no idea what happened, best to just get rid of it.
up from naptime. Had an Old Fashioned, Muenster cheeseburger with corn, and fries.
Spot, resting up for zoomies.
{{{{VanGo}}}}
Burden us when you need to.
{{{{wordy and wordMom}}}}
{{{{Jane Hubs GG VBC}}}}
They do worm their way into our hearts, don’t they?
Only bad thing is that too many people think red lights are optional.
Good looking puppers.
Evening all, Swimming and sauna were done (the weekly weight check is at 247.6lbs today) and after a short break, went out to the soccer fields, they had closed a couple of them so I posted signs on where the kids were to go and helped check them in/directed traffic (several different age groups were practicing). Then went in and helped sell uniforms and other stuff for about 45 more minutes, and finally finished about 2 hours after I had arrived. Whataburger provided sustenance for the evening, and we just had a brief rain-shower to complete the evening. Some internettin’ and readin’ are the plans for the rest of the evening. Still about 85F at 8:30pm local time, so the AC will be staying on tonight.
Bumba, sounds like you and FCM could compare notes, except she is working in a school and you in a house. I’ve got a Dell too, rather like them.
GodBod, I couldn’t manage that schedule; bed by 11pm and up anywhere from 6-9am is my usual routine. But whatever works for you.
Pilot, hope the flights went well. McCarran is a pretty nice airport if you ignore all the slot machines (yeah, just try) but will remember not to order a Reuben there.
JtC, go ahead and have a good cry; COC would want you too.
Cookie, that does sound unpleasant, hope the treatments help. Don’t believe I’ve ever had the crotch itch, and from your description I don’t want too!!
shoe, it’s nice to hear your appetite is returning.
Cupcakes, I’ll make a note about Max Miller, but I’ve got so many You Tube subscriptions now I’ll have to find the time.
FCM, I always thought I could bring rain anytiime I wanted by simply watering the yard. Nice to know someone else has that power.
Sari, lovely picture of the Three Stooges; and Yay!! for getting the check. And you got the bird out without major panic; well done.
red, hope you get more sleep soon.
Swampy, thanks, I think I have to car figured out, just not used to being that close to the pavement anymore. And I was wrong, the car is not a Kia it’s a Dead Attilla (Hyundai) called a Kona.
VanGo, what shoe said. It’s always your choice but we’re here.
Wheelie, that wasn’t too bad. Try getting from the end of B gate to the end of E gate in 15 minutes…get lots of exercise that way.
Wolfie, too cloudy and stormy to look tonight, will keep it in mind.
Whew, keep up with you people on Monday is a job and a half. Take care all and I’ll try to catch up tomorrow morning.
Greetings from a hole in the wall Mexican truck-stop sorta eatery on an access road next to a freeway somewhere in blistering hot (105F/41C) Texas just after sunset. The Formica is worn, the place needs paint, the chairs don’t match. But the food is awesome and huge and cheap and the people are sweet and the beer is cold. And it’s real Mexican food where the green chile-looking thingies are jalapenos, not Bell peppers; and plenty of 'em. And the tortillas are hand-made. Can totally recommend.
Good to hear. I’ve been counting on using you as my mentor as I ease into real retirement. You gettin’ ambitious had me worried there for a bit. 
Some of my youth I misspent. The rest I wasted. Godbod: Be sure to misspend as much as you can. Trust me on this.
Yes. So hard when you get your hopes up, But so hard not to. Next stop, Fargo!!!1!!1
If we can help, we’re here.
In the course of my 3-hour timewasting I walked every terminal (A through E) and every gate. So if we overlapped in time and you held mostly still we overlapped in space too. Belated Hi there!!! 
The offending restaurant is “Burke in the Box” near gate D52 where Delta parks. When I say approximately zero corned beef I mean a slice of marbled rye bread, thousand island, a stack of cabbage / unsweet cole slaw / sauerkraut or something, one single thin slice of what looked and felt like ordinary baloney, but had a vaguely corned beef taste, an equally thin slice of swiss, more cabbage / etc, more thousand island, another slice of marbled rye bread, and a frilly toothpick. Color me dismayed. Despite the name the place did not look like a sleazy takeout handing out prefab food; more an OK bar/ grille. The eponymous “Burke” is apparently a celebrity chef or otherwise celebrity whose name we should recognize. Not I.
Shoe: it’s good to be a workplace celebrity. And best of all, we reminded you of the carrots so the pot roast you’re eating about now is excellent.
I think you mean exorcising it. Those are not good tapes; not at all. Good on ya for trying. Call an exorcist if necessary.
Cookie: That’s terrible; Your bodily luck’s gotta turn soon.
Jane: poor you and poor COC. Major {{hugs}} to you. 18 years. Simultaneously so many and so very, very few.
