(Old) What's the winter forecast in the MMP?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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We went to look at two complexes today. One was in a pretty sketch neighborhood and was so full of concrete, I kept looking for signs pointing to cellblock D. And the rooms were tiny. The other was better, but I just can’t get enthusiastic. Part of the problem is that I just don’t want to move again. Part of it is that I’ve loved my apartment and the woods behind it.

I got a form e-mail from my complex that gave my next year’s rent amount and how much of an increase it would be in dollars. The monthly rent is what they quoted over the phone. The increase amount is way off, as in it would be 50% over the maximum increase the state allows with this much notice and would be much greater than the rent shown. I emailed them back to point out the error and explain why raising my rent that much makes so little sense. Apparently, they can’t math.

But my son and I did go to Mud Bay to buy dog food, and I saw the most adorable puffy crab toy, so of course I had to buy it. It doesn’t squeak. It kind of honks. It wasn’t until the dogs started chewing on it that we realized it sounds a lot like, er, flatulence. It’s now called The Farty Crab.

That is the very kindest thing I’ve heard in a long time, even without the squiirel barking (or maybe because of it.) You’re the best bear ever.

The question is, add it where?

Oh, that IS the best story! Warms my heart, it does.

Oh, my gosh! My son and wife are big fans. All their dogs have been named after the characters.

Aww. I love that. As a little shaver, my son was hospitalized several times with respiratory issues, so pediatric nurses are my heroes. I salute your mom.

Tuxedo Reclining On Comforter , cat hair on polyester, 2024
I laughed until I had tears in my eyes. Phenomenol photo!

Alas, not the case here. The complex is only 8 years old. They were still building part of it when I moved in. And it’s a nice neighborhood. Someone told me the corporation might be using it as a tax write-off. I’m thinking maybe a money laundering operation. Oh, and the letter said the rent increase is due to inflation. I pointed out that inflation from 9/2023-9/2024 was 2.4%, and they’re raising rent 7%. Maybe they meant they wanted to inflate their bank accounts.

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I still say “Clear” when I drop something in my shop, even if it’s just a screw gun off a table, or a piece of lumber. Comes from years of tossing stage weights on and off of line sets. Never did drop a 25lb chunk of steel down the rail.

Thanks for the kitteh pics. Always appreciated.

shoe That story gave me the happies.

I fear I have mice in addition to the squirrels. I set a hav-a-heart trap out and it has just been cleaned, no one trapped. Joys of a house built in 1885-ish.

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Need to borrow a Pretzel?

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Ah, one more fun story!

Guy calls in, orders a pizza, and two dozen wings.

“Alright, anything else for you?”

“Uh … lemme get one more order of another twelve wings.”

Oooooooo … kaayyyy?

I’m the one handing it out to him, so I said very lightheartedly, “Okay, one pizza and ALL the wings!”

He laughed a bit, then said, as the smile washed off his face, “I have two teenage boys staying with me. All weekend.”

{ blink } No friggin’ wonder he tacked on so much food; poor guy was probably hoping to just snag one or two wings before they all disappeared.

Anyway, got him all rung up, made sure he got plenty of napkins & plates, and said, “Alright, have a great weekend, hope you enjoy that visit!”

With a glum face & sounding like Eeyore, he said, “Yeah. Hope so.”

Damn, dude!

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Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 47 (BRRR) Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 77 and N.O.S. ‘Twill be a day of high RDOS inactivities. My DAWGS play the Sippi State Bull puppies this afternoon at four-fifteen. Nappage and day drinkin’ will also be part of the agenda as is our wont. I will also be scopin’ out other kolledge handaig games. Sup shall be leftovers from Thursday night. No leavin’ da cave today. WOOHOO!!!

MOOOOOOM glad FCD and you had a nice outin’ yestiddy. Also glad daughter had a good time with her grandmother. Hope that makes a good memory for her. I made the decision long ago to not have another pet after losin’ my beloved cocker spaniel. Plus at the time I traveled a fair bit for irk and lived alone. That’s not fair to a fur baby.

JtC I do indeed have a machine for dish washin’. So the chore would be to load, crank up the machine, unload, and put stuff away where it belongs. So not even an everyday chore, more like twice, maybe three times, a week. You should start a fashion line of RDOS wear!

shoe a definite AWWWWWW moment there. Also the other guy, well, I doubt he could ever buy enough wings to fill up two teenaged boys. Bottomless pits they be!

doggio obviously Spot is worn out from playin’ with the New Best Toy In The World. I don’t know how to do the TM thing.

nellie I am sure dawggy thinks fart crab is the New Best Toy In The World! We’d have fun havin’ an adult beverage or two out on the back porch while barkin’ at the fence squirrel.

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

Happy Sattidy Y’all!

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:joy:

That is why we have Orkin coming out every month. My mom is terrified of mice, so she pays for the service.

Doggio, that is a wonderful picture!

JtC, awaiting your cute picture of the kitties!

