Also, from today’s Facebook memories:
I got a BSOD and the truck driver may have been deported. Is it Beer O’clock yet?
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’ YAWN ‘Tis 59 Amurrkin out and cloudy with a predicted high of 76 and rainy this Mornin’ and N.O.S. the rest of the day. I have made the executive decision to deheathenate via livestream. OYKW may or may not go do the live thang. Just not in a leave da cave mood. We shall N.O.L. on leftovers from yestiddy.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then onward into the day! Rah.
Happy Sunday Y’all!
Morning all. It was “Rat Choice” for eating out on Sunday today, so instead of going downtown for hot, fresh Krispy Kreme, I went to Dunkin’ Donuts about 2 miles away for my sugar and dough fix. Should have made the long commute, the donuts were cold and even after being warmed up didn’t have the melt in your mouth quality that KK has. Ah well, live and learn (didn’t stop me from eating all the donuts quickly).
Clear and getting to a tenth of the Beast (66F) today, so may essay a trip outside later. One nice thing about the exercise I’ve been doing for the past 15 months at the gym is that I can referee 2-3 soccer games on Saturday and still get up Sunday feeling like doing more; used to be that it would be a day of enforced sloth.
FCM, guess the boat is sick, just like some of our Mumpers this week. Hope it’s something small.
Thought about it, but I had the same thought as you, if it’s scattered around it’ll attract more birds and some may not be friendly to the family. Appears momma bird is doing OK, these are much more developed than the ones they lost last year.
hippy, great pic. And who’s not going to like it, the fox or the neighbor?
OK, need to wash dishes and be about the day. Might even do the Great May Shopping on the last day of April. We’ll see what develops.
Take care all.
Afternoon, mumpers! It’s currently 12c/53f with no predicted change today, and cloudy. Weather app is unimpressed and tells me that “It’s gloomier outside than a sad handjob, followed by a fucking sad trombone during the sad climax.” Yes, it’s cloudy outside.
metalmouse yesterday’s musical shenanigans were fun, we went to a dementia charity gig first in a venue we hadn’t been to before, then headed back to our home town for Primordial 
That venue is an old factory/warehouse building that’s been converted into two music venues. One holds about 250 people and the main arena bit holds up to 3,000. It gets sectioned off in bits so depending on how many tickets they’ve sold, they open up an appropriately sized area. Last night’s show was completely sold out, the whole place was opened up and they were using both rooms too. It’s definitely the most packed I’ve ever seen it, but Those Damn Crows are a pretty big draw at the moment.
Cupcakes good for you wanting to help out with college fees. Can you either suggest it straight up, or make a financial gift as a graduation present?
Sensei well done on avoiding the wildlife!
Oopsie I hope Bailey continues to improve and realises that you are doing your best to get things better.
swampy deheathenising via livestream has to be the ultimate in slothage!
I have no plans for today, I ache from the gym yesterday and my feet are protesting at all the standing and walking we did yesterday. Thus I shall decamp to the sofa for the afternoon and see if Shadow wasn’t to join me for some lap snuggles. 'im indoors is making dinner tonight so I don’t even have to do that. The most I need to do is make cups of tea, and get myself something for N.O.L. I have a tub of leftover curry from Friday so I think that’s sorted!
Tomorrow is a public holiday so no work to look forward to either, and of course that means a short week too. Happy days!
Thank you. I knew I didn’t have quite the right terminology but was blanking on “needlepoint”. My late first wife was an avid knitter, so I was sure what you pictured wasn’t knitting. She’d tried needlepoint at one time, but it just wasn’t her bag.
It sort of makes 
sense that the craft with the non-pointy needles is called “needlepoint”.
From the later pix you’re making great progress. Hint: there are two ways to do any craft: the way that maximizes struggle and fatigue, and the easy way. Turning the work upside down so you don’t have to reach is the latter. Good on ya! Some folks seem to think struggle is the entire point. Not I.
