What's everybody doing today?

[Wingnut]

Made it home after visiting a special site today... don't wanna spoil the surprise by mentioning the location, and I hafta let my camera battery recharge anyway before I can even resize the pics, so if I don't post 'em tonight I will do it tomorrow morning. Awesome place, I took lots of pics (which is why the camera battery is low), but I still hafta go through 'em as I resize 'em and cull the doubles or lower quality shots. Meh, no big deal, but I'm already tired and thinking about getting horizontal, lol, so the pics will probably get posted manana! We'll see, the battery is taking a long time to recharge, it must have been really low from all the camera action this afternoon.

Weather was perfect for this excursion, which was more like a dual-purpose mission: ride to the site, swap the riding suit for clothing & gear suitable for hiking, hike around the main trails and take pics, then swap clothing again and wear the riding suit home! A cool person let me stash my riding suit, helmet, boots, etc., in a safe place while I went hiking for two hours... so that was helpful. More on all of this later, I think I'll log out for now and rest a bit... but it sure was nice, hiking around in that high desert sunshine while wearing shorts, T-shirt & hiking boots (instead of my riding boots, which are NOT really suitable for any serious trail hiking). Temp felt like 70* F out there on the trail today, but it might have been a bit lower...

 

[Pearl]

Made it home after visiting a special site today... don't wanna spoil the surprise by mentioning the location, and I hafta let my camera battery recharge anyway before I can even resize the pics, so if I don't post 'em tonight I will do it tomorrow morning. Awesome place, I took lots of pics (which is why the camera battery is low), but I still hafta go through 'em as I resize 'em and cull the doubles or lower quality shots. Meh, no big deal, but I'm already tired and thinking about getting horizontal, lol, so the pics will probably get posted manana! We'll see, the battery is taking a long time to recharge, it must have been really low from all the camera action this afternoon.

Weather was perfect for this excursion, which was more like a dual-purpose mission: ride to the site, swap the riding suit for clothing & gear suitable for hiking, hike around the main trails and take pics, then swap clothing again and wear the riding suit home! A cool person let me stash my riding suit, helmet, boots, etc., in a safe place while I went hiking for two hours... so that was helpful. More on all of this later, I think I'll log out for now and rest a bit... but it sure was nice, hiking around in that high desert sunshine while wearing shorts, T-shirt & hiking boots (instead of my riding boots, which are NOT really suitable for any serious trail hiking). Temp felt like 70* F out there on the trail today, but it might have been a bit lower...

WOW, I can't wait!!

 

[Neb]

That garage would help. I would keep 1 vehicle plus stuff in there, so long as there is no risk of water coming up the drain or otherwise making it wet in a bad storm. I have a huge fear of that after seeing what happened to my grandmother when she got hit by 3 "100 year storms" in 12 years that all caused water to come up through her basement drain.

Otherwise, looks great. Hope it works out great!

We put in extreme flooding plans.



Ben

 

[Pearl]

We put in extreme flooding plans.



Ben

Much needed!

 

[Mountain trapper]

While driving home from town today I hit a patch of ice and slid off the road. Went through the ditch and up the bank and almost rolled over. I managed to get back on the road and made it home. I lucked out that the snow was soft and there were no chunks of ice or rocks. It's snowing again.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Got up about 4 am to put some wood on the fire, looked out and we've got at least another foot of new snow overnight. It's still snowing. When it gets light out I'll hook up the snow blower to the side by side and start clearing the road. May have to use the tractor and plow too. Until I can get the road opened up we're snowed in again. We usually get snowed several times during the winter for several weeks. We need all the snow we can get here since we seldom get rain during the summer.

 

[viking]

Starting my quarantine off by sitting in my recliner. There's nothing on the tube and I have a hundred movies here but I've seen them all. The 'vid just let me know that it wants revenge on me for avoiding it for almost three years. I had a coughing fit bad enough that it brought tears to my eyes. This is unlike anything I've ever experienced. Oh well, hydrate, movement, vitamins and sleep should do the trick...

My wife and I went through the coughing thing for about four weeks, sometimes the coughing jag was so bad I'd get down to nearly my last bit of air, only by my wife rubbing my back was I able to catch a fresh breath, echinacea tablets and cough syrup got us through whatever the nasty stuff was.

 

[sonya123]

Thanks! It's only been 3 months and I'm already seeing that its definitely a good thing. I'm sure the thing that is similar is that I'm super grateful for my kids and they more than make up for any pain from the failed relationship.

