(Old) Today in History - a pivotal moment in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
141

I have a wild turkey feather that was naturally shed in my yard a coupla years ago.

Well, technically, I have the shredded remains of a turkey feather. It’s, uh … gotten some Monkey love.

I’m guessing Cap’n Crunch (famous for shredding the roofs of many a mouth) is off the menu?

(D&R)

Heh, I had the same reaction. Glad it wasn’t just me.

Are those anything like “special” brownies?

What, she can’t wear it to both?

Shit, if I dropped three hundred on a skirt I’d wanna get some mileage outta that sucker.

Ventilation. Stuff’s gotta breathe.

That’s really friggin’ cool!

(How’d they find you?)

Truth.

This whole story made me smile. I know a lot of people get annoyed by gulls, but I always think of “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” when I see them wheeling & soaring, and I just can’t hate on 'em.

Maybe he sensed he was in the presence of kindness & overall wonderfullness.

Just a theory.

I’m sorry, but I snerked at this. BTDT.

(Not, like, I was doing the honking. You know what I mean.)

Please don’t be mad at me, but … oh, bless her heart. Half inch? Pffffft.

142

Evening, all!! Nice to be back 'ere after a bit!

I’m at midterms for my fall semester now, and it’s gone good! My crippling anxiety has made it quite a hard journey to get to this point, as I’m always afraid I’m missing something (my willful ignorance from last spring pushed me over the edge I think), but outside of an egregious misunderstanding between me and one of my professors just this week (who claimed I hadn’t done any of the labs for one of my classes even though I had done all of them; we sorted that out though thankfully), I’ve been doing good! Getting to watch The Office every week for my Technical Reporting class (yes it ties to the assignments we do I promise) certainly helps in that department; I always get something to look forward to every week.

143

Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave.
Today is the Feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop, Martyr, and inventor of The Holy Hand Grenade.

“You appear to be of some mass. Stomp this shell for me.”

Yay!

144

Morning, mumpers! It’s currently 12c/54f with a predicted high of 16c/60f and cloudy. Weather app is unimpressed and says “Your moves are fucking weak, Sun. You need to do fucking better than this.” I disagree, it’s bright and shiny outside my office window today.

I hope the day brightens up and you feel less blah :slight_smile:

As if we needed any further confirmation that Spot is indeed, a very “special” kind of cat!

Those are my favourite kind of days, until someone feels the need to invite me to a meeting I really don’t want to go to but kind of can’t refuse either.

I’m so glad it’s going well for you, Godbod!

Yesterday came and went, it was busy at irk as I had to go to a departmental meeting that ran overly long (these people cannot keep to an agenda, and the Chairperson is hopeless at keeping them on track). Then I spent the afternoon dealing with skip fires, and writing up the minutes from the meeting because I don’t want them hanging around while I’ve got more important things to do.

My Wednesday pub friends are on a short break this week so I popped over to their house to feed the pet ferret, he was pleased to see me, had a little run around the lounge and climbed all over me for a while. I went back home and got changed, then we went to the pub for beer and curry. It was a very pleasant evening and I was back home in bed before midnight so did not turn into a pumpkin.

Today is a day full of really exciting stuff…I have a minion meeting, then I am off to get my flu shot, and then we have a staff benefits fair going on so I’ll stick my head in there and see if there’s anything useful to me. Tonight it’s not my turn to cook so dinner will be provided for me. I might spend my time soaking in the bath, or laying on the sofa with a book. For now, I am going to drink tea and try to look busy.

145

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN 'Tis 38 (BRRR!)Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 67 and N.O.S. for the day. We shall go to the hog trough GC for N.O.L. to take care of today’s main need to feed. The rest of the day shall be spent in high RDOS inactivities. Well, actually, I shall be studious and read some of the material Priest gave me last night.

Sticky_Buns so sorry about your friend.

CupCakes the question is, how soon did you give in to Mauser’s puppydawg eyes. I’m too old and cranky to go to seminary, so no worries of ordination.

nellie seagull and dawgy love in one day. How lucky you are!

rocker whoa! Glad you were out of harm’s way.

BBBoo were the archeologists just roamin’ around randomly knockin’ on doors and askin’ to excavate privys, or did they know about you somehow? “May we dig up your outhouse?” seems like a rather bold thing to ask just out of the blue.

GodBod glad you checked in and good to know school is goin’ relatively OK. Cantankerous professors are a fact of college life.

BooFae yay for ferret lovin’!

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then I must purtify and don attire acceptable for bein’ amongst the great unwashed. Oh woe!

Happy Thursday Y’all!

146

Thanks, everyone. She was a positive influence in my life.

Yep, cheese is usually ok. I’d be interested in the JtC trade secret recipes! Thanks!

:stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

I’m up after a long night of tap dancing. I missed taking my pill for restless legs and paid the price for it. (I didn’t realize until this morning that I hadn’t taken it - some nights just work out that way even if I have taken the pill.) Meanwhile, I looked for my box of Wheat Thins that were somewhere upstairs, but they seem to have disappeared when the cleaners were there. Not necessarily that they took them, but she decided to clean a room that she wasn’t supposed to by combining lots of things in boxes where they don’t go. So far my efforts at… (uncleaning?) have not unearthed the snacks.

Today I’ll be heading to the mall again to setup my stuff. I hadn’t realized that the store’s hours as listed on Google did not reflect their actual hours, but today they will be there.

147

Mornin’ everyone.

It’s 46F and drizzling. There will be periods of light rain throughout the morning, and then we’ll shift to cloudy skies. Our expected high temperature is only going to be 56F. I don’t know where the atmospheric river they were talking about went; it certainly didn’t happen here. A bit of moisture fell yesterday in the morning, but it was nothing to write home about.

Sticky Buns, I’m so sorry about your friend.

Nellie, loved the seagull encounter. They usually squawk and stare from a distance.

Throughout my 20s, 30s, and 40s, I typically wore three-inch heels to work every day. Once in a while, I’d glam it up with five-inch heels, but not often. I now sometimes wear three-inch shoes, but I typically stick to two inches and below. I don’t go out to places I need to dress up for anymore, and I primarily work from home, so there is no need to wear heels. Also, since I’ve become older, the cankle problem has become progressively worse when I wear higher heels, so why bother. I don’t even wear dresses anymore because of the cankle issue. Who wants to see that?!

Work was work, mo’ problems, but not mo’ money. I’m getting tired of a particular situation in our state office, but I am the conduit for all the gripes this issue has caused. It’s not something I can genuinely fix because it involves a different agency, and I have no control over it. They can’t (or won’t) fix the problem, but in the meantime, everyone gripes to me, and I make calls, send emails, and offer solutions, all for naught.

At least today is my Friday. I was looking at my calendar to see when I could burn up a day of the comp time I have banked, and it seems like I have too much going on to do that. In addition, due to the constant travel absences of both my boss and SD, I have fewer chances. I think I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and force a day off.

I know there is probably much more to address, but the pups seem particularly active and rambunctious at 4:30 a.m., so I need to give them some attention so they can calm down.

148

Up after precisely 4 hrs sleep as usual, for bio break. I’d left the heat on all night since it was down into the 30s outside & am blaming that for the blurfy feeling I woke up with.

Heat is off now, and the bathroom window is now wide open so Monkey got some quality time sitting there while, ah, sat elsewhere.

Going the hell back to bed shortly, that’s for sure.

Not much on the agenda today, except that my ex (my I.T. Guy) reached out a couple of days ago asking if I wanted to catch up. He’s always busy with work, and now has a new baby (I think I told y’all he married his rebound from me … 2nd time in my life that’s happened) so we’ve kinda drifted apart a bit lately. (We did stay very friendly after we broke up.)

I genuinely miss our chats so I said sure, and we set up a time for this evening. It’ll be nice to hear his voice.

On what I’m sure is an unrelated note, his wife is out of town visiting family. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

This is likely the correct answer.

149

She used her box twice yesterday. I truly think she senses that FCD doesn’t like her. He doesn’t hurt her and she never goes to him, but he won’t cry when she’s gone.

We might get upper 30s tonight before going back to spring-like weather this weekend and beyond. I’m not too bothered about the petunias and coleus since they’re all self-seeded, but I have a croton that was soooooo sad looking in the front window, so I put it on the porch - it’s GORGEOUS!!! But it’s also tropical, so I may cover it tonight, just in case.

If you saw how small my closet is and how much other stuff has to be in there, you’d understand. My shoes are lined up under the foot of the bed - I can see them but they’re out of kick-range. So far, so good.

Pfffft - just get a sippy cup! :rofl:

I read this as three (each) cheese tortellini and thought they must either be big 'uns or you weren’t very hungry.

I’m planning to get 2 birds - one to be smoked, one to be roasted. There will be a metric butt-ton of leftovers to be bagged and frozen for future meals, since getting turkey at other times of the year can be a challenge, and $$$.

I don’t know what to do for FCD. Last night as he was settling his mom in bed, he asked if he could do anything for her. She said “I want you to help me die.” How do you respond to that? We both understand why she feels that way, but dang, saying it to your son?

Then last night he had a rough time sleeping because he kept dreaming about Higgs. I’m at a loss - I miss the pup, but obviously not as much as he does. I don’t know…

MIL has gone back to bed after having her morning meds and half a mini bagel. The hospice nurse said reduced appetite is normal at end of life. She barely eats 500 calories a day. It’s rough to watch, but there’s nothing we can do to make anything any better.

At the moment, FCD is at the dentist FINALLY getting his crown installed. He cracked a back molar what seems like ages ago and he went thru the extraction, the healing, the post installation, the healing, and now the molar is to be replaced. Even with insurance, this has been a bite to the budget. But it had to be done, lest more damage occur. I’m so glad I’ve got good teeth. One less thing for me to deal with.

When he gets back, I need to take a load to the thrift store, then run by Food Lion for milk and to see what is on special this week. Beyond that, no plans. So far.

Happy Thursday!

150

Morning all. 41F here and I dug the space heater out because the house has chilled too much but I don’t want to click on the heater quite yet. Will get into the 60’s later today, but soccer practice will be cooler than usual…otherwise should be a quiet day.

rocky, took a google and it got lots of local coverage, so it must have been a big one.

God bod, nice of you to stop by, glad the professor was reasonable and the semester is going well.

So in remembrance should we all count to three?

boo fae, meetings always run longer than they should and some ferret time will always improve your outlook on life.

Happy reading, swampy

Taters, dealing with folks you have not actual control over can be frustrating, I know (believe me, I know). Best of luck dealing with the fallout.

shoe, just what does he want to catch up on?

FCM, my dad used to ask me that, he knew dementia was taking over and he couldn’t manage on his own, as he had done for 80 years, and it was hard for him–hard for me too to hear it. Take care.

And time to break fast, will do the pancakes and bacon routine and then move into the balance of the day. Have a good Thorsday all.

151

The Christmas party is staff-only this year. Spouses aren’t invited. At least that means it’s a daytime party. (FWIW, the Christmas parties are very expensive. Whether staff-only daytime ones, or spouses-included evening ones, we go to rather posh restaurants.)

152

It seems to be warmer in my tiny studio apt. this year.
It dawned on me its because I put up plastic ( drop cloth) over my 10 by 4’ window.
Its blurry but really helps. Its 41 out right now.
Monday will be 70.

153

the fire was rather large. green street has a large amount of victorian mansions. many are now apartments or condos. the one that had the fire last night has 6 condo units (one sold for 268k in 2023). the ones that have kept the victorian woodwork are very prized.

the building must have had a roof top deck for the fire to start there. roof decks are the big things now. any “yard” is rather small in centre city, people are going “up” for outdoor space when they can.

fire is one of those things that is beautiful in its horrour. very mesmerizing.

154

My trunk is loaded with stuff for the thrift store. I decided to see what the heck was on the top shelf of my closet. Hoodies - lots of hoodies, mostly pull-overs. I hate pull-over hoodies. So they’re all gone, well, except for one, just in case I have to shovel snow.

FCD just finished at the dentist - I know this because my VISA notified me of a charge at the dental office. Ouch. MIL is still sleeping and I’m about to assume the crochet position. FCD is planning to run to the boat before coming home, then I’ll head out on my errands. Such an exciting day here.

155

They do research at the registry of deeds and at the county assessors office to identify possible historic residences that were built in the period before buildings routinely had indoor plumbing. The city and county’s historic preservation planner plots out neighborhood historic districts which handily narrows down the area that the urban archeologists need to do in depth deed and building permit research in. Once a likely area is narrowed down they do aerial surveys using drones looking for land features suggesting likely privy pits, as well as walking alleys looking for likely locations that haven’t been built over with a garage or shed or driveway, addition or fence. Privies tended to be dug at the far back of the lot, along the lot line, usually in a corner, next to where the alley ended up. My house was the first house built in the first plat outside central downtown sold to a developer investor, all neatly documented in crumbling record books in city hall. Archeology turns out to be 95% detective work and only 5% digging.

They sure did have fun digging though. Before trash collection and town landfills, all your trash and garbage got pitched into the privy pit where the organic stuff eventually turned into compost as did all the pee and poop. If one pit filled up, they just dig a new one, usually in the other corner along the back lot line as far away as possibly from the backyard well with its hand pump and moved the outhouse over, dumping that dirt into the old pit to seal it off.

Broken dishes and crockery, empty patent medicine bottles, whiskey bottles, perfume bottles imported from France, my pit had 7 different brands and ages of Worcestershire sauce bottles, various glass and metal parts of oil lamps, metal buckles, pieces of baby bottles, pieces of broken chamber pots. It’s like a diary of what relatively average city dwelling people bought, wore, ate and discarded for 40 or 50 years early in what became the state’s capital city. It seems like the people who first lived in my house were hard on crockery mixing bowls and oil lamps, ate a lot of Worcestershire sauce, drank a fair bit of whiskey and patent medicine (oddly, that stuff seemed to be mostly alcohol too). At least the ladies likely smelled good with perfume from France in pretty bottles with pressed glass designs.

Hopefully y’all aren’t sorry you asked.

[quote=“purplehorseshoe, post:148, topic:1008758”]in depth

This is likely the correct answer.
[/quote]

I think so too.

156

The elevator people came yesterday to do their periodic check and managed to kill one of them. It’s now down, awaiting a part. This creates chaos in this building, believe me. Luckily we’re on the 3rd floor, so can usually walk down when needed.

Went to an off-day exercise session. The wife has dental in another hour, and then we need to head for the post office to mail the first batch of voter postcards. She’s also obsessed with having Indian tacos (American, not Asian), so we’ll be driving to the other end of the city so she’ll stop talking about it.

157

A more reasonable day. I guess TPTB learned that dogbutler can’t do his job and make them look good if he’s sent to work in another Zip code. :wink: I did my Senior Day shopping, and picked up some oatmeal, since it’s False Fall weather, along with several multi packs of TP, to keep the horde stocked.

You didn’t take the ferret?

You need an auto reply email for those: “Our new contact person for inter-agency issues is Helen Waite. If you have an issue, go to Helen Waite.”

LOL. I have 3 tortellini as a snack between bites.

Five is right out.

Considering a chunk of those were mostly alcohol and morphine, and there was cocaine in the Coca Cola, it’s no wonder everybody could walk to school uphill both ways.

158

i grew up on a street where the houses had outhouses. by the time i came along the outhouses were not in use, and a bathroom was shoehorned in on the second floor. it was a very tight bathroom.

the houses across the alley had the bathrooms on the cantilevered back of the house. my side had about 6 feet taken out of the back bedroom for the new fangled indoor plumbing. it was a toilet and a nice cast iron tub. when my dad reno’d the bathroom he ran another set of pipes for a sink.

little by little the outhouse buildings were removed in the back of the houses so you could have a bit more “yard”.

the last one on our block was removed about 15 years ago.

as far as i know no one did a dig of the areas. most just put down some sort of paving/decking/ garden. some used them as sheds until the wood gave out.

opportunity lost…

159

All this “cleaning out” talk reminded me that I have a small pile of random crap I wanna get rid of, so perhaps a trip to Goodwill is in my near future.

I also have a computer monitor I don’t see myself ever using again. I wonder if there’s anywhere local I could sell it for a few bucks … ??

How does one acquire so many of an item one dislikes so intensely?

Are you kidding? This has been fascinating!

I … jeebus did I misunderstand on 1st read.

I feel like one of these things takes care of the other.

Monkey won’t stop howling at the door & scratching the curtains (he only does that when he wants something from me, he much prefers using his scratching post) and it sounds like your wife & my cat have trained us both using identical methods.

It’s all fun & games till someone complains to H.R.

Why do you think they call it “the good ol’ days”?

HA! Politicians running on the platform of restoring the country to how it used to be, oughta promise to put cocaine back in Coke.

… I’d vote for that. Can you imagine how much less lazy I’d be? :rofl:

160

HA!! I remembered a story from the other day … this one was funny.

Customer at the drive-thru window (of course) waiting and it had just started to rain. I noticed they were holding their left hand out the window at kind of a funny angle, and thought perhaps, some injury … ?

(This is an industrial town with a lot of machine shops, and grizzled war veterans. I see more than a few people whose arm or hand doesn’t work properly.)

Anyway, as we finish the transaction, I look again and noticed the orange fingertips, and started laughing.

Praying they didn’t get mad, I couldn’t help but blurt out, “Do you … OMG … do you have Cheeto fingers?!?”

They, thankfully, laughed back and said, “Yeah.” Started to get their stuff together to drive off, and I was like, “Hold on, hold on! Wait!”

We have wet naps, mostly for the ribs. Handed over a couple of them with a big grin, and heard, “Oh, shit, you’re an ANGEL!”

Sometimes yes, yes I am.