Where in the world is the MMP?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So it’s nearly 7:45am and no MMP? Unheard off! Intolerable!

So I’ll start it. Leaving Wednesday for my big vacation of the year, doing Portugal, Spain and France for nearly 3 weeks.

So where are the rest of you going for 2026?

Me, up three times to micturate last night, didn’t think I drank all that much fluid but guess I did. Need to do some work on getting ready for the trip, will do all the outstanding laundry tomorrow and packing on Wednesday, today is the ‘little’ things.

Have a nice day for it, clear skies and getting near 70F.

2

we must be in an alternate universe, or perhaps people are recovering from the weekend.

i don’t have any major travel plans for this year.

on saturday, my neighbour’s dog sophie came to visit. i got a notification that i had a package, and i figured i would take the recycling down and get the package. i opened the door and sophie came running in. she circled around the kitchen area. lager slept through most of it. koritza sprang to attention. for about 5 minutes she lead us on a merry chase. lager woke up when she snuffled his foot. we were able to get hold of her when she started eating kibble. fun time!

i’m gearing up for the upcoming paschal weekend.

3

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up, caffeinated, fed, and somewhat purified (I had a shower, shave, and mouth cleanup) so not yawny. ‘Tis 56 Amurrkin out and cloudy with a predicted high of around 70 and cloudy. Feels cooler than it actually is. The plan of the day is to be RDOS hermits. There’s nowhere either of us needs or wants to be. Sup with be poke tenderloin in the slow cooker, rice, baby Lima beans, roasted baby carrots, and rolls. Plus there’s ice cream cake!

No big travel plans here. Then again there never are. We be homebodies.

MetalMouse hope you enjoy your trek through Yurp.

rocker* I hope Sophie enjoyed her visit and that Koritza and Lager were not too traumatized.

OK, I suppose I should consider crankin’ up the slow cooker. Onward into the day! Rah.

Happy Moanday Y’all!

4

Good Morning, all! It was cold outside, and the bed was warm. Guess what I chose. I started the eye prep for surgery tomorrow. I haven’t worn my contacts for the last two weeks, and I’d forgotten just how filthy glasses can get, especially if you have oily skin[1]. After dinner yesterday, we had a bit of a lazy day. Mrs Magill made arrangements for her and Squeaky to visit UK’s open house next Friday and Purdue’s open house the next day, so it’ll be just me and Chloé next weekend. The following weekend, they’ll head up to Knoxville to visit UTK. I’m really hoping he does not choose that school - after Fang’s four years there, I have no desire to visit Knoxville ever again.

Metal Mouse - Your trip sounds fun. My namesake uncle and his late husband used to hike the Camino de Santiago every couple of years. As I mentioned before, we’re heading for London for New Year’s. Other than that, I’ll play it by ear.

Swampy sounds delish.

  1. Yet another reason to look forward to GAHT ↩︎

5

Good morning.

It’s 45F and mostly clear outside. The forecast calls for partly sunny skies and a daytime high of 74F.

Metal Mouse, I can’t believe the departure date for the Big Trip is here. I hope you have a blast!

Now that my husband can pretty much see again, he’s talking about driving down to the Grand Canyon and is really excited about that. While I would normally be pretty excited about that, the rising fuel prices are tamping down that happiness. I would like to drive to Missouri to see the grandkids, see the Grand Tetons, Glacier, and Yellowstone National Parks, and maybe even see my sister down near San Antonio, TX.

Fuel prices are insane up here. Premium is $5.59, and regular is $5.09. Diesel is $6.79. Those were yesterday’s prices, and they’ll probably be higher today. Those were the Safeway fuel prices; other stations, such as Shell, are much higher. There are stations that are charging $5.89 for regular.

I’m not sure what the day holds. But, that’s the beauty of being an RDOS, I can just take the day as it comes; either go out and about or stay home with the pups and take care of things here.

You all take care.

6

Someone posted ‘Facebook reactions’ that featured a chancla emoji. So I got an earworm. ♫ La, la-la-la, la-la-la-la, la Viva la chancla! ♫ Where did that come from? Oh, yes…

Villa Alegre

7

Happy Dyngus day to you too! That’s a celebration that I miss from up north.

It got started on the old MMP.

I hope that you have a good trip, metal mouse.

I woke up at the usual time this morning but was still sleepy (as was the little dog curled up beside me). So we slept another hour. :slight_smile: Now that I’m partially caffeinated and breakfasted, I’ll do KP.

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

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Good morning all. It is a bright sunny 50F today and the temps will dip down under freezing for the next couple of nights.

It was cold an rainy most of yesterday so I was soaked through by the time I left the capital. My sign melted after about an hour and my wimple got pretty saggy. I’m reshaping it over a bottle today, its got cardboard or something as a stiffener.

