Happy Sunday!
Up, caffeinating, breakfasted, Sunday dinner in the crock (small poke roast with carrots, potatoes, cabbage, onions and celery. Peppers and mushrooms to be added later) and fixing to do breakfast / lunch prep, then KP. Not much else happening today.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
Well, my right hand and wrist were real sore and hurting last night and I was worried that I had broke something, but after an evening of rest it’s much better, much more range of motion and only hurts when I try to push/pull/pickup something. So I think it’s most likely a strain or pulled muscle than a break. Will keep an eye on it.
Morning all. Woke to another mouse trapped (pretty sure this isn’t the same one from yesterday). Took them about 3 miles away and dropped them, I refuse to believe they can make it back that far and still be dumb enough to get trapped. Sunday NY Times procured and in about 2 hours I’ll head off to Longhorn for the Sunday Dinner. Thighs are a little sore from the fall yesterday and my scraped knee is keeping me aware of it’s presence, but as I noted above the hand is doing much better. 49F heading for 62F and rain forecast on and off this morning. Probably run the dishwasher this afternoon, have run out of room for the silverware and can fill in any other blanks. Other than that and maybe gym time if I feel like it, sloth is mostly on the agenda.
rocky, love the term “Big Funeral”. I have specified in my will that I want to be cremated and my ashes scattered at my Mom/Dad’s grave, so that should keep the costs doen for me.
JtC, may consider the food coloring gambit, for now 2-3 miles distance from home to the dropoff should solve the problem (I hope).
suzie, I’m sure you ended up somewhere. Keep on having fun on the trail.
OK, need to complete the Sunday morning internetting and get on with the day. Take care all.
Good morning!
It’s 44 degrees Fahrenheit and cloudy outside. The expected high temperature is 59 degrees Fahrenheit, and cloudy to partly cloudy skies will prevail throughout the day. The chance of precipitation is around 11 percent, although it did rain this morning because everything is still wet outside.
metal mouse, I hope you’re feeling alright today. I dunno why, but falling seems to hurt more the older we get. I don’t remember falling hurting so much when I was a kid.
FCM, my kids have bought numerous pairs of glasses from Zenni Optical. They love it. Well, my daughter no longer needs glasses since her surgery, but when she did, she bought them from Zenni. My son still buys from Zenni.
I treated myself to a mani-pedi yesterday. Then I went to the new Ace Hardware store right near the house, bought a pool and some BBQ stuff there, and then off to Mud Bay, where I purchased chow for the pups. They didn’t have their usual stuff there, so I had to get something different, but hopefully, they’ll have their chow there next time.
I came home, had lunch, and played with the pups. Then I went down to Wild Birds Unlimited and got the good suet (Super Suet) and a new bark butter feeder. After that, I drove to the new carwash near my house since my Jeep was filthy. I even vacuumed the inside of the Jeep. The nice thing about this place is there are enough vacuum stations.
I was going to wash my Jeep at home since the car washes never get all the spots, but I decided I didn’t feel like doing that.
After coming home, I did some minor stuff around the house and went outside and watered my newly transplanted plants. Not long after, it became breezy outside, and around 4:00 p.m., we had some light sprinkles. It rained a little off and on for several hours after that.
lily, enjoy your walk and Spain!
Today will consist of the usual Sunday chores. I need to run the roll-suck, too. I looked around, and I saw black dog hair on the carpet. The pups are really shedding quite a bit. They didn’t shed so much in the beginning.
I hope you all have a very good day.
41 degrees. Weatherapp says Clouds are dumb.
Actually, if its 85 you will appreciate the dumb things.
Off to church.
Laundry later.
Books to be read.
Started Typing: 9:08 AM ET
Clicked Reply: 10:06 AM ET
Good morning, all! I’m typing at you from an alpaca farm in North Jersey (near the NY state line, about ~60 miles west of NYC), where I’ve been since Friday to visit an aunt who is in hospice — and her kids/my cousins, plus random other family in the area. I go home today, and will be stopping on the way south to meet one of said random family members for lunch: I have about an hour to kill, so I figured I’d jump in at the tail end of this week’s thread. 
