(Old) It is getting cold in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I thought all pet slaves had secret toy/treat stashes!

Dang about your contacts, I really hope your new ones arrive soon, Blurberg isn’t a fun place to be.

So, I’m now going ot share my shipping story. I went to the post office with 4 boxes that needed to go to different states. I paid for priority shipping for the one to my mother in Idaho. (I knew that was a waste of money, but it was to my mom, so of course she deserved the extra postage.) The package carrying embroidery hoops to the mitten state arrived two days later. The package going to PA arrived the day after that and the one scheduled to be delivered on Saturday arrived on Friday.

Mom’s package, the one I paid more money to be delivered fast… was delivered on Saturday.

I know better than to give the post office extra money, but I do it every year. Next year, hubs will be taking my packages to the post office cause he gets tired of me bitching about shipping, LOL!!!

It would have been a group pic!!!

Back when I was around 13, I was riding my bike around and ended up getting lost two towns away. It was getting dark and my folks told me that I couldn’t ride my bike after dark, so I found a phone booth and put my only dime into the slot to call home for someone to come and get me. The phone made the ding ding sounds and then cut me off and took my dime. (This was back when change was useful.) My only other money was a quarter and I didn’t want to give the phone booth a whole quarter without knowing it would work, so I went into the shop with the funny pink trucker girl sign to ask for change.

The unwindowed shop was dim and you had to walk by the counter to get to the products for sale, so of course I stopped at the counter to ask for change. There were two men who looked horrified at having a tween girl in front of them and one of them gave me a dime and shooed me out the door and then watched me through the slit window until Dad showed up.

Dad laughed about picking 13 year old me up in front of an adult toy store until the day he died.

/upgrades goldfish to a small carp for slapping/

I’m glad you are remembering to take care of yourself, sometimes people forget that they can’t take care of their loved ones if they don’t take care of themselves.

…which thought led me to pre-flight instructions always saying if the oxygen masks drop, you have to put yours on before assisting others lest you all die. That thought led me to our @LSLGuy who has heard it so often he could probably repeat it under full sedation.

And that thought brought up a question I’ve been wondering…how high do hummingbirds live? I am sure that hummers love the tropics of Florida, but do they find feeders put out by folks in high rises? I’ve seen them buzzing over 4 story tall pines and have much respect for the small badasses, but surely they have limits?

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I lived there for 7 years and wasn’t ready to visit it again, but oh, well, at least I’ll get my contacts someday.

JtC, I was a free range kid, too. Actually, all moms had the same boundaries around our 9-block neighborhood, but as long as you were in the neighborhood somewhere, no problem. With notification, we could go to the next town or to the village swimming pool or other exotic locales.

One summer evening, my friend Karen and I walked to the pool, which was a mile away. It closed at nine. Somehow I lost the dime I was to use to call Mom to pick us up. By now it was dark. We asked every adult who came out of the pool building and explained why we needed a dime, but they all claimed they had no money. :face_with_raised_eyebrow: The area around the building was dark and spooky, so we decided to walk home. Halfway there, Mom drove up. She was beside herself. Richard Speck, the guy who murdered 8 student nurses in Chicago, was still on the loose, and when she didn’t get my call, she thought the worst.

Why parents get grey hair.

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:scream: Or at least that’s how I felt when I lost my dime!!!

My mother started showing me grey in her hair back when she was in her 50’s. “Remember when you crashed your bike trying to jump the motorcycle hills? That’s where this came from. Remember when you set your hair on fire at Halloween? This happened that night…”

I wonder how old @dogbutlers folks were before they were both bald and grey!!!

124

Good evening to all. The plumbing guys finally made it out to the house about 5:30, we discussed things and I’ve decided just to fix the current leak, it would take several days to do the whole thing and this close to the holidays no telling when it would be done. But if I get another leak in the same piping next year…

Then got my swimming in late, but the gym is open until 10pm on weekdays so no problem. About 44F outside right now but pretty comfy inside. Also put on one of my new ‘XL’ Polo shirts instead of the usual (for me) 2XL, and it fits pretty good, a little tight around the shoulders and armpits, but not too bad.

Don’t know if I was a ‘free range’ kid, but going to the park and visiting friends over half a mile away or even (in my teens) riding the city bus downtown to the library by myself was pretty standard. Don’t think I ever got stranded at the pool, Mom set the time to leave and was pretty dependable about being there (pool was about 4-5 miles away).

