(Old) It's a-warmin' up (again!) in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

We’re supposed to hit 80s soon here in western Mitten State { whimper } and they’re already getting highs in the 100s in my old stomping grounds in the Dallas area.

I have informed my manager to not be surprised if I take my 15-minute breaks in the walk-in fridge soon. (“Is that a health code violation or anything?” Her: “I don’t … think so?”)

I bought a cooling blanket off https://a.co/d/dRJTBpF Amazon and it’s my new best friend. Riffing off Coolio, my AC unit, I named it Coolio Junior which means … I now sleep with Cujo. :face_with_diagonal_mouth:

Ah, just shove a popsicle up my butt & get it over with. It’s only gonna get hotter from here.

2

First! That’s today’s juvenility out of the way as it’s going to be a busy one for me.

Morning, mumpers! It’s 18c/64f with a predicted high of 24c/75f and partly cloudy. Weather app says “Could be colder, could be warmer. I wish the weather would make up its fucking mind.” Outside my window there’s blue sky and not a cloud in sight. It’s warm enough for me, I’d be happy if it didn’t get any warmer all day.

We are just approaching the busiest few days of our academic year, we have results scrutiny meetings going on all day today, then the first of the exam boards tomorrow morning. I have two boards to attend for both my current departments, and between now and the end of them, it’ll be report and more reports to run and upload. Bit odd this year - my other dept did all the exam boards in person in the Before Times, big room full of folks with someone scrolling through paperirk on the big screen.

During the Plague Years, we did them all on Zoom with someone screensharing all the reports and that seemed to work fine. This year (and this School) does things very different. They have a Zoomie to open the Board where they do the formalities (welcome and official stuff) then they open up a discussion board on our virtual learning site which also houses all of the results reports. Everyone goes off to look at that, they can ask questions on the discussion board, and they all come back to a closing Zoomie where they agree everything, award departmental prizes and the External Examiners say lovely things about us.

Can’t wait for Wednesday afternoon when it’s all over!

3

Happy Moonday!

It’s cool and N.O.S. outside.
I got up early and am debating going to the park.
I want to get out, but I want to stay home too.
Echo is bugging me; she wants to go. Rayleigh dragged off my new shoes and is trying to eat them. Adam is resting on top of the box the puppy food arrived in batting at Misiu, who is trying to catch his tail.
My son is in bed. He said to wake him at 650 to go to the park, but I hate to do that after he was up all night.
And he is getting up.

{{{JtC}}}

4

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 71 Amurrkin out with a tstorm with a predicted high of 80 with rain/tstorms/apocalypse predicted through mid-afternoon. Tonight is men’s night over to the church house, thus steaks are marinatin’ and beer is chillin’. We shall, as usual, head over to do set up and cook the all so important snausages appetizer. Hopefully by the time we do that the storms will have gone away. Other than that we shall remain inside, dry, and in sloth mode.

shoe yay for coolio jr. The predicted high of 80 for today here in south Jawja is considered to be on the cool side for this time of year.

BooFae may you sruvive until Wednesday. Sounds like a lot of not fun.

Sari if’n y’all make it to the dawg park, may the GR wear themselves out so the rest of the day is somewhat peaceful.

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah.

Happy Moanday Y’all!

5

Good morning all. For a belated report on Father’s Day, my daughters took us out to a favorite Italian spot. I had Veal Marsala with a side of pasta, the house salad and a carafe of the house red. My Father’s Day post on the book of face is one of the few pictures of my dad with the explanation that he passed away when I was eighteen months old and that I only know him from anecdotes passed down.

Two of my older brother’s girls said that they had never heard anything about him. My brother’s first divorced him when they were in elementary school. I spent the afternoon writing up everything I know about him and sending it in an email to one of them to share with her brothers and sisters. It needed to be done, but Father’s Day has always been sad for me, and this made yesterday even sadder.

To lighten the mood, one of my favorite stories:

One afternoon he was working on our back yard. Mrs. W, an older lady who lived in the apartment building behind us, called down from her window and said “John, I just don’t understand. Your wife is very plain and you are certainly not attractive, yet you have such beautiful children.” Dad replied: “Well, Ellen, we didn’t make them with our faces.”