I’ve skimmed everything since my last post, but quoting/replying on my iPad is a PITA so I’ll just say one thing: BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY, METAL MOUSE! 
The drive up here on Friday was mostly fine: heavier traffic than I expected, and some construction/lane closures on I-95 in northern Maryland resulted in about 30 minutes of delays, but all in all it could have been much worse. And the cloudy-and-cool-but-dry weather was actually perfect for driving. I stopped in my mom’s hometown on the way up — about an hour south of here — to visit her best friend, and got to the farm at around 7pm. Then I went to my cousin’s for a late dinner, and she and her husband and their 20-year-old son and I wound up sitting around and talking until 2am (occasionally joined by their 14-year-old daughter). That’s pretty late for me these days!
The cottage I’m staying in is pretty cool. It’s right at the top of the driveway, separated from the first main farm field by a large empty field. In addition to alpacas, there are yaks, turkeys, goats, and I think some rabbits: I can see a couple of yaks from the house, but have to walk down the driveway to see the others. The cottage is neither too close to nor too far from the animals. And the place itself is nice: 2 stories, with good-sized living and dining rooms on the first floor plus a decent-sized kitchen, and upstairs are two bedrooms and one bathroom. The master bedroom is the length of the house, so quite big, and the other bedroom is a good size, as well. I actually chose to stay in the second bedroom, because it has a big desk (which is where I’m sitting right now). Nothing modern or fancy, but a very comfy place; it is definitely on my list as an option for future visits.
I’m up here for my mom’s side of the family, but my dad’s youngest brother has a place about an hour north of here and yesterday I drove across the state line to meet him and his wife for lunch. I drove across two state lines, actually, and crossed the Delaware River twice: once from NJ into PA, then from PA into NY. I’ve been in six states during this trip: VA, MD, DE, NJ, PA, and NY.
Late afternoon I finally went to the facility where my 84-year-old aunt is in hospice, and got to spent a couple of hours with her before her kids/my cousins arrived. It was hard to see her like that. Moments of lucidity — she knew who I was — but the dementia was evident, and sometimes she would hallucinate. She also did not move at all; she’s basically bedridden (and catheterized). She hasn’t really been eating, but while I was there she ate almost half of a small tuna sandwich. That was all she had all day, though. The not eating is what we think will finally do her in; there are orders for her to not be force-fed, intubated, etc. She isn’t even to be hospitalized without the family being consulted. Visiting hours ended at 8pm, and afterwards one of my cousins (the one whose house I’d gone to Friday night) and I went to a nearby Applebee’s for dinner and to talk for a while just the two of us. The place closed at 1am, and we were there until 12:45am. This cousin is only a year younger than me and we’re the only girls on that side (the other 3 are boys), and she’s always been like a sister to me even though we only saw each other once or twice a year while growing up (because they lived in NJ and we lived in MD). In two months I’ll be back up here to take her to a Friday night concert, and afterwards we’ll go to the shore for a couple of nights.
Anyway, no one can guess how long my aunt has — she might be just like this in two months, or she might not make it through May — so I’m glad I came up here and was able to tell her that I love her. I’m ready to go home, though. And I miss my doggy.
This week is going to be pretty awful: tomorrow I will be firing the direct report who has been on a performance improvement plan (PIP) for the last month. It’s the culmination of years of poor performance…and, yeah, this probably should have happened a while ago. The decision was made last week (which was the final week of the PIP), after several conversations with/quick agreement from both HR and my boss, and corporate approved the termination request on Friday morning. The notification conversation is scheduled for 10am (she thinks it’s just our regular weekly tagup; she’ll know as soon as I say that HR is going to join our call). I’ve had to notify employees that they were being laid off, but I’ve never fired anyone before. It is going to suck (for all involved: this is going to be personally and professionally devastating to my employee, and my heart is already breaking for her). And logistically I’m going to have a ton of stuff to do as soon as the notification is done: telling the people she works with regularly, getting access to the system she uses for our invoices and trying to make sure nothing in progress falls through the cracks, etc. What she does is already documented (thank goodness), but I don’t know exactly how she does a few of the steps…I’ll figure it out, and I’ll have help, but it could be a bumpy week or so.
