(Old) Up, Up and Away in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Morning, mumpers! It’s currently 21c/71f with a predicated high of 23c/73f and partly cloudy. Weather app says “Partly fucking cloudy. That’s about fucking all you get.” Well, I’ll settle for it being 15 ferrets lower than yesterday in Ghent!

VanGo belated happy gotcha day to you and Ms Peach!

flyboy happy anniversary to you and Mrs LA, hope you enjoy a very special dinner.

red I’m glad to hear management are dealing with the neighbour situation, it’s very bad if they’re packed tightly into a small space with a baby as well, can’t be good for any of them.

JtC sounds like recovery and PT is going very well for you! And the new sign made me laugh :slight_smile:

Mollie I am envious of your sunrise pictures, I live in a very built-up area and rarely get to see them properly. I’m also surprised that you were expected to stay and set up the room - some things you just have to learn to do for yourself.

Bright Tree I had a little giggle at the clip-and-sneeze scenario. I still think Muffin needs her claws clipped but she’s not amenable to being handled so not quite sure how I’m going to get around that one.

I managed to completely miss posting yesterday, let’s just say it was a day of travel involving a short walk to the tram stop, two trams to the station in Ghent (opposite side of the city to where we arrived), short train ride to Brussels and then the Eurostar back to London. Another little walk between stations, and a train from London, then a cab from our station to home. Finally got in the house around 11.30pm.

Today is set to be a relatively slothful day. I got up around 7am and tended to the needs of cats, then went back to bed for a bit. Both Blossom and Cherry came in and demanded fuss so not much extra sleep was had, but they both got their fusses until they decided they’d had enough. I got up and unpacked my stuff, opened ‘im indoors’ suitcase to extract his laundry bag and then shoved all the dirties into the washing machine. It sloshed and did the spinny thing, and I’ve done the hanging stuff up thing.

There’s no food in the house unless we want to eat cat food (of which there is a plentiful supply) but I can’t be bothered going to the supermarket today. There’s enough milk to keep us in cups of tea all day, so that job can wait for tomorrow. I have stuff I can cobble together for lunch, and I have decreed that the chippy will provide dinner tonight. Other than that, I plan to sloth away the rest of the day!

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We’re hearing reports of tropical storm Lala. People in the path of the storm are saying, “Oooo.”

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Good morning.

It’s 60F and cloudy outside. Once again, we’ll have morning clouds and afternoon sun, but our daytime high will only be around 77F. I’m good with that.

JtC, I love the sign, and it’s good that your diligence with PT has paid off.

Only Cap’n allowed me to trim his nails without much trouble. I had to sneak one nail at a time with Polar and Brandi. And to be honest, since all of Buster’s and Maisie’s nails are black, I don’t like trimming them because I can’t see the quick. They jerk around too much, so I don’t want to injure them and have to take them to the vet. They’re due for another nail trim, so I need to get that set up.

Swampy, I would have gotten the giggles, too. I am impressed that you maintained your decorum.

Mollie, our son didn’t want help setting up, so we always left not long after we dropped him off. However, we did stay long enough in sophomore year to buy and transport a bed to the house he was renting with friends. By his junior and senior years, he drove himself to and from school.

I messaged my old SD to decline the position, but she called me. We spoke for a while, and she was deeply disappointed that I didn’t want the gig. She told me to call if I change my mind, but I don’t think I will. That particular organization is growing, and with it come administrative headaches that I don’t want any part of. This is a private organization that my former governmental agency partnered with. They do awesome things, and I love the mission, but I don’t love admin or budgeting, despite my apparent skill at them. Frankly, I’m finally settling into having time to myself and not being on someone else’s clock, and I’m not sure I want to give that up at this point.

I deadheaded and pruned some plants yesterday, but I didn’t water. I’ll have to do that today, for sure. That’s probably the extent of my plans.

I need some more coffee, so I guess I’ll leave off here. Please take care of yourselves.

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Whoa, my bladder must have decided to take the night off, I slept clear through to 7:45 this morning…of course, that has it’s problems, as one of the pills I take must be on an empty stomach and I can’t eat until 45-60 minutes later, so no early breaking of fast here. Could afford to sleep in, there is nothing at all on my agenda today so I will have to make it up as I go. One will be limited outdoors effort, it’s 86F heading to 95F and not a drop of sky-water in sight.

shoe, I don’t sneeze that loud but I can go on a multiple-sneeze bender at time (even when I’m perfectly well) that impresses (or worries) those around me. And while I was thinking of the wild (and tame) life at your house, your hilarious take on my comment gave me a big grin that is still on my face from reading it. Thank you.

boo fae, glad it’s cooling down some, I imagine Europe was not prepared for it as many US places are. I enjoy travel by train in Europe and sounds like you had a good adventure. Sloth is definitely required post-vacation, though–afterall, you need a vacation from your vacation…

Knots, now you have an old Simon and Garfunkel tune “Wake up Little Suzie” running through my head…

Taters, Sounds like you reasoned it out and made the best decision for you. Good.