Back in my more DIY-heavy days I used to say that most jobs were 1-1/4 person jobs. You need one skilled person laboring full time to do the work, and one slightly-skilled highly-cooperative highly-patient quarter-of-a-person interrupted regularly to hold stuff in place, fetch tools, help lift something, etc.
While my first wife was healthy we made a heck of a 1-1/4 person team. For some of her crafty activities I was the partial-person. For most DIYs, she was. Worked great. But doing most of my DIY jobs or your greenhouse pure solo was/is Just. Too. Hard. At least for the likes of struggle-avoidant me.
As to sari & DCA. It’s just big enough and parking is just enough of a hassle that you want to be very very sure of where and how you’re going to rendezvous with this courier. Also make darn sure your phone is well-charged and stays that way. Plenty of people take a long drive and arrive someplace with their phone almost out of juice just in time to need to make a voice phone call which eats the last 5% of their battery instantly and now they’re screwed while the other person calls and calls futilely.
Professionally speaking: don’t do that. 
I fully understand how the first part and the last part go together. I am baffled however about the two middle parts. The key to good sleep hygiene is that when you’re nodding off, trundle directly into bed stopping only to switch off lights directly along your path and shedding shoes along the way. All else is optional / unnecessary / unhelpful.
As to me …
Went to bed early, shortly after 9pm. Awoke shortly after 7am, so not quite 10h of sleep. Yaay me! That was refreshing. Now to do it again for a couple more nights. No irking overtime. Yet.
Coffee was created without incident, and I got out to the balcony about half-hour after dawn. Enjoying the coffee while the ocean sparkles prettily in the warm tropical air. It’s gustily breezy from the west, which is a reversal from the norm, and portends weather. Looking west I see that ominous translucence of air saturated with moisture but cloudless. So far.
Sho’ nuff’ the local weather folks are predicting nasty t-storms and even potential tornadoes later. Though an FL tornado is a mere overgrown dust devil compared to a genuine Midwest tornado. Think “able to overturn patio furniture” rather than “able to overturn locomotives”.
Now about an hour later the parade of occasional happy puffy clouds from the southwest has changed to almost solid clouds of ever-increasing dark grayness with higher layers visible in the ever-decreasing gaps. They’re not very high above the ground but they are moving at serious speed. Despite my high perch I can’t see rain itself, but the radar says it’s about an hour away, and comes equipped with lots of lightning.
So I’ll be retreating inside eventually. The advent of crap weather may portend overtime, but the kind that makes you earn it. We shall see.
I had intended to get the car washed today but that will probably wait until tomorrow. Otherwise I have the nagging feeling there’s something important I should have put on my shopping list but I can’t remember what it was. Just came to me and I wrote it down. Yaay me!
Good luck to all on this fine end-of-week day. {{Hugs}} to the afflicted and the folks nursing losses of whatever sort.
sari, yesterday was Nelson’s birthday.
JtC, I generally do embroidery or needlepoint upside down if it keeps me off an awkward work position. As far as the cookbook goes, the pages are in protective sleeves , so they can be used / wiped down with a dish rag. The book does contain pics of some of the family members who gave the recipe to Mom (she tended to title those as Mom’s egg noodles, Faye’s triple drop cookies, etc) and family stories. It’s as much heritage scrapbook as a useable cookbook.
baker, have you considered asking if he has had a 529 account set up for him that you could add to? I think that you are quite thoughtful in to contribute to a young family member’s continuing.a triditional family occupation.
Up, caffeinating, breakfasted and fixing to do KP. I’ll do the usual Sunday chores, mess around in the studio and fix stuffed Indian eggplant, Indian fried cabbage and a nice cucumber salad for Sunday dinner.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
Well, I did have the ladder, the two chairs, and a Coleman cooler.
The cherry blossems are out in force here in Hokkaido. They are all gone in Tokyo. Japan during cherry blossom season is so beautiful!