I’m also waiting for MusicMan. He didn’t make it home yesterday but will get here sometime late morning or early afternoon. I’m sure this will ensure that we go out of lunch!

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Then unload it and put everything away exactly where it came from, lest it become “lost” or something.

Incidentally, you were in one of my dreams night before last. It included me, SIL, a dog (I don’t think it was Trevor) and for some reason my house was in a hilly forest-like setting. And you were 20-something in shorts and a tank top. It’s been over 24 hours, so I don’t recall any of the details but there ya go - you were in my dreams!

The travel is the issue for me (us.) FCD wants to do some serious boating and I want to do some serious cruising. Leaving a dog in a 2BR house that has 4 residents, plus 2 cats and Trevor is just unkind. And leaving said dog in a kennel for weeks is even worse. So now it’s not a problem.

I suggested fostering, but he’s not interested. Maybe some day, but for now he’s hurting pretty bad. I’ve got a couple of Higgs’ favorite chew toys in the washer - when they’re clean and dry, they’ll go on his desk. I hope they bring him some happy memories.

Yes, laundry is started. LOTS of clothes today for some reason. But I have no other plans, so no biggie. I may do some rollsuckage later, too. And I may be able to open the house a bit later - we’re promised upper 70s. I may run John Deere around the back yard - there aren’t a lot of leaves, but if I can get them before too many accumulate, that’s good.

And so begins my day. Happy Saturday!!

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Morning all. Up early, refereeing an 8:30am game, coaching at 11am and 12:30pm, and then having team pictures from 2:00-2:30pm, so won’t be home much. 47F now, but will get all the way to 83F later this afternoon, so have to take several changes of clothes with me. Have drank an Instant Breakfast and eaten a banana, so that should hold me.

nellie, good luck in finding a suitable new place, they’re building apartments like crazy down here but I suspect North Ali-bama heat probably isn’t to your taste.

FCM, I think it was a good move giving him the moose and monkey toys, makes the absence a little easier to deal with, I hope. And to bad you can’t live on the boat, seems to cost as much as house upkeep…

shoe, some more great stories from the (service sector) front lines.

Sounds like they’ll need an iron the size of New Hampshire… And lovely pic.

OOps, need to get stuff done and organized before departure. Have a good Sattiday all.

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BTDT, too old to do it again. Tiny galley with tiny fridge means much more frequent trips to the grocery store. No washer or dryer means laundromat. Too small for a king-size bed - full size mattress tucked in against hull so outboard sleeper must climb over inboard sleeper to go pee in the middle of the night. Holding tank requires pump out when it’s full (from the terlits.) No space for big-screen TV. Much less storage space. Being awakened by rocking and rolling when lots of boats are heading out for morning fishing trips. Water supply turned off for the winter, so how do I wash dishes? Virtually no insulation so chilly ( :ice_cube: ) in the winter and warm ( :fire: ) in the summer even with a/c. Shall I go on??

FCD has left for the boat to do some measurements. Second load in the washer, first in the dryer. When I put the 3rd load in to wash, I’ll hit the shower. MIL still sleeping, so yay there.

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I’ll be following your DAWGS this afternoon. My Corn​:corn::football:huskers have a bye week so I’ll have that much more RDOS fan attention available to cheer them on.

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Good morning everyone.

It’s 44F and foggy right now, but the sun will come out later, and the expected high temperature is 72F. I may or may not mow the lawn. I’ll see what the day holds later.

Nellie, I am sorry to read about the apartment situation. I hope you find something that fits your price range and appeals to you.

FCM, I kept all the collars and leashes from our previous dogs. I have their ashes and a picture on top of the ash box.

Shoe, all I can say is that at least your neighbor warned you so Monkey can be safe. I feel sorry for the groundhog.

After cleaning the kitchen and going out to breakfast yesterday, I practiced being a RDOS. I watched the newest episode of the The Great British Bake-Off, which I find soothing to watch. I then caught up on on some BBC shows. I highly recommend The Inheritance. I watched all the episodes.

I played with the pups between sloth sessions and dealt with some work emails.

If I don’t take care of the yard today, I’ll probably wash the sheets and towels. I also need to wash the sheets on the guest bed.

I had a disturbing dream in the wee hours of the morning. I found out in the dream that I had cancer, and it was probably terminal. In the dream, all I could think of was how I would tell my mom and the kids. What made it weirder was that someone in the dream took hold of my hand and handed me the report with all the numbers. We were in a grocery store, but without groceries, and the job of the people who worked there was to tell people they had cancer. Anyway, it’s strange and disturbing.

My daughter sent pics of the progress on their house. Much of the framing is up now, so it’s beginning to look like a house.

Okay, I need some more coffee. I’m sending everyone hugs today. Sometimes we all need them, whether we know it or not.

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And what a handsome guy he is!

There is a very good reason that most of my cat pics are of them sleeping. They take off and hide as soon as they see me pointing my phone in their direction.

I hadn’t thought about what happens to the tenants then. I guess I just assumed that they just got new landlords. (I don’t know much about renting and what I do know is super outdated and probably wrong.)

