(OLD) Out and About in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Morning, mumpers! It’s 9c/49f with a predicted high of 11c/52f, and cloudy. Weather app is unimpressed and complains of “Loitering fucking clouds”. When I had a look out of the window earlier, the street was wet but it hasn’t rained for a while, it’s just not warm enough to dry out. I have no problems with that, I am not venturing out of the house today unless I need to empty the recycling box into the big bin. But that can wait until tomorrow too.

doggio congrats on the new stain and the weight gain! Spot looks like he will be the subject of many pics once he has decided to claim the new territory as his. I hope he and Darci get on well together.

Mooom glad to hear the partying went well, I hope you get over the sniffles and snuffles soon.

sari sorry to hear that Ripple is causing so much anxiety for you. I don’t imagine for a moment that the situation with your son is helping either, you need your sleep just as much as anyone else and having it interrupted in the middle of the night to fetch him does nobody any favours. Tell him the Mumper Collective has decreed he must learn to drive himself!

pilot without wishing to brag, I successfully achieved tea construction twice so far this morning! I made two cups earlier, one for me and one for 'im indoors, both with different tea bags and different milk. He was still in bed so I left his but he showed now signs of waking up to drink it and I hate to see a good cuppa go to waste so I drank it for him. Now he’s out of bed, finally, so I will go and achieve a state of perfect tea serenity again.

It being Sunday and therefore a day of general slothage, I did not have much planned for the day. Just as well because I am all achy from yesterday. I did two hours in the gym first thing in the morning, came home for a shower and a quick lunch, then we headed off to a nearby town for day two of a fab little music festival. We were there by about 1pm and didn’t get home until 1am so I had been on my feet for a lot of that time. The festival venue is a small place which has some seating but not much so although we were able to sit down for a while between bands, it wasn’t for long. When I got home, the first thing I did was take my boots off and throw then in the corner!

I was up about 8am as I heard Shadow miaowing downstairs so I went down to give him some fresh food and water, and change the litter trays. Then I went back to bed for a while but didn’t really get back to sleep or anywhere close, so I got up and pottered around the Book of Farces. I have had to wait for 'im indoors to get out of bed as I need to shove the roll-suck around the house and I am not petty enough to use the noise of it to get him out of bed in the morning!

Once roll-suckage has been achieved, I will be making a proper breakfast for us (although by then it will be closer to lunch but neither of us has eaten this morning) and then the afternoon will be devoted to slothage, as is proper for a Sunday.

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Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. *YAWN * ‘Tis 65 Amurrkin out and cloudy with a predicted high of 77 and cloudy/rainy for the day. The big item on today’s agenda is deheathenizaton. I also have a meeting with interim Priest, the other Verger, and the music director to discuss the Bishop’s visit the first Sunday of May. Then it will be back to da cave for a sammich N.O.L., nappage, and general sloth and overall uselessness.

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then purtification for deheathenization must commence.

Happy Sunday Y’all!

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OK, let’s try again - somehow I completely deleted most of my post. Lessee…

First, thanks to sari for the checklist - it will help!

THIS cracked me up!!!

I’ve still got the stoopit cold (pretty sure it’s not allergies) but we’ll be going to the boatyard anyway. At least I won’t be coughing on anyone there, and it’s going to be a nice day to finish waxing. Supposed to get into the 80s again, and the rain has moved on. Today and tomorrow are my last chances to work there before I have to wrangle the toddler again. Daughter goes back to work tomorrow.

Party pics! First, the rainbow birthday girl before the crowd arrived:
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Then, the crowd, eating:
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And at the kid’s table:
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And finally, the big gift:
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She got all the elbow and knee guards, too, and a bell for the handlebars!

That girl is growing so fast! And so tall! I swear, she’s going to be towering over me before she’s 10… I’m wondering if her brother will shoot up eventually - he’s more compact than she was at that age. We shall see.

And thus my day begins. Happy Sunday!!