Time to throw the last few things in my suitcase, load up the car, and head south to meet that random family member (one of my mom’s cousins) for lunch. I hope everyone has a good Sunday…catch you in the new thread as soon as I’m able!
The website? Oh, they’re great. Cheap enough to get a coupla pairs so you can switch them out or have a backup, and I usually get one pair as sunglasses so I have Rx shades.
Never had a problem with 'em.
Happy belated MetalMouse day. Hope the knee’s not too painful.
{{{Hippy}}} Hope it’s easily treatable.
Confused. I’ve never heard of vinegaring blueberries. Help?
We’re getting fresh blueberries in from Spain. Got some really good ones, alone with good raspberries, from the farmer’s store.
And I think I might have enough egg whites in the freezer for angel food cake, which I adore.
Is this when I tell you my parents met in kindergarten? They didn’t start dating until they graduated from highschool.
As far as I’m concerned, Spanish tapas is basically an excuse to eat snacks as a meal. Potatoes in Spain are different than Swiss ones, and I definitely enjoy Patatas bravas and Tortilla de patatas.
It is again snowing here. The news sites are full of concern for the crops. Food’s already expensive, and having snow this time of year isn’t good. We’re above freezing, but not by much.
Got the bedroom and hubby’s office emptied, except for the curtains. Electrician’s coming on Thursday to start work, and he’ll be drilling, so we had to get stuff out this weekend.
This also means that my computer has to be plugged in somewhere else, and it’s battery is not what it used to be. Need to switch to my phone.
As for Big Funeral, Beth Dutton said it best in Yellowstone: “Burn me to ash and scatter me to the wind”
My family is aware of this I plan to donate whatever parts are serviceable (probably not many) and the cremation and scatter.
Afternoon, mumpers! It’s currently 10c/50f with no predicted change and partly cloudy. That’s why it’s so sunny out there! Weather app says “This weather is sort of like watching turtles fuck. It’s just not that fucking exciting.” It’s good enough for me, pleasant to be out and about it, and warm enough to not need a hoodie.
Busy weekend has been had with friends, a couple of whom I’ve not seen for a few years due to distance and circumstances. We had fun, lots of laughs and some very good food/cocktails.
Cat Glove we ate here: Shiraz Palace (not the BBQ place) which was really good. We had mixed meze starters to share which came with flatbreads and most people chose one of the shish kebab options (I had the lamb shish) which came with rice and salad, and their special house-made Shiraz sauce. It was very much like a Turkish/Mediterranean place we go to closer to home, food was still delicious and very filling. I thought it was Lebanese but turned out that was somewhere else the organiser had been thinking of going but couldn’t book a table at that one.
Ooopsie love the idea of staying with alpacas sorry to hear about the employee termination, but it’s the end of the PIP process so I suppose it’s not entirely unexpected on either side. That won’t make it any easier, and I’m sure you will still feel for her, although it’s not your fault she wasn’t able to make enough improvement to warrant keeping her job.
metalmouse I hope you have recovered from your little fall!
That’s all I’ve got for now, 'im indoors has been somewhat neglectful of the cats so I’ve unpacked my stuff, refreshed one water bowl, refreshed two litter trays (including vacuuming up the litter Cherry’s kicked all over the floor), opened a new bag of litter, topped up a bowl of biscuits, and all before I’ve even had a cup of tea 
I’ve skimmed the 98 (!) posts since I’ve last looked. Hippy, sorry to hear about your diagnosis. As others have said, prostate cancer is very treatable and I have every expectation that you will be fine. But it’s still no fun. All the best to you.
We worked a half-day yesterday morning. There’ve been some ups and downs with this job, but we’re pretty much on schedule. My colleague with the car rental offered to drive me downtown for the ball game, but since he had other plans later it would have to be earlier in the day. To kill time, I found a comedy club that had a 4pm show. A guy named Ryan Kelly, who is supposedly “internet famous,” but I’d never heard of him. He was pretty funny, and the timing was just right to walk over to the ballpark a half hour or so before game time.
