I’m right on Lake Michigan’s western shore here, and our temperatures are 10-15 degrees lower than those about 100 yards further west. So we’re a refuge for family and friends who want to get away from the heat. The lake’s temperature along the shore is about 55 degrees though, not quite ideal for swimming, but definitely cooling!
However, if the wind shifts and comes strongly out of the west, we’ll lose our narrow band of cool air.
It’s three days until summer officially starts and snow is predicted tonight, although it’s not going to last very long if we get any.
Tride, if you live 200 miles south of me you must live in Idaho. (I moved two months ago from Bigfork, in Flathead County, to Stevensville, in Ravalli County.) So where in Montana do you currently live?
Light volume day, but since they didn’t have almost anybody scheduled, and several of those were out I made some time. Also, the local sort on Saturday didn’t handle the Saturday missorts or the damages so they(including the 60lbs. orange shag rug!) are still in the building. But not my circus.
Don’t give Spot any ideas.
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world…
But enjoy the lunch, and hope MusicMan feels better today.
Dunno, I always enjoyed living amongst the riffraff.
Nice.
An Old Fashioned should do the trick.
I always thought it was a made up place, like Narnia or Cleveland. But stay…warm?
Maybe I’m losing my hearing, because I didn’t find the MRI to be all that noisy at all - at least, not loud. Yeah, it made sounds, but not bad. < shrug >
Higgs is groomed and chilling. I did my Aldi shop - almost $100 and the only meat I bought was $10 for some frozen burgers! OK, I was stocking up on stuff I didn’t actually need at the moment. But it’s all put away.
As I was coming home, my mom called, supposedly to ask how I’m doing. Once I said “I’m OK” she launched into a monologue about one sister’s health issues, another sister’s plans to go to Ocean City, the woes of having the small bathroom painted ( the primer/paint in one requires more than one coat), and my niece buying a house and getting pissed because after working where she is for 15 years, they just hired someone and are paying her more so she’s going to quit after her contract is up… all that in less than 10 minutes. I cut her short because I saw that the groomer called and I had to pick up Higgs. She may not be as bad as shoe’s mom, but I still hate talking to her on the phone, or in person for that matter. I’m just the audience.
OK, it’s noon and I did buy a chef’s salad at Aldi, so lunchtime. Then I’ll clean the strawberries I bought and make a cuke salad. Then who knows…
Harrumph.
That’s both disgusting, and hilarious.
Hey, now, who you callin’ … yeah, okay.
Work last night was … interesting. My increasingly-decrepit self was the youngest of the three, and once it’s just a few tired old ladies, and the phone quiets down, the tea gets spilled.
Especially when the other two smoke cigarettes.
We went outside (it was S.M. idea) and I’m telling you, that parking lot heard some shit.
I found it a bit loud, even with the foam earplugs the nice tech gave me. OTOH, the sounds weren’t obnoxious, and I found myself wondering what someone with suitable musical ability could do with some of them in techno music.
Interesting combo there. I wouldn’t expect strawberries and cucumbers in the same dish. 
doggio pretty sure you and I are the riffraff.
You too, kiddo. Own it!
Morning, all.
I also wonder how we’ll deal with housing when we get older. If Mr. brown were to go first, I’d sell the house and move to some 55+ community that has individual cottages, with assisted living apartments as part of the village to transition to.
But I have never lived in an apartment. I’ve lived in my parents’ home, in rental homes with Mr. brown, and finally in our own home. If at age 80 or so, I had to move into an apartment with multiple strangers on the other sides of multiple thin walls, I think I’d be kind of miserable. I like a quiet semi-rural life with neighbors at least a few tens of feet away. LSLGuy, I’m rather in awe of your traveling, partying, apartment-living retirement lifestyle. I retired over a year ago and I still feel like I’m winding down from fifty years of working and trying to catch my breath.
Everybody’s a comedian!!!
I’m in the middle of activating my new phone. Mainly I’m waiting for the stuff to transfer from the old phone to the new one - I suspect the photos are what’s taking so long. I just hope all the contacts transfer. And passwords. We shall see - it uses Samsung Smart Switch, so here’s hoping.
