Up, Up and Away in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Morning, mumpers! It’s currently 16c/60f with a predicted high of 23c/73f and mostly cloudy. Weather app says “Some people are like fucking clouds. Once they bugger off, it becomes a fucking beautiful day.” Weather app knows I have a week without Troublesome Minion!

Following on from doggio’s theme last week, it’s my turn for a holiday. We’re off to Belgium via the Eurostar because getting on a train in England and getting off in Europe is still exciting!

Where’s the one place in the world you haven’t visited but really want to see? For me, it’s Malta.

Time to finish the last bits of packing, get the cat stuff sorted out for the sitters, and get ourselves an Uber to the station for the start of today’s adventure. Have at it!

2

First for the first time ever. :slightly_smiling_face:

I would like to visit Europe. I would like to hike the Camino in Spain. I’d like to visit Italy, Milan in particular. I’d also like to visit Poland, place of my four grandparents birthplace.

Have to run to get sheveled for work. Will be back with good news that I learned about last Thursday but forgot to include when writing about my travels.

3

I haven’t been anywhere, so too many to count. The problem is I don’t like the hassle and expense of travelling, and the few times I have travelled, as soon as I get there, even though it’s very nice and I appreciate it, all I can think is “I’d rather be at home instead.” So I have made the decision to never travel again.

Having said that, I would like to visit places with proper castles, like Germany and France.

4

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN 'Tis 74 Amurrkin out and mostly clear with a predicted high of 94 and partly cloudy. I foresee some quality cee-mint pond time today just cause. Obviously, there will be the usual RDOS sloth. Sup will be tacos 'n fixin’s with refried beans. Fartfest to follow. I envision margaritas as well.

I wouldn’t mind seein’ Australia and New Zealand cause they fascinate me. I would want to go on my birthday because it would be Winter in both those places. As a Summer baby I think it would be innerestin’ to experience my bday on a cold or at least cool day.

BooFae enjoy the trip! Ridin’ on the Eurostar would also be a thing I think I’d like to do.

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

Happy Moanday Y’all!

5

This is one of my choices. One of my cousins actually went to the town where our shared grandparents came from (cousin on my dad’s side.) She met with a bunch of our family - apparently our grandfather was one of a LOT of siblings - I’m too lazy to dig out the family tree she sent us.

Australia is probably at the top of the list, tho. Of course, that would require a gawd-awful flight and several weeks to be a proper tourist and include a side trip to New Zealand. Maybe after I win the lottery…

And Wales - I got close on one cruise, but there was an itinerary change, so…

I jinxed myself, dammit. Yesterday I was telling FCD how I’ve been sleeping really well of late, so of course last night, I got barely 5 hours and I’m in zombie mode today. Dammit.

We’re going to the boat to take the mattress that will be the bed for Otis. We’ll also bring home the stove so we can install the new cabinet once FCD finishes building it and I get it all cetol’d. I hope we can get that all done this morning before it gets too stoopit hot. We’re starting with 70 Ferrets but it’s supposed to climb into the mid 90s. ick. I am so done with summer.

And so it begins. Happy Moanday!

6

I have, at least, been there. (points out window)

7

66F upon arousal, with some clouds moving in. Maybe a bit of rain today?

Travel? Well, I’ve done a whole lot of that in my life, living in Europe and Africa and Japan, and really have no urge to do any more. I would have liked to have seen Machu Pichu, and the Andes in Argentina, but never had the opportunity to get any further south in the Americas than Guatemala. At my present age and ambition level, the idea of getting on an airplane is exhausting. Hell, just driving over the border to visit my kids is tiring. I’m happy with my memories.

Grocery run today and I may make a tomato pasta sauce with Italian sausage.

Sadie is done with her course of eye drops, thank the heavens. The right eye is still a bit runny, but the left has cleared up and both eyes are clear. It won’t stop the wife from obsessing over it, regardless of my repeating what the vet said, but that’s my current burden, it seems. Her short-term memory seems to be getting worse.

8

Good morning. I’d love to visit Japan. I took Japanese in college and can still understand a few simple phrases. I wouldn’t visit the big touristy attractions, instead opting for country villages and gardens and mom ‘n’ pop restaurants. I’d also love to see Norway, and visit the villages which produced my great-great-grandfather and mother, before they emigrated to Minnesota to homestead a farm.

