(Old) Tricks, treats, and a brand new month in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Did you pull Halloween pranks?

Did you have favorite treats or favorite homes to get treats from?

Did you have a favorite costume?

That should get us started. As for me:

No pranks - I was and remain a goody-goody.

Favorite treats were Snickers and Baby Ruth - my sister doesn’t like nuts, so I could trade my boring plain chocolate to her for her good stuff.

Favorite costume was actually as an adult, when I adopted the persona of P. M. Ester, Female Wrestler. It was during one of my rare lower poundage phases - I wore patterned legging, a bright pink leotard, pink and green spray color in my hair, a shiny black cape, and FCD drew a “tattoo” on me and drew a starburst around one eye. I wish I had a photo - it was epic!

I sewed some cool costumes over the years, the best being the shark I made for FCD. It included a bloody lower leg (a prosthetic left behind in a boat we’d bought) attached to a “surfboard” that had a big bite taken out of it. He won 4 movie tickets for that getup. If I can find a photo, I’ll scan it and post it.

From the last MMP:

The parts that could go in the dishwasher are the easiest to clean - it’s disassembling and cleaning the pump that takes the most time. But even at that, the entire operation might take 15 minutes. It really isn’t that big a deal, but it’s a good whine topic! :wink:

As for today, my sweetie is at the dentist for a 7AM appt - he’s had a sore tooth that’s apparently gotten to the point that he can’t ignore it any longer. This is our last pleasant, mild day for a while, so I plan to get some yard work done. That’s pretty much as far ahead as I’ve thought.

Happy Moanday and Trick or Treat!!

:innocent: :cowboy_hat_face: :disguised_face: :sunglasses: :clown_face: :smiling_imp: :alien: :smile_cat: :robot: :hear_no_evil: :ninja: :man_mage: :person_with_crown: :man_pilot: :dancer: :merperson: :man_vampire: :man_firefighter:

2

First! It’s good to be juvenile!
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and mostly caffeinated, so no YAWN. 'Tis 57 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 86 and N.O.S. After today we get a cool down. No biggie plans for the day, though I could go gas up twuck and do some errands. Not sure of the motivation to do so, however. Sup shall be cubed steak 'n mushroom/onion gravy, butter peas, smashed N.O.T. and bizkits.

I did not do pranks, as I was a lil’ ol’ angel as a cub. :innocent: We had a pretty wide range where we could walk to get goodies, so every year was a pretty good haul. I just wanted candy and my non-discriminatin’ tastes did not care what kind as long as it was candy!

One year OYKW and I dressed up as sitcom dads in gray slacks, gray cardigans, white shirts, and skinny black ties. We walked around callin’ folks kitten, princess, Bud, etc. and dispensin’ fatherly advise like “don’t take any wooden nickles” and “make sure you look both ways before you tie your shoes” and such. We were a delight!

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah.

Happy Moanday Y’all!

3

Good morning.

It’s dark, 31F, and clear outside, and the expected high will be 55F with plentiful sunshine.

My favorite treats were chocolate, Smarties, and gobstoppers. There was a house near me that gave out popcorn balls every year, and this was the only homemade treat I got to eat. All the others were trashed for fear of the dreaded razor in the middle.

I didn’t do pranks either because I was also a goody two-shoes.

I have a feeling it’s going to be an expensive week. My furnace is making sort of alarming noises upon starting up for a cycle. I’m hopeful it’s because dust needs to be blown out. I change the filters every four months, even though I use six-month filters. However, it’s overdue for a service, so it’ll be interesting to see how much of a bite this will be. BUT, on top of that, my dishwasher decided it needed to crap out. It’s not even that old, damn it. It won’t drain, much less run, and rebooting doesn’t work. So, I need to make two service calls today and will be stuck hand-washing dishes for a while, I am sure.

Today is supposed to be an in-office day, but I have opted to work from home because I have a lot to catch up on, and I need to make those service calls. I’ll go to the office on Wednesday unless, by some miracle, a repairman will be arriving.

Neither my boss nor the director will really care, but I really do try to show up on my in-office days.

That’s all that’s going on in taterland. My best to all of you.

4

Mornin’ all! This getting up before the sun thing suuuucks.

I was never a prankster. The best candy came from the house around the corner that had 2 Bassett hounds, they gave out full size Hershey bars!!

I got a delightful call on Saturday from my credit union. “We have de-activated your debit card as we suspect fraudulent activity.” So I need to deal with that today. Huzzah.

Ok, off to the day. I’m at the high school helping them build their set again.

Stay safe, y’all.

