Things I (we?) should buy in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So, what do YOU want to purchase (other than food/gas/Rx/pet supplies/toilet paper) do you have anything unexpected on your “yeah, I should get one of those” lists?

BACKSTORY! I got home almost an hour after we clocked out at work tonight. Why?

Cuz we DO NOT LEAVE until we know everyone is safe to go. (I got pushed out of the very snowy/icy parking lot one night, b.c. they wouldn’t leave me stranded.)

Tonight, one of the crew’s car was dead absolutely no juice, no start.

Cue four of us standing around in the dark like idiots, because NONE of us had friggin’ jumper cables. { smacky face }

Eventually, the cavalry a couple of her relatives arrive, and POOOF!! like magic, her car is revived.

I marched over and demanded to know what demon spell fixed this problem, and her who-knows-what-kin showed me a gizmo not much bigger than a cell phone (tho much thicker) that he said he got at Walmart for a hundred-twenty? forty? bucks. Things got wires that plug into a car battery and suddenly happiness & functioning vehicle ensues. (I may have missed a few steps.)

I thanked him for showing me the gizmo, and I think I may need to get one. Spendy, but it went :tada::butterfly: and then her car started and we could all finally go home.

… or at minimum, maybe I need to get some jumper cables.

I did suggest to Sweet Manager to maybe ask mgmt to purchase for us a set of jumper cables for our “random box of stuff/parts/supplies/shit we don’t know what it’s for/AAbatteries/employee supplies” for the store and she heartily concurred.

Anyways, I didn’t know this gizmo even existed until a few hours ago. Pretty sure I know what imma want for my birthday.

Got any oddball purchases you want to make, or things you didn’t know existed until recently?

… or the usual groceries, laundry, work, non-work, and oh the pets!!

2

First! It’s good to be juvenile!

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN 'Tis 47 Amurrkin out and cloudy with a predicted high of 77 and partly cloudy. Still a little cool for these parts at this time of year. No big plans (I know, what a shock!) for the day although we might go get shorn as both of us are in need. OYKW brought some pulled poke and cabbage casserole back from first Sunday brunch. That shall become sup with some kinda TBD other vegetation, possibly peas 'n carrots, and rolls.

shoe I had no idea such a gadget existed. Then again I am usually woefully behind the times when it comes to high techy stuff. I mean, I was the last of all my friends to purchase a printin’ press way back when. The idea of havin’ a pair of jumper cables on hand at the irkplace is a good one.

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

Happy Moanday Y’all!

3

Dang! Forgot to wish everyone a happy Star Wars Day. May the Fourth Be With You!

4

Morning, mumpers! It’s currently 11c/52f with a predicted high of 13c/56f and cloudy. Weather app says “The weather is fucking boring. Let’s talk about the fucking amazing gerbil circus I’m creating.” Sounds like fun, right?

Thousands, I imagine! I expect we’ve only seen a small percentage of them as many won’t be our kind of thing. We do our best to support the live music scene though, it’s a tough business and small venues are often struggling to survive.

I used to have some jumper cables in the back of the car but they disappeared at some point. I never replaced them. My friend has a power pack thing that he uses when his car’s battery dies and I think that should be on my list now.

Yesterday was fun, we got back from Bradford mid-afternoon and made peace with the cats. I made dinner out of leftovers I’d pulled out of the freezer before we left on Saturday. Then we Uber’d into town and went to see a friend’s band at the Giffard. They played for a couple of hours, Wendy the landlady joined them for a couple of songs too. It’s her birthday today so she’s been celebrating over the weekend - last night there were bonus free samosas too which were very good. We left around 1am and walked up the road to the taxi rank where we found a cabbie who knew us, and took us home. We had a fun discussion about karaoke on the way home, got back in the house and gave the cats their treats.

This morning I have a very sore eye so probably got another ulcer brewing. I’ve got one last pipette of medication for it so hopefully that will be enough to do the job, otherwise I’ll be off to the eye hospital at some point. Other plans for today are shopping ('im indoors wants to come along this time) and I’m going to the gym later.

5

I’m awake after a relatively sleepful night, which I needed. It’s semi-cloudy with 50 Ferrets to start the day here, heading up to near 80! Which means I can open the house!!! Huzzah!!!