Bozeman up by Bridger Bowl. TIL that Stevensville is acknowledged as the first non-indigenous settlement in MT…
Teela: I’m still learning too; I’m at just past 9 months since my final workday. It still feels kinda weird sometimes. I do now struggle a bit to fill the days as I’ve completed one major project and don’t anticipate another any time soon.
As to residences, I owned and lived in one single family detached house from 1985 to 1994 and another from 2001 to 2013, and rented yet another from 2013 to 2014. Otherwise since I left home for college in 1976 I’ve lived in university-owned student apartments, military single person quarters equivalent to an apartment, condos I’ve owned, or apartments I’ve rented. All of which were high density facilities with ~100 to ~500 independent living units. So I’m coming up this fall on 48 years as an independent adult, of which I’ve lived in a single family house 22 years and spent 26 years in various sorts of multi-person dwellings.
Both have up and downsides. Neighbors from hell can occur in apartments, ref Nellie’s upstairs stompers or in houses, ref Tater’s evil bastards next door or across the street or wherever exactly they are … If I had to bet which of our dear suffering Mumpers will be rid of their problem first, all my money is on Nellie. And not because of anything different about them as individuals, but entirely about what kind of accommodation they and their tormentors have now.
To each their own. For me as a single guy just starting down the long (I hope) and winding road from late middle-aged vigor to eventual physical and mental decrepitude, dumping all the burdens and responsibilities of first single family homes, and then an owned condo in a building, has been an unmitigated good. IMO YMMV.
We all fear most the things we know least about. Moving to the countryside or a small town of 600 scares me a lot. Because I don’t know beans about how to actually live that way. Sure I’ve visited such places and enjoyed their charming 2 block Main Street. If forced to live that way, I’m sure I could figure it out and find things to praise highly about my newfound lifestyle. But it’s still a very scary prospect if I was to take actually doing it seriously.
It was nice out a 8 a.m.
I bussed to the library.
On my end table I now have, Laptop from Hell by Miranda Devine, Your Brain on Facts by Moxie LaBouche, I Curse You With Joy by Tiffany Haddish, Wake Up by Piers Morgan and Serenity in The Storm by Kayleigh McEnany.
Also People and Us.
Stopped at the grocery store and got watermelon, strawberries, and tomatos.
Started Typing: 1:27 PM ET
Clicked Reply: 4:23 PM ET
I’m baaaaaack… 
But I have completely lost track of what’s going on with y’all, so I’ll be starting over with this thread. Including greeting a new-to-me Mumper: hey there, Tride!
My weather is similar to FCM’s: highs in the upper 80s/low 90s until Friday, when it goes into the mid-90s for a couple of days…and it’s supposed to hit 97 on Sunday! It’s 88 right now. This is July/August weather, not June. 
It’s been a busy couple of weeks. Work-wise I’ve been focused on training my new hire, who started two weeks ago today; plus, last week I actually went to the office on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons and all day Friday (for various reasons).
I’ve also been taking steps to free myself from my volunteer position as chair of my local NAACP branch’s membership committee, including finally notifying our president of my intent to resign. The process has required a silly number of emails, but it’s almost done: tonight’s monthly leadership meeting will include a pro-forma vote to approve the appointed/incoming co-chairs, and on Wednesday evening I’ll have the first transition meeting with them. I worked my last event on Saturday afternoon (some mixed feelings, but mostly relief), and over the weekend I organized all of the stuff that someone will need to pick up and finished writing an SOP. My goal is for the change to be effective on 07/01: I’ll remain available to the new co-chairs for questions, but am hoping to do absolutely nothing else related to the branch starting in two weeks. 
In other news, I have a gig next month! 
About a week ago, a musician friend asked if I’d be up for being a guest singer at a show she’d just booked. It’s at one of my favorite jazz venues in DC, with a great band. It’ll be my first time on stage in almost two years: I’m psyched about (finally) starting to get back on the scene!
In other other news, I got asked out a few days ago. 