Sari: those are fine looking pups.
Yaay for no worry. But … If you were going to sell the stock anyhow for cash to pay for the house or whatever, there’s no harm. But if you’d intended to hold whatever Mom’s stocks were, then neice did about the least tax-sensible thing possible. Which would be par for her evil-yet-incompetent course.
To anyone I skipped over, it wasn’t spite, just distraction from the meal & the late hour. Higs or congrats as appropriate to all.
The perfect cat look! Volumes are in those eyes.
Got a physical coming up, so I did labs today. Just got the results, and everything but HDL is within the Normal range. HDL (‘good cholesterol’) should be 40 - 59 mg/dL, and mine is 83; so it’s a bit high. Yeah, I eat a lot of meat and cheese.
I deposited my California tax refund today. A dollah!
Due to my errands, plus ‘urgent’ work (read: Needy Account Executive), I was late for my walk; so I only went 2.6 miles instead of 3.1.
I got tired of sleeping in a hole, so I flipped my mattress. Of course, I had to wash the sheet, pillow cases, and mattress topper. I also washed clothes. I still need to wash the quilt and the cat’s blanket.
Hot today. I saw 81º on the catio thermometer.
The Spousal Unit had potato salad, and some surimi salad, for dinner. I had a chopped avocado and tomato with mayo for dinner.
Tomorrow I have to get up early to drive to Burien.
Mmm… I think I meant excise? Excise, excision, to remove as if by surgery? Exorcise works too though!
Life lesson worth learning. Never, EVER argue about words with a professional librarian!!!
Oh, just to keep things on track, I was also raised knowing that divorce was the worse thing that could ever happen. I figured out that sexual compatibility was important for a life long partnership so kissed a whole bunch of frogs before finding the one person I thought I could live with unless I killed him. He said he was pretty happy that he was able to meet someone who already knew what how to enjoy his favorite pasttime.
I can still remember almost running a red light because a radio guy said something about thinking that how dying and ending up with 99 virgins would be hell for him because they would all be crying and scared. He wanted to die and end up with 99 women who already knew that having naked pillow fights and drinking champers from the bottle was great fun.
But just because I can…what do you think about decimate?
{{{JtC}}} I’m sorry for your loss. It’s hard to let them go, but it’s what was best for the cat.
Cookie, I’m sorry for your pain–like you needed more of that!
nellie, wishing you a boring surgery and uneventful recovery.
Read all, can’t comment except the general range from You Go Girl to 
Very hot and too smoky/agriculturally dusty to even see the mountains that form this valley. I’m glad a visiting friend and I put in hours and hours (like, 100 woman-hours) of yard work last week. New paint and carpet are partially installed, which means everything is boxed or stacked in the center of the rooms. When the smoke clears I’ll make a run to do sorting in the small storage unit. Tomorrow may hold a truckload of yard debris hauling, but mostly inside sorting of the “now, really, does that go back on the shelf or straight over to a donation place?” type.
This morning my laptop didn’t want to WiFi, so I went and got my phone. Then I figured out that my laptop somehow forgot the password to our WiFi network, even though I had used it yesterday. Odd. Now I can type on a normal keyboard.
We actually had some good beds on our vacation. I really missed our shower. Proper water pressue and temperature control and it’s a dedicated shower, not a shower in a tub.
Both my parents and hubby’s sister have cold filtered water available (fridge and water cooler), so I have to get used to doing without, or at least put water in the fridge.
There’s a belief that Italy has the best pizza. It just has the best Italian pizza. We had pizza twice on our vacation, and now I want pizza again, but now I have to make it, because I can’t get that style of pizza here.
Speaking of food, I have now subscribed to three more food-related YouTube channels (Max Miller, Preppy Kitchen and HidaMari). I’ve got 2.5 more weeks before I go back to the office, so I’ll spend some of that time cooking and baking.
{{{Cookie}}} Ouch. Hope the treatment works fast.
{{{Wordy}}} Glad that your are near your mother and can be there for her.
sari It’s interesting to see the differences between the two siblings. All three are cuties. Thanks for sharing the pics.
Wheelie Congrats on making the connection. When we arrived in Zurich baggage claim there were carts and carts full of unclaimed luggage, which I’ve never seen before. I wonder how many people missed their connection or are waiting for their missing luggage.
metal mouse You’re reminding me that I should get back to moving more. The scale was not a pretty sight yesterday, but today was a bit better as I shed some of the travel bloat.
Pilot I’m a bit of a nervous flyer, partially because I don’t do it enough to know what’s considered normal. Reading your experiences definitely helps.
Okay, it’s 8:00, so I should go take my shower and start working on cleaning up so we put the blinds back up, as the construction project’s almost done.
Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave. It’s currently 80 degrees(ferret height).
Not sure if FCM wants to share her pug. 