Well, according to a couple sites I googled, they can fly up to 500 feet high, which is plenty high to reach a 20-25 story building, but tend to do their feeding at lower altitudes due to the energy needed to climb that high. How High Do Hummingbirds Fly? – Nature Blog Network

nellie, hope the news contacts show up quickly, nothing worse than a scratchy eye–and as one who has dealt with several scratched corneas in the past, I know.

shoe, a good long sleep is a blessing. And the tree will be cleared, the CF will get unclustered and life will go on…with us always in your corner.

Flyboy, hope the gums are doing better.

JtC, good on ya for helping the ladies out. And loved the story about getting change for the phone booth.

Cat Glove, can understand your frustrations with the male sex; I’ve had to remind myself to do things since I don’t have a wife to tell me to take my damn pills. Keep after him, no messing up this critical time.

red, I’m happy for Nelson and his new toy. How long do you reckon this one will last?

OK, it’s 10pm and need to be thinking about bedtime…but will do some reading and puzzle-solving first. Take care all.

125

Some folks just need killin’.

Wee bit bitter, are we?

Nice.

Have ingested most of a chicken boobie and an entire package of potstickers, AND put away a pretty good amount of clean laundry, so { holds out hand } I’d like my gold star sticker now, please.

Currently alternating between Da Dope (well, and da other dope, post-meal smoke donchaknow) and various YT critter videos, quilling some red and green paper rolls for what I hope will be a nice Xmas card, and playing Jelly Belly Roulette.

(I cheat, and peek at each one. I don’t know all the flavor-color.combos, but I know what I don’t like. White/coconut goes straight in the trash.
But it’s still “roulette” because there’s a lot of orange/yellow/green ones, and they don’t necessarily mean a citrus flavor.)

126

Happy Hump Day!

I think I will not catch up, but I can still try!

Nice morning at the park. It wasn’t as cold as expected and it was only us and Petey Dad.
Treat Lady came by and she comes into the park now because Petey thinks he is too special to go to the fence with the other dogs. I worry about one of my dogs knocking her down, she is in her 80s. However, my dogs seem to understand and they don’t crowd her or try to jump on her.

Today was a sleepy day though. They hit every now and then and I have no idea why. I got enough sleep last night. Maybe it’s just stress.

I came very close to telling Barky/Humpy mom to fuck off last night. She has been getting very critical, shitty, and bossy lately.
It’s so funny how people pick up on her though. The woman from Albania was there only once when Barky/Humpy mom and I were both there. She told me she could tell B/H mom was jealous that I was talking with her.
I don’t care if she gets jealous, I am friendly to everybody and am going to continue to be that way. I don’t like cliques, everybody at the park is welcome to sit by me and our group and talk.
Except the asshole with the mean Cane Corso, who will sit by me and then tell me to keep my dogs away from his dog. Nope, it doesn’t work that way. If you don’t want my dogs near your dog, then don’t sit near me. My dogs have more right to sit by me than you do.

It’s late I need to go to bed.

127

My mother did this, too! I thought it was kind of interesting, like a scrapbook, only curlier.

MetalMouse, good on ya for getting to the gym after all. I’ve been meaning to ask you: Do you do all that swimming non-stop? And sorry you’ve had scratched corneas. Mine have all been contact lens related, but you wear glasses, right? So how did yours happen?

This reminds me of my favorite line from “A Good Man is Hard to Find”: “She would have been a good woman ,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life."

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My recommendations:

1a.) Do exactly that ^^

or

2b.) Roll your eyes loudly, say, “Oh, whatever” directly to her face, and then … proceed to utterly ignore her.
Like, cat being ordered to “Fetch!” level of ignore.

What are you, her girlfriend now?

Me? I’m newly sheveled and downing quite a bit of liquid courage before getting out The Good Scissors and re-chopping my hair.

What? I’m a DIY kinda gal.

129

Another 4-ish AM wake-up because I have absolutely no idea… Whatevah!

We were more or less free-range kids. Mom had a bell just outside the back door and if we were going to be out of the range or the bell, we had to let her know where we’d be and she’d give us a time to be back. There were major roads we knew we weren’t to cross, and, of course, you don’t get into strange vans or take candy from strangers. But playgrounds and shopping centers and parks were pretty much fair game, as long as Mom knew and we were in a group.

