(Old, thankfully.) Just call it pee-pee ‘cause it’s all your’n MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
101

Must have been time for your contrail poisoning! :wink:

As for visiting Mrs. Adams, is that from the same folks who say that Aunt Flo is visiting?? Euphemisms can be entertaining or downright weird…

Happy Buttery Nellie Day!!! :champagne: :birthday: :ice_cream: :gift:

That’s a 2-fer! :rofl:

It’s a cool mid-50s to start the day. I got all my laundry done yesterday, so no plans - I should take the boy to a playground for sure. Unless I change my mind - we shall see.

The former Helen, Md, post office is about a quarter mile away from us. It was a ratty old building on an “Island” formed by 3 roads - it’s the building at the top of the triangle. The post office closed down a decade or so ago and except for one season as a farm stand, it’s been empty.

It was sold in 2010 for $50K, then in Dec 2021 for $113,500, and finally in Mar 2022 for $75,000. (great investment there in 2021…) The buyer put a metric butt-ton of money into it - new roof, new siding, new windows, new HVAC, new well and septic, new parking lots front and back - we figure the only reason they rehabbed the old structure must have had to do with permitting - who would invest so much in such an old wooden building?? But I digress.

Being nosy, we looked in the shiny new front door one day and saw two hair-washing sinks, so we figured it was going to be a salon or day spa or something, even tho it’s a pretty small place - just over 1000 sq ft. And last week, that was pretty much confirmed - signage proclaims it’s The Babe Cave. It’s either part of a small, regional chain, or they stole the name from that chain, which is for luxury salons…

Now, I have never gone to any sort of fancy salon - Hair Cuttery and its ilk suit my needs just fine. And I don’t particularly care that some people like all the fancy services available at luxury spa/salon businesses. But honestly, I don’t know why someone would open a luxury salon here in the middle of nowhere. Granted, MD5 is the main drag thru the county, but the salon is between Mechanicsville and Leonardtown, pretty much a drive-past area. Apart from housing, there’s a day care, a church, and a local bar/grill/dive surrounding this new business. One wonders about their market research. Was it done by the same folks who converted an old tavern to a Hookah Bar that closed in less than 2 years? (Hookah Bar in the thick of Amish country??)

The whole point of this essay is The Babe Cave? Really? Does that strike anyone else as cheesily sexist? No, I will not patronize it. Oh, and it’s within visual range of Studio 5 - maybe Helen, MD, is the hair capitol of St. Mary’s county??

OK, enough of that silliness. Onward. Happy Wednesday!!

102

I remember being very pleased to find a 35 pound box of unsalted peanuts at Winco in Portland for a decent price compared to the 5 pound bags I was buying at the local Ace Hardware. The critters were happy over the winter, too. I miss the scrub jays flying in as soon as I walked out onto the deck each morning.

103

Morning all. Re-looked at my budget now that all the car rentals and repairs are done and it actually is just about where I thought it would be, so hopefully the last three months of the year (exactly where did 2023 go to, anyway?) will not provide anymore surprises. Still have Xmas and a couple of other things to get through, but I try to plan my budget on a 3-month plan so all is (hopefully) well. Will head back over to the gym and re-start the swimming and sauna cycle and maybe do a little housework while I’m at it.

Sari, yeah, I get that Big Book from Medicare too…I am sure it has lots of useful information, but having the patience to read it…not so much.

A most happy birthday to Nellie and Butters!

I’ve seen those…and been tempted.

Thanks, you two, for an early morning grin on my face…

shoe, conga-rats on your dexterity with the pizzas.

boo fae, Cupcakes, if I haven’t said it recently, you both are very good people.

swampy, thanks for the reminder, may wander down to the Kroger later today and see if I can double-up on the COVID and flu shots.

OK, onward into the day. A happy Hump Day to you all.

104

We’re getting de-Covided next Firday… or did I mention it already?

Tobias and I are having basement time till it warms a tad, then off to a new playground. In a perfect world, he’ll get tired out enough to nap. Haha I made a funny.

105

Thunderstorms woke me at 4:30. I was awake before due to Ursala Kitteh jumping on the bed, staying for a bit, then leaving. Lather, rinse, repeat 6 times. At one point my head was sharing the pillow with her tail. Today is garbage recycle day and of course the recycle dude left my bin’s lid up so it can get wet inside. Grrr.