@Pearl I'll definitely post a picture of the tree if I ever when I get it done. It won't be fancy, but it will be mine

I've been divorced a few times, but it was usual mutual. But the previous marriages didn't last very long. I can't imagine getting divorced now, after being married for so long so I would imagine it is hard for you. Hope you get used to living by yourself. I can't imagine that either, never once in my life lived by myself. If you are lonely maybe you can find a roommate. Do you have a dog? They are also great company

 

[sonya123]

Let all the animals out of the barn yesterday morning in the few sort of rain free hours ( it drizzled a little ) and cleaned the barn again ( this is like 8 wheelbarrows of crap) , put down barn lime since it is so wet, the floor of most of the barn is concrete which doesn't help. Even the bricks in the walls look wet. Everything is mud outside, husband slipped and fell but ok.
Then we put them all back in when it started pouring again, and went shopping. We were supposed to have friends visit this weekend but they wanted to move it to another weekend which is fine by me since the floor is full of muddy dog prints and I can't be bothered cleaning it since it will be just like it again in 5 minutes
Shopping went ok, it wasn't pouring. Aldi had butter on sale for $ 2.99 so I got the limit of 4

Oh and I decided no tree because of the puppy. Surprised how much trouble you all seem to have with Christmas trees. I have never worried about it much and just let the kids decorate it when they were little in years we had one. When they got older we went on ski trips and didn't have one , just a few tiny fake ones to put up in the vaccation rental

 

[sonya123]

The Princess listed it on Zillow...

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/506-Victory-Dr-South-Park-PA-15129/11251948_zpid/
last night and had an inquiry in 30 minutes. Then four more today with one fellow that wants to rent it based on the images sight unseen. I wanted him to see it but he is in NY and wanting to get out of NY ASAP.

Looks like a cute little house but wow, that's a lot of money for such a small house
Is that what rental prices are nowadays?
(haven't rented anything in about 30 years so I don't know )

Good luck, hope it works out well with the new renter

 

[UrbanHunter]

@UrbanHunter will hopefully clarify but thought he has an engineered tree that uses a flag pole as the central support.

Ben

Okay, I am using a flag pole, but the concrete base gave way. It has always been a PIA to put up.... The lights are all strung from the top down (21 strings) and the 18" star at the top is supported by a 5/16" threaded rod that has wooden plugs that go into the top of the pole to stabilize and align it. About 5' down from the top of the pole is a 18" diameter clear plastic disk that is slotted to keep the lights from tangling, it is bolted to the pole with L bracket and I-bolts that the guy wires attach to. That is what I refer to a my "topper", it is 8 1/2 feet tall and is about 40 pounds. I assemble the "tree" horizontally on the ground and then with a little help from friends we swing the whole works into position on the base. On guy has to hold the pole to the base, 2 guys lift the pole and one guy pulls the guy wire, once the guy wires are anchored I use a cord with 3 loops; 1 around the pole, 1 about 7' out and 1 about 15" from the second loop to evenly space the lights around the base using 16" stakes. I makes for a very symmetric 1/2 circle tree, but it is heavy, cumbersome, and difficult to store. When the base failed 2 years ago I swore that I would make it so I could do it all by myself and I have fiddled with approaches ever since.

This year I found the umbrella bases with the tilt function, I found the heaviest one I could, it arrived yesterday. I will be pouring the new concrete this afternoon and it will have 4 5/16" threaded rods driven into the sand/gravel at the base and will be held in place using a plywood scrap that has been drilled with the hole pattern from the umbrella base.

This year I will be using the old topper, but the plastic disk is cracked from it being dropped by the crew the last time we took it down, so it will be retired in January. I have a new flag pole ordered and will be building a new "topper" over the next year.

The goal is to be able to store the tree in a box, I will be powering everything from the ground (to do this I need a 25' extension cord with outlets spaced every 15 inches). The plastic spacer will be replaced with a wire ring supported by the lights themselves. The guy wires will be attached at the very top (just under the star) and the star will be replaced with a 9" light globe about 2' above the top of the tree. I am hoping to reduce the top weight by 20 pounds. I am debating replacing all the lights with 33" long led strings, it would let the tree grow a couple of feet, right now it is only 25' tall...

My wife says I'm a little extreme but hey it it's worth doing it's worth over doing.....

I have been able to see the house from the airplane when flying out to meetings, it kind of warms your soul... The neighbor kids have been asking me what happened to the tree when they see me in the yard, so I think it made an impression.... I am looking forward to getting it functional again...

 

[Magus]

More crappy weather. the landlord griped about the mess the coon clan made in my yard when I foolishly left my garbage on the stoop overnight and I said sure thing Fred, as soon as you bring back my rake. that was the end of that chat. LOL I have ONE room to clean, it looks like wild hogs came in here, dropped acid and listened to punk rock for a week.