6

Gonna be a hot week in Big Minnie, as well. Mid-90s starting tomorrow. Also, there is some sort of bug that hatches en masse about this time of year. About the size of a large housefly. They were all over our window screens last night. Any ideas?

Two weeks to surgery, and I’m trying to remain calm about it. I’m actually more concerned about the anesthetic than anything else, but I’m sure they know what they’re doing, right? RIGHT?

7

Running a tad late this morning - FCD had a Dr appt at 0710. Since all the weirdness happened last week and was done by Thurs, there isn’t a lot she can do for him, but it’s now in his record, which she agreed is important.

It was a tad uncomfortable waiting for his appt - the guy Daughter fired was there to get his blood drawn and he came over to talk to us - fortunately it was just about the wait for the lab. I’d only ever seen him at the school in uniform - he looked soooooo old today, tho I think he’s a tad younger than I am. Anyway, that was our visit to the Dr.

The guy who used to clean our gutters has closed his business so I asked for an estimate from another company. Bob charged around $140 last time. The estimate we got back (from someone who didn’t even come to our house) was $397 and it said something about a 2200 sq ft 2 story house. Um no, we’re a 1600 sq ft ranch house. Needless to say, I won’t be doing business with them. I might just look for a local handyman service.

And I already put a second coat of Cetol on the nameboards and medallion and I’m waiting for FCD to finish assembling the two navigation light holders so I can coat them. Meanwhile, I’ll chill a bit.

Daughter and SIL are taking the kids to the DC zoo today and she asked if I’d let her dog out to pee this afternoon. I need to run to WalMart anyway, so I can detour for Cozmo’s relief. Other than that, not a lot going on today.

Happy Moanday!!

8

Ooooh, I’m jealous!

9

Mornin’ everyone.

It’s 48 degrees, cloudy and damp outside. Temps will top out at around 62F, including afternoon cloudiness and occasional rain showers. We had snow up in the mountains yesterday, not much, but just a reminder that mountain weather can be fickle. Summer is two day away, but it feels more like early spring at the moment. Still, it’s better than sweltering in extreme heat.

My daughter and her family showed up around 10:00 am yesterday, and my son showed up around 2:30. We all enjoyed ourselves, and the grandkids were energetic. My son-in-law grilled marinated chicken breasts and a dry-rubbed trip, which turned out delicious. We had salad and homemade mac and cheese, and my son started us off with beef and barley soup.

The weather wasn’t as bad as anticipated, and we had long periods of sunny skies so the grandkids could go outside and burn off some energy.

I thought a lot about my Dad yesterday. He would have loved playing with my grandkids. I dreamed about him a week or so ago. In the dream, we both returned to the quarters we lived in while he was stationed in Germany in the late sixties. The quarters were empty in the dream, and I remember telling him in the dream that the kitchen was way tinier than I remembered. He agreed and said he would ask someone about that. He said he had to use the bathroom first, which was also not where the actual bathroom used to be located. Dreams be weird, but it was nice “seeing” my Dad again.

It’s a federal holiday, so I’m off work today. My son stayed the night, and he and my husband will probably spend the day gaming. I don’t plan to do much beyond laundry.

Swampy mentioned birch beer in the last MPP. I am also a fan of birch beer.

It’s all going to be fine, Cookie!

Well, time for some more coffee! Toot-a-loo!

10

It’s a Federal holiday, but the one truck I loaded was cubed out with one order. Glad I got out of there before the driver saw it.

11

I’m sooo tired. I just want to sleep. I’m going to pretend it’s a holiday for me too, and nap.

12

Here’s my weather report.

Day: Cloudy skies with periods of light rain this afternoon. High 56F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.

Night: Cloudy with periods of light rain. Low 51F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.

Not sure what’s up for today. I thought I’d replace the extension/retraction cord on the kayak, but I don’t want to do it in the rain. I guess I can at least look at it so I can figure out how to do it. I might call the hardware store to see if they have a string-trimmer hub where you knock it on the ground and it dispenses string. What I have now on the Black & Decker is a hub with holes in it and you have to cut and thread a new string after ever three minutes of use. There’s always catching up on an episode or two of The Walking Dead. Should go for a walk, but I don’t want to in the rain.

13

True. :pensive:

Do you think you have enough toys there Butch? :wink: I have literal piles of toys in my yard for my dogs, so, yes, I just wanted to throw in the Butch & Sundance quote.