First time that has happened in, like, a couple presidential administrations (seriously)! If anyone remembers me mentioning some flirting with a Cute Fellow Volunteer back in February, he’s the one who asked. I hadn’t heard from him since then, and out of the blue on Thursday afternoon he sent an email asking about something: when I replied I let him know I was leaving the branch, and he said, “I love the few interactions we’ve had. Any chance you are free to grab a bite or drinks sometime soon?” I said that I’d love to and asked if there might be somewhere between us where we could meet – we live ~20 miles apart – and it’s been crickets since then (Thursday evening). He has a son in college, and yesterday I sent him a “happy Father’s Day” text. More crickets. So, that will be it unless I hear from him again. He seems like a good/interesting guy, but also maybe a little flaky and frankly I don’t have much patience for that. We’ll see what happens – if anything – but it was so nice to even just get that email. I feel a bit like Ralph Malph: I still got it! 
As for housing, I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m a life-long renter. After briefly sharing a house with some friends I lived in apartments from 1994 until 2003, when several really terrible neighbors drove me to start renting townhouses (THs). That rent took up more of my budget than it should have, but the peace of mind was definitely worth it. I’ve never looked back, and can’t imagine ever living in an apartment/condo again unless I were to lose my job or something. 11 years ago I switched from THs to renting small single-family homes (SFHs), but whenever Bailey dies I’ll likely go back to THs: SFHs tend to have way more yard than I’ll need without a dog, and the affordable ones tend to not have garages.
Get to the important part, woman: WERE THE GUITARS DAMAGED?!?!
( 
)
(But seriously…are they alright?)
I harrumphed at first, too, but frankly I’ve heard too many horror stories about renters to stay harrumphy for long. Renters are like female jazz singers*: both have bad reps that are, unfortunately, reinforced regularly by stupid and careless people.
*Why yes, I am both of those things!
New phone is activated. Now I just need to personalize it and get used to it. Just different enough from the old phone that it’ll take a bit.
But what else do I have to do with my time???
Happy Moonday!
It’s been… out of whack around here.
I’m slowing getting stuff done, but you’d never know to look at the place because I go from task to task without finishing any of them.
In a way it’s good, because at least something is getting done.
In a way, not good, because everything is messy.
I’ve started taking gabapentin again, and I just hate the way it messes with my head.
I got a new pain in my feet. The doctor warned me that often as you take care of pain in one area, it will show up in another.
Another interesting pain is getting little jolts of electric shocks here and there. Like you get when you touch an electric fence. I told a friend about it and she said she gets that too. She was glad I said something because her husband told her she was imagining things. She said she accused him of tasering her, just joking of course, I said it was either that or somebody was sticking pins randomly in a voodoo doll.
I think it is nerves. I’ve felt the same pain before along a surgical scar. As the scar healed the little jolts went away.
Gabapentin makes me sleep a lot. That gets annoying after a while.
I got my son to call his grandfather for Father’s Day today. He’s just not interested, but I think it’s a good thing for him to interact with his father’s family.
His GF gave him a little talk about needing to get his license. He says the same thing everybody says, even though they don’t want to, but what is he going to do when I die?
I think it’s not helpful though.
Misiu’s toe nail fell off. He’s still limping a bit, but is a lot better.
Sorry about the Nelson confusion.
The Nelson at the park is part Shar Pei, mother was SP/Lab and suspected father is Pitbull.
He and Echo can play nicely until other dogs get involved. One day they were running together and another dog ran into Echo and pushed her into Nelson.
Nelson took offense and went for Echo, who is always down for a fight.
Most dogs would brush it off, as bumping into one another is how it goes.
Echo’s best friend Lily is prickly like that too, unless it was Ripple or Echo. She trusted them enough not to take offense.
I hate the color orange. Always have. Orange and purple, although I like violet and lavender.
The only things that look good orange are oranges and pumpkins, and cats.
Although weirdly, my favorite flower is the tiger lily.
According to the doctors around here, FlyBoy, there is some kind of stomach virus going around. B/H dad was sick for months and finally went to the doctor to be told it’s a virus. He also eats 8-10 pieces of fruit a day and the doctor said the same thing I said, stop eating so much fruit. If I ate that much fruit a day, I’d never get out of the bathroom. He’s from Guatemala though, and grew up eating a lot of fruit. It was there for the picking.
My son had it for several weeks, now both B/H mom and I have it.
I hope you feel better soon, Boo
Trevor is beautiful! He has a kind face.