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A very late winter storm is dropping a few inches on us right now. It’s supposed to end this morning. We went from high 80s a few days ago to snow today.

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Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off today. I do not spot Spot.

Looks like a fun party, Moooooommmmm!!!

This is gonna be interesting, since both Spot and Darci can produce 100% of their body mass in hair. Per minute.

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I just heard him hornk up a hairball from his hiding space, so “Hide and seek” in now on today’s agenda.

Since they both seem to be into perpetual hiding, I could have 10-15 years where I have pets, but never see them(or they never see each other) :crazy_face:

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Morning all! Happy Sunday and happy irking to all who don’t have conventional schedules!

I’m now riding the uncrowded train to irk enjoying the magic of free electricity and free Wi-Fi to connect w y’all. Sunny & warm here in paradise.

Awoke & got vertical a few minutes before my alarm time which is nice since then I can prevent it from going off and disturbing Her Ladyship’s very sexy slumber. When I remember to do that. Which I did today. Yaay MEE! Unless the departure time is stupid-stupid-early I plan my mornings for unhurried clean, feed, gather, & go. The extra few minute awaking before the alarm just adds to the casualness (casuality? casualificness? casualificnicity?) Anyhoo, somethin’ lahk that thar. :slight_smile:


Airport is adequate, but is on our official list of places to be extra careful of. Relatively high altitude @ 5000 feet, smallish hilly runway, hemmed in all around by volcanoes to 13,000 feet, and sometimes the valley fills w thunderstorms. Today we should have all of that, minus the bad weather. One hopes the volcanoes keep slumbering another day.

Hotel is very nice, a Barcelo. Lots to see & do & eat in the local area. I have my afternoon exploratory trek & probable dinner all picked out, net of what my partner is interested in. Sometimes we’re big on togetherness on our off time and sometimes we’re much bigger on separateness. I don’t know this guy yet so can’t predict specifically. But togetherness is the statistical winning way to bet.

I live a ways north of Miami and use Tri-Rail when I train, or I-95 when I drive.


Yaay YOU!! Double credit for not only drinking hubby’s tea, but also replacing it. :wink:

For my part today’s coffee, including the extra effort for prepping the go-cup, went correctly, and everything even came with me from apartment to car to train. Yaay MEE again! I wonder how / when the coffee Nemesis will next raise its ugly centipede-like face? Shan’t be long I predict.

Yaay! That’s a darn fine party crew & venue you’ve got there. And Birthday Girl looks as happy as a kid can be.


When I was a tween we got an Old English Sheepdog puppy. Which quickly became a fully-grown ~80lb OES. In warm & sunny Southern California.

We used to say he was furdioactive. The stuff was everywhere and more by the minute. Sadly, the half-life of shed fur wool is seemingly infinite. So it wasn’t self-clearing.

Just use your Furger Counter to follow the fur gradient towards the higher density regions. You’ll find them exuding fur (and for the cat, furballs) right there at the pinnacle. :wink:



Well folks, thanks for keeping me occupied on the train. Approaching time to commence the walking, escalating, people-moving, moto-sidewalk riding, elevating, etc., that’s all preparatory to eventually aviating.

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Morning all. Brain wanted me to get up at 4:30am, so Body mugged Brain and kept me asleep until 7am. Only thing on the schedule is lawn mowage, probably this afternoon/evening, we’ll see if the sun pokes out or not. The fence and water leak are both due to get fixed this week, but I don’t have confirmed dates for either, so we’ll see. Once I know them I’ll get a date for the car so I can have a tech person check it out.

Sari, your health is important, too; the kid is going to have to accept responsibility for those late night work hours and learn to at least drive to and from that location. And hope Ripple keeps recovering and stops being a PITA.

Ah, from the Samuel L Jackson school of passwords… :laughing: :wink:

I approve of this change. :smile: :smile: :smile:

FCM, great pics and keeping up with Roxy is about to become much more difficult.