5

Mornin’ all. Just post-dawn Monday here in the equivalent of US Mountain time. Partly cloudy & about 68/20 by feel.

Started the morning by replying in the old MMP, so here that is for reference:

I’ve updated the folder of pix with new stuff from yesterday.

First up was a sunny scene at breakfast where you can finally see some steam coming off the peak against a clear blue sky. Overall the day was humid, and by turns blue, gray, drizzling or raining. The folks from the PNW and England would be right at home except for the 75-80F/25-28C temps.

First stop was La Fortuna Waterfall - Arenal Volcano. It was raining and misty when we got there but improved. There is one of my pix that appears to be all gray. On close inspection, the waterfall is in the lower center just barely visible through the clouds. There’s an “after” picture from the same POV but with more zoom once the weather cleared out. It’s about 500 stair steps and several ramps down to the base of the falls. Getting back up was work for this old guy. Legs fine, but huffing & puffing like a steam engine.

Next stop was about halfway around the mountain on the other side for a 5km hike on an 50yo lava flow. Also pretty strenuous. Very little level and lots of it climbing or descending “stairs” of rocks or tree roots and dirt. Fortunately the ground was dry enough it wasn’t muddy, just wet. But saw cool birds, a couple of neat vistas, and a leafcutter trail in the sunshine so I took a vid. The leaves they’re carrying are about the size of an adult thumbnail.

[marker for more adventures to be explained later]

Ended up at Hotel Laguna Arenal for the overnight. That really is the view from all 6 bungalows. Very euro-modern place. The operator is Dutch. Been here 10 years. Retired from KLM, the Dutch national airline, as an instructor in their aircraft mechanic department. Now spends some evenings teaching the same online for Lufthansa. A small world.

Final stop after a short hike down the road in the drizzle was a Mom-n-Pop roadside eatery. Along the way we saw that toad under a walkway light at our hotel. That’s a cane toad, and about 8" nose to tail. Once inside we found a 50ish dude playing guitar and singing, a couple of extended families eating & listening, a couple of dogs underfoot, and us. People were sweet, food was good, beer was cold. A fine capper to the trip. Walked back in the slowly increasing rain & got home just before it really opened up.

Now gotta hit [send], get clean, dressed, packed, fed, and on the road back to civilization. And Her Ladyship.

Cheers all!

6

Arose at 0700. Managed to avoid the cat barf somehow. Cleaned up the mess.

Never did pranks. It just wasn’t a thing back then. We were in it for the loot, usually carrying a pillowcase for the haul. The best was if someone threw spare change into the bag, which didn’t happen very often; second were the candy bars, and the worst were popcorn balls which went straight to the trash.

Supposed to have snow that sticks by tomorrow morning, but we’ll see about that. Clear and cold this morning.

7

Never heard of Halloween pranks til I was a grownup. In grammar school we wore our costumes to school in the afternoon and had a costume parade. I liked all the candy back in the day. Mom would go through our paper grocery bags of candy, not looking for apples with razor blades, but for Butterfingers which she would confiscate for herself. A “wintry mix” is predicted for tomorrow so that will put a damper on the number of kids running the streets.

8

Morning all. 54F outside and barely getting to 60F today, so more like Fall now. Last week with the 5-S’s for Monday, soccer ends this weekend and I take off for travel Monday so the routine will be broken. (5 S’s–Shopping-Sammich-Swimming-Sauna-Soccer).

Can’t remember any particular trick-or-treat stories, can dimly remember going around to neighbors and stuffing chocolate candy in my face, but don’t recall a single costume. Not a trickster, and parents wouldn’t have approved anyway. I do remember wearing a gorilla costume to work once in the 1980’s, was worth it for the jump-scares, but very hot and uncomfortable.

Taters, hope it’s just the furnace being cranky; that stuff is a cost no one needs. And is the dishwasher still under any type of warranty?

That reminded me (and I expect others) of one of the best cartoons ever drawn: holy shit full size snickers - Album on Imgur

Pilot, safe journey home, and your pictures have added another place to my bucket list (I have no choice but to live to age 143 now)

OK, need to finish the morning internetting and then start on the first two S’s above, with a banking stop prior to that. Have a good week all.

9

Morning all. 35F here, and supposed to hit high 40s later. First day of real cold.

No pranks for me, as a kid my costume was whatever plastic mask was on sale at Walmart. In college, my girlfriend and I dressed in Pink Panther get up. I went as Peter Sellers, and she wore a lasciviously tight pink body suit as the “Panther”, complete with whiskers and tail. It was fun to go to greek-row parties, but I don’t think anyone noticed me at all.

