the entire area lost power.
The electric company estimated power would be back by 9pm so I figured I’d spend the evening playing with the cats and trying not to use my cell phone too much as the battery was already low. By 10, the electric company no longer had an ETA for restoration. I finally threw in the towel around midnight - it was already 80 inside and no hope of catching a breeze from outside. I was able to stay with a friend but slept poorly. Between a strange bed and the irrational fear I was going to oversleep my alarm for work, it was a rough night.
Power finally came back mid-day Wednesday. Unfortunately everything in the fridge and freezer had to be tossed. I had just cleaned out old things from the freezer a couple of weeks ago and it ended up biting me in the butt - since it was only ~1/3 full, it didn’t stay freezing and it wasn’t worth the risk. At least it’s trash day today so I could empty things out this morning and take it straight to the curb and not have rotting food in the bin for several days 
BBBoo I somehow missed this earlier, congrats on your cancer-free anniversary!!
Yes, and thank you for that. I (naively) assumed that whatever tire I ordered would be what was installed. It’s never occurred to me to ever double-check!
After reading responses here, I was going to email the manager of that location and frame it as an employee needing a bit more training, but it’s been impossible to get a contact name or number other than the general line for the store. I really hate the idea of calling and asking to speak to a manager as it just seems more confrontational/Karen than I want to be.
I’m only caught up to about post 100 and this is already quite long, so I’ll finish catching up sometime later!
Howdy all. Taking a quick break after pedaling off 200 calories before heading to the next sweat machine. Lots of clouds in the sky but still no rain predicted. Have the Cologuard set up, just need to have the urge to purge my bowel. I will say this, the box comes well-organizsed and the instructions are easy to understand. Just need to time it so I can get to the UPS store while they are open.
Have read all but don’t do well responding on my phone, so more later. Now time for 30 minutes on the treadmill.
Another day, another dollah. Slept like absolute shit last night, so yay for that.
Of course Monkey was esconsed somewhere until right now, when I hafta get ready to leave, he starts being all snuggly.
An earlier start just meant the chaos was spread out. And a late start on the damages and rewraps. But I get paid by the hour. I did my Senior Day shopping, it took a bit, since they are remodeling the entire store. And they were out of my dry, flavorless bit. 
I grabbed some Sierra Nevada, since it was cheaper than Yuengling.
They be a shoo in to open for Metallica and GWAR.
Following(in a platonic, non-stalkerish sort of way ).
Night. And hope the thighs feel better.
30 more years and she’ll be a lap cat.
It is a Sacred Cat DutyTM to be endearing and annoying simultaneously at the worst possible time. And hope you get a nap tonight.