Pilot, good travels and a smooth landing.

OK, need to do things and look forward to the Olive Garden a little later in the day. All 'yall have a good Sunday.

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Your MN weather has arrived in IL. Saturday was 82 degrees. Had the moon roof open in my new ride, turned on the a/c at home. Today is rain turning to slush, expected accumulation 1-3 inches. Blech.

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sari, it’s fantastic that Ripple seems to be feeling better, even if he’s becoming a PITA. I kind of like a yard with violets and dandelions.

doggio, the last cats that I had were a quarter century ago. I have a wool shawl that, despite dry cleaning over the years, still has a couple of Figaro’s hairs embedded into the fabric. She had long, very fine hair that tended to weave itself into any fabric that she even looked at.

Up, caffeinating, breakfasted and fixing to do KP and Sunday chores. The big things on the agenda today are picking up a couple of prescriptions and tidying up the patio.

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

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Juding by the sneezing, the couch is now allergic to cat hair. :smiley:

I once saw a lady walking 2 Grand Pyrenees. I bet her house looked like Hoth.

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Well, good morning/afternoon to all of you.

It’s currently 48 degrees and raining. The expected high is 50 and various forms of rain will fall all day.

I woke at 4:00 am because I fell asleep on the couch last night. I thought about staying up, but said that and went upstairs to bed to sleep for a few more hours. I slept off and on until 8:00 am and then got up.

I got my lawn mowed yesterday after several Lowes and Home Depot trips. At one point, I was this close to just biting the bullet and buying a new mower. However, after finally finding the right spark plug, air filter, and replacement blade, I got the mower going. I didn’t replace the blade yet, I will do that before the next mow. I also had to find a dang spark plug socket since I couldn’t find one at the house.

At any rate, these multiple trips to Lowes and Home Depot, plus a stop to pick up lunch and a stop at the gas station to pick up fresh gas for the mower, wrecked any plans for visiting my favorite nursery. As it was, it drizzled when we were mowing, so we just squeaked by. I need to get some weed and seed out there; the weeds have made a courageous comeback. There were some lovely plants at both Lowes and Home Depot, not to mention some very gorgeous and large tomato plants, but frost is still nipping in here at night, and putting tomatoes out wouldn’t be the best thing right now. I only buy one tomato plant and put it in a large pot so that a cold frame would be a bit of a problem.

I thought about going to my favorite nursery today, but it’s raining, and I must do laundry. On top of that, I wasted a good part of the morning by allowing myself to stay in bed for so long.

Doggio, I’m so glad you will provide a home for Darci! Maybe once she gets there, her and Beaker will unite forces and not hide so much.

Sari, I’m sorry life keeps throwing all these hurdles your way and that Ripples is being so picky about his food. When we went through that with Polar, I would put the food in his mouth to make him eat. Once I gave him a few bites that way, he’d finish his bowl. I only did that with foods I knew he liked. He still won’t eat dog food, so it’s chicken thighs every night now, but it’s something. Also, lack of sleep can lead to cardiovascular problems. Your son must learn to drive because you can’t keep going like that.

Polar is a champion shedder; I can’t keep up with dog hair that migrates everywhere. Little drifts of white dog hair end up in the corners often.

FCM, it looks like Roxy had a very nice party. I hope you start feeling better soon.

Well, that dishwasher isn’t going to load itself. Time to get a belated start on the day.

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Someone upthread mentioned thinking of buying an electric lawnmower, (I searched a bit, but gave that up.) So I thought I’d share my experience, for whatever that’s worth. I did some research and ended up buying a Greenworks mower for, IIRC, around $250. The top rated electric at that time was the Ego brand, but it cost about twice the Greenworks in those days. Don’t know about now, and it may be different in your area anyway. Our Greenworks is perfectly adequate for our small lawn and a lot less trouble than a gas mower. Although the little Troybilt gas mower we had in the valley was a terrific mower.

