Your first furniture in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
161

Afternoon.
Another day of pleasant sun and being mainly stuck inside not able to enjoy it.

I’ve stuck a bowl of shallow water out for the assorted local wildlife cos of the heat (not that it’s very hot, but this is Scottish wildlife). I think it’s mainly the magpies bathing in it, but there’s a new batch of baby blackbirds around, and I’ve seen a couple of assorted little birdies drinking from it.

There’s not much big wildlife here, except a couple of resident roe deer and the odd fox. There was an owl hanging round the park for a few days last year, which I heard but didn’t see, but it seems to have been a flying visit.

JtC I have never managed to produce ‘too many’ cherry tomatoes. The season here is just too short. Mine are still green and mostly tiny, even grown under cover. I stuck the spare plants outside out of curiosity and I think I’ll maybe get about 1-2 ripe tomatoes per plant, if I’m lucky.

BooFae huzzah for getting rid of the Extremely Difficult Former Student! Broach the tea barrel!

Anyway, I should get back to my frustrating screen. And I promise I will go for a walk later, before I actually fuse to a chair, but annoyingly this thesis isn’t writing itself, and the rats won’t do it even for the best treats I can offer.

162

Good morning, thumpers. It’s a Thursday morning post from that codger in Elkhart. The radar prediction from the Weather Channel says we might get a little rain just before noon. Right now it’s a pleasant 73 degrees.

I love seeing owls. At rest they seem compact and mysterious, but then they spread those magnificent, powerful wings and become a whole different creature. What a show!

163

Good morning, all! It was 69[1]ºF when the walking alarm went off this morning. I checked the radar and saw a big batch of yellow and red to my southwest and heading east. I decided to gamble.
To my east:

To my southwest:

There was a bit of thunder and lightning, but we remained dry. Bun count was two.

Mrs Magill will be here tomorrow night, just long enough to do laundry, then she heads off to Raleigh and the Great College Tour with Squeaky. I will admit that I am concerned with her driving twelve hours tomorrow and then immediately turning around and driving eight. I’ve informed Squeaky that he had better step up and do the lion’s share of the driving on Saturday, to which he replied, “I knoooow.” Ah, teenagers.

Re getting into and out of cars wearing a skirt/dress: I had seen Joanna Lumley on Graham Norton about twenty years ago talking about sitting and swinging to get into and out of cars and retained that knowledge (Why would something so trivial stick with me so long? Spoiler: signs), so in theory I know what to do. I even rehearsed it in my mind while approaching the car. “Sit and swing,” I said opening the car door, and then immediately climbed in as usual. :woman_facepalming:

:flushed_face:
No, I think not.

Hooray!

I’ve only ever seen an owl in the wild once. It was a little, white one just sitting in a tree, keeping an eye on me.

  1. Nice! ↩︎

164

Good morning.

It’s 53F and mostly clear outside. The forecast calls for AM clouds and PM sun, with a daytime high of 79F. It should be a mostly comfortable day.

BooFae, I’m sorry the heatwave continues unabated, but yay for the departure of the Extremely Difficult student! Was there confetti?

Filbert, I’m not sure if I have the All Gold, Stripe it Rich, or Lemon Zest variety of the Japanese Forest Grass. Surprisingly, they don’t look sickly, and the plants that have been in the ground for a year don’t look anemic at all. I picked the color because it is a shade garden, and I wanted some variation in the predominant greens. I love the greener variety, too.

Mollie, as others have noted, butt on the seat, knees together, spin. Also, for thigh chafing, I always wore short-type undergarments under my dresses if it was going to be really hot.
Cornstarch/baby powder doesn’t last all day. I suppose you could use what runners use to prevent chafing, too.

Bright Tree, Ollie is such a cutie-patootie! I love that you get to see the owls. I sometimes hear them around here, but have never seen one in my neighborhood.

JtC, I’m glad the stitches and tape are gone. May your healing continue!

I spent yesterday rearranging and transplanting on the second half of the slope in the dog-free zone. I planted four Japanese Forest grass plants (two goldish-green-white) and two green/white, plus I moved a salvia plant that never dies, my potted Japanese maple, and moved the red astilbe, ferns, and other plants that I had transplanted a few days ago. Now the slope is basically complete, except for some additional coleus to go into the newer area. I really wanted to plant another hydrangea in the top-left corner, because I have one in the right corner, but it’s far too shady for a panicle hydrangea, so I have to think about that for a while. I may get a Smooth (such as an Annabelle) or big-leaf hydrangea. I have time. I need to make sure I get a cultivar that doesn’t become too large.

Anyway, the slope looks pretty decent if I do say so myself.

Today we’ll get the trailer for the dump and start getting rid of stuff that’s collected in the garage, plus some stuff that got stuffed in a closet upstairs. Plus, the freezer and old mower. I’ll have to hop in the shower around 7:00.

That’s about it for today’s plans.

I suppose I’d best finish my coffee and get a move on. Please take care of yourselves.

165

I’ve had my walk. I forgot to get bacon out of the freezer last night, so I mashed up an avocado and had avocado toast for breakfast.

I don’t know if tonight is Date Night. It’s been problematic since I got my new job, and don’t get home until after six. And I need to go to irk an hour early tomorrow for all-hands training on a new phone system. Maybe tomorrow? Can’t be Saturday, because we have to go to a get-together with church people. (I think one of them might be the Vietnamese girl I mentioned before, but I don’t know.)