And that’s it for the morning report. Been 45 minutes since I took my pills so off to the kitchen to get some calories in me.

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Nitpick, that was Everly Brothers.

Still not feeling great. I saw every hour last night, and not for good reasons.

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Mea Culpa, for some reason every time I hear it it’s with Paul Simon’s voice…

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I was so eager to be at college BY MYSELF I didn’t want my parents around after they dropped me off and we unloaded my stuff. Our dorm rooms were about 14 x 14, same size as Ariel’s stall so there was no decorating or rearranging of, using the term loosely, furniture.

Last today the weather people were predicting rain all day, with as much as 3 inches per hour. It still hasn’t rained, and it is cloudy and hoomid and ick. I need to get pop and after that I am not going outside. I am done with summer.

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I also slept through the night. Its cloudy and 78 here in Ohio. No rain. Off to grocery store and church lunch.

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You sound like Sis. She was able to retire at 54 after 30 years of teaching. She gets all kind of emails and calls to work as a permanent substitute, meaning that she’d get sub pay on top of her retirement, but like she said, she likes her me time. She can’t wait until her husband retires.

I had forgotten that they did that too. I grew up with the Everly Brothers’ version.

S&G did it too.

Up (barely), caffeinating, breakfasted, infused and fixing to do KP. I’m hoping I have enough energy to take out trash today (involves loading up the trunk and driving around the block to the dumpster. Yeah, my complex is woefully short of dumpsters), but am realistic enough to realize that it may not happen. If all else fails, I’ll put it in the back of my one neighbor’s truck (he actually told me to do that on bad days) and let him do it. I hate to push that chore off on someone else though. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll be so glad when this shit is over.

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

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Mor.. uh.. what do you mean it’s after 4pm?!?

Got woken up last night at about 1.30am by a loud *thunk* and a weird clattering noise. Thought it was probably a bird or something hitting a window, but just as I was dozing off, it happened again.

Couldn’t see anything out the window, or hear anything out there.

10 minutes later *thunk* …

At this point I went downstairs to double check I’d locked the doors, and make sure I couldn’t see anything, as I wasn’t 100% sure if it was my window. No-one and nothing unusual visible.

…and again 10 minutes after that,*thunk*.

…and one final one.

I think it was someone in the flats behind, going outside for a late night last cigarette, occasionally throwing something at, I’m guessing, their own window, as I’m pretty sure I heard someone going inside shortly after the final *thunk*. The flats have the communal back door propped open due to the heat (normally I can’t hear much at all from inside them, even with my windows open), so I doubt it was someone trying to wake up a friend or break in. There was a very faint smell of cigarette smoke unless I was imagining it, and there’s a corner of their yard blocked from my view from a tree and a drop, so I guess they were there; it must have been one of the nearest flats, it was really loud!

Anyway, I was not dozing back off after that until after dawn. So much for a relaxing long weekend sleep.

Aside from that, I’ve walked to the local shop to buy a postage box. I’m not going to be able to find the time to visit the new tiny niece until after this thesis is done, so I’m going to post the presents I got 'em with a silly note instead.

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Pffft - the room I shared with my sister for 17 years was about 9X9 and we rearranged it frequently!!! :stuck_out_tongue: OK, it did help that the dresser was built into the closet so all we had were 2 beds and a desk. Still…

We started our day with breakfast at Tequila Grill - next time we go, I’m going to ask that my omelet be a bit smaller. No way I could finish it, and I expect I won’t eat till supper. But it was goooooood!!

We took the cabinet to the boat and did some measuring, etc, for spacers blocks. We glued the teak face to the plywood cabinet. It had to be done there because it wouldn’t have fit thru the door otherwise. Anyway, it’s glued and clamped and waiting till tomorrow. And now we’re home.

I’m not sure what the rest of the day holds. I was going to mow tomorrow, but rain is forecast, so I may do it today. That’s as far ahead as I’ve thought. Who cares - I’m RDOS!!!

Happy Saturday!!

