{{{FCM and family}}} So sorry to hear about the troubles.
Trying to fight fear right now. Didn’t hear back from Dad after my text. Tried to call him twice, went straight to voice-mail both times. My bonus BIL will be checking on him on his way home from work. I’m hoping he just forgot to plug it in and has been sleeping all day so he didn’t notice. But prayers and good thoughts, please. I’m trying really, really hard to not borrow trouble.
His brother’s death was expected and imminent, and they were never really that close. He’s more concerned about his mom, and not really grieving. Not sure if it will hit later or not. I’m sorry for his widow - she’s had to deal with a lot of crap in the last few years - and I’m glad she’s free of this burden and can (soon?) take some time for herself again.
As for the local BIL, I think FCD and his mom have both given up on him and his drama. They were looking on line today for the cost of cremation - he may well succeed in killing himself. Mental illness is a bitch.
Thanks, all, for the hugs and sympathy. I’m so sorry for my MIL - she’s just drained or something. I truly think she’d like to go to sleep and not wake up. It’s been a terrible year since they left Florida last October.
Time to chill…
I got an email from Amtrak: “We wanted to let you know that train #517, from Seattle, Washington - Train Station on Tuesday, November 7th, has been affected due to a service disruption. Don’t worry, we’ve already set up alternate transportation for some or all of your route, and there’s nothing you need to do.”
Uh, some or all of my route? What does that mean? I get ejected at the Gum Stump Tastee Freeze because it’s a good spot for hitchhiking? So I called Amtrak. The train was cancelled. They’re busing the lot of us. Oy.
MetalMouse, glad the trip has been OK so far.
Fishy, prayers have commenced. Let us know what you find out, please.
Big hugs and lots of love to the Fairy Chat Family. Not much I can say that hasn’t been said; it’s just a pile of bad situations all around.
Real Fish, I know it’s tough not to keep imagining the worst case scenario. Hang in there, maybe do a crossword puzzle or something to distract your brain, and please do let us know when you hear from Bonus BIL.
“Bus bridges” are a common feature of Amtrak and have been for years. There are some Amtrak destinations that aren’t even served by trains; only Amtrak-branded busses which connect to trains. And of course if a train breaks down, busses fill the gaps. As raggedy as Amtrak’s equipment is, broken trains that take weeks to fix are not rare occurrences.
The airlines are starting to do the same thing: using scheduled busses in lieu of airplanes. Right now you can “fly” from Allentown PA to Philadelphia on an American Airlines-branded bus. Operated by a third party contractor of course. This is the regular planned everyday service, not an emergency workaround.
You show up at the airport, perhaps check luggage, go through TSA screening, go out to a terminal gate, and there you learn that the jetbridge connects to a bus(!?!?) Which bus you board and which then drives off the airport property, down the highway to Philadelphia, then enters the airport property there and parks at an airplane gate. Where you climb the jetbridge and enter the PHL airport terminal on the secure side to perhaps catch a flight to elsewhere. Or leave the secured area and collect your checked luggage at the carousels then take ground transportation to wherever in Phillie you wanted to go.
This is the coming reality for many small towns now that there are not enough pilots to fly the little jets to the little cities.
I am so sorry to hear of your BIL’s passing
Happy Moonday!
No park this morning as nobody else is going.
It’s cold anyway, I thought it was supposed to be in the 50s, but it’s in the 30s.
And we should head over early to the old house to get in a couple of dump runs.
For those looking for rugs
FLOR
is an interesting site.
They are carpet squares that stick to each other, not to the floor. If one of the squares gets dirty, you can pull it up to clean it or replace it.
And speaking of rugs, I tripped over the area rug this morning and fell. My left knee and left wrist hurt.
I had to holler for my son to come and help me up. I almost got up by myself, but it hurt to put any weight on my knee and wrist.
The dogs were very excited to see me on the floor.
My son tripped over the dogs’ water bowl and fell.
It’s a good thing he didn’t need my help getting up.