Yeah, they do. I really love them!
JtC I love needlepoint. I haven’t done it in years and there is no place to buy threads and canvas. Do you have an online supplier? (That kinda sounds illegal).
Yes. 529s. Lots of advantages, especially if there’s enough years from when you start it until the money is needed. Better to start it for an infant or toddler than a HS senior. But still at least a bit useful even in the latter case.
One of the big advantages to a 529 is the you can change the beneficiary to somebody else if life circumstances change. Or even use the money yourself if you end up with no beneficiaries. Using it yourself loses most of the tax advantages but it’s not like the money is stranded forever.
I’ve never had the need of one, but have read about them out of interest. There are some limitations on who can be the beneficiary; it’s got to be a relative of you somehow, for detailed legalese definitions of “somehow”. baker’s relative may or may not meet the criteria.
Good morning everyone.
It’s 50 degrees and cloudy outside; the expected high is 60. Sadly, the clouds are predicted to remain. It got downright toasty out there yesterday, but I got the grass cut and a lot of weeds pulled. I didn’t make it to the nursery; maybe today.
I’m sort of jealous of the greenhouse, but I don’t have room for one in my yard. I need a shed to store my mower and yard working tools, but I don’t have room for that either. I’m not fond of tiny yards and will never have another one. When we bought this house, we came from a place with a huge yard, and my husband was excited not to have so much to take care of. I would rather take care of the yard and have room for my tools and a real chance to design a yard to attract pollinators and birds. I do the best I can with the space I have and I’ve been successful, but I want more.
I hope the diesel leak didn’t cause a giant mess in the boat, FCM.
Not much on the agenda; laundry, possible trip to the nursery, maybe pulling some more weeds. I guess I better get the day started.
Belated happy birthday to Nelson! 
Thanks to all for the doggy wishes/virtual Bailey skritches! She’s on the mend – doing better with the back steps and getting on/off the bed and couch – but seems reluctant to chew anything yet (like kibble or her favorite Milk Bone treat), so she’s getting super spoiled with wet food this weekend because at this point I still want her to just eat something. No barking yet, but we’ve also had some bad weather: it rained all day Friday, and it’s raining now/will rain all day. There was even a little thunder this morning, but Bailey still went outside to pee like a good girl.
Yesterday I left her home alone for the first time since the surgery: I really needed to put gas in the car (I hadn’t filled up since the trip back from NJ and was down to just under 1/4 tank) and go to the grocery store. I got both errands done in less than an hour: I started the dishwasher right before I left, and it was still running when I got home! I was feeling quite lazy yesterday and nearly put off leaving the house, but then I remembered the forecast for today and made myself go. Now I’m really glad that I did.
Yesterday I also made tentative plans to go to a Yankees game at the end of August: the Nationals will be in NYC for a mid-week series, and the uncle who lives in the city and taught me about baseball (and is only 12 years older than me) is interested in going to the Thursday afternoon game. Of course I’d root for my Yankees, but it could be fun to see the Nats play them up there! He’s going to double-check his and my aunt’s calendars (and maybe my cousin’s, too) and then see about tickets. Could be a nice long weekend in the city for me.
Work this week will be on the busy side again – and Tues/Wed/Thurs I’ll be attending online NAACP Civil Rights Advocacy Training Institute sessions from 7-9pm – but I’m hoping to at least make an appearance in the next MMP. A week from today I’ll be having lunch with a friend, then meeting up with some fellow volunteers to give them some event-related stuff (tablecloths/signs/etc.); I’m looking forward to that. The following week will also be on the busy side, with in-person work meetings all day on the 10th (an all-hands for the entire program) and 11th (a managers-only session) plus a dinner on the 10th. I knew June was going to be busy – with volunteer events the first three Saturdays of the month, plus the democratic primary (I’m an election officer) – but suddenly May is looking kinda slammed, too! Eek!