Main plan of the day is hauling the remnants of the deck to the landfill this morning. I’ll drive the truck and FCD will follow, then park his wheels and join me in the truck. We’ll dispose of the rotten wood bits, then I’ll take him back to his vehicle so he can go to the boat and start working on some electrical stuff. I have to swing by Daughter’s house to drop off a box that I forgot to send home with the grands, then I’ll head home and attack the back yard.

I expect I’ll alternate work and breaks to avoid overdoing it. First thing is to unearth the deck blocks - I think there are 8 or 9 of them. I got one out the other day - with luck, I can unearth the rest today. Eleven years of accumulated soil has to be removed. I’ll also do some raking when digging becomes too much. We’ll see how the day goes.

On to the OP: I do know about those battery packs - I seem to recall someone having to use one on my car some years back. It never occurred to me to get one, but it would be wise, no? And I think we have jumper cables somewhere. Now I’ve got to check or it’ll make me crazy.

As for things I should buy, or probably better put, things I want to buy - a home elevator, tho a stair chair lift setup is more likely. In a few years, going to the basement and back will likely be a challenge - it’s already difficult for FCD. We don’t want to have to move or have half of our house unused and inaccessible.

That’s the only thing that immediately comes to mind, but there are often things that I see and think “Yes, we must have that!!” Naturally, I can’t remember any of them at the moment. Perhaps I should add a new brain to the list.

And so it begins. Happy Moanday!!

6

Good morning. I planted a spendy dahlia tuber which is growing well in its big tub, but I noticed yesterday that leaf miners are chewing their way through a couple of leaves. In addition, whitefly are attacking my Thai basil. I looked up online to see what to do, and neem oil is recommended for treating both of these pests. So I should go out and buy some today, though I’m not sure of its effect on edible herbs. I guess it must be okay if I wash the herb thoroughly before consuming?

While out buying that, I’ll also swing by the orchid wholesalers and get a small orchid for my bedroom, and in addition stop by a mushroom farmer and get a bag o’ shrooms for meals this week. Oh, yeah, and the strawberry farmer should have berries to sell by now. I love living in a semi-rural area.

I must set up an appointment with an ear, nose & throat doc today. In addition to the Meniere’s Disease symptoms which I’m experiencing, my left ear canal has been hurting badly for a week or two, interspersed with intense itching. My PCP looked at it a week ago and didn’t see anything, but something is definitely wrong in there. Hopefully I can see the ENT very soon.

7

G’morning everyone. 65F here, headed for 85.

Just completed a full day with Ents and Hobbits in my yard. OK not really, but it looked that way. We had a full crew of tree trimmers/removers/etc. and the trees were shaking, branches were falling all around, and guys were (literally) clambering through the trees like squirrels. They eschewed wasting time to return to the ground for the next tree, and threw weighted ropes which looped around a branch, and then swung to another tree. I watched one of them traverse 4 trees this way, carrying a chainsaw, pruning shears, and other hand tools on a giant belt. It was like having my own backyard circus!

Anyway it’s over, and everything’s back to normal now.

We had a contractor earlier to estimate repairing a retaining wall. Conversation went something like this:
Him: “Here’s my estimate for the work.”
Me: “You have a typo at the bottom, there are too many zeroes.”
Him: “Nope, that’s correct.”
Me: “I’ll get back to you…”

shoe: We put those tiny car-starters in both our vehicles. Turns out the regular sized ones won’t start a full-sized truck. Apparently more liters = very hard to turn, so they make a bigger one, slightly larger than a Kleenex box. The best part is they’ll hold a charge a lot longer than those old battery power-pack starters. I only charge them about once a year.

What thing should I buy? A new tire (or inner-tube) for my riding mower. One of them goes flat every week, and I’m tired of getting down in the grass to pump it back up. I want to load it in the truck and take it to the parking lot beside Discount Tire. Then just drive the mower around to the front and demand they make good on their free flat fix. I think it would be funny to see what they do. But it’s probably too much trouble, and my sense of humor is weird (except for here).

So today’s task is to jack up the mower somehow and remove the wheel, then figure out how to fix it.

Please allow a proud-parent announcement. My eldest (pullin-Son) has a new chair at work, about 3 feet to the left of his old one. It’s in an airliner and his new title is “Captain”. Yay pullin-Son!