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I hadn’t planned to vent-and-run this week…sorry! :smiley:

For various reasons, Wednesday wound up being a 13-hour day for a few of us (including my boss, who got us pizza for dinner); I didn’t get home until shortly before 10pm. More overtime for me in next week’s paycheck, but luckily days like that are rare! Then, both Thursday and yesterday I had to be at my office by 7:45am to prep for/dial into a big two-day meeting. At lunchtime on Thursday I out-processed the jackass who’d quit on Tuesday. It took all of 15 minutes. I was just as friendly as usual and shook his hand while wishing him well, but in my back of my mind I was calling him names and wishing the door could hit him on the way out. I have a feeling he was in a similar frame of mind (showing no animosity but actually not being able to leave soon enough). Oh well. The req to backfill him is already open: hopefully I’ll see some good candidates soon. :crossed_fingers:

In happy news, yesterday’s part of the big work meeting – which had only been scheduled to go until 12:30pm to begin with – wrapped up shortly before 11:30am! :tada: I was pretty tired by then (English was close to becoming my second language), so I took the rest of the day off and headed home…

…and decided to stop at the Lego store in the mall (1 mile from my house) on the way. :grin: I have a Central Perk set being delivered today, a Seinfeld set coming next week, and a pre-ordered set coming at the end of the month, but there’s no such thing as too much Lego and after being on the fence for a while I’d decided that I want the Donkey Kong Arcade set[1]: it’s backordered online, so I figured I’d see if the store had it – and any passports. They’re out of the latter (expecting another shipment any day), but I spent much of the rest of the afternoon happily starting to build Donkey Kong. I look forward to finishing it today, and then starting the Friends set. :slight_smile: I finished the X-Files and Scully’s Lab sets earlier this week: if you’d like to see pictures, they’re in my ImgBB album of completed sets (the newest ones are at the end).

Yesterday I also bought a watch! I’d been thinking about getting something “business casual” for work; something between my dress watch and my casual Citizen watches. I love the Eco-Drive feature of my Citizens (no batteries; they’re light-powered), and on Thursday I’d seen another Eco-Drive model that I liked online. The closest mall entrance to the Lego store is through Macy’s, and I walked right past the fine jewelry and watches…and there was a Citizen case with the model I’d seen! And it was 20% off! On the way back to the car I decided to get it:

I’ll work from home on Monday, but I’m looking forward to wearing it to the office on Tuesday.

I finally got some decent sleep last night but am still a little “meh” today, so I’m looking forward to doing nothing productive. My plans are limited to building Lego, reading both the newest issue of New Yorker and more of I’m Not The Only Murderer In My Retirement Home, and catching up on some TV (I need to start the new season of Reacher, and watch the latest episode of Stuart Fails To Save The Universe).

Oh, and my head is sore. :frowning: Between sessions of building Donkey Kong I also did some general home reorganizing, which included accessing the downstairs storage room: when you first walk in the ceiling is high enough to stand up under, which is great for storing brooms and shovels and speaker poles and other tall things, but then it drops and accessing most of the space requires you to be bent over. I still sometimes forget to duck and will hit my head on the drop, and yesterday I did it twice – hitting not the flat part but the edge both times, and one time hard enough that I actually checked afterwards to make sure I wasn’t bleeding. Now there’s a nice little lump in one spot, and both are sore enough that I will skip showering/washing my hair today (it’ll probably still hurt tomorrow, but hopefully less).

LOL!

My birthday is in about a month, which is prime grasshopper season. One birthday when I was in grade school, I put one of my shoes on and discovered that there was a big grasshopper in the toe box after I felt something moving around! It hopped out as soon as I removed my foot, but Little Misnomer was kind of traumatized. My mom tried to tell me that Jiminy Cricket had stopped by to wish me a happy birthday. I was old enough to not buy it, but young enough to be amused and feel better.

Ugh. Sorry. :frowning: I hope it resolves soon!

  1. It will look nice with the Pac-Man set I already have! ↩︎

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Mrs. L.A. liked the card and the dozen roses I gave her last night. Only, she’d put the vases in the storage unit. She had to go down to retrieve one. This morning she gave me a nice card, and a small spritzer of Ralph Lauren stinkum for me to wear tonight.

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@PastTense,

Positing this here because for some reason I can’t PM you (says you’re not accepting PMs) and I don’t want to hijack a breaking news thread, so I’m going to explain my attempt at a joke here (I know, I know. If you have to explain the joke…):

I know it was an Airplane reference. And I was doing a riff on it. That is, they’re actually calling you Shirley and telling you not to call them. Call as in “don’t call us, we’ll call you.”

Read it as “Don’t call me, Shirley” rather than “Don’t call me Shirley.”

Re:

Maybe @Elendil_s_Heir got it, at least? Anyone?

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just looked in cupboard and we still have a Ron Jon coffee cup from Cocoa Beach that says ‘one of a kind’

how did you end up in NC?

:helicopter:
AFAIR my parents only took me up to school during my Freshman year. My baby sister who was 4 kept running up and down the hall into the elevator lobby then pressing the buttons for the elevator and running back to the room. MSU had these huge laundry baskets that you put your belongings into to take up to the room then unload. They only stayed until my things were unloaded then we all went back downstairs, hugged and they were off. Then I went back upstairs to put things away. Sophomore year I had my own car so parents never came up again.