Yesterday I processed and froze several batches of fresh tomato sauce, and also cooked up a pot of pinto beans which I will use today in making some chili. The meat in the chili will be some shredded chuck roast, which I cooked in a slow cooker the day before yesterday. The cooker had been living unused in my pantry for years, and I remembered why I didn’t like using it. It’s poorly designed, with a complex, hard-to-clean attached lid, and the lid has a silicone gasket that absorbs smells which are impossible to get rid of. So the cooker went to Goodwill and I consulted online reviews and ordered the one with the best reviews: a Cuisinart. It’ll get here next week, and I already have plans for what to cook in it.

9

Morning all. Malta is fascinating and I hope to get back there for a longer trip. Similarly, Japan. We are waiting for Russia to simmer down before we take a train trip to Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. My lovely wife would like to go to Kenya. I’ve been to 85 countries, I think, though slightly fewer if you use the UN list and rather more if you use the Travelers’ Century Club list.

10

It’s Monday, and the MMP is one thing that makes getting out of bed worthwhile on a Monday. Ry Cooder’s rendition of Leadbelly’s On A Monday is playing in my head.

Yesterday we had brunch at Stacks, a nearby pancake house. I had the “Ultimate Blueberry Pancake,” and it was a magnificent thing. Some others in our party had omelets or wraps. I think they missed the point. That’s like going to an ice cream parlor to get a cookie. I’m sure I’ll think of a better simile after I’m done here.

The place I haven’t visited but really want to see? I can’t do that. Between the Parkinson’s messing with my ability to get around and the fact that I “never had dreams, so they never came true,” I have no answers for the question.

So far, I have been outside the USA three times. All of them were touristy border-hops (Tijuana, Matamoros, and Windsor.) that didn’t really get into the “real” Mexico or Canada.

11

Good morning.

It’s 58F and cloudy. We’ll have AM clouds and late PM sun, with a daytime high of 80F.

I would love to visit many places: Norway, Croatia, Turkey, Spain, Switzerland, Patagonia, New Zealand, different parts of Canada (been to BC), Alaska, Malta, and so, so many more. I’d also like to go back to Germany. I lived there for three years, but I was a wee child. I want to see my Oma’s village again, and various other parts of Bavaria. I mainly want to see the less traveled parts of the countries I want to visit, the wild areas. Everything has become so peopled, and I can’t do much of that.

There is not much of anything on the agenda today. The pest people are coming to check and refill the bait traps if necessary. I could take an end-of-season trip to the nurseries to see if there is anything worth buying, but we’ll see. My energy levels are low today, so other than the usual kitchen tidying, I’m not sure much of anything will be done.

Well, I need some more coffee. Please take care of yourselves.

12

73 and street lights on as a storm is moving through. A library is closed for a power outage.
I would like to visit my grandparents country of Poland.

13

Up at 04:30 this morning. Gave Goo her medicated soft food, and filled the kibble dish. I cooked up a 12-ounce tube of pork chorizo, and scrambled four eggs into it. I put one portion into a tortilla with shredded cheddar, and that was breakfast. The other three portions are in the fridge for breakfast until Thursday. Shaved and showered. The electrician is supposed to be here at eight.

14

Good morning all. Slept in to 7:30am today, so feeling pretty good. Outside of the standard Shop-n-Sammich run nothing much on the agenda, I still need to get that new chair put together, but…sometime… Nice now at 72F, but due to reach 90F by the afternoon so no rush to be outside.

The one place I want to see? Limiting it to One is just impossible. India, Japan, Iceland, Germany/Switzerland/Austria…all of them are on my to-do list and I just hope I stay hale and hearty enough to make it there.

boo fae, I took the Eurostar years ago from London (I think it was operating out of Waterloo at that time) to Paris and enjoyed it. Have now taken trains in both England and France/Spain and never been disappointed.

swampy, been once to Australia and New Zealand and I recommend them heartily. Now, the 14-16-hour nonstop flight is another thing…

Cookie, I won’t go on and on, but can recommend Machu Pichu, it looks exactly like all the pictures, but you are about 8,000’ above sea level and it’s a lot of hiking on undeveloped trails so… And good news about Sadie.

Lily, there are Baltic cruises (or there were some before the present unpleasantness) that call at Riga and other ports. And an African Safari can be spectacular, but I fear you won’t get a lot of walking in…

Sorry to go on about travel, I have been extraordinary lucky to see a lot of places and it is a very interesting world out there. I also understand that not everyone can travel a lot, so enjoy it when it suits you.