Hope everyone has a good week!

8

Can you get a a tire that doesn’t go flat? Can’t remember what they’re actually called, but we got them for our garden cart after dealing with flats - they’re great! But I don’t know how many sizes they come in. May be worth a look, tho.

WOOHOO!!! How exciting!!!
:confetti_ball: :fireworks: :champagne:

Well, FCD doesn’t want to do the dump today, so once I shower and dress, I can get right at the yard. I’ll shower and dress eventually… :wink:

9

I recently bought. . .wait for it. . .a frying pan! A 14" pan to replace the one I bought just a few months ago because I managed to scratch the nonstick surface. It’s okay, though, as the previous one warped after a few uses. Also finally bought night lights for the bathrooms. Unlike the ones of yore with a Christmas tree lamp, these are more sophisticated and have motion sensors and brightness control. Livin’ the high life now!

60s today, dropping to 40s tomorrow. I guess winter is not quite done with us.

After pushing liquids and NSAIDs yesterday, the gout attack seems to have abated. Very unpleasant, and I will be watching my diet more closely from now on to avoid a repeat or worse.

We do a final review of our will via Zoom this week with the lawyer, assuming I can make it work. I haven’t done a Zoom meeting in several years.

Got a weird letter from the IRS saying they couldn’t deposit our refund (!) because they don’t have our bank info. Refund? We don’t get a refund. In fact, we pay in thousands every year in taxes, so something is amiss. I logged into the website and see nothing that allows one to give them bank information. So I’ll file the letter and see what happens.

Everything bagel with avocado this morning, and scramble on the side. Peach yogurt. Coffee. Time to wake up the wife.

10

Congrats to all!

We also need to replace totally disappointing ceramic-coated pans that instantly failed despite our babying.

11

Morning all, and hopefully the start of a ‘average, usual’ week at Casa Rat after the vacation and resettling-in time. Have a 9:30am appointment to have my car get some recall thingie done at the dealership, hopefully won’t take too long and I can do the usual shopping and sammich run and get to the gym this afternoon. Weather looks good, 57F now and supposed to reach 80F during the day with little to no chance of rain. Have paid one credit card bill and will probably renew my car license on-line (they’ll mail me my sticker) when I finish here.

And speaking of mail, still haven’t got my stopped mail, the note in my Mailbox said it would resume Friday, May 1st but nothing yet. I’ll give them today and if nothing will go down to the Post Office and see if they are holding it. Been getting my daily deliveries since Friday, so I suspect they just haven’t gotten around to it.

I bought a thing for my trip that I didn’t know I needed, it’s a portable charger, you plug it in and charge it and then can use it during the day to charge your phone and other devices as needed, without needing access to an outlet. Didn’t even know they existed but it was quite useful for my travels. May look into that gadget that shoe mentions, sounds useful.

Yanker, many conga-rats to your son, long may he fly. And sounds like there might have been some Ewoks around your trees too…

swampy, but just beware, the Fourth is always accompanied by the Revenge of the Fifth…

Boo fae, good on ya for all you do to support the small venues, for without them we’d never get the ‘big’ bands. Hope the eye responds to medication.

FCM, take care, those deck blocks look like some serious weight to be moving around.

lucky, looks like a ‘oh, yeah, that too’ shopping day (I have them too on occasion). Hope the ENT can help.

cookie, given your Mumper name, well, what else would you buy? :wink: Glad the gout has eased, hopefully will stay away. And mysterious are the ways of the IRS, don’t know if it’s worth the time to call them or not.

And onward into the week. Have a good one all.

12

WANT!!! This is added to my list.

They’re not stupid heavy, but I will load them into a cart to move them out of the way.

FCD has headed out so I suppose I should make for the shower and start my day. Unless the yard pixies showed up overnight… yeah…

13

Just search ‘power bank’ at the Walmart site and several options should be available.

14

I got up late, but I’m here. May the Fourth be with you. “And with thy spirit,” to borrow from the “passing of the peace” Christian ritual.

We’re out of jam, the kind that’s part of a PBJ-on-toast.

Sometime soon, I hope to find and charge all the flashing lights that go on my recumbent trike and helmet. Then I’ll pump up the tires on the trike, and it’ll be ready to go.

