Sleep? What's that? Quizzing the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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The Prius has a 12-gallon tank. I don’t think I’ve ever put that much in it. I kinda/sorta remember putting in a little over 8 gallons once when it was ‘empty’.

Until the Prius is repaired, I’ll have to drive the Cherokee. Its econometer currently says it’s averaging 15 mpg. Before it had a quarter of a million miles on it, I could get 25 mpg if I kept the speed down to 55. Now I’m lucky to get 19 mpg keeping it down to 65. (The speed limit is 70.) Off the freeway, mileage is worse. And when Wifey drives it, the mileage really plunges.

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Well, sure, if someone else needs to sit on that seat. :wink:

I just got myself some Crumbl cookies. Another someone will grumble about sweets, etc, but I don’t care. I wanted a sugar cookie by golly. Tonight the plan is to make trip-tip. Yum.

Happy Friday. :slight_smile:

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I talked to Premier Services, whom USAA is using to handle the repairs. They will locate a ‘preferred repair shop’ somewhere up here, and send a tow truck over to collect the car. I’m glad I won’t have to drive it anywhere.

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Happy Firday!

It was chilly 29 degrees this morning, but it’s a bright 63 degrees right now.
I skipped the park this morning because I wasn’t feeling up to it.

The roofers across the street are back out today, and the noise is getting on my nerves.

I think I must be the only person in the world that doesn’t care about Girl Scout cookies. Actually, when it comes down to it, I’m not that fond of store-bought cookies either.

Thieves suck Flyboy.

I have so much to do and no motivation to do anything.

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Went to Costa Rica as a teen…uhh…a bit over 20 years ago now; if you’re into nature at all, it’s really good for that, or at least it was and I’ve not heard different lately.

Saw a volcano erupt there, that was pretty cool.

I was supposed to be preparing a presentation for Monday today, but I ran out of can, and my brain stopped. I’ll get it done Sunday; tomorrow I am taking a Day Off, dammit.

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Sorry to hear about your car Flyboy. I hope I never catch someone stealing from me again. I’m not a nice person when it comes to thieves.
BTW, how do you like USAA? We’ve thought about switching our insurance now and again and they’re a possibility.

It’s 49f and sunny here in central Orygun today. Today’s agenda is burning combustible trash in the burn barrel, carrying a small bookcase (3’ x 3’) up from the basement to the second floor, and maybe poop-scooping. I oughta carry the shop vac out to the truck and vacuum it out, but prolly won’t.

I remember when #3 granddaughter was selling girl scout cookies, be amazed at how little money the local troop got out of the proceeds. But it makes the girls so happy that I still succumb. sometimes. I’ve noticed that Kroger sells knockoffs of other companies cookies for about half the price. I’ve only tried a couple. Their Olde Southern Pecan cookies are just like Pecan Sandies and I like them a lot. I think the other ones were Nutter Butter knockoffs, which I didn’t like.

We consistently get right around 21mpg On the highway in the GMC Canyon, but around town it’s terrible. About 14mpg IIRC. The Hyundai Santa Fe gets about 25mpg. My Scion Xb only got about 21.

Some years ago I owned a house across the street from A Southern Pacific hump yard. Down at the end of the street was a restaurant called The Embers that sold a 30oz steak. Covered the plate it did. I ate it a few times. It was, and prolly still is, a pretty nice restaurant, except for the too loud country music from the dance floor next door.

I used to have a friend who went to Belize every summer to go diving. He said it was great, but I’ve never been. I’ve only ever been to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands and Guantanamo. St. Thomas had some very poor, slummy areas but I never felt threatened. Gitmo was a pit. That’s all I know about the Caribbean.

Mundane and pointless, that’s me.

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DH and I really like them. Late DFIL had been an Air Force officer for a while, so he and former dependents had/have lifetime eligibility. Their rates are excellent and so is the service.

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I like USAA. They’ve always come through. If I didn’t have knob-and-tube wiring in the house, I’d use them for that too. I called them this morning, and they put me in contact with Premier Services. I called Premier Services, and they texted me in, like, 20 minutes to tell me who’s picking up my car, that the tow truck company has already been paid, and the name and address of the shop it’s being taken to in Ferndale. They said the tow truck would be here within two hours. I soon got a call from the driver saying he’d be here in 25 or 30 minutes. All I had to do was back up the Prius (it was parked close to a power pole) and hand him the key fob.

Mrs. L.A. has USAA as well. (She doesn’t have comprehensive coverage though, so she’s out of luck for damage to her vehicle.) Obviously she likes USAA, but she had an issue where they took forever to get an agent to her house in rural Tennessee when there was somoe sort of damage to her house.