If he cared about the neighborhood pets, he would use a live-trap and just take ground hog elsewhere.

I’ve heard that if you go to the zoo and get some big cat urine, the scent will chase rodents away. Supposedly it keeps deer out of your corn patch as well.

Yeah, he already knew that the wings he managed to eat on the way home were all that he was going to get.

Wow, you are such a neat cook! I fill ours at least once a day.

Sounds about right, LOL! It’s nice to know that you were thinkin’ of me :slight_smile:

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Well this sucks. I woke up this morning, but my phone didn’t. And apparently my protection plan ran out last month.

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I just had to order a new electric blanket for MIL. The one she was using is the one we’d bought for FIL when he was in hospice. It has taken to shutting itself off for no apparent reason. But thru the magic of Da Jungle, we’ll have the new one tomorrow.

Third load in the dryer, 4th in the washer, MIL drugged, fed, and she’s napping. I’m running vinegar thru the countertop icemaker - they recommend that every 4 weeks and it’s in outlook to remind me.

Outlook is my auxiliary brain. I’d be lost without it. It’s better than my phone calendar.

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Wifey, RN is on her way down to Bellevue (or maybe Renton) for a foot care seminar. It starts at 0830, I think (I hope Waze was right about the drive time, and more accurate than the Tom Tom she used last time and didn’t find it) and it goes until 1700. Then she’ll have a two-hour drive home. Which means…

I’ve be left unsupervised! Mwahahahahaha! :smiling_imp:

I’ve had two sausage patties and two over-easy eggs on both heels of my bread. I’ve cleaned the litter boxes. (I still need to put out fresh kibble and water.) I want to make the rest of the day a Camera Day. I want to load the Olympus OM-2n with B&W film and shoot a roll so I can attempt to develop the negatives at home. I want to go down to the camera shop and get a couple of end caps and a lens cap for my Pentax lenses. Then to Harbor Freight for another Apache case. I’ll probably go to the local marina and Marine Park to take pictures, but I’ll take the camera on my errands.

I need to go to the supermarket to get more bread and eggs, and maybe something for dinner. I’m sure The Missus will have eaten before she gets home, but I should have something ready just in case.

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I haven’t seen this video in a couple of years, but a friend just shared it. So I’m sharing it with you.

Soon May The Kittyman Come - Trailer Park Boys song

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Thanks for the informative link. We were thinking of doing something in 2026, but the link tells me that Norway’s going to ban cruising from their fjords, so we might have to adjust. Have to discuss with hubby and parents. I think that particular cruise doesn’t suits their requirements - but it looks like it’ll be fun. And I’ll be bookmarking that site.

It’s so stinking cute! Definitely a keeper.

:smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Kitty picture. Yay!

Got the hair cut this morning, and went to two different grocery stores for the weekly shop. Made lunch (chicken and veg with red curry and rice) and thought we’d go for a walk, but the rain started earlier than expected.

Need to make the marinade for tomorrow’s chicken fajitas and then I’ll try making a Manhattan later this evening. Well, it’s already after 5, so I should get a move on.

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Topeka has four annual food festivals. Three are centered around churches and today is the Greek food event. I look forward to it every year and I am about to take off to go get me some good stuff. Sts Peter and Paul Orthodox church is part of the Antiochan Archdiocese of the US but interestingly enough most of the members aren’t Greek heritage, evolving from a faith group looking for a denomination that fit their ideas. I’m acquainted with a couple of members as I once attended a book study with them.

The food on offer is a choice of four entrees with sides of Greek salad, dolmades, with pita and hummus. There’s outdoor sitting and sitting in the church basement, That’s rather crowded but they also have nummy pastries down there and Turkish coffee. The sanctuary upstairs is open for observation, with exhibits about the practise of Orthodoxy. Also a lot of icons on the walls. The icons are my favorite. They range from classic Greek and Russian styles to icons with English words. The subjects include most of the classic saints and prophets, to groups of Chinese martyrs and a couple of the Russian royal family.

Now, I need to go feed me.

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Our friends in St. Pete reported in. They rode out the hurricane in eastern Florida and were finally able to return to see what may have happened to their home. To their surprise, it is intact (including the deck) and has both power and water! Being the good people that they are, they are helping others to salvage their lives and helping to clean up debris, even renting a chainsaw to cut up downed trees. I think the wife of the couple may apply some pressure about moving out of the hellhole that is Florida, to which she was not entirely happy about moving in the first place.

Today looks to be another do-nothing day. Trimmed my beard, but that’s probably going to be the highlight unless I take a walk. Thought I might be coming down with a cold, but it now appears that it was just an allergy episode. Hard to tell the difference sometimes. It’s weird, but I can’t remember the last time I had a cold. It’s been years, it seems.

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*sigh*

I loaded the Olympus for pics, and got the Pentax lens out so I can get the caps. Just about ready to put some jeans on and get under way. But my phone was dead. I’d left the MapMyWalk and Safari apps open last night and drained the battery.