 

[Pearl]

Another hitch in my get a long!! The lady I was supposed to clean for has company staying longer than expected. So I'll be off today and squeeze her into my very busy next week. Doing some laundry now. Going to take Bear on a nice long walk on the hike and bike trails near town. Going to be great weather for it, 60's and cloudy.

 

[snappy1]

It finally decided it's winter here,

We're still in t-shrts and shorts here. It was 80 yesterday- 77 today. Much better for electric bill!

seems like I would sleep a bit and then wake up all night

That is a normal night for me. I hope your sleep pattern is back to your normal soon!

I managed to get back on the road and made it home.

That's scary (to me)! I hope you can stay home for awhile now.

Morning again! I am moving a little easier this morning.
Will walk first and then walk dogs.
Am going to meet a friend for lunch, buy gas and grocery store for an orange for one type of cookies.
Make cookies this afternoon.
I hope to take it easy the rest of the day!

 

[sonya123]

Just ordered myself a Christmas gift....

https://www.etsy.com/listing/840643...-1-3&pro=1&frs=1&sts=1&organic_search_click=1
my last effort at attempting to make something supernatural happen.....
First thing I am going to try is to make it stop raining

We put the animals out, the goats are standing at the gate looking sad , now I am going to make Sushi , have nothing better to do anyways

 

[Tommyice]

My plan is to lay in bed all day. I left work early yesterday. Running a fever achy shoulders and legs like rubber bands arms like lead weights. I got the flu. First time in my 57 years I’ve had flu. This sucks. This is worse than when I had a foot of my colon removed. Way worse than Covid was for me.
So dog and I are laying on the bed. Dad just dropped off some Tylenol and orange juice. He actually had it earlier in the week, but seems to be recovering well.

 

[Pearl]

My plan is to lay in bed all day. I left work early yesterday. Running a fever achy shoulders and legs like rubber bands arms like lead weights. I got the flu. First time in my 57 years I’ve had flu. This sucks. This is worse than when I had a foot of my colon removed. Way worse than Covid was for me.
So dog and I are laying on the bed. Dad just dropped off some Tylenol and orange juice. He actually had it earlier in the week, but seems to be recovering well.

Glad your dad is feeling better, and glad you have a buddy with you! Hope you get over it quickly!

 

[Patchouli]

@Tommyice sleep well! I’ve been around sick people for weeks, family and co-workers, and family’s co-workers, and co-workers’ families. Everyone is getting either flu or cv19. still nothing for me which I am so grateful for.
@snappy1 I hope to get some cookies made too. After working a full day I usually don’t do much.
@Pearl have fun on those trails. A bit soggy but Bear will enjoy it. Last time I took dog to the park she hustled through, didn’t stop to sniff anything. Must have been bad stuff in the woods that day. I’m a little concerned about walking through it at times too. You can’t see who or what is there until you’re upon it. The police say there are homeless or druggies hanging in our parks and others have seen some typical behaviors and leftovers from the night before.

 

[Frodo]

Felt like I had been beat up again this morning, so walked first. Recovering from the all day baking episode hasn't been as easy. Not sure I have actually made that many in one day either.
Set up DH's pills for the month.
Helped him through video appointment with VA.
I have a normal doc appointment this afternoon. I ate dinner about 2:30 yesterday, forgetting that I have to fast until after 1:30 today. Sigh, yep I'm hungry.
I have a haircut at 3 and then getting together with Bible study ladies this evening.
May make up some oatmeal cookie dough to put in rolls and freeze, sometime after the doc appointment.
Kind of long day.

Share the oatmeal cookie recipe please

 

[Pearl]

@Tommyice sleep well! I’ve been around sick people for weeks, family and co-workers, and family’s co-workers, and co-workers’ families. Everyone is getting either flu or cv19. still nothing for me which I am so grateful for.
@snappy1 I hope to get some cookies made too. After working a full day I usually don’t do much.
@Pearl have fun on those trails. A bit soggy but Bear will enjoy it. Last time I took dog to the park she hustled through, didn’t stop to sniff anything. Must have been bad stuff in the woods that day. I’m a little concerned about walking through it at times too. You can’t see who or what is there until you’re upon it. The police say there are homeless or druggies hanging in our parks and others have seen some typical behaviors and leftovers from the night before.

We had a great time this morning, walked several miles! It was actually pretty quiet for a nice day (cloudy & 60°)! Hung some laundry out earlier but it's not drying too well! May bring it in! Bear is snoozing in his chair now! I'm fixin' to hit the couch!