I wondered about the Kona when it first came out, even tho I’m counting on my Sonata to make it to a quarter million miles (it’s closing in on 209K this week.) Apart from being lower to the ground than you’re accustomed to, what do you think of it?
(((VanGo))) - just because.
My doc says the higher the high, the better. She wouldn’t lie, would she??
I will say that Italy has some of the most interesting pizzas I ever encountered. For whatever reason, the one that stands out had green peas on it! That seems so un-pizza-like. On the other hand, I don’t recall disliking any pizza I had while there, unlike some of the crap I’ve had stateside over the years (looking at you Ledo “pizza”)
This is what worries me about our flight to Valparaiso in January - we get off the plane then board a bus to the ship. If the plane is late or the luggage gets lost, we don’t make landfall till 4 days later in Tierra del Fuego, so there’s no way easy way to catch the ship there or have our luggage forwarded. Like I need that worry…
When our pug came in from the rain yesterday, all drippy and soggy, I’d have gladly shared her with anyone. How can one small dog absorb so much water???
Woke at 4, dammit. FCD intended to get to school at 6:30 this morning. Well, it’s 6:20 and he’s still sleeping. I’m not going to wake him. He doesn’t have to be there till 8.
Last night he took the last of his antibiotics. His legs look lots better, tho one spot is still seeping. At least it’s no longer angry and red and painful, so it’s just a matter of healing now. I hope.
He found out yesterday that he needs lesson plans ready on Firday for the 5 classes he’ll be teaching. So I went on line and found some to give him a place to start at least. They may well be good plans as they are - I didn’t look in detail, but the summaries looked good.
I get the kids today - theoretically the rain will hold off till I return them to their mother. I don’t know if I’ll take them to a playground - it may be too wet. I guess I’ll figure it out later. Once I can brain. Need more caffeine.
Happy Tuesday!!
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 77 Amurrkin out and clear with a pr*edicted high of 95 and N.O.S. for the day. The big item on today’s agenda is laundry. I can hardly contain myself. We shall also participate in sloth, general overall uselessness, cee-mint pond time, nappage, and day drinkin’ as is our usual wont. Sup shall be sketties 'n meatballs, sallit, and cheesey garlic bread. Easy-peasy, but nummy.
{{{JtC}}} COC had a wonderful life. He was much loved, safe, and well cared for. Still it does not ease the pain of losin’ him, I know.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah.
Happy Tuesday Y’all!
Try my favorite cooking channel:
Sam the Cooking Guy
It’s an attempt at a joke. Or at least at witty word-play.
Niner’s goal is removing religious indoctrination. Excise is a wonderful word, cromulent even, for “remove completely leaving minimal damage”.
But for stuff installed by religion, an exorcism, a religious ritual of removal invoking Og’s power, will work even better to erase those ugly tapes.
Get it? 
Sometimes my deadpan delivery just doesn’t work. Oh well.
I am NOT a real expert on cruising. But what you describe happens to somebody on every ship departure from every port. It’s a decent bet there is a standard solution available; you just don’t know what it is. Yet. And with decent luck won’t need to learn anything about it.
As to me …
Here a bit pre-dawn in hot Texas, I’m up, sheveled, fed, and about to jump on the van to irk. We’re zooming down to southern Mexico, then back here tonight. Different nicer hotel down in the city tonight rather than an adequate one near the airport for our too-short stop this last night.
Cheers all and try not to wilt in the heat.
Afternoon, mumpers! It’s currently 20c/68f with no predicted change, and cloudy. Weather app says it’s “Fucking boring as fuck”. I suppose so, if you don’t feel challenged as a weather app!
{{{{{JtC, hubs and mogs}}}}} I’m sorry for your loss, the older our cats get the more precious our time with them becomes.
{{{{{Wordy and mum}}}}} I’m glad you are able to spend so much time with your mum, I’m sure she is grateful just knowing you are there. I went through the same with mine, although I lived too far to see her every day so I had to make do with visiting as much as possible and phoning her every day.
Niner I’m sorry about the job, good to know that you still have options!
Mooom I suspect that losing luggage is every traveller’s fear, we usually split our packing so that half my stuff goes in his luggage and I have half of his. I also pack a couple of spare bits of clothing in my hand luggage so I am as prepared as can be, should things fail to arrive where and when they’re supposed to.
Cookie that sounds painful! I hope you get some relief soon.
VanGo come and vent, burden, or whatever. It’s what we’re here for.
Sari cute puppers! And congrats on getting the money from your family.
nellie I hope you have an uneventful surgery and a thoroughly boring recovery. That’s the best kind!