And need to perform preventive maintenance on my hearing aids and then get ready to face the day. Have a good week all.

15

Good Morning, all! It was 74ºF with a dewpoint of 70º this morning. Mrs Magill got up with me this morning, but not to walk. It’s the first day of school and the High School is having a Senior Sunrise Breakfast event that Squeaky was going to. All last year, he wanted us to wake him, apparently not this year.

There was a beautiful crescent moon just above the horizon this morning. I got a good shot of it in the predawn first light, which is good, by the time the sun was starting to come up, it was washed out.

Chloé and I had just turned on our street when a crazy Italian lady pulled up and said, “Get in losers! We’re embarrassing Squeaky!” Not being one to pass up an opportunity like that, we hopped in the car. When we got to school, we did not see any other parents. We snapped a couple of pictures of Squeaky facepalming and headed home.

The cute boots in question.

I’ve decided the thing to do is to hang on to how happy and free I felt on that drive home. I was also able to get my contact out with the “touch and slide” method instead of pinching it out. If I can keep doing that consistently, I can start growing out my nails a bit.

I have always wanted to see Iceland. Mrs Magill has always wanted to go to Italy. We had planned to go there in 2020, but something came up…

Enough about me.

Swampy & FCM - Oz is wonderful. I would go back in an instant. It is well worth the ungodly long plane ride. New Zealand is also near the top of my bucket list.

Lucky - Let us know how you like the slow cooker. Mine is getting a little long in the tooth. It was a wedding shower gift, so it is at least twenty-five years old.

16

76 ferrets (out of a predicted 79) and sunny at 1000.

I’ve been to 18 countries, all north of the equator, so I’d like Australia to be my AB/WG (ain’t been, wanna go) country. One of the 18 is no longer a separate entity, but if I count both England and Scotland instead of the UK, the number is still 18. (Don’t think I can count Dubai and Fujairah separately.) I’ve also visited two US overseas territories.

17

So many places I would love to visit. Right now my current obsession is in the U.S. of A. New York City. I want to visit the Met and MoMA. Europe wise I want to visit Spain, Portugal, Italy. I have no desire to visit any country in Africa or Asia, although I spent a week in Seoul on business back in the 80s.

The weather is ick. On and off storms yesterday, and one lightning/thunder combo was directly overhead and was so loud it caused me to yell “what the fuck”. Even Ursala Kitteh was startled.

Today I get my hair did then will go to the gym.

18

Hmmmm…international travel anymore would likely involve a mobility scooter, but I would like to see Poland and Germany. I also wouldn’t mind seeing Italy, Monaco,
Switzerland and France with a more adult perspective than when I was there at 17.

Up, caffeinating, breakfasted, infused and fixing to do KP. After, I will shevel for a podiatry appointment. I will be so glad when all of this BS is over.

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

19

We’re looking into the vacation packages where you get a car, hotel reservations, a map, and their best wishes as you drive the Ring Road. All we’ve seen of Iceland was a few cruise stops, but it was impressive enough that we want to return. Highly recommended!!

We made a dump run, so the truck is empty again. We stopped and put $40 of gas in the truck - not even half a tank, but as infrequently as we use it, that should last a while. We bought it in 2010 and have put about 66K miles or so on the odometer.

Trek to the boat is off, so I just weed-whacked the ditches till the batteries died. Now that they’re recharging, I’m thinking it’s time for lunch. Then the batteries should be ready to finish what I started.

Roxy doesn’t have camp next week, so she’ll be with me Mon-Thurs. I’ll let her spend the night one night. Other plans include making lunch for when my mom visits, teaching her (Roxy) to crochet, and stuff I haven’t thought up yet. We may go to the marina pool one day. It should be a fairly easy time since I won’t have Tobias also - he’s exhausting!

Ok, time to build a sammich.

20

Pfft. Other than a quick potty run, I’m still IN bed.

You wanna know how many orders I’ve taken that amount to just various deep-fried seafood? I’ve literally said - jokingly, with a great big smile - “Uh, you do know we make pizzas, yeah?”

What’s that quote from? It’s quite poignant.

That’s a truly lovely pic. Thx for sharing.

Oh, and yes, those are fabbo boots!

Oh, yeah, we had a massive tunderboomer late last night after I got home. Very dramatic.

Why, where’d he go?

I traveled a LOT in my youth (my mom loves traveling - me, not so much) so I have no current plans except for a vague notion of going to the U.P. in winter to see the Northern Lights.