He’s irritated with me because I am not doing much. I’m not being lazy, I’m just very very tired.
I stopped taking gabapentin and tizanidine because I was falling asleep all the time.
Standard Time is okay with me. I’d rather have it get light sooner in the morning than have it stay light longer in the evening. Although it really doesn’t matter much one way or the other to me.
I have been leaning towards letting the neighbor keep Adam. I know her nephew really wants him. I know Adam really likes him because while Adam is a friendly cat and will hang out with you, it takes a long time for him to warm up to letting a stranger pet him. The first time he saw the neighbor’s nephew, Adam was on his back begging for a belly rub. When he asks for a belly rub, it’s not a trap, he really likes belly rubs.
My son wants to bring him here. He thinks we can keep Adam in the yard because of the 5 ft fence, but I think that is not going to keep Adam home.
Thanks JtC and Shoe for confirming what I think is best.
I told the neighbor’s nephew that he can keep Adam, but if it doesn’t work out, we will come and get him. We have food to give him. Adam is due for his rabies shot and we can take him, or if the nephew takes him, we will pay the bill.
I don’t feel good about the decision, but I guess time will tell.
No dump runs today. Richard had some stuff to do, and I was okay with staying in all day.
My son goes back to irk tomorrow and I am not looking forward to it. We haven’t done anything at all towards getting his license and I don’t like driving in the dark.
I am so sorry FCM, and I feel for your MIL. It’s a lot of stress and heartache for her. A lot has happened in a short period of time.
Now Echo is sick again. We got most of an aspirin in her. I don’t know what is up with her. I know stress can cause Shar Pei Fever, but I’m not sure what is stressing her. She seems to like the new house, and she loves the new yard. She’s hanging on to my son tonight, which is not normal for her.
It is still a bit chaotic around here.
We’re debating taking her to the emergency clinic.
I hope all is well with your father RealFish
So much worry and stress for you too.
Happy Travels MetalMouse!
Too bad about your wife testing positive again flyboy. I hope that both of you come up with successive negative tests soon.
Enjoy your trip metal mouse.
{{{FairyChats}}} I can’t say much that hasn’t already been said, but virtual hugs to all of you.
Idiot Boss played chess with my cow-orker in our area and myself today. Thing is, we’re due for a cycle count this coming weekend (I’m still on the Inventory distro and look at the reminders) and nothing has been transferred from our location for almost a week, meaning that there is a lot of room for error. C’est le guerre. :insert evil grin:
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
Oh, bless his sweet little heart.
I’ve seen fat, geriatric cats eyeball a 5-ft obstacle, hunker down to get their haunches going, and … boing!
Cleared with inches to spare. Just in case.
I’ve got the problem shoe had the other day. No power. I do have gas lamps, so I got those going, once I figured out how to make fire. No matches in the house, so I found my old Zippo from back in my smoking days, fortunately had some fluid. I have made light.
Also I can watch TV for a while, I’ve got a UPS for the router, TV, and 1 lamp. First world roughing it. Just hope it doesn’t get too cold tonight.
Our feline overlords highly approved of our move to somewhere sane enough to not fuck around with dinner time.
Safe travels! I hope you have a great time!!!
I’ve noticed your absence and am sure you have good reasons. I have no idea what they could be, but no judging here!
I’m sure it was a success! Your work was there which buffed up the whole affair.
That’s kinda how I feel about the weather out here, but opposite. Just assume that it is dry and hot because it doesn’t stinkin’ change.
Are all of your tomatoes done for the year? I’ve got a mess of green Romas that I need to get off the vines before the first freeze.
Is the Mrs. able to have an herb garden in the winter? That always helps give me that “hands in the dirt” experience in the dead of winter.
Both of you still, dang. I’m so sorry for both of you, but also want to than you for thinking of the herd before going out. I wish there were more like you.