My daughter didn’t have quite the same freedom, simply because we lived in more remote areas, so going to the movies or bowling or to the library weren’t within walking distance, nor were many of her friends. Till she was 16 and got her license…

Lessee - no big plans for today. MIL is going to spend the night here tonight. I pulled a meatloaf out of the freezer - supper is taken care of, or will be. :wink: We need to pack tonight for the weekend trek to Indy. Tomorrow, we’ll take Higgs to Daughter’s house before going to Roxy’s holiday concert at 9:30. As soon as that’s over, we’ll hit the road - I’m hoping we can make Columbus before bedtime, but we shall see. As long as we get past Wheeling, we’ll be more than halfway.

But for today, I’ll just need to entertain the boy. So we’ll see how all that goes.

Happy Thursday!!

130

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 44 Amurrkin out and cloudy with a predicted high of 63 and mostly N.O.S. for the day. I shall take care of candle and other duties over to the church house this mornin’ and then we shall be bears who brunch at Newk’s. OYKW has a gnawin’ and a cravin’ for one of Newk’s steak sammiches, which are dang good. That will take care of today’s main need to feed. Outside of that, sloth, general overall uselessness, nappage, day drinkin’, and bein’ retired drains on society will take care of the rest of the day.

Nellie hope you get the new contacts soonest and don’t have to spend too long in Blurberg.

shoe yay for good sleep and good eats!

JtC loved the story about gettin’ change! Gave me a good giggle.

Cat_Glove I think timers on the phone is a good way to go. That and maybe the occasional light slap upside the haid.

red yay for day off and goofin’ off! Also yay for Nelson and his new toy!

sari IMO Barky/Humpy mom is a piece of work. Also, if the fool does not want other dogs near his dog, why does he come to the park!

MetalMouse hope this fixes your plumbin’ woes for good.

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, alas and bother of bothers, I suppose I must get purtified and don attire acceptable for bein’ amongst the great unwashed. This will be two days in a row. How I suffer!

Happy Thursday Y’all!

131

Good morning, everyone.

It’s 42F and cloudy outside. Periods of rain are expected during the morning and overcast skies and a high temp of 48F will finish the daylight hours today.

I was up at 0245 hours this morning. Fun times! It’s going to be a long day.

I was a free-range kid and wandered everywhere both on foot and via bicycle. I rode to the store, the library, other friends’ homes, and parks. And, my mom expected me to get home on my own. She was very averse to picking me up from anywhere, so I just learned to deal with distance on my own. I also rode the bus a fair amount.

I hope you get your new contacts sooner, rather than later, nellie.

catglove, I send continued hugs your way. I get the irritation with your husband.

sari, I don’t know why you continue to put up with Barky mom. Seriously, that should be her nickname and not because of her dogs. I am too old and impatient to handle that kind of behavior. I would have walked long ago, but that’s just me.

Yay for new puppy toys! Mine currently have many, but none seem to be their favorites. What they do love are my plants and the plastic nursery pots. My outdoor plants are shredded and I’ve had to remove all my extra pots. I keep many nursery pots because they come in handy during garden season.

The only Christmas presents I have left to buy are for my son and my mother. My mother will receive a gift card because she doesn’t need or want stuff. My son wants things to make his new apartment cozy, so that’s what he’ll get from me.

My husband already received his Christmas present, although I’ll get him something small to unwrap for Christmas. It’ll be strange to not have a pile of gifts under the tree.

Today is my Friday, although my bosses would like it if I logged into a big meeting tomorrow. I don’t know if I will or not. I don’t see the need to be there, and the MPA needs to learn to handle stuff like this on her own. I’m present for every one of those meetings, and I think I can miss one.

nellie, your mother sounds lovely. Mine was pretty much a Negative Noreen and was and still is hard to be around. I know I should be grateful she’s still around, but I can only take her in small doses. All that being said, I am grateful for everything she did to try and make my childhood a little better; such as finding a way to send me and my sister to summer camps, working extra to try and earn money for Christmas presents, finding opportunities to try and take us places. She did try, she is just a very blunt woman and thinks her opinion is the only one that should carry weight.

The last of the presents for my daughter and her family should be arriving at their home this weekend.

The pest control person is coming for the quarterly inspection. We’re canceling the service if they don’t send our regular guy this time. We weren’t delighted with her lack of effort the last time they sent a different person. Also, we’re worried about the bait stations in the backyard. They’re supposed to be pet-proof, but those darn puppies make short work of everything.