Incidentally, I made a spot-check of the amount of precious metals in catalytic converters and their current prices.

Platinum (3 to 7 g): $99 to $230
Palladium (2 to 7 g): $145 to $508
Rhodium (1 to 2 g): $593 to $1,186

Total: $837 to $1,924

A bit under a kilobuck to almost two kilobucks. For one catalytic converter. You can see why catalytic converter thefts increased over 3,800% in Washington State between 2019 and 2020.

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It’s been a good day so far over here. I had a hair appointment, so I feel fabulous. I thought about postponing, but I needed to get out, and my stylist has become a friend. It’s only .5 miles, but I was a good girl and did Uber. The driver has a sideline business of doing airport shuttles, and he’s way cheaper than anyone else. So yay!

I was not good after my trim. It’s a nice day, and I wanted to be outdoors SO badly, so I walked home. My pain level at home was an 8.5, but that’s better than the 9 it was a few days ago! I’m lying down and icing.

I got a phone call from a Door Dash driver. Um, I didn’t order anything. She said I know, but I’m at your door." Friends sent me flowers–a big, beautiful bouquet! I feel loved.:slight_smile:

On another note, Old Flame sent me a photo he took of a photo of me. It’s hanging in the gym/recreation center where I used to live. I LOATHE that photo. When they put it up, I comforted myself with the knowledge that they change photos a few times a year. Not that one, apparently, as it’s been up 6 years. Argh. You think they’d tire of scaring small children. And yes, it really is that bad.

flyboy, my son’s mother-in-law’s catalytic converter was stolen while she was parked in their driveway in broad daylight. She was only in the house maybe 10 minutes. This was in Kent. Why did corporate choose Tukwila? Seems to me it’s known for two things: Park ‘n’ Ride and crime.

This week has been so crappy that next week, you’d better win the lottery to even things out.

FCM, glad you made it to the gas station. Sounds like you were running on fumes.

shoe, I love the concept of Tomorrow Shoe. Of course, she’ll never post on here, but she sounds like a hard-working gal! :slight_smile:

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Yesterday me has a lot to answer for, especially Last Night me. She likes to stay up wayyyy too late.

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Happy belated birthday doggio . Thieves are the worse flyboy. I’ve been hearing that catalytic converter thefts are up in most major cities.

I play a silly online game and am on a team with other folks. During certain time so the year, one can buy a bonus game that allows 10 other team members to claim a 5 “dollar” prize as one of the incentives. I usually buy a bonus game and my team members grab their prizes and happiness happens. The last two times the bonus games came out random players joined our team, took the prizes and left our team. I followed them home and learned that they were long time players, very well established and super high levels.

I’m in charge of our team and can lock others out as needed. Stupid game, stoopid cheaters stealing from low level players.

We’ve been really busy here. Our friend ended up in the hospital again. He has very low lung capacity (under 30%) and smokes a pack of menthol cigarettes a day. He was admitted because he was having problems breathing and was in constant AFIP. They were going to put a pacemaker in, but someone innocently suggested that idiot friend might start breathing better if he were to stop smoking, so idiot friend threw a fit and checked out.

The weather has been great so I’ve been spending a lot of time in our yard cause I let a lot of stuff go over the winter. I’ve been seeing little yellow butterflies so I overseeded the white clover patch and have some sprinklers going. My periwinkles didn’t go dormant this winter so the butterflies have a few flowers to sustain them.

GG does NOT like seeing one of his slaves outside his house and follows me around from window to window to yell at me.

Did I show you guys the two Native Indian pots I stitched? I don’t want to spam you too much but will be happy to post the pics if you haven’t already seen them. Our housekeeper was over Wednesday and I asked her if she wanted any of the patterns I was donating. She said she didn’t because she couldn’t do the kind of work I do (and something silly about her not having any talent or some such thing) so I took her into the back room and showed her some of the things I had done but didn’t have a use for. She loved the pots. She adored the pots. She said she was redecorating her bedroom and they would look wonderful there. Her eyes lit up so much when I gave them to her, I love it when people react like that to something I’ve done.

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Yes, I would love to see the pictures. :heart_eyes:

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Who knows? It’s not too far from our office in Burien.

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You are so sweet, thank you!

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I quit smoking when I retired and substituted needlepoint for the “needing something to do with my hands” problem. If I show off something I’m working on and someone thinks they would like it, just ask. Chances are very good that I will happily send it to someone who won’t put it in a bin and forget about it.

I delivered more cheese to the diner today.They have big signs advertising cheese made by their private creamery. They also gave me a raise while begging me to not take so many customers that my quality drops. No worries there, I’m way too lazy for that!