Only had to work an hour and a half today. Now I have to do some more packing in between watching my fav golfer who ended up tied for 5th after yesterday’s round.

Hubs is having a time. He wants to buy a fishing license. First he went to the bank and came straight back as he needed to use the bathroom. Left and a while later he called and asked if he had left his wallet on the floor in the bathroom. Yep, so he had to come back home to get it. Hopefully 3rd times the charm and he can get the fishing license on this trip.

When he gets back, we will be going to the funeral home for visitation then service for our next-door neighbor’s mother. I better go put on some funeral home visiting clothes. TTYL.

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You’re lucky you got it! :astonished_face:

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Good day!

Another one much like yesterday, still cool this morning, hovering around 64Ferrets with a forecast high of 79F. We started out at 59F. Humidity is at around 74%, but since it’s cool, not a problem. :slight_smile:

metal mouse, are there people who relish having needles stuck in them, I wonder? Probably. No fetish is beyond imagination! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

One of these days. When I feel ready to bear the shame!

And you had a very busy day yesterday yourself!

Bbbooo, I am happy every time I give you a laugh. :slight_smile:

I relate. Like metal mouse, I am an epic serial sneezer, and since I live alone, I don’t hold back. Sometimes I worry that the nearest neighbor about a quarter mile away will call 911. There is a box of schnozz tissue in literally every room in my house. No idea why I sneeze so much.

Enjoy a well-deserved day of RDOS, swampy!

Welcome home, Boo Fae! Glad you are home safe and enjoying a quiet day. And I wouldn’t want to tackle Muffin’s needed claw-clipping, either. :grimacing:

Taters, I feel sure you made the right choice re taking on the position. It’s been nice to watch you gradually relaxing into your well-deserved retirement. May it long continue!

red, how much longer must you endure this course of antibiotics? If you mentioned it, I don’t recall. I hope it’s over soon. It’s good you have a kind neighbor, willing to help when needed. We all need one of those.

Nut, what an unpleasant way to pass the night. Any chance of a nap today?

Nice watch, Oopsie! I hope your head recovers as fast as mine did from my recent spill.

Sounds like you and Mrs. L.A. are enjoying a nice anniversary weekend, flyboy. I hope you two have many more years of the same!

Poor hubs, Cat Glove! I guess the consolation is, by the time he gets the license sorted and is able to use it, the fish will be a lot bigger! :wink:

Well, I’m happy to share that blood donation was successfully accomplished this morning. It was no big deal once we got through the initial questioning period. Lots of people were turning up, so I was glad I got there early and was the second butt in a chair. I will do it again on the regular.

I am now bludging the bludge of Teh Virtuous. :wink: Plus I was a little lightheaded after the donation: Body was like, “WTF?? Why are we bleeding?? Is there something I should know?” But it passed quickly.

I’ve heard from Pond Guy and I guess repairs will be done either on Tuesday or Thursday, whichever works out better for him. Man, I hope it works.

Breakfast was a repeat of yesterday – it’s a favorite. I count the days till peaches are ready here. The season is short but glorious. The farm stand grows them about 5 miles from my house, so they are perfect when harvested. The sort of peaches you’d better stand over a sink while you eat, because juice goes everywhere. I will bake a pie tomorrow, I think.

Time to give Ollie a romp.

Have magnificent days, everyone! :slight_smile:

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I don’t think I’ve ever been to an event where I’ve not sneezed, normally at a quiet, tense moment. If I ever have to hide from Bad Guys, that’s probably how I’d die… and at my funeral, the lack of sneezing during the solemn bit is how they’ll be able to confirm I’m really dead.

I don’t really nap- if I do, I tend to sleep :sparkles: even worse :sparkles: that night. I’ll have an early night instead, that tends to work better.

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So you’ll be cussed by the boat’s next owner when they want to change things up? :stuck_out_tongue:

I’m sorry to hear that. Digestive issues suck.

There are 2-4 more weeks. Apparently, the no energy thing and the digestive issues come with the territory, only most folks start that crap in the first couple of weeks.

Yay! As the recipient of blood in the past, it’s appreciated.

I was actually hungry for lunch today, so I fixed myself a tortilla with cheese. This whole digestive thing (TMI warning) has me doing weapons grade flatulence right now to the point that I woke a sleeping dog at my feet up with one toot. Oy!

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Afternoon all. Dropped a few things off at one of the thrift stores near me (and I do wonder at why, in a mid- to upper middle class neighborhood like I live in, there are so many Goodwill-like stores around–guess they are where the money is). Also bought a new watch, but in my case it was a Wal-Mart brand for $13.23, so not a prize possession, but it’ll keep time. At the gym now and taking a break before the next 450 calories get worked off.

Read all but replying on the phone is a pain so I’ll just add it to the queue. Take care all.