Up, coffee-ed, fed, and about to go forth into my day. I’m facing two personal “trolley problems” that have no good answers, and need to prepare and decide what to do. It’s not only the problems themselves, but the realization of the depressingly small number of people (IRL) that I can actually talk with about it. Almost everyone I know already has pre-set answers to everything so discussions are pointless.

We’ve had badly needed rain for the last 5 days, and the lake has risen enough that my boat is floating again in the slip. It had been resting on the bottom, and I’d been prepping block-n-tackle setups to ensure it would lean to the side that caused less damage. But now it’s no longer a problem, and I can even use the generator and A/C without sucking up gobs of mud. Yay!

pilot – those are great pictures, and you are the spitting image of my crazy* uncle. And in my best nawth’n Lousiana accent I shall say – “That there pool ain’t right – it’s gonna fall offa th’ edge!”

*The fun crazy one, not the other one.

Hope everyone has a good week!

10

To this day, I love Dum-Dums (the tiny lollipops) in most of their flavors, and am delighted whenever a bank or mechanic or whatever has a bowl out for customers to take one.

I work open → close tomorrow, so I’ll don my usual “costume” consisting of a headband with tiger :tiger: ears. Simple, comfortable, and won’t get in my way in the kitchen.
I have a matching striped :tiger2: tail - if I get ambitious enough, I’ll safety-pin it to my butt. That oughta at least be good for a few laffs out of the crew.

Lord knows I have enough eyeliner (my Sweet Manager re-gifted me a whole kit of the stuff) so I’ll probably draw on whiskers & a black nose.
The real trick will be to remember not to wipe sweat off my face and unwittingly walk around with smudged black smears all over my face.

Wouldn’t that be a sexy look!

Us, too. I keep forgetting, are you near me? (Lakeshore of Michigan, not far from Grand Haven.)

I’m sure many kids 'round here will be disappointed.

11

So I start in the Smalls loft. With Sloth and Shaggy.

Fortunately, I got sent up to the Mez, since QAnon Lady is on vacation. Except I don’t have Internet access up there, and the one program I need keeps crashing. The downstairs to clean up the 300 slide. Except the one station doesn’t have a scanner, and the same program as upstairs kept crashing. Plus carts of stuff to scan and fix. It was Monday after all.
I don’t recall any favorite costume or best house for treats. And I never did any pranks, for I am and was pure as the driven snow.

Looks like a good place to visit, Pilot

Hope the card thing isn’ too much of a bother, VanGo.

12

Afternoon, mumpers! It’s currently 12c/54f with no predicted change, and rainy. Weather app takes this very seriously and warns me - “Don’t forget your fucking umbrella!” As if a Brit ever leaves the house without one, even in the middle of summer…

We never did ToT here, it wasn’t a tradition in the UK so no dressing up or pranks until much later when we used to have Hallowe’en parties :slight_smile:

Taters sorry to hear about the service calls, they’re a pain in the backside. I hope you get them sorted out easily, and it’s worth taking a day at home to sort it out. There shouldn’t be any need to feel guilty for swapping in-office days, that’s what flexible working is meant to be about.

VanGo sorry to hear about your debit card woes too, that’s really annoying.

Pilot lots of pics to work through, looks like a great place to visit!

I have had a relatively quiet day irk-wise. Was up reasonably early, the crud is lingering so I’m still coughing and sniffing but not feeling as rough as last week. Cats have been tended to, I was showered and presentable before I logged into irk, and so far we have missed any great disasters. There is another named storm on its way here which should get to us by midweek. Storm Ciarán will arrive just as my three days on campus start so that won’t be too much fun for travelling. I need to renew my travel pass for Wednesday so this is going to be an expensive week as I’ve just paid for show tickets and a hotel for a girls’ weekend in Liverpool next April, it’s grocery shopping tomorrow, and a season ticket for the trains on top of that. Good job my claim from the strike fund will arrive in my bank account this week!

I have a couple more hours of work today, then I might go to the gym, or I might do a Rockfit class at home, or I might just have a long soak in the bath. Who knows? World’s my oyster and all that…

13

Finally remembered to go to exercise class this morning. Heavy on the legs workout, which was good.

Glancing out the window, I noticed that the tow trucks are doing a brisk business. This city doesn’t mess around when it comes to leaf and snow removal. If your car is in the way, you’ll find it in the impound lot.

14

We went on a vacation last week. It was our first (and probably last) cruise.