This is great. Flying the day before Thanksgiving, no so much. Maybe you should consider visiting a dispensary in Vegas and picking up some edibles so you can just zone while you are waiting and waiting and waiting.
Hurray for the surprise money, that is always a good thing.
Nice! Not a lot of room for prezzies, though…
What a truly sucky situation for everyone involved.
Losing your life partner is a horrible thing, but one tends to understand that the older spouse will go first. Losing a child must be so much worse.
I have so much sympathy for her and FCD and everyone.
Martial arts aren’t really self defense classes. The self defense classes I took mostly involved discussions of how to avoid being a victim with little bits of pushing and running lessons.
I was an avid kick-boxer in my 30’s. I won competitions and scared big grown men right out of the ring because they correctly thought I went crazy pants when I put the gloves on.
My self defense plan has always been to blow up like a firecracker and use anything handy (like a cane) for a weapon before running away as fast as I could.
Self defense is much different than martial arts, and I agree that both of your younglings and even you and hubby could benefit from taking some classes.
Dang, but LOL about the dogs getting excited.
It was easy for me to tell you what to do about Adam, I don’t know him, but I know this has to be a super hard choice. 
You are lucky it still worked, buy some stick matches when you go out next.
Stay warm!
Back when the interwebs came out here, we signed up for an account with four email accounts. This was back when dial-up was a thing, the interwebs were pretty new and our account number only had three digits and was probably back in the mid 1990’s.
We stayed with them for years and finally left them for greener pastures but paid five bucks a month for our email accounts. We each had one account we used for real stuff and one that was for spammers and were happy for decades.
Until today. Our email accounts are down, we can’t get ahold of the hosting company and Nextdoor is blowing up over that IPS being down with no way to contact anyone.
This is going to be such a bother.
For everyone: No hard feelings at this end. Just trying to make some room for IRL. Doping all day every day every minute I’m not sleeping or eating isn’t healthy. Me here today is a big backslide.
Slaps your hands off the keyboard and unplugs it. Off with you!!!
Condolences, FCM.
We had Thai food for dinner. The yum beef salad (which is what I had) was 5-star spicy. I got a little sweat. Hoping I can burn the virus out. But it could’ve been spicier.
The kids’ sensei actually combined both martial arts and self-defense, especially after BtY was getting bullied in 2nd grade (BtY was one of his favorite students). Sensei’s philosophy was that the first thing you should try when attacked is to get away. The second, if you couldn’t get away, was to fight as dirty as you can. Thumbs in the eyes, biting, bending back fingers, kicks to the balls, whatever it takes to get away. Also, screaming bloody murder (which BtY is really good at.) He had them practice breaking holds, ways to keep their attackers from getting a firm hold in the first place. He carefully more about keeping “his” kids safe than proper wado ryu form.
Still no news on Dad. Knowing that my bonus BIL had to stop at the store on the way home, I’m trying to stay calm about the fact that I haven’t heard yet. As soon as I do, I’ll let you know. And thank you, all, for your love and support.
Evidently my UPS has become elderly and can now only power a lamp and the modem and router. If I try to turn on the tv it gets grumpy and shuts down. Last winter it did fine. Amazon, here we come.
And now I’ll need to reset the clocks…
The plant we put in a pot (the only room we have here) was done some time ago. The green tomatoes will ripen if you just put them on the counter in a sunny window.
I don’t have enough windows. I usually wrap them in brown paper and put them in a cardboard box to ripen, but I need to get up off my ever growing ass and get them picked and then yank the plants.
I do this every year, it is so hard for me to yank flowering plants.
I just heard from my bonus sister. He’s alive, but definitely sick. My bonus BIL is visiting with Dad for a bit and will call me with details after. So my immediate fear is gone, and my secondary fear is lower. (If he was deathly ill, my BBIL would have called 911.) But he’s my dad, so I’m still worried. Just not as much.
Thank you again, everyone, for your thoughts, prayers and support. It means so much to know I’ve got this community to lean on if I need it.
I’ll update again later when I find out the details.