The Sap is Rising in the MMP!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Critters have been tended to. As soon as FCD decides to get up, we’ll shower, dress, and head out to breakfast before crossing the Bay Bridge and checking out our boat… again…

And speaking of boats and surgery, our boating season no doubt will be short and sporadic this year - I’m guessing he’ll get his neck done early this summer. Not that it’s a huge deal - our marina is a resort marina, so probably the fanciest one in Solomons. They’ve got a pool and a playground and picnic areas with grills and overall, it’s a really nice place to just hang out, as we used to 20+ years ago when we lived in this general area. So we’ve got that to look forward to.

Today is forecast to be gorgeous - close to 70°, before a major temp plummet tomorrow. So I’ll turn off the furnace and open a few windows before we go, just go let a little fresh air in here. Then when we get back, I can clean the pellet stove! WOOHOO!.. :stuck_out_tongue:

Happy Thursday!!

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The Sap Must Flow! 2021 thread on maple syruping

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Good morning everyone.

I could have retired at age 56 with full benefits, plus an extra payment to make up for SS benefits up until age 62. I might have done so if the husband was still working and contributing to the 401K he had. When he lost his job, we rolled his 401K over to an IRA have been taking very small amounts plus paying the penalty on that. In September I will have 39 years of federal service. At some point, it will become ridiculous to stay, but as I said before, I want a healthier TSP before I go. I want to LIVE not survive.

Pretty kitties, Jane!

I never had a chance yesterday to talk to my boss about taking Friday off. Maybe today; but I know I’ll get caught up in stuff and forget.

It’s currently about 37 degrees with expected highs in the 40s. It will remain cloudy with a chance for some rain showers in the afternoon.

Nellie, I’m so sorry your back continues to plague you.

FCM, I’m sorry that FCD has to endure yet another surgery. I really hope it will be the one that ends the constant pain.

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That’s how ya know you got the best one!

(I will confess: I do not know what a “gorm” is.)

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Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ;Tis 61 Amurrkin out and N.O.S. with a predicted high of 83 and mostly N.O.S. for the day. Today is Spring I reckon. Sloth, uselessness, nappage, chillage, and even more sloth is the plan of the day. Sup shall be grilled poke chops, succotash, wild rice (we like it all unruly), and rolls.

Truly, I read all but have no retention right now, so yays, boos, hugs, trouts, chitlins, noogies, and how you doin’s all around as needed.

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

Happy Thursday Y’all!

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The Sap Must Flow! 2021 thread on maple syruping 1

My brain hasn’t booted up yet & I missed that this was from last year. Saw “March 1” posts and nearly had a heart attack wondering how the hell I was gonna pay rent.

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Morning all. Need to do my shopping and swimming (not at the same time) this morning, some very nasty weather is expected around 2-3Pm with strong winds and thunderstorms, so I’ll want to be safely ensconced in my abode by then. It will get into the 70’sF today, so there is that.

I think I’m going to book that Antarctic trip today; it’ll cost more than any other travel I have done, but I have enough put back for it and like Taters says, I want to live the rest of my life, not just exist.

Nellie, glad the management does the lights for you, I have one bulb above my bed burn out months ago, but to get to it I’d have to move my entire bed or take off the mattress and box springs to get to it without risk to life and limb. We’ll see when the second bulb finally dies…

OK, need to break fast and dress properly for Wal-Mart, so all y’all take care.

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Home from heaving. It’s 62 degrees, so it was a nice walk with Gordie.

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Irking from home because of dire weather predictions, including sleet and freezing rain. None of that has happened.

I always pictured Gormless George as a Meezer.

70 days til I retire. May 6. I turn 65 May 31 so can start Medicare anytime in May. I would have retired last year but for the darn health insurance. Under my current plan I can have a heart lung transplant for my $350 deductible.