 

[Magpie]

Realising this time 4 years ago I was in

Berlin with my sisters, cousin and daughter.

 

[TeeJ]

I've been divorced a few times, but it was usual mutual. But the previous marriages didn't last very long. I can't imagine getting divorced now, after being married for so long so I would imagine it is hard for you. Hope you get used to living by yourself. I can't imagine that either, never once in my life lived by myself. If you are lonely maybe you can find a roommate. Do you have a dog? They are also great company

Thanks, I got a puppy right after she left and he definitely keeps me from being lonely or bored! I'm also blessed that my 19 yo son, and 24 yo son and daughter in law rent out my basement apartments so I've still got family around. The youngest and I eat together almost every night & we all have Sunday dinner together so I've got plenty of company

 

[Bacpacker]

Went to the eye Dr this morning for my yearly check up. No real changes from last year, pretty much same story every year. Thats good!
Down side after getting my eyes dialated I almost always get a bad headache that sticks around the rest of the day. Last year almost nothing, this year just a little dull ache and it's almost gone.
May go out and start a fire in the pit and set around it this evening. Finally quit raining over night, so we may get out and enjoy the evening.

 

[TeeJ]

Very busy morning - we turned off some old & insecure network protocols at work and it broke all kinds of stuff, but it's finally settling down. I'm ready for a nap, but it's only lunchtime Unfortunately, I pulled the early shift and didn't get out to water the birds until much later than normal. One of my waterers ran dry & the aquarium heater in it melted through the bottom a bit , so I get to make a new one this weekend.
Snow finally let up, which is good because the puppy decided he didn't want to relieve himself where the snow was deeper, if it had carried on much longer that would have been the whole yard. Last thing I want to do is shovel the grass so he's got a spot to go!

 

[Amish Heart]

Picked up some feed, mailed a box of old ornaments to our daughter in Oregon. Stopped in to the amish discount store in our little town, and a crazy man was in there causing a ruckus. He was an older guy, and there was only myself and an amish family in shopping. He was yelling at the amish lady manager, swearing, we weren't sure what he was going to do. Kind of surprising around here. He wanted to know about getting a bale of straw for sale outside the straw and caused a scene. The amish guy walked him out and said he'd help him look at the straw and he'd load it for him. Then the old man looked at the amish guys little girl and got in her face and told her that he was really a nice guy. Creepy. Don't know where he came from. I waited in the truck and watched him leave. Went into the bigger town for husband's rx and some lunch to go. Just need to get started on some Christmas cards.

 

[snappy1]

Share the oatmeal cookie recipe please

I make them regular size, not large. I doubled the recipe and got three rolls of dough and one sheet of cookies.
The majority of cookies on plate are peanut butter oatmeal cookies

 

[UrbanHunter]

While I was showing the wife how the new base would let me swing the pole into place I realized that the nut they welded on the pipe for the set screw prevented the pole from going full horizontal, took a cut off wheel to it and now it swings free.

I poured the base for my flagpole/ Christmas tree, I didn't realize how big that hole was till I had to go back to HD for more concrete, it didn't look like a 6 sack hole, but that's what it took..

I picked up a section of PVC for the internal support at the base, standing it next to the topper told me that the topper is actually 9' tall...

I think I forgot to eat lunch today, oh well I guess I'll eat a large supper.

My back hurts, my hands are cracked, and for the life of me I don't feel like I have accomplished anything.

 

[Spikedriver]

Well, today is day 5 of Covid quarantine. By CDC recommendation it should be the last day. Of course the CDC is pretty useless but I'm getting stir crazy so today is the last day, regardless. I'm still very easily fatigued so I'm not planning on doing much but I do need groceries. I have plenty, but none of it sounds good. Tonight is probably canned chicken noodle soup, with canned chicken added to it, and tomorrow will be chili. After that I'm out of ideas.

 

[Patchouli]

@Spikedriver good to hear it’s nearly over! After all the other variants and problems they cause.

 

[Magus]

Just ordered myself a Christmas gift....

https://www.etsy.com/listing/840643...-1-3&pro=1&frs=1&sts=1&organic_search_click=1
my last effort at attempting to make something supernatural happen.....
First thing I am going to try is to make it stop raining

We put the animals out, the goats are standing at the gate looking sad , now I am going to make Sushi , have nothing better to do anyways

Nice choice! they even had the candles! I had to pay hobby lobby prices.LOL
The local thrift store had the brassware/copper tools for the incense work. I made the rest of the kit myself.