I hope your pups are totally better soon, Taters. Ear infections are so nasty.
Same to your kitties, Boo Fae
Adam was always bad about pooping in his crate on car rides.
{{{Sticky}}}
Sometimes I think I’d like to live in a condo, let the outside irk and maintenance be somebody else’s problem. But I like having dogs, and I want a fenced yard. Walking a dog in the heat, or snow doesn’t sound pleasant.
I’d love to live somewhere where I couldn’t see my neighbors, as long as I have the funds to pay somebody else to take care of the yard.
I was going to look at a house in a small community, but when I looked at the map, I saw the entire town was about 40 houses. That is a little too small, I think. People are too much into everybody’s business. If you have a falling out with somebody it can be uncomfortable to live there. It’s nice to have some anonymity where you live.
My father and my uncle bought adjoining lots in a rural area when they were in their 30s. They had plans to retire there. They weren’t thinking about health issues and that the nearest hospital was a long drive away. The plans never materialized.
I once looked to buy a log cabin in a rural area, but I had to irk and I knew the dirt road leading to it wouldn’t get plowed in the winter. Unless one of the other residents plowed it. Also, the ‘steps’ from the parking space to the front door, that were carved into the side of the mountain, would be pretty treacherous in the winter. Very few people lived there in the winter, most of the cabins were vacation homes.
Not a good option for a single woman living by herself.
Beautiful place though, the cabin sat up high and had a view of the river.
So long ago, the 1.5-bedroom cabin on 5 acres was only $30,000. I’m sure it has appreciated considerably.
FCM, the only trouble I had transferring data to a new phone is that some of the games I play don’t transfer correctly. Some transfer to the same level, others lose the data and take me back to level one. There is a way to fix that manually, but since I keep my old phone as a backup, I just play the games on the old one.
That is so incredibly awesome!! Congrats a dozen times over!! I’m no musician but my late wife was and watching her react to getting a gig never got old. So much thrill in that for any performer.
Good on ya for the newbie training and the volunteer handoff as well. It takes guts to pull both of those triggers and you did it.
And that is even more spectacular!!
Speaking as someone who started dating again 2-3 months ago after almost 40 years and struck lucky early, it is enormously gratifying to realize at least somebody out there thinks you still got it. Of course I think your guy is right about you too, but us Mumpers can be a bit biased.
Congrats and I wish you every success with him, or with the next; somehow one often leads to another.
Thank you. Today I’m starting to be sure I’m on the mend. Sure was an unpleasant 4 days though and I may never forgive that norovirus for costing me my Father’s Day with my beloved SIL and my grandson’s 3rd birthday. Plus of course my usual Sunday Grandma play day. Harummmpphhh!.
Stil being sure to hydrate well and advance my diet carefully and slowly. I sure did enjoy that cup of coffee this morning! 
I hope both of you are already feeling better!
Happy Monday all!
In about 18 hours, I’ll be escaping the dry 100s of Nevada for the humid 90s of Illinois. I’m not sure that’s a favorable trade, but I’m sure I’m in for an enjoyable trip nonetheless. Plans are in place to see quite a few friends and family.
Oopsie, great news on the singing gig and the potential romantic connection. Even if he does sound a tad flaky, you deserve a bit of fun. It’s not like he’s asked you to marry him. I say go with the flow!
As for the rest of you, I’ve been reading but not retaining much. I hope you all are managing your various struggles as best you can.
OK, it was 68 degrees on my front deck a moment ago, but when I walked about 20 yards west it was 80. A half mile further west and I’m told it’s about 93. It’s fun having a microclimate. Thanks, Great Lake!!
That is correct. In 1841, Jesuit priests from St. Louis came to Stevensville and settled near the Bitterroot River. At the time, the area was part of Washington Territory. Fifty years later, it became part of Montana when Montana became a state.
The priests converted the local Salish Indians to Catholicism, taught them agriculture and how to raise livestock, and provided medical support against diseases brought over to America years earlier by European settlers.
I moved here because Stevi, as the locals call it, is a small town with only 2,000 inhabitants in a fertile valley between the Bitterroot and the Sapphire Mountains. There is much less tourism, and it’s much more rural here than where I moved from, which means a lot to me.