106

107

Happy Birthday, Nellie and Butters!

108

Good morning.

It is 52F and rainy. The expected high is 65F and the rain should end some time this morning.

Happy Birthday, nellie!

Happy Birthday, butters!

I was down in Oly town by 4:45 a.m and had to wait 15 minutes for Haggen to open. Got my yogurt and banana, along with cookies from the bakery as treats for the staff.

Have already dealt with four different issues and it only 7:30. I need to write up my accomplishments for the year today. I hate writing those things.

shoe, I am sorry about your cousin.

Wow, six emails have rolled in while composing this. Gotta go!

109

So no Panamanian Vince again today, so Shaggy was helping dump bags. Oy.
Also, ALDIHASCHOCLATECOVEREDESPRESSOBEANSBACKINSTOCK!!!1ONE!

:partying_face: :birthday: :champagne: HAPPY BIRTHDAY butters!!! :champagne: :birthday::partying_face:

I need to do that, but the CVS appointment page was being a butthead last night.

“I made it to September 20th, without killing anyone, or hitting them with a folding chair. Go me!” - Taters

110

Back from the playground. There was another grandmother there with 2 little boys - one a little older than Tobias and one younger. They didn’t interact much, but Tobias had fun. Dunno if it will lead to a nap, tho.

doggio, I like your self-eval!

Allrighty, then…

111

Can’t top that, so I’ll just reiterate: Happy Buttery Nellie day.

@Johnny_L.A : That trips me up nearly every time too. Despite knowing it’s coming.
@dogbutler: Great comeback.

Hoo-oo-ray for Shoe’s ongoing new skills at irk!! As the show Dirty Jobs proved with each episode, there’s a LOT of skill and even more dedication needed to do even sorta humble occupations to a competent level and professional speed. Folks don’t get nearly enough credit, or wages, for the good they do every day.

I understand the idea of dead dough, which might not rise well. If somebody does mistakenly make a full-up pizza with dead dough, how does it come out? Like a giant hockey puck, or more like a giant lavosh cracker? That thin crispy brittle crust is a recognized pizza style and it might be a fun experiment to roll some dead dough extra thin and assemble a pizza from that for staff consumption. In the name of Science! of course. :grin:


As to me, this Day 8 of retirement is utmost slothtastic.

We had an incredible lightning show last night from about 7 to 10 pm. Just sitting offshore a couple miles away electrocuting fishies right, left, and center. Whole lotta rumblin’ goin’ on! Totally great evening entertainment. Poor fishies!

Went to bed a bit later than desired, then awoke pre-dawn & unaccountably lazy, so rolled over. At 9:30am (!!11!!1!) I re-awoke. That’s 4 hours after the first awakening and almost 11 hours after I crawled in bed. I’d had just one margarita w dinner out and slept well after an easy day. I’m not ill in any way. Color me surprised but pleased. Even Her Ladyship was up, sheveled, and dressed when I awoke. Other than when I’ve been ill or had gotten home from irk after 2am, she’s been up before me maybe twice in our 2 years together.

Now just pre-noon I’m still chairbound in my cozy PJs and slowly powering through my morning pot of coffee which has long since timed out and cooled. I have some admin I could do to salvage a productive day of this, or perhaps I’ll aim the other way and go sleep on the beach for an hour or two. Her Ladyship has a social event this evening with some of the Ladies Who Lunch, so I’ll be solo. Trying to decide which sort of wretched excess I want in her absence, including perhaps an excess of non-excessiveness.

112

I’m a little worried. We have an elderly neighbour who has an elderly yellow lab. Mrs. L.A. saw her walking by this morning, and the dog wasn’t with her. She said she wasn’t with her yesterday either. ‘Sandy’ loved going to the beach. She’s seemed winded climbing up the steep hill, and it looked like her joints were bothering her. I hope she’s OK, and just sticking closer to home.

113

Happy retirement, pilot! :smiley:

And happy birthdays, nellie and butters!! :birthday:

And HELLO, everyone else! I only missed 1.5 weeks here, but I’ve felt so isolated from y’all. Being out of town for a few days – including missing two days of work – took longer to catch up on than I imagined it would, plus my volunteer stuff spun up a little this week. But work is quiet this afternoon (:crossed_fingers:!) and I’m finally able to catch up! I skipped the end of the previous week’s thread and all of last week’s, but I’ve scrolled through/mostly read this week’s.