The game was cold. 48 ferrets at first pitch, and down to 43 by the end of the game, with wind chill in the 30s. But I stuck it out, and watched the home-team Indians get trounced 12-4 by the visiting St. Paul Saints.
I had a nice thick hoodie on, and found a place to sit that was protected from the wind, but it still felt great to step into a nice warm bar after the game. Halfway through one beer I realized how tired I was, and went ahead and ubered back to the hotel.
Today is a full off-day. I just finished a load of laundry. I’ve never done laundry in a hotel before. The dryer did a crappy job, so now I’ve got clothes draped all over my room.
I plan to do as little as possible the rest of the day.
Sorry for the double post, but my SIL just sent this to Mrs W and me, and I had to share. Very cute!
Another meaty-meat breakfast. The Missus had her yoghurt.
Still to come:
FCD was a good son and took his mom to church. He said the preacher was going on with thinly veiled right wing conspiracies. MIL didn’t like him either, so there won’t be a return visit.
And since coming back, she’s been telling me stories that she’s told me repeatedly. I’m glad she’s almost blind so she can’t see how far my eyes are rolling. I hate to be rude but OMG make it stop!
Think I’ll go make some cucumber salad…
Oh, and take out the trash and the recycling. I forgot, because it isn’t raining.
Sunday not-so-funday. Too much to do. One of the inspection items was to paint the foundation. Thought “maybe I can do that myself!” and decided to some prep work. Scraping, cleaning, scraping, cleaning. Decided I do not want to do this myself. Also discovered some spalling in the concrete in the external stairwell which I will try to patch myself. My realtor is constantly talking me off the ledge as I worry about getting this all done in time. Also he had an accident with a hatchet on Friday so I feel bad about bothering him.
By the end of the day today we want the basement sorted into the keep and toss piles so we can get rid of everything that is not going to the new house.
I need an extra week. If closing were one week later I’d feel better about everything. This week is a nightmare; a full week of teaching, plus concert week at the symphony which means rehearsals and performances almost every night. Which is great, normally, but not when I’m stressed about time.
This will all be great once it’s done. But man am I ready for that day.
Morning is gone. Had savory oatmeal for breakfast, then made a quick store run, then caprese salad for lunch. And now. . .nothin’.
I briefly considered the idea of camper/trailer to tow with my Mazda, but then realized it’s got a limit of 2,000 pounds, which would limit us to a tent/trailer, which I’m not interested in. Another brilliant idea shot down.
After a Stem Cell Transplant, it is imperative that the patient not come in contact with any germs whatsoever. So, foodwise that means that food must be cooked well. Foods that aren’t cooked, that is fruits and vegetables, if the ‘skin’ is going to be eaten, MUST be washed then soaked in a vinegar/water mixture. So, that’s what I do with smooth skinned fruits/veggies like blueberries, grapes, tomatoes. The patient can’t touch/handle fruits/veggies with skins like citrus fruit/nanners so I peel those for Hubs. I also peel and slice apples for him. Fruits like strawberries, raspberries, blackberries can’t be adequately cleaned/sanitized so he can’t have those at this point.
Long Night shift was, well, long. I’m very grateful today is a short shift (late open, AND early out) and I intend to tell S.M. that, while of course I am absolutely not trying to get out of working and supporting the crew, she doesn’t need to keep me any longer than necessary just for the sake of extending hours. I know she’ll understand.
Yeah, of the real estate complications I was expecting, that was not on the list. He said he would do the “legwork” in finding contractors for the code corrections. That was not what I had in mind.
I have a few minutes to kill so I’m nibbling a buttered waffle and supervising Monkey getting a bit of outside time. I tossed him a few treats to chase earlier but he’s still antsy.
It is WAY too bright out there. Cool temps, but the sun is blindingly brilliant. I’m sure my plants are lovin’ it.
Okay, I’ve poked in some random earrings & my “no, seriously, get going!” timer just went off.
… and right on cue, here’s Monks struttin’ back in. What a good boy.
ETA: I just dropped an entire unopened bag of kitty treats behind the big, heavy wooden armoire that lives in my kitchen for lack of a better spot.
I’m not getting that bag back till I die move.
Dammit!!
Monks got some squeezy crack on his kibble instead. He’ll live.