There is one gas station I know of that has a call button on one of their pumps for folks who need assistance. Given that the convenience store is often understaffed I don’t know how long you might have to wait for help, but at least they try.
Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave. It’s currently 49 degrees Ferret height, and it’s supposed to be 80 for the high. Gotta love 31 degree temp swings.
Spot still does his “6 week old abandoned kitten” mew when he wants something.
Monkey does an escalating “mew. Mew! MEW!!” for ex. when I move in any way near the vicinity of the gooshy-fud, and then when he realizes he’s not getting his way, followed by a petulant, quiet, “Hmph-mew.”
Imagine the sound of the reply of a seven-year-old being told that no, they can’t watch that highly inappropriate movie, and bundle it into ten pounds of furry entitlement whose whining isn’t getting him what he wants (“no, those curtains aren’t for skritches! And I just gave you gooshy-fud!”)
Morning, mumpers! It’s currently 15c/59f with a predicted high of 16c/61f and cloudy. Weather app says “Just think, it could be fucking hot and humid as fuck outside. Be grateful that it’s fucking not.” OK, I’m definitely grateful for that. It’s cloudy and overcast but also pleasantly cool.
Almost! It’s the equivalent of checking and cleaning the litter trays, refreshing the water bowls, filling up the wet and dry food bowls, making sure Shadow gets his meds and making sure Cherry doesn’t demolish two bowls of food so Blossom doesn’t get any.
You what?
You are a good person!
I am glad you found someone who listened properly and explained stuff as well. I’m sorry you didn’t get any useful answers though, and wish you luck with whatever comes next.
WetOne big hugs to you and Ursala Kitteh
One of the first things we tell new starters here is that if you want to leave the office for any reason (bio break, off to get lunch, go to the campus shops etc), don’t do it at 50 minutes past the hour. That’s when classes officially finish and every route is full of students coming out of one class and going to the next!
Wordy congrats on the Very Long Walk!
The Travel Gods were somewhat more favourable yesterday evening, I left the office a bit earlier than usual because the last couple of Thursdays have seen some congestion trouble at the station which meant the Jobsworths closed the platform completely instead of insisting people used the entire length of the platform instead of congregating outside the booking concourse area. So I caught the train I needed from campus (it was late, as usual), and made the connection in the Big City Station, and caught the bus that connects nicely.
Got home and did everything I needed to do, made dinner, washed dishes and then we went out to see a couple of bands in the Giff. It was almost empty downstairs, and there weren’t that many people upstairs either. Walked in and got a massive hug from the main band’s guitarist, had a chat with him and the drummer, and later with the rest of the guys. Lots of singing and dancing about, lots of fun, and I was still home and in bed by midnight. I did drive to the pub, it’s kind of wasteful because it’s only a 5-minute drive from home but it ensured we got there and back quickly and also meant I wasn’t tempted to have a beer. I drive, or I drink. Never mix the two.
While I was waiting downstairs for 'im indoors to come back from the terlit, I had a natter with one of the promoters who is booking stuff for next year. He told me he’s waiting to confirm dates with an artist he knows we like, and said it would be April so I’ll look out for that. Also chatted to the guy who organises the annual Mayor’s Fest (3-day music festival at two locations) and in the course of conversation, I said I hadn’t booked the discounted early bird tickets because I had thought it would take place over easter again and we are often on holiday then. He said it was not going to be easter next year so I said I’d check their farcebook page and book our tickets. He messaged me this morning and said he’s “found” two spare early bird tickets and set them aside for me 
What a sweetie!
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 56 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 87 and N.O.S. Today I will get laptop seen about. Really. I will, even though it means bein’ amongst the great unwashed. I will also go to Cook Out and grab us some stoner food whilst out and about. Then the rest of the day will be spent in RDOS inactivities.
MOOOOOOM glad you found your ring and a recipe for garlic butter that is acceptable.
JtC glad y’all had fun leaf peepin’ and yay for early vote. Looks like a bunch of us Mumpers do that in some form or other.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, alas and bother, I suppose I should purtify and don attire acceptable for bein’ amongst the great unwashed. Oh woe!
Happy Firday Y’all!
Woman, you’re a piece of work! I love that about you… 
I had the choice of 7-10 days, or expedited for a charge of $25, so I paid. This is for the credit union in FL. Otherwise, I could have just gone to the branch in Leonardtown. And the reason we use the FL VISA is their cash-back deal. The local credit union doesn’t offer that. Since we use the card for everything, it’s usually a significant amount of cash back.
Ziva pulled a new one last night - I came down the hall this morning to find a pile of cat poop at the entrance to the living room. WTF??? I know her box was clean. Was this revenge for not brushing her last night? Or, coupled with the pee, is this a sign that she’s losing it and the end is near? (She’s 16…) Like I need that on top of everything else.
I read that as “some people are coming late and leaving early, and management doesn’t have the balls to deal with them directly.” Am I close?