Nowt exciting here…Shadow was a proper little trooper at the vet’s yesterday. She did call back with his blood test results but I didn’t hear the phone (and I was making dinner at the time) so she’s calling back tomorrow to talk through it. He’s had one dose of the probiotic paste (no, shoe, it doesn’t go on his bum, it goes on his food!) but wasn’t interested in it today. The vet said there’s only three doses in the tube but we can have more if we need it.
Other than that, nothing much going on, I’m working from home today, in the office tomorrow and on strike on Thursday 'cos the union members voted 95% in favour of it. And I’m not inclined to cross picket lines either. Also not joining a picket line as it will cost me to get to campus - I can save the bus and train fare, and have a lie-in!
Good morning!
It’s currently 67F and clear outside, although still dark. The expected high is 97F (yikes!), so the afternoon and evening will be pretty miserable. We hit 96F on the nose yesterday afternoon and it Polar was pretty unhappy. I took him outside, misted him down with the hose at one point, and then had him lie under our overhead fan. Poor guy; all that fur!
JtC, sending you so many hugs.
wordy, you are a treasure, and your mother is so lucky to have such a loving daughter. Sending you hugs as well.
VanGo, we’re here whenever or if you want to share. Hugs to you.
niner, I’m sorry about the job. Maybe that means something better is coming your way.
cookie, so sorry you’re dealing with that! I hope you heal quickly.
I know there is probably more, but you were all very talkative, and I was in the office yesterday.
boofae, I hope the strike produces the results you all need.
My return went as expected. They left stuff for me to take care of, including some items that should have been dealt with as soon as they received the email. Although I expected this would happen, I’m still highly annoyed. Either my Deputy or MPA could have moved some of that stuff along, and neither of them did so. When I was the MPA, I jumped on that stuff in the former AED’s absence. I just don’t get it…
Anyway, I got as much done as possible, drove home, and sweltered in the heat, with breaks in the bedroom to cool off. I can’t easily get Polar up and down the stairs, hence the misting treatment in the backyard. Thankfully, parts of the yard remain shady.
Today, I have to tackle many more MUST DO NOW items and clear some more of the decks. I also discovered I’ll be on the road for another leadership tour the last week of September. Oy vay! I’d say twice a year is enough, and I don’t see the need to do one every quarter. But I’m not the boss, so there you have it.
nellie, I hope both your surgery and recovery go well.
Okay, on with the day.
My mistake!! I went back and forth between whether it was a joke or not a few times and I lost the coin flip. Nature of the medium - I know I got in the doghouse a while ago with @TokyoBayer with an X-Files joke that didn’t land.
Another chill morning. Researching another grant for leadership, which is nice - nice to have something to do while there’s no students around. If I get bored of that I have boxes of donated books to unload. Nonstop fun and excitement, yup!
Morning all. Up about 6:30am, so either I wasn’t as tired as I thought I was or nappage is a distinct possibility. Less on the schedule today, need to return the ‘new’ phone to Verizon since my old one which seemed to have died coming home from my trip in July has done a Lazarus thing and come back to life, is holding a charge, and charges up and performs just as well as before. Won’t apply to the Vatican for a miracle, but it remains puzzling. Then get to the gym for some pedaling and soccer if the ground dries out (we got rain last night, but only a 15% chance today–yeah, right).
Got a phone call from the fence people about repairing my fence…from damage in MARCH!! Told them the neighbor put it back up and cancel and oh, by the way, that $400 deposit… I was simply going to let it go, but them calling FIVE MONTHS after getting an estimate just needs to be growled about, so I’ll send them a letter/email/both sometime today or tomorrow, just to make me feel better.
Pilot, sometimes those places are ptomaine looking to happen, but sounds like you got one of the very good ones; glad you enjoyed. And Burke in the Box has a 2.5 (out of 5) rating on Trip Adviser, so you’re not the only one they’ve disappointed. Happy flying!
JtC, I remember that 99 virgins joke, can’t remember the comic who did it though.
suzie, that’s a lot of work; take care now.
Yeah, one of the lady Mumpers advised me not to even look at a scale until it’s been at least 72 hours since you got home.
Well, it’s got impressive leg and head room for a 6’2" frame, but the back seats wouldn’t hold an adult very comfortably then. Limited stowage space, gas mileage seems to be pretty good. Would say it’s a passable 1-2 person car who doesn’t need to carry all than much, in other words not at all what you need… 
As for your flights to Valpo, have you considered building in an extra day there as a ‘just in case’ plan? I usually do that for cruises and there should be hotel accommodations at or near the airport. Just a thought.
Taters, you suffer from the Curse of Competence; people at work know that and hold up doing stuff because they know you’ll do it, and do it right.
OK, time to Break Fast and get the day more or less started. Take care all.
I did think of that… after I booked our flights. Changing them would up the fare by over $3K! So nope.
Kids are here. Spousal unit is at work. Rain in the forecast. We’re just hanging in the basement. Good times!