Mornin’ all. It’s just post-dawn here and the sun will emerge from the cloud bank on the eastern horizon soon. Thus puttin’ an end to my balconatin’ til evening. Cooler today, 77/25 now (Brrr!) on the way to 89/32 and no clouds at all over the land. The stars are long gone, but were pretty when I first got here. We have lots of light pollution, so “the stars” is usually a dozen-ish tops. Which is just very sad.
Dressed for beach and will go in awhile when it warms up a tad. Just about hit my vitamin UV limit yesterday, so today must be a bit circumspect.
Yeah Jane & FCM the cashflow will be a bit of a bucking bronco until maybe mid Dec. My pension plus survivor’s SS together represent about a 90% gross pay cut from my usual W2. Probably about 80% cut net of the tax differences. I used to make more than we spent by some decent margin. Now it’s the opposite by a hefty margin. The shortfall will be made up from cashflow from investments, but exactly how much how and when is all TBD. Fully planned for, but still unsettled and a bit unsettling.
I had to laugh at 4 cars per hour constituting “constant traffic”. 4 cars per minute pass my place when things are quiet at 5am. One of the fun things about SDMB in general is seeing just how differently other people live; people you’d have zero chance to meet IRL.
Her Ladyship’s favorites almost always involve women plotting to kill men. Hmmm.
That is huge news. Congrats! After 6 months, how firm and sharp would be typical? It’ll be a success no doubt, I’m just wondering what sort of success? I’ll set a reminder to ask you about it every day between 5 & 6 months from now. Is it ready yet, Mom? Is it ready? Huh, huh? How 'bout now? 
Glad to see Shoe survived Long Night and brought some funnies for us. Great flirting story. Back in the day I used to regularly comment to my wife “I’m sorry Dear. I couldn’t think; there were breasts in the room.” Her Ladyship would not find that comment amusing. Sigh.
Good luck w GC and early out. Leaves more time for him to still be awake.
Years ago my wife moved her solo law office into our home. And we pointed her office’s 800-number at our home phone. At that time New Mexico had just one area code. The statewide number for Pizza Hut in NM was, say 345-6789. And was advertised all over NM: “Just dial 345-6789”. Of course lots of less than brilliant or less than sober New Mexicans dialed 1-800-345-6789. And our home phone would ring.
It actually didn’t happen as often as you’d expect. And most folks would take our explanation, apologize, hang up and we’d never hear from them again. But about weekly somebody Would. Not. Listen. Cumulatively we took a lot of pizza orders until we decided that 800 number was more trouble than it was worth. Such fun.
That sausage snail is great. Except for the “horns” it looks a lot like the shrimp on our app last night.
Congrats to Swampy for what’ll doubtless be an excellent spell o’ preachin’ the Word. I ‘spose you could could do a silly and preach a bunch o’ hellfire, brimstone, n’ Damnation then when somebody objects, act all confused and say “This isn’t the First Baptist Church?” or whatever’s the name of your arch-rival church down the street. “Oops. Sorry. Gotta run, I’m late for the service!”
Doggio enjoy the day off and handegg.
FCM: Congrats on wrapping up the crocheting. The shelving move sounds daunting. Whole lotta ways to get your arms sliced on sheet metal; gloves are only part of the needed protection. Double congrats on the 14# loss, even if you didn’t also grow 3" of height. Willowy is next year! 
Yes, our retirement bennies include unlimited free travel on us, and heavily discounted travel on damn near every other airline in the world. Plus cheap cruises and inclusive resorts and such. The bad news is all that is purely standby and the whole travel industry has gotten very, very good at selling the very last seat or cabin or hotel room over the internet at the last minute. Meaning you can make all your plans, get to the airport and be stranded there, or left behind at the dock or … Beggars can’t be choosers. But you can score some stellar deals if you want to go to less popular places at less popular times of year. Brussels in gray snowy Feb? Sure. Paris in warm & sunny May? Fuggeddaboudit!
I’m good with that sort of irregularity, but Her Ladyship much less so. We can still get a decent price on actual guaranteed reservations and when she and I travel together that’ll probably be the plan.
Reunions:
For folks who live elsewhere, IMO reunions are as much about seeing how the old haunts have changed as it is about the event proper and the people there. You wouldn’t otherwise make the trek, but once you do that’s a big part of the value.
Given the advent of FB & such, I wonder if reunions, like so many other in-person social activities will wither and die? Will the typical HS class of 2023 be holding a 10th in 2033 or a 30th in 2053? Methinks likely not. I also suspect that HS reunions were bigger when HS was the final educational attainment of 90+% of the populace. Now that over half of young adults go on to college, even if many don’t exactly graduate, HS graduation seems like much less of a mental and practical milestone in life to be re-commemorated later.
For sure it’s friggin’ infuriating to attend an event that’s meant for camaraderie, conversation, and social, but somebody hires a band who thinks they’re playing a concert where they are the reason for the crowd gathering. Same thing with live “background” music in restaurants that becomes “foreground” music. Gaah! It’s definitely not easier with hearing loss and hearing aids, that’s for sure.
It’s warmed up a bit, the sun is high enough, so time to beach!
Happy Sundaying all!
How sad that some women define their worth by a little tag in their clothing. I’d rather be comfortable than attempt to squeeze my butt into jeans with a lower number on the tag.