It was past midnight when I finally fell asleep - I think I was over-caffeinated from the big mug of tea I had in the afternoon. Or maybe all the biking got me spun up. Or life is just unfair. Then I woke a couple of times during the night before finally giving up around 7.
What time I did sleep was enough for a strange dream about the Rolling Stones coming to perform in my basement (not the one I actually have, but the one I had in the dream) and I was trying to help them set up the stage and seating. In the dream, there might have been enough space for an audience of 20-30. And I was the one telling them all what we had to do to get set up. And adding to the weirdness, I’m not much of a Stones fan.
I did get up and shower last night so when I got up this morning, I got dressed. I’ve fed my face and drugged and fed MIL, and reminded her twice that Jessica is coming today to help her shower. (Her memory rivals that of a goldfish.) My chores today include emptying the dishwasher, setting up the bed in the basement for the grands, cutting up a chickie tit for chickie nuggies, and who knows what other challenges will present themselves.
Oh yeah, then I have to meet Roxy at her bus at 4, then go pick up Tobias and bring them both here. I already told Daughter I want them out of here before noon tomorrow - SIL will pick them up. And before I head to the bus stop, I’ll swing by Food Lion for some grapes. Tobias lurves his grapes!
And that’s how my day starts. Happy Firday!!
Morning all. This will be relatively short, it’s November shopping day and I want to do it early before the crowds come. Once that is done and put away, it’s mowage day so I’ll get to that this morning too. Swimming is planned for the early afternoon and soccer practice for the U10’s this evening, so will be out and about for a good part of the day. 58F now head for 85F and no rain to be seen…another day the HVAC/heater gets to take off, I should be happy with my gas/electric bills next month.
FCM, hope you did get enough sleep; I managed 7 hours tonight with no bathroom trips. And {{ }} for Ziva…as if you don’t have enough on your plate.
Nellie, maybe they were Russian secret agents scoping our our elections…or visitors from another planet (ala Third Rock from the Sun). Hope you were able to find your lens solution and happy dreams tonight!
Shoe, they must have had some appetite or teenagers with their parents credit card…
It was Ham and Cheese sammiches with pretzels, so there! 
boo fae, it’s nice to know people in high places; kudos on scoring some early tickets.
If I want stoner food I just go to the freezer and pull out some White Castle cheeseburgers…not as good as in-store, but adequate.
And it time to put my old blue jeans on and head for the Kroger. Take care and I’ll try to keep up.
Lily, I am impressed with your reading. Very academic. Are you an art perfesoor?
It stormed around midnight. We haven’t had rain in at least 5 weeks. Officially a drought up here. Ursala Kitteh started pestering me around that time. Came into the bedroom meowing. I finally got up and went downstairs with her. I slept on the couch and she slept on the chair. Very weird. She’s not a lap cat or a bed cat or very affectionate. Guess she needed her mom last night.
Just figured out why Ziva pooped in the hall - a big plastic bag had fallen on the floor in front of her litter box and she couldn’t deal with it. Now to figure out if she peed somewhere…
That’s how I read The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire yearly. But I use the translation to double check myself because I’m trying to keep my Latin reading comprehension up.
Can you speak Japanese? I left the military with good conversational Japanese but was never able to wrap my mind around reading. I’m fairly sure that the main reason is that I don’t really read English, I just recognize the words by shape. That works fine with only 26 distinct characters, not so much with Kanji and it’s thousands of characters.
I remember the rest, but I would be flailing around so much that the lifeguard would be constantly dragging me out of the water. Beating the water into submission sounds so much like my swimming style, LOL!!!
Oh yeah, I’m sure I’d have water coming out of my eyes as well!
AKA The Best Cat in the World
Blushes. Thank you, but if I really was that good, I’d be volunteering to be a poll worker. I’ve gotten over the PTSD caused by being the “government authority” at the polling places in AZ, but I’m not able to do 12-14 hour days anymore.
I don’t know but I’m guessing poverty. They are a traditional recipe that his grandmother used to make. I was never a fan, too sweet and I don’t like peanut butter but its fun to be able to bring one home for Hubs once in a while.
You is so smart! I never thought about it that way, but yes, they do indeed get a variety of plants in our yard.
I do not think you are kidding and am not convinced that you are wrong, but now I’m wondering about the kid 
Awesome! It’s great to have friends in high places, I hope you have a great time.
If you are going to booby trap her box, you gotta expect some fallout!
Good morning.
It’s 40F, dark and cloudy. The clouds will remain throughout the early morning, followed by partial clearing and a high temperature of 63F.
BooFae, yay for knowing the right people to receive reasonable ticket prices
Nellie, you crack me up. Maybe the new tenants were new to living together and decided that wouldn’t work. You mentioned arguments.
FCM, aw poor Ziva. Polar had a couple of accidents toward the end. I knew he was mortified but understood he had gone through a period of confusion when it happened.