Thinking about a nap……

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There was some sort of communications SNAFU between my insurance company’s agent that handles getting my car fixed, and the shop. Apparently the shop was waiting for an email from the agent before they sent them the estimate, and the agent was waiting for the estimate. The estimate was sent yesterday afternoon. Finally. Now the agent’s Estimate department is reviewing it. Once it’s approved, they need to collect $500 from me (ouch!), and then issue a payment to the shop. The shop is closed Friday for some reason. I might get my car back Monday afternoon. Otherwise, I’ll have to make the 240+ mile round-trip to the office in the Jeep on Tuesday. That will cost at least $50 or $60 in fuel.

I’m very worried. The estimate for replacing the catalytic converter and the oxygen sensor is $4,542.88. That’s getting into the ‘The Car Is Totalled’ range. :cold_face: A cursory look on Auto Trader shows 2005 Priuses on offer within 150 miles for $4,500 to $7,500.

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I thought I posted yesterday, but I can’t find it. It was incredibly witty and insightful too. :stuck_out_tongue:

Anyway; {{{{{Everybody}}}}}

The dogs let me sleep in a bit this morning, which is good 'cause Vinnie got me up at 1:30 and again at 4:00. He’s old and senile and needs to pee a lot. He gets up and wanders in circles in the kitchen until the noise of his tap dancing on the linoleum wakes me.

He’s pretty much deaf and going blind. Last night he ran head-first into a brick wall in our back yard, the poor old guy. His nose still works though. This morning I was giving Gibbs his morning pill with some bread pudding. (Peanut butter doesn’t do it for him) and Vinnie came tottering out of the bedroom wanting his share. The only way I can explain it is he must be able to smell it.

Wifey had a meeting in McMinneville this morning and stopped at Homeward Bound Animal shelter on her way home to donate her fancy coffee service and they told her they would take our books. Yay! :smiley:

Now she wants her computer back. Later.

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Can you send an email or leave a voicemail? Just do it whenever you remember, and try to follow up with a conversation if you can. Sometimes needs must.

Is there something we need to talk about? :face_with_raised_eyebrow: I vote nap.

flyboy one option might be to drive it without the catalytic converter for a while… my niece is doing this while she tries to find a cc she can afford.

Let’s see: dinner tonight might be pork loin. Other than that, I think I’ll take today easy. Now that I have jinxed it by saying it out loud, I fully expect something will demand tons of my time today.

Akiko has been very attentive the last few days. I have been leaving her for hours at time. HOURS. The horror. When she was actively training to be my service dog, we kept her brushed and ready to go after a quick wipe down. She hasn’t been prepped in a while and is blowing her coat like sheep need help making fiber. She’s not fit for anything indoors, so she’s been left home.

Yoshi has been busy learning new tricks. He is very food motivated. Last night he started on “touch”. Once he’s got that, we can play the “touch” game inside to keep the dude busy. I’ll start working on “heel” too. Akiko is food motivated, but only if she really likes the food. She’s a bit mercurial about which food she likes. I’m fairly sure she’s actually some sort of cat.

Happy Thursday everyone. Take care out there.

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@Paintcharge When your work is slow, Is there something wood that you could make and sell on Etsy? For example, this guy makes these beautiful boxes and they sell for around $250, if I remember correctly. He sells maybe a dozen a month.

Unfortunately it looks like you have to click on that, rather than seeing the picture previewed here. People do all kinds of different things. Just a thought.

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Fortunately he’s in Germany, not Switzerland. Of course, here in Switzerland, the federal government dropped all Corona related restrictions, except in hospitals and public transportation, where masks are required until the end of March.

And, I might be one of the few who have seen that before. :crazy_face:

It’s very warm here, and today I even saw a rainbow. Yesterday we had hail, which is not normal for February.

We talked with our neighbor, and we’re going to get the downspouts fixed so we don’t have water problems like we did last year when we had major hail. Even better, he said the building fund will cover it, so we don’t have to pay the entire costs ourselves. Just 2/15ths.

I’ve never been to Crater Lake, as we normally spent our Oregon trips in the northwest corner, especially along the coast. Boofae, make sure that you do not depend on your phone for location - our Oregon-based friends were a bit further north and didn’t have any cell service. And they had service in Packwood (Taters was there recently), when our Swiss phones had none.