The bird are all singing and collecting nest materials and the Purple Martens are back. No hummers yet, they are reported to be in Kentucky, so we should start getting them in a few weeks.

He needs to dampen his excitement over the Grand Canyon. The historic hotel burnt down last year and water/sewage issues have closed a lot of the other tourist areas. Much of the south rim is closed ATM and access has been severely limited.

I’m so happy he’s doing so well, the cataracts happen so slowly that you forget what normal eyesight used to be like and when its restored you are all WOW!!!

Gas is still under four bucks a gallon here. Not great, but not as bad as in other places. The only traveling we want to do anymore is locally. Washington DC used to be on my bucket list, not so much anymore. We have a very reliable cat sitter, I’m sure she will be find for overnight stays…Hubs won’t want to be gone that long. He hates people almost as much as I do and his batteries wear out faster than mine.

I hope you are also thrilled. Cataract surgery was life-changing for me. I stopped driving after I hit the carport and couldn’t stitch so was bouncing off the walls. It was life changing for Hubs too, he stopped having to listen to me bitch.

You are a man of admirable discipline. Ice cream cake wouldn’t last that long in this house!

How rude was that, poor lager! Sounds like Sophie had a wonderful if short visit :slight_smile:

I hope you have a wonderful time with few travel glitches!

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Nice! We lived in Lisbon for two years, visited France several times and I was deployed to Andalucia for six months. Also visited Madrid, Toledo and the southern coast. Don’t miss going to Ronda!

Managed to drag myself out of bed this morning and get breakfast on the table. Then to exercise after cleaning up cat barf. I have to work on my will worksheet today, as we have a meeting with the lawyer on Wednesday.

10

I was on the 300 Slide, rescanning all the hold stuff from places that were closed for Good Friday, and scanning and stacking all the stuff for places that were closed for Easter Monday. The clerk who transfered from the Twilight shift was helping, and I taught her a couple of things. Which is funny, because I’m the least senior clerk(2 of them have 25+ years of experience, and the other 3 have 10-15).
I got gas(2gal, $8), and did my Aldi run($81, because I needed the meats). I had the usual dry, flavorless bits and and everything bagel(now with 50% less everything!) for brekfast.

Between a new car battery, fixing the dryer, and Roomie being out for surgery, I’m just gonna sit in front of Spot’s litterbox, drink Mai Tais, and pretend I’m at the beach.

Enjoy!

I had the reverse. Alex Catt used to annoy the snot out of Gordie by licking his back foot.

I read that as the Carmen Santiago, and thought, “Where in the world is that?”
Good luck on the eye surgery.

and how.

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Probably nowhere that takes more than a day. Our cat doesn’t tolerate other people well and would be frantic if we suddenly disappeared for any length of time. She sits outside the bathroom door and meows if I’m in there, and wanders about calling for me if I’m out of the apartment. That’s okay. We knew what we were getting into when we adopted her. So we’ll do our usual area-wide things like picking apples in the fall and driving down the river highway, but barring an emergency that’s it.

12

Early start at the boat today - FCD was checking the fit of the shelf he modified and I started on the windows in our cabin and the aft head. I got them all opened and got the gunky tracks mostly cleaned out. Once I’m done posting, I need to search for handles that can be glued to glass for opening and closing the windows. The “handles” on there now are mostly useless and mostly falling off.

The day started around 46 Ferrets here but we’ve added about 10, so it’s tolerable. I’ll take Otis for a walk once it warms a bit more. I’m thinking we’ll have a veggie and fruit supper, maybe with cheese to supply the protein. Or not. Who knows??

As for travels, we’re hoping to get to Indianapolis to see FCD’s last aunt and uncle before it’s too late. They’re in their early 80 and while she’s doing well, he’s got Parkinson’s and it’s well advanced. Hard to tell how much longer he’s got. So we’ll likely drive west for a few days.

We’ll also - FINALLY - venture out on the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding waters for some short trips. Our big trip will be our cruise in January 2027, which is another thread.

Happy Moanday!!

13

There you all are!! :wink: :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: Just finished off my Jersey Mike’s sammich and am having a couple of chocolate pudding cups (sugar free) for dessert. Need to send notes to Brother, neighbors, and soccer folks reminding them I’ll be gone. Then probably some gym time.

rocky, interesting visit! What kind of dog is Sophie, sounds like she was a handful.

Mollie, best wishes for the eye surgery. Not doing any hiking, this is a boat trip so I’ll be along the coast for most of it. And you will not get tired of London, it is probably my favorite city in the world to visit.