Well, that projected hour-long meeting turned into a 2.5-hour meeting. The Lessor doesn’t want to move some stuff that we had asked him to move for the remodel and countered with a different plan. One of the agencies objected to cubicle locations, so we devised two different floor plans. I am unhappy because I was pleased with the location of my agency staff in the original plan we sent forward, and now that has been changed. We came up with two options, and I sent them both to my SD and DSD, recommending Option 1. I need to get our choice back to the Leasing group by Tuesday so they can submit it to the Lessor. The Lessor is trying to cheap out on us and we’re digging in our heels on some things, too. I think this going to be a longer process than we anticipated. Things would have been much, much better if we had gotten one of the other locations in the initial market survey. It was a clean slate and was perfect. I don’t know why we didn’t get it.
At any rate, after the meeting, I was annoyed because my work phone kept blowing up with urgent messages from staff that I had to address, along with messages from people trying to reach my SD and DSD, who had forwarded all inquiries to me. 
I didn’t get to the grass, so I need to do it today because rain moves in tomorrow. Day off indeed…
I slept poorly last night and was obviously in the wrong position because the whole side of my neck is currently stiff and sore. Hopefully, that’ll go away by the time I need to cut the grass.
I understood wordy’s post about “importance of purposeful presence” to mean that they are enforcing RTO. This is the new lingo to try and make it look nice, but really, all it is is a bunch of executives who themselves aren’t returning to the office and still believe that if they don’t see folks at the desk, they’re not working. They are probably also paying a lot of money for office space leases.
Well, I should run the dishwasher.
Seven ayem, and it’s still dark out. I’m finally able to sleep past 05:30 or six… on the last day of vacation.
Nah, I was a perfesoor of sumat else, but my bachelor’s is in Linguistics, and I have good intuition about the structures of languages. JtC, I admire and ought to emulate you! My language knowledge evaporates pretty quickly when not in use, and my Latin, Greek, Russian, and ASL are mostly gone. Since I walk in Spain most years these days, my Spanish is fresher, though the sentence that works best to explain my relative command of it is “Yo hablo Español como un perro” (I speak Spanish like a dog).
What I am is a writer, and unencumbered by a day job, I have returned to this full force. I have time to pursue ideas and find interesting information and images to include in my work. I have two “Japan” pieces underway at the moment, which is a deeply satisfying way to use my RDOS freedom.
Dried parsley actually does have a concentrated, or at least more so than fresh, herby thing going on that compliments the depth of the roasted garlic.
The variety that you can put into the Stoner supper ™ fer cheap totally fits the bill.
Up, caffeinating, breakfasted, bed stripped / remade, a load of towels / sheets done, jeans in the dryer, clothes in the wash and fixing to finish cleaning the place, once a small, reddish dog has completed his nap whilst in my arms.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
MIL is clean and napping again. Laundry is sorted and the first load is sloshing. Three or four more to go. Dishwasher is empty.
I have a reminder set for fetching the kids. Back to crocheting.
I have two wedding rings because my original ring did not fit so we got a matching second pair. Then, for some reason the second one is too big some days and other days it fits just fine. I just wear whichever one seems to fit the best on any given day.
I was wondering as well.
I’ve been trying to work on AI stuff this morning. Some of the projects that I get I can only handle for so long. So now I’m going to take a break and go eat some leftovers for lunch and maybe make some holy peas.
You are spot on. And this is why we can’t have nice things.
I hope you get some sleep, FCM.
Sticks and scones, you should absolutely do it! It was really the most enjoyable half marathon I’ve ever done. I used to run a lot, and I still do for efficiency’s sake, but I enjoy walking so much more. It’s every bit as effective as running, more accessible and it’s nice not to feel like I’m constantly sucking air.
The weekend is going to be busy - another volleyball tryout shoehorned in between bat mitzvah activities tomorrow (I always forget they’re like a really long wedding - in this case, it’s a 4-hour thing in the morning and another 4-hour reception at night), then Sunday is yet another volleyball tryout. I had no idea that volleyball leagues were so very competitive here. There are over 100 girls trying out for 2-3 spots. Overlygirl will have a big run for her money.
It being Friday, and with the lower volume, it was a short-ish day. Of course with Blueberries doing most of the loading..well let’s just say the quality was “An attempt was made.”
Could you imagine Ward singing the there from Cops?
Bad Beaver, Bad Beaver
Whatcha gonna do
Whatcha gonna do when the come for you…
If they start taking staplers, someone gonna burn the place down.
To be fair, if the observable Universe is 15 feet across, and food falls from the sky like manna, there’s no real need to evolve more than 3 neurons. Or use more than 3.
So you’re choosing the Lessor of two evils?
Third load in the washer and 2 more to go. The bed is ready for the grands - it’s a queen size, so plenty of room. MIL is still sleeping and FCD is working on the boat modification design in his office.
While I was downstairs, I dug thru MIL’s boxes - mostly kitchen stuff but also some knick-knacks. I have no emotional attachments, so I’d haul them to the thrift store today. But after she’s gone, I’ll leave the decision to FCD. They’re not really in the way.
And back to the blanket…
I regularly get the AARP webletter which I generally ignore.
The lead article today caught my eye: 8 Bad Signs of Liver Damage
I wasn’t aware there were good signs.