Next time we’re in the Seattle area, we’re hoping to take some days and go to Mt. St. Helens. It’s fascinating to see how it changes over the years. The last time I was there, my nephew was only 5. He’s going to graduate high school this year.

Grin :smiley: I’m not a cat person, but don’t tell the cats that. They know I’m allergic, so they like to come to me.

I’m rather confused. I thought tax papers had to be sent out by January 31st, but I just found out our IRA tax papers won’t even be ready until tomorrow, plus some of our Swiss tax papers just arrived yesterday. I don’t like getting all the papers organized, and I’d really like to get it over with this weekend.

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Nothing wrong. Just excellent health insurance through my employer, the largest healthcare system in Illinois.

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The pillow is gorgeous, unknown - it looks kind of Victorian. So pretty.

I’m sorry to hear your back is still hurting, nellie. I hope it feels better really, really soon.

I’m about to jump on a virtual happy hour. Since it starts at 3 p.m. my time, I feel obligated to drink coffee or something other than booze. Too bad. I’m debating over whether to go wild and crazy and put some cream in it but that might be a bad idea. I recently learned that I may have both gluten sensitivity and lactose intolerance (the doc is doing a blood test as well), so I’ve agreed to cut them both out of my diet for several weeks. Physically I feel amazing (no brain fog, stomach issues, headaches, etc.), but dammit, I miss bread and cheese. On the upside, I’ve lost 5 pounds this week, so…yay?

Hope you all have a good day. I’ll be hanging out trying to figure out how to make gluten-free, dairy-free cookies while not drinking booze and pretending to be all professional.

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Afternoon all. Taking a break from soccer-watching (European Europa Cup games). Managed to get my shopping and exercise done this morning and the Cook’s pest folks did their thing, so while the rain began about 30 minutes ago, I can watch it since I have no need to be outside anymore today. Looking at the weather map, the really bad stuff will be here around 5-7pm, so we’ll see how bad it gets.

Enjoy your happy hour, talky.

Flyboy, hope the car comes back to you, or it’s out shopping for a replacement, I guess.

wet one, those will be either the longest or shortest days you’ll ever have, maybe both at one time…

OK, back to the Soccer games. All y’all take care.

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This is a wonderful idea! Do be sure and give us Mumpers first pick though. I love wood boxes and bowls.

That truely sux. It’s not right when bad things happen to good people :frowning:

We all do what we have to do, I wasn’t questioning your choices, just mentioning that my plans were different.

Is anyone up for a Texas mumpfest in a couple of years? Like April 8th close to Dallas? Mom and I are planning to be there for the total eclipse and I’ve been looking at accommodations.

I finally got my seminar registration straightened out and my class confirmed. The class description says all necessary materials will be provided but I can’t tell if I’m going to need to bring my own stretcher bars. I’m paying over a thousand bucks for the class, I’d certainly hope they would be included but I’ll probably bring my own just in case.

Hubs went over the mountain to visit his friend and GG isn’t happy. He doesn’t like it when one of his people is gone. Thank goodness VBC has recovered from her dental, she’s able to keep him busy so I can stitch.

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I think I’m a good people.

I went to get my phone charger, reading glasses, and some other stuff out of the car. The guy at the shop said the Prius converter retails for $4,750. Their price is $4,000.

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Sheesh - no wonder people steal them!!

Oh, yeah, back!! We brought home the bags of canvas from the boat, as well as the stern name plate and hailing port plate so FCD can remake them with the new name and hailing port. We also completely opened the engine room and surveyed it from above. It’s huge and remarkably clean! We also talked to the guy in charge of the boat yard about what’s to be done before it’s launched in late March/early April. The only decision left to us is whether we’ll have them wax the hull - I’m pretty sure we won’t have $1100 to spare unless our accountant is a wizard, so it probably won’t get done. We can DIY next year I guess.

We stopped at Famous Dave’s in Waldorf for an early supper, and now it’s chillage time. I cleaned and restarted the pellet stove. Shortly, I’ll assume the recliner position. Why are long drives so tiring??