The NJ family wedding (on 9/10) was great, and the trip was a success. Decent traffic both days, and I was able to visit my mom’s best friend on the way up (she lives an hour south of my cousins). For this trip I tried Airbnb for the first time, and the place was great: comparable price with the two nearby inns, but larger/nicer space (and I don’t care for either of the inns). Plus underground parking, which came in quite handy as it rained off and on the entire time. Except for the balcony party the neighbors had the first night – which didn’t end until after 2am – it was a good stay. I’ll probably try to get the same place again next time.

I was supposed to have lunch with my dad (near Baltimore) on the way home, but the weekend’s horrible (though yummy) food choices and late nights and generally weird schedule resulted in not feeling great that day. So, instead, he came down here this past Saturday: he went with me to a nearby mall to return my Verizon cable card, then we had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. He’d never been to one before, and he can be kind of a pain in the ass about restaurants so I wasn’t sure how it would go, but he liked it! There’s also one just a couple miles from my house, so I made a note that it’s now an option for whenever he’s here.

Saturday night I went to two live jazz events in DC! The first show ended at 8:30pm: afterwards I hung out with some friends and chatted a little with the musicians (I’ve known all of them for ~15 years), and I got to the next place at 10pm and caught the last hour of music there. I took Metro, because each venue was a block from a station (and across town from each other). I’d planned to Uber back to the station where I parked, because trains run less frequently late at night and getting home can take forever, but a friend wound up giving me a ride. I don’t know what made me think that two events in one night was a good idea…it was fun, but I was beat by the time I got home. :slight_smile:

I finished re-watching White Collar, and recently started re-watching The Wire (for the 3rd or 4th time). Tonight, though, will be one of the rare Yankees games available on Amazon Prime Video: I plan to watch, but it’s a home game for the Yanks so there’s always a chance that there will be some Byzantine blackout restriction related to the YES network…

Tomorrow I turn 52, and tomorrow night I’ll be going out for more jazz. :notes: A good friend has a show at one of my favorite DC venues, and I’m looking forward to celebrating by going there and listening to her (and having chili, sweet potato tots, and cake!). A few mutual friends are also going; it will be good to see them. And who knows, my friend might even invite me to sing a tune or two during the last set (I was a guest singer at one of her shows last summer). It’s a long-ish Metro ride to the venue – Capitol Hill is on the other side of the city – but I’m leaning toward taking the train again: the weather’s supposed to be great, so it could be nice to walk a little in DC.

Friday night I have no plans (which is fine with me!), but at lunchtime I’ll go pick up some dry cleaning and I’ve decided to treat myself to an overstuffed chicken salad sandwich from place near the cleaners: I used to DoorDash this sandwich a lot during the pandemic, but I haven’t had it since my surgery. It’s time. :grin:

On Saturday I have my volunteer organization’s big annual fundraiser: this year it’s a luncheon, held at a local Marriott, and I’ll be staffing a membership table in the antechamber before and after the event (and wearing the dress that I’ll be picking up on Friday). I’ll leave the house NLT 9:30am, and probably won’t get home until 3pm-ish. I have very tenative plans to check out a new-to-me band (not jazz!) at a local spot that night, but I have a feeling that the desire to stay home with my doggy, watch The Wire, and eat popcorn will be pretty strong.

Sunday’s plans include – of all things – more jazz! :smiley: Two other friends have a brunch show. It’s been a while since I’ve heard one of them; I like to support both of them when I can.

That’s what my maternal grandmother would say…and always in a singsong kind of voice. She’s the only one in the family who ever called it that. :slight_smile:

Polyglot!

Ugh! I’m sorry about your cousin, and I’m also sorry for her son; I can’t imagine if my mother had died on my birthday. :frowning:

Welcome! :smiley:

'tis true of much in life…

Woo hoo!! :tada:

I hope so, as well.

The folks at my doggy daycare were a little concerned earlier this year when they hadn’t seen Bailey for a while, but I assured them I simply wasn’t taking her there as often now that she’s a grumpy old lady with arthritis.