It was a quick drive to Seattle. Mrs. L.A. had to check her suitcase. I had my flight bag and a backpack, so I carried my own. Going through Security and getting registered was annoying, and the areas were overheated. I was wearing my sport coat, so that didn’t help. We got to our deck, only to find we could not get into our stateroom for a few hours. I had to lug my (guessing) 15-pound bag all over the ship. It would have been nice if we’d been informed there was a place where we could drop them off until the stateroom was accessible. Also, I tried to buy drinks with my credit card. I couldn’t. You can only buy things with your room key. So I had to go down to get my credit car linked to my key card.

:notes: We went on a cruise to see the world.
But what did we see? We saw the sea… :notes:

Our first stop was to have been Juneau, but it was too windy to dock so we had another sea day. Entertainment was lacking. Not that they didn’t have entertainment, but it was really lame. There was a Beatles impersonation band that I’d been told was very good, but we didn’t see them. I don’t have anything against the Beatles, and I do like their music; but for oldies I’d rather listen to Devo or the Bangles or Reel Big Fish. I’m not old enough for Beatles nostalgia. But there were other offerings! Shipboard versions of TV game shows, for example. Or poker tournaments. Or Bingo. There was a presentation about arthritis, and another one from an IV specialist. Shopping was also on the schedule. The entertainment just wasn’t for non-geriatric persons who grew up in Southern California as opposed to the Midwest or the Great Plains. Mrs. L.A. said the ship was a ‘floating retirement community’. It occurred to me that I’d never seen so many mobility scooters in one place.

The next port of call was Skagway. We took the White Pass & Yukon train excursion. That was nice, but we nearly froze to death standing in line to board the train… and we’re acclimatised to colder weather. We also walked around the town a little bit. Many or most places were closed for the season, including the highly-touted Red Onion Saloon.

Ketchikan was next. We didn’t do any excursions, but we did get off of the ship to walk around. Again, lots of places were closed for the season.

Thursday afternoon we started feeling like we had colds. We didn’t feel well Friday either, but the symptoms seemed milder Friday afternoon. After we got home Saturday, we each took two COVID tests. The first was with expired kits, and the second was with new kits that I went out to buy. All of the tests came back positive. Who knew that cramming into elevators and crowding into a cafeteria with 5,000 potential plague rats could result in exposure? We’re feeling better today, but we’re still sick. Abbey has been sneezing. She was sneezing when we picked her and Goo up from Cat Country Resort. I hope we didn’t give her COVID along with whatever was making her sneeze.

The food was generally good. We mostly ate in the cafeteria, as the variety was nice and the food was tasty. We had steak in the cafeteria once, and steak at one of the actual restaurants once. Both times the steaks were tough and full of gristle. We didn’t have any more steaks. The Barramundi and the lamb shank I had at Savor restaurant were very good.

Friday night we docked in Victoria, BC at 20:00, and needed to be back aboard the ship no later than 23:30. Not a lot of time. By the time we got off the ship and caught the shuttle to the Empress Hotel it was getting close to 21:30. We found a place about five blocks away to get some dinner and a couple of drinks, then boarded the ship at 23:15.

We docked in Seattle at 06:00 Saturday morning. By 09:00 we were home. I’ve never made the drive that fast. It helped that it was before dawn on a Saturday morning instead of a work day.

Bottom line: It was fun, but we’re probably not going to go on any more cruises. The entertainment was aimed at a different demographic, and the crowds turn the ship into a giant, floating petri dish.

And now, back to irk…

15

Thanks for taking one for the team. You’ve reinforced my notion that cruises are an expensive waste of time. Next time you want to see Alaska, fly to Anchorage and rent a car (after doing your homework about what you want to see/do).

16

Mrs. L.A. said we could have driven to Alaska. (And I said we should fly up next time. :wink: )

At least I learned how to say ‘Good morning/afternoon/evening’ and ‘Thank you’ in Tagalog. :blush:

Magandang umaga/hapon/gabi, and Salamat.

17

I took a similar cruise about 20 years ago. On what we thought was a fairly upper-scale good cruise line. Flew to SEA, drove to Vancouver, boarded the boat there, cruised up to Seward, left the boat, railroaded to Anchorage, spent 3 days there on our own, then flew home from ANC. Late first wife and I were about age 45 traveling with another couple our age. We went the week before Labor Day.

The supposed highlight of the cruise was in the Inside Passage. It was utterly fogged in and all we saw was some water, the rocky shoreline, and a couple rows of trees up the bank. All else was covered in clouds. Oh well.