Taters, you mentioned Glacier Park, which I have never been to, so I inquired from AMTRAK what it would cost for a 7-day tour via train from Chicago in July–they quoted $4,879.78 for a single passenger in the smallest bedroom, and I said no, thank you very much, maybe next year. I paid $4.09.9 for Premium in Georgia last weekend, but that state is usually pretty low on gas prices. JtC noted issues with the Canyon, but the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone are worth it, if you can stand the costs.

JtC, thanks and I’ve tried to leave myself enough time for Murphy to work his ways and still make it.

Cookie, not making it to Madrid, but do hope to spend a day in Barcelona. And one must obey their feline masters…

All in all, not to bad…

FCM, that’s a nice drive and I have to get back to Indianapolis one of these days, I lived there for about 3 years and enjoyed it. Awaiting the Big Boat Excursion (in your little boat) after hearing of its trials and travails.

Not even noon yet. Need to get those messages done and dusted, then onward into the afternoon.

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Are we allowed to seethe with envy in the MMP?

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Wouldn’t mind going to Barcelona again, but probably not this year. Got a big cruise coming up in August, so I hope things have quieted down since we’ll be pretty darn close to St. Petersburg.

Today was day 4 of a long weekend, with beautiful spring weather, birds chirping, bells ringing and all the kiddies have gone home for the evening, so no more screeching from them.

Brought home some pictures after my last visit to the parents, and I finally sort through them and put them away. I also finished shredding a monster stack of papers, so those will go to the recycling center next weekend. My home office might again be useable as something as a series of horizontal places for stacking stuff.

Made blueberry pancakes for breakfast, blueberry cake for tomorrow’s breakfast and now I need to go look at the lunch calendar and see what’s on the company canteen’s menu for tomorrow. Not yet at RDOS status, so I need to also make sure the alarm clock is set for tomorrow morning.

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metal mouse are you with a tour group, or soloing?

Not going anywhere this year, especially nowhere that requires flying. Fingers crossed for London in 2027.

I knew I needed cataract surgery when I couldn’t find Ariel in her pasture. I literally could not see her. Had to get somebody to find her. Now I can spot her at the back of the 5 acre pasture. I wear readers now but that doesn’t annoy me.

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Sort of. One of my friends from a prior Message Board (the JREF Forum) does travel agency stuff and he sets up trips for a bunch of us (ranging for 20-40 people) that knew each other from the Forum and he has a unerring accuracy to plan trips to places I’ve never been but want to go. If I ever hit the lottery, I’ll have him plan one for the MMP, I think spending a couple weeks with you folks would be just as much fun.

And now off to the gym.

18

Or sheer torture. Not me, of course. You know I’m an absolute delight. But I wonder about some others here… < shifty eye glances left and right >

:rofl:

Mump-Stock! Mump-a-Rama! Mump-a-Palooza!! The mind boggles!

Otis and I had a mile-anna-quarter walk. Time for some chillage.

19

Speaking of breakfast, I seem to remember you making cornmeal pancakes. If so have you a recipe you’d like to share? We used to live near a place that made several kinds of pancakes, all delicious and the cornmeal ones were the best. Any guidance would be appreciated.

PS kitty has the prettiest ears!

20

Howdy!
As of Thursday both of my housemates were in residence. Freeeeedom!
I fled for the great outdoors and had a marvelous, miserable time. I saw Easter Day sunrise in a very wet forest, from full dark to sunup. I’ve never done that before; it was awe-inspiring. Then returned home a muddy, happy mess. I still have not had the privilege of seeing a bear. But it’s turkey season so I’m highly visible and noisy, because I don’t want to get shot.

I took my new Lion instant coffee camping and am pleased with it. This morning’s pour-over Peet’s Major D’s was still very much a treat.

from last week:

For the non-coffee folks, the Quilter says she wishes she liked coffee because people obviously enjoy it very much. I feel the same way about beer-- it looks like it’s really refreshing and pleasurable, too bad it tastes like beer.

My granny used to say, “eternity is a ham and two people.”

I had my ears pierced the day I turned 18. Had to wait until I didn’t need a parent’s signature.

@JaneDoe42 Yes, same reason for boycotting TSC. Stupid corporate jerks. It’s a shame because it’s a great store with a wonderful staff. We still stop by to visit because they allow dogs and it’s a big treat for the princess since everybody loves her (of course), but I won’t give them another penny unless corporate changes their ways.

@dogbutler That is one beautiful tuxedo cat, with white gloves and all!

@purplehorseshoe Yah, that pic definitely looks like Monkey is seeing things.

@susan Very fine-looking young cats. Are they littermates?

Golly I hope so-- all this talk of train travel! I’ve always wanted to take an overnight trip on the train. Don’t care where, so long as I ride the train. And eat in the dining car and sleep in a sleeper and look out the window at night while reading Murder On the Orient Express. I’m turning green over here myself.