114

My late first wife died a few days before her mother’s 96th birthday. Late wife was in poor and ever-declining shape, but the timing of her death was a still a complete surprise even up to 48 hours prior when her wheels simply fell off and she quickly spun in. The extended family was already coming to town next week for Mom’s birthday.

So we held Mom’s daughter’s funeral on one day, and Mom’s (very muted) birthday celebration the next day. That turned out to be Mom’s final birthday as well, but nobody was expecting that at the time either.

There’s no good date to die, but plenty of bad ones.

115

Must’ve been a helluva rollercoaster for all involved…ugh.

The uncle who died in June passed the day before his granddaughter’s birthday. The only thing worse for my cousin than losing her dad would have been losing him on her daughter’s birthday.

116

The Birthday problem - Wikipedia AKA “birthday paradox” says that in any random group of 25-30-ish people, two of them will share the same birthday, though not necessarily born in the same year. It’s just basic math, but somewhat surprising math to a lot of people.

Between parents, siblings, kids, and spouses and anniversaries and birthdays and other major life milestones that’ll often add up to 20 or more semi-significant dates in your personal year. Plus the 3 to 15 big to small holidays in each year.

So odds are that by the time you’re middle-aged or later, there’s some combo of two events that are on the same date. Maybe they’re both happy, but even having the happy event of a kid’s birth being on the happy holiday of Christmas is a mixed blessing.

Once you start counting near-the-same-date events, as in my late wife & her Mom’s situation, it’s a virtual certainty that everyone will have a happy or sad or poignant date coincidence in their personal calendar. Except maybe a never-married only child with no extended family.

117

Howdy Y’all! We got shot and procured provisions along with fried chikin N.O.L.s. We stowed provisions, et the FCN.O.L.s and then achieved nappage. We were worn out after such a busy time, plus fried chikin will make one do that. I was pleasantly surprised and amazed with the ease in which we got stabbed at CVS. I made the appointments at eight a.m. for ten-thirty a.m. We got there at ten-twenty, did the online check in thingy on our phones, went right in and promptly got to sit down and get shot. In and out of there in five minutes! Go CVS!

Oopsie sounds like quite a jazzy time as of late!

118

Afternoon all. Swimming and sauna are complete, and despite missing a couple days at the gym, their scale says I’m back down below 245lbs, so that is good news (next time I weigh there, the lying ^&%&^^ will probably say 248…). Stopped at Kroger as 2-liter Pepsi was on sale for 0.99, but needed a digital coupon and had forgot to load it on my card, so better luck tomorrow. Not much else on the agenda, really do need to Hoover the place, for some reason this easiest of household jobs is the one that I seem most reluctant to do…why, I don’t know. Another beautiful day in the mid 80’sF and not a drop of rain in sight.

wet one, it’s about 70-30 here on closed vs. open lids after collection. Only have to clear out the water 1-2 times a year.

Taters, good luck on that achievement list. I guess putting down “did all the jobs the morons above me couldn’t do” would be counter-productive…

FCM, did Toby get his nappage…the world wonders… :wink: :wink: :smiley:

Pilot, I’m usually up around 6:30-7:00am, even if I was real active the day before, but now and then I find myself waking up around 9am…guess your body knows when to turn off the snooze alarm.

flyboy,

Just to be clear, you mean the neighbor or the dog? (I just funnin’ ya, hope the old Lab is OK).

Welcome back Oopsie!!! Glad the wedding, travel, jazz and Dad-time were all good, and an early Happy Birthday.

Truth.

swampy, got my last shots at Kroger Pharmacy, may have to look at their webpage. May wait until Thursday, have never had a reaction to shots but would like to have a day between them and having to coach soccer on Saturday, just in case.

OK, nearly time for Pardon the Interruption and I have 10 you Tube videos lined up, so that should keep me entertained until dinner time. Take care all.

119

He slept about 15 minutes on the way from my house to his so he’s gonna be crabby-pants for his mom.

Supper has been ingested. Evening chillage is underway. Life is good.

120

FCM I’m crabby pants about needing the heat on in the house and still having to mow the lawn.

Elsewise I’m, shedding sawdust from my eyebrows. The dado stack kicks up much dust.