:disappointed_relieved: :people_hugging:

I’m up to try and get some things done in the garage before it gets to 1 million degrees in a few hours.

Yesterday the Father’s Day gathering turned out well. I managed to spread the cooking out throughout the day, and actually made it to the dinner. Yay me! I have a nice little migraine going today, which is the expected outcome of doing so much yesterday.

Time for more coffee and moving on with the day.
Take care and Happy Monday.

14

Ah! Classic.

Happy Juneteenth!

I’m technically on staycation but I agreed to take my son to therapy so my husband can get some work done this morning. The boy has three therapies in a row today. So I’ve been sitting in a waiting room for the last 2.5 hours. Still hard to be in a bad mood knowing I can mostly do whatever I want until Thursday. How will I pass the time? Video games? Puzzles? Cleaning? Yes, there is much cleaning to be done. Maybe I’ll set up the new Roomba. A good break features at least a small amount of productivity.

15

Dragged myself to exercise class, which I need to do every day for the next two weeks. Hard to get motivated, even though I know it will make things easier post-op. Quit whining and get your shit together, man!

Got a painting class this afternoon. Already did a couple of them. Very simple acrylic paintings done in an hour. My skills are from years ago (with oils), but are way past what we’re doing here. Still, it keeps the hands busy. It’s amusing how anal people are about having what’s on the canvas be perfect. I remember that from when I started out. Once you realize that it doesn’t matter, it’s very freeing.

16

Pollen is a bit lower today, so I can venture outside to weed. Yesterday with rain in the forecast, I cautiously and deliberately clambered up to the roof to spread moss treatment. I also took photos of some buckling shingles to query the roofing company with in case the roof is still under warrantee. Most of this was accomplished by humping around the roof on my butt, old person with decreased brain plasticity-style.

17

Afternoon all. Sorry to be late in posting, but slept in and then discovered a $150 charge from Amazon when I knew I had not bought anything that expensive (and it wasn’t showing up on my Amazon account) so spent much time talking to Robots on the phone at both my Credit card company and Amazon (never did talk to a real human bean). But finally got enough clues that my 3 brain cells (Larry Moe and Curly) figured it out and told me “you knucklehead, it’s your Prime membership”…and it was, I hadn’t clicked the button to get a reminder e-mail so it snuck up on me. We, I won’t get fooled again…at least until next June…

So shopping and sammich was accomplished and heading off for swimming and sauna (and the weekly weight check) in just a bit. 84F right now, which is supposed to be the high today, then supposed to stay in the 80’s with a good chance of rain each day for the rest of the week. Pretty glad I did mowage on Saturday.

suzie, you’re a braver soul than I am, never ever do I consider getting up on my roof.

Cookie, enjoy painting (never got past etch-a-sketch myself). I’m sure the operation will go just fine.

hippie, thanks for the laugh this morning. I had my dad for nearly 50 years, the last 3-4 he really wasn’t the man who raised me (dementia is a cruel fate), so I always have a sad memory on that day. You helped.

FCM, that is a great zoo; haven’t been to the zoo (any zoo) in a couple years, may have to find time for it this summer.

swampy, nave fun solving the world’s problems tonight.

boo fae, bet you’re looking forward to the end of the reports; of course, you’ll probably have to do a report on the end results of all those reports…

Stay cool, shoe

OK,need to put on the Ol’swimmin trunks and go backstroking for a few hundred yards. all ya’ll have a good week now.

18

What is this, my middle school yearbook signing?

19

Quick question: Is it a frittata if it’s not cooked, or at least finished, in an oven?

20

I’m not getting much done today.
I have a list of 20+ things that need to be done, and most shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes.
It’s mostly phone calls, emails, setting appointments, and paying bills.
Getting motivated is the hardest part.
I don’t feel much like talking to people today.

Cookie, is this the knee replacement?
Will they let you do it while awake?
One of my friends is getting his knee replaced and he was offered a choice of staying awake and getting an epidural, or anesthesia.

Swampy, I wish the GR could go into the park, but they are too young yet. They wait in the truck with my son, and everybody goes up to see and pet them. It’s been cool enough in the mornings so the truck doesn’t get too hot for them.
They go tomorrow to get their final puppy shots, then it should be safe for them.

I hope you survive all the crap being thrown at you BooFae