Sorry about Ripple’s food woes. I hope he has good days from here on.

Doggio, glad you’re getting the band back together.

Our experience up here in Orygun has been that Cali-fornia doesn’t want to share, they want it all. Feck’em

That looked like fun party Mom. Don’t worry about being outgrown by Roxie until it happens. We’re big people, and our first 4 grandchildren were big people. #5 (a girl) was predicted by her doctor to be six feet tall based on where she was as a pre-teen. Well she got to 5’ 2" and stopped, much to her chagrin.
Her younger brother is 6’ 4". :scream:
Your pictures remind me that we need to go back to the valley and retrieve, or sell our Schwinns. :frowning_face:

I only forgot to put my cup under the K-cup type coffee make once. It does not hold an entire cup of coffee by itself. :roll_eyes:

Some friends of ours just came back from Guatemala and highly recommended it.

Schnauzers and Yorkies don’t shed. Just sayin’.

Yesterday I uncovered the truck (we have a truck cover 'cause of all the birds in our back yard.) and we loaded a bunch of junk in the back to take to the cleanup event the city puts on twice a year. I hadn’t loaded it earlier in th week 'cause I was told that TheGirlChildTM was coming over and we were going to use her big pickup. Not that we needed it, but she would have been disappointed if we didn’t. Well, she decided she was too tired to make the trip, which info wasn’t shared with me. :roll_eyes:
Anyway, I figured it would take me half an hour to throw everything in the truck. It took 2 hours.
And then the truck wouldn’t start. I suppose it had sat still for too long. Or else the battery is getting weak. It is 5 years old after all. I have a battery charger in the basement however. I was just considering getting it out when I decided to try one more time, and it started. Whew!

A few weeks ago I mentioned that, as much as we love our little house and our little town, we might want to consider a single level house closer to a hospital in our declining years.
So now we’re looking for a house in Madras. There’s a small but adequate hospital there and it’s ~30 miles to the big hospital in Bend. Unfortunately a house big enough for our needs will cost more than we have in the bank. We’re still working on that.

Y’all have a perfectly adequate Sonday.

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Remember those trees we had cut down because the roots were tearing up the concrete, and the removal of the stumps a month or so ago? Of course that tore up the concrete even more. Now it’s time to replace it.

October, 2021: I took out a loan to pay for a new roof on the house. (The roof was surprisingly inexpensive; $5,000 or $5,500.) With under $600 remaining on the loan, I paid it off from my savings this morning. Or so I thought. When I clicked Confirm, it said I still owe $2. I tried to pay that, but it wouldn’t let me.

The concrete porch was cracked when I bought the house, and it was cracked when my friend bought it before me. There was once a chimney on the wall of the front bedroom. Now there’s its foundation. The walkway from the front door to the front of the front bedroom, and the walk going from there to the driveway, are cracked and sloping toward the house. And of course the walk to the driveway is destroyed from getting rid of the stump. There is one step from the porch to the walk, but I have two bad knees and it can be challenging in snow and ice. And someone cemented river rocks together to make a planting area in front of the front window. Looks like hell, crumbling, and the area is very good for growing weeds. We can’t get anything else to grow there because the weeds take over. I suggested extending the porch to the side of the house, and Mrs. L.A. said that’s a good idea. We had a concrete guy (a neighbour of the guy who took out the stumps) come out, and he quoted us $3,700 plus the cost of disposing of the old concrete.

So tomorrow I’ll call the credit union to pay the last two dollars on the roof, and take out another loan for the concrete.