Speaking of slammed, I have a bunch of work to do today (both volunteer and paid)…I guess it’s time to get to it…
My mom – and my brother and I – also used to live about 10 minutes away from BWI.
After two weeks of living with a violently antisocial Hobbit:
Me: “butt skritch?”
Spot: “Mew.”
Me: < makes skritching motion > “But you have to let me touch you.”
Spot: “Mew?”
Me: < makes skritching motion for five full minutes >
Spot “Mew? Mew mew mew…”
Spot: “Ahhhhhhhh…purrrrrrrrrrr…”
Of course he shed enough during skirtches to leave a black spot(N.O.S.) on the carpet. 
Time to rechristen her Exxon Valdiesel 
Hooray for successful skritching & touching!! I predict the socialization process will pick up speed quickly. But cats being cats, you’re most of the way there already.
When I was 14, I flew to visit my grandparents, and I had to connect in Chicago. Due to some snafus, not only was there a flight at the gate that I thought I was supposed to depart at, but they allowed me on the plane with a ticket for another destination. Fortunately I heard the announcement, “Welcome to flight blah blah blah to Baltimore” and managed to get off before I ended up on Baltimore.
Since then, my dad considers Baltimore to be my city of destiny. I’ve only been there once - when I had a connecting flight on my way home from PA. There were thunderstorms and everybody got rerouted. Fun times.
I am drooling over the 7 acres, though. I wouldn’t mind having a bit of land.
My critter sighting today was two donkeys, being led by two women on the walking path near the military campus (it’s not a base - it’s just a grouping of military buildings). There were also the typical cows and ducks. But this is normal. Oh, and a swan on her (I think it was a her) nest.
Standard KK plus 30 seconds in a microwave = pretty close to that “fresh off the belt” taste. Fresh Dunkin’ Donuts can’t match that.
Yesterday we met somebody from Ohio, who actually lives and works here. He was working (we were the customers), so didn’t really have a chance to chat, expect for the normal, “where are you from?”.
Yesterday I made pulled chicken on the grill, and today we had some from lunch. Major yum! I also made a pumpkin pie, which will disappear fast. Today we went for a walk and I’m currently stirring the tapioca frequently, as it cooks for 25 minutes.
We were almost witness to a distressing car/cat encounter, but the driver stopped, with a mighty squeal of brakes, just in time.
Need to go stir some more.
It was a small valve in the fuel system that got bumped while FCD was pulling wires - it led to diesel in the bilge which the bilge pump dutifully pumped overboard. DNR has been notified and we have no idea how much this is going to cost us. Dammit. Gotta contact our insurance company.
We’ve sucked most of the diesel out of the bilge - maybe around 15 gallons? We still need to empty the sump, but we have to dispose of what we’ve pumped out first. So we came home to have lunch and get the truck. We’ll head back to the boatyard, get the buckets of diesel and crud and take them to the convenience center. Then back to the boat to suck out the sump and fill the bilge with a solution of Simple Green and water to clean it.
And, of course, it’s raining, so we both got soaked.
So, how’s your day going?? 
And that’s how we work - I was the hand-and-fetch person today, as I am for most projects, except painting. FCD is not allowed to paint, so he fetches for me. Worst part of fetching today was having to climb up and down the ladder. I hate ladders, and wet ladders in the rain are even worse. Fortunately, there are lots of handholds and I didn’t have to rush.
Or a waterspout! We saw a couple on a trip to Key West some eons ago. I tad unnerving when you’re out on the water in a small boat with a small outboard…
OK, lunch has been inhaled and I’ve got a dry shirt on. Not going to change shoes - I don’t need multiple wet pairs. Shortly, we’ll head back to finish the job, tho it’s not what we’d hoped to do today. Dammit.