The employee problem was sorted. It was as I suspected at first; his access to the network, computers, etc. had been terminated; not him. And, it was because his PIV was defective. Not surprising since it was in a computer that started smoking upon booting up. Anyway, everything is sorted, they’re sending him a new card, and he should be good to go with the 30-day exemption that is in place until his card arrives. He can still carry on with his work, which is critical.

Whew! It’s hard keeping up with you all when I’m in the office for the day. So, I skimmed, but wasn’t able to retain much.

I hope you all have a good day and I’m sending safe travels vibes to the Fairy Chats!

132

Forgot to update: MIL’s kidneys are pretty much what one would expect in a 92-y/o. So it’s not Stage 4 CKD and there’s no need for dialysis, not that she’d have consented. However, she still should be drinking more water, but she won’t If she has 2 oz, she thinks that’s a lot. We’ll see how she fares while staying with her nurse sister.

And FCD is getting a broken tooth pulled on Moanday. Here’s hoping that’s the end of his dental woes. yeah, right…

133

Nellie, no, I do it by time/distance. I’ve found that I can backstroke 750 yards (30 lengths of a 25-yd pool) in about 25 minutes, so I do a 25-minute set, then get out and sit in the large whirlpool they have for 20-30 minutes, then go back and do a second set. This week I’ve been adding 2-3 minutes to get up to 800-850 yards each session. And I’m baffled about the corneal scratches, about 12-14 years ago I was getting them ever 3-4 months, but after 4-5 repeats they stopped and I haven’t had one since then…must have stopped doing something wrong, but darn if I know what.

Taters, glad employee problem got sorted out, I imagine they were pretty concerned there for awhile.

FCM, haven’t broken any teeth yet (that I’m aware of), may FCD’s dental woes be at an end.

Up after 7 hours of sleep, have to do a little shopping today but otherwise the agenda is clear. Temperature is supposed to get to the mid-60’sF and no rain in sight (at least not until late Saturday night).

Everyone have a good Thorsday.

134

Read in the middle of the night, no time for replies right now (other than the usual hugs and the like). Last night was one of my worst nights. Pain in every joint, my hands feeling like they were on fire and spasms in my back every time I moved. It took awhile for the pain meds to take affect, but they did and the couple hours I got actually gave me feeling a bit better. Now I’m on my way to PT to hopefully get help with all of this.

This is the shirt I decided to wear to PT today. I hope my therapist is as amused as I am!

[Album] The perfect shirt for PT
135

Mrs. L.A. asked what was in the jar in the refrigerator last night. It’s the pizza sauce I made. She thought it would be nice to have pizza tonight. I took the Trader Joe’s Herb dough and the Italian sausages out of the freezer and put them in the fridge. We don’t have any provolone that’s shreddable (only slices), so I’ll make the cheese with ricotta, fresh mozzarella, and shredded parmesan.

136

Mornin all. It’s Thu about 10am. Gray, breezy, and alternating drizzle, light rain, or nothing falling, but everything is staying wet until it starts dripping again. Folks from the PNW or Merrye Olde Englande will recognize this trope.

Dreary, but at least it’s not frigid: 73/23 with a high of 77/25. Still, despite a decade living here, my previous 20 years in St. Louis means the scene out the window just shrieks “It’s 40F outside! At best.” Funny how the mind works. This gloppiness started yesterday around noon and is expected to last a couple more days.

I skipped MMP yesterday due to busy, come back this morning, and see you folks have dropped 60+ posts in my in-basket. Ok. Time for marathon reading and verrry light commenting or it’ll be Fri before I hit [send]. …

Shoe sorry to hear you’re struggling with family and other stuff. Not easy for sure. {{hugs}}.

As others said betwixt there and here, if Mom is more trouble to you than she is worth to you, then drop her without guilt. She made that bed and she gets to lie in it. Not you. It’s a darn shame, but don’t convert honest regret over a bad situation into guilt that it’s somehow your job to fix regardless of how painful the effort is to you.

Yaay! for raise. Every bit helps.


Yes. Yes it does.


I don’t know hub’s mental history, but depression and bored resignation is a real common side effect of serious disease. Everything, but especially anything that reminds the patient of their sucky reality, is just too hard to deal with and becomes too hard to remember. That often gets worse if/when their condition deteriorates even more. It’s painful to watch, and a PITA to be the maker-upper-for. IMO the pill-taking reminders will end up on your phone, not his. That way they’ll be heeded, not silenced all but unconsciously. BTDT.