166

Happy Thorsday!

Up, caffeinating, breakfasted and fixing to do KP. I need to go to the Heights today for the bloodwork that the poorly trained vampire nurse couldn’t get Tuesday and I’ll do a load of laundry this afternoon and RDOS the rest of the day.

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

167

She seems so nice for an insane woman… :open_mouth:

In my reckless youth, I was known to drive much longer than I should have… alone… But today, even with FCD at the wheel most of the time, more than 6 hours in the car becomes torture. He wants to go visit his last surviving aunt who lives just west of Indianapolis. Google tells me it’s just over 10 hours, and that doesn’t allow for potty stops and such. I’d break it into 2 days, but guess what the chances of that are… go ahead, guess!! Dunno when it’ll happen, but she’s 82, so there’s not a lot of time to delay.

I am so impressed that you can design your landscape. I tend to stick stuff based on a vague idea of what I’d like to see, but it’s just not one of my abilities. I look at what our landscape designer came up with for the slope, and I would never have imagined such a layout. Plus it’s pretty easy to see what I added to it - random iris and lilies above the line where his design ended. Very random. And I stuck a couple of azaleas in there too. I dunno - I’m good at a lot of things, but interior and exterior design aren’t among my talents. On the other hand, tell me and I can execute.

Mowage probably won’t happen - it’s raining and I hear booms in the distance. I did spend a few dollars at Food Lion and Aldi and all the purchases are stowed. The ice maker is running, and in a bit, I’ll empty the dishwasher and pull something out of the freezer for supper. So I guess I’ll accomplish a little. OK, I will, FINALLY, get out the Singer and finish the two sewing chores. So there’s that.

What I want to do is plop in my recliner and continue watching the 1980 production of Pride and Prejudice on BritBox. As I watched last night, it occurred to me that all of the actors are either quite old or dead. I may see if I can find current pics of any of them, but first I supposed I should try some adulting.

168

The people behind us are getting a tree removed. It is very loud. I hope Spike can sleep through it.

And now the mowers are here. Forecasters are predicting sullen, tired teenagers this afternoon.

169

I love when you say this~always makes me feel like I have a friend and I’m cared about. Living alone I can use it.

170

The antibiotic is doing its job.
However the ceiling is still dripping.

171

Dental appointment this morning. More news later.

172

We had a bit of a power burp - just enough to mess up the clock on the toaster oven. But all is well now.

And I had to go to IMDB after all. I was specifically interested in David Rintoul - the actor who played Mr. Darcy. He definitely lost his youthful good looks! I certainly didn’t recognize his most recent photos. I was also surprised at how many of the actors are still alive - specifically the ones who played parents and such. BUT I did empty the dishwasher before searching, so I accomplished something.

And I made some pudding at FCD’s request - pistachio and butterscotch. NOT mixed together - two separate batches. Instant sugar-free, in case you’re wondering. I’ve also pulled the sewing machine and fabric and basket of miscellany out to the dining room. I’m about to un-make the test piece to use it as a pattern for the actual cover. I really am about to do that. After I feed Otis, of course.

173

I just woke from a dream in which I had a Frenchie (French bulldog) with severe separation anxiety.

… dafuq?

174

One of the wife’s nieces is a big doxy fan. I think she has five of them at this point, though one of them may have died. A swirling maelstrom of barking frenzy every time someone comes in the door.

Went for our Covid booster today at the local Walgreens. The person who gave it had clearly never done it before, but luckily there was another pharmacy person there to talk her through it. Hopefully the wife won’t have her usual bad reaction to this. Maybe just getting the one instead of the usual combo covid/flu will make a difference.

Speaking of whom, we got another food delivery yesterday that the wife failed to tell me about. I’m on the verge of taking her credit card away as these impulse purchases are getting out of hand. She orders frozen foods, then forgets that she ordered them and there is absolutely no room in the freezer for all this stuff. I’ve also asked her to tell me when she charges things, but I may as well be talking to the cat. It’s all part of her memory issues, but it’s very frustrating.

Obligatory weather report: 77F at 1145 in the a.m.

175

Monkey would buddy up with the Frenchie, it’ll be ok.

Just make the Frenchie’s light-up harness a different color so you know which one it is under which bush in your yard in the black of night.

176

Last week I dreamed I looked in a cage, saw a parrot and said, Amazing!
The parrot answered, Amazing! And I woke up.

177

Less chaotic heaving than yesterday. It must have rained at the building because there were giant puddles evrywhere inside. I did my Senior Day shopping after work, then had breakfast tacos for breakfast.

HUZZAH!

Maybe a bowl of Glenfiddich, then? :wink:

Never seen one here either, but I hear 'em.

Is buying a tiny Japanese tree with an Amex card considered a bonsai charge?

Yay!
Boo!

178

I dreamed there were gerbils in someone’s pocket,* which wasn’t interesting enough to get up for. But then it turned out they were guinea pigs, so I would have gone to look at them, but there were many bright green baby alligators lying across the partially tiled, partially flooded walkway. I thought I could walk through quickly, but I thought, “Don’t be an idiot. They move really fast.” So I decided to wake up anyway. I thought Shiz had been lying on me, but it was Topo, so I had to stay a little longer to pet her.

*(or are you just hsppy to see me?)

179

This gave me a chuckle.

180

Aaaand 'nother niece.

They haven’t picked a name yet, but she looks pretty cute. Surprisingly chubby cheeks for a newborn actually.