15

Just a quick note before I go off to yoga. I’m up to date compiling my MMP posts, and as I was doing last night’s, I was thinking of that scene in Spaceballs, where they’re watching the movie on the VCR.
“When’s this?”
“Now.”

16

Former AG Eric Holder was on the radio news, talking about the need to “galvanize the people” on the issue of voting rights. I don’t think I want to be zinc-plated, but maybe that’s not what he meant.

17

Mornin’ all.

It’s 53F and sunny outside. The forecast calls for abundant sunshine and a daytime high of 78F. It got dang hot yesterday.

I have both a portable charger for my cell phone and battery pack/tire inflater thingy. Both have come in handy. I got the battery charger/tire inflater when we were purchasing them for our offices at work due to the lemon cars in the fleet. I thought that would be super handy to have at home. We’ve not had to jump start either of our vehicles, but have used the tire inflator several times. I have used the cell phone charger quite a bit when I traveled or was away from an easily reachable wall socket during meetings with communities, in the airport, etc.
I spent yesterday weeding the front garden beds. I have three that line the driveway, and the one that lines the front walk and then runs down the side of the house. I also have one in the side/front yard, but I didn’t get to that one. The weeding went fairly quickly, but then I decided that now was the time to widen the bed that runs along the front walk and in front of the porch. The sod was very, very, very heavy and soggy. That area just doesn’t get great drainage, and the lawn is always mossy. I gave up around 3:45 in the afternoon, because the sun was just beating down on me, and I started to feel a little woozy, even with hydration breaks.

I still have quite a bit of sod to remove, but I probably won’t get to it today because I have to drive down to Oly town to meet some former co-workers for lunch and to check out a venue for a memorial service. So, my day will be busy. Between the drive to and from, the lunch, etc. I’m not going to have time, nor do I want to get the rest of the sod cut away today. I’ll do it tomorrow.

FCM, eek on Otis. Years ago, I had a friend whose golden retriever thought his family’s chickens would make a good meal. They tied a dead one around his neck to break the habit. I wouldn’t recommend it, because even then I thought that was pretty gross and cruel, but apparently he never went after chickens again.

I suppose I better get going. I need to water my posies before I take off for the day, too.

You all take care, please.

18

The plant that I retired from had a cart that they’d send maintenance out with if you had a flat or needed a jump. It was fully appreciated when I went out to discover a flat one afternoon. As for the gadget you’re talking about, BIL has one.

Congrats to Captain Pullin-son!

When I’ve stopped mail, I’ve always had to go to the post office to retrieve it.

To answer the OP, I recently purchased my want, a Brother Scan and Cut. I waited until there was a good deal on one from Marketplace and bought it. I’m still learning how to use it.

Up, caffeinating, breakfasted and fixing to do KP. After, I’ll get sheveled and go the dollar store for a couple of things.

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

19

Taking a break - OMG, I’m too old for this crap! The raking was simple enough - 2 Gorilla cart loads of leaves have been deposited in the woods. Then I started digging up the deck supports. Thank goodness for leverage and a long-handled shovel! I’ve got 3 on the cart so far.

The holes are being filled with gravel with a couple-three inches of soil on top. That helps take care of “What do we do with all this gravel???” The area under the 10X16 deck was a layer of pea gravel 2" or more deep That was FCD’s idea when we built it. I thought it was dumb, but I lost that argument.

My current challenge is removing the raised garden bed edges. Except before it was raised, it just had a low wooden frame which I’m now trying to dig out. Sadly, it didn’t rot enough to disintegrate. Maybe I’ll just leave it there to rot - it’ll be under a couple of inches of soil. Must think on it.

Gotta find a hat - the area is in full sun - great for a garden, not so much for clearing an old one. We’ve got a basket full of hats in the hall closet - I’m sure I’ll find something that’ll work.

Onward!!!

20

At first glance that was [freeze dried Cookies] and [Cream Ice Cream]. Took a couple of tries to realise that you probably meant [freeze dried] [Cookies and Cream Ice Cream]

One of my favourite memes: “The middle aisle of Aldi does insane things to the human psyche. You’re there to get grapes and you leave with a bottle opener, a fire pit, and a decommissioned submarine.”

Aren’t children wonderful?

I’m pretty sure the shop at Canaveral was selling it ~25 years ago.