137

Hit [send] too soon, continuing …

FCM Hooray for MIL’s kidneys.

And glad overall that all the MMPers seem to be keeping up with Xmas flail and not dying of the daily vexation of life.

My Wed was mostly slothful with joint dinner out then a solo visit to the dance place for a group lesson. I must have done something else in the morning, but I can’t remember what. Dancing was good. There’s glimmers of light that might be the beginning of the end of the tunnel after a couple more bends and switches.

That evening Her Ladyship was having a Zoom Xmas party & gift exchange with the sorority alumnae online club. This club got going back when the internet was new, but became a lot more vibrant when COVID hit. Still going strong and now with Zoom, it’s more personal and immediate than the old message board. But they still do that too. For this party everybody sends a locally-themed gift to somebody else they drew last month. Then at the Zoom party everyone wears a silly sweater & opens the gift they received. Her Ladyship received a glazed fired clay ornament in the shape of Virginia and a small jar of gen-u-wine Virginia blueberry locally crafted jam. Yaay! She’d sent off some branded very Florida-themes tchotchkes from our local sea turtle rescue / sanctuary organization. Turtles being the official national sorority mascot. So she had fun and I had fun.

Today I intend to brave the drizzle to visit the mainstream mongo mall much of the afternoon while Her Ladyship is Mah Jongging. Bit of a drive but I have time to spare. Mostly for entertainment but if something catches my eye for Her Ladyship (or more likely for me) … It’ll be fun, even if it a madhouse. I’ll give y’all the report later. Assuming I survive.

Have Big Boy dinner planned for tonight but will try to avoid excessively wretched excess, as I have to get up early tomorrow = Fri for a fasting blood draw. I’d like the amount of blood in my alcohol to not be too far beyond tolerance.

138

So did I. :stuck_out_tongue:

He’s not nearly as hard on them as he was when he was a wee pup, so I figure several years. For comparison, Rocky Raccoon, his lovey, was gifted to him on his first birthday 5.5 years ago.

I like the jalapeño ones, but if you were expecting something else from a green jelly bean, you would be in for a surprise.

I hope that you get your new contacts pronto nellie.

Congrats on the XL shirt metal mouse!

I guess we could have been called free range kids too. We lived in a very small town (under 1K people), so our bikes were used as transportation everywhere. Sometimes, we would even ride out to our grandparents’ house seven miles away and, if we didn’t want to pedal back, would wait for Dad to stop by on his way home from work (he stopped at his folks’ every day to check in on them) and put our bikes in the back of the truck. We would also ride to one of the two lakes close by to swim in summer, down to the “track” (a wooded area where local kids rode mini-bikes and go-carts) or to our friends’ houses. As long as we were home by supper time, all was good.

Enjoying my day off in pajamas, surfing, reading and messing around in the studio. Everyone should have a day like this once in a while. :slight_smile:

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

139

Went out to dinner last night, during which one of the wife’s crowns came off. Luckily, she didn’t swallow it. Equally lucky: she happens to have a dental appointment today. Win!

140

I used to cruise the boulevard in the early-'80s. It’s changed quite a bit.

One of the pictures has a slider on it for before-and-after comparison. The ‘before’ image is how I knew it.

Unfortunately…

Despite the benefits the boulevard has its critics who argue its beautifcation is a smokescreen for the city’s rising crime.

Reported violent crimes have steadily risen over the past decade in Lancaster, up to 1,453 cases in 2022 — nearly twice the number reported in 2012, according to federal crime data.

‘It’s a ghost town at night,’ John Paul Gordon, a security guard for a bank on The BLVD, told the SF Gate.

‘People come out here at night and it’s quite dangerous. You’ll get robbed at the ATM.’

‘There are shootings, stabbings and homeless people jumping in front of cars,’ Destiny Metter, who was born and raised in Lancaster, told the SF Gate.

‘The BLVD is more for the homeless people,’ Carole Moore, who’s lived locally since 2000, added.

‘They took over. They sleep on benches and charge their phones for free.’

With all of the other bad stuff in Lancaster, one person is upset that homeless people charge their phones for free. OMG! If those leeches charge their phones once a day, that costs the taxpayers almost $46 per year! (Using a quick Google search of $24.99/kWh for the State of California and 1.83 kWh of electricity per year to charge a phone.)