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Monday-finished packing, particularly the cooler; took car to collision shop where numerous pics of damage were taken, brought car home because they don’t keep car until the parts to fix come in. Sister picked me up, stopped at Cracker Barrel in Findlay-had chicken pot pie. Drove to Arc of Appalachia in Bainbridge, OH; hiked the Valley of the Ancients Trail where I saw massive amounts of Trillium Grandiflorum, Trout Lillies, one Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Dutchmen’s Breeches, Rue Anemone. Checked into the Lazy H Cabins nearby. Very nice cabins! Sister made turkey hash, I wrote down recipe and plan to make for dinner today but will use some seasonings; she uses none, they also don’t eat any peppers, I will add some bell peppers and am thinking of stuffing a poblano pepper with the hash. Then had a campfire in fire ring. I made a s’more but since my Sister had a hot chocolate, she passed on s’more since “it would be too much chocolate”. I have news for her: there is NO such thing as too much chocolate.

BooFae’s post just asked what we were doing with our day on Monday so the foregoing is very detailed. Will synopize rest of week:

Tuesday-stopped at an Amish bakery and bought Black Raspberry turnovers and a medium rhubarb pie. Since I had no service in Lazy H Cabin (in middle of Amish/Mennonite area; nuff said), I prevailed on Sis to stop at a McDonalds so I could use their wifi. She asked ‘where do you think there’s going to be a McDonalds?’ We drove to Manchester, OH and on way there were 2 McDonalds so she reluctantly stopped at one for me. Checked in with daughter and Hubs; they were on way to palliative care appointment; they scheduled Hubs for a cortisone shot next week. We hiked Blue-eyed Mary Trail, Ohio River Bluffs Trail and Ginger Ridge Trail; saw over a dozen different varieties of wildflowers, the star of which were the Blue-eyed Marys. Sis made homemade mac & cheese with chicken bits, then another campfire, we both made s’mores.

Wednesday-Hiked a short distance on the Prothonotary Trail then hiked the Maude’s Cedar Narrows Trail. Lunch in picnic area in Rocky Fork State Park. Then hiked God’s Country Trail (this was the absolute most disappointing trail as most of it is just around a huge freaking field) and the Eagle’s Aerie Trail. Was thinking about hiking in the Miller State Nature Preserve and drove there, being careful to give the horse & buggy wide berth, but decided to wait to hike there on Thursday when we were fresh. On way back to Lazy H cabins, I asked Sis if we could go to the beach at Paint Creek State Park. She consented and so I got to do my most favorite thing to do on vacations which is to walk along the shore right where the water laps on the sand and covers feet up to ankles; it was heavenly. Went into Bainbridge for dinner; each of us ordered a pork chop but Sis asked that the lemon pepper not be put on hers. Back to cabin and I made the campfire this night. She thought I would barely be successful but was surprised when mine went up spectacularly. I use the cardboard toilet paper holders with either twisted 8-1/2" x 11" paper or twisted brown paper bags inside as the starter then of course, the traditional tinder, kindling, fuel. S’mores were made and enjoyed.

Thursday-Packed everything into the car. The Lazy H Cabins owner came by; he mentioned that a construction crew had rented most of the cabins (there are about 22) subsequent to when we and some others had rented them so he had to kick them out of some of the cabins that had been rented for the Wildflower Pilgrimage so they had to double, triple, quadruple into 4 cabins instead of the 10 that they had rented. We had wondered about all the good ole boys that would leave at 6:15ish each morning and return after 5 or so each evening. We drove to the Miller State Nature Preserve where we hiked the Falls Trail, the Tuliptree Trail and the Arch Trail. The Falls Trail was the best wildflower sightseeing of the week; the wildflowers were glorious as was the weather. Actually the weather was phenomenal all week, temps in the ‘60’s, low 70’s with the bluest skies, nary a cloud to be seen. Since we were basically in the middle of nowhere with no light pollution, we enjoyed seeing the most stars ever each night. Drove back home with a stop at the Dayton Cracker Barrel (my Sis’ fav). So good to see Hubs; he was able to obtain a Handicapped Hangtag from Sec of State although he ended up being there for about an hour and a half; not the most efficient operation.

Friday-irked and Krogering.

Saturday-caught up on some dvr’d shows, worked out at Fitness Center.