Tomorrow I’m going to try making a cheddar again. I’m having issues with cheddar which kinda upsets me because its not that complicated. People have been making cheddar on wood stoves for centuries, with all the tools at my disposal there is no reason for me to not be able to master it.

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unknown Nice pots! And great news on the “private creamery” gig. Sounds like fun.

I’ve been away from here cuz I’ve been building the musical. I was subjected to a production meeting while working in the shop. The TD had it on his laptop-remote meeting. Good lord these people are taking a high school musical waaaay too seriously. That meeting went on for 2 hours. I was glad I could crank up the table saw and not hear.

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Thank you for the kind words! I wish I had a better camera, the beads and some of the finer threads don’t show up in the pics. Needlework is the one thing I can make perfect in my life so I allow my OCD free rein.

While I’m happy you have been working, I’m also very happy I no longer have to go to meetings. My last job had us all have a morning “huddle” and they were as worthless as the word implies.

Speaking of mindless flocks with clueless leaders, our yard flock has finally figured out that there is a feeder outside the spare room’s window. The doves figured it out first, then the thrashers. After they got used to having the feeding station to themselves, the wrens (both house and cactus) are enjoying it.

It’s spring here so there the activity out there is almost constant during the day.

I’m getting more entertainment out of watching the cats bird watch than I am by bird watching myself. I had the window open today and GG would lay on the nightstand with his nose against the screen until he got too excited, then he would hop off the nightstand so the birds wouldn’t see him and slowly stand on his back legs…big ears lifting over the windowsill until he could peek out unnoticed. When he was sure he was unnoticed, he would slowly drop back to four legs, run to the end of the bed and jump up so he could run along the wall (still hidden from view) and then jump back on the nightstand which would result in the flock flying away. He is a very fierce hunting kitty!

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Evening all. Made it to Verizon and got a few questions answered (suspect I’ll have more in the near future. Haven’t turned the phone back on because I really don’t need to use it much what with being at home with a land line and my computer and TV available. I guess there is more stuff on it, but it really doesn’t seem necessary…me being the boring guy I am…

Did fix a nice big Bowl O’Sallit for dinner and have indoor soccer to look forward to tomorrow, so that will keep me active. And then need to buy a Big Bag of Lays Chips–I do not keep potato chips in the house because I have no will-power when it comes to them, but I do make an exception for Super Bowl Sunday (why, I don;t know).

unknown, very nice work. And an interesting set of skills that Mighty Hunter GG is developing…and yeah on getting the freeloaders out of the team.

nellie, take care now. And I bet the picture ain’t as bad as my passport photo (I swear they pay people to deliberately take bad photos for passports.

flyboy, glad things are progressing nicely on the car front. And the values… :astonished:

OK, onward into the night. Catch you tomorrow.

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Nice pots unknown!

Housework, laundry and groceries are done. I took Nelson to the dog park again since it was 70F and the weekend is supposed to be much, much colder. He got to run with his old buddies Milo and Remy (mini border collies) and a new corgi pup (7 months old SQUEE!) named Harvey. Harvey had the face and coloring of Nelson’s Auntie Ginger.

I popped a pan of popcorn (yes, I still do it in a pan on top of the stove) and took a small bowl out before seasoning for Nelson to have treats from. :slight_smile:

See y’all tomorrow.

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I just got the parts to set up a crow feeding station in the front yard. 1) I always thought it would be interesting to befriends crows, and 2) the crows keep the hawks and eagles at bay. I don’t have Pixel to worry about any more, but I do have a stray cat in the yard, and my daughter’s blind Pomeranian could use the assist. My husband wants to know how we will keep the rats at bay. This is reasonable and yet, I’m gonna do it. We’ll see what happens. I want to make friends with crows by golly!

I’ve started flirting with online car brochures. Next thing, months from now knowing me, I’ll be buying one. I really like the little SUV we have now, but both the kids are learning to drive; more than one car would be helpful. I also would like a car that could hold all of us and our pets in case of wildfire, because here we are in a state of perpetual disaster.

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Howdy Y’all! I did the candles, Roto Rooter deigned to show up today to vacuum poop, nappage and sloth got achieved, and sup got cooked and et. Fartfest is still on goin’. Such a day!

red my goddaughter is more likely to join Hell’s Angels than the Girl Scouts. She takes after her godfather like that. :laughing: She will be five years old in May and has informed her mother she wants to drive herself to kindergarten when she starts this Fall. She got a scooter and a bike from Santa Claus. She already wants to take the trainin’ wheels off the bike. This is understandable cause one cannot join Hell’s Angels while still usin’ trainin’ wheels.