ETA: Oh, yeah, MIL called while we were at the boat to say Alexa gave her a notification that there was a coastal flooding warning for the area, and would it affect our boat?? Um, high water affecting a boat? Ya think? Seriously, tho, such warnings here are more about low-lying roads that are known to get swamped when we get a lot of rain. Our county has lots of creeks that drain from areas farther inland to the Bay, and when they’re inundated, some roads become impassable for a time. We can explain that to her, but next time she gets the warning, she’ll call us.
Here’s an example of a boat affected by high water 
:
When I lived in St. Louis and my then 70-something MIL lived in Tucson she’d routinely call us when the Weather Channel mentioned thunderstorms someplace in the central time zone. She was sure we were about to be swept away by “nearby” “storms”.
Then again, in the 1920s where / when she grew up, “storms” could be blizzards, or rain that washed away whole villages. All unforecasted of course, since reliable forecasting hadn’t been invented yet. And out in Nowheresville, New England, these “storms” were bigger than several states! Yikes!
Her calls were irritating, but sweetly irritating. Thanks Mom; we love you too.
G’… aftermornight? It’s almost 12:30 here, but I just got up not too long ago.
My fever broke yesterday, then came back last night with a vengeance. I’m feeling better, and it feels a different better than I did yesterday. We’ll see if I can keep the icks at bay.
Thank you, everyone, for the hugs and well wishes. I’ve been reading occasionally, but not retaining much beyond having several people tell me they hoped I’d feel better. I do remember seeing oopsie saying something about Bailey being on the mend, that doggio is still without his Darci, but Spot is accepting tentative skritches, and that we’ve got a lot of crafty Dopers. If I ever get around to actually making anything, I’ll have to take some pictures and post. I’m not nearly as neat in my crafts as y’all are, but when I do craft, it’s something I enjoy. Actually, I can share the last craft I did - bookmarks for the workers and volunteers at the branch of the library I volunteer at.
I had a falling apart copy of Queen’s Own, the SFBC omnibus of the first three Valdemar novels by Mercedes Lackey. I thought it would be a perfect way to use some of the pages. I’m trying to think of some other crafts that I can use the pages for as well.
Today is going to be continuing to relax, since walking to the kids’ room, talking them and walking back made me a bit dizzy and out of breath. Yeah, I don’t know what this bug is but I’m glad I’m on the back end of it (yesterday, I couldn’t even walk to the kitchen, which is between the kids’ room and ours, without running out of breath). I’m hoping to get a bit more reading and maybe a bit more sleeping done. I’m trying to take care of some online things, and I need to set up my planner for next week. It doesn’t look to be as busy as this past week, but It’s enough to keep my hopping. The kids only have about 3.5 weeks left of school, which means a whole bunch of stuff (like getting BtY to get caught up on his homework) gets added on to of the other things I have going on.
I hope everyone else has a great rest of your day/night and that everyone stays healthy and happy.
I’m excited for you!!! Sending smiles to you and new puppy. I like the name Sultana too.
Sari I agree w/ JtC. You have exceptional skills knowing about and taking care of animals. Also, you are caring about peeps as well; just your stories about the park show this; people skills can’t be overrated.
Lectored at mass at 8am. Made country breakfast for Hubs & self (bacon, country potatoes with sauteed onion fried in bacon grease, scrambled eggs with tomato slices and melted cheddar on top, asiago bagel for Hubs, ww toast for self, OJ and coffee). Washed one hell of a lot of dishes (hadn’t been able to do so since Thursday. Like Bumba, we hand wash. When we moved in 43 years ago, there was a portable dishwasher that lasted for a year or two. Replaced it with semi-automatic dishwasher when it died (Hubs & rarely self). Going to Fitness Center soon.
I enjoy his and nellie’s puns. 
MetalMouse any chance you are anywhere close to a Tim Horton’s? They also have very good donuts. Since you grew up in OH and probably followed some hockey, I’m thinking you might know who Tim Horton is.
Howdy Y’all! I live-stream deheathenated, we et N.O.L., and then achieved nappage. OYKW deheathenated in person. Thus it is in swampland.