Today-mass, made country breakfast for us, very little doping, need to prepare 1040! and make Turkey Hash for dinner.

Have only had time to read post 1 so Yays :clap: Hugs :hugs: Boos, Noogies, etc to all! Take care :slight_smile:

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Okay, who the hell is jinxing all the Mumper batteries lately?

… oh, god, I’m next, aren’t I?

You rebel, you.

Sounds like the plot of a good porn flick!

It’s quite soggy here in western Mitten State, so taking out the trash - including Monkey’s, ah, deposits - and rolling the bin to the curb may prove to be damp endeavors.

Speaking of damp, I did a load of laundry and, while I did move it to the dryer rather promptly, I haven’t gone back to check if the dryer needs to be re-run. Don’t want my favorite hoodie getting mildewy.

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Breaking my resolution not to whine about health stuff. I have what may or may not be an urgent eye situation: millions of teeny floaters showed up suddenly last night, plus moderate eye pain and sensitivity to light. My vision is OK otherwise. I have glaucoma and have been warned that the sudden appearance of many new floaters can indicate a torn retina or an imminent torn retina or something.

After debating with myself at length this morning, I called the eye clinic and pressed 1 for the emergency on-call doc. All it did was loop back to the general clinic greeting. I have an eye appointment tomorrow afternoon, but it’s with an optometrist for a contact lens fitting. Trying to figure out what to do…

I’m typing this with my right eye closed, so please forgive any errors.

FCM, I love the photo of Roxy. Rainbow clothes! And that pose! Tobias looks like he’s having a good time, too. I hope your cold clears up soon. Oh, and my mom was 4’9, so we each outgrew her by age 9, and we’re not giants. She maintained her authority, though. The secret is to yell louder. :slight_smile:

Doggio, I have a feeling “Beaker” might be the permanent name of the new cat. I wish Darcie were arriving before Thursday. That’s too long to wait!

Taters, yay for getting the mower fixed! I admire your repair skills.

Sari, your son is such a compassionate guy that I know he must recognize how hard the late pick-ups are on you, so his reluctance to get his license must be serious and deep to outweigh that. I wish I had suggestions. Scritches to Ripple because at least he’s still here to BE a PITA.

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I finally got through to the message center for urgent eye stuff. Someone is supposed to call me back within 30 minutes.

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Well, I thought I’d defecate, and then get out for my walk before it started raining. So I defecated. Then I fixed the plug in the bathroom sink. Then I got into my workout clothes and shoes. And it’s raining. :frowning:

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Home, exhausted, but I’ve showered so I don’t stink. :wink:

I’ll finish waxing the port side of the boat tomorrow. FCD just ran out of steam, and frankly, I was pretty pooped, too. Plus, thanks to the ladder, I have a bruise on my right thigh and a cut on my left shin. No clue when I cut it - FCD noticed it was bleeding and I saw blood on the ladder. That happens so often - I’m doing something and I get hurt but I don’t notice it because of whatever I’m doing. I swear, if someone didn’t know us better, they’d think FCD was beating me up. Nope, I’m just a tad clutzy.

We went to Five Guys for lunch - honestly, I don’t get the appeal of the place. Their burgers are just OK, IMHO. The fries are good, tho overpriced, again IMHO. But it was food and I didn’t have to prepare it or clean up.

Not sure what the rest of today will hold. Much chillage, methinks.

Tomorrow morning, SIL has a Dr appt at 7:10 and he asked me if I’d watch the kids while he goes. With luck, he’ll be back in time to take Roxy to school - he’s just expecting to get a referral for a MRI or CAT scan or something. But I can drop her off if I have to. Anyway, when I’m done with that, it’ll be on to the marina to finish wax on/wax off.

Finish - HAH! The hull will be finished, but the cabin and flybridge and the inside of the rail will need to be done. However, all that can be done while we’re in the water. And we can do it bit by bit - there won’t be the time crunch we’re facing right now.

OK, I need a beverage and my recliner beckons…