We stopped in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and finally Seward. The daytime temps were mid 50s, overnight lows high 40s with some days sunny, some not. Everything touristy was still open, but they told us the next week or so they’d roll up all the tourist stuff and send all the summer help back to the Lower 48; we were almost the last of the last.

Once past the scenic but unseen Inside Passage we had a good trip: pretty shoreside scenery, enough to do in each town, decent shore excursions including a seaplane ride out of Juneau to see glaciers & afternoon “wilderness” hiking. The boat made a stop alongside a glacier for a couple hours and we saw a decent amount of ice calving.

Having lived in Vegas for years the boat’s hokey shows, overpriced trinkets, and gambling held no attraction. The food reminded me of a mid-low level Vegas buffet. By far the worst part was the demographic: 3000 kvetching retired-to-elderly New Yorkers with their nasty “it’s not good enough for me” attitudes and their horrid screechy accents. Having now lived among them en masse for 10 years in FL the accent and attitude doesn’t grate quite as badly as it did back then.

By far the best part of the trip was once we’d left the boat behind.

Now that I too am retirement age I’d be happy to try a Fun-n-Sun cruise out of SoFL. But no interest in revisiting Alaska cruising. Alaska, yes; cruising, no.

18

And the portions are so small!

19

I love that one!

My favorite prank was one we pulled as a teenagers. Our softball coach had a skylight in the roof of her home above the master bath shower. While she was out taking her littles TOTing, we took our third base player’s dad’s roofing truck, complete with ladders and harnesses to Coach’s house, went up on the roof and soaped the skylight. She didn’t notice it, but her husband did when he came back from a business trip. Other than that, a favorite was forking, where you take a box or two of plastic forks, plant them handle down in someone’s yard, then wind TP around them. Much more effective than just draping it in the trees. :grin:

Miss Mint, a neighbor around the corner used to make cafeteria-lady peanut butter fudge (she was a cafeteria lady, so had the recipe) that she’d give to the kids who she knew were allowed to accept them from her. Those were my favorite, but the Bickels, who had the little grocery down the street would have a table out (tended, of course) with a selection of full sized candy bars and gum.

The favorite costume was one that I’ve resurrected several times and always as an adult. As a larger lady, sometimes a good one is difficult to think of, but I’ve reincarnated Brunhilde a couple of times, especially when I had long hair. I bought a Viking hat, made gold pointy tatas and wore them over a white gown, with gold slippers and a hiking stick as a staff. I won prizes a couple of times.

Early out today, so I went to the pharmacy to pick up 'scrips and called the dealership, since my check engine light came on. The car isn’t acting differently, so I’m thinking that they forgot to reset something when they did the 50K oil change and service. I hope!

Mooooooom, oopsie, and possibly doggio, you will likely see autumn return tomorrow, since it’s back with us in middle TN today. It’s drizzly and cold (went from AC yesterday because it was 80F to heat overnight because it dipped below 50F).

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

20

Thinking of how snow looks after it’s been driven in… :wink:

And for me, it’s an ideal vacation - someone cooks and cleans and entertains me, or I can find a quiet place to chill, or play tourist, or play trivia… I’d go several times a year if I could afford it.

Just talked to my mom - she’s bored and feeling like a pin cushion, but she’s down to a single IV, tho they keep poking her for blood tests and stuff. Apparently, the problem is fluid retention - I don’t entirely understand it but they keep track of her intake and output while futzing with the meds. They’re hoping to get her off the IV later today and start tweaking the dosage of oral meds. With luck, she’ll be sprung on Weds. All this because she went to get her eyes checked and they took her BP and pulse. It actually might have saved her life. Scary…

FCD has a cracked tooth. Our dentist pretty much just does exams, fillings, and cleanings, so he’s got to see an orthodontist. He wants the bad tooth pulled, so there’s that to look forward to. I see my dermatologist on Firday for my annual once-over in search of bad skin stuff. Fortunately, since the cancerous thing was removed from my scalp a few years back, I’ve gotten clean checks, so yay!

I drove ol’ John Deere around the front and back yards, mulching up leaves. By tomorrow, you won’t be able to tell that I did anything. But best to stay ahead of it, considering how many stoopit trees there are in our yard. I also pulled up a bunch of saplings that took root in places where I don’t want trees. And I pulled some weeds, deconstructed my veggie patch, beheaded some hosta, and hacked back a big section of native clematis. Plus I did a load of laundry.

Yeah, today it’s near 80, tomorrow’s high will be mid-50s. I need to bring in a load of firewood before the rain hits. Then close the windows :cry:

